Page 57 of Vampires & Bikers

He was talking about our seaside operations, the gas and oil in the Hattari waters. Taking these over would significantly boost their coffers. Of course, we could always take it back later,buy them out when these generations had gone.

“We’d be willing to offer them up.”

He nodded. “Very well, thank you for informing me of your plans.”

“We want to repair our relationship with humanity,” I said. “We have always relied on your good will as you have on ours.”

“Indeed, as much as the prey can rely on the predator,” Saufin said, casting a wary eye on me.

He disappeared among the trees, leaving me to ponder his words.

I walked back slowly, enjoying the tranquility of the water and the trees. When my mobile rang, I was jolted back into reality.

I saw it was Dennington.

“Yes?”

“She’s gone,” he said, sounding stressed.

“Who is gone?” But I knew what he was going to say.

“Ruby! She gave us the slip at the hospital and we can’t find her. She must have thrown away the mobile!”

“What about the mother?”

“No trace of her. There were shifters at the hospital but there is no proof of her leaving with them.”

I ended the call. This was bad. Very bad. I couldn’t lose Ruby but I knew if something had happened to her mother, it would be over for Ruby and me. She would never forgive herself.

I was torn between going back to the Castle and organizing a final push on the shifters and trying to find Ruby’s mother. There was also the concern that the mother had been kidnapped and was being held in the tunnels. I didn’t want them to be unintended victims of our attack.

I had to find Ruby and her mother before the swamps were torched.

Chapter 25

Ruby

I walked the streets aimlessly, trying to solve the puzzle of where my mother would have gone. She had given me the clue and yet I had no idea what she was talking about. She’d grown up in a town near Buzzard Creek, a place that she had always said she would never want to return to. She hadn’t really had much time or means to travel, there were no holidays that her parents had taken her on as a child.

The only thing I felt fairly sure of, was that it would be somewhere in the South. Not home though, she wouldn’t risk going back there.

I looked up and saw that I had made my way back to the hospital, without realizing that was where I was heading. My eye swept the parking lot and I saw two huge bikes at the end. I wandered over, checking for the owners but there was no one in sight. These were big machines, fine beasts and I knew they’d belong to some shifter or other.

I didn’t feel bad stealing one. The shifters owed me for everything they’d put me through and I wasn’t even talking about the kidnappings and the pain and suffering I’d been through. My shoulder and ribs still hurt every time I tried to lift or turn or pretty much breathe.

Fortunately, I’d learnt how to hotwire a bike almost before I could tie my shoelaces. For the kids of bikers and shifters, it was almost a rite of passage. My dad would take me out into the street and time me as I got the wires out, crossed them and started the bikes. When I beat my last best score, I’d get some candy.

I tied my hair back. I didn’t know how much time I had, I chose the bike that would handle easiest and made quick work of getting it to start. I gritted my teeth, then tightly grabbing the handlebars and swinging myself over, started the bike. It came on right away and I moved off slowly.

I’d been on Danny’s bike many times and I didn’t mind the big and powerful machines. I decided to head south and figure out my route along the way. I was so relieved that my mother was alive and had managed to get away before the shifters had found her. The feeling was so overpowering that it drowned out everything else.

My feelings for Luc.

My worry about the shifters finding us or me.

I just wanted to see her, to find her, to hug her and make sure she was all right.

I thought of the last time I’d see her in the hospital, how she’d said she’d wait for me but where? That was the trick question. As I left town, I noticed car wrecks by the side of the road, sites of accidents and shootings. The war had come here and it was probably dangerous for me to be on the road but I had no choice. I had to find my mother.

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