The Vampire and the Orphan

Chapter Nine

They were making good time on the road when Nathanial suddenly stopped the car and became tense.

"What is it?" Lettie asked, "is someone out there?

"I'm worried," Nathanial spoke softly, "about The Order."

"Ben said he wouldn't say anything," Lettie reminded him.

"They have their ways, though," Nathanial mumbled, "if Greta predicted you before your mother would have even been born, then they could already be anticipating you too. The Order has the strongest coven bloodline that existed as a part of it."

"What do we do then?" Lettie asked.

"We don't go back to my house," Nathanial said firmly. "We'll go to the place I told you about tonight. They won't know about it. Greta's coven was not affiliated with The Order."

"Okay," Lettie agreed.

"They may already have someone following, although I haven't sensed anything." Nathanial got out of the car, and she followed; he motioned for her to come closer to him, so she did. She was gripping the phone with the light on it.

"If we take off from here, they won't know what direction we went," Nathanial was thinking out loud. "Unless I dump the car..."

"Dump it?"

He grabbed her bags and a few bags from the trunk, "step back; I'm going to push it off the cliff."

She was wide-eyed, watching in wonder as he quickly pushed the car right off the edge; it made a huge crashing sound as it landed.

"My gosh!"

"This is the strongest I've ever felt," he mumbled.

"Then we should be able to run fast, right?" she asked nervously.

"Yeah," he was nodding, and she was so focused on him that she didn't notice the phone was dying; it turned off, and suddenly they were blanketed in the dark.

"Oh no, Nathanial! Where is your phone?" No sooner did she speak than her necklace grew warm and started to burn her. "It's coming!"

"How did I not grab it? Lettie come this way," he commanded, and she tried to follow his voice, but her legs wouldn't work, and her gaze was stuck on the cloud; it seemed bigger and heavier than ever. It filled her with a certain dread she couldn't explain.

"Lettie!" Nathanial was reaching for her as it was barreling closer, and then suddenly, it was gone.

"Nathanial?" she looked around but only found darkness, just like in her dream, "Nathanial!"

"I'm nowhere?" She felt a certain dread. How did she end up here? This wasn't a dream, however. She was really here this time. "Where am I?"

"What is this?" she asked again, and still no answer, no creepy voice in her head either. "I hate how dark it is. I want a light." Suddenly her necklace started to glow a soft teal hue, giving her eyes something other than nothing to look at. Her fear began to diminish as she looked at it; she grasped it in her hand and felt comfortable. She didn't know how but she knew she was not alone.

"Who is here? Where are we?" she asked out loud.

She was met with more silence, but as she walked around, she could feel a surface under her feet; she knew she was not in her dream. However, it was someplace very similar to what she dreamed of.

She could feel him; even in the nothingness, she could feel Nathanial reaching for her. She needed to get back to him! He was out there with that cloud thing!