Eternal Redemption - Book Two ✔

Chapter 2

When my revamped internal clock told me, it was six hours until dawn Nox veered us off the coastal road and further inland. I didn't complain as the ocean faded out of sight behind us.

The road we travelled on now was smaller, two lanes on each side divided by a low metal fence. Occasionally, we came across an abandoned car on the side of the road. My first and only time in a car hadn't exactly been a pleasant one as I recalled the night Nox and his men had found me and my two companions.
It still hurt thinking about Johan and Dennis and what Nox had done to them. He had apologized several times, but despite knowing he'd done it to keep up appearances, it was still hard to come to terms with. But with the time spent at the hotel, under King Shax's watchful eye, I had thought less and less of my friends. Much of that was thanks to Sam - the first vampire I had trusted with my life. The one person in that forsaken place that had seemed to care about me.

It had taken months before I'd learned that Nox was on my side, when he'd told me that my father was alive and the deal he had made with Shax when I was just a baby. The deal that had made Shax hunt me down and capture me like a wild animal, for his own sick purposes. My father had betrayed me, for whatever twisted reasons. If we ever found him when we got to Seattle... my thoughts strayed as I didn't really know what I'd do if we found him. It was his fault I was in this mess to begin with. I could have had a normal childhood with both of my parents, or as normal as living in a vampire ruled country would be. I wouldn't kill him, that was certain, but I wouldn't rush to hug him either, I knew that much.

"Emily," Nox muttered beside me.

I looked over. "What?"

"Where's your head at?" His eyes searched mine.

"Nowhere."

"We'll feed when we get to the city," he said and I just nodded in reply. At the mention of feeding, I felt the hunger stirring in my stomach and all the way up my throat. Thanks to Nox, I hadn't had to feed from an actual person yet, though I knew it was just a matter of time.

"When we get to San Francisco, then what?" I asked, letting the silent surroundings fill my ears, only our footsteps on the asphalt keeping the quiet completely away.

"I'd rather not stay longer than necessary," Nox answered. "We'll feed, rest and then be on our way. We'll head to Portland and then finally Seattle. We're sticking to the coast the whole way up."

More swimming, I thought to myself, keeping the smile from my lips.

"It won't be long until we arrive and hopefully we'll get through without attracting too much attention." Nox kept on talking.

The road up ahead curved around the treeline, shielding the way and I had no sooner taken another step when my eyes picked up a shuffling sound. In no time, Nox had grabbed my arm and hauled me off the road and into the woods on our right.

"Quiet and just listen," he murmured in my ear and I silently obeyed. I focused on my hearing, letting my senses fan out around me, my eyes on the bend. Three sets of footsteps sounded softly against the asphalt. As Nox had taught me I listened for the tell-tale sign of heartbeats, but couldn't locate any. Then I used my nose. Inhaling deeply, I sorted through the scents of the forest and the night until something metallic filled my nose. This must be the bloodlust Nox had told me about that vampires smelled like. Which meant... I looked over at Nox and he nodded, having come to the same conclusion.

Three vampires straight ahead coming towards us.

"No use in hiding. They would have smelled us as well," Nox said casually and started heading back out onto the street. I braced myself as I went after him. Mere moments later the three figures came into sight. They didn't appear surprised or weary of us, so yes, they knew we were there as well.

"Greetings fellow fangers," one of them said, his voice traveling with ease across the distance. Fangers? I just wanted to get the hell out of there, but I trusted Nox enough to follow his judgement.

"Good evening," Nox said, a casual smile on his lips. Just act natural, Emily, I told myself, but a smile of my own was not easy to come by.

As the people got closer, I saw that one was a woman and the other two men, all of which looked to be in their thirties. The woman was tall, with long blonde hair twisted in a braid hanging over her shoulder. The clothes consisted of black pants and a tight, white top, not hiding her obvious attributes. The men both wore jeans, black shirts and jackets, one brown the other black. One had shoulder length dark hair and a scruffy beard to match. The other was clean shaven with dark hair cut short. Not bad looking, I thought to myself and nearly rolled my eyes at myself.

"Are you headed to San Francisco?" The short-haired man asked and I felt his red eyes linger on me for a bit too long.

"Yes, we are," Nox replied.

"She's new," the woman purred and all I wanted was to hide behind Nox, but my instincts told me to stay put.

"Yes," Nox said again and I felt his hand resting reassuringly on my back and I almost took a step towards him. To be closer to him.

"She smells..." The woman inclined her head and I dared look up to see her smiling, "different." Her eyes locked on mine and I suddenly found it difficult to look away.

"Her eyes are so beautiful," she almost laughed and I was getting more and more freaked out by the second. I silently pleaded with Nox to get us the hell out of there.

"How is that?" The other man asked, his crimson eyes fixated on me.

"She's special," Nox merely said, tugging me closer towards him and I more than welcomed this. I turned slightly towards him, almost leaning against his side.

"Pretty little thing, isn't she?" The woman was seriously off her rockers.

"Very." I looked up at Nox who was staring down at me. I could practically hear him say: "just follow my lead" and my arm moved instinctively up and wrapped itself around his back.

"We really should be going if we're going to make it before dawn," Nox smiled at the three vampires and I forced a smile onto my face.

"Yes. We're on our way to Los Angeles. I hear interesting things have happened down there. You wouldn't happen to have just come from there?" The good-looking vamp eyed us expectantly.

"I heard as well, but no, we're not from down there, but from Vegas."

"Fabulous Vegas," the vamp grinned, his teeth gleaming in the soft moonlight.

"Well we won't keep you any longer," he finally said, wrapping an arm around the blonde woman and tugging her off to one of the lanes, making room for us to go by.

Nox kept a firm grip around my waist as he walked us past the three vamps. I kept what I hoped was a casual smile displayed on my lips, but avoided looking any of them in the eyes as we walked past. It took several seconds before I heard the sounds of their footsteps, but kept looking ahead. Tension left his body and I glanced up at Nox as we rounded the bend as he removed his arm from my waist.

I opened my mouth to speak, but he shook his head, lifting a finger to his ear, signalling that they might still be able to hear us.

We kept quiet for another mile or so before I thought it safe enough to speak again.

"Well that was freaky."

Nox chuckled and I huffed out a laughter in return.

"Yeah, but you did well. We should run the remaining way there". And with that we took off and before long I could glimpse lights in the distance as San Francisco slowly came into sight.