Chapter Nine

All this driving is tire-ing!

Taking no chances, Oliver continued driving as if the hounds from hell were giving chase. In fact, they probably were. Unfortunately, the old Suburban didn't recognize the danger they were in and refused to go over eighty-five miles per hour. And even at that speed, the engine groaned and thumped and, on occasion, a belt let out a frantic screech. After a few miles, he dropped the speed, hoping that the hellhounds couldn't keep a pace like that for this many miles, especially with at least temporary injuries.

Going slower seemed a better option than breaking down along the road. Not for the first time that night, he cursed the fates that put his plane on the west coast. Transporting Ravyn had been a priority and, despite the wealth accumulated over the years, he'd never seen the necessity to budget two modes of air travel for the two of them. Rarely did he fly, so he shouldered the cost and allowed the pilot to focus mainly on Ravyn's transport.

So many regrets, and the night was still young. Oliver deeply regretted not ripping the three hounds apart with his bare hands, but during those frantic moments his only concern had been getting Eva away to safety. He kept glancing across the console at her as she slept. He could hear her soft breathing and the slow thump of her heartbeat, but he needed the extra reassurance. Oliver rarely shared his blood, but in the few times he had, never had he seen such a reaction. After just a few sips of his blood, she'd glowed! If she hadn't been held down by her injuries, she might have floated around the SUV.

Opening his phone, he sent an all hands on deck message to his assistants, instructing them to prepare for his and Eva's arrival and what to expect. Sending a similar one to Ravyn, he informed her that their schedule had been moved up due to the circumstances. She needed to adjust her schedule to fly in immediately to meet them outside of Chicago.

A thick silence filled the vehicle and made him anxious. Sadly, he'd found over the years that silence was no longer the blessing it had once been. The quietness disconcerted him, leaving him feeling like he had too much time on his hands or, when he really cared to admit it, silence made him feel empty. Over the years, Oliver had filled his ears with music, television, noise, and business. Anything to keep his mind going and hold the emptiness at bay.

Not wanting to waste his precariously low phone battery, he tried the old radio. Clicking it on, he spun the dial only to find dead air and occasionally bits of static. Thumping on the dashboard a few times did nothing except leave him frustrated. Clicking the radio back off, he listened to the music of the thumping engine, followed by the whine of the stressed belt when he pushed the accelerator too hard. Under all of that, he followed the soft thumping of Eva's heart, accentuated by the mostly steady inhale and exhale of her breath.

Settling into the cacophony that filled the small space, Oliver continued driving as fast as the vehicle could manage, quietly watching the early morning sun in the rearview mirror chase them west. Thankfully, his specially made sunglasses had survived the night"s adventures, and he pulled them on to protect his eyes. He'd been truthful when he told Eva vampires could survive the sun. It did, however, like certain plants and herbs, cause irritation and even temporary blindness without protection. He stopped just once to fill the vehicle"s voracious gas tank at a quiet dual pump gas station in the middle of nowhere with no cameras and a sleepy attendant who forgot them before they pulled away.

Continuing to monitor Eva, he knew before she woke up that she was waking, and the pain was returning quickly. The changes in her heart rate and breathing clashed with the sounds he'd become accustomed to as they harshly sputtered and grew ragged. Before she could even attempt to blink her eyes open, he had a wrist in front of her mouth, and she greedily suckled down what he offered. Prepared this time, he managed to suppress his moan, but not the pleasure it brought him.

"Thanks," she muttered as the pain again eased. She began to glow again as the calm settled back over her, covering her like a blanket.

Groggily, still without opening her eyes, she requested he talk to her until she fell back asleep.

"I will," he promised as she wiggled her glowing fingers, which despite the early morning sun still lit up the passenger side like a luminous beacon. After driving for hours, they were close, so very close to making it to his home. To help.

"I grew up in a small town much like yours, except mine was surrounded by even more corn and soybean fields in central Illinois. I lived and died over a hundred years before you were even born. When I was a boy, I did the normal things: Ran around town with my friends from sunup until sundown or sometimes even later. Did chores for a few pennies, played in the crick outside of town, and had a pretty secure childhood, which for those times was pretty special. I suppose that's why I like to stay in Illinois. I'm close to the city, but I still feel the wind that rolls off the dusty fields on a hot summer night, still smell the freshly cut hay in the spring when I take the time."

Sighing, he went on, "Sometimes I forget to take the time." The memories of his idyllic childhood gave him a pang of homesickness, then with a chuckle, he continued, "One summer, probably the hottest on record. One of those scorchers where nowadays people cook eggs on sidewalks or bake cookies in cars to really show how hot it is. Three of us decided we'd had enough of lying around in our own sweat, and our mothers were simply sick of us coming into the house filled with complaints and reeking like only little boys do, plus more due to the heat."

The words flowed softly from him as he spoke of that hot summer and the fun they'd made—for themselves, anyway. Surely their mothers would have argued differently. Oliver continued to glance at Eva as he spoke, reassuring himself that her breathing remained steady as her body with the help of his blood fought to keep the hellfire at bay. Turning the old vehicle"s air conditioning on high, grateful that it seemed to work fairly well, Oliver turned all the vents toward Eva to try to keep her body cool. Despite the outpouring of cool air, she continued sweating.

"Howda you stay coool?" slurred from her barely moving, dry lips.

Oliver could hear the slowing of her heartbeat, and he pressed the gas pedal deeper to the floorboard as he continued telling her about the hottest summer on record. Apparently, she was listening.

"And it wasn't mud that surrounded the cattle pond at all." Oliver stopped his story as Eva let out a low moan. The effects hadn't lasted as long as the first time and with several hours of driving still ahead of him, Oliver knew he had to give Eva more of his potentially life-saving blood. Yet he hesitated. Although not wanting to consider the possibility, if she couldn't stave off the hellfire and, gods forbid, she died while under the influence of his blood, would it turn her? The hellfire burned off the vampire blood, but who could say how much of what she'd ingested stayed within her? Hellfire burned unpredictably, and all he was working with currently was secondhand knowledge. When Oliver transitioned to a vampire, he'd been given a choice; although admittedly, he didn't have all the facts and with death beating your door down, you tended to make hasty decisions.

Eva should have a choice as well.

Act in haste, repent in leisure. With those words in his mind, he pulled into an abandoned gas station with cracked concrete that had weeds and even small saplings growing from them. He parked the Suburban near the back side of the boarded up, faded building, out of sight of anyone who might pass by on the rural road. This time, Oliver released her seat belt before scooting over to cradle Eva in his arms, opening his wrist and forcing her to drink a few more drops when she would have stopped sooner. Her glow had dimmed, and this time, despite him having forced more blood into her, she hadn't the energy to even mumble at him.