Replacement

by Wojciech Cram

  behind, Mark, Jade, Rowan, Kestrel, Rashel and even Ash. Had anyone realised I was gone yet, or were they still blissfully ignorant? I had no idea what they would do once they

  realised what had happened.

  Mark would be upset, that much was clear. But maybe he would understand where Ash was coming from. I hoped he would. I may have hated what Ash had decided to do, but I

  didn't want Mark to suffer for it. But still, I couldn't see him not being overly worried and blaming himself for all of this, because that was what Mark did. He carried the weight of

  the world on his shoulders, and felt responsible for every little thing that happened.

  The sisters would be mad more than upset. They'd planned this trip to Vegas in order to get me and Ash back together, not so that I could be sent away. I could almost see their

  faces when they realised I was gone, their expression turning from shock, to frustration, to anger. It would hit Rowan especially hard. She was the mother of our little pack, and

  she wouldn't take this lightly. The thought warmed me ever so slightly. Maybe they'd even try to come and get me.

  And then there was Rashel. She'd only just accepted me to be her hunting partner, and already a spanner had been thrown into the works. I hadn't even had my first training

  session. Out of everyone, I felt as if her reaction would be the least predictable. She nearly always had Ash's back, standing by every decision he made, but this was different.

  Rashel wasn't a fan of running away. She would always be the one to find the fight, search for it, instead of waiting for it to come to her. I couldn't see her agreeing with Ash's

  decision, even if she understood why he'd made it.

  I even wondered about what Ash was thinking. Did he regret sending me away? I doubted it, but if I was already starting to feel the pain of separation, it was possible he was too. We'd spent six long months apart, the longest six months of my life, but after just over an hour I was already feeling myself start to yearn for him. Pull yourself together,

  chastised myself. I couldn't go back to the girl I'd been for the past few months, who could do nothing but pine for her soul mate. If I wanted to make things right, I had to keep myself together.

  All of a sudden, making things right was all I could think about. Surely running away, hiding, possibly threatening the safety of the wild powers wasn't right. If the witch in my memories, the one who'd kidnapped Jez, were as powerful as we thought, then a safe house wouldn't keep her away. It might slow her down, but if she really wanted to get me,

  being cut off from everything would only seal my fate that much more. Plus, who was I to threaten the lives of the wild powers, and indirectly the lives of human kind? Risking my

  entire species in a feeble attempt to keep me safe was ludicrous. I was surprised Thierry hadn't spotted how ridiculous the idea to send me away was, and shut down Ash's plan

  from the start.

  I needed to stop this. The others might not see the danger I was putting everyone in by just being in the car, but I did, and I'd be damned if I was going to be the one to ruin

  everyone's efforts to stop the apocalypse.

  I had no idea how I was going to stop it, but I knew for certain that I was on my own for this. I couldn't count on the sisters' reactions to be strong enough for them to come and get me, nor could I rely on the fact that they'd be able to do it quick enough. The longer I was with the wild powers, the more danger I was putting them in. No, I couldn't wait for a

  second longer than I absolutely had to. The witch could be tracking me right now, and I needed to be as far away as possible when she found me. A big scene was the last thing we

  needed, as the Night World was bound to sniff out our location if that happened.

  If I was going to get away, I had to do it quickly and without fuss.

  That was probably easier said than done, as I not only had to escape a normal set of people, but two of those people were vampires and the other was a witch. I didn't think the

  driver would care about losing a passenger, as that passenger wasn't a wild power, so he wouldn't be a problem. Taking all of these things into account, it was clear that I would

  have to wait until an opportunity arose, and hope that luck was on my side. I couldn't very well escape whilst the car was on the move, so the only possibility was to be patient until

  the driver decided to stop for gas.

  A couple of hours passed with Illiana snoring softly on one side of me, and Jez continually kicking Delos's seat on the other side, and with each passing minute I was painfully aware

  that we were getting further and further away from Vegas. When I did find a way to escape, each mile would only make it more difficult to find my way back. So when the sky was

  starting to reach it's darkest and the clock on the dashboard ticked over to 2am, my nerves were so frayed that they were threatening to fall apart.

  "I need to pee," I said, leaning forward in my seat to peer at the driver. I knew it was a lame attempt at getting him to try and stop, but I was getting desperate since it didn't look

  as if he was going to stop for gas any time soon. "You'll have to wait," the driver grumbled back, not taking his eyes off the road.

  "I can't," I replied in my whiniest voice, channelling some of my fellow students whilst trying to get out of doing PE. "I really need to go." I wasn't even met with a reply this time,

  he just continued driving without any indication of stopping. "Fine," I began, relaxing back in my seat and shrugging my shoulders. "I'll just have to go right here."

  Jez gave me a startled look, scooting as far from me as she could so that she was pressed up against the door. I had to hold back a laugh at her reaction, keeping my eyes focused

  on the driver. His eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror, giving me a look that said, you wouldn't. I raised my eyebrows in challenge.

  It was Jez who eventually interrupted our staring game. "Oh hell no! I am not sitting next to Little Miss Pees Her Pants." I think the driver would have actually called my bluff if it

  weren't for Jez making a fuss about how she did not want me to actually go right there in my seat. "Okay," he huffed. "We'll stop at the next gas station, but you better be quick or

  I'll leave without you." I did a little salute in reply, thankful that he hadn't decided to pull over then and there, expecting me to pee on the side of the road.

  Another twenty minutes passed before the lights of the gas station came into view, at the centre of a small town. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief that it wasn't one of those stations

  that was the only thing for miles around, as I really didn't fancy walking through the middle of nowhere.

  "Be quick," the driver snapped as I hopped out of the car and into the cold night air. Ash at least had the sense to wrap me up in a warm coat before sending me off, and I pulled

  the material tighter to keep out the cold.

  I was hit with a blast of warm air as the sliding doors to the service station opened up, letting me through. It was just your generic shop that sold sodas and snacks, as well as

  other supplies that might be needed on the road, with a young dude practically falling asleep at the counter, his glasses slipping off his nose.

  I quickly made my way to the tiny restroom situated at the back of the store, peaking over my shoulder to see that the others were still in the car. The driver's eyes roamed

  nervously around the lot, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. I hoped that his cautiousness meant that he'd make well of his threat to leave me behind if I took too

  long. This would be so much easier if I didn't have a vampire search party on my tail.

  I casually slipped into the restroom that smelled of a mix of alcohol and BO, holding my breath to save myself from the smell. A quick scan of the small, stain tiled stall made my

  stomach sink as I saw that there was no window, not even a small one. I'd have to sneak out t
he back entrance, which would only make it more likely that I'd be caught.

  I hadn't seen the back exit upon arrival, but there had to be one, so I poked my head around the door, searching for another door that would lead me out. It took a while before my

  eyes finally landed on it, and when I saw where it was, my stomach fell even further. Not only was it in plain view of the front windows where the others would clearly be able to

  see me sneak out, it was also placed behind the counter where the bored looking guy sat guarding it. He may have been half asleep, but he was with it enough to know that he

  wasn't supposed to let customers behind the counter.

  A plan quickly formulated itself it my head to lure the guy away from the door so that I could slip through unnoticed. I'd have to worry about being seen by the others later. One

  step at a time.

  The idea was sketchy and I wasn't sure it if would work, but it was the best that I had. If I was Rashel I probably would have just bonked him on the head, knocking him out stone

  cold, or if I was Kestrel I could have just seduced him into letting me out the door, but I was neither of those two, and in my case, both of those plans would fail me disastrously. With my limited skillset and only past experiences to rely on, I had to go with what I thought would work.

  Dropping to a crouch, I exited the stall as discreetly as I could, hoping that no one would notice that the door kept opening and closing. For my idea to work I would need the right

  ingredients and pray that I remembered how to do this right. If I messed up, it wouldn't work.

  As I shuffled through the aisles, looking for the things that I required, the clock on the wall caught my eye. I'd already been in here for over three minutes, meaning that I only had

  another two left before the driver either drove off, or Jez would come in looking for me. I was betting on the latter, so I couldn't afford to take my time.

  My heart pounded in my chest as my eyes roamed the shelves, skimming over the abundance of sugary snacks until I found one of the ingredients I was looking for. I snatched the

  packet of matches from the shelf, wary of how close I was to the counter at this point and the guy behind it. Thankfully, he was too tired to notice a hand dart out to grab the

  packet, and I retreated further back into the store in my crouched position. It took me less than a minute to find the other thing I was looking for: rubber bands, before I sneaked

  back into the revolting restroom.

  I could feel the countdown like a physical weight on my shoulders as I recalled how when Mark was in 5th grade he'd decided to make a homemade stink bomb on Halloween. It had

  been surprisingly effective, but had landed him a month of chores as punishment.

  Ripping a piece of toilet roll from the dispenser, I flicked on the restroom light, dousing everything in a sickly yellow glow. I had to fight back a gag as I saw what looked like a pile

  of puke beside the toilet

  With all of the ingredients I needed laid out on the toilet seat in front of me, I cursed under my breath that I hadn't thought to get a pair of scissors. The clock was ticking down

  faster and faster, and I didn't have time to go back out and find a pair. If possible, my pulse kicked up an even further notch as panic set in. If this didn't work, I'd have to face my

  fate and stay at the safe house for who knows how long. There wouldn't be another opportunity like this to escape, I was certain of it. This had to work. Calm down, I told myself

  sternly, thinking things through logically.

  I didn't necessarily need a pair of scissors, any sharp object would do. I cringed as I got down on my hands and knees, searching around the back of the toilet for anything that

  would be sharp enough, a piece of broken bottle maybe. As I patted down the cold tiles, I felt nothing that would be useful. Tears pricked my eyes in frustration, but I refused to let

  them fall. This wasn't over yet.

  In a final attempt to find something that would work, I dived my hands into my coat pockets, desperately grasping round for a sharp object, not caring if I was cut in the process.

  I almost cried in relief when my fingers brushed the handle of what turned out to be a small dagger. In that moment I'd never been more grateful for the fact that Ash had decided

  to give me this coat, or of the fact that Circle Daybreak were as paranoid as hell. When I got back to the mansion, I'd make sure that I always carried around my own weapon, just

  in case a situation like this ever cropped up again.

  Gripping the dagger tightly in my sweaty palm, I grabbed a lock of hair and held it ready. The sharpness of the blade allowed me to cut the lock cleanly off without any hassle.

  Other people may have been sad or squeamish about losing a chunk of hair, but it didn't really affect me, as I'd never been one to fuss over the latest styles and aesthetics. Jade

  would be horrified at what I'd just done, but I just hoped that the missing chunk of hair wasn't too obvious, and cracked on with what I was doing.

  I proceeded to place the small pile of hair into the toilet roll, before taking out a handful of matches and chopping the heads off of them. That done, I dispersed the match heads

  evenly within the lock of hair, making sure they were completely integrated. All that I had to do then was wrap the bundle up with the elastic band, and stick the remaining two matches into the side.

  I readied myself as I struck the first match, knowing that my time was almost up and from now on I had to work as quickly as possible as to not get caught. Taking a deep breath

  to centre myself, I lit the other match and placed the bundle on the toilet seat where it would gradually burn, emitting the most awful smell. At least that was the plan. I was sure

  I'd followed each of the steps Mark had all those years ago, so now I just had to pray that it had the same effect.

  As casually as I could, I sauntered over to the guy at the counter, my eyes flicking nervously to the clock of the wall above his head. 40 seconds until someone came in to get me.

  Time to get this show on the road. I could already begin to smell the product of the stink bomb and I had to try and hold back a smile at my achievement.

  The guy looked up at my appearance, his eyes behind his glasses looked heavy. "Um, excuse me," I said in the most innocent voice I could muster. "There's a real nasty smell

  coming from the rest room, I think you may need to go and check it out."

  "There's always a nasty smell coming from the rest room," the guy replied groggily, waving me off. Gritting my teeth in frustration, I forced a smile. "No, it's really bad. Can't you

  smell it?" I made a big show of sniffing the air and pulling a face of disgust that I didn't have to fake, as the smell of the stink bomb reached us all the way across the store. I could

  tell the exact moment the guy smelt it too, because his eyes widened as he slammed a hand across his mouth and nose.

  "What the hell is that?" He exclaimed, hopping out of his seat and making his way to the toilet to investigate. "I don't know, but it's going to take a fair bit of air freshener to sort

  out," I added, watching as he neared the toilet and started gagging. He only grunted his agreement, before nudging the door open and stepping inside the stall.

  I didn't wait around long enough to see how long it took him to notice the burning bundle of hair on the toilet seat, the second he was no longer in sight, I flung myself around the

  counter and launched myself through the back door.

  I could almost hear an audible countdown as the seconds ticked past. The freezing air bit into my cheeks as I burst out the door, making a beeline for the shadows of a building

  across the street.

  Pulling the hood of my coat over my head in a weak attempt to disguise myself, I hoped that I could put enough distance between the gas station and myself so that Jez wouldn't be

  able to track me.

  A
lthough the maze of streets was foreign to me, the layout of the small town was the same as any other, with 24 hours stores on every other street corner, the odd smoky pub

  emitting the sounds of the drunk, and the occasional antique or book shop. The streets were mostly empty and dark, but whenever I came across a pool of light flooding out a shop

  or streetlamp, I made sure to avoid it, keeping to the shadows. For the first time in a long time, I truly felt as if I could fit in with the Night world.

  After walking for over twenty minutes, winding through alleys and back streets, my breath continuously fogging in the air before me, I began to wonder whether Jez and the others

  had left yet. The driver hadn't seemed like the sort of guy who would stick around for the likes of me, an inconsequential human, but then again, Jez wasn't exactly the sort of girl

  who'd be willing to leave a man behind. I just prayed that the driver had won out on this occasion.

  Around me, the darkness somehow became even darker, denser as if it was trying to smother me. A chill ran down my spine, and I felt my breathing hitch slightly as a thought

  occurred to me. I was alone, vulnerable, in a completely unknown place, the perfect target. All of this time I'd been concentrating on trying to escape the others, but now I had to

  wonder if they were the only ones who could be stalking me in the night. I could be in any amount of danger from human predators, to Night people out hunting, or from the witch

  who apparently was coming for me. I was an open target for any single one of them, and at this moment, I couldn't tell which was the scariest.

  Without thinking about it, I picked up my pace, changing direction so that I was heading back to the town centre and the rest of civilisation, safety in numbers and all that. The

  drumming of my heartbeat seemed to match the rhythm of my steps, gradually gaining speed as my nerves spiked. I cursed myself for deciding to walk through back alleys earlier

  on, as they now screamed danger at me. A cat jumping down from a dustbin almost made me jump out of my skin, as my heart leaped into my throat. It only purred and slinked