Soulbound

30. Dani

The flight to Houston was a little over an hour, but it was one of the most awkward hours of my life.

Despite her initial displeasure when learning that another human would be accompanying us, Catalina had been frighteningly genial the entire way, allowing us to freely indulge in the extravagance that came with owning your own plane. She seemed particularly interested in showing off the cylindrical fish tank filled with all manner of exotic rarities located in the back bedroom, although I'm convinced that she was just trying to find a willing victim to feed on during the trip.

Regardless of her unusual hospitality, I made certain to keep myself—and Ashe—at a distance. I still didn't trust that vampire and I sure as hell wasn't about to let her sink her claws into Ashe while I was there. She could starve for all I cared.

For the moment Catalina had conceded in her attempts to lure us to the bed, choosing instead to sit in the center of a U-shaped sectional at the front of the cabin for the remainder of the flight and sip on several martinis as she scrolled through pages of digital documents on the tablet before her. But how long until her appetite reared its ugly head and she came calling on Ashe to satiate her hunger?

Rose, on the other hand, had seemed determined to get under Ashe's skin. She really took a liking to calling her a 'devil bitch' of all things, and it didn't take long for me to question whether inviting the blonde along was actually a good thing. She did love pushing buttons, only the one she was pushing now was connected to a lethal powder keg that could blow up at any given moment. Maybe introducing her to an open bar inside an airplane full of supernaturals wasn't the best idea, but thankfully she had decided to take a small power nap in the last twenty minutes and left us to our thoughts.

Marco had really been the only sane one throughout the whole flight, but that was probably because he was too scared to move. The plane jolts and his knuckles turn as white as the chair, gripping the arms of his window seat so tightly that I was afraid he'd snap them off. But I could sympathize with his anxiety; I wasn't too fond of flying, either.

Another jerk shakes the cabin and instinctively my hand reaches out for Ashe, our fingers intertwining atop the white sofa we were seated on. My insides spark at the warm contact, and as she gives my hand a gentle squeeze my heart palpitates in my chest. It was moments like these, these little opportunistic touches, that made all of the insanity that I've been through worthwhile.

A smooth voice crackles to life over the intercom system, the pilot's smile evident in his tone as he makes his announcement: “Ladies and gentleman, we have been cleared for landing. Please stay seated as the flight attendant makes her final rounds.”

A stewardess emerges from the front of the plane, gathering empty dishes and placing them on her cart as she makes her way to the back, and I catch myself analyzing every inch of her, looking for any telltale sign of inhuman traits—though, truth be told, I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for. She had made herself scarce when we boarded back at Tri-Sun Regional and I only caught a glimpse of the pilots before takeoff, but I was curious as to which of the supernatural races they belonged to.

“She's human,” Ashe mumbles next to me, as if she could read my thoughts. “And so are the pilots, in case you were wondering.”

Weren't the supernatural all about secrecy? Wouldn't employing humans be breaking their own rules?

“Do they know about the, well, you know?”

“No. They're contracted out and rotate flights often enough that any chance of them seeing things they shouldn't is minimal. Still”—the redhead sits back with a shrug—“there have been a few incidents where a flight attendant goes missing between stops. But that's a problem for Public Affairs to handle.”