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“They will, thanks.” I couldn’t believe we’d been about to go after two vampires with only Simon and his Klingon sword for weapons. Cal and Greg had made it clear that Ms. Jackson would only fight in defense, but at least their dragon form was scary.
The sun was setting as we left the property. Shane sat up front with me, and Simon was in the back with Ms. Jackson. I was merging onto the highway when he said something unintelligible in a sing-song voice that kind of hurt my ears.
“What the hell?” I shook my head to get the sound out of my brain. Next to me, Shane had hands clapped to his head.
“I was seeing if Ms. Jackson remembered the Elvish language. They don’t.”
“Thank fuck, because I don’t think I could listen to much more of it, especially while I’m driving. It’s painful.”
“Oh, right. My bad. I forgot humans, even magic carriers, can’t tolerate it. The intonations are done with magic.”
“Huh.” I set the cruise control to eighty miles per hour, twenty miles over the speed limit, and hoped for the best. This being Texas, we weren’t the only vehicle traveling that fast, but the highway was only two lanes on each side, so I had to do some weaving in and out of traffic.
Lorraine had reported the van was traveling right at the speed limit, and, because the vampires had stopped to feed on Ellis, they had a head start of only about thirty minutes. So unless we got pulled over by the cops, we should catch up to them in an hour or so.
Simon opened the cooler, and he passed out snacks, along with water and sodas. Not wanting to come across as nosy, I’d been hesitant to ask if he ate human food, but it turned out he did.
Shane accepted a box of crackers and a container of cubed cheese. “Simon, can you please make sure Ms. Jackson eats as much as they want? Turning into a dragon uses up a lot of energy, and I’m guessing healing Manny wasn’t easy either.”
“Can do.”
Luckily Clementine had supplied us with multiple containers of cheese, which apparently Ms. Jackson adored. But after Simon handed them an Oreo to try, they took possession of the package and growled when he tried to get it back.
“Leave some for Ellis,” Shane scolded. “He’ll need the sugar if they’ve taken a lot of his blood.”
Ms. Jackson made a grumbling sound, and I turned my head to hide my grin at the crinkling of the cellophane wrapper as they passed the cookies back to Simon.
“I can’t believe Cal and Greg never gave them any chocolate,” Shane muttered.
I forced a chuckle. “Why don’t we stop for milkshakes on the way back?”
I caught the wistful smile he sent my way. “Ellis likes strawberry.”
Oddly, I was certain Shane was feeling worry, fear, and almost despair at the thought of Ellis in the kidnappers’ hands. But at the same time, I could see and understand his hope and determination. I’d never been quite that empathetic before, and it was a strange awareness to be having in the middle of our conversation.
I made myself smile back at him. “It’s a plan.”
He nodded and looked down at his phone. “I’m going to message Reno so he knows the vampires are heading in his direction.” He glanced at me. “Reno’s a Seer in Corpus Christi, and he’s also the acting District Monitor for the South Texas District.”
Simon leaned forward. “The van with the tracker on it hasn’t gone this far south yet. It’s possible they’re heading for their home base.” I heard the longing in his voice. Then he shook his head. “But it’s just as likely they’re trying to make sure they’re not followed before they change their route.”
I asked, “If this Reno is a Seer like Cal, can he have a vision to find out where they’re going?”
Shane shook his head as his thumbs flew over his phone’s screen. “He’s not bonded. Calling a vision is an ability thatonly manifests once a Seer has bonded. Until then he has to wait for visions to appear on their own.”
Simon stuck his head further through the gap between the seats. “I remember his name from your Discord chats. He’s in Corpus Christi, you said?”
Shane’s head came up, and he twisted in his seat to stare at Simon. “You’re on our Discord server?”
“Uh, not officially? But, yeah, that’s how I knew to show up in Wimberley.”
I raised my eyebrows, and Shane seemed about to ask more questions, but his phone rang. He groaned. “It’s my boss. Let me get rid of him.” He answered the call. “Ricky, I can’t talk right now.”
The voice on the other end was at a reasonable volume, which was a nice change from the last time Shane had spoken to his boss.
“No. I can’t. I’m off work.”
His boss’ voice increased in volume. In the rear-view mirror, I could see Simon’s eyebrows go up. And over his shoulder, I noticed Dimi was sitting between Pia’s potted plants in the last row of seats, her arms crossed and lips pinched tight.
