Not so Imaginary // On Hold // GxB Paranormal Romance

Part Thirteen | Fast Cars and Faster Demons

T H I R T E E N 

His name was Charlie and he liked chocolate ice cream, but not vanilla.

You might think this is a strange thing to know about your kidnapper, but not if he's made a sudden detour to what must have been the only Dairy Queen within a hundred miles. Heck, it must have been the only anything within a hundred miles. The illuminated sign above the highway was the first sign of civiliazation I'd seen since the blindfold came off.

"Soft serve," he corrected me as we pulled back on the road. "Not ice cream. There's a difference."

For a kidnapper, he seemed pretty nice so far. You know, except for the way he drove like we were on a racecourse.

But I still didn't know how far I should trust him. The vial Suah had prepared for me was missing, and ever since we'd stopped, I'd noticed my vision was starting to get blurry. Mostly just around the edges, but it seemed to be getting worse. I didn't know how much time I had before I wouldn't be able to see at all.

I hadn't tried to ask about the missing vial. Though he'd been content to provide casual conversation, anything that even edged toward real information earned a topic switch.

For instance, I'd said, "So you're here to rescue me?"

And he'd said again that he was just the driver, and hey, was I getting hungry? Which would have been a considerate question, except for the fact that I got the feeling he knew more than he was willing to let on. And this was a nice diversion.

And that's how we ended up at the Dairy Queen.

I guess I could have made a scene. I could have screamed and yelled and begged the late-night employee at the counter for a phone. And I could have called the police. I'd been thinking about it, planning how it would all go down, but then Charlie did the obvious thing that hadn't occured to me. We went through the drive-through.

And now we were back on the road and I was left wondering if the police would have been able to do anything for me anyway. It was Ren and Yaro that I really needed to see.

We passed clusters of distant lights as civilization grew and shrunk around us. The highway was bigger here and less windy, which only meant that Charlie drove faster. I think in movies this kind of skilled driving can be kind of attractive, but that's questionable when you're the one whose life is on the line.

Speaking of lives, I tried for information again. "What about Ren? What did you do with him?"

Charlie shrugged and said, "No clue. Who's Ren?" And as much as I could see of his face with half my vision blurred-over, he was being serious. Great.

"The guy who I was with," I said, still trying, "Those girls--what were their names? Lucy and Sophie. They attacked me and Ren and then I woke up here."

"Sophia," he corrected. "My sisters."

So apparently kidnapping ran in the family.

"Alright," he said, turning toward me with a devious smile, "Look, here's the deal. I'll let you in on a little secret, but first you've gotta prove you're trustworthy."

Wait, my kidnapper wanted to make sure I could be trusted? Somehow that seemed like it should have been the other way around.

"Fine," I said, "What do I have to do?"

In a completely serious tone, he glanced over and said, still driving way too fast, "Kiss me."

I think the look on my face must have been the reaction he'd wanted, because he started laughing and said, "What, did you think I was for real?"

I didn't say anything, just turned and looked out the window and wondered if my face was getting as red as it felt. It was too bad he didn't know Ren. It seemed to be that they would have got along pretty well. Or maybe they would have killed each other. Sometimes these things are hard to say.

"Okay, really," he said, "I can't see Morrir."

"You what?"

So that was his big secret, that he was either human or part Morrir. Like me.

"Right, you heard me," he said, "Sometimes, when Morrir and human lines mix, there's a point where you don't know who's gonna have what power and who is only gonna be able to see humans. I can't see Morrir because I'm only part. And the human side is stronger in me. But my sisters got both. Get it?"

Just like me--or, just like I used to be, anyway--he couldn't see Morrir. Before Ren's blood. Now it was the other way around. And with Suah's medicine fading fast, soon I wouldn't be able to see anything in the human world at all. I was going to have to tell him.

Now seemed like as good a time as any.

"Hey, Charlie," I said, "I have a secret of my own."

So I told him. I told him about the childhood blindness that had meant I could see Morrir but not humans. About how those memories had been locked in the diary after my vision was fixed. And how Ren's blood had awakened my distant Morrir lineage. But that now I couldn't see the human world, not without the help of Suah's medicine.

"Damn," he said. I was vaguely aware of a blurry shape waving in front of my face, "So you can't see this?"

"Barely." I pushed away his hand.

"That's pretty bad."

It was. And it was getting worse.

"So if you happen to have seen a little vial around here somewhere..." I began, "Then I could really use that."

"No luck there, all you had is what's on you." When he was quiet, all I could hear was the dull roar of the road beneath us. Then he said brightly, "Don't worry, I'm sure Lucy and Sophia will know what happened to it."

Even if they did, I wasn't so sure they'd give it up just to be nice. But instead I said, "Yeah. I guess you're right."

By this point, I could only make out blurred lines of shapes as they passed by beyond the windows. Even in the growing light of early dawn, my world was getting darker.

"It's probably a good thing you can't see," Charlie said, "Otherwise I'd have to blindfold you. We're almost there." He still hadn't told me where exactly there was, but he said, "There's others where we're going. Others like us. There's just one little thing we'll need you to do when we get there, but that's all."

"Then I can go home?" Or, you know, find Ren.

He hesitated, but said, "Yeah. I don't see why not."

"Good. Well I hope whatever it is I'm supposed to do, I can do it blind."

Strangely, as my vision got darker, one thing became clearer. An odd shadow, drifting black across the fuzzy landscape aside of us.

A clawed, jagged shadow.

"Uh, Charlie," I said. I felt for the seatbelt latch around my middle. I had the sudden urge to know how to escape. "Not to startle you, but I think we're being followed."

Up in the sky, a dark cloud gathered, crisp and clear with glowing eyes.

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