Chapter 20

It felt like Samantha’s nerves had been running high since the night before.

She and Nik had been talking quietly while Leisha went for her usual walk. He was telling her about his younger sister. Samantha chuckled at his stories, her heart warmed by the idea of Nik as an older brother.

Suddenly, Nik jumped up. “We need to leave. Now!”

Resisting his pull on her arm, Samantha glanced at him with wide eyes. “What about Leisha? Why do we have to go?”

“She can take care of herself.” He paused as Samantha rose. “I just heard her. She said she’d find us later.”

Still not sure what was going on, she put her shoes on.

“I’m going to grab my stuff. I’ll be back.” The vampire disappeared, moving faster than she could track.

Running into her bedroom, Samantha grabbed her traveling bag and quickly stuffed in whatever was easily accessible. Nik appeared and took her bag, zipping it for her as he led the way out to the car.

Before they reached the driveway, the vampire paused, then handed her their bags and the keys. “Start the car.”

She saw his blurred form rush toward the trees. She couldn’t see anything besides leaves shaking, but she could hear grunts and the sounds of skin smacking against skin. Hurrying, she opened the backseat and dumped their bags. Practically ripping the door from its hinge in her haste, Samantha sat in the driver’s seat and started the car. She backed out onto the street and sat there, waiting for Nik.

Suddenly a man fell out of the sky and landed on the hood. She screamed as he pointed a gun at her. Without thinking, she slammed on the gas, propelling the car forward and hurling the man from the car. She screamed again when the passenger door opened, but it was Nik. He’d apparently been running alongside the car for a moment before jumping in.

“Let’s go,” he calmly ordered. “Drive as fast as you can. When we get into the city, we’ll switch cars and then switch again before we drive back to the States.”

Heart pounding and struggling to control her breathing, Samantha maneuvered through the streets. “We can’t drive across the border in a stolen car. And what about Leisha? How will she know where to find us?”

Nik patted her shoulder. “I’ll take care of everything. Don’t worry. We won’t be crossing the border tonight anyway. There’s not enough time before sunrise.”

So she’d gone along with his plan, Nik taking over the driving when they’d swapped to a “borrowed” car. They drove for a few hours, changed vehicles again, and then Nik found an abandoned house. He had dropped her there to settle in the basement while he ditched the car in a remote spot and ran back. She had just finished covering the windows when he’d returned.

They slept on the floor. Samantha rested fitfully, but was surprised that she’d slept at all.

Now, they were still at the house, and the sun was starting its descent. Luckily, there had been a few water bottles in the car, but no food.

“I’m going to go out and get a legitimate car, as well as some food for you,” Nik said, moving past her to grab a wallet from his bag.

“Can’t we go together?” she asked as she eyed a large spider crawling across the wall.

“It’ll be faster if I go alone. Besides, they won’t be looking for a lone man. We’d stand out if we went together.”

Samantha nodded. Nik went into another room to change.

When he came out, he hugged her. Samantha took solace in the embrace, and the way his arms felt around her.

Pulling away, Nik offered a small smile. “Why don’t you pack up our stuff while I’m gone? It shouldn’t take too long.”

Though grimacing at how little there was to pack, she nodded. She surprised both of them when she went up on her toes to give him a soft kiss. His lips were cold, but quickly heated as their lips lingered over each other. “Try to hurry,” she whispered.

His hazel eyes shone warmly as he lightly squeezed her hand, then left.

It only took her about ten minutes to have everything packed and ready to go. Knowing she shouldn’t waste the batteries in her flashlight, she turned it off. She stood in the darkness for a few minutes, then turned the light back on. Making sure there were no spiders or other creepy crawlies near her, she sighed.

She was trying hard not to worry about Leisha. Samantha didn’t have her smart phone anymore, and wasn’t able to check online to see if Leisha sent an email or anything. It was frustrating not being able to get in touch with her dearest friend.

Nik had been gone for two hours before he finally returned in a beat up Suburban.

She hugged him, then wasted no time putting their stuff in the car. It smelled of stale cigarettes, but Samantha was too tired to care at that moment.

Buckling herself in the passenger seat, Samantha let out a long breath as Nik put the car into gear and drove. “So what’s the plan now?” she asked.

“We’re heading to the border right now,” Nik answered. “There’s a road that travels through a national forest in Michigan. I think that’s the best route.”

“Is it a big forest? What if the drive goes into the day?” She brushed hair off her face. “Where could we rest?”

“We should be able to get through the forest before the end of the night. If not, I can toss a blanket over me while we rest in the car.”

Samantha rolled her eyes. “That sounds awful. Sure hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“We should be alright.”

“And what about Leisha? She should have caught up to us by now.”

Nik sighed. “I really don’t know. I thought she’d have caught up to us by now, but don’t underestimate how good she is at taking care of herself.”

“Her body is, like, five months pregnant. I’m sure that’s got to put a damper on things. Plus, you said those soldiers have increased abilities, right?”

He hesitated, then nodded.

“What if my dad has her?” Samantha put her head in her hands. “He hates her, Nik. And what about the baby? He’ll see it as some bug that needs dissecting.”

She felt his warm hand cover her back. It was comforting, but he had no answers. Samantha was sure that something was wrong and felt that she was abandoning her best friend, but didn’t know how to find her.

“You’ll know if something bad is happening through your link to her,” Nik said after a few minutes. “If she were injured, she would have to pull on your energy. Do you feel unusually fatigued?”

Sighing, Samantha shook her head. “I’m not sure. I haven’t had much sleep, so yes I’m tired and worn out, but who knows if it’s from Leisha drawing off me or from being on the run.”

He removed his hand. “Why don’t you crawl in the back and get some rest. It will help both you and Leisha, if she does actually need your energy.”

She complied grudgingly. Samantha didn’t really think she could sleep well on the lumpy cushioning, but the sounds and motions of the car lulled her to sleep before she knew it.

Her stiff neck finally pulled her from sleep. She had slept more deeply than she’d thought possible, and hadn’t changed into a more comfortable position. It felt like there was a knot in her neck muscle the size of Texas.

“How do you feel?” Nik asked.

Sitting up and stretching, she answered, “Hungry. How long was I out?”

“Most of the night. I was surprised that you slept through the border check.”

“You mean we’re back in the US?” She crawled up to the front. When he nodded she asked, “How close is it to dawn?”

“Closer than I’d like it to be. I’m afraid there’s nowhere close by to stop for food. We’ve just entered the Hiawatha National Forest. If we had an extra hour, we could find lodging in Gladstone, but the sun should be up in twenty minutes.”

“What can we do?”

He shrugged. “I’ll get under a blanket in the back. You can keep driving, if you’re not too sleepy. But once you get into Gladstone, you should stop and get a room .” Nik grimaced. “I’ll have to sneak into the hotel without anyone seeing.”

Tossing him a look, Samantha added, “And without the sun touching your skin.”

“We’ve done it before, but it certainly is risky. Since I’m an older vampire, I’ve built some immunity to sunlight, but not enough to be directly exposed for more than a few minutes.”

“Okay. I think this can work. I don’t suppose you grabbed my other ID’s and credit cards when we ran? ”

Nodding, he pulled over and opened the glove compartment and brought out a driver’s license for her. “Today you’re going to be Gina Barratte from New York.” He smiled at her as he handed it over. “I’m glad Leisha included credit cards along with your backup I.D.’s.”

Taking it, she rolled her eyes and got out. Nik followed suit and she slid into the driver’s side. Nik grabbed a large, thick blanket from the trunk and lay down on the floor in the back.

“Is there a map for me to look at?” she asked him as she maneuvered back onto the road.

“You don’t need one. Simply follow the highway until you see the sign for Gladstone.”

She drove for a while in silence, positive that Nik had fallen asleep. Since she’d slept a good while, she wasn’t tired in the least. The sun was climbing steadily higher as they reached Gladstone. She was hungry, but decided that he’d sleep better if she didn’t stop, so she kept going through the small city.

After an hour and a half, they’d reached Wisconsin and stopped in a place called Marinette to fill up on gas. She made sure Nik was completely covered, then went inside to pay and buy herself some food at the same time. They sold all-beef franks there, so she bought one along with some packaged snacks to eat in the car.

Once she was again sitting in the driver’s seat, Nik spoke up. “I slept too long for us to be just getting into Gladstone.”

“Yep.” She said around a mouthful of hotdog. Starting the car, she drove back towards the highway. “We entered Wisconsin a few minutes ago. I figured if you were okay under that blanket, then we could make better time with me driving until sundown.”

“Well, it’s starting to get stuffy under here. Why don’t you drive until we hit Chicago and we’ll get a room there.”

“Are we that close?” Trying to keep her eyes on the road, she pulled the map out of the glove compartment and calculated the distance. “That will take half the day. Are you sure you’ll be alright back there for that long?”

He gave a long suffering sigh that she knew was fake. “I can tolerate it, if I must. But I think you may have to massage my poor, aching back.”

She snorted and replied with a haughty tone. “Vampires don’t ache, so there.”

She heard him chuckle then murmur, “I guess I’ll be fine, then, won’t I?”

Smiling, she turned on the radio and found a station she liked. After a few hours of driving and chatting with Nik, she pulled out her bag of chips and slid another bag under his blanket. Two hours later, she went through the doughnuts and jerky. They were almost to Chicago and she had just under a fourth tank of gas.

A little later, she was pulling into the parking lot of a motel. Her license said that she was twenty one and hoped that the manager wouldn’t question it. As she was about to get out of the car, she suddenly felt as though all the energy had been sucked out of her body. She couldn’t bring herself to stand as she felt herself sagging against the steering wheel.

“Nik?” she called out weakly.

“What’s wrong? I heard your heart stutter.”

“Leisha’s in trouble.”