Another minute passed, I waited just to make sure he didn’t circle around and check on me. I wouldn’t put it past him. He might have thought chasing a hunter alone was a good idea, but I on the other hand, had a different opinion. He could be such a damn prickly thorn in my side. The longer I sat in this car, the more certain I was that he was in trouble.
Digging for my phone, I punched in the only number I knew would help Chase’s stupid ass. He answered on the second ring.
“Travis, I think Chase is in danger.” I said so fast that I wasn’t sure he understood me.
“Where are you?” Travis’s calm voice asked. He was probably used to Chase doing senseless and stupid things.
I gave him a quick rundown of where I thought we were, and how dumbass had gone after a hunter alone. He dropped the f-bomb before informing me that he would be there in minute. And when one of them says minute, they literally mean minute.
But sitting in Chase’s car like a morsel for any hellish thing to snack on, made the seconds feel like hours. When I saw Travis’s car roll up next to Chase’s, my heart thumped wildly. In my mind, too much time had passed since he had gone in the woods. Alone. We needed to go after him now. I couldn’t explain the sense of hurry. It was just there, gnawing at my insides.
I jumped out of Chase’s car the same time Travis jumped out of his. If I knew Travis, he would order me about just as Chase did, and I was having none of it. Not this time.
“You are staying here,” Travis ordered.
As if. And so predictable. “I’m coming with you, or I’ll go on my own. You can’t stop me.”
He saw the set of determination in my face. “If anything happens to you Angel…” He let his words linger gravely in the air. “There is no saving you this time. Hell takes your soul. For good. No bartering. Do you understand that?” He didn’t wait for me to answer as he ranted on. “And I am pretty sure Chase will send me there after you if he finds out I let you come tracking in the woods.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Tough shit. Plus at least I won’t be in hell alone.”
“Cute Angel. Real cute. Well I am not ready to die, so you are staying put. This isn’t a joke. He left you behind for a good reason.” He stalked off toward the bare trees assuming the subject was finished.
Little did he know. Plus who the heck was laughing? I followed right on his heels before he decided to go all warp speed and leave me on my own. “Travis, please,” I tugged on the sleeve of his arm. “I need to see that he is okay. I can’t explain it, I just need to.”
He let out a long sigh. The setting sun was at his back, haloing him in a soft glow. A gentle crisp breeze played with the ends of his blond hair. “You are only going to slow me down. I can find him faster on my own.”
True. Tears of frustration and worry started to well in the corner of my eyes.
He relented like a true guy, uncomfortable with a woman’s tears. It was a low card to play, but it was effective. “Try to keep up,” he grumbled unhappily.
We weaved in and around the trees as soundlessly as possible. It was much harder for me, and he kept the speed more to my pace, but I could tell he was itching to take off.
“Stay close,” he whispered, turning his head over his shoulder.
We traveled deeper into the thick forest, cutting off some of our moonlight. I don’t know how Travis knew where to go, but I just assumed it was one of his half-demon traits.
“I hear voices,” I said quietly to his back.
He looked over his shoulder and gave me a strange look.
“What?”
He shook his gloriously blonde head. “Nothing, it’s just that you picked up the voices the same time I did.”
Odd. “Well, I can’t tell what they are saying.”
Travis grinned. “Chase is giving somebody hell.”
Of course he was.
“Come on, we can’t let him have all the fun.”
Travis’s idea of fun was subjective. I swear he thought his real life was a video game.
I stuck to him like bees to honey, so of course when he halted in his tracks, I rammed into his back. Travis’s reflexes were faster than a jackrabbit and he avoided tripping. I wasn’t so lucky.
Pushing the hair out of my face, I glared at Travis’s back. “What the he–” A flash of red caught my eye cutting off my wicked tongue. It was the same shade of red that I had seen on the side of the road. A girl about my age stood a few feet in front of us. Her hair contrasted against her black clothing, a pretty blend of red and blonde, not bold like the hoodrat Sierra’s. I was so stumped at first, I couldn’t figure out what this girl was doing in the middle of the woods by herself, or what the weird contraption she had poised in her hands.
Then it hit me like a kick to gut.
It was a bow.
Following the line of her crossbow, I let out a ghastly gasp. Her arrow was pulled back tight and taut and centered on…
Chase.
My stomach dropped off earth. Oh, for freak’s sake.
Travis and I had come into the small clearing to the right of the hunter and Chase was maybe twenty feet away, looking downright pissed the hell off. My eyes met his extremely displeased glare. Someone wasn’t happy to see me. Well, screw him.