Page 8 of Dark Stars
"Good luck," Bobby said, still snickeringwhen he hung up.
He drove in silence—well, relative silence.No music, just the sounds of the car and the road and the sibilantwhispers of the shadows and all that resided within and beneaththem, in places no human could go and survive.
Half-listening to the whispers, snickeringoccasionally at the gossip, he enjoyed the dark and the drive andthe slowly rising sun.
He also kept an eye on the cloaked carbehind him, driven by a certain Mendoza. Following or samedirection?
One way to find out.
Bobby drove until he reached an open areasafe for two cars to pull over. Getting out of his truck, he wentaround and pulled down the tailgate before leaning against it. Justa couple of minutes later, Alejandro's fancy muscle car flickeredand then solidified.
"Seriously, what are you?" Alejandro askedas he climbed out of his car. "I've been doing this since I wasfourteen, and no one has ever been able to just see through thatparticular trick. Not even that sheriff, and he smells older thandirt. I even called my family, and none of them could think ofanything either."
"I'm Bobby. Just Bobby. Not human and notsomething I like to discuss, but I'm not a threat to anyone. Evenif I wanted to be, Harold made sure I can't." Not really, becausecompletely containing anything primordial was just short ofimpossible, but the collar made everyone feel better. "Why are youfollowing me, hunter?"
"You can use my name," Alejandro said in thetone of someone who'd had to say that more times than he wanted tocount. "I wasn't following you, not exactly. Since the dragon isn'ta problem, I'm headed for a new job, and GPS pointed me this way.You've been going the same way the whole time."
"So why cloak yourself?"
Alejandro laughed. "Habit. You've no ideahow many things can sense hunters and always choose violence. Forgood reason, to be fair, a lot of hunters are bigoted assholes.Easier to just go unnoticed. "So you're headed to Marsh, too?"
"Yes, which means the problem is well inhand, and you can run along somewhere else."
"The last time someone told me to 'runalong' like I'm still ten years old, they got punched in theface."
Bobby laughed so loudly several lurkingcritters went running. "I get the feeling you spend a whole lot oftime in trouble and getting talking to's."
"Why do you think I'm on the opposite end ofthe country," Alejandro muttered, looking at nothing in particular.Turning his gaze back to Bobby, he said, "I'm not going anywhereexcept to Marsh, and not even a weirdo like you is gonna stop me."He set his shoulders, chin jutting out slightly. "We could justwork together."
"I only work with Sheriff Jones andHarold."
"Who the fuck is Harold?"
"Harold Legrasse. He solves weird problemsin the area. Something between a hunter and an arbitrator is thebest way to describe it. He's also a witch."
"Legrasse?" Alejandro's eyes shot up."That's an old name. Didn't expect to hear it around here. No onehas seen or spoken to a Legrasse in years."
"Well, you can always turn around and go askfor his autograph," Bobby said.
"Nice try, and nothing doing, asshole,"Alejandro retorted. "Look, we can work together, or we can tripover each other the whole time. I'm a good partner, I promise."
Bobby dragged his hands down his face. "I'mnot making any sort of decision right here on a dirt road in themiddle of nowhere. Let's just get to Marsh, and then we'll decide.All right?"
"Fine," Alejandro said with a huff, andslammed the car door behind him before taking off in a cloud ofdust.
Bobby sighed and climbed back into histruck, calling Jones as he headed off.
"Are you causing trouble already?" Jonesasked.
"That hunter is headed to Marsh like me,wants us to be partners."
"For the love of—" Jones bit off with somecurses that definitely were not in any language found in theAmericas. "It's a goddamn wonder to me that family is stillaround."
Curiosity coiled through Bobby. "You knowthem? I called Harold about them, but he didn't know much."
Jones scoffed. "Course he don't. Huntersdon't give a damn about witches unless they start kidnapping andeating children, which is more of a European thing. The Mendozafamily is old."
"Old as you?"
