The cattle.
She turned to William, willing her pulse to slow. “I need to change and use the restroom,” she lied smoothly, her pulse sluggish. Why it was cooperating now, when in the plane it had been fluttering uncontrollably while he'd been touching her? Julia didn't know, and didn't care. She was that close to freedom. She wasn't blowing it for anything.
Pierce waited, and William ran his hand through his inky hair, making it spike. Turning that smoldering intensity to Julia, he said, “All right, but Pierce will need to stand guard outside of the bathroom until I can get our comrades here to escort you to the car.”
Comrades. Translation: vampires.
Julia lifted an eyebrow. Smart of him. He was going to leave her with good old Pierce while he got a few more of the vampire crew up here so the precious Blood Singer couldn't get away.
Real circumspect, guys. They thought they were so smart. Well, the element of surprise was the only thing she had, and she was using it.
“Where am I gonna go?” Julia pointed out.
William's eyes narrowed on her, and Julia held her breath. He seemed to really deliberate until Pierce broke the swollen moment. “Just go. I will stand guard, and you will return with the additional runners.” He rolled his broad shoulders in a dismissive shrug.
William palmed his chin. “Fine.” He turned to Pierce. “Be sharp, be vigilant. Even now, they may be about.”
Julia looked around, expecting gnomes, trolls or both to pop up around her.
“The werewolves,” Pierce clarified in a low voice.
True—there was that to consider.
Pierce took her elbow and she walked to the restroom with him. When she glanced over her shoulder, William's form was a speck down the choked corridor.
*
Julia threw the bag on the bathroom-floor stall, kicked off her flip-flops, and dragged out the skirt, boots, and shirt she'd cropped the night before. It would bare some skin, but she'd brought a jacket for coverage. She grabbed the box of black hair dye she'd nabbed from underneath the vampiresʼ bathroom sink. She rushed to the sink and began to chop her long, ginger-colored hair to shoulder length.
Another girl beside her leaned back and said, “Uh, what are you doing?” She snapped gum, watching as the hair piled at Julia's feet in a heap of spun honey.
Julia met her eyes in the reflection of the mirror. “What does it look like?”
The girl's eyes narrowed. “Butchering your hair like a dumbass.”
Julia smiled—she couldn't help it. Yeah she was. But it was necessary.
The girl took a hard look at Julia. Then, shaking her head, she walked away, giving Julia a last look that said, Crazy bitch.
Yeah, that was her all right. The plastic scissors didn't help with that. She couldn't bring the real ones on the plane. She stopped up the sink and mixed the black dye. Lathering it in, she watched as her hair—almost blond with a hint of red—became a mass of black. It utterly changed how she looked.
The boots made her five-seven instead of five-four. She was taller, wearing different clothes, and had black hair that was eighteen inches shorter than when she'd entered the bathroom.
She had the money she'd had on her the day that she was taken. Julia opened her palm and looked at the lonely thirty dollars, five dimes, and one penny.
She made a fist with her hand and stuffed the change back in the pocket of her skirt. She grabbed her toiletry bag as if it were a purse, and made her departure when there was a pair of women exiting the bathroom.
Julia dipped her head and walked out, the hair still wet underneath and clinging to the nape of her neck like cold fingers.
*
Julia kept her head down and her legs moving, her heart racing far beyond the effort she was expending. She clutched her toiletry bag under her arm and kept walking.
She was exiting security just as William and the runners were passing through. Julia could hear his voice, and she didn't turn. But she swore she felt a hesitation in his speech and a scorching gaze that she did not see but felt pass over her.
And then she was outside in the drizzle, the clouds making shapes across a full moon, twenty cabs in sight.
Julia hailed the first one. Closing the door behind her she said, “Get me to the closest bus depot.”
The cabby turned around to look at her. “To where?” he asked, his voice accented, a turban on his head. Julia tried not to stare.
“Away.”
“Humph!” He slammed the flag that started the meter at two bucks.
They pulled away from the curb, and Julia hazarded a look behind her.
Her mind recoiled in terror as she saw William and Pierce and, beside them, two runners.
Vampires.
Their noses were in the air, scenting it.
Searching for her.
CHAPTER NINE
Vegas
Julia and Jason were kind of arguing. He thought Elvis was classic, and she thought he was… well, creepy.
“Listen Jules. Everyone who comes to Vegas has to get married in front of Elvis. I'm just saying.” He spread his hands as if to say you see my logic.
Actually, she didn't. She looked up at the rendering of the oversized, pudgy singer. Elvis, with his clown-red mouth and tassels and studs on a grotesquely distended belly was not the image she wanted at her wedding—even if they were in cheesy Vegas. Even if they had stolen away to get married.
Jason planted his hands on his hips. “Okay. I can see you don't see that Elvis is the symbol of vegas.” His eyebrows rose, and Cyn giggled.
“I think he looks pretty gay, Jason,” Kevin said, smoothly siding with Julia.
“Thanks for the love, you ass,” Jason said.
Kev barked out a laugh. “Anytime, pal.”
Beaten, Jason looked over the small pamphlet of chapels, finding a few more on the list. His eyes—hazel with flecks of green in the brown—shifted to Julia. “The only thing you don't want is him?” He jerked his thumb toward icky Elvis.
Cynthia rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Jason. No chunky monkey in white polyester. It's a no-go.”
He glared at her, and Julia said, “Yeah, that.”
Jason sighed. He and Kevin put their heads together as Cyn gave Julia, a look from head to toe. “Glad I could get you out of those fugly boots, Jules.”
Julia smiled, Cyn had outdone herself. Julia didn't look great in white, but Cyn had explained, “You've earned white, virgin princess, but let's work with the weirdness that is your complexion.” Julia had rolled her eyes, letting Cyn transform her.
Julia caught sight of herself in what could only be described as a fun-house mirror. Her long dress grazed the floor, spiky ivory heels peeking out from underneath the hem, a platform gracing the bottom. Cyn had pinned her hair in an elegant updo, leaving a few wisps hanging down.
A row of creamy pearls with a champagne-colored wash encircled the base of her throat. They'd been her mother's.
A lump gathered in her throat, and she looked away from the reflection of her sweetheart neckline, satin and lace colliding in a fine webbing that cradled her breasts.
The absence of her parents on this important occasion was best left to future reflection.
Like, never.
Jason had dressed in a deep-navy suit, his tie a subtle crimson, a slash of color against his shirt.
Julia thought it looked a little like blood against the backdrop of white, and she shivered as a subtle feeling of foreboding stole over her. It was shattered when Jason flashed his smile, stabbing the pamphlet with his finger. “Found it, babe!”
Julia leaned forward, and he drew her in next to his body. She looked at the page he was pointing to.
“Gnome Chapel.”
She cocked her brows. “Really, Jason?” He smiled, nodding.
“That's just switching out one creepy audience member for another,” Cynthia said with revulsion.
“Nah, baby,” Kevin said, pulling her tight against him and pressing a kis
s to her temple, almost crushing the bouquet of lavender flowers she held.
“Hey! Watch the flowers, graceless.” Cyn giggled.
Kevin grabbed the bouquet, jerking it up over his head and slamming his lips against hers, his free arm coming around her back and pressing her harder against him.
Julia had agreed that gnomes were creepy, too. She'd looked up at the bigger-than-life-sized Elvis statue and sighed.
Choices, choices. But anything is better than Elvis.
****
Now
Julia leaned her head back against the scummy seat of the cab, fingering the fine chain at her neck, the sterling sliding with her restless stroking. The chain held a ring.
Tears threatened to fall as Julia thought of the symbol of eternal love. Jason had insisted on buying the rings. He had purchased bands of indestructible tungsten—a metal made of carbide, gunmetal gray and polished to a mirrorlike shine. He had said it couldn't be scratched, dented or bent.
Like their love.
"Perfect," he'd said, squeezing her as he had slipped it onto her finger. Their clergy in the Chapel of the Gnomes had been smiling at them, his mouth full of missing teeth.
Vegas, a class act.
She didn't want a big diamond. She just wanted him. He'd said that later, after they got settled, he'd get her something to go with the plainness of the band.
He would never have the opportunity to make good on that promise.
The cabbie stopped a scant five minutes after they'd left the terminal.
“I let you off here. Eight dollars,” he said without verbs.
Julia frowned. Don't speak English, fine by me. But be civil. She handed him a twenty, and he gave her the change.
She slid out of the taxi and found herself on a cement sidewalk surrounded by a wall of people. She didn't make eye contact with anyone but went to the first bus she saw and showed the driver her five bucks, six dimes and one penny.
“How far?” she asked.
He searched her face. “How far do ya need to go?” he asked, kindness in his eyes.
Julia paused, aware of a line forming behind her. “As far as this will get me,” she said, leaving it in his hands.
He nodded. “Let's play it by ear, okay miss?”
She nodded, so grateful for the unexpected kindness that she felt her eyes glisten again. She had turned into an absolute crybaby. All it took was him saying that one phrase Aunt Lily had used, and Julia's home, which was so far away, came to the forefront of her consciousness. She swiped at the wetness on her cheeks and gave him a watery smile as she moved to the back of the bus.
She sank down in the seat, putting her knees up on the seat in front of her, and looked out the window. As she gazed through the filthy glass, the bus pulled away in a plume of noxious exhaust, leaving the depot for parts unknown.
Julia shut her eyes, remembering.
*
Jason had kicked open the door of their hotel room, and it had slammed against the wall. Julia had shrieked laughter as he crossed the threshold, her dress swirling around their bodies. He slapped the door closed behind them and dumped her on the bed.
She almost bit her tongue—she was laughing so hard—but managed not to by a slim margin.
They'd used fake IDs and had had quite a bit to drink, and Jason was stubbornly hanging on to the notion that they could wait one more night until they were in their new apartment in Anchorage.
“I don't want our first time to be in a seedy motel in Vegas, Jules,” he said, dragging his lips down her neck in a path to her collarbone then pressing them against her mouth again. The pearls getting in the way of his mouth, he moved them aside with a finger and lavished her with his attention.
Julia didn't care that it was seedy. She pulled him down into the cradle of her body.
Her husband.
The word had a surreal quality. She tried to grab onto the newness of it, but it slid through her mind like smoke.
He smiled down at her, his tie askew, his muscular arms pressing her to him.
He nuzzled her neck, “No,” he whispered. “We wait until we are in our home.” Jason wanted everything to be perfect for her and said she was worth it. At home, there would be no booze to muddle their thoughts, and they'd be in their own digs.
Julia sighed with frustration. “I had awesome lingerie!”
He raised an eyebrow. “Cyn?”
Julia caved. “Yeah, it was her idea.” She smiled sheepishly.
“But you still bought it?”
She nodded, blushing. Just thinking about the skank ensemble Cyn had approved made her flush with embarrassment.
“Wow, it must be hot, judging by that look.” He searched her face, running a tender finger over her cheekbone.
“We have the rest of our lives. Let me hold you next to me all night. That'll be a first, along with a ton of other stuff.”
They grinned at each other.
Julia had thought she could live with that plan. Patience, she thought.
But they hadn't had the rest of their lives. It was her biggest regret: she'd never been with Jason even once.
*
Julia woke with a start, darkness all around her. She was completely disoriented and swallowed the scream that rose in her throat as someone leaned over her, gently shaking her shoulder.
It was just the bus driver. Her memories came flooding back.
Escape.
No money.
Going nowhere.
“We're here,” he said softly.
Julia rubbed her eyes. “What time is it?” she croaked, her voice rusty after sleeping so hard.
He looked at the humungous watch on his wrist. “Straight up five o'clock.” He looked at her, straightening. “My shift's done, and we've traveled my whole route. Twice. This is the end of the road.”
Julia looked up at the sign that read, “Valley Bus Transport. Welcome to Kent.”
“Where is this?”
He looked around. “It's Kent,” he pointed to the sign. “Outside Seattle.”
Julia had familiarized herself with the Seattle region and understood immediately the driver had just kept her safe and warm in the bus while she slept part of the night away, driving in a big circle.
She stood, looking at him. “Thank you.”
He nodded. “You got a place to go?”
She shook her head.
“I can give you a ride to a women's shelter.”
Women's shelter? Is that what he thinks I need?
He watched as emotions ran through her, and he slowly nodded. “Yeah, I think you're running. I think you're running from a man.”
No, not a man. But it was close enough.
He didn't want to know what she was really running from.
“It's a deal,” she said, deciding to take her chances with the human.
It was better than the alternative.
She walked out of the bus with him.
CHAPTER TEN
William
William took in the filth of the air, his acute senses filtering the smells that did not concern him.
There were many, but amongst those, there was a faint taste on the air.
Julia's.
He swiveled his head in Pierce's direction, his nostrils flaring as they transitioned from scenting to anger. Pierce had been a dolt, letting her slip by. His anger rode him hard, making his body tenser—even more than was typical for him.
Every moment she was alone left her vulnerable to attack. By the pungency of her aroma—and the scent of his blood, still in her to the slightest degree—he judged she was within a fifty-mile radius and east of their current position.
He opened the door to the SUV, leaving the bus depot behind them without a backward glance.
“East,” William commanded to the runner who had met them. His eyes met Pierce's in the rear view mirror.
They sped off, the blackness of the SUV melting into the night.
*
Julia
He gave her an awkward pat on her head and told her to take care of herself.
She turned as she heard the engine roar in his pickup truck and then soften as he pulled away. Julia looked around. The moon was full, its brightness and the yellowish glow of the streetlight making Julia feel strangely vulnerable, on display. She clutched her toiletry bag tighter and moved toward the building.
Julia walked through the door, passing under a sign at the threshold of the that read, "Freedom Affirmed." Once inside, she found a receptionist on duty. Her hair was in a severe bun, glasses perched on the end of her nose. It was her eyes, full of knowledge gained from hard experience, that finally relaxed Julia.
Eyes that were seasoned tended to ease her.
“Hello dear,” the receptionist said in a pleasant voice, her birdlike eyes taking in Julia's appearance. Julia was aware of all her odd look—her dyed hair, the crazy getup, the lack of luggage. She guessed she was pretty much fitting whatever stereotype there was.
“Hi.”
The woman raised an eyebrow as she came around the desk to greet Julia. “I'm Shirley.” She stuck her bony hand out and Julia took it, giving it a gentle shake. Shirley's eyes searched hers and finally she said, “I guess you need a place to stay for the night?”
Julia nodded. Only one night? Crap. She'd have to figure it out day by day.
Shirley must have seen how dejected she felt. “We offer transitional services. We will help you find a job, another residence.”
Julia sighed. She was terrified of William and Pierce finding her. It wasn't rational. After all, once she got on the bus, her trail disappeared.
Or that was what she told herself.
But Julia had been with the vampires for almost a year, and their five senses were beyond normal human capacity. Julia remembered how easy everything was for them. William was a runner, chosen specifically for tracking.
He was engineered to find her.
Julia shuddered, and Shirley gave her a look of sympathy, misinterpreting it completely. She took Julia's arm, and they walked together to her room.
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