by Jade White
She had just finished paying for her gas and was pumping when she heard the phone ring from the center console in the car. She reached into the car through the open window and looked down at the number as she pulled her hand out, she recognized it immediately. She quickly swiped the screen to answer the call and held it to her ear. “Hello.”
Gregor’s voice was tense, but relief washed through it when he spoke. “Thank God you’re OK”
“Physically, I’m fine.” She answered, but her voice wavered. She knew that the tiger could sense the pain that she was feeling.
“I’m coming down, can you drive?”
“Yes, I can drive for a while, but I don’t have a lot of money.”
“I might be able to help you. I can send you some money through Wal-mart. You should be able to go there to pick it up.”
“That would be nice.” Dom hugged herself while she talked. She knew how much of a mess she was, and wasn’t eager to be seen by too many people. The gas finished pumping and she pulled the nozzle out of the gas tank. On a whim she opened the trunk. Inside it she found a small duffel bag. Unzipping the bag she could see that there were several simple outfits inside of it. She pulled the bag out of the trunk and moved it to the front of the car as she climbed behind the wheel and restarted the engine. “Where are we going to meet?” She had no idea how all of this was going to work, and her mind wasn’t working well enough to think ahead as of yet, perhaps, given time, her mind would get back in track. She just hoped that it would be sooner rather than later.
“I can catch a flight in a few hours. I’ll be in Oklahoma city by midday tomorrow.” She could hear him typing away on the computer. “I’m making a reservation. Can you get to Oklahoma City?”
“I think that I can get there, at least I hope that I can get there. They packed some clothes for me so I should be able to get changed. It looked like they had the vehicle set up for me to make a quick escape.”
“You should check to see if they left you with any money.” Gregor’s suggestion made sense. Dom started the car and moved it into a parking spot before she started sorting through the bags and checking all of the consoles.
“I’ve found a hundred dollars in this duffel bag.” Dom said triumphantly.
“That’s good. That will help you get here. It should cost you less than a hundred dollars in gas to get to Oklahoma City.”
“Are you on MapQuest?” Dom asked him.
“Yeah, I’m trying to help.” Gregor’s voice sounded so helpless. He didn’t want to be in this position, so far away from the action, unable to really help.
Dom continued to check out the car. She noticed that it had been cleaned out fairly well, but there were bills of varying denominations stuck in many different cracks and crevices. “I just keep finding more and more money in this car.” Dom’s voice was full of marvel as she searched the place.
“They might have expected an attack.” Gregor’s voice held doom.
“We have to stop this.”
“I know, I know. How much have you found?” He was dancing around the real question.
“Almost five hundred dollars, that should get me there comfortably, but I’m going to need an oil change when I get there.” It was a silly thought, but she couldn’t keep her maintenance schedule out of her head. “How did you get this number?”
“They gave me several numbers that I could use to reach you if I needed to. When the coyotes called to tell me about the attack and that they couldn’t find you, I started to cycle through them.”
“How many phones did they have stashed for me?”
“I have the number for ten phones.”
“I only have two.” The conversation was growing habitual. The series of questions was just filling the space until the hard questions were going to be asked, one of them just had to find the courage to ask them.
Finally Gregor worked up his nerve. “Is the baby?” He couldn’t finish the words. His voice cracked at the end of his sentence and premature grief had already invaded his words. He had heard the pain in her voice. It was a sound of grief and pain, one that was associated with a life being snatched away too soon. He knew that someone had died, and his mind immediately went to the worst possibilities. He worried about his child; it was a natural reaction and definite sign of the fact that he was going to be a very involved parent.
Dom knew what he meant and took note of all of the meanings behind it. “Everything seems fine. The only injury I sustained was to my arm when the vampire ripped me out of my hiding place, so I think it will be fine, but when I get a chance we’ll see a doctor just to be sure.” Her words stumbled over each other. She was worried about the child as well. It was well known that extreme stress this early in a pregnancy had a chance to cause a miscarriage.
“I would give anything to be there with you.” Gregor’s voice broke as he said the words. “I’m so worried about you. If I had a choice you would never have been in this situation. I won’t feel better until you are here with me.”
“I know. I don’t want to go through this alone.”
Gregor sounded like he was shocked. “You don’t have a guard with you?”
“She sacrificed herself so that I could get away.” Dom choked back a sob, trying to sound strong so that she wouldn’t worry Gregor as badly.
No matter how hard she tried to hide the sadness in her voice, he still heard it. There was no way that the kind of pain that she was in could not be heard from someone as close as he was to her. He heard her heart break in those words. “I’m so sorry.” It was all he could say; he didn’t know how to help her pain and would have given anything in that moment to make her feel better about her situation.
“I know, but there’s not a whole lot we can do about it. I have to get back on the road soon; I don’t plan on letting Rosa’s sacrifice be in vain. I have to get away and we have to stop this or everything will be a waste.” Dom’s voice grew stronger as she spoke.
Gregor was struck silent for a moment. The woman’s strength astounded him. Most women, most people in fact, in her position would give up, quit and hide, just trying to wait for it all to end. After several long moments bathed in silence he cleared his throat, trying to rid his voice of the catch. “I know you’ll make it up here.”
Dom noticed that he didn’t sound very convinced, but she chose to ignore it, instead focusing on the hope that lingered in his words as well. “I know, I will it’s just going to be a lonely trip.”
“I would give anything to be there for you.”
Dom didn’t answer right away; instead she grabbed the bag from the front seat and walked into the gas station locking the doors behind her. She was eager to try to clean up a little. “I know I’ve been quiet, but don’t hang up on me yet.”
“I won’t.”
“I’m going to put you on speaker while I clean up and change. This truck stop has showers that I can rent. I just hope that one is open.”
“I would join you in a heartbeat if I could.” His voice held naughty promises.
Even with all of the events of the night preying on her mind she couldn’t help but smile again. “Do you know how inappropriate that kind of talk is, considering what just happened and how many people gave their lives to save me.”
They grew somber again as Dominique stepped into the shower she had rented. It was a tiny private room with a toilet, sink, bench and a shower with a curtain. The shower took up half of the room, and Dom put the phone on the shelf. “You’re on speaker now.” She heard her voice echo in the tiled room, and was sure that Gregor could hear it too.
Gregor listened to her voice. “You could probably use a nice hot shower.”
“I’ve rented it for half an hour. I’ll try not to take that long.” Dom stripped down and examined her body. She had a few scrapes and bruises, the most notable being a welt that wrapped around her forearm from the vampires grip and the redness around her shoulder where it had almost been ripped out of its socket. She looked down
to examine the rest of her body and noticed the red stains on the bottom of her pant legs. She could also see that her slippers had been stained. She sighed and looked at the dark circles under her eyes. “You wouldn’t want to see me right now.” She admitted.
“I wouldn’t care what you looked like; it wouldn’t matter to me, as long as you’re safe.” Gregor told her. “I’ve been seeing you in my dreams lately. I just want to be near you right now.”
“I know. It may be hard to hear you right now. I’m going to turn the water on.”
“I will listen to the water beat down on your body and wish that I was in its place.” He knew immediately how badly placed his joke was. Dom sighed and turned the water on, not answering his comment. He had been trying to make her laugh, but it was obvious that in the state of mind that she was in, there was no use trying to get her to laugh. He listened to her shower; the rushing water prevented them from hearing each other. He didn’t say a word, but hoped that the cleansing water would help ease her pain long enough for her to reach his side. Once she was there he would be able to protect her. He thought about seeing her again, holding her in his arms. He hoped that she was feeling the same thing.
He heard the water stop. “Are you feeling any better?”
“I think that I am. I’m ready to get back on the road.”
“Make sure you have a map.” Gregor warned her. “You should buy one before you leave.”
“Thank you for reminding me. I don’t have a GPS built into my car.”
“There might be one on the phone if it’s a smart phone, but if you lose reception it isn’t going to work very well.”
Dom nodded and then realized that he couldn’t see the motion. “I’ll take care of it. I’ve got to get dressed then get back on the road. I should let you go.”
“Make sure you try to eat something soon. You need to keep your strength up.”
“I’ll try. I promise.” She ended the call and finished dressing. Eager to get underway, needing to be with someone as soon as possible.
Chapter23
Dom knew that she had to go north, but wasn’t exactly sure how to get to Oklahoma City. She had showered and changed already, bought something to eat to bring with her and was ready to get moving once again. She reached down to one of the smart phones and opened up a GPS application. She typed in her destination and waited for her route to load. In her purse, she found a car charger for the phone and she plugged it in, knowing that the phone would die soon. Sighing, she started the car and pulled onto the street carefully following the direction that her phone told her. “I’ve had better days.” She groaned, frustrated with the turns her life had taken her. “I have no idea how I’m going to make lemonade out of these lemons.”
It was a long dark drive in the desert in the dead of night. She drove through Alamogordo and turned onto the road that led into the mountains. It didn’t take her long to realize that on curvy mountain roads, headlights didn’t do a whole lot of good. She couldn’t see around the next bend as she tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes. She had a long time on the highway and couldn’t afford to fall asleep at the wheel. “Stay awake, Dom. You have to get away.” She was talking to herself as she turned on the radio to find only static. She sighed in frustration and reached between the seats to pull out her CD case. She didn’t really check to see which album she had in her hand, but immediately placed it into the stereo. The slumbering words of Billie Holliday rang through the car, soothing her pained nerves.
She was instantly transported to a better place, somewhere where she wasn’t alone. Somewhere where her life hadn’t been turned upside down, for a moment she was safe in her house with her grandmother cooking in the kitchen. It didn’t take long for everything to come flooding back. She was alone, on the run from vampires because she had become the mate of a were-tiger that was supposed to negotiate a peace between rival shifter clans. Her home had been nearly destroyed and a friend had lost her life defending her. The world felt like it was falling apart at the seams.
Dom tapped her foot as she put the cruise control on. She started to sing along to the song, enjoying the memories the song brought her back into. Her grandmother had played Billie Holiday for her as a child, when she had been sick or sad the crooning scratchy voice would always make her feel just a little bit more comfortable. She gave herself over to the song, singing along and trying to change her life back to the way it was before.
As she drove, she tried to think about anything but the situation she had found herself in. She was just about two months pregnant and it seemed like everything was going crazy. This child hadn’t even been brought into the world and already his world had been filled with adventure. Every moment of her life since she had met Gregor had been filled with changes. Dominique wasn’t entirely sure she liked the changes yet, but now wasn’t a time to make a decision like that. She should wait until it ended, but there was a problem with that plan. She didn’t know how this was going to end, but she hoped that her child would make it through. She sent up a silent prayer, hoping that everything would go uneventfully from here on out, but when the headlights started to shine brightly in her rear-view mirror she instinctively knew that her wish was not going to come true. They were on a long stretch of empty highway. There was no one around to get help from and the car rode her bumper.
The car could have passed her, but it didn’t. It stayed behind her, his headlights nearly blinding her through her rear view until she remembered to shift it up just a bit to stop the light from shining directly into her eyes. She changed lanes, hoping to let the car ahead of her, but it followed her, closely mimicking her lane change. It worried her immensely, but she knew that she had to get some place safe. She started to speed up, knowing that there was a town in less than ten miles from her current location. She just had to make it. “This car wasn’t built for speed.” Dom cursed under her breath. She kept going forward, knowing that at this point she only had one option. She had to get to the town; she just hoped that her pursuer wasn’t going to do something drastic before she could get to safety.
Another mile passed. The car continued to follow her but wasn’t taking any action yet. Still it felt ominous. Dom was starting to get a little bit of hope, but it wasn’t going to last. The car behind her started to speed up. She tried to keep up, but it was obvious that the car behind her had more power. There was no way that she could stop him. She shifted lanes again, slowing down by tapping the brakes as she moved, hoping to get behind the vehicle. It worked and she felt a little better, knowing that the car was ahead of her and would be there for a little while. She hoped that the maneuver would by her enough time to get to the next town. The other car shifted in front of her, slamming down the brakes.
As the red lights shone into her eyes she felt the panic get a thousand times worse. She slammed on her brakes as well, trying to swerve around the car. Her vehicle skimmed the guardrail, a horrible grinding sound accompanying the sparks that were lighting up the dark. The noise was horrifying and deafening, but she couldn’t do anything about it. She was on the side of a mountain and she didn’t have anyplace safe.
When she recovered she reached into her purse, hoping that there would be a gun or some sort of rocket launcher hidden in one of the pockets. What she found was a disappointment. She pulled out a wooden stake. “What is this, a joke?” She asked herself the question, there was no one there who could answer her and she gripped the weapon, knowing that she didn’t have a whole lot of other options. “I’m not trained for this.” She groaned as she focused on keeping her car on the road.
The other vehicle appeared to have slowed down a little, giving her some space while it prepared for its next strike. She hoped that it would be the last she saw of it, but knew that it wasn’t going to be the case. She was going to have to do something. The other car came along side her. She looked over, but couldn’t see through the tinted windows. It was just too dark to be able to see anything. She cursed again as she saw his car inc
h closer to hers. She was being forced over to the side of the road. He was trying to stop her car but didn’t seem to want to hurt her. For a brief moment she wondered if it would be safer if she pulled over and tried to fight her attacker hand to hand, but remembering that the man was more than likely a vampire made her decide against it.
She slammed on her brakes and swerved over behind the vehicle. She hoped that this was going to work, but couldn’t make any guarantees. She risked it anyway, not seeing any other way to solve this quickly. She sped up, trying to put her pursuer on the defensive, but he seemed to be much more collected than she was. He tapped his brakes, rapidly slowing down; playing chicken with her. She cursed again, not knowing what she was going to do. She slowed down as well, trying to find a way to get around the other vehicle, but it had moved to the center of the road, blocking her path. This wasn’t looking good and it certainly didn’t look like she was going to make it to the next town unless something changed.
She prayed that another car would come from the opposite direction, giving her some time to reach safety, but it wasn’t in the cards. The vehicle continued to slow and Dom backed off a little bit. She needed to give the car in front of her some space, but it didn’t help. Once she had given the aggressor some space, he slammed on his brakes, swerving and blocking the entire road. Dominique could barely stop in time.
In a flash, the other driver had left their car. Dom identified it as an older model mustang shining a beautiful cherry red in her headlights. She didn’t have time to appreciate the beautiful vehicle however because her window was in the process of shattering. She tried to duck, to cover her face with her hands, but she didn’t have the time before the vampire’s arm shot into the car and grabbed her wrist. She felt the familiar tugging in her musculature and joint. That arm had already been grabbed and pulled by a vampire previously. It ached, and she could feel the ripping and tearing of the tendons in her arm. She knew that it would take time to heal. It hurt, but she forced the pain out of her mind. She had to focus on how to get away, if she couldn’t she didn’t know if she was going to survive.
