“A devoted Hero and Bard.” Sincerity glazed the steely words. “I swore to be a shield in the darkness.”
Swinging a barbel like a mace, the phantasm surged in a cloud of wiggling appendages toward the vampires. Kristoff knocked Lucas out of the warpath.
Red focused on the levitation grids. There was still one more dagger left. She sent it rocketing toward Trudy.
A stretched shadow antenna slapped it uselessly to the ground. The wraith jetted toward Red.
“Fuck.” Red ripped her snubby revolver from her hunter’s kit, aiming it Trudy. She didn’t let herself think. She knew she wouldn’t pull the trigger if she did.
Solid masculine bulk toppled into her, knocking the wind and the gun out of her hand. Rolling over, nails ready to gouge eyeballs, Red gasped.
Ezra straddled her, pinning her shoulders. Desperation crinkled the corners of his eyes. “Not my mom!”
“Ezra!” Trudy reared back.
“What the hell!” Red slapped Ezra, then shoved him to the side and stumbled to her feet.
The floating monstrosity grew into a thunderhead. A howl broke over the ghost town from the graveyard on the hill. Pages flapped from the glowing grimoire.
Curling her fingers into a fist, Red channeled the element of air and yanked the golden poker chip off Trudy’s neck. She couldn’t be allowed to return and lie about whatever happened here. Red caught the chip one handed. She dodged giant tentacle slaps on her way to the Millennium Falcon.
Tossing the boombox aside, she climbed into the glass-studded driver’s seat, jamming the keys into the ignition. The van flared to life despite the bullet wounds. The wheels swerved around Trudy’s bone circle. Without cold iron to neutralize it, breaking the ritual would only unleash the creature. She pressed the button to automatically open the side door, driving toward the vampires.
Kristoff and Lucas leapt into the back.
Red sped out of the main street, spinning on squealing wheels toward the portal. She shook, palm sweaty around the poker chip as she sped forward. To awaken the portal, she tried to visualize the gigantic Pyramid Hall and the maze of laboratories. It had to be clear, Perenelle warned her. This was a new, unstable portal. She just wanted to be as close to home as she could be. Blue skies over a creek flickered through her memories of the academy in Las Vegas.
The Millennium Falcon charged into the growing portal circle. Light enveloped the van. They shot through violet thunderheads in a treacherous cosmos on the long portal road. Reality stretched in the pure silence. Letting off the gas, Red tightened her hold on the shaking steering wheel. Her cheeks rippled from the G-force. A purple solar flare exploded beyond the cracked windshield. They glided downward through the nebula.
Landing smooth as a sparrow, the van rolled out of the portal into a darkened meadow. Streaks of snow fringed the grass. The half-moon reflected in a bubbling stream. Deer bounded away for the tree line. Panting, Red put the engine in park. She rubbed her sweating face.
Kristoff grinned, leaning his elbow on her seat. “That was fun. Let’s take the Lambo in it next time.”
Voice low and spooked, Lucas stated the obvious. “This isn’t Sin City.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Even through the bullet-cracked windshield, the meadow looked serene in the moonlight. A stream wound along a dirt road. The air smelled fresh and crisp after a light February snowfall. Far off headlights of highway traffic diffused on the tree line. The brilliance of the portal still sparkled in the corners of her eyes. She flipped her spirit gaze off, fighting off the queasiness of the rough ride after not detecting any unusual energies.
“I thought that was a one-way portal.” Lucas opened the side door, sticking his head out.
“I think I confused it. It wasn’t exactly ready. Where the hell did I take us?” Red flipped on the radio, twisting the dial past the static. The final notes of a pop song faded as a DJ started to hype up the airwaves.
Your faves from the 90s to today… Right now. 104.6 K-DUKE. Eugene, Oregon’s place for the hits!
“That’s bloody random,” Lucas said. “Eugene?”
“We’re far outside it. I know this place.” Voice trailing, Red climbed out of the Millennium Falcon. She darted to the stream and looked up at the stars. The first thing she remembered when she opened her eyes for the first time was an airplane in this exact sky. She still didn’t know why she cried from joy to see it. That first memory was as solid as yesterday. “Coyote Creek. This is where Vic found me.”
“Why here?” Kristoff asked, scrutinizing the meadow.
“I wanted to be close to home. Maybe I wasn’t specific enough. The portal must have decided.” Red crouched, legs trembling, and touched the chilly wet grass. She had nearly bled out in this spot.
After a year and some change, the earth had dissolved any trace. She had returned many times after she had been found to comb the creek bed for clues. Learned nothing. No tracks, no missing person reports. She had promised after the last time that she was done panning for clues with the desperation of a hungry gold prospector. Now she was back. What that meant, she didn’t have the bandwidth to understand.
Suddenly realizing that Lucas was talking to her, she refocused on the present and found her manners. “Thanks for texting Vic.”
“The local supreme isn’t exactly my biggest fan,” Kristoff said. “We need to drive on. We can be in my territory before sunrise.”
“With that windshield?” Red shook her head. “I’m thrashed from magic. Lucas needs to feed. There’s a motel nearby. Let’s stop and regroup. Even if Trudy guessed the portal went somewhere else, she can’t scry for me.”
“That Bard has other tricks,” Kristoff said. “I felt her magic locking my limbs. Not with the grip of a necromancer, but strong.”
“She looks ready to drop, mate.” Lucas gestured to Red. “That’s the big gun in this fight. Not your fancy entourage in Portland.”
Kristoff clenched his jaw, stalking back to the van, already pulling out his phone. “I’ll make arrangements on the way.”
Red drove onto a lonely country mile toward the highway. Deer sprinted away from the headlamps. The cracked windshield made the ride feel longer as she drove with her head out of the window to see.
Vic sent a short update that Lashawn was in the academy’s intensive care unit, being put into a supernatural coma to administer emergency treatment to purge the contagion from the werewolf bites. The Gendarme had gone into the Battle Forge portal and only found the bodies of the Lopes siblings. He sent a longer text about how he was right about Trudy being a backstabber. She let him have the ‘I told you so.’
They split up at the motel. Red dug supplies from the damaged van while Kristoff dealt with the front desk to get a room. She didn’t like to think about exactly where Lucas went to go feed. On this lonely stretch of highway, there wasn’t anything else besides the one-story motel with a spartan line of doors on either side and the dimly lit two-pump gas station beside it.
Feeling silly since the windows were broken, Red locked up the van after hoisting a duffle bag over her shoulder. Kristoff was easy to find at the end of the row of doors. She could have kissed him when she noticed the small pizza box in his hands. “Where did you get that?”
“Gas station. Lucas isn’t the only one who needs to feed.” Kristoff opened the door for her.
Faux wood paneled like a hunting lodge, it wasn’t much beyond a bathroom and the two beds with hunter green duvets. A detailed map of Oregon was the sole decoration. Red shook the last of the grainy glass particles off her bag before she entered the room and set it down. She peeled off her leather jacket, wincing at the pain in her wrist. After washing her hands and the ringed burn in the bathroom, she tended to it on the bed. The smell of pepperoni in the box beside her drove her wild.
Kristoff checked out the room. He tested the wall’s thickness but paused after trying the lock on the interior door to the adjoining room. “Dig into that pizza already. I can feel the magic ten
sion from here.”
Finishing taping the gauze, Red lifted her eyebrow up at him. She reached eagerly for the pizza. “Whatcha mean?”
“You did a lot of magic tonight. That makes witches… twitchy.” He smirked. “Considering our time constraints and the situation…”
“Pizza is best.” Red blushed. Witches had to center their energies after spells to bring them back to earth. Food, sleep, massage, and well, other things that she didn’t need to think about associated with Kristoff. She chewed vigorously, making her way through the little pizza to avoid his gaze. “You don’t need to feed?”
“I had my fill on the plane before I trekked out to the ghost town,” He said. “Unless that is an offer…?”
Red shook her head, crossing her legs. Her mind provided a very unhelpful flash back to the last time he had bitten her.
He smirked, nose wrinkling. “I caught that.”
“You caught nothing.” Cheeks hot, Red put the empty box on the ancient television. She grabbed her bag and scrambled into the bathroom to quickly shower and change into white pajamas. The fatigue of the night settled over her as she brushed her teeth. Stale adrenaline ebbed at the sight of her own reflection in the mirror. She looked pale enough to be dead. The dyed black hair only brought out her pallor. A scared woman stared back at her through the mirror.
A target on her head, she was a witch on the run.
In the quiet, the stress of the night overcame her. Everything she had thought she knew about her life in Las Vegas had twisted like a roulette whirl. Every kind word from Trudy became suspect in her memories. She had thought of the bard as a friend. That entire date with Ezra… her fist clenched. Was Vic right? Was Trudy always out to get them? This had to do with being the reincarnation of Juniper St. James. The Brotherhood had rejected for it, now it seemed like they were escalating it to murder.
Were mother and son working against her? She had overheard them before she had fled into Doctor Finch’s trap. Ezra said that his mom dropped truth bombs on him that day. Trudy had been given new orders. Red felt stupid to have assumed that it was to fight the wolves.
That naivete had nearly gotten her killed tonight. The ambush had been a shitstorm. They had taken out two of the pack, but they hadn’t won. Her friends had trooped to her aid, some for their own reasons, but they had come. Even Lashawn. And he got a werewolf bite for his trouble. They wouldn’t know until the next full moon if Frank’s corruption had taken hold.
She tugged out her phone, dialing Vic quickly, but got his voicemail. “Hey Vic, I bet you’re with Lashawn right now. I just… I’m going to get Frank. Do what you need to do there. I’ll do the same here.” Her voice broke. “I’m sorry, Vic.”
Red hung up, leaning on the counter, arms shaking as she fought the bitter tears, hot like coffee. Her reflection judged her from the mirror.
A soft knock on the door broke her from the spell of her reflection.
“It’s open.” She wiped her mouth absently for any stray toothpaste. The door opened to show an empty room. Red turned away from Kristoff’s non-reflection to face him.
He leaned in the doorsill. “You look like a woman with a lot on your mind.”
“I never expected to come back here.” Red lifted herself to sit on the counter. “The good thing is that no one else will think to look for us here.”
“The portal brought us for a reason,” Kristoff said. “You know you can’t learn everything in the academy.”
“I wanted to go home.” Red rubbed her arms, thinking of the diner from her dreams. The booths were clear in her mind’s eye. “I don’t think I’m ready. Isn’t that weird? I’ve been searching for so long, but can I handle what I find?”
Kristoff grinned. “You could handle hell itself.”
“I couldn’t handle a round with a determined duck right now.” She put her palm to her forehead. “Trudy isn’t going to give up either. She’s a woman on a mission.”
Kristoff stepped forward, rolling up his dusty shirt sleeve. A twinkle rose in his eyes. He cupped her cheek. “You have a secret weapon in my blood, but no glasses this time.”
Red licked her lips before she could stop herself.
His eyebrow quirked in invitation.
“I need to be clear headed, sometimes that stuff makes me feel high.” Red exhaled sharply as she turned away, fleeing temptation to sit on the farthest bed. She wished the room had chairs. “We need a next location after this.”
“Portland obviously. I have lairs that no one beyond Arno know about.”
“When they don’t find us in Las Vegas, they’ll go there. You made it known at Gary’s casino that Portland is where we’re going,” Red said. “I need somewhere no one could guess.”
“And where do you suggest?”
Sighing, Red looked down. “It’s crazy. I can’t do it. I’ve managed scrying once. And I knew exactly where that place was down to how the furniture was arranged.”
“You opened a portal tonight. You can find a place on the map.” Kristoff snagged a state map framed on the wall and set it on the bed. He put his hand on her shoulder. “Try.”
Red bit her lip and nodded. She pulled some crystals from her bag to arrange them on the map. Using an old necklace as a pendulum, she visualized the Oregon diner. She had gotten her ass kicked tonight but the Synod would have applauded her spell work. An unsteady confidence rose in her. She pushed all her focus into finding the diner, summoning it the only way she knew how. “I want to be somewhere safe.”
The pendulum dipped over a tiny spot on the coast. The town name was in script she could barely read. She touched the words. A wild hope cut through her grief. “Charm. We go there.”
“You can’t be serious,” Kristoff said. A thoughtful smile grew on his face as he reconsidered. “It’s on a dimensional fault line. The strange is routine there even if the locals might not admit it. A witch’s duel wouldn’t be out of place.”
“You know the town?” Red asked.
“I own a house there,” Kristoff said. “I always wanted to drive you to the coast. Never thought it would be to Charm.”
“What’s it like?” Suddenly sleepy, Red tidied up the bed, then curled up under the covers.
Kristoff sat on the other bed, shrugging. “It’s a little seaside town. Neighbors borrow sugar from each other. White picket fences. Except for the paranormal activity, it might as well be Mayberry.”
“Have you been to the diner?” Red fluffed up the flat pillow. “I don’t know why I went there in the Dreamland, but it’s safe. I don’t know how I know.”
“I don’t remember Charm that way. I mostly remember Alaric’s aborted apocalypse ten years ago.” He smiled wistfully. “I can see you growing up there.”
“Apocalypse alley. Sounds like my kind of place.” Yawning, Red’s eyelashes fluttered. She didn’t know which blink had done her in, but she woke before sunrise to see the curtains duct taped to the walls to block out any light. The boys had been busy while she had been sleeping. She rolled over.
Lucas rested on the other bed, leather-clad arms behind his head. His handsome aristocratic profile was composed in deep thought. He glanced at her. A sweet, boyish smile blossomed on his face.
“Lucas…” Groggy, with black hair falling in tangled clumps, she pushed herself up. “Where’s Kristoff?”
Lucas looked to the ceiling, lips tightening. “Feeding.”
“Oh god, he isn’t killing right?” Red sat up, fear piercing the sleepiness.
“The bastard does, but he’s skimming tonight.” Lucas rolled over to face her, propped up on his side. “I don’t give my progeny much credit, but he’s smart enough not to kill when he feeds.”
Worry subsiding, Red yawned and nestled back down into her pillow. “Isn’t that the fun of being a unsouled vampire?”
“Not anymore. Two drained bodies a week stick out more than they used too.” Lucas frowned. “He told me where you want to go. Are you sure?”
Honestly, sh
e wasn’t. It felt more like a desperate scramble for the top of her bucket list than a strategy. Red shrugged, telling a version of the truth. “I’m in Oregon. It’s as good a place as any. Whatever happens with Trudy, I want to go. It doesn’t matter if I’m ready or not.”
“I’ll make sure you get there,” he vowed.
“Even though it takes me away from LA?” Red fired the question off before she could stop herself. She blamed the daze of the predawn and the trauma of the night. Or was it just the part of her that wanted to be open with him?
High cheekbones sharpening, conflict tightened his jaw as he thought. Lucas sighed. “That vision from Selene. It came to me for a reason. Quinn got messages from oracles, seers, all manner of divine intervention or otherwise. Now, they’re coming to me. I told you I had to grow up.”
“You have all the potential for it.” Red stretched sleepily under the covers. “You’re more than you know.”
“That’s what Juniper said.” Lucas chuckled dryly at himself, rolling onto his back. “It took two lifetimes, but you might just see me learn something.”
Kristoff entered the hotel room, curious blue eyes analyzing the scene. “Almost dawn.”
Red nodded, watching them go into the bathroom. She wagged a warning finger. “Don’t fight in here, boys.”
Waking up hours later, she kicked the vampires out of the bathroom and got herself ready with her go bag. Then she hustled them back in and put a rolled towel at the bottom door crack. The late morning was spent going back and forth between the Millennium Falcon. After cleaning it up, she packed her bag and a dry cooler of snacks for herself as the lone food eater, ready to go for sunset.
She expected to have to deflect questions about the bullet holes when the mechanic came to replace the windshield. Kristoff’s arrangements must have included silence along with an illegally dark tint job. The sun played nice, melting the lace of snow on the grass and keeping the clouds at bay until the windows were finished.
Zipping her keys in one pocket and phone in the other, she went to get coffee from the front desk. Weak winter sun peeked through the haze. Darker clouds waited on the horizon. Walking around the back of the building, seeking a sight more serene than the parking lot, she breathed in the breeze coming off the forest line of oaks and sycamores.
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