Pure Blooded

by Amanda Carlson

  “It’s the best I can do!” Marcy yelled from her seat. “Whoever’s messing with us managed to find a way to block the plane from my magic. But they can’t block the entire earth, suckas!”

  “Sweet,” I called, continuing to grip the broken wheel in each of my fists. “But at this rate the plane is going to break apart.”

  “No it won’t,” Marcy said. “The plane is cushioned from below by a spell. I thought soft and bouncy, and my brain went straight to marshmallows. That’s just how it works when I’m under pressure.”

  “So the plane is mimicking jumping from marshmallow to marshmallow?”

  “That’s right,” she called, pride in her voice. “It was ingenious, if I do say so myself.”

  The plane began to slow to small bounces and I spotted Ray out the windshield. He was in the process of placing his body in front of the nose to try and slow us down to a complete stop. I assumed Naomi was helping him from below.

  It was strange to see him out there, almost surreal.

  We continued to spring over the small mounds of earth and water until the belly of the plane finally struck something hard.

  The plane jerked to a stop, tossing us all forward. Then with almost no preamble, it cracked in half. I glanced back just in time to see Marcy tumble out of the belly of the plane, still strapped to her seat.

  There was a splash below.

  “I’m okay!” she called. “I broke my fall with a spell. Now I just have to figure out how to get marsh water out of my lady parts.”

  2

  “Everyone okay?” Rourke called. A round of yeses chorused from outside the plane.

  “I’m just fine, thanks to you.” I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. I pulled back, but before I could untangle myself from the seat, he ran a hand around my neck and pulled me into a deep, needy kiss. His relief that we were okay pounded through our shared connection, along with my own leftover adrenaline.

  I slumped against him, bringing my hands up to stroke his face.

  He let me go after a long moment. “I didn’t do much other than try and keep the plane level,” he sighed. “If you want to thank anyone, thank the vamps and Marcy for bouncing us like a ball instead of letting us crash.”

  He stood, reaching over to help me out of my seat. Once I was up, he positioned me in front of him and guided me forward. When we got to the rent in the plane, I jumped through to help Marcy while Rourke went to check on the pilots who thankfully were still out cold and still in the plane.

  I landed in thigh-high water.

  Marcy was standing on top of her plane seat, dripping wet. “Good gravy, this stinks. It literally stinks—like week-old soggy laundry left in the washer.” She shook her legs out, spraying marsh water all over.

  “Don’t you have a go-to drying spell? Or a change-of-clothes spell?” I asked wryly. “You’re a talented witch who specializes in marshmallow landings. You must have something for cleaning up a spill in your repertoire.”

  “Hey, enough with the unfunny banter. Let’s not forget I just saved our lives, shall we? I’m working on the drying part,” she muttered. “Just trying not to freak out about all the creepy-crawlies that live here. You know, the venomous snakes, alligators, and seriously yucky things that call this place home. Healing from an alligator attack is not on my current to-do list. So, one thing at a time.”

  Naomi and Ray both stood off to the right on a dry area of land, looking incredibly happy we were all alive. “How does it look from over there, Ray?” I called. “Did you see anything interesting from above? Are we close to any civilization?”

  “Nope, we’re in the middle of one huge marshland. Nothing but swamp for miles and miles. We got lucky. But if the plane stayed on the radar, like the pilots thought, the air traffic controllers saw us go down. Activity will arrive shortly, so we gotta clear out fast.”

  I glanced at Marcy, who was already half dry, right as Rourke stuck his head out of the plane. “I buckled the two pilots back into the cockpit seats,” he said, nodding to Marcy. “Now I need you to spell them into thinking they were alone and we were never here.”

  Marcy clucked her tongue. “I can do that, but they filled out a flight log in the Bahamas. There will be a record of us being on the flight. And before you ask”—she held a hand up—“I can’t spell something when I don’t know where it is.”

  Rourke arched an eye at her. “I don’t care about the flight log. The investigators can interpret that information any way they want. If you wipe their memories and the plane clean, then there’s no real evidence we were ever here. Can you take care of the black box too? There’s a record of Ray opening the door of the plane midflight. Once that’s taken care of, we should be all set.”

  Marcy muttered something under her breath about miracles and the abuses of witches. I smiled. “Fine,” she answered. “But for spelling the pilots, I’m going to need something with their DNA attached. Get me a strand of hair or an eyelash or two. Whatever. I’ll need to get back in the plane to deal with the black box.” She crossed her arms and turned to me as Rourke went to fetch the DNA. “For performing my awesome spells on demand, I’ll be requesting a cappuccino maker next to—if not directly on—my desk when we get home. As well as two additional weeks of paid vacation.” She stared me down, daring me to object.

  I had no intention of doing that. Instead, I said, “Done. In fact, I’m making you a partner, starting today.” I grinned at her stunned expression. “Don’t act like you don’t deserve it. You kept the business alive while I was in the Underworld. You hired Naomi, which was genius. You’re already head of operations. We’d be nothing without you. Nick will agree with the promotion wholeheartedly.” I didn’t have to address the fact that witches had to charge for their services. It was part of their creed. Marcy was on the Hannon & Michaels payroll, but spelling on demand required much, much more. So I was going to happily give it to her.

  “Well, then, okay.” She smoothed out her wrinkled but now perfectly dry pants. “I accept.”

  I chuckled. “Of course you do. That means from now on you get a third of the profits. And, out of curiosity, can you really spell it to seem like we were never here?” I asked. “That’s fairly impressive and totally handy.”

  She placed her hands on her hips. “I can wipe this place clean faster than you can say ‘your great aunt Fanny is a witch.’ ”

  “Perfect.”

  “It’s a good thing for you there’s no supernatural union,” she joked. “Or profit sharing might not be enough for my stellar spell-crafting.”

  “I have no doubt you’d start one if you could.” I winked at her as I sloshed out of the muck toward Naomi and Ray, careful to make sure my shoes stayed attached. I was also on the lookout for snakes and gators. Marcy was right—this place was teeming with them. And even though I didn’t see any, I could smell them, and that was just as bad.

  Both vamps were on high alert, scanning the area as well as the sky.

  “We have to get out of here, Hannon,” Ray said as I came up to stand next to him. “Planes will be scouring the area soon. We’re remote, but a helicopter or small jet can be here lickety-split.”

  “One of you is going to have to take Marcy,” I said. “Rourke and I will shift and head out on foot. We’ll meet you once we’re clear of this area.” I glanced over at Naomi. She had flown over this area last night on a scouting mission. “What direction do we head in?” I asked her.

  “When I was high in the sky, I spotted our destination,” she answered. “We will need to move north for some miles, before shifting to the west. We will plan to meet up with you in two hours. That should give you enough time to reach a paved road. If you go northwest right away, there is very little land and much more water.”

  “Okay, so we’ll head north for an hour, and then we’ll edge northwest. We’ll look for you two hours after we head out.” I scanned the horizon. There was nothing but marshland for as far as the eye could see. Running and s
wimming through the Everglades was going to suck, there was no question about it. Naomi had told me before we boarded the plane that my father planned to exchange himself as a prisoner to free some of his wolves. I wanted to arrive before that happened. He’d already been cursed once, and the evil yellow masses that had coursed through his body had eaten him alive from the inside out. It had nearly taken his life and I wasn’t willing to risk it again.

  I turned a pointed look on Ray, my lips pursed.

  “What?” he asked, shrugging. “What’d I do now?”

  “Nothing,” I said, hiding a smile. “But it seems at every turn we’ve taken, we’re damn lucky to have you around. The cursed wolves are going to be extremely hard to deal with, and don’t think I’ve forgotten that the only reason my father is alive right now is because of you—and your new skill set.” Ray was a reaper and a vampire. His latent reaper genes had been activated by his transition into a vampire and a healthy dose of my blood. “Before this is over, I predict you’re going to be one tired reaper.”

  Before Ray could respond, Rourke jumped out of the plane, handing Marcy what she needed from the pilots. He turned his attention on us, calling, “Naomi and Ray, you guys take to the sky immediately. We need you up there to get a read on our situation. If there are any planes in the air, we need to know which direction they’re coming in from.”

  Ray nodded. “We’re on it. But by the time we come back, you need to be ready to vacate.”

  “We’ll be ready.” Rourke waded over to me. “You and I will shift, but if the planes are already on their way, they’ll fly low, sweeping the area. Seeing a wolf and a big cat racing through the marsh is going to be an epic red flag. So Ray’s right—we need to leave immediately, and once we do, we need to move fast.”

  “I have no doubt we can cover a lot of ground, but maybe Marcy can help us as well.” I turned and called, “Hey, is it possible for you to conceal our animal forms from humans if they fly over?”

  She looked up from the hank of hair she held in her hand—Rourke’s contribution to the DNA. “Nope. Sorry to disappoint you. In order to do that, I’d need to be strapped to your back—which would be completely hilarious, and I’d be totally up for it, but something tells me that wouldn’t be your thing. If I had an ingestible spell with me, it would be a different story. And can I just take a moment here to say that if I would’ve known ahead of time you were going to be pursued by the scariest, most ancient supes on the planet, I would have brewed up some potions.” She leaned forward and cupped her empty hand around her mouth. “And, just between us, even though I’m not officially allowed to brew my own spells yet, they rock. It’s against Coven rules for a non-member to brew, blah, blah, blah. But my spells are superior to anything those hacks can produce.”

  “I’m sure your spells are superior,” I said, “but you’re right, I’m not strapping you to my back, nor is Rourke. I’m sure we’ll be fine, but to ensure that we need to leave soon. Ray is going to fly you out and the plan is to meet up in two hours.”

  She sighed. “I despise Vamp Air, but I guess it can’t be helped. I can’t even think about the amount of bugs that will be caught in my teeth over these swamplands.”

  “Well, maybe it would help if you just keep your mouth shut—”

  Jessica! Can you hear me? Tyler’s voice came rushing into my mind.

  I grabbed Rourke’s hand and gave it a squeeze to let him know what was happening. Yes, I can hear you! Where are you?

  The better question is where are you? Both Danny and I got a huge pulse of distress from you a few minutes ago, and then it all went silent. What’s going on?

  “I do keep my mouth shut, so there,” Marcy muttered. “Other than the screaming part. Now I need your man to lift me into the plane so I can spell the pilots.”

  Rourke nodded as he moved past me. “Stay here. I’ll get the witch on the plane. Then we leave.”

  The plane we were in just went down. I’m sure that’s what you felt.

  Went down, as in crashed?

  Kind of, yes, I answered. It started with a strange call from Juanita warning me I was in danger, and then the electrical cut out. It would’ve been much worse if we didn’t have the vamps or Marcy on board. But now we’re stuck in the swamp. We have to get out of here before company comes. Where are you?

  Did you say Juanita? Your Latina neighbor—that Juanita? His voice was strained. I could sense he was running.

  One and the same.

  Jesus, Jess, it would be nice if you stayed out of life-and-death scenarios for five minutes.

  You’re telling me. I’d love nothing more than to go back to Rum Cay and leave all this crap behind, but unfortunately, that’s not a current option. Helping Dad is. Where are you? I’ve got limited time before I have to shift and run.

  We’re just crossing the panhandle into Florida. It’s slow going whenever we have to maneuver around a large city, but we’re making good time. We’ll probably be close to you in about four or five hours.

  Sounds good. Once we’re out of this area, I’ll hit you with our location. Stay safe.

  You too.

  Right as I signed off with my brother, Ray landed next to me.

  It took everything I had not to jump. “Jeez, Ray, a little warning would be helpful.”

  “You have supersonic hearing, Hannon,” Ray groused. “I shouldn’t have to announce my landing like a simpleton.”

  He was right, of course. But I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of admitting I should’ve heard him. “I was having a conversation with Tyler in my head. Sometimes our senses are busy elsewhere.” I hadn’t realized it before, but when I talked internally, I did shut off almost everything else. In the future, it would be wise to keep things more open.

  “Hannon, you have to stay vigilant, especially when the supernatural world is coming at you with a vengeance. What if I was some vamp coming to kill you? I would’ve had the jump on you just now.”

  “Spoken like a true cop, Ray. I guess some things never change.” I chuckled. “But since it’s daylight, and you and Naomi are some of the only vamps who can withstand the heat, thanks to my blood, I’m not super worried about a flying sneak attack.”

  “You never know, you just never know.” Ray shook his head like he was sorry to have to breathe the same air as such a moron.

  “Where’s Naomi?” I asked. “Wasn’t she with you?”

  “She went a little farther to investigate. We spotted one plane coming out of the east. Not sure yet if it’s headed this way.”

  “Once Marcy is finished with her spells, I want you guys to head out,” I said.

  “Directly north,” Ray said, “about thirty miles you’ll hit some dense sawgrass. The area is more exposed but looks easier to navigate and, from the sky, seems to have less water.”

  “That sounds good. We’ll rendezvous with you guys soon.”

  Marcy stuck her head out of the plane. “All done,” she chirped. “Now let’s get out of here. This swamp is making my skin crawl. Ray, can you come and get me? I don’t want to have to use another drying spell. I’m taxed.”

  Ray grunted but moved forward to get her. “I’m sorry, but did you just use your brute strength to stop an airplane from crashing? If you did, I missed you out on the wing.” Once he was positioned below her he said, “Jump and I’ll catch you.”

  “Fine, but if you drop me, I will retaliate.”

  “I’m not going to drop you, witch. You weigh next to nothing. And as long as you keep your mouth shut on the flight and don’t complain, the ride out of here will be stress free.”

  Marcy arched a look at the vamp. “You’d like me silent, wouldn’t you—” The you ended on a long, extended high note as Ray snatched her up, tired of waiting for her to make up her mind and agree with him, and took to the air.

  “They get along like Jekyll and Hyde,” I said as Rourke walked up to me, taking my hand and leading me to a place where we could shift. “I hope Marcy spelled
the area before Ray hijacked her. If not, we’ll leave tracks.”

  “She said she did,” Rourke said. “She also said we’d have exactly eight minutes after she left or it wouldn’t cover us.”

  A whooshing sound came from above two seconds before Naomi landed ten feet in front of us.

  “Did you see anything of note?” I asked, starting to disrobe in front of her.

  “Non, there was nothing. And I don’t believe there’s any hurry. It’s most peculiar, but it seems no one knows the plane went down. I found an airport in a city not too far from here. It would be a logical place to send out a search party, but there is no panic or activity whatsoever.”

  A plane doesn’t usually pop off the radar without someone knowing. “That’s great news for us, but bad for the pilots.” I glanced over at the damaged plane.

  Rourke nodded, and said, “Naomi, since there’s no immediate pursuit, I want you to fly to the closest town you can find and call the crash in. Be obscure about how you discovered the information and make sure you use a phone that can’t be traced back to us in any way. Snatch one from a human if you need to, and then meet up with Ray. We’ll see you in two hours.”

  “Oui, no problem,” Naomi said.

  “Also,” I added, handing her my shirt, “I want you to take our clothes after we shift. Tyler and Danny will need clothes too, once they arrive, which we hope will be in a few hours.” I eyed my mate’s white linen Bahamian outfit and tried to stifle a smile. They had been the only duds we could find on the island before we left. “Rourke will also need some… alternative clothing. Island linen isn’t his first choice.” He growled at my comment and I started peeling off my pants. I addressed my mate. “Tell her what size you need. She can stop somewhere after she calls in the crash.”

  “XXXL.”

  3

  Naomi left after we undressed, taking both sets of our clothes and my backpack from the plane. I called to Rourke, who had stationed himself behind the plane to disrobe so he wouldn’t embarrass Naomi. “Where do you want to shift?”