Bloodstone Heart (17 page)

"Geez.
 
No pressure."

" Please be careful and be safe, Josh.
 
Keep that bloodstone heart close to you. I guess I better go."

"Be careful, Lanie."

"I will. Oh, and Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"I know this is stupid and I'm sure you don't feel the same, but, well, in case something happens, I..."

He interrupted her before she could finish with, "Nothing is going to happen."

"But if it does, I just want you to know that I..."

"Don't, Lanie. Nothing is going to happen.
 
Save what you want to say for when I see you next."

"Right. Okay then, I guess this is goodbye."

"No. It's not goodbye. I'll definitely see you later."

"All right then. See you later, Josh," she said and she hung up the phone, turned it off, tossed the room key on the bed, and got into the car and back onto the freeway heading east.

Melanie drove all through the night in hopes of making some good distance between her and Dimitri. Once she got on the I-10 heading east away from Los Angeles and the San Bernadino Valley, the scenery turned to a dry dusty desert scarcely populated with vegetation. In Palm Springs the casinos lit up the sky with marquees advertising singers and performers still on the circuit from ages gone by.
 
The next thing Melanie ran into was the Desert Center in Ragsdale. The signs hinted that the Desert Center was something a sightseer shouldn’t miss. Melanie had to laugh when all she found there was a bunch of dead palm trees, abandoned cars, and mobile homes.
 

As Melanie got closer to the California – Arizona border, she met up with the Colorado River. At the border there was a Flying J gas station that seemed to have a vortex for attracting anything that passed by, or maybe it was just the last gas station for quite some time in either direction. Either way, Melanie was sucked into the vortex with the others and got gas and snacks.
 

Crossing the border, she noticed that the terrain changed drastically.
 
The desert was now rockier and hillier than it had been in California. Even the vegetation seemed to like the AZ desert more than CA. She couldn’t see a lot in the dark but it seemed prettier and less desolate. She had to laugh when she passed ‘Sore Finger Road.’ She wondered if the road had been named after some bad hammer incident or a hitchhiker down on their luck.
 

She made it to Phoenix, Arizona by 2 A.M., but pushed on to La Cruces, New Mexico and ran a credit card there for a room.
 
Like in Los Angeles, she checked in, used the bathroom, messed up the bed, tossed the key on it, and left.
 
She continued on to Abilene, Texas before she actually paid for a room with cash and slept for a while.
 

Melanie only slept for a few hours. She took a shower and sat down with the map she’d bought in Los Angeles.
 
Mapping out a course for the next two weeks, she marked it with little blue rectangles with 'cc's on them for 'Credit Card' and pink stars for where she would sleep. She could only find pink and blue post-it notes, so these were the colors she was stuck with.
 
She set it up so that she rarely ever slept in the same state as the motel room she purchased on the credit card.
 
Most often there were at least two to three hours of driving between the motel she ran on the credit card and the motel she paid for in cash where she would actually sleep.
 

She even set up a plan if Dimitri got too close or if she had to fly to meet someone for help.
 
She would purchase four pairs of tickets for her and Josh, charging them to their credit cards.
 
Each pair of tickets would be for a different airport at least an hour or two from each other. All the tickets would be for different destinations and all leaving as close to the same time as possible.
 
If Dimitri tried to follow, she would have a 1 in 4 chance that he'd pick the wrong airport.
 

She hated not knowing what was going on with the others, or if they were making any headway on a plan, but she knew not calling would keep her and Josh safest. Besides, if something happened, she had the pager that Blake had given her.
 

She stuck to the south mostly to avoid any snow.
 
Her sixteen day plan which was now mapped out with stars and rectangles also had a big circle she used by tracing a drinking glass where there were at least three to five airports within one to two hours from each other from which she could make her emergency exit if need be.

Now that her map was complete, she grabbed all her items and a matchbook from the lobby.
 
She figured she should collect a memento from her crazy adventure by herself.
 
She'd have quite a few by the end of her journey and she thought it would be fun to show Josh all the places she had gone, plus it gave her something fun to think about.
 
With everything tucked in her bag she got in the car and headed to her next destination.
 
She'd run the credit card in Dallas, Texas, but she'd be sleeping in Beaumont, Texas, right on the border of Louisiana near the coast.

Melanie had been gone for almost twenty-four hours and Josh felt more anxious with every hour that passed.
 
He didn't know how he was going to survive knowing she was out there all alone on the run with a killing machine behind her every move.
 
He thought of his conversation on the phone with her the night before, and the thousand different things he should have said.
 
He should have told her how he felt about her, but he didn't want her thinking about goodbye's and what could have been's.
 

He was lucky though; for someone who wasn't used to being around people, he found it comforting to have the distraction of Blake, Dean, Rowan, and Sally.
 
Blake was great. He jumped right into submerging Josh in ways to hone and control his abilities. He figured Blake could sense when he was getting overwhelmed with worrying about Melanie, and he would distract him with a new lesson.
 
He appreciated this more than he could say.

It appeared that Dimitri had taken the bait and followed Melanie.
 
Though a plan had not yet been worked out, there were tidbits of information coming in all the time from Dominic. He was hoping to meet Dominic someday. He was obviously well educated, and he seemed to truly want to help.
 

Along with all that was going on, Anton was hearing more frequently from Darby, which seemed to be keeping everyone hopping. She was going to be meeting with Anton and Dominic the next day.
 
Something significant was going to happen. Josh wasn't sure what, but somehow he felt it would impact all of them.

While Josh lay in bed that night with a huge cat purring loudly on his chest, he thought of what Blake had taught him.
 
Their lesson today had been on focusing his thoughts out towards someone in particular. So, while lying there petting Harry, Josh focused on Lanie. He thought about how she had always been able to make him comfortable. Just a smile from her was Relaxation 101. He focused his thoughts on her face and her beautiful blue eyes, her comforting smile, and her creamy white skin.
 
Almost in a dream state, he threw his focus out farther, searching for her. He felt a rush of air as if traveling on the wings of a bird, searching and focusing on only her. A flash of light in the far distance urged him.
 
The air rushed past him and he soared like an eagle through what seemed like clouds, determined to find her. He descended on the light, falling like a feather from the sky, landing in the room where Lanie sat reading a map embellished with squares and stars.
 

As if a ghost, he fell toward her, brushing her cheek as he floated downward.
 
He could smell her, the actual scent of her hair.
 
She was cross-legged on the bed mulling over her map and plan before she went to sleep.
 
Was it a dream? Did he want to be near her so badly that he was dreaming about touching her cheek and smelling her hair?
 
Was he going insane?

She yawned and folded up the map.
 
Got up and locked the door while pulling back her hair into a ponytail and fastening it with a brown elastic band. She pulled back the covers and crawled into bed. She lay there for a long time with her eyes open.
 
What was she thinking about?
 
Was she thinking about him?
 
He tried to read her thoughts, but then remembered he couldn’t read her thoughts when he was near her, let alone miles away.
 
He was happy to see her even if it was just a dream. It was so serene being in her presence. Contentment washed over him, as if slipping into a warm bath, it swaddled him, easing him into a deep and peaceful sleep.

Josh woke in the morning to the phone ringing.
 
He heard Blake answer somewhere in the house, maybe the kitchen.
 
He was pretty sure he heard Blake say "Dominic" at some point and since Dominic had been calling quite often with information, he thought nothing of it, until Blake's tone changed.
 
Josh figured he might as well get some coffee and see what was going on. He walked into the kitchen just as Blake was saying his goodbyes to Dominic and Dean was walking in the back door. He sat down at the kitchen table, as did Dean. Dean said, "So, was it Darby or Dominic?"

"Darby?
 
Why, did she call you?" Blake asked.

"Yeah. She wants me to go to Connecticut to help her. Dominic's willing to put me up and pay for my ticket.
 
What do you suppose changed his mind about werewolves?"

"Darby changed his mind.
 
She can be quite persuasive. As for your question, it was Dominic.
 
He wants me to grab you and head out there as soon as possible. Darby's convinced Anton and Dominic that she's found Devon and he is in trouble."

"Do you believe her?"

"No. I don't know. But it couldn't hurt to talk to her again, either way."

"What about the situation here?"

"Well, I think the girls can take care of Dimitri if he comes calling, unless you think we should take Josh, just to be safe?"

"I am in the room, you know," Josh said.

"Sorry, Josh. What do you think?
 
If we both go to Connecticut, we will be gone at the very minimum two days. You can come with us if you want.
 
Doesn't matter to us, right Dean?"

"No problem here."

"If the girls can handle it, I suppose I would prefer to stay here in case Lanie calls."

"I can understand that."

"Dominic was going to get us red eye tickets so we could be there tomorrow morning. That will give us time to talk to Sally and Rowan. While I'm gone, you should keep practicing some of the techniques I've shown you."