"I know of two my dear, actually they are the only two here in the states. If you would like to get out of the country, then you will need to ask them where they are when you get there. It would be too dangerous for me to use the crystals again so soon."
"Well, where are they?" Ciera managed to remember her manners, and asked the question in a more polite tone of voice, rather than demanding the answer. After all, she was trying to help them.
"Well, there is one in Nevada, and the other one is in Michigan," Alice said.
Ciera's eyes widened as she staggered back to the sofa and sat down with a flop. "Oh God, we were going the wrong way."
Mitch took her hand in his as he sat beside her. "It's all right, Ciera. We will just find the one in Nevada. We won't have to go anywhere near your family if we go that way. And besides, I don't think I would enjoy the winters much in Michigan," he smiled at her, and she laughed through her nerves.
"The cold doesn't bother vampires much, but I can see how you wouldn't enjoy their winters," she said. He glanced away from her quickly. Her mind had to be playing tricks on her. She could tell he was nervous, and something in the back of her mind was telling her that her assumptions of him wanting to become a vampire were true. She wouldn't ask him to do it. She wasn't sure if she could even do that to him if that was what he wanted. She hated being a vampire…but maybe that was because she didn't have anyone to share her eternity with. She shook her head. She would not burden Mitch with this life, no matter how much she wanted to be with him. His life was the one that mattered, not hers.
"Ciera?" Alice said, and Ciera blinked then looked up at the woman standing in front of her. She was holding out a piece of paper. She took it, and looked at the two maps drawn out before her. "The top one is the way to Nellie's, and the other is a map to your next destination. Memorize it now so I can destroy the evidence."
Ciera did as Alice asked and memorized the two maps. It only took a few seconds for her to get a mental picture, but she stashed it far away in her mind so Dane wouldn't pick up on it. The thought of Dane made her get to her feet. She was almost positive that he would know the places she had been, and maybe even the places she would go. She had to get out of here. She did have the advantage of moving around during the day, but they didn't have time to waste; he would still catch up with her. He was fast, and all he needed to do was figure out where she was heading next and he would head them off. Nevada was the best choice. If they chose Michigan, he would just be waiting for her arrival.
She looked at Alice, horrorstruck. "You need to get out of here, Alice. They will come for you and they will know you helped us," she pleaded.
She smiled sweetly as she took Ciera's hand, squeezing it gently. She didn't jump like she had gotten a bad premonition from the vampire, because she hadn't. She knew before she even met her that Ciera had a very good heart, and a soul that was still completely intact. She knew, from some of her visions, that there were some very nasty vampires out there in the world; some that had lost their souls before they had even been changed into a creature of the undead. "You needn't worry about me. I have lived a good life, and I have made my peace with God. If it is my time to go," she shrugged and smiled brightly, "then I am ready to go, Ciera."
Ciera stared at her in disbelief. If Alice died, it would be because she had led her family right to her. "No," she shook her head, and her eyes filled as she begged the woman to understand what would happen if she stayed here. "You have to come with us, Alice," she nodded as she realized that she really did want Alice to go with them. "Yes, please come with us. I will protect you the best I can. You will be safer with me than here all on your own. We may need your help again," she said as Alice shook her head. She knew she wasn't going to win this argument unless she picked the woman up and carried her out of there against her will; she knew she wouldn't do that.
"Go now, child. You are already late in starting your life with your young man. Three centuries too late," Alice said, and then turned away from Ciera and Mitch to walk back to the green chair.
A tear fell from Ciera's eye, and it was Mitch that took her hand and pulled her through the door. She let him do it because she knew it had to be done; she just couldn't do it on her own.
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Chapter 23
Mitch had helped Ciera to the vehicle, and then into the passenger seat. He was concerned for Alice as well, but only Ciera knew what kind of trouble the woman had heading her way, and how her family would torture the woman to get her to tell them the information they would need to find her. He would let her grieve for the woman who wasn't dead just yet.
"Do you know where I-67/167 is?" she asked him as she stared out the window. She knew exactly what Dane would do to Alice when he paid her a visit, and the memories of watching him do that to several other humans in the past made her skin crawl. She closed her eyes and waited for a response.
"I do. Is that where we are headed?"
She felt him look at her so she only nodded. She didn't need to let him know the whole map she was seeing in her head. Dane may have gotten close enough to Mitch last night to read his mind from far away, as he could read hers. If he knew exactly where they were headed, Dane may very well be waiting on them when they got there. She was getting a lot better at blocking him out. She couldn't do it entirely, but she could arrange it in her mind where he would have to work to get the information he wanted.
She sat upright and looked out the windshield as the world passed her by. She would worry about Alice if, and when, something happened to her. Maybe Dane wouldn't even come to Arkansas.
Just then her phone beeped. She took it from her back pocket and looked at the text. It was from Dane and it read: Come home, Ciera. Bring the human with you. It is inevitable what has to be done to him now, but you can still be saved. I won't let them hurt you. Love, Dane.
She rolled her eyes as she deleted the message. She didn't want Mitch using her phone and stumble across that text.
"Who was that?" Mitch asked, not like he was jealous and was demanding to know who was texting her, but rather like he was just interested to know. It occurred to her then that she hadn't told him anything about her family.
She hesitated only a moment before deciding it was best to go ahead and tell him. "It was Daneian. He was the guy back at your apartment. He wants me to come home and turn you in."
Mitch fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat a moment. "Why didn't you respond to him and," he cleared his throat, "what would you say if you did?"
Ciera looked aghast at him. He couldn't possibly think after all they had been through that she would just up and hand him over. "Please tell me that you don't think I would consider giving you over to my family."
"Would it save you?" he asked, and her eyes got even wider.
"Would you hand me over to the police if it would save your ass?" Her voice was getting loud, but she couldn't help it.
Not even a beat passed before his eyes shot to her and he responded, "You know I wouldn't."
"And you think I would?" She was staring at Mitch, but she could tell the vehicle was slowing down and headed for the shoulder of the road.
He threw the gear shift in park and looked out his window at the dark soybean field. Did he think she would? He wasn't sure. He knew he would die before he turned her over to the police to save his own ass, but she hadn't remembered telling him that she loved him. Or had she only said it because she knew that she was dying, and knew he needed to hear it before she left him here alone?
"Mitch," she said his name as if she was demanding an answer from him. He looked slowly back at her. "Do you actually think I would do that to you?"
He shook his head and sighed as he put the vehicle back in drive. She shoved it back in park, and stared hard at him.
"Don't make me enter your mind to figure out what's going on in that head of yours. I thought we were on the same page here. We are on our way to talk to a witch that may be able to protect us. Then we are
going to find one of the cities where vampires and humans coexist, so you can be safe. Is that not what you want to do?"
When he looked at her, he realized what he really wanted to do was kiss that panicked look right off her face. He sighed. "Is it what you want to do, Ciera?"
She blinked a few times then just stared at him. "I want to get you to safety, Mitch," she finally said.
"You didn't mention that you wanted to get yourself to safety. You will be staying with me there, right?" he asked, but she only looked at him. "Right, Ciera? Because, if you are just going to take me there to drop me off, there is no need for us to go any further."
He would change his mind once they got there, she thought. She could leave him in safety, and return to her family for the punishment that was waiting for her. She didn't want to lie to him now, but it was the only way to get him to drive. She forced herself to smile, but she could tell that Mitch wasn't buying it. "Of course, I will stay there and keep myself safe as well, Mitch. Why would you ask such a silly question?"
He seemed to relax a little, but she could see that he was still unsure if she was lying to him or not. She hadn't ever been good at lying. He put the Tahoe in drive and pulled back out onto the highway.
They had to get going. Nellie would be expecting them soon.
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Chapter 24
When Mitch got on the interstate, Ciera gave him the next direction. They needed to get off at exit 69, and take the gravel to the right to some little town called Possum Grape. He knew the area well. Long before he had become a cop, or even of age really, he would back road with a few of his buddies around here. He had drank many Bud Light on these roads, and there were probably still a few of his empties lost in the ditches where he had littered.
The one thing that he didn't know about this particular area was that a witch lived close by. He followed the directions that she would give every few minutes, and soon they were so far back in the woods that even he didn't recognize anything.
"Take a left here. Her house is about half a mile up the road," she said, and Mitch turned down the fourth gravel road he had turned down since they left the interstate. He really didn't know if this could actually even be called a road. It was dirt, with no sign of gravel ever having been there, and the weeds were grown up so high between the tire tracks that it looked as though no vehicle had come in or out of here in a year or so. The trees were severely crowding the edges, and every so often a short branch would scrape down the side of his Tahoe. He hoped she wasn't dead. If she wasn't, it was obvious she wanted people to think nobody lived this far back in the woods.
He could see a dim light through the trees up ahead, and he let out the breath he was holding in. Well, if she was dead, someone was still paying her electric bill. The house came into view. It wasn't run down like he expected. Actually, it was rather nice. It was a small white two-story house, and the porch was covered by the roof and went all the way around to the back. He couldn't tell anymore than that because of it being dark, but he did notice that the witch had very up-kept flowerbeds all over the front yard. He was thinking that she could trim those trees coming up her drive when the motion lights came on at the front of the house, temporarily blinding him.
He put his hand up so he could see to park beside a ninety-something model, full sized car. He cut the engine and looked over at Ciera. She had that not-so-sure-about-this-place look on her face.
"It'll be all right, or Alice wouldn't have sent us here."
She nodded, then opened her door. He got out and walked to the front of the car to lead her to the front porch.
They both froze when the familiar sound of a shell being loaded into a shotgun chamber sounded over the crickets chirping. Mitch held up the hand that wasn't in Ciera's. "We mean you no harm, Ma'am. Alice sent us to see you. She thought that maybe you could help us." He paused for a moment, but the dark figure didn't lower her weapon. "I'm a police officer, Ma'am. Could you please lower the shotgun?"
"You ain't no cop. I been watching the news. It said that you are wanted for twenty murders. Alice may have trusted the likes of you, but it don't mean I got to," Nellie said, and Mitch could have kicked himself in the ass for forgetting how these backwoods people were. They protected their own. They didn't require any assistance from the police until after they had filled trespassers full of lead. And then they may only dig a deep hole in the back yard and throw the intruder in it, without even bothering to pick up the phone to dial those three important numbers.
It was a good thing that he hadn't been born a Yankee. She may have shot him then and there for just having the wrong accent. He cleared his throat and tried again with his best southern accent. "I haven't killed anyone, Ma'am. I was framed for the murders a vampire has committed."
The barrel moved to Ciera, and he slowly stepped in front of her to take the bullet if the old woman felt the need to pull the trigger. "Heard she was a vampire?"
Mitch nodded. "Yes, Ma'am, she is a vampire, but she is trying to help me find the killer. She isn't bad."
"You 'spect me to believe that?" Nellie said harshly.
"Yes, Ma'am, I do. We mean you no harm, really. We only want to know if you can help us. There are some rather nasty vampires looking for the both of us, and they will kill Ciera and me when they find us."
"Two less troublemakers in the world to deal with, is the way I see it."
"I can pay you for your services," Ciera said as she switched places with Mitch, putting him behind her.
There was only the sound of the bugs and a small animal walking in the leaves of the woods nearby. It took Nellie a few moments to respond. "How much?" she spat out.
"I'll give you a thousand dollars cash right now if you can protect us from my family and the police. If we make it to our destination, I will send you another two thousand in the mail." She waited a few seconds. "Cash."
"You gonna kill me if I don't help you?"
"No, if you can't help us then we will get back in our vehicle and be on our way."
"I didn't say that I can't do it," Nellie said, shortly.
"Well if you refuse, that is what we will assume. You might as well put that damn gun down, too. Shooting me won't do anything but piss me off…and you don't want me pissed off, lady." She said it for Mitch's benefit as well, to let him know that he was safer behind her than in front of her. She didn't need him getting shot. She wasn't a doctor, for crying out loud, and going to a hospital was completely out of the question. Hel-lo, wanted serial killer here.
Nellie lowered her shotgun. "Well, y'all might as well come on in. I'm gettin' tired standin' round out here, yacking. I'm an old lady, ya know."
"Yes, Ma'am," Mitch said as he led Ciera up the steps and into the house. They weren't going to get a better invitation than that.
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Chapter 25
"I don't take checks," Nellie said, clearly announcing that she was ready to see some green. "It messes with my Social Security check, ya know. It would probably bounce anyway, comin' from you." She gave Ciera a disgusted look and turned her nose up like she was better than the vampire.
Ciera reached in her back pocket and pulled out a thick stack of hundred dollar bills. "I don't carry checks."
Nellie's mouth fell open at the sight of all the money, and she actually licked her lips. There must have been five or six thousand dollars there in the vampire's hand. Ciera counted out ten of the Benjamins, and handed them out to Nellie. She grabbed them quickly, but her focus was still on the fat stack in Ciera's hand. "You could go ahead and pay me the other two thousand now. It would save you a stamp."
Ciera stuck the money back in her pocket. "If we live, you will get it."
Nellie scowled, then walked out of the room. She returned seconds later, holding two necklaces. She held them out to Mitch, and he took them. "Wear these at all times. I cast a spell on them to protect the wearer. Your energy will be different, so the vampires will not be able to lo
cate you, and your looks will even appear slightly different. Put them on and look in the mirror over there. You will see what I mean."
Ciera noticed that the old witch's grammar and vocabulary wasn't as bad as she'd been letting on.
She took the necklace Mitch offered and slipped it over her head. It was made out of some type of hair and different colored stones.
Ciera focused on Mitch as his features changed before her very eyes. Only a moment before, he'd had dark brown hair; it was now sort of an ash blond. His eyes, that were once dark-brown, were now green. Even the structure of his face was different. His nose was a little longer and his cheek bones were higher. She turned her head to the side and looked at him with a smile. "I like the old you better."
There was a mischievous glint in his eye, and he leaned his face down by her ear. "I like the old you better as well."
Ciera's head shot in the direction of the mirror, and she stared at the woman looking back at her. She had been too focused on Mitch's change to realize that she'd also been changing. She didn't feel any different, but she touched her face, and the reflection did to. Hers had once been more of a softer tone, like a sun-kissed beach at sunrise. What surprised her most was the bright red of her hair. Her cheek bones were also higher, and she felt them in disbelief. Her eyes were still green, but not the same color green that she knew to be her own. They were more of a jade green, and went lovely with her strikingly bright red curls that fell over her shoulders. She was stunning. Mitch walked up beside her, she knew it was him, but she didn't recognize him at all. She closed her eyes and tried to feel him beside her. She couldn't sense a thing in the house except for the old woman, two cats, a parrot, and a mouse behind the stove.
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