What The Cat Dragged In Ch. 06

Three weeks later, Jimmy was well enough to try again, but Victor had waited for another storm. They'd set off in the middle of the night as the blizzard raged around them. Jimmy had complained every step of the way. He hadn't been thrilled either, but the blowing snow would cover their trail, and the weather was bad enough that he'd doubted anyone would try and follow for long. Just before dawn, he'd found a cave. It kept them out of the wind, and he'd gotten a small fire going. Jimmy finally fell into an exhausted, nervous sleep. He'd stayed up, keeping watch and planning where they would go from there.

The frail whimpered in her sleep. He reached out and stroked her leg absently, expecting her to settle again. Instead she woke up.

"Where are we?" Her voice was still muddled with sleep.

"Still in Vermont." He slowed the car and turned onto a nearly hidden dirt road. A few minutes later, the headlights picked out a decrepit barn in the distance.

She sat up straighter and her anxiety spiked.

"We're switching vehicles. Stay here."

*~*~*~*~*~*

Kelly put the jacket on again and zipped it. She watched him move what looked like a loose board just enough to expose a numeric key pad. He punched in a code and she heard a whirring noise. Light leaked out from between the gaps in the wooden doors. He unlocked those and got back in the car. He drove in to the clean, well-lighted space of a building within a building. She got out of the car when he did.

She looked around. "This is....wow."

He chuckled. "You think I'd leave my shit laying around in the middle of nowhere with no protection?"

"I'm not sure what I thought."

He pulled a cover off a deep blue Escalade with dark tinted windows. Kelly didn't realize her mouth was hanging open until she saw him grinning at her, his fangs clearly visible.

She blushed. "Okay, so I wasn't expecting that either."

He chuckled. Kelly was sure this man didn't need any help with his ego, but she could tell from the set of his shoulders that he liked seeing her impressed with something he owned.

He opened the trunk and started transferring bags. "C'mon."

*~*~*~*~*~*

Creed had been sure that she was going to annoy the shit out of him on this trip, but every time he expected her to be a pain in the ass she wasn't. He was supposed to be the unpredictable one, frails were supposed to be easy to read. Course he'd never spent this much time with a conscious one before, maybe they were all like that.

She'd had her eyes closed for the past hour, but he knew she wasn't sleeping. The anxiety had settled around her again, though it wasn't as strong as before. He guessed he would count that as a step in a positive direction.

"Ever see the ocean, frail?" He asked.

She glanced over at him, as if surprised to hear his voice. "When I was four we went to Florida and I know we spent some time at the beach. I used to have pictures of it, but I don't really remember it. I guess I was too young." Her voice was soft, like it was before she fell asleep.

"Used to have pictures?" Something about the way she said it struck him, he glanced over at her. She was looking out the window into the darkness.

She shrugged. "Things happen."

He wondered if she knew how unconvincing it sounded. He let a growl creep into his voice. "I can guess what happened."

She gave a little nod and looked over her shoulder at him. She tried to manage a smile. "Why do you ask about the ocean?"

"The house is near the ocean."

Another small smile, this one more genuine. Her eyes lingered on him. "Sounds beautiful."

"Started out as a pile of shit. It's pretty livable now though."

She laughed softly, it dispelled some of the anxiety that had settled around her. When he glanced over, he could see that some of the animation had returned to her eyes. One bare foot protruded from her makeshift blanket.

"Will you be upset with me if I ask how much further?"

He reached out and grasped her ankle, allowing his claws to tease her soft flesh. She moved her leg a little closer. "Close to four a.m. now. I figure we'll stop for breakfast in a couple of hours, we should be there by nine." He scratched carefully, just enough to raise stinging red marks that would be gone before they stopped for breakfast. "Any other questions, frail?"

He smelled the barest hint of her arousal. The anxiety was almost entirely gone. "No." She smiled drowsily.

He turned his eyes back to the road, but kept his hand on her ankle.