Beneath the Skin (29 page)

Fire ignited in Dante's eyes, his body coiled. "
Try
being the key word,
chere.
" His hands slid away from her face.

"And it's not just the Bureau. The SB is playing some kind of game."

"I think it's called cat and mouse."

"Hey, little brother, catch," Von said, joining them on the sidewalk. He tossed Dante a pair of sunglasses, then lobbed a plain black hoodie at him.

Dante caught both with a quick flick of his wrist.
"Merci beaucoup,"
he said, sliding on the shades. He slung the hoodie over his shoulder.

Von nodded at the small pack of nomads at one of the truck stop's fueling stations. "Raccoon clan, on their way to Wyoming," he said. "I dropped by to say hello and they said they'd be more than happy to offer us blood."

"Yeah?"

"Yup. Dawn's a coupla hours away, so there's time if you'd rather hunt."

Dante trailed a hand through his hair. "Nah. Should be fine. Ain't got time to mess around. Not when
we're
the ones being hunted." He glanced at Heather.

"True ..." Von stopped speaking, his gaze flicking between Dante and Heather. A vertical thinking-deep line creased his forehead. "What's up?" he asked, shoving his shades on top of his head.

"The Bureau just stepped things up." Heather pulled the paper out from under her arm and showed it to Von. He scanned the headline, his expression speed-shifting from neutral straight into indignant.

"So now the bastards claim you're loony tunes," Von said, voice flat. The crescent moon tattoo beneath his eye glinted in the starlight. "And the media's eating it up with a big ol' spoon."

"The FBI's expert in manufacturing evidence when necessary," Heather said. Her hands knotted into fists. Learning that fact had been a recent and bitter lesson. "Wasn't always that way, though."

"For you it never was," Dante said. He reached for her hand and smoothed her fingers away from her palm. "Yeah?"

Heather felt a smile tug at her lips. "Yeah."

Von pulled a map out of his back pocket and handed it to Heather. "I've got our route marked out. Why don't you go over it during breakfast, make sure everything's okay?"

"Good idea. I will."

Von glanced at Dante. "Ready, little brother?"

"Yeah,
mon ami
, I'm ready." Squeezing, then releasing Heather's hand, Dante bent and planted a heated amaretto kiss on her lips. "Back in a bit."

Heather nodded, unsure of what was the proper thing to say when one's nightkind boyfriend slipped away for a little breakfast. Somehow
bon appetit
felt more than a little wrong. She settled on, "Be careful."

A smile tilted Dante's lips as he backed away. "That'd still be a first,
cherie
."

"A woman can dream," Heather replied.

Laughing, Dante blew her a kiss, then turned and walked across the parking lot toward the nomads, a smoldering and sexy vision in snug leather pants and mesh-andPVC-sleeved T-shirt. He paused to pull on his new hoodie.

"I'll keep close to him, doll," Von said. "In case anything goes south."

"Good," Heather said. "He's still struggling."

"I know," Von said quietly. He sauntered after Dante, catching up in just a few long-legged strides.

More than one trucker stopped what he was doing to stare at Dante as he passed in a graceful, easy stride, his beauty and pale, pale face unhidden.

Light from the fueling station's overheads glinted silver off the metal buckles on Dante's boots, off the studs on the belt slung around his hips, on the rings gracing his fingers and thumbs, and off the collar strapped around his throat.

Dante flipped up the hood and tugged the edges past his face.

Heather studied the nomads as they gassed up several different types of motorcycles--Harley, Kawasaki, Sucker Punch Sally's, Ducati--and family-hauling Jeeps decorated with swirling Celtic designs in bright colors; men and women in road-dusty leathers checked knapsacked supplies and chatted while children raced each other to the restrooms.

Annie shoulder-opened the gift store's heavy glass door, and walked outside, tearing open a pack of Camels. "When are we going to eat? I'm fucking starving."

"Go grab us a booth," Heather said.

"What are
they
doing?" Annie asked. "Are those nomads friends of Von's?"

"I think they just met, but nomads regard nightkind with respect," Heather said. "View them as part of the natural order of things."

"Oh sure," Annie said. "Like leeches and mosquitoes."

Heather chose to ignore her sister's comment. Annie was bored and hoping for an argument, as usual. Heather heard the click of a lighter wheel, smelled burning tobacco as Annie lit a cigarette.

"I thought you were going to get us a booth."

"After my smoke." Annie paused, then said, "Holy shit, are they gonna
feed
on the nomads?"

"The nomads offered," Heather replied, her gaze still on Dante. He stood beside Von, his weight shifted onto one hip, hands at his sides. Several nomads, two men and a woman, knelt in front of Dante and bowed their heads. Dante shook his head, bent, and pulled one of the men to his feet.

"Huh. So why you watching? You jealous or something?"

Anger flared and Heather turned to face her sister. "No, I'm
not
jealous," she said, just managing to keep her voice level. "I sure as hell don't want to be food."

Annie regarded her for a moment, exhaling a gray plume of smoke, a wry gleam in her eyes. "Sure, not food. But I'll bet anything you don't want his lips on another woman. Or his hands. Or his--"

"Shut
up,
" Heather cut in.

"He told me he kills them sometimes."

"Just shut the hell up, Annie."

If Annie had a superpower it would be button-pushing, because she always knew which ones to push. Always knew if a little tap would do or if she needed to lean into it with all she had. Worse? This time Annie was right. She'd nailed it on the head. The hard, heated knot coiled around Heath-er's heart verified it.

Jealous, and not proud of the fact. As for Dante killing those he fed upon, Heather felt more than a little uncertain. He hadn't killed Cortini--even when Athena had encouraged him to finish his "meal."

"Oooo, Gorgeous-But-Deadly picked one. Boy or girl? Guess!"

A chilly breeze smelling of sagebrush and gas fumes swept through the parking lot. Shivering, Heather folded her arms over her chest. But she refused to look, refused to swallow her sister's bait.

"I'm going to get us a booth."

Heather grabbed the door handle, pulled it open, and warm air whooshed out as she stepped inside, the sizzling smells of sausage, green peppers, and eggs making her stomach rumble. Checking to make sure the Browning was still snug against the small of her back and covered by her pink Emily the Strange T-shirt, Heather walked into the restaurant.

IN BETWEEN BITES OF scrambled eggs, Heather studied the map Von had given her since she and Annie would be handling driving duties during daylight hours.

Von had bought a few supplies before arriving at the Happy Beaver Motel to pick them up, and once Dante was conscious again, he'd suggested they drive straight through to New Orleans.

We can't risk Sleeping in motels. It'll give the SB and whoever else is chasing our asses too much time and opportunity to fuck with us.

What Dante didn't say, but Heather understood, was that he didn't trust Annie either. Motel time would give her opportunities to run away and opportunities to betray them. And Heather was pretty damned sure Annie would take advantage of those opportunities first thing.

So they'd stopped at a twenty-four-hour Walmart Super-center and bought blackout curtains and sleeping bags.

Between the curtains duct-taped over the back windows and dividing the front of the roomy Mercedes-Benz SUV, and the mummy-style sleeping bags with their face-hugging snorkel baffles, Dante and Von figured they'd have enough protection to Sleep in the back during the day while Heather and Annie drove.

At night, they'd switch places.

The route on the map led through Salt Lake City, Utah; down to Denver, Colorado; then on to Wichita, Kansas; Norman, Oklahoma; and Dallas, Texas. Then they'd cross into Louisiana, through Shreveport, Baton Rouge, and ending in New Orleans.

It chilled Heather to realize that their route was almost identical to the one Elroy Jordan, the Cross-Country Killer, had taken on his serial killer vacation tour.

Stopping only for food and bathroom breaks, the goal was to reach New Orleans in another forty hours--give or take. And the sooner the better.

Before the SB reversed their mysterious decision to let them go and burned rubber chasing them.

Before the Bureau decided Heather Wallace needed to run away from treatment and throw herself off a bridge.

Before the Fallen winged down from the sky in another bid to claim Dante. If they'd learned from the last experience, they'd come equipped with tranks and a large net.

The Bureau, the Shadow Branch, the Fallen. Oh, my.

Just as Heather finished the last bite of raspberry jam-slathered toast, Dante slid into the booth beside her. He parked his shades on top of his hooded head. His autumn scent curled around her. "Hey,
cherie
."

"Hey, back," Heather said, smiling.

Even through his clothes and hoodie, Dante's heat baked against her and, for the first time since they'd arrived at Rolling Rick's, she felt grateful she wore only a T-shirt and not something heavier.

"Hey, how was the guy you chowed down on?" Annie asked.

Without looking at her, Dante flipped her off. The intensity of the relief melting through Heather at Annie's words almost embarrassed her. He'd chosen a male.

"Von's in the SUV double-checking the blackout curtains," Dante said, picking up the check. "You about ready?" He held a debit spike--one of Von's--in his other hand.

"Definitely."

Heather and Annie visited the restroom one more time while Dante paid for the meal. When Heather walked outside into the wind-chilled night, she noticed Dante standing in the parking lot between the sidewalk and the SUV, his hood pushed back and his head tilted to one side, his gaze on the clear sky.

She hurried across the parking lot. "What is it?" she asked, gut-sure she knew the answer. His words validated her instincts.

"One of the Fallen."

"Does he know you're here?"

Dante considered, then shook his head, his gaze still on the fading night sky. "I don't think so. But, his song ... a part of me wants to answer it." He shivered suddenly, then lowered his gaze. Curled his hands into fists.

"Maybe you should," Annie said, her voice low and urgent. "You'd be happier with someone like you. Someone who could take you to your true home."

"My true home? Someone like me?" Dante looked at Annie, his expression half amused, half exasperated. "Ain't no such things. Trying to get rid of me,
p'tite
?"

"Excuse me for trying to help." Annie marched around the SUV to the front passenger door and climbed inside.

"Do you still hear it?" Heather asked, walking with Dante to the rear of the SUV.

Dante nodded, his gaze traveling back up to the sky. "He's hoping I'll answer."

And Heather would bet anything that Annie was hoping Dante would too.

Dante looped an arm around Heather's waist and pulled her up against him. He burned against her, his body fire and steel, his dark eyes dilated with coming Sleep. Hooking a finger through the ring on his collar, she pulled him down into a deep and lingering kiss.

"Bonne nuit, catin,"
he whispered against her lips. "See you tonight."

"Sweet dreams, Baptiste."

Heather stepped back as Dante climbed into the back of the SUV and joined Von. All of the SUV's seats were folded down flat except for the two up front. She closed and locked the door, then walked around to the driver's seat and hopped in.

Heather held her breath, listening for the rush of wings, but she only heard rumbling diesel engines and the throaty roar of kick-started motorcycles.

And the hard pounding of her own heart.

22
THE BEGINNING OF THE END

OVER THE AIRWAVES
March 26