“Did you see them?” she asked worriedly.
“No,” Marcus admitted. “By the time I realized it wasn’t you and opened my eyes, they had already closed the door. I got up and started through the RV and I was in the lounge when there were suddenly flames outside the windows. He must have poured gas around it before coming inside. That or there was more than one and once culprit number one had assured him that you were inside, culprit number two lit it up.”
“But I wasn’t inside. You were,” Divine pointed out.
“I was covered by the comforter, my head turned to the side. All they probably saw was fair hair sticking out of the top of the comforter. If he even saw that. All he could probably make out was that someone was in the bed. There were no lights on in the RV,” he pointed out.
Divine nodded, but couldn’t help thinking that if the he or they in question was an immortal, they would have seen more than Marcus thought.
“Do you think it could have been the husband?”
She glanced to him with surprise. “You mean Mr. Planned-to-Kill-His-Wife?”
Marcus nodded.
Divine thought about it. She hadn’t considered that the little weasel might have the courage to do something like this. She still wasn’t sure he had. It was possible though.
Spotting the lights of a gas station on the roadside ahead, Divine slowed.
“They have a vacuum station,” Marcus pointed out.
“And a public washroom.” Divine pulled in and slid to a halt next to the station entrance. “You can clean up and grab a snack while I vacuum out the back.”
Marcus had reached into the back for the duffel bag on the bench seat, but paused at her comment.
“You need to feed,” she said quietly. “Better that you do it while you still have it under control.”
He let out a slow breath, and nodded solemnly as he finished grabbing his bag. “Leave the vacuuming. I’ll do it when I come out.”
“Sure,” Divine said easily as he got out. He closed the door and went into the store, coming back out a moment later with the washroom key in hand. Divine watched until he slid into the bathroom, and then drove over to the vacuum station. There was change and small bills in the cup holder in the center of the SUV between the front seats, and Divine grabbed a handful of it and slid out. A moment later she had the back door open, the vacuum going, and was cleaning up the mess in the back of the SUV. There was a lot of mess. Divine was only halfway through the task when Marcus appeared beside her.
“I said I’d do this,” Marcus said with exasperation, taking the vacuum hose from her.
“You can finish it while I use the restroom,” she said with a shrug, and then turned to head for the gas station entrance to get the key he’d just returned. One look at the lone gas station attendant and Divine knew Marcus hadn’t fed. She supposed she could have fed on him herself, but found she just couldn’t do it. If bagged blood was as good as getting it off the hoof . . . and if Marcus, who needed it more than she did, hadn’t fed on the man . . .
It looked like they were going to have to find some bagged blood, she thought grimly as she headed around to the washroom door on the side of the building. Divine didn’t have to go to the bathroom, but she did want to splash some water on her face and maybe wake herself up a bit. She was exhausted, but had a bit of a drive ahead. She had no idea where the nearest blood bank was, but suspected she’d have to drive into San Bernardino to find one.
Marcus was done with the vacuuming and on the pay phone outside the station when Divine came back around the building. She stiffened at the sight, but continued past him to return the key. He was hanging up when she came back out.
“We’re in luck,” he said, stepping away from the phone as she approached.
“Are we?” Divine asked mildly.
“Yeah. We aren’t far from Los Angeles. There’s a family friend who lives outside the city. His place is only about half an hour from here. He can give us some bagged blood to tide us over until Bastien can get more out to us.”
“Us?” she queried carefully.
“I explained that the fire no doubt destroyed everything you had on hand too and you would need a fresh supply as well,” Marcus said solemnly.
Divine merely nodded and turned to walk toward the RV. She hadn’t had any blood in her RV, and he knew that. He had to know that from her reaction to just the sight of the bagged blood, but he’d covered for her. She wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“I’ll drive,” Marcus said when she automatically headed for the driver’s side. “You probably didn’t get much sleep while watching over me, and I’m definitely not going to sleep. You may as well get some rest on the way. Besides, I know the way and you don’t.”
Divine merely nodded and shifted direction, heading for the passenger side instead. She was aware that Marcus was following her, and was confused by it until he opened the passenger door for her.
“Thank you,” she murmured self-consciously, stepping up into the vehicle.
“My pleasure,” Marcus murmured and closed the door.
Divine shook her head, and simply strapped on her seat belt. She wasn’t used to being treated like . . . well, like a lady. She had been independent for so long, really living more like a man than a woman for most of her life. From the time she’d been able to lead her own life she’d . . . well, she’d been on her own. Carrying her own weight and sometimes the weight of others. She’d opened her own doors, found her own meals, paid her own way. She wasn’t used to someone else arranging for her meals, and opening doors. She wasn’t sure how to handle it.
“The seat adjusts,” Marcus announced as he slid into the driver’s seat. “It reclines, the lumbar support adjusts, and the head raises and lowers. Here I’ll show you,” he added when Divine glanced at him blankly.
She sucked in her breath and plastered herself backward into the seat when Marcus suddenly reached across her and down to the buttons on the outside of the passenger seat. Her seat slowly reclined, far too slowly in her opinion, since he remained draped across her the whole while. Once she was nearly flat on her back, he took her hand and led it down to the buttons.
“This one lifts and lowers the bottom part of your seat. This one raises and lowers your headrest. This one moves you back and forth if you shift it back and forth, but raises and lowers you if you turn it this—”
“I’ve got it,” Divine gasped out, desperate to get him off her. The man must have done some serious cleaning up in the restroom at the gas station. He’d changed his clothes, but must also have performed a standing wash in the sink. That was her guess. Marcus smelled clean and masculine without even a whiff of the scorched skin smell of earlier and she found it a bit distressing for some reason.
Marcus raised an eyebrow at her breathy words, but straightened and did up his own seat belt. As he started the engine, he said, “Just relax. We’ll be there in a jiffy and then both of us can feed and get some proper sleep.”
Divine murmured in the affirmative, and then leaned back and closed her eyes. Despite that, she was positive she wouldn’t sleep a wink. Despite the stress and exhaustion she’d been suffering for the last twenty-four hours, she was too wound up to sleep. The problem was, she couldn’t figure out the reason for being wound up, except that it seemed to increase every time he got close to her. Weird, was Divine’s last thought before that sleep she was sure she couldn’t achieve overtook her.
Marcus found his gaze repeatedly shifting from the road to Divine as he drove. She’d fallen asleep quickly after heading out of the gas station, but then she’d looked exhausted when he’d woken up. He’d guess she hadn’t slept at all since coming back to find her RV on fire. She’d been taking care of him instead and that was something Marcus wasn’t used to. He’d spent most of his life looking out for others. As a boy, his grandfather had taken him aside and charged him with the task of looking out for his uncle Julius. Despite being his uncle, Julius was actually two years younger than he. The pair had grown up together and had already been as close as brothers when his grandfather had made the request, but Marcus had taken it seriously. His grandfather had never said why he should look out for Julius, or who might be a threat to him, but that hadn’t mattered, Marcus had taken his charge to heart and acted as friend and bodyguard for centuries after that.