Cold Blooded

Ray walked up to me with a swagger in his step, his new power hitting my skin in small pressure points. “Your detective pal, Nick, is on the road, just so you know. He’s not too far. You should probably go get him before he drives through one of those circles and gets himself hurt.”

My head snapped to Tyler and Danny. “Did you tell Nick to come here?”

Tyler shrugged, moving forward. “Yes and no. We all left the Coven together and he was with us when we went back to the Safe House and saw Naomi. He knew roughly where we were heading. He’s one of your best friends, Jessica. You can’t keep him out of danger forever. He’ll survive. He’s smart. We need all the help we can get and he knows that.”

It was selfish of me to want to keep him out of harm’s way. He was worried about us and had a right to be here. “What’s he driving?” I asked.

“A big black Suburban,” Ray answered.

“Sweet,” Tyler hooted. “That means he has the Safe House truck, which is stocked to the hilt with supplies. That’s why I love Nick; he’s always thinking.”

“Even sweeter”—I glanced around the group—“we all have a ride to New Orleans.”

11

I was dressed in my own clothes, waving my arms like an air-traffic controller on the side of the road. We’d just come down the mountain and I was trying to flag Nick down without giving him a heart attack. The Porsche purred quietly next to me. Rourke was waiting not so patiently inside. Danny, Tyler, Naomi, and Ray were back at the stream waiting for us to return with Nick.

The Suburban’s headlights finally flashed into view and I jumped up and down. When Nick saw me, he slammed on his brakes and bumped onto the shoulder. By the look on his face, I’d surprised the hell out of him. I could’ve done a supernatural maneuver, but why make things more complicated? My arms worked just fine.

Naomi had spotted him from the sky a half hour ago. But rather than her stopping him, because they didn’t know each other, we agreed it should be me. He hadn’t been on the right road, but we’d cut across a few back roads to reach him.

The moment his tires came to a halt, he was out the door. “Jess, what’s going on? Are you okay?” He ran toward me and grabbed me up into a big bear hug.

“I’m fine.” I hugged him back. “I just didn’t want to give you heart failure, so we thought this was the easiest way. Nobody’s phone works out here, so we couldn’t warn you we were coming.”

“Well, it worked,” he said. “Seeing you on the side of the road was completely unexpected. But I was coming to find you, not the other way around.”

“We had to make some quick changes to the schedule. We’re leaving early for New Orleans, as in—we’re leaving right now. Strange power blips are popping up all over. We think it may be the demons working with sorcerers, so we’ve got to skedaddle out of here. Circles are popping up all over. Jump back into the Suburban and follow the car. Tyler, Danny, Naomi, and Ray are a few miles away.”

“I’m sorry, but did you just say the demons and sorcerers are working together?” he asked, already heading back to the SUV without question. “I’ve never heard of that happening.”

“Neither had any of us, but that’s the best guess we have at the moment,” I said. “Ray, of all people, picked up on the magic when he was flying around.” Rourke tapped the horn. “We have to get moving. I’ll explain it all later. I promise. I know I owe you so much, but I can’t explain it all now. I’m going to be sequestered in this car, because it’s spelled, until we hit New Orleans. Once we’re there we’ll work out a decent plan.” I walked over and slid into the waiting Porsche.

“Ray,” Nick muttered as he slammed the door of the Suburban. “Who would’ve guessed?”

That’s fine, Tyler, but you can’t risk anyone seeing you. He, Nick, and Danny were in the SUV behind us and we were having an internal conversation. It was four in the morning and we were a few hours outside of New Orleans.

It was more than time to try and connect with our father again, so we were deciding on the best course of action. I was getting more and more anxious by the moment. Maggie hadn’t given Tyler any specific details, only that we needed to arrive in New Orleans soon. Now that we were closer to the city limits, it was time to try again.

I can’t get out of this car yet, I told him. The car had done its job well so far. We’ll pull over and park while you shift. Up ahead looks pretty dense with good cover.

Nobody is going to see me. I’ve been doing this wolf thing for a long time. If I make contact with Dad, I’ll let you know. We were both worried. It had been too long since we’d heard from him. This wasn’t normal. We were always in touch with him.

Wait, I’m having second thoughts. Have Danny shift with you, I told him. We’d just decided Tyler was going to shift alone. It’s better if you stay together. I want you to have backup if anything goes wrong.

The circles had continued to pop up all night, but they were almost always near a populated town. So we had simply steered clear of towns. If the demons really were working with the sorcerers, it was a massive collaboration. They must have gathered sorcerers from all around the country to act together, which was no small undertaking. Naomi and Ray had taken turns keeping an eye on the magic and directing us away from any activity.

The Porsche had kept me cloaked, which was a very good thing. Every supe had their own signature, kind of like a magical DNA, and the Demon Lord who’d come to pick up Selene and tried to trick me into accompanying it to the Underworld had told me they’d gotten a sample of my signature off an imp I’d fought. So if the car wasn’t spelled, they would be able to find me eventually.

Jess, it’s easier if I go alone, Tyler said. I can catch up with you faster once I’m done. Tyler’s special gift was the ability to run faster than any other wolf.

No, take Danny, and don’t argue with me on this. There’s a town nearby. It makes the most sense to have full backup.

Fine. Pull over up ahead. I see a bunch of trees after that road sign.

“Rourke, pull over right there.” I pointed to the break in the trees. As we cruised up to it, I could see it was an old logging road. “Follow it in. Tyler and Danny are going to shift. Tyler’s going to try and connect with our father one more time before we reach New Orleans.”

Rourke turned down the road, the Suburban right behind us. He drove fifty yards along the bumpy dirt road and parked. Tyler and Danny jumped out of their vehicle immediately.

Before they could get to my car, Naomi and Ray landed in front of us.

“Tyler and Danny are shifting,” I told the vamps through the window. “They’re going to try and communicate with my dad. Any more issues from the sky?”

Since Ray had arrived back, he’d been civil and fairly cooperative. Our connection felt stronger each time we interacted. I knew he felt it, too, but he wasn’t acknowledging it, in true Ray fashion. I wasn’t going to push because I had no idea if having us tied together was a good thing yet or not. “There was one a few minutes ago about fifty miles from here,” Ray answered. “We shouldn’t hang around any longer than necessary. Every time one flares close by, I feel like gagging.” Ray carried himself like a police officer even as a vampire. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad combination. I doubted Ray would ever stop being a cop, so maybe that would make him an extra diligent vampire.

Naomi nodded. “Yes. The magic tastes very bitter. We must not linger.”

“How can they possibly keep coming so often?” I said. “They haven’t let up all night, and I’m guessing they’re doing this all around the country trying to find me.”

“I do not understand it myself,” Naomi confessed. “I had not thought it possible for them to come so often. There must be an army of demons, each paired with a sorcerer or witch of some kind. A spell caster must be