Really, if it weren’t for Nel, she could probably get to Sawyer without too much trouble. Between running with Arachne’s legs and being able to blink around, she could probably make better time than a car if she pushed herself. Maybe. Probably not. Cars didn’t get exhausted.
“So, transportation for two,” Serena mused. “Do you need to get there in one day?”
“Not necessarily.” She was trying not to procrastinate more, but it had already been a month and a half since Nel found Sawyer. “One or two more days won’t matter much.”
“Then I could drive you. But we’ll be traveling for less than five hours a night.”
“This time a year, there’s a good eight hours of darkness.”
“True. But I would rather not take my chances. Four hours of driving and then we start looking for a motel of some sort to hide away in during the daylight. And then we’ll have to spend some time securing the windows and doors. Motel blinds are not known for their ability to keep away light.”
“I can cast a spell that will block out light,” Eva said. She cast said spell off at the far end of the common room to demonstrate.
The entire back half of the women’s ward darkened. An inky black soup filled the air, preventing either of them from seeing beyond the coffee table in the middle of the room.
Serena hummed at the wall of darkness as she walked up to it. She put one arm through the darkness, pulled the arm out and looked at it. After a moment, she stepped inside the shroud.
Eva could see her corpselike body through her blood sight as Serena tried to navigate around. It was almost amusing to watch the old vampire bump into the back of the couch. The loud yelp accompanying the bump did give cause for a few giggles before Eva let the spell dissipate.
“Well, that’s handy,” Serena said as she tried hard not to look like she had just run into the couch. She was draped over the top like she had intended to lean against it. “A bit darker than I’d like, but it could work. How long does it last?”
“Until I stop maintaining it.”
“And how long can you maintain it?”
“I,” Eva started. Then she paused and thought. “I’ve never tried for more than a minute or two. But it doesn’t cause much strain or concentration.”
“Handy in an emergency,” Serena amended her earlier evaluation. “I’d rather not rely on it. If you fell asleep or we came under attack, I could wind up a pile of ash.”
“I think I could maintain the spell for a full day. But it isn’t a big deal if you don’t want it.”
“Speaking of coming under attack, if anywhere we visit has vampires, they’ll likely be able to sniff me out. I hope you’re prepared.”
Eva shifted. That could complicate things. She wasn’t sure how much she wanted to confront vampires.
“Don’t worry,” Serena said. “We’ll be leaving not long after nightfall every night. With any luck, we’ll be gone before they have time to come looking for us. Besides,” Serena paused as she glanced down at her fingernails. She buffed them against her white dress. “I don’t like to brag, but I am quite powerful.
“Though, that raises another question. You said that you’re on a quest to kill someone. If I’m going to be a part of this, I’d like to know the details. Who is it? Should we expect attacks from your target in the middle of the day? Those kinds of things.”
Eva shrugged. It was no secret. “How do you feel about necromancers?”
—
Devon’s truck was not designed for three people. Eva still had no idea from where he had acquired it. She had a strong suspicion that it was stolen. A police officer pulling them over for outdated license plates had only reinforced that idea. Serena had mind-tricked him away. This was apparently not the truck that he was looking for.
But it got Eva thinking.
Couldn’t he have stolen a better truck?
The tiny pickup had its driver seat and its passenger seat just as any other vehicle. Cup holders and a storage compartment separated the two sides. Then, there was this tiny fold out chair just behind the passenger seat. It had no arm room and little leg room, the seatbelt was broken, and the padding was missing from half the seat.
Since Serena was in the driver’s seat, Eva had taken the passenger seat.
Poor Nel, Eva thought with a smile as she glanced over her shoulder.
The augur did not look happy. But really, it was either Nel or Eva and only one of them had demonic claws that the other was nervous around.
Still, Eva tried to be nice. She had slid her seat forwards to give the former nun some elbow room. It wasn’t much, but it kept Nel from having to keep her shoulders scrunched in.
It did not, however, stop Nel from glaring at Serena.
Given all of her time around demons, Eva had expected Nel to handle a vampire better. Old habits died hard. When they had first stopped outside of Nel’s apartment building, the augur had tried to cast a lightning bolt at Serena.
When she had missed, Nel moved on to fire.
Serena had weaved around that, punctured Nel’s shield with a hard hit from her elbow, and just about tore off Nel’s head before Eva managed to intervene.
The resulting conversation had not been pleasant, but Nel had finally decided that Sawyer was the greater of two evils.
Aside from the glaring and the lack of space, Nel looked a little green around the gills. Even after taking some medicine. Eva had to wonder if she got carsick normally or if it was because of how Serena drove.
She was leaning towards the latter. On the highway, it wasn’t so bad. It was mostly a straight line or long banking curves. The speed might have frightened Eva had she not been able to simply blink away. When they passed through cities for fuel or food, things started to get a bit more… hectic.
Frankly, it was amazing that they had only been pulled over the one time.
“Next exit has lodging,” Serena said, pointing towards an information sign at the side of the highway.
Eva glanced down at the clock. “We’re stopping then?”
“We are,” Serena said. The tone of her voice invited no arguments.
They had been traveling for just over four hours. She still thought that they could go at least six hours before coming close to dawn, but she wasn’t about to say anything. Serena had been kind enough to offer her services as a driver, it would be rude to insist on driving more than she was comfortable with.
Not to mention, neither of them were very familiar with the area. Both Montana and Idaho were more wilderness than city, even along the main highways. If they wound up missing a motel, it was entirely possible that they wouldn’t pass another for several hours. Eva didn’t want to rely on her darkness spell any more than Serena wanted to if only because it would be exceedingly dull to sit around all day long inside the blacked-out vehicle.
Most motels were just off the side of the highway. This one was no different. As such, it didn’t take long to reach.
A bright neon sign handily informed them that not only did the motel have vacancies, but it was also open twenty-four hours. Which was excellent news. Serena had been concerned that they might have to break into one if they couldn’t find an open motel at the late times of the night that they were traveling at.
Leaving Nel behind in the truck, Eva and Serena walked up to the reception counter. The bell on the door startled awake a pimply faced young man at the counter. He had a bright red mark running across his forehead from the edge of a computer keyboard.
“Welcome to–” His voice caught in his throat with a loud hiccup as he caught sight of Eva. Scrambling backwards, the guy tipped over his chair and fell to the floor.
It didn’t take Eva long to figure out the reason for the reaction. “I should have brought my blindfold,” she hissed under her breath. Walking around Brakket wasn’t a big deal. Out here, that was definitely not the case.