Filtered through the trees and leaves blowing in the light breeze the light was uncertain but it was enough to see Ash crouched to check over the motorcycle.
She walked toward him, looking at the sleeping bag. “Where did that come from?”
Looking up, Ash saw the direction of her eyes. Although he knew that Miri accepted the idea of magic, and had seen him conjure his clothing, he knew she hadn’t had much time to process the reality of it all. He didn’t want to push her.
“Saddle bags.”
“Only one?” she asked.
He nodded.
“You sleep,” he said, “you need it more than I do. Daemonae require it less.” Which was true. It didn’t make him any less tired. “I’ll stand guard. I think we lost them but I’d rather be sure. It’ll be dawn soon, anyway, there isn’t enough time to share guard duties, only an hour or two.”
Miri was too exhausted to argue. Her life had taken too much of a sudden and strange turn. Everything that had happened that night just seemed to wash over her in a tidal wave of emotion and sensation. It was almost too much to handle. Hargrove’s persistence, the revelation of Gordon Templeton’s possible involvement, the fight in the parking lot. Although they hadn’t been trying to kill her as they had been Ash, she’d still taken her share of bumps and bruises.
She hadn’t missed the fact that she was their target but was still having a hard time wrapping her mind around the idea. She was just a physics professor. Yes, she had this weird talent, it just seemed so bizarre.
Her gaze was drawn to Ash. Warmth rushed through her just at the sight of him.
The uncertain light from the old streetlight played over his features, emphasizing the sharp obdurate angles, the harsh beauty of them.
His shoulder was against the tree, his powerful arms crossed, his posture attentive and alert.
Daemonae.
She remembered the sight of him when he’d…shifted. Wings expanding, his body powerful, his expression fierce and furious. And her visions in that brief, intense moment when they’d first touched. A surge of need and lust lanced through her. In an instant, her pussy dampened at the memory, at the thought of that magnificent body poised above hers in the moment before penetration. Her belly fluttered, almost in anticipation.
Whatever else she knew, she knew her visions were true.
It was as if some part of her knew him, as if she’d been waiting her whole life for him. All her life she’d believed in love at first sight, had somehow always believed she’d find it, despite the relationships that hadn’t worked out. As insane as it might have sounded to someone else, somehow she knew he was the one for whom she’d been waiting.
It was strange but oddly comforting to have someone be so protective of her.
“This is all real?” she said, abruptly.
As weary as she was, it all seemed strangely surreal.
Ash reached out and drew her to him. His body was warm, solid.
“As real as I am.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead.
Warmth filled her, eased her anxieties.
Miri slid her arms around him. There was strength and power in him, and not just physical but mental as well. She rested her head against his chest, listened to the steady rhythm of his heart, and sighed.
For a moment he stroked her hair, then he slid his fingers into it and tipped her head back to look at him.
His eyes were lambent in the darkness, sparks of gold and red danced in them.
When his lips brushed hers the touch was heartbreakingly gentle.
“You should sleep while you can,” he said.
Taking a deep breath, she nodded.
“Why are you doing this?” She looked up into his glowing eyes.
“At first because my people needed you,” he said, honestly. “But now because I do.”
It was enough.
The sleeping bag was thickly padded, downy, not quite as comfortable as a bed, but better by far than the ground. She looked at him, his shoulder propped against a tree. Her eyes drifted shut as her visions of him ran through her mind like dreams. Not all of it had been bad. There were other Daemonae in them, some he was close to, one in particular. In distant memory there had been a woman with eyes like his, and in recent memory, a woman with silver hair and piercing blue eyes.
She slept.
Ash, his hearing as preternatural as his eyesight, listened as Miri’s breathing evened out. The light from the streetlight cast enough illumination to see her curled within the sleeping bag, only her face and that brilliant hair visible. One hand was tucked by her cheek, the fingers curled. He couldn’t see the golden dusting of freckles across her nose.
In the darkness, unseen, he shook his head. He’d long given up on finding a mate. It wasn’t just his body that was scarred but his soul. To find her now…
A part of him couldn’t really believe it, even as a rush of protectiveness, of tenderness, spread through him like a tide of warmth. It was impossible, and yet he couldn’t deny what he felt.
He could face all manner of battles, even his own death, he feared what she promised more. Or rather, he feared she wouldn’t have him.
Deliberately, he turned his thoughts away from that, concentrated on the matter at hand.
She would be hungry when she woke and he was hungry now. With a gesture, he conjured up a box of energy bars from his pantry at home. As much as he liked to cook, he hated to do it for just himself, so such things were almost all he ate unless he took meals with some of the others or Asmodeus and Gabriel.
They were relatively tasteless but taste was hardly a concern. He ate about ten. Absently he balled each wrapper up and unerringly tossed the little wrappers into the nearby trashcan. It was hardly a challenge.
He stuck a few in his pocket, reserving them for Miri when she woke.
It was just a little while before dawn with the sky still dark but the horizon growing a little light when he first saw the cars approach.
Traffic at that hour was thin and the two cars whipped in and out of the lines of vehicles.
Knowing that he liked to do much the same if the road was clear enough, Ash held still, observing.
They flashed by, two dark-colored cars with no distinguishable markings, tinted windshields and a lot more power beneath the hood than most would suspect.
Just as suddenly, he saw their brake lights flash, even as the flow of traffic caught up to them once again – and that at least partly because they’d slowed so abruptly.
“Miri!” Ash said, urgently, “Wake up.”
Her eyes flashed open in the growing light, looked up at him as if bewildered, and then her eyes cleared. She scrambled out of the sleeping bag even as Ash slung a leg over the motorcycle. He was glad now that he’d checked the bike earlier.
She mounted swiftly behind him.
Turning, he handed her two small packages. “Breakfast. Hold on.”
Wrapping her arms around his waist, Miri did.
She glanced at them quickly – energy bars – then stuffed them in her pocket and wrapped her arms around Ash.
Even so, once again her head snapped back as he accelerated out of the little picnic area. The bike had power.
Ahead of them Ash saw the two cars trying to slow, get out of traffic. Taillights flashed as the cars around them tried to figure out what it was they were trying to do.
In the confusion, Ash steered toward the narrow space by the median and then opened the bike up.
Unencumbered by a helmet, his own bike relatively silent compared to most, he heard the roar of motors behind him as they passed.
The chase was on once more.
He took the first exit onto a country road, in the hopes they could lose their hunters. The maneuverability of the bike on the narrow, rolling windy lanes would give them an advantage over the less flexible cars.
Still, they tested him, too. It wasn’t too long before the barely healed wounds in his thigh and arm opened up again.
Nor could he take the ris
k of getting too far from the interstate. For all the advantages of the bike, back roads like these were slower going than the highway and likely to take them in directions he didn’t want to go, being unfamiliar with the territory. The interstates were faster and as high as he sat on the bike, with his Daemonae sight as clear as it was, he could see the speed traps in plenty of time to regulate his velocity.
He wanted no trouble with the law, or Gabriel would kill him. Figuratively, of course.
She did have a temper, did Gabriel.
While they were headed west now, the interchange he wanted to take that would then turn them northwest and then north wasn’t that much further off the highway. He hoped their change of direction would help them lose their pursuit, and
There was also the problem of fuel, harder to find here on back roads than by the Interstate.
He was glad he’d filled up before he’d gone to Miri’s lecture. As big as the tank was on his bike, thought, the fuel in it wouldn’t last forever and he couldn’t conjure gas into a moving vehicle.
He could no longer see the two dark cars in his rearview mirror.
Slowing, he risked a more sedate pace so Miri could take the time to eat and to reduce the risk of a local police officer giving chase while Ash looked for signs that would take them back to the interstate.
“Are you all right?” he called back to her.
Her face peered around his shoulder so she could meet his eyes in the mirror. She looked worried and strained.
Miri hadn’t missed the two black cars or the tension in Ash’s shoulders and back.
“I’d hoped they’d given up,” she shouted over the rush of their passage.
“So had I,” he answered back. “Eat if you can. Once we get back on the highway we’ll have to stop for gas but I don’t want to take time to eat.”
“All right, but a bottle of water will be fine,” Miri said, unpeeling the wrapper from one of the bars.
His dark eyes were concerned, worried about their situation but far more about her. She was becoming attuned to his presence, aware of his emotions in a way she’d never been so aware of another’s.
“I’m fine, Ash,” she said. “Stop worrying.”
As a precaution, when they reached the interstate and the large rest area plaza, Ash steered the bike to the pumps farthest from the roadway, using them to conceal the bike from sight a little.
He gave Miri a hand from the bike, after so many hours on it, she had to be stiff and sore.
Almost involuntarily, his hand drifted to her brilliant hair, now in a bit of a wild tangle from blowing in the wind, and tucked it behind her ear. He still thought she was beautiful, like a wild thing now with her misty green eyes.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out some money, pushed it into her hand. “Get some water and whatever else you need.”
The tenderness of the gesture when Ash caressed her hair made Miri’s heart twist even as the fierce toughness of his words belied what she saw in his eyes. She reached up to touch his face just as he was about to turn away.
“Ash,” she said.
Whatever words she’d been about to say next flew away at the look in there in his eyes.
Her breath caught.
He cupped her cheek, his long fingers sliding into her hair again.
Without thinking, Miri rose up on her toes even as his mouth lowered to hers, her hands sliding up the broad, firm muscles of his chest.
His lips touched hers.
A need so intense it nearly blinded him swelled within him and Ash fought for tenderness as he took Miri’s soft mouth. He groaned a little as her arms twined around his neck and her body pressed against his. Then he was cradling her head with one hand while the other slid down her back. She tasted as sweet and clean as he’d imagined. His heart lifted as her lips moved against his with an eagerness to match his own.
Within his jeans, his cock stiffened uncomfortably within against the inflexible material but he couldn’t complain too much.
There wasn’t much time but Gods she felt good against him.
Reluctantly, he raised his head, looked down into her eyes, into the look in them.
“If there were more time…” he murmured. “If we were somewhere else…”
Miri sighed, abruptly aware of the smell of gasoline, of people watching, but more aware of a longing to match hers in every line of his body, in the expression in his eyes.
“Go,” he said, gently.
She nodded, somewhat dazedly, and turned toward the store.
Very lightly, he smacked her on the butt. “Hurry.”
With a grin, she glanced back over her shoulder at him.
That slap on the bottom had been just what she needed. Despite everything that was happening, that kiss had rattled her to her very soul. Her body was a riot of need clamoring for more. She hurried into the little shop.
Ash watched her pert little bottom in the now much abused skirt swing and then yanked his gaze away quickly to concentrate on the matter at hand.
Between glances at the level of gas in the tank, Ash scanned the parking lot and the highway for any unusual activity.
From what he knew of Templeton, the man didn’t and wouldn’t give up easily.
There was only one place Ash could take Miri now where she’d be safe and that was the Valley.
Gabriel had done a good job of hiding the records of her purchase of the property.
Asmodeus had taken care of the rest. Much of what those around them saw in the sky above was an illusion.
Miri returned from the small store and handed him a bottle of water.
He was grateful for her thoughtfulness, drinking it down in gulps as he studied their surroundings.
A golden brown scarf now covered and contained Miri’s brilliant hair. He could feel a bit of regret for that as he loved the color and softness of it.
Even so, he only took his eyes from the road for a moment.
Perhaps it was that momentary glance away that did it, that made the behavior of the cars stand out.
Miri saw Ash go still, his eyes flicking from the gas tank to the road, gauging how much more was needed of both.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Those cars,” he said.
With a lift of his chin, Ash indicated two cars that suddenly moved into the slow lane of the highway.
“I see them.”
“No doubt Templeton has his people searching the highway since this is the largest interstate around and it’s the last one we were on. It’s a logical assumption.”
It was likely they were looking around, trying to find them.
The pumps had been a temporary cover at best.
Ash had the sudden sense that the men in the car were likely calling for help since their last attempts to follow had been unsuccessful.
It was what he would have done if he could have, but he couldn’t. His brothers were too far away to come by any means other than flight, which might be noticed, and in any case they weren’t ready for this sort of a pitched battle. Not yet, not until they had another refuge.
That was something they couldn’t afford and the reason why he, the best fighter and strategist among them save for Asmodeus, had been sent. If there was trouble he had the best chance of any of them.
The tank was full.
“We have to go,” he said, pitching the empty water bottle in the trashcan. “I’ll try to lose them in the interchange up ahead, so hold on as best you can.”
Beside him Miri nodded.
He quickly capped the gas tank and swung onto the bike. Miri scrambled on behind him.
He dared not race away from the pumps, not with so many vehicles converging on the exit, nor did he want to attract attention just yet. Before he wasted gas he wanted to be sure it wasn’t just his imagination.
Sure enough, he saw more black cars weaving their way through the on-coming traffic from the east as they reached the highway.
Ash opened up the throttle.
To no surprise, in his rearview mirror he saw two black cars race onto the highway from the next exit they passed and open up speed.
The chase was on in earnest.
He bent low over the handlebars to lower wind resistance, felt Miri crouch behind him to do the same.
Weaving in and out of traffic, behind him he could see their hunters do the same. Something about their movements told him that the gloves were off now. If they’d been cautious about drawing attention to themselves before, it was clear they no longer cared if they were noticed.
The interchange was as busy as it had been when he’d come through the day before, with a lot of truck traffic to shield them.
It would take timing… they would have to move quickly enough but not so quickly or recklessly that a truck driver would blow his or her horn and give them away.
He weaved in and out of traffic, the bike more maneuverable, waiting for the right moment, the right combination of factors.
Then he tucked the bike between two semis for just long enough for them to reach the division of the highways, and changed lanes just ahead of another semi, too swiftly for the fast moving black cars to see them and make the change. If they’d seen the shift at all.
Ash increased his speed and shifted to the next interstate, taking them north.
It was already later than he’d wanted it to be. Night was falling. They’d lost time on the back roads earlier. He’d hoped to be more than half-way home by now. Instead, they’d have to find someplace to stay for the night.
Chapter Five
Scanning the roadside signs Ash saw an old battered sign that towered above the highway, yet the lights that normally would have illuminated it were dark. A For Sale banner had been draped from it. The banner didn’t look that old and the exit had the air of place the world had passed by. That had possibilities. He guided the motorcycle up the exit ramp.
He found a small deserted two-story motel that still looked relatively clean. Another new For Sale sign stood in front of the building and another was propped in the dark office window.
A victim of the economy and the influx of newer chain hotels and motels at other exits, it had clearly succumbed to its fate fairly recently. The parking lot was only a little clotted with weeds that tried to break through the tarmac but there were curtains in the windows still and no glass was broken. Yet.
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