Endless (16 page)

Chapter Seventeen

The car slowed to a
crawl as Conner was forced to negotiate increasing amounts of debris and flooding on the road. The vehicle behind, the one Elizabeth had first been brought to the motel in, followed close, Liam at the wheel with Mary in the passenger seat.

Elizabet
h sat in the back seat of the Lincoln with her hands clenched in her lap, her lips pressed together, trying not to cry. She refused to give her captors the satisfaction. Every inch of her body tensed with anger and hatred toward Ryan and Conner, but especially Ryan. She’d never trusted his father, but she’d trusted him. Part of her still wanted to cling to the hope that he was lying to her now about not being half vampire to protect himself somehow. Yet, deep down, she realized that was no more than wishful thinking, praying she hadn’t found herself alone in the world once again.

Frightened of the things occurring outside as much as by the people inside the car, she didn’t want to watch the road go by, but she knew she needed to in case Iona contacted her again.

She’d been sitting in the car, staring out the window and trying to pretend Ryan wasn’t there, when she’d heard her name called—a woman’s voice. Surprised and confused, she turned her head to find Iona sitting in the seat between herself and Ryan. The young sorceress smiled at her and a wave of relief had washed through her. Elizabeth glanced nervously at Ryan, Conner and Orla, wondering if they’d noticed the vehicle was suddenly one person up.

“Don’t worry, Elizabeth,” Iona said with a smile. “They can’t hear me or hear you speak to me. We’re on a different level than them now. Can’t you feel it?”

Elizabeth looked around and realized she could. Though she knew she still sat in the back of the car, the scene around her seemed pale in comparison to Iona and the conversation they were having. “Can you see where I am?” she asked in desperation. “Is my dad coming to get me?”

“I can only see you, Elizabeth, not your surroundings. Your dad and mom are with Vincent and I back at the motel where they’d been keeping you. We can’t follow your trail, the storm is too bad. You need to tell me where you are, where they’re taking you.”

“I don’t know where they’re taking me. Conner kept talking about me making a blood sacrifice at sunrise. But I don’t know how much of what they told me was the truth—” Her voice broke. “Ryan was lying to me. He told me things …”

Iona’s warm hand slid over hers and she squeezed it in comfort. “Hey, it’s okay. Don’t upset yourself. You’re right not to believe them, but we can’t worry about that now. Are you able to tell me where you are so we can come and get you?”

She shook her head miserably. “I’m not sure. I’m in the back of Conner’s car and we’re on the freeway.”

“Which one?”

“Err, the Pacific Highway, I think.” She wished she’d been paying more attention, but she’d been too caught up in her fear and anger to think about their route. She turned her head and looked out of the window, hoping to catch sight of a sign to confirm her suspicions, but none appeared on the side of the freeway. Instead, black shapes ran alongside the car, some keeping pace, while others darted off, vanishing into the storm. The sight made her heart beat hard, a lump of fright forming in her throat. She swallowed her fear and forced herself to concentrate, straightening her head and peering through the rain-lashed car windshield.

There!

Up ahead, huge metal girders ran across the freeway, holding the green signs to tell drivers where they were headed. Quickly, she read them: Santa Monica, 10 West; San Pedro; and another at a junction reading Exit 14A. She reeled them off to Iona as the car passed beneath.

“Got it,” said Iona. “We’re coming for you.” And with that
, the sorceress vanished.

Elizabeth felt herself fall, her consciousness, or her soul perhaps, actually dropping down a level to re-engage with her body. Nervous, she glanced over at Ryan. The atmosphere inside the car hadn’t changed; no one noticed anything had happened.

At least now she had the little nugget of hope tucked away inside of her, wishing for her father to reach her before anything else went wrong. The car had picked up some speed again and was rapidly increasing the distance between them and the sign she’d read to Iona. If they went too far, she worried they wouldn’t be able to find her again.

In her head, she read off the street signs they passed beneath, trying to commit them to memory. She counted between the junctions …
one elephant, two elephant, three elephant
… trying to get a solid idea of how much time passed between each landmark.

Rain ran down the highway like a river, the wind creating small waves in the flow. Even though Conner drove slowly, the tires made the water spray up from both sides of the vehicle, the water cascading away from them. On occasion, she felt the car lose traction on the asphalt and they skidded until rubber hit road once more. The vehicle behind kept a decent stopping distance, Liam clearly aware of the hazards.

On the other side of the freeway, she saw another vehicle skewed across the road as though it had been forced to a stop. The driver’s door was open, darkness filling the empty space. But, as she watched—rubbernecking as they passed by—the black took the shape of one of the tall, human-like demons and, together with the driver, seemed to clamber out of the car and onto the road. The demon stood straight, one arm locked around the man’s neck, so it pinned the man’s back against its strange elongated chest.

Elizabeth clamped a hand over her mouth, a squeal of shock escaping her throat. Her heart thumped so hard it felt like the organ filled the whole of her chest cavity, banging against her ribs. This time, when Ryan took her hand, she found herself squeezing it back in terror. She turned to him, about to ask him if he’d just seen what she had, but she could tell by the way his face was drained of all color and his lower jaw trembled that he had.

What were those things? So far, the creatures had left them alone, but she kept catching their gaze focused on the car, as if they thought something of interest was housed within. Yet they made no move to leap for the vehicle or grab at them. Somehow, the black things seemed to know to stay away, as though they wanted the small group to reach their destination.

The freeway cleared of debris and other vehicles for a moment, and they started to pick up speed again. Wind buffeted the side of the car as if threatening to push them off the freeway and even Elizabeth felt its force.

Tall palms intermittently lined the side of the road, bent double under the strength of the gale, the trunks curved, leaves flapping. Branches tore off, dancing and skittering across the asphalt.

“Look out!” Orla screeched
, her arm outstretched as she pointed to something through the windshield.

With a moaning crack, one of the palms came crashing down just in front of the vehicle.

Conner slammed his foot on the brake and Elizabeth flung her arms up in front of her face as she was thrown forward. She expected to hit the back of the seat in front, but instead was held back at the last minute, her body jolting back against her own seat.

The car skidded to a halt, narrowly missing the fallen tree trunk. The vehicle behind also slammed on the brakes in response, skidding across the waterlogged road to stop just short of the fender.

Her brain took a moment to process what had happened. She realized Ryan’s body was crushed against hers, his face against her hair, his breath warm on her cheek. She took great heaving breaths of panic, his chest moving in time with her own. He had saved her from mashing her face on the seat, she realized. He’d flung himself across her torso, holding her back, pinned against the back seat.

Awkwardly, Ryan sat up and pulled away from Elizabeth, sliding back into his seat. She didn’t know whether she should bother to say thank you; after all, she was only in this situation because of him. He glanced over and mouthed, “You okay?” but she could only bring herself to shoot him a narrow-eyed glare and give her head a quick shake to show she wasn’t.

“Damn,” spat Conner. Elizabeth noticed his hands clutching the wheel hard enough to turn his knuckles white.

That had been a near miss. Though tall and elegant when these giants stood upright, now the tree was down, she could see how huge it was, the vastness of its green fronds like a jungle directly in front of them, the trunk thick and solid. If it had landed on the car, they’d have been crushed.

She couldn’t be certain, but she thought she caught glimpses of small, black creatures hiding within the fronds, causing them to tremble out of sync with the movement caused by the wind.

Pulling himself together, Conner wound down his window, stuck his arm out into the rain, and made circling motion with his hand to the car behind. They couldn’t drive around the tree; it stretched from the edge of the freeway to the dividing barrier. They’d have to go back. The other car reversed,
then did a three-point turn so it pointed in the opposite direction. Conner maneuvered his vehicle in the same way and then passed by the other car so it could continue to follow, heading back the way they’d just come.

Oh
, God, we’re driving the wrong way down the freeway,
Elizabeth thought in alarm. Where the hell were all the traffic cops? What would happen if they met someone head-on? Falling trees might be the least of their worries if they weren’t seen due to driving rain and poor visibility.

Within a few minutes, Conner swung the vehicle, causing Elizabeth to lean to one side so she found herself pressed up against Ryan’s shoulder. He took the exit ramp seemingly without any concern that another car might be coming the other way, but they made it safely off the freeway and onto the road below.

She sighed in relief and pushed away from Ryan. Thank God most people had stayed indoors and the roads were so quiet. She’d felt sure they were about to have a head-on collision. She glanced behind to check if the other car was still following and for any sign of her father. The other car still tailed them, but, otherwise, she remained alone.

The car passed below an overpass. Creatures hid in the darkness, clutching to the concrete crevasses with clawed feet like bats. Elizabeth lifted her face to stare from the passenger window, craning her neck to catch sight of their bright red eyes, which surveyed her in return as the car drove by, heading into the suburbs. This area was faring far less well in the storm. On the upper level of one of the apartments, the front of the building had been torn away, exposing the insides like some kind of bizarre show home. In the distance, she saw a giant crane knocked in half, dangling precariously over the street, swaying every time a fresh gust hit the warped metal.

Conner drove through the suburbs while staying relatively parallel with the freeway. Elizabeth assumed h
e
was cutting through until he could find another junction to get back onto the freeway, past the point where the palm had come down. If he stayed in these built-up areas, they were bound to get into more trouble. At least on the freeway there was little chance of the side of a building coming down on top of them.

To the north, on the horizon, a power plant exploded in a ball of bright white light. All around them, the wail of sirens rose and fell. Small fires were breaking out all over—the torrential rain and increasingly rising flood waters seeming to do little to put them out. Elizabeth wondered if the Los Angeles River had burst its banks.

The city looked like a disaster zone.

Conner left the streets and headed back toward the freewa
y
,
away from the wrecked houses and apartments. She could see the freeway just up ahead and they passed beneath another smaller flyover, looking for another junction where they could get back on the main road. With jaded eyes, Elizabeth noted the graffiti marked on the concrete pillars which held up the road above and the flooded pockets of wasteland, plastic bottles and torn trash bags floating in the pools.

Something landed on the roof of the car with a thump, the metal caving at the impact. Elizabeth squealed as the change in weight caused Conner to lose control of the car and it skidded across the road, sliding on the water. She managed to glance over her shoulder just in time to see the car containing Liam and Mary do exactly the same thing, but this time she understood the reason why. A huge shape was mounted on top of the car roof. The shape didn’t stagger or fall, but remained crouched as the car spun on the wet road.
A demon!
she thought in alarm. Then it turned to face her, pale features visible in the darkness, and her heart leapt.

Vincent!

And if he was on top of the vehicle behind them, she could only guess the weight on top of their car was her father.

They’d come for her!

The car was still moving, sliding across the road in an uncontrollable spin. Elizabeth screamed as she caught sight of someone in the road, directly in the path of the moving vehicle. The young woman’s hair flowed out behind her in the wind.

Iona!

For the briefest of moments, Elizabeth wondered if what she was seeing was real or another apparition, a figment of her imagination, but she didn’t have any time to give the possibility any more consideration.

The sorceress remained unflinching as the car mowed down on her. Elizabeth felt sure it would hit her. Iona held her ground, her hand stretched out, the palm directed toward them. The car seemed to hit some kind of wall and spun away, snapping Elizabeth’s head back on her shoulders. It crashed into a fence surrounding the small patch of wasteland and came to a sudden stop. She had the briefest of moments to catch her breath, her whole body trembling, but then the car behind smashed into them, throwing her forward. This time, Ryan didn’t have time to save her. Her face hit the back of the seat in front and something deep inside her head crunched. She tasted blood in the back of her throat, a bloom of pain spreading from the center of her face, right through her head.