Road trip

Joey and Cassandra decided soon after that Crystal needed to know most of the real story, who Cassandra really was, why all the weirdness.

She only needed to see the bite marks, and Cassandra lift the couch with one hand before being convinced.

Morning turned into late afternoon surprisingly quickly.

Partly because none of them had slept much.

And partly because every conversation somehow devolved into:

• supernatural paranoia,
• accidental flirting,
• or Cassandra bullying Joey for being “painfully Midwestern.”

“I’m from Louisiana,” Joey argued while pulling on his shoes.

“Spiritually Midwestern,” Cassandra replied.

Crystal snorted from the couch while stuffing clothes into a duffel bag Joey had loaned her.

“I don’t know what that means,” Joey complained.

“It means you apologize to furniture when you bump into it,” Cassandra answered smoothly.

“…That’s just manners.”

Cassandra and Crystal exchanged a look.

“Oh my God,” Crystal whispered. “You actually do.”

Joey pointed accusingly between them.

“I liked both of you more when I thought vampires and workplace harassment were the biggest problems in my life.”

“Speaking of problems,” Cassandra said, her tone shifting slightly serious, “we should leave before sunset.”

That immediately changed the mood.

Joey felt it through the bond before Cassandra even finished speaking.

Alertness.

Tension.

The predatory awareness she carried beneath everything else.

“More hunters?” Joey asked quietly.

“Possibly.” Cassandra moved toward the window, carefully peeking through the blinds. “Silas was arrogant. But hunters like that rarely work completely alone.”

Crystal zipped her bag nervously.

“I officially hate this.”

“You’ll survive,” Cassandra said calmly.

“That is exactly what horror movie characters say right before somebody dies.”

“…Fair point.”

Twenty minutes later the three of them were heading toward Crystal’s apartment in Crystal’s battered old sedan.

The atmosphere inside the car was bizarrely domestic considering the circumstances.

Crystal sat in the passenger seat.

Cassandra lounged in the backseat like some ancient gothic queen **** to use public transportation.

And Joey—

Joey was trying very hard not to think about how both women smelled incredible now that his senses were enhanced.

Which was difficult.

Very difficult.

Crystal smelled like vanilla lotion and nervous energy.

Cassandra smelled colder somehow.

Like rain.

Night air.

And something darker underneath.

Something that made Joey’s pulse speed up whenever she leaned close.

Unfortunately Cassandra could feel that through the bond now.

Which meant she was enjoying his suffering immensely.

“You’re blushing again,” she observed lazily from the backseat.

“I am driving,” Joey replied stiffly.

“And?”

“And I need concentration.”

Crystal looked between them suspiciously.

“You two are doing the weird silent flirting thing again.”

“We are not,” Joey said immediately.

Cassandra smiled faintly.

“He absolutely is.”

Joey groaned loudly.

Crystal laughed.

And for a few brief moments, things almost felt normal.

Until Cassandra suddenly sat upright.

The emotional spike through the bond hit Joey instantly.

Danger.

“Joey,” Cassandra said quietly.

Her tone alone made his stomach tighten.

“What?”

“Slow down.”

Joey eased off the gas immediately.

Crystal looked around nervously. “What is it?”

Cassandra’s crimson eyes narrowed slightly as she stared out the windshield.

“There.”

At first Joey didn’t see anything unusual.

Just an empty intersection.

Streetlights.

A closed laundromat.

Then—

he noticed the symbol painted on the brick wall beside the alley.

A silver circle with a slash through it.

Simple.

But wrong somehow.

The moment Joey looked directly at it, a cold sensation crawled down his spine.

“What the hell is that?” he muttered.

“Hunter mark,” Cassandra said softly.

Crystal went pale instantly.

“They know we’re here?”

“Maybe.” Cassandra’s expression darkened. “Or maybe they’re searching.”

Joey’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.

The symbol made his skin itch.

Like his body itself hated looking at it.

Cassandra noticed immediately.

“…Interesting,” she murmured.

“What?”

“You reacted.”

“Yeah because it’s creepy!”

“No,” she said quietly. “You reacted like prey reacts to a trap.”

Joey swallowed hard.

The bond between them pulsed uneasily.

Marked.

Just like Cassandra warned.

The supernatural world could feel him now too.

“…Cool,” Joey muttered weakly. “Love that for me.”

Crystal folded her arms tightly. “Can we maybe not stop near ominous **** graffiti?”

“Excellent suggestion,” Joey agreed instantly.

Cassandra kept scanning the streets as they drove.

Joey could feel her tension growing.

Every shadow.

Every parked car.

Every alley.

She was hunting for danger constantly now.

And somehow that made Joey more protective of her than ever.

Crystal’s apartment complex finally came into view fifteen minutes later.

Nothing looked disturbed

No broken windows.

No waiting assassins.

Still, Cassandra insisted on checking the area first.

Which mostly consisted of her vanishing into shadows while Joey and Crystal waited nervously beside the car.

“This is my life now,” Crystal whispered. “I’m standing in a parking lot while a vampire does reconnaissance.”

Joey rubbed his face tiredly.

“Honestly I stopped trying to process things yesterday.”

A few moments later Cassandra reappeared beside them silently.

Crystal yelped.

“How do you keep doing that?!”

Cassandra looked pleased with herself.

“Practice.”

“You’re gonna give me a heart attack.”

“You’ll survive that too.”

Crystal muttered something deeply insulting under her breath while unlocking her apartment.

The second they stepped inside, Joey’s enhanced senses flared again.

Something smelled wrong.

Not obvious.

Subtle.

Like metal.

Smoke.

And old blood.

He froze immediately.

Cassandra noticed.

“You smell it too?”

Joey nodded slowly.

Crystal looked alarmed. “Smell what?!”

Cassandra moved carefully through the apartment, eyes narrowed.

Nothing looked

disturbed.

No broken locks.

No smashed windows.

But then Joey noticed it.

A tiny silver symbol carved underneath Crystal’s kitchen table.

His stomach dropped instantly.

“Cass…”

She crouched beside it silently.

The moment her fingers brushed the carving, smoke hissed from her skin.

Crystal swore loudly.

“What the hell is that?!”

“Tracking sigil,” Cassandra said coldly. “Fresh.”

Joey’s pulse spiked.

“They were here.”

“Yes.”

Crystal immediately started panicking.

“Oh my God. Oh my God. Nope. Nope. Absolutely nope.”

Cassandra stood smoothly.

“Pack faster.”

That got everybody moving.

Crystal hurried through the apartment gathering clothes, toiletries, chargers, makeup, and enough snacks to survive a small apocalypse.

Meanwhile Joey stayed close to Cassandra.

“You okay?” he asked quietly.

She glanced toward him.

“…You noticed.”

“The bond thing.”

Her expression softened slightly.

“The sigil burned.”

Joey frowned. “And?”

“And silver still hurts.”

Without thinking, Joey gently took her hand.

The faint burn mark across her fingers looked angry and red.

Cassandra stared down at their joined hands silently.

Then very softly—

through the bond—

Joey felt warmth.

Not physical.

Emotional.

Affection.

Desire.

Safety.

The intensity of it hit him hard enough that he almost forgot Crystal was still in the room.

Almost.

Then Crystal walked back in carrying an armful of clothes and stopped dead.

Her eyes flicked down to their hands.

Then slowly upward.

“…Okay,” she said carefully. “So are you two like… dating dating now?”

Joey immediately let go like he’d touched a stove.

“I—uh—we—”

Cassandra didn’t move at all.

Instead she looked directly at Crystal.

“What if we are?”

The room went quiet.

Crystal blinked.

Joey nearly aspirated oxygen.

Crystal crossed her arms slowly.

“…Then I’d say your timing sucks.”

Cassandra smirked.

“And yet,” she purred, “you still sound disappointed.”

Crystal’s heartbeat betrayed her instantly.

Joey heard it.

Unfortunately Cassandra definitely heard it too.

The vampire looked unbearably smug afterward.

Joey wanted to crawl directly into traffic.

“Can we maybe survive the vampire hunters before whatever this is becomes a thing?” he begged.

Cassandra and Crystal both looked at him.

Then simultaneously—

“Fair.”

That somehow made Joey even more nervous.