Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
“Thank you,” I say. I sit in the car and I watch as Skor put gas in it, I guess. He’s locked the doors from the outside, of course. I am a prisoner for the moment. I take the chance to climb into the front passenger seat. I am interested to see what the buttons do.
Most of them don’t seem to do anything in particular. I twist dials, and push buttons and then I notice that the wheel itself seems to…
Beeeeeeeeeeeeep!
“Stop that!” Skor censures me through the window.
“No!” I say, pressing it again.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
He wrenches the door open and swats at me. I jump over into the driver’s seat and turn the key the way I saw him do earlier.
“Don’t you bloody dare,” he growls.
The car purrs into life. A loud noise comes from the dash, a sort of musical sound. And then there’s a…
“By the goddess!” Skor opens the driver’s side door and shoos me over back into the passenger seat. “You listen to nothing.”
He shuts the door behind him, does something with the stick, and starts driving out of the gas station. It takes me a moment to realize that this is not what is supposed to be happening.
“What about Thorn and Krall?”
“What about them?” Skor looks over at me, flickers a wink, and I feel my body get very still.
“What?” I can still speak, but I don’t think I can move. “What have you done?”
“I need you back in Galwich,” Skor says. “The others can have Eclipse. They can go together and find a simple little mate who will bear them simple little cubs in that city of machines.”
“What do you need me for?”
He glances over at me. His eyes are dark and feral, and sparking with something that makes me quake with fear.
“You’re needed,” he repeats.
I try to get out of the car, but of course I can’t. He’s using his powers to keep me immobile again.
“They’re going to know what you did this time. It’s not going to be like before. They’re going to hunt you down.”
“Maybe they will. It will be too late by the time they do,” he says.
“Are you going to kill me?”
He shakes his head. “No. You are my mate. I am going to make you my mate so thoroughly there will be no denying it. You will find yourself in ways you never imagined.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing you need to worry about,” he replies.
“I’m hungry.”
“You’ll survive.”
Another of those chills runs through me. I find myself looking out the window, hoping to see Krall or Thorn behind us, but there’s no sign of either of them. There are just other cars, and people. So many people. They all seem to have cars of their own. I wonder if I will get one of my own one day. That might be fun.
CHAPTER 10
Tabby
We drive through the day, into the night, and back into the day again.
The terrain changes over and over again. We have left my mountains long behind, moved through plains and hilly areas and through a few small towns and otherwise sort of average places. They are filled with humans and there’s a scent that I begin to associate with human settlements. It’s the smell of fried fat and sweet treats, and burning oil.
But we do not stop in any of these places for long. Skor lets me out to go to the bathroom a couple of times, but his power ensures that I cannot shift and run. I am locked in my human form and I am absolutely captive to him.
Finally the color of the world changes. The sky turns an almost constant deep green gray, and the grass gets long and lush and grows thorns from its seeds. The human villages are built from stone, not the wood and brick the others were. It feels older here. Not the way my mountains feel old, but still.
The air smells wet, and there’s an electric sort of tingle in it. The people here wrap their heads in floral scarves, and wear long raincoats. Their faces are heavy and lined. Even the little ones. I don’t know how that works, but I do know everyone here is suffering.
“What’s wrong with this place?”
Skor slows the car down and pulls over at the side of the road.
“It always rains. The cloud cover is constant. Vampires walk day and night, consuming the essence of everyone. There is a prophecy…”
“Oh, god, isn’t there always?”
He lifts a dark brow at me. “Does this seem like a time for flippancy?”
“It seems like you’ve kidnapped me and taken me to a truly cursed place. I didn’t know there were places more cursed than the mountains. But this…”
“It’s grim,” he says. “On a good day.”
“What’s the prophecy?”
“That someone with red hair who doesn’t listen to her mates will banish the evil from this place.”