Reykon had fallen over now and was sprawled out on the burning hot asphalt. A moment later, Melinda’s body fell too.
Most of her head was missing. It looked like she’d been stepped on by an elephant.
He heard someone shriek his name and knew that it was Robin. He fought to keep his eyes open.
Time flickered and he blinked, finding her right in front of him, wedging her arms under him and pulling him up. “Reykon,” she repeated, her voice distorted by fear.
“Vampires,” he mumbled.
“They’re gone. I took care of them,” she said, giving a smile that was meant to reassure him, to downplay the gravity of his injuries. “Fire, right?”
He nodded and groaned. Something was pooling in his mouth, and he coughed, sputtering blood all over Robin’s face and shirt.
“Tell me what to do, Reykon,” she said frantically. “Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it. What do you need?”
He fought to clear his mind, and settled on one backup plan, a contingency that he’d prepared ahead of time. He had to tell her, before he lost consciousness.
“672 N Finch Road, Austin, TX. Apartment 4,” he groaned, managing to get all the words out. “Repeat it.”
She held him closer, blocking out the harsh sun, so that all he could see was her face. “672, North Finch Road, Austin Texas. Apartment four.”
He could see wet, glistening tears pool up in her eyes. He wanted to reach out and hold her face, to tell her not to cry, but the world slipped out of focus and he was left in darkness, choking on blood and thick, greasy, black smoke.
Robin
She had to work quickly.
When Reykon had lost consciousness, she’d been left alone, surrounded by dead bodies and weapons. A large column of fire still poured out of the two explosions that she’d caused. Her first thought was to run to the SUV, load Reykon in, and tear off.
But as she looked at their SUV, something wasn’t sitting right in her brain.
For one: how had they found her in the first place?
Reykon had been careful. Extra careful. Super-duper careful.
The worst-case scenario was either a tracker on the vehicle or a tracker on their persons.
She didn’t have any time to dilly dally. If the tracker was on the car, they could take the other SUV, the one that belonged to House Xander thatshe hadn’t obliterated with fire. If the tracker was on their person, they were screwed either way, and it really wouldn’t matter what she did.
By her (wildly inexperienced) estimates, she assumed there were only a few minutes left until the police arrived.
And based on what she’d seen from the supernatural creatures so far, they were pretty intent on keeping their goings-on private. Dead bodies that weren’t exactly human jeopardized that carefully constructed discretion, which meant that she probably had less than five minutes until House Xander sent someone to pick up the mess.
But her first priority was Reykon, who was bleeding badly.
Granted, he’d be bleeding even worse if House Xander reinforcements arrived.
She started dragging him as carefully as she could, towards the enemy’s SUV. They probably had a tracking system in place on their own vehicles, so it was a risk.
But the other car definitely did, so now it was an argument of odds. And there was still a chance that no matter what they did, House Xander would find them, so then it had turned into a matter of hope and prayer.
The keys were in the ignition of House Xander’s car, thankfully. She hoisted Reykon into the seat, awkwardly, and then picked up as many lightweight weapons as she could. She chucked them in the back, grabbing the final bag of fire powder and a pistol from the other strongblood’s backpack. Then, she slammed the doors shut, making sure everything was ready to go.
She sprinted to their original SUV. She needed the map, most of all. She’d never been to Texas and wouldn’t know the first direction to Austin if her life depended on it – which it did, actually.
She yanked the map out of the front seat and then went around to the back, where the trunk was still open. She spread the fire powder out in a line and then left the bag spilling out.
Then, she made her way back to Reykon, passing the field of carnage as she went.
She slowed to a stop, looking at the female and male strongbloods, mangled from Reykon’s assault.
Her plan was to blow up Cain’s SUV on the way out, hopefully convincing the Xander thugs that she and Reykon were dead. It wouldn’t throw them off the scent forever, but it might muddy up the waters for a little bit.
But if Xander found the SUV devoid of charred bodies, they’d be able to figure it out quicker.
No… she thought, disgusted at the thought of what she would have to do to perfect the decoy van. No, no, no.
She turned her gaze back to the strongbloods. Before this day, she’d never seen a dead body, never caused an explosion, and never, ever, killed a person.
After this day, she would have done all that, and desecrated a couple of corpses to boot. She felt like she needed to take a shower in holy water.
But her momentary moral dilemma didn’t last long.
By now, she could hear sirens in the far distance.
Crap.
She worked quickly, dragging the strongbloods by their jackets and lumping them into the front seats. She closed the doors, and then raced back to their SUV.
Robin jumped in and cranked on the key, bringing the engine to life. She let out a breath of relief before peeling out, cutting through the grassy shoulder, and making a semicircle around their old car. She cut back on the road, stopping about twenty feet from it, and left the car in park.
She stepped out onto the road and steeled herself. Flashing lights and sirens were closer now, coming near to the bend that still concealed them.
Robin pulled out the pistol and aimed, hands trembling
