Bloodline (16 page)

“I have no idea. What we need is a map, and perhaps a car.”

“And where are we supposed to find those things?” I asked him.

“In the nearest town.” He closed his eyes, and I felt him opening his senses, hunting for the scent of a dense population of humans. When he opened his eyes again, he nodded. “Farther east,” he said. “I think there's a town that way. We can find a car there. A map, too, if we're lucky.”

“Do you—even know how to drive a car?” I asked.

“It was part of my training. Wasn't it part of yours?”

“No.”

He smiled a little. “I imagine, as rebellious as you were, they were afraid you would run them down, then smash through the perimeter fence, if they put you behind the wheel. They probably intended to break you first, then teach you to drive.”

“I think they'd given up on breaking me at all. I think they had marked me for death.”

He was silent for a moment. Then, “You realize you're still marked for death, don't you? Or worse. If it were only your death they intended, they'd have killed you by now. But if they catch you again, Lilith…”

“I know.” I lowered my head. “I know.”

We came to a crossroads then. Ethan turned me in the direction we needed to take, and we continued walking.

Eventually I saw his head perk up, and after a moment's confusion I knew his brother must be calling out to him. He looked at me quickly and kept on walking. He gave no sign of attempting to reply. And I knew it was
possibly one of the most difficult things he'd ever had to do. And yet he did it…for me. All for me.

My heart jumped a bit inside my chest, a feeling like joy suffusing it and flowing into my veins until it filled me. Not because he'd rebuffed his brother—I wanted James to be one of the good guys. I wanted to see the two of them reunited and as close as ever. I wasn't jealous of or threatened by their closeness. No, what made me happy was that Ethan was showing me a level of caring I hadn't believed possible—from anyone.

Was there anything he wouldn't do for me? I wondered.

Maybe he
did
feel as strongly as I did. Maybe. Just maybe.

E
than!
James called.
Where the hell are you? I'm at the church where you told me you would be, and it's empty. I thought you were going to wait.

As carefully as he could, Ethan answered mentally, guarding every thought from Lilith and keeping his face impassive, so she wouldn't be able to tell by looking at him.

I couldn't. Something came up, James. There's going to be a…slight delay. There's something I have to do first.

Ethan glanced sideways at Lilith, and she met his eyes and smiled. God, she would never forgive him if she knew. But he felt justified in this small deception. She was wrong about James. Dead wrong.

Something you have to do?
James asked.
What? What are you up to, little brother?

I can't discuss it now, James. I'm going to ask you to trust me. I just need a little time. A few days, at most, and—

You still don't trust me,
James accused.
God, I can't tell you how much that hurts me, Ethan. I'm your brother.

It's not that I don't trust you. I do, but—

If you trusted me, you'd tell me what's going on. What are you up to, Ethan? Is it risky?

Swallowing hard, Ethan glanced at Lilith. She was walking along beside him with an expression of bliss on her face. And he wasn't so dense that he didn't know why. She was relieved that he'd agreed to her terms, that he'd insisted on coming with her. She trusted him.

And he trusted his brother. And he couldn't let her rob him of his only family. It was too much to ask. He was risking his life for her. Shouldn't that be enough?

We're going back to The Farm, James. We're going to try to rescue the other captives.

There was no reply.

James? Are you there?

Nothing.

James! Are you all right?

Still no reply. A sickening feeling began writhing in Ethan's stomach. He had a sudden fear that he knew why his brother had broken off contact once he'd gleaned the information he'd been seeking.

The information Ethan had promised not to give.

Again, he looked at Lilith.

She stopped walking, her smile blossoming wider as she met his gaze, her own adoring and utterly trusting.

“Thank you, Ethan,” she whispered. “Believe me, I know that mere words aren't enough, but somehow, on the other side of this, I promise you, I'll find some way to repay you. This means…well, it means everything to me. Just…everything.”

Oh God, he thought, unable to hold her steady gaze. He lowered his head, focusing on the road ahead of him
and the lights of the town coming into view just ahead. And all the while he prayed silently that she was wrong. That his brother was not, even now, betraying him.

“There's the village,” Lilith said, spotting the cluster of lights and pointing.

“Part one of our mission is all but accomplished. Thank you, Ethan.”

Ethan thought he might throw up. But he managed to paste a confident smile on his face and mutter, “You're welcome.”

* * *

Ethan scanned several parking lots, peering into one vehicle after another. At last he found keys stuffed under the visor of a dark green older-model Ford Bronco. Four-wheel drive and solid, with a powerful engine and plenty of room. It was exactly what they needed, equal to almost any challenge they might encounter. Any transportation-related challenge, at least. As perfect as it was for their driving needs, the vehicle couldn't wipe out a compound full of armed keepers, much less the vampire assassins who would be sent after him and Lilith in the unlikely event that they escaped alive.

Who was he kidding? The vampire assassins had likely already been dispatched. Just because they hadn't yet seen them, didn't mean they weren't out there, lurking in the night. And he and Lilith were running toward them, rather than away. It was insane.

This mission was suicide. His only hope, he decided, was to talk her out of it before they got themselves both killed. There had to be a way.

They got into the Bronco, and Ethan put the keys into the switch and glanced toward the bar where the vehicle's
owner was presumably spending his time. It was a small establishment housed in a slab-sided wooden building with a neon sign in the window advertising a popular brand of beer. A wooden placard nailed above the door proclaimed it the Dirty Dog Bar & Grille. For the life of him, he couldn't find anything appealing about that name.

Lilith shot him a look. “What are you waiting for?”

“It's just what we need, but when we start it up, it'll be loud. The owner's going to hear it.”

“There's music pouring from that place. He won't hear a thing.”

“And if he does?”

“We're
vampires,
Ethan. What's he going to do?”

“Call the police, report it stolen. We can't afford that. We're being hunted, don't forget.”

“Oh, for Pete's sake.” She wrenched open the door and got out before he could have known what she was thinking, and even as he got out to go after her, she was marching up the steps of the Dirty Dog, pushing open its dark stained door and stepping inside.

Ethan followed, but stopped in the doorway, wondering what on earth she intended, even as she strode boldly through the dimly lit barroom and straight to the jukebox, where she bent slightly to yank its power cord from the outlet in the wall behind it.

Then she straightened and turned to face the crowded room.

Dressed in her snug-fitting jeans and tank top, with the green shirt dangling open, her hair long and curling, she made quite a picture, especially with the jukebox cord dangling from one hand. Conversations stopped just as suddenly as the music had, and every eye turned toward
her. Men who'd been sitting on stools in front of the polished hardwood bar stared at her. Couples sitting at small round tables set their glasses down, and those standing here and there around the plank floor turned toward her. No one said a word.

“Sorry to interrupt your evening,” Lilith said, her voice confident and sexy as hell—to Ethan, at least. “I need to speak with the owner of the green Ford Bronco in the parking lot.”

People frowned, murmured to one another. Male eyes devoured her from head to toe. A big man slid from his bar stool and said, “That would be me. Did you ding it or something?”

“Ding it?”

“Hit it? Dent it? What?”

She flashed him a brilliant smile. “Nothing like that. I want to borrow it.”

His face split in a grin, and he glanced behind him at some other men. “She wants to borrow it. Hell, well, if that's all, I'll just hand over the keys.”

A round of boisterous laughter burst from the patrons. Lilith only blinked and kept smiling. “No need. You left them under the visor. I wanted to just take it, but my friend was reluctant.”

The laughter died. The man's smile faded. He took three steps closer, bringing him to within a few feet of her. Ethan started forward from his spot in the doorway, but Lilith quickly held up a hand toward him.

“Are you freakin' crazy, lady? I'm not loaning you my truck.”

“Yes, you are.” She took a single step closer to the big man. Then she pressed her palm to his cheek, and Ethan
could feel the intensity in her eyes as they bored into the man's. Her voice dropped to a mere whisper. “You trust me. We're old friends. You were only playing with me before. It's a running joke between us, my showing up to ask for favors. You know I'll return your truck unscathed and with my undying gratitude, and you want that more than you want to draw another breath—which is also an option. You won't worry about the Bronco. You won't give a second thought to this arrangement. It will all make perfect sense to you until I return your vehicle—one week from today and just as good as new. I promise.”

As she spoke, Ethan watched the man's face change. It seemed to lose all expression. His eyes emptied, and his jaw went lax. When she straightened away from him and met his gaze again, he only nodded.

“So it's okay if I borrow it, then?” she asked, louder now, for the benefit of his fellow drinkers.

“Yes. It's okay.”

Ethan heard some of the others gasp, heard them speaking softly to one another. Finally one man spoke louder. “Have you lost your mind, Sam?”

Sam blinked and turned his head toward the other man. “She's an old friend. I was only playing with her before. It's a running joke between us.”

“
I'm
an old friend,” the man said. “How come I never heard of her?”

“She's an old friend,” Sam repeated. Then, as if unable to do otherwise, he returned his attention to Lilith. “Take it. It's full of gas.”

“Thank you, Sam. I'll see you in a week.”

He smiled a little crookedly and stood exactly where he was as she turned, bent and plugged the jukebox in
again. The music resumed as she walked to the door. Ethan stepped aside to let her pass.

“You're out of your mind, you know that?” he asked, following her.

She smiled at him as they hurried across the parking lot. “I remembered that I was trained in mind-control techniques, the power of vampiric suggestion, back at The Farm. So were you, I bet. But it was only theory. I couldn't put it to the test, because I wasn't a vampire yet.” She opened the passenger door. “But you were right, Ethan, when you told me about it before. It really works. I can really do it!”

“Apparently so.” He was standing behind her as she climbed into the Bronco. She reached for the door, but before pulling it closed, she frowned at him. “Will you get in? We have work to do.”

Indeed they did. And he was beginning to realize that finding a way to convince her to change her mind was going to be as big a challenge as the mission itself. He'd been thinking of her as a child, a newly transformed vampire, alone in the world, weak and uncertain. But he could see now that the old Lilith was alive and well inside her and returning to the fore at a frightening pace.

Sighing, he went around to the driver's side, got behind the wheel and started the engine. The powerful machine roared to life, its deep, noisy growl providing little comfort. He backed carefully out of the parking space, planning his words carefully as he turned on the headlights and began to drive.

“This bridge where you woke up—one of them saw you there. They could still be watching for you.”

“Yeah, I've thought about that. You were at The Farm. Don't you remember where it is? How to get there?”

He shook his head slowly. “No. The only thought I had that night was getting away. I ran, just like you did, and I never looked back.”

She studied him, and he knew she was trying to see inside his mind, read his thoughts to determine if he was lying or not. And he was. He knew, more or less, how to get back to that place. But he blocked his thoughts from her, wondering whether she knew that, or if she just assumed she wasn't very good at mind-reading yet.

“You couldn't even get us into the general vicinity?” she asked. “I'm sure if we got close, we could sense the others. Couldn't we?”

“I don't think we could. There's some kind of barrier around the place. A force field or…something like that. As soon as I was beyond the fence, I noticed it.” That much, at least, was true.

“How could you know? You'd only just become a vampire.”

“I'd been taught that vampires sense the presence of the Chosen. You were taught that, too, weren't you?”

She nodded, saying nothing.

“I tried to feel that, to sense them, to see if I could tell whether my escape had been detected. And I felt nothing. Just…emptiness. I wondered if they'd lied about that, but I've felt it since.”

“I see,” she said softly, probably not believing him. “Then I guess we'll just have to take our chances at the bridge and hope I can find my way back from there.”

“There is another way.”

She looked at him, and this time she knew what he was
thinking, though he didn't think it was because she was reading his mind. “We're
not
contacting your brother. I don't trust him, Ethan. But I do trust you. I trust you to keep your promise to me. I hope I'm not making a mistake.”

* * *

I waited for Ethan to reply, to reassure me that I could trust him completely. But he didn't, and that worried me.

Still, after hours of driving, he managed to get us to the bridge where I had awoken. He drove through the town that bordered his home, and I knew that being so close was difficult for him. He wanted to check on his horses, to see whether they'd made it back safely and see to their comfort if they had. But he never spoke of those desires. It would do no good. We both knew we couldn't return there. So we drove on through the little town, and when I saw the field through which I had run, I pointed. “There's another road on the far side of that field,” I said. “That's the road that leads to the bridge.”