He stopped ten feet away from the hut and set me down on the pavement. As we approached, I realized that it was a small truck stop. Bottled water, packets of nuts, potato chips and fresh loaves of bread lined the shelves, while the freezer was filled with ice cream. My stomach grumbled as I looked at the prices. The bread would be the cheapest and most filling. I looked at Caleb, who had picked up a map from a stand. Under the shelter of the stall now, he’d lowered his hood.
“This will do,” he said. I walked up to him and checked the price of the map.
The wallet stuck out of Caleb’s pocket, so I took it out and counted the coins. Yes, we had enough to not have to steal again. Just about.
I picked up a loaf of bread and a liter of water and placed them on the counter next to Caleb’s map.
The kiosk owner stubbed out his cigarette and took the coins Caleb handed him.
“Obrigado.”
I began chugging back the water and munching on the bread as we walked back along the road. I was silent for the next ten minutes. I finished the whole loaf and three quarters of the water. Caleb was still poring over the map. He was walking with his back facing the sun, so his hands wouldn’t get burned. It made the glare somewhat more bearable, I imagined.
“We should start heading north, toward Boa Vista.”
I peered at the map.
“But how? You can’t possibly run that far with the sun beating down on you like this. You can barely walk.”
“We’ll need to travel by vehicle. As soon as darkness falls, we’ll get off and I’ll run. We won’t get far by car compared to the distance I can travel by running at night, but we can’t just waste time during the day. We ought to start heading in the right direction. If I run non-stop tonight, we could be halfway across Venezuela by morning.”
“And then what are you thinking?”
“We need to make it to the coast, either in Panama or Colombia. Panama is closer to The Shade. If we make good progress tonight, we could well arrive at Panama Bay within three days. We’ll have to find a speedboat. That will leave us a few more days to navigate the seas back to The Shade. Assuming we don’t get lost in any jungles or have some other major disaster…”
“Hm. So how do we get a vehicle?” I frowned, looking up and down the busy road.
“This highway leads north. We’ll have to hitchhike.”
I stared at Caleb, his face masked, his body covered from head to foot in the long black suit. He looked like a bank robber. I couldn’t imagine anyone in their right mind stopping for us. Still, it didn’t look like we had much of a choice but to try.
I looked up and down the road again, squinting as a van came thundering past, blowing up a dust storm around us.
“Which side of the road do we stand on? Which way’s north?”
Caleb consulted the map again, then looked at the road sign towering above us. He pointed to the other side of the highway. I looked nervously at the velocity the vehicles were passing by, barely leaving a few seconds’ gap between them.
I climbed once again onto Caleb’s back and tried to help shelter his eyes from the blazing sun, which was almost at its peak in the sky by now.
He looked left and right, then lurched forward, knocking the breath right out of me. We reached the narrow partition in the center of the highway. Caleb waited another few seconds before darting forward and arriving safely on the other side.
He groaned again as he turned his back on the sun, covering his eyes with his hands.
I looked at the road again and my stomach sank as I thought about what we were about to attempt.
“Caleb,” I said, pointing to a shaded area ten feet back from the road. When he hesitated, I reached for his sleeve and tugged him.
“What?”
“You can’t seriously expect anyone to stop with you looking like that.”
He didn’t have anything to say to that.
“I’ll have to try pulling a car over by myself,” I said. “You should go and sit in the shade.”
At least he could take the suit off if he sat there. He didn’t argue with me and did as I’d requested, though his gaze didn’t leave me.
Of course, I’d never hitchhiked in my life. I’d seen it done in movies, however. I reached out an arm and stuck out a thumb. Caleb had removed his hood, so at least he looked a little less scary. Although his appearance was still a disadvantage, hitchhiking with a vampire certainly had its perks. I didn’t have to be as selective in choosing a driver, because Caleb wouldn’t have trouble protecting us.
As it turned out, we couldn’t afford to be selective. I stood for an hour with my hand outstretched. Nobody would stop. I spotted a police car hurtling toward us more than once. I ducked into the bushes with Caleb, paranoid that news might have spread about my stall robbery.
After an hour and a half, a car stopped with two men in the front seats. They seemed interested in giving me a ride. But as soon as I pointed to Caleb, they lost interest and sped off again.
Finally, during the third hour, as my arm drooped from exhaustion, a long red pickup truck pulled over. Its windows were tinted, so I couldn’t see inside. A tan man sporting dark sunglasses and a goatee in the driver’s seat rolled down his window and beckoned me over.
I approached cautiously, looking past his shoulder to see another man. Smoking a rolled-up cigarette, he was tattooed and muscular, just like the driver.
“Hello, sir,” I said to the driver. “Do you speak English?”
“English.” His voice was deep and gravelly. He exchanged glances with the man next to him in the passenger seat. “Yes, I speak English.”
I exhaled in relief. That was half the battle won right there.
I pointed to Caleb, who had stood up, pulled the suit over himself again—his hood only partially covering his face—and approached us. “My friend and I are hoping to catch a ride to Boa Vista. Where are you heading?”
His face dropped slightly, but he replied all the same.
“Venezuela. We will be passing through Boa Vista.”
I looked up at Caleb who was eyeing the men closely.
“Can you just give me a second?” I said, looking back at the driver.
He grunted. Caleb and I stepped back from the vehicle where we could talk out of earshot.
“They look dodgy as hell,” I whispered. “But with you dressed like this, I honestly don’t think we’ll find anyone better… I also don’t think I can hold an arm out for much longer.”
Caleb furrowed his brows, shooting a glance back at the vehicle. Although he looked uncomfortable, he nodded. “I suppose we have no choice.”
We walked back over to the men.
“Could we catch a ride?” I looked further into the vehicle through his open window. It was an eight-seater. There were six men inside in total, including the two men in the front seats. The back row seemed empty.
The driver frowned and exchanged a few words in Portuguese with the man next to him. They both chuckled. I wasn’t sure what was so funny, but was relieved when he looked back at me and nodded.
“Yes.” He turned to the man sitting next to him. “Julio, seat them in the back.” He reached out a hand to me. “Luis.”
I shook his rough hand. “Rose, and this is Caleb.”
Luis nodded in Caleb’s direction, but didn’t bother to shake his hand. Caleb and I walked over to Julio, who had already opened up the back door. We climbed in and sat down, Julio closing the door again behind us.
I didn’t like the way the men looked at us. At me. I nestled closer to Caleb, who placed an arm around me. I was glad that they were seated in separate rows. Hopefully soon they’d face forward and mind their own business.
The side door slammed shut as Julio got back in his seat. The engine rumbled and we lurched forward, merging back in with the traffic on the highway.
“So where are you from?” Luis called back over his shoulder.
I exchanged looks with Caleb. No easy answer to that.
“California,” I said.
That, after all, had been my home for the first five years of my life before my parents moved us back to The Shade.
“And you two are brother and sister, or what?”
I thought I might as well stick with Caleb’s story, since we didn’t exactly look like siblings. “No, we’re newly married.”
“Ah, nice,” Luis said. “Very nice… What brings the two of you down here? Honeymoon?”
Caleb rolled his eyes.
“Yes,” I replied, trying to suppress a laugh. “Of sorts… What about you?”
“We are old friends, having a reunion. We too have also been on a holiday, of sorts.”
An ebony-skinned man sitting in front of me turned his head around and looked at Caleb. “I see you’re not a fan of the sun.”
“I prefer the shade,” Caleb replied, looking out of the window as the tarmac flew away beneath the wheels.
The man chuckled, then reached into his front shirt pocket. He pulled out two hand-rolled cigarettes and held them out to us.
“No. Thanks,” Caleb replied stiffly.
I shook my head as he offered one to me.
He mumbled something in Portuguese and faced forward again.
I took a sip of the remaining water I had left in my bottle. My throat felt so dry again. That bread had absorbed a lot of my moisture, and then I’d been standing in the heat of the sun for two hours. I wanted to drain every last drop. But I didn’t know how long it would be before more fresh water came my way, so I had to pace myself.
Caleb and I were silent for the next few hours. Other than the occasional joke in Portuguese, the other men were pretty silent too. I should have used this opportunity to catch up on some sleep, but I wasn’t comfortable sleeping in a van with six men, even with Caleb present.
I looked up at Caleb every now and then. His eyes were fixed out of the window. I wondered what he was thinking. It was hard to read his stony expression. I wasn’t sure whether he resented having to drag me along. Whether he regretted saving me from that cave. Maybe now that he found himself lumbered with me, he was just doing what he thought was his duty to return me home. But even though he was avoiding talking to me, he kept his arm around the back of my chair the whole time, keeping me within his reach. And something about that gesture gave me hope that perhaps there was more to why Caleb was doing this.
I hated to think how much he had risked for me. And I still wasn’t sure why. He’d skirted around the subject and refused to explain.
I also didn’t understand what he’d been doing on that island with Annora, and why she’d been unconscious on the ground… why Caleb had just left her there.
I reached for his left hand, which rested on his knee, and squeezed it.
Finally, he looked down at me, his eyes intense. My heart fluttered.
“What are you thinking about?” I whispered.
He inhaled deeply and breathed out, running a hand over his face.
“The journey.” He looked out of the window again.
“Which part of the journey?”
“All of it.”
“There’s one part of the journey I’m thinking about.” He didn’t respond, so I continued. “The part when you…” I paused, casting my eyes about the vehicle. We were too close to the men to speak freely. “When we reach home.”
His jaw tensed.
I wanted to talk details about The Shade, reassure him that everything would be okay. But there wasn’t enough privacy for that now. Instead I just leaned up and pressed my lips against his rough cheek. He swallowed hard, and if vampires could blush, Caleb did then.
Chapter 5: Rhys
I waited three hours before healing the wolf’s wound. Although the agony slowed him down, I needed him to learn his lesson once and for all. Werewolves were stubborn creatures and it was often only after intense and prolonged punishment that they would remember not to disobey again.
But even with the wound, he still moved faster than when we’d started out. Which confirmed my suspicion that for some reason, he didn’t want us finding Rose and the vampire.
Once I’d decided he’d had enough, I healed his wound within seconds. Gripping the fur at the back of his neck, I forced him to look up at me.
“Let’s see how fast you can really move.”
There wasn’t a flicker of hesitation in his eyes now. I climbed onto his back and he lurched forward.
“That’s better,” I said, patting his head. “Much better. Everything will be much easier if you just obey your master. And when we reach them, I’ll set you free. You can even return to The Shade if you like…”
I’d feed him another large hunk of human meat once we returned, but of course I didn’t really intend to set him free. Werewolves were useful to us, and I’d developed a taste for their blood.
We didn’t stop again until we’d reached a concrete road at the edge of the rainforest. It was morning by the time we arrived. I leapt off the wolf just before he turned back into his humanoid form.
I looked up and down the road. “Where to now?” I asked.
He indicated left. I put an invisibility charm over the two of us and began walking in the direction Micah was pointing. He continued sniffing the air as we walked.
It had occurred to me, of course, that Micah could have been deliberately misleading me. Pretending he’d caught the couple’s scent when, in fact, he was leading me in the opposite direction. But he knew what I could do to him. How ruthless I was in my punishments. I doubted he harbored that much attachment to either the girl or the vampire to want to risk his life and sanity.
He stopped outside a four-story building with wide glass doors. Holding Micah’s chain closer against me, I pulled him up the steps. As I vanished us inside the building, there was only one person in the foyer—an old woman sitting behind a desk. I was glad that we had the room mostly to ourselves. Micah began walking toward a staircase leading upward. He approached the first step, sniffing the air with intense concentration. I thought he was about to start ascending, but then he stepped away and headed toward a set of doors at the far end of the entrance hall.
“Through there,” he whispered.
I vanished us through to the other side of the doors, where we found a dining area. The werewolf continued forward, pointing toward yet another set of doors behind a counter piled with food. We vanished through it and arrived in a kitchen. I was pleased by how certain Micah now seemed to be in detecting their scent. I hoped that this meant that we weren’t far behind them. He headed straight toward an open door at the back of the kitchen. We emerged on a balcony. A wide river ran a few meters away.
Ah, water. This was the one element of nature that completely impaired werewolves’ sense of smell. We climbed over the balcony and dropped down onto the shore.
“Well,” I said, “if they entered the water, unless they drowned in there, they must have crawled out again.” I looked up and down along the bank. “We may as well go right first.”
We started moving and it wasn’t long before Micah confirmed my guess. He picked up their scent again about two miles down. It led us up to a busy highway. From there we took a right, and then Micah indicated that we cross the road. He walked along the gravelly pavement for a little longer and then stopped suddenly.
“What?”
Micah scratched his jaw, frowning. “The scent is strong here,” he said. “Stronger than any other location we’ve passed through so far.”
“What do you think this means?” I asked.
“I think they stopped here for a while, possibly even a few hours. Perhaps for a rest.”
“Or more likely to get picked up by a vehicle,” I said, eyeing the cars whizzing by. “The vampire would have had trouble traveling with the girl during the day due to the sun… Where does the scent go from here?”
Micah walked ten feet and stopped, right at the edge of the road. “This is where it’s last strongest.” He continued walking along the
edge of the road. “But I can still sense it. They went in that direction.” He pointed left.
There was no doubt in my mind that they’d gotten into a vehicle. This would make it harder for Micah to track them down. But it wouldn’t be impossible, as long as they kept a window open.
I looked up at a nearby signpost.
“So they’re headed north.”
Chapter 6: Rose
The vehicle slowed to a stop as we approached a gas station. Luis parked by a pump and got out of the car to fill the tank. The late afternoon sun touched my face as I looked up at the sky. It wouldn’t be long until we parted ways and continued on foot. I smiled to think that we’d pass these men on the road in no time. Then I groaned, realizing we’d have to find some other vehicle to hitchhike again tomorrow.
Luis finished filling up the tank and headed toward the pay station. Julio stepped out of the car, his boots ringing on the pavement as he made his way toward the van’s back door. He opened it.
“We have some time. You probably want to stretch your legs.”
I looked at Caleb and he nodded. We both climbed out and walked around. I stretched out my arms and rolled my neck from side to side. I’d lost track of how many hours we’d been sitting.
We stood beneath the station’s covering. Caleb didn’t need to pull the hood over his head. He just stood there, his black suit tied around his shoulders.
Julio looked at me. “Would you like to use the bathroom?”
“Yes,” I said, relieved that he’d asked.
“Come, I’ll show you where it is.”
Caleb stepped forward. “Tell me where it is and I’ll take her.”
Julio smiled and nodded courteously. “Of course,” he said. “Follow me.”
Caleb’s grip around my arm didn’t loosen as we walked toward the entrance of the shop. Its shelves were stacked with newspapers, snacks, bottles of water and cigarettes. Julio led us to a door at the back of the shop. He pushed it open to reveal a narrow staircase winding upward.
I looked from Julio back to the man behind the counter. “Are you sure it’s okay if we go up there?”