Page 58 of Dark Obsession

CHAPTER TWELVE

The sun was down, and moths fluttered around the lights in the parking lot. Demetrius could hear the faint tapping of their strikes against the plastic cover as they headed toward the Subaru. They’d decided to take Zenona’s car because the three of them would fit more comfortably, and, as Cody pointed out, her car in the parking lot wouldn’t raise suspicions.

He got in the back, allowing Cody and his longer legs the front passenger seat. The tension between Zenona and Cody filled the car. She kept her eyes on the road and her posture stiff. Cody folded his arms over his chest and stared out his window.

Demetrius tipped his head from side to side, hearing the crack and pop in his neck. Was it still only Monday? He watched the downtown businesses give way to ranch homes with large yards, then to small farms with crops. Most were corn, the stalks taller than Cody, their shadows long in the moonlight, reaching toward the road as if hungry for them. Towering corn always made him uneasy. He preferred the shorter alfalfa crops.

The farms gave way to hardwood and pine woods, the smell of resin sharp as it penetrated the passenger compartment. The trees opened up here and there for a few single businesses, including the strip mall where their office waited, and, a short distance later, the Hollow Leg bar. Then the woods crowded in close again. These were old growth, tall with thick trunks, their canopies full and blocking the sight of the moon. This swath of woods had been spared the ax and wood mill back in the town’s early days, and Demetrius wondered just how old they really were. And what they’d seen.

Even though the leaves blocked his view of the moon, its light trickled down to the leaf-littered ground in pale spotlights. Shadows deepened around these bursts of light, and when one of them shifted, moving fast between the trunks, Demetrius jumped and his breath caught in his throat.

“Something’s out there,” he said.

“What?” Cody checked out his window. “Where?”

“In the woods. It was, I don’t know, running or something.”

“Deer?” Zenona asked, glancing at him in the rearview mirror.

“No, I don’t think so.”

The shadow moved again, a blur within the patchy moonlight.

“Jesus!” Cody’s voice was edged with fear. “What the fuck?”

A man ran in front of the car, moving so fast he was just a blur. Zenona shouted and slammed on the brakes. Demetrius jerked forward, the seatbelt locking across his chest and hips.

“Goddammit, Liam!”

Zenona shifted into Park, flung off her seatbelt, and then stepped out of the car, standing behind the open door with one foot still inside.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Cody shouted. He lunged across the console in an effort to grab her, but his own restraint held him in place. “Zenona, stay inside!”

“What’s she doing?” Demetrius said, then gasped quietly as the man zipped back into view and stopped in the wash of headlights.

“Liam, that’s not funny,” Zenona said, her tone stern but calm. Demetrius thought she sounded as if she might be talking to an over-excited nephew. “I’ve told you I don’t like that.”

Liam appeared to be in his early twenties, with long, dark hair gathered in a bun. Dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, his face and arms were pale, his lips dark red as he smiled. “Sorry, Zenona.”

“What the hell?” Cody said.

Liam looked to the windshield then back to Zenona. His forehead furrowed and his posture stiffened. “Strangers?”

“Liam, wait…”

But the man was gone again, moving too fast for Demetrius to track. He consciously opened his fists. So much for their element of surprise.

Zenona got back in the car and slammed the door. “Dammit.”

“Do you know all the vampires in the area?” Cody asked.

“No.” Zenona snapped and resumed driving. “But I know a lot of jerks.”

Despite Liam’s appearance and the tension from the front seat, Demetrius hid his smile behind a hand and watched the scenery again. The woods thinned and abruptly ended as the long, even rows of corn took over again.

“What’s that mean?” Cody’s profile showed the jut of his jaw. “Are you saying I’m a jerk?”

“I didn’t mention names.”