I head back over to Frank’s fingers and the vial. “Besides, you knew that they had ties to him before you helped me,” I remind him.
“Yes, but that was before we knew they were drinking his blood!”
“We have to destroy it.”
He hesitates and then nods.
I narrow my eyes. “Why the reluctance?”
“Force of old habits. HEX U would want to study it.”
“Nuh uh. No way.”
“You don’t trust organizations, do you?”
“What makes you say that?” I ask as I pick up the vial. I have to pry the fingers off. Normally, I make certain humans can’t find the remains of the paranormal creatures I’m supposed to kill, but I can’t bring myself to care this time around.
“You’re such a loner. You don’t do anything by the book. You have your own rules, your own code.”
I shrug and turn the vial upside down. The blood is almost black. “Can you use this to track and see where the rest of the stash is?”
He nods. I hand him the vial, and we walk back to my vehicle, where he spreads his map on the hood of my nearly ruined car. As before, he dumps a vial onto it and then adds a drop of Amarok's blood.
The blob doesn’t move.
"Well, that makes things easy." Darius heads to the middle of the street, places the vial down, and blasts it with his arcane magic until there's nothing left.
“That’s all that was left?” I ask skeptically.
“You saw the locationer magic. It didn’t move. That was the last vial of his blood. Trust me.”
“Hmm.” I guess I have no choice but to trust him.
I climb into my car.
“So that’s it?” he asks. “We just go our separate ways?”
"What else would we do?" I turn the key. The ignition doesn't start, so I try again.
“I don’t know. Eat. Celebrate our win because it’s a massive one. Get you a new car.”
“I can get myself a new car, and you should return to Harrisburg.” The second and third attempts fail. The car just won’t start.
Darius just grins.
“I’ll walk.”
"It's a two-hour drive from Pittsburgh," he reminds me. If you walk, it will take you three days."
“I can use the exercise.”
“Rebel, be realistic.”
“That’s not really my go-to.”
He grins. “So I gather, but…”
He hands me his second helmet.
I ignore it and glance at the car. It served me well enough, but…
“Toast it,” I say.
“Are you… I guess that’s best.
He uses his arcane magic to waste the car. Soon, it’s barely anything at all. At least the license plate is intact enough, I discover as I shift through the rubble.
I hate having to hold onto Darius, but I have to admit that riding on a bike is actually a lot of fun. The wind blows through my hair, but we don't get far before he stops in front of a clothing store. We go inside, and I slip into the bathroom to wash up. Every minute that passes has the healing draught working more and more. I'm hungry and tired, but I'll survive, and that's all that matters.
We both buy new clothes, and the woman who rings us up eyes us skeptically. “Rough night?”
“You can say that,” I mutter.
“If I didn’t know any better, I would say you two had been chased by an axe-wielding murderer.” She giggles.
“Because that’s funny,” Darius mumbles.
“Oh, yeah. Twisted humor. Are you two from out of town? You have to be, or else you would’ve gotten my joke. Anyhow, behind Thomas Road is woods. A guy committed all kinds of murders back there with his axe. The spot is called Axe Murder Hollow, and it’s haunted. People have seen a woman running around screaming. I saw her! It looked as if she had been getting chased!”
“A ghost of one of his victims?” I ask even though I don’t buy it for one second.
She nods. “You should check it out if you get the chance. The place always gives me the heebie-jeebies.”
Darius and I stare at each other. That’s where we attacked the werewolves.
We go to the changing rooms after we finishing paying and put on our new clothes. I keep my pouch and weapons, of course, but I throw away my bloodstained and torn clothes.
“Ready?” Darius asks after I leave the dressing room.
“Sure.”
“You know, ghosts are real,” he tells me as I climb behind him on his bike.
“I wondered if that’s the case. How can you kill one?”
“Is that your default?”
“Knowledge is power,” I remind him.
“Hmm.”
He doesn’t answer my question but takes off, driving fast. His body is so warm even if he is hard and muscular, and I lay my head on his back. In no time at all, I’m asleep.
When I wake, I’m in my house, in my bed. I head to the living room and spy take out on my coffee table. Darius isn’t here, though. I scarf down the cheeseburger and fries. Bacon on the burger would’ve been nice, but I’m not complaining.
I lick salt off my fingers as my phone rings. It’s Mirella.
“I’m so sorry for not calling sooner,” she says, breathless. “I was working on a case and—”
“Everything is handled,” I assure her.
“But you sounded so anxious.”
“Someone else was able to help me,” I grumble.
She laughs. “Don’t make the same mistakes I did. When you need help, ask. Who came to your aid?”
“Darius.”
She says nothing, but I get the feeling she’s smiling.
“I…” I have no words.
“You don’t know what to think of him, huh?”
“He seems nice enough,” I mumble.
“But…”
“I don’t do people.”
“We’re friends,” she points out.
“Yes, but… I don’t know.”
“Well, I have some news. In between working my case, I discovered what that mystery potion of yours does.”
“And?”
“Rebel, I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“What does it do?”
“It will turn someone into a paranormal being or at least allow that person to gain paranormal abilities.”