"I do," Jeremy said and leaned in to kiss her. "We just don't quite have the time for what you have in mind. You still need to pack and we need to get going."
Amelia kissed him back, then turned toward the closet and set about packing with her usual efficiency. Jeremy watched her for a moment and had to shake his head to come back to reality. He sighed and did his best to mentally prepare himself for going back into the living room and being amidst Stephen and Veronica and the tension between them. It was hard to place exactly what was wrong, but the air around the married couple was thick. Jeremy felt as if he could almost taste it.
"I'm headed back out there," Jeremy said.
"Good luck," Amelia whispered back.
Jeremy opened the door and stepped out into the dining room. He looked quickly to his left and saw Veronica and Stephen sitting as far apart from one another as the room would allow, neither looking at the other and neither of them smiling. The television was on and Stephen had the remote control in his hand. He flipped through the stations without really seeing what he was looking at, the pace of his finger hitting buttons much faster than his eyes could register what he was seeing on each station.
"She’ll be ready in a few minutes," Jeremy said.
Veronica and Stephen both jumped a bit at the sound of his voice and seemed to snap out of some kind of trance, as though an electric current ran beneath their seats and Jeremy had triggered the shock. They both looked at Jeremy and then smiled as if both of them had rehearsed this exact scene. It was like watching two automatons. Stephen put down the remote.
"If she's anything like me, she'll take forever," Veronica said.
"She has an amazing ability to get packed in record time," Jeremy said. "I predict we will be on the road in fifteen minutes."
Fifteen minutes later Amelia emerged with a single suitcase. Veronica made a number of comments about how she could never survive with just one suitcase, even for a weekend, and that she would have taken much longer. Stephen responded by rolling his eyes several times when he thought Jeremy wasn’t looking. They made their way downstairs and packed up the car.
"You want me to drive?" Stephen asked. "I bet I can get us there in under four hours."
"Forgive me, but I want to get there alive rather than quickly," Jeremy said.
"I second that," Veronica said.
Amelia laughed as she climbed into the passenger seat and fixed her seat belt. Jeremy took the driver's seat and Stephen and Veronica managed to squeeze into the back seat. Jeremy glanced in the mirror and saw his friend’s hands barely touch for a fraction of a second. Both of them reacted as though they had been burned. They proceeded to fold their hands in their laps and stare out of their respective windows, facing away from each other.
Jeremy started the car and found a station on the radio he could live with. He had a feeling that there was going to be little in the way of conversation. He wondered if there were any car games he could think of before the silence drove them all crazy. With luck, he figured, Stephen and Veronica would fall asleep. He glanced over at Amelia and saw concern on her face, a quick wrinkling of her forehead, and then she winked at him.
Jeremy glanced in his rear view mirror and pulled into the traffic. They were on the highway in a short amount of time, and not long after that the Chicago skyline was gone and wilderness beckoned.
CHAPTER THREE: INTO THE DARKNESS
Demon stood over the man’s remains and licked blood from his muzzle. Further under the porch, Delilah lay licking her chops as well. Between her paws was a bone she’d wrenched from the meat. Blood spattered her face and muzzle, too.
Demon sniffed around the corpse and decided there was nothing more of interest. He moved out into the yard, into the sunlight, and looked around at the chopped grass. It displeased him. He missed the hiding potential of the long grass now it was gone.
He moved over to the vehicle the dead man had arrived in. Noises still came from inside, but Demon sniffed around the vehicle and then urinated on it to make sure everyone would know it was his. He had defeated the owner and, by rights, it now belonged to him.
He made his way toward the open driver-side door. Voices came from there. He bared his teeth and growled. There were no scents in there to indicate more humans, so the voices were confusing. Demon tilted his head to the side just as a roar came from the radio. He bared his teeth again and growled. Once again there were no scents to indicate that there were people inside the vehicle.
He did not understand the vehicle or the sounds. He walked away from the truck over to the small shed behind the house. He urinated on the corner of the shed again as he had repeatedly done over the past few weeks. He felt the need to mark his territory again, since this intrusion had happened despite the fact he had clearly marked the area already.
Demon’s nose twitched as he took the scent of the air again. He could smell humans all around, but they seemed a long way off. He listened and could hear nothing that indicated humans close to his domain or heading towards him. He could hear small animals moving in the forest and could smell the trails they left behind as they scurried through the underbrush. Nothing smelled or sounded like a threat.
Demon leaned his head back and howled. Once again he announced that this place, and the territory surrounding it, was his to defend. He had already eliminated one threat and he sent out the howl as a warning that he would do so for as long as he had to. He listened a little longer and heard only the breeze and some birds taking flight by the lake. This territory was his and he wanted to make sure that everyone and everything around knew it. This place belonged to him and his mate. Demon and Delilah would defend it to the death.
***
Crossing from Illinois into Wisconsin was always an interesting adventure, Jeremy thought to himself as the car flew past the border. Right across the border from Illinois, on the way to Milwaukee, is Kenosha. In between Kenosha and Milwaukee is Racine. Between those two is a strange collection of cheese shops, stores filled with knick-knacks and souvenirs, and adult bookstores.
"We should stop at this cheese place," Stephen said. "Nothing says Wisconsin quite like a place devoted entirely to cheese."
"We don't have time," Jeremy said. "I want to get there before it’s too dark."
"Don't punish all of us just because you're lactose intolerant," Stephen said with a laugh.
"I'm not punishing anyone," Jeremy replied. "I just have a schedule to keep."
"You and your schedules," Stephen said. "It's because you don't have a TiVO that you insist on keeping to schedules."
"Don't start with me on that again," Jeremy said.
"Yes, please," Veronica replied. "The last thing I need is to listen to you two argue about technology."
"Well, the guy has a cell phone and a television, but the television isn't a flat screen. He has a computer but no TFT monitor. He has a modern car but he doesn't have a GPS. Finally, he doesn't have a TiVO, and I have no idea how anyone can live without that."
"They're all nice things to have, I admit," Jeremy said. "However, I still think they’re luxuries and not necessities. When you have the disposable income to buy them, then fine, but otherwise a person can make do just fine without them."
"Plebeian." Stephen sighed. "I bet with a GPS you could find a way to get off the road, make it to the cheese place and then find a much quicker alternative route."
"What, a GPS bends time and space?" Jeremy said. "If that's the case, then I really should invest in one."
“Well, it comes pretty close to doing just that,” Stephen said.
Veronica and Amelia laughed. Stephen did his eye-rolling gag again and then gazed longingly out the window at the passing cheese shop. There was one cheese place after another for several hundred yards and then they passed by on the left and disappeared in the distance.
"Do you have a cell phone?" Stephen asked.
"Oh no, here we go again," Veronica sighed.
"Yes," Jeremy said.
&n
bsp; "And you have a television?" Stephen asked.
"Yes, but not one with a satellite dish, as you will likely point out."
"Okay, but you have a computer with a high-speed internet connection, right?"
"Yes, you know I do. You helped set up the computer and the wireless connection," Jeremy said.
"I think if you stop and think about it you'll feel like a GPS and TiVO are just as necessary in today's society as those things," Stephen finished with a look of triumph.
"And I still say that those things are all nice to have but hardly necessities to exist," Jeremy said. "I think that to fully exist you need to have a cell phone and you need to have an internet connection. You can still sit in front of your television when your shows are on and watch them and it's no big deal. In this day and age, there are other places and other ways to watch shows if you miss them. Also, there are things like online maps and routes that you can use if you need directions. I just don't see how they really compare. Maybe someday, but not right now."
"Can we please shut up about this before you start arguing if baseball or hockey is better?" Amelia said. "Maybe we can listen to some music."
"No country," Jeremy and Stephen said in unison.
Amelia jumped back. "Sheesh, fine. I'll find something else. We have to be able to pick up some of the Milwaukee stations by now."
Amelia flipped through the bands until she found one with rock and roll playing. She gave Jeremy a look and then reached out and squeezed his hand, before settling back against her seat. Jeremy smiled back at her and glanced in his rear view mirror. Veronica and Stephen were still not looking at each other or touching. Stephen was looking out one window, unhappy and aggravated, and Veronica was looking out the other window with a look of sorrow and frustration glued to her face.
"You guys gonna be okay back there?" Jeremy asked.
Stephen blinked and looked up at Jeremy. "Fine. Just a little tired, maybe."
"We have a long ride ahead of us yet," Jeremy said. "Feel free to take a nap or something."
Stephen smiled back at Jeremy in the mirror. Jeremy nodded. He couldn't see Veronica’s face since it was facing the window, but he felt a certain lightening of the tension in the air. He saw Stephen rest his head against the seat back and close his eyes.
Jeremy turned his attention back to the road. The sun was starting to make its way back down toward the horizon outside his window. Ahead of him the road stretched on, filled with cars going and coming. On either side of the road there was nothing but fields. Ahead of them all, somewhere miles ahead, was the cottage. Jeremy couldn't wait to get there.
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COPYRIGHT
***AN SG Young Adult RELEASE***
Part of the SALGAD PUBLISHING GROUP
www.SALGADPUBLISHING.com
SAPPHIRE copyright 2013 by Bryan W. Alsapa
www.BRYANWALASPA.com
Cover Art Copyright 2013 Stephen Bryant
www.SRBPRODUCTIONS.net
Editing provided by Ashley Davis
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the consent of the publisher, except where permitted by law.
Table of Contents
Book Summary
Author’s Note:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Other Books by Bryan
Vicious
Copyright
Table of Contents
Dedication
Author’s Note:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Other Books by Bryan W. Alaspa
EXCERPT-Vicious
EXCERPT- Chapter Two: The Road Ahead
EXCERPT-Chapter Three: Into the Darkness
Copyright
Sapphire: A Paranormal Romance Page 34
