I’d know as soon as I touched the button, but that would have to wait until I wasn’t driving. Teag pocketed the button, and I turned a corner. Finding my way out of the Navy yard was proving harder than going in.
“I’m turned around,” I said. We had managed to find a street of even more decrepit buildings than any we had seen. The rain had started up again, and the sun was nearly gone. The diversion with the cops had kept us out later than we planned and it was getting dark fast. Too fast.
“Hang on,” I said. I glanced in my rear view mirror. Darkness was falling like a curtain behind us, inky black and opaque, rushing at us like the tide. Every nerve ending in my body screamed for me to run.
I gunned the engine and floored it, wishing my Mini Cooper was a muscle car. We were out of sight of the cops, and everything around us looked deserted. We roared down the crumbling roadway, and I leaned on the horn, hoping for once in my life we’d attract attention and get pulled over for speeding.
No such luck. My horn made no noise, though I had beeped at a slow driver just fine earlier in the day.
“Uh, Cassidy. All your warning lights are blinking,” Teag said.
No shit. But Teag meant in the car, and when I looked at my dashboard, it was lit up like a Christmas tree. Even my car was panicking. Or more likely, the dangerous magic that was closing in on us was also playing havoc with our electronics. And that meant that the car might go – Dead. Just like that, the car engine cut out and we coasted to a stop.
Darkness descended over the car, blotting out the light. Normal darkness has stars and street lights and reflections. This was like someone had dropped a black shroud over the car, blotting out the world.
I’d already slammed down the door locks, but I checked again. Teag and I held on as a force began to rock the car. I heard metal ripping. The car lurched to one side as something slashed the metal in Teag’s door. It didn’t get into the passenger compartment, but the next swipe certainly would. The rear window smashed, and a foul smell seeped into the car. Teag and I were both screaming.
I tried the key but the engine didn’t even grind. The car rocked again, not quite tipping over. The darkness was toying with us. Playing with its food.
Inside the car, the temperature plummeted. My teeth were chattering, and ice crystals were beginning to form on the windshield. My left hand was holding onto the agate necklace hard enough that the silver setting drew blood.
Abruptly, the rocking stopped. Was it the blood? I wondered. Or was the big bad thing outside just getting ready for new tricks?
Blindingly bright light flared, knifing through the darkness. I saw two things. First, Sorren stood directly behind us, dressed all in black, armed with a very large, very lethal looking sword.
The second thing I saw were monsters.
Maybe I should have been glad that Moran’s demon wasn’t the thing wrecking our car, but his minions were plenty scary. If Dr. Frankenstein had built a do-it-yourself monster from the rotting parts of big reptiles, it might have looked like the things that surrounded the car. Big teeth. Sharp talons. Powerful legs. Crafty eyes that were utterly cold and looked very hungry.
The car’s engine roared to life and I floored the gas pedal.
“You’re just going to leave Sorren back there?” Teag asked.
“Nope,” I said. I’d been scared, and now I was just plain pissed off. I cut the Mini Cooper in the tightest turn I could manage at high speed and headed straight for the things that were closing on Sorren.
Six of them to one of him. Not a fair fight, even though Sorren was laying about with sword fighting moves that would have done a movie blockbuster proud. The sword gleamed an odd blue, and I wondered if he’d chosen it over a Glock because magic is better at fighting magic. Whatever the reason, he’d obviously had practice, and by the time we got there, he had put down two of the creatures.
The other four were closing on him. From the look of it, they’d already scored a few hits. Sorren’s left sleeve was slashed and dripping dark blood. The front of his shirt hung in tatters. I revved the car and steered straight toward the monsters.
“What the hell!” Teag screeched. “You’re going to hit Sorren!”
“Bowling for bad guys,” I muttered, bearing down on the creatures. We hit the first one, smashing the left headlight. The second one bounced into the air, crashed down on the hood of the Mini Cooper and left a bloody streak and a big crack on the windshield. Teag got the third one with his door in a move that was either brilliant or suicidal. I steered toward the last one, which was still battling Sorren. “For God’s sake, Cassidy!” Teag threw up both arms and ducked his head.
We hit the monster square on, knocking him down and running him over. Problem was, I couldn’t stop fast enough to take out the creature and not hit Sorren, too.
Good thing vampires are fast.
I skidded to a stop, watching carefully for either the darkness or the minions. The engine was making suspicious coughing noises. My windshield wipers seemed to be stuck on. A nasty streak of black blood was smeared down the cracked glass of the windshield and all the way to the grillwork. My car was a wreck, but we were alive.
Sorren came up behind us, and I saw that he was limping. I unlocked the doors, and he climbed into the back. “Nice driving,” he said.
I took it slow on the way home, because that was all my poor, battered car could manage. I doubted demon protection was part of my insurance coverage, and at my most creative, I couldn’t for the life of me invent a plausible lie. You see, there was this rabid, hungry, escaped tiger in rut…
We took the back streets, because the cops could probably get me on a dozen vehicle violations, and I didn’t want to explain all the blood. Sorren didn’t say a word for the entire trip, which took longer than usual because the Mini Cooper could no longer cough up speeds above a crawl. Teag and I were silent too, with a sense of doom hanging over us that I haven’t felt since I got caught sneaking out of the house as a teenager. We were totally, completely, busted.
Just before I got to the turn that would bring us back to my house, I saw the car in my rear view mirror. “Uh oh,” Teag said. “Looks like we picked up some company.”
Just then, the police cruiser switched on its strobes. Obediently, I pulled over to the curb and sighed.
A cop stepped out of the car. He was a State Police officer, and his hat had a plastic rain protector over it. He didn’t look happy. “Hello officer,” I said, hoping I managed to look harmless.
“Having problems with your car?” he asked. It was dark out, so I prayed that the worst of the damage – and the blood – wasn’t apparent. How I would explain the claw slashes escaped even my fertile imagination.
“I think we hit a deer,” I said, doing my best to meet his gaze. “It came out of nowhere from the trees, bounced off us and kept going. I hope it’s not hurt too badly.”
The cop eyed me like he was trying to decide whether or not I’d been smoking something. I did my best to channel Baxter’s blinky-eyed innocence. Next to me, Teag was staying very, very still.
Sorren leaned forward and smiled at the officer. “She’s been through a lot tonight,” he said in a honey-smooth voice. “She really needs to get home.”
“You really shouldn’t be on the road,” the officer said. “You need to get home.”
“You won’t need to report this,” Sorren said with the same tone he used to turn Baxter into his adoring fan. “She can take it up with her insurance.”
“Sorry about the deer,” the officer said. “Just report it to your insurance company.” He slapped the roof of the car and I winced, expecting it to fall off. “Drive safe, y’all.”