Chapter Twenty-Three

They were in a rundown part of town. Trash littered the sidewalk. Some of it had worked its way against the buildings and into the gutters. Henri could tell it had been there for a while. Most of the windows had black metal bars on them, while others had been broken. There were also liquor stores advertising alcohol, cigarettes, and cheap cell phones.

Some buildings had graffiti on them.

They passed a homeless person sitting on a piece of cardboard with a torn paper grocery sack and a dirty duffel bag beside them.

Henri stopped and unzipped the bag. He rummaged around in it until he found the cash he had stolen. He pulled out a twenty-dollar bill, and handed it to the person.

The person took it and hugged it to their chest. Their smile widened, and they patted their chest. Henri didn’t know if they couldn’t or wouldn’t speak, so Henri didn’t either. He nodded and grabbed Echo’s hand, pulling him along.

“Where did you get money?” Echo whispered when they were a respectful distance away.

“Found it on the plane. I’m not sure how much is there.”

“We need to stop. Regroup. Eat. It’s weird but I’m hungry.” Echo pointed to what appeared to be a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. The building had a small overhang shading bistro style tables. To create a homey feel, the restaurant owners built a railing around their outdoor eating space.

“Nothing is left in your stomach.”

“Yeah, all that blood.” Echo shuddered.

“Let’s not think about it.”

On the left was a sliding window resembling the type at driver-thru restaurants. The place was free from litter and the tables appeared clean.

A small lady stood inside. She’d pulled her hair back from her face and had a pretty smile. She seemed ageless. Henri couldn’t tell how old she was, not even when they walked up to the window. She had flawless skin. But she had wisdom in her eyes.

Henri had studied Latin for fun once and he’d learned Spanish because several people around the surrounding communities spoke it as their first language. Spanish was also the second most spoken language in America. It made sense to learn it.

But he could see the surprise on the woman’s face and then her relieved smile, as if her English wasn’t the greatest and she dreaded speaking it.

He ordered drinks. It was some sort of fruit smoothie thing he hoped Echo wouldn’t object to. He turned to Echo. “What would you like to eat?”

“Tacos?”

“Beef or chicken.” He didn’t have to read the menu to know she’d asked the question. Every Mexican restaurant in America had more than one choice of taco. He knew those two choices would be on the menu, although he suspected there were more.

“Beef.” Echo unzipped the bag and pulled out the wad of cash. He stuffed it into his pocket.

Henri ordered their food, and when the woman told them the amount, Echo handed him some of the money. Henri paid. They were told to take a seat, and she’d call them when their order was up.

They sat close to the building. Their table had an umbrella attached to it. Someone had angled it for maximum privacy.

Echo pulled out their wad of cash, counting it. His eyes widened after he finished. He handed it back to Henri. “There’s a little over six hundred there.”

Henri hadn’t realized it was so much. “I feel bad eating tacos when Saint Lakes is in such peril.”

“We have to eat something. We need our energy.” Echo leaned forward. “Let’s rent a car and drive home.”

“We can’t rent without giving them some form of ID. Even if we pay cash, they still need our driver’s license.” Henri didn’t have his on him and Echo didn’t have a license. “The humans are government soldiers. They’ll be able to track us. We’ll need to stay off the grid.”

“Does it matter if they did?”

Henri nodded.

They stopped talking when the woman brought their food. Henri and Echo thanked her, and they tucked into a taco each before Henri spoke again.

“I hope we’re able to make it to Saint Lakes without problems, but if they’ve discovered the plane still at the airport, we’ll need to be careful. You’re important enough to them to kill over. I shudder thinking about what would happen if they accomplished their goal.”

Echo put his taco down and seemed to stare into space. Henri wasn’t sure if he was thinking about what Henri said or if he was talking to his mates. It didn’t take Echo long to clue Henri in. “I think they want to use us for leverage.”

Henri nodded. “So the council will free Fowler. Yes, I agree.”

“We would be slaves.” Echo frowned as if the thought made him angry.

“We’ll all be slaves to Fowler, even the humans. He’d be able to rule the country if that’s his goal.”

“The worst-case scenario.”

“Yes.” Henri took a bite of his taco and changed the subject. There was no point in thinking about what could happen when they had to focus on making it back to Saint Lakes. They were taking measures to prevent the worst from happening. It was all they could do. “We have two choices. We can hitch a ride. The local truck stop would be a good place to find a ride.”

Echo wrinkled his nose. “What’s the second choice?”

“We steal a car.”

Echo’s eyes were as big as saucers. “They could put us in jail. I’m not prison material anymore. I mean, some vampires assholes locked me away in a room in a castle for a while, so I’ve been there, but Vaughan and Bandos have ruined me. I’m way too pampered now.”

Henri smiled. It was the first time since the humans had attacked, and the little spark of something besides fear felt good, even if nothing about their situation warranted a smile. “I’m not either. I think if we find a car around here, we have less of a chance of it being reported. I’m sure I can hot-wire one, but we’ll need to find an older model.”

Maybe they would get lucky.

“How do you know how to hot-wire a car?” Echo sounded as if he doubted Henri’s ability. And while Henri didn’t have real world experience, how hard could it be?

Henri shrugged. “I read about it once. The instructions were straightforward.”

“You read about it? What kind of book gives a how-to on stealing cars? And why did you read it?”

“You never know what will be useful.” Henri’s usual go-to topics bored him sometimes.

Echo sighed. “I’ve been in worse situations.”

Henri rolled his eyes. “My ability to hot-wire a car will not turn into a bad situation.”