A Chase of Prey (A Shade of Vampire #11)(21)

“Whose blood?” I asked.

“The vampire’s. Mixed with human blood… but not Rose’s.”

“Do you still detect Rose?”

Micah paused and sniffed around some more. “Over there,” he said, pointing to a corner of the concrete where an empty parking slot was.

There must have been some kind of fight here involving the vampire. I crouched down and examined the blood. While the sun had already dried out most of it, there was a particularly deep pool of blood that had seeped into a pothole in the road and this was still wet, fresh. We were getting closer.

We left the station and continued along the main road. After about an hour, Micah stopped us short. “I can no longer sense the vampire. Only the girl.”

“What do you mean?”

“His trail stopped here.” We were standing at the edge of the highway, and he pointed to the center of the lane nearest to us. There were more splatters of bloodstains. “I sense Caleb’s and Rose’s blood here.” He walked a dozen feet further. “And here I sense Rose. But I no longer sense Caleb.”

What could have happened to the vampire? I looked up and down the highway. Unless he died here…

Micah was adamant that he’d lost the vampire’s trail even after I’d forced him to walk a mile in each direction to double-check. I cursed beneath my breath. We now had no choice but to continue following Rose’s trail, and hope that the vampire would be with her. I hated the thought of him having died without punishment. He’d had an easy escape out of this world if he was in fact dead.

Not wanting to waste any more time, I kept us moving. As the hours passed, Micah seemed to become more and more confident in detecting Rose. Soon we barely even needed to stop for more than a couple of seconds for Micah to inhale and give me a nod before we swept forward again.

As night began to fall, and Micah was on the verge of transforming, he pointed to a large moving vehicle, traveling along the third lane of the highway. Keeping to the edge of the road, I raced forward on foot rather than by magic, my supernatural speed matching Micah’s as I pulled him forward. We sped up until we ran parallel with the vehicle. And there she was… Finally, I laid eyes on the human girl. She was wedged between two humans, her head lolling as she slept.

I pulled us both to a stop. “You’re going to wait here while I get the girl.” I spoke quickly. I couldn’t afford to lose sight of the vehicle now that we’d found it. “Sit,” I ordered.

His limbs began changing into that of a beast even as he sat down on the concrete at the side of the road. I placed his leash on the ground and uttered a charm that would keep him there, just in case he decided to try to make a run for it. I kept the invisibility spell on him, but I had no more use for it so I removed it from myself.

I wanted Rose to be able to look me directly in the eye. I wanted to see her fear of me.

Once Micah was securely fastened to his spot, I dashed away, hurrying to catch up with the vehicle. For a few moments, as the road curved toward the left, I thought I might have lost her. But then I spotted the vehicle again. It had now moved to the middle lane of the highway. Once I was running parallel with it again, I took a leap, kicking off the ground with all my strength, and landed on top of the roof of the vehicle. The metal roof dented beneath my feet and a thud reverberated through the vehicle.

Finding my balance, I crouched down against the roof. Confused mutterings drifted up from the open window, but the truck wasn’t yet showing signs of slowing down.

I pulled myself toward the front, stepping off the elevated roof of the container at the back and lowering myself onto the cab roof directly above the driver’s seat.

I breathed deeply, preparing myself to duck down and pull Rose out. I needed to be fast, because I wasn’t in the mood for a struggle.

I was seconds from lowering myself down when I heard another loud thud against the vehicle a few feet away. My eyes shot up, but I saw nobody. For a moment I suspected that this was Micah being disobedient again. But that was impossible. I’d secured him to his spot with a spell.

As I stood up, my eyes fell on two dents in the roof. Dents just a few steps back from my own. As I approached closer, I heard harried breathing.

“Show yourself,” I hissed.

A blast of light shot out of nowhere, blinding me. I staggered back, my hands over my eyes. I lost balance. Feeling myself sliding off the sloping roof, I managed to save myself just in time. Gripping on to the edges of the roof, I hauled myself back up. I lunged for the mysterious two dents in the ceiling and found myself grabbing hold of a thin waist. But the moment I did, my surroundings disappeared.

Chapter 13: Rose

After hours of being stuck between the two men in the heat of the truck, I was beginning to feel faint from dehydration. They’d offered me water, but I’d refused it repeatedly. Eventually, I had no choice but to accept.

I should have held out. They’d put something in the flask, because soon after I drained it, my head began to feel heavy, my eyelids weighed down. I lost the fight to stay conscious.

When I came to again, I was lying on a stiff mattress. It was pitch black. I sat up, holding my head. I had a migraine. I reached out, trying to get a sense of my surroundings. My throat felt more parched than ever. I staggered a few feet forward until my hands grazed against a rough wall.

Where am I?

The room was cool, but I couldn’t hear any AC unit. I was likely underground. I had no idea how much time had passed. Panic rushed through me as I realized I could have been out for days and I wouldn’t have known it.