Bonded by Blood

chapter FOURTEEN

“MACKENZIE, SORRY YOU have to wait with me like this. She’ll be here in a few minutes. I’ll be fine if you need to go.” Abby should’ve sounded dejected, Mackenzie thought. Or sad maybe, but she didn’t. She sounded matter-of-fact and frank, as if she had expected nothing more from her mother.

“Hey, it’s no big deal,” Mackenzie said. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t have any plans. Just heading home.”

Mackenzie didn’t care what time she got home. She dug her fingernails into the soft skin of her forearm and wondered how long the impressions would stay indented in her skin. She kept pressing, feeling nothing, until the inside of her wrist was lined with six rows of the half-moon scallops.

Since she’d broken things off with Dom, nothing felt right. Like a crucial piece inside of her was missing. She almost hoped he’d argue with her, try to talk her out of it, tell her they’d make it work, that he’d help her find the answers, but he didn’t.

She opened up her phone and reviewed for the billionth time the text message she’d received from him three days ago.

The time we spent together was more than I could have dreamed of. Thank you. I’ve accepted a transfer to San Diego and am leaving tomorrow. Stay safe. D.

Reading that made her feel sick all over again. She certainly couldn’t have a change of heart now. He was already gone.

“If the bus went past my house, I could rely on that each week instead of my mom,” Abby said.

“That’s okay, sweetie. I don’t mind. I’d offer to take you home, but I just have my motorcycle and one helmet. Your mom would probably flip out if you got a ride home on one. I know mine would have.”

“Well, she probably wouldn’t care, but I don’t want you to give me a ride home. She should be here soon. She texted me a little while ago. I just hope she didn’t forget.”

All the other kids had been picked up from art class and she and Abby had been waiting outside the studio for over half an hour. She didn’t want to look at her watch because she didn’t want Abby to feel she was getting impatient, but it had to be almost ten o’clock. Class on First Thursday Art Walk night always got out late and Abby usually stayed around to help her clean up the studio.

The two of them looked up as they heard the screeching tires of a car rounding the corner. As it pulled up to the curb in front of them, it almost clipped a parked car. A thumping beat echoed through the tinted windows.

“Thanks for waiting, Mackenzie.” Abby gave her a cheery smile.

“No problem. See you next week.”

Music blared loudly from inside the vehicle when Abby opened the door and climbed in. Without looking, her mother pulled the car into a tight U-turn and almost hit an oncoming car. The other driver laid on his horn and Abby’s mother gave him the finger. As they sped off, Mackenzie saw her tilt back a can of beer.

Without thinking, Mackenzie jumped on her motorcycle and followed them. If she had thought it through, maybe she would have called the police to have them handle it. She would’ve memorized the license plate number, made note of the street and direction they were driving, and called it in as a drunk driver. Then she would have gone home and climbed into bed. Or taken a bath first.

But she didn’t, and because of that one decision, everything in her life changed.

Thankfully, Abby’s mother was a slow drunk driver. Mackenzie was able to keep up with her and only once, while going over the West Seattle bridge, did she get really worried. The woman never crossed the center line, but she came close. Mackenzie followed them for miles and at every turn, every passing car, she said a silent prayer.

When they pulled into a driveway in a rundown neighborhood, Mackenzie drove by slowly. Thank God they arrived home safely. She knew she’d have to confront the mother at some point, but tonight she just wanted to go home. When Abby climbed out of the car, she waved at Mackenzie.

She knew I was following her. Sweet girl.

Flipping up her helmet’s visor, Mackenzie blew her a kiss and drove off.

As she left the neighborhood, she realized she had no idea where she was. She had been so focused on following Abby, she hadn’t paid attention to all the streets they had turned down. Now she was in a seedy, dilapidated part of town that she’d never been to, without any sense of how to get back. She had a vague idea where the bridge was from here and headed in that direction.

Junker cars littered the front lawns of many of the unkempt houses. Weeds grew from broken sidewalks, neon lights of adult businesses flashed on almost every block, along with a few used car lots and pawn shops. She made it onto a main thoroughfare and hoped it led back to the bridge.

At the first stoplight, a group of teenage boys loitered on the corner. There must’ve been about seven or eight of them, she guessed as she came to a halt. At this time of night, they couldn’t be trading Pokemon cards.

Keep looking straight ahead. Just ignore them.

“Hey, it’s a chick on a bike,” she heard one of them call. She felt them all turn to look at her. Someone whistled.

“Wanna ride me, baby?” another one yelled.

“I’ll give you something huge to feel between your legs.”

Turn green. Turn green. Please turn green.

One of the thugs stepped off the curb and swaggered toward her. He had something in his hand.

F*ck it. Glancing both ways in the intersection, she cranked the throttle and ran the light. Adrenaline coursed through her system as she dragged a foot, fish-tailing the back of her motorcycle before the tire gained traction on the pavement. It lurched forward and she left them in the acrid haze of her smoking tire.

This didn’t look right. She worried she was heading the wrong way. The poorly lit roadway was virtually empty so she couldn’t gauge where to go based on where other cars were headed. She thought she remembered passing a fast-food restaurant on the way to Abby’s house, but unless she counted a 24-hour tattoo parlor that served espresso, there were no food joints anywhere in sight.

The wind blew hard into her face so she dropped the visor of her helmet. Although it was spring, the air still had a bite to it and her cheeks stung from the cold.

At the next intersection, she had to stop again. Why weren’t the lights synchronized to turn green so she wouldn’t have to stop at every one? She was getting tired and just wanted to find her way home to bed.

While waiting for the green, the little hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Someone else was looking at her. She could feel it. Craning her neck around, she expected to see another gang of thugs approaching, but she saw no one. She was completely alone on this stretch of road except for a Jeep Wrangler pulling up on the other side of the intersection.

She couldn’t shake the feeling and focused on the other car. It was them. They were watching her. Two men inside the open-air vehicle were fixated in her direction. Was there something behind her? She turned around. Nothing. Maybe her bike. Maybe they were looking at her bike. A woman like you on a Bonnie is hard to forget. Wasn’t that what Dom had said? God, she hoped it was the bike.

Something about the two men scared her more than the rowdy hoodlums a few blocks back. Her scalp began to tingle, almost vibrate. She smacked her helmet with the heel of her hand and tried to clear her head.

When the light turned green, she revved the engine and sped through the intersection. The Jeep remained fixed and the men turned their heads in unison to watch her pass. She got a glimpse of the driver lifting his head as if sniffing the wind.

Moments after passing the Jeep, she saw a flash in her rearview mirror. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that the Jeep had made a U-turn. Her heart hammered in her ears and the tingling became a rumble.

Oh, shit.

The long hair was a dead giveaway. Why hadn’t she tied it up and stuffed it into her helmet? With her all-black outfit, most people would’ve assumed she was a guy on a bike, not a girl. She was a damn freak magnet tonight.

She hit the throttle and sped up, thinking she’d outrun them and they’d give up, but the Jeep stayed on her tail. She felt bile rising in her throat and she willed herself to stay calm.

Oh my God. Which way?

Nothing looked familiar. Just closed-up businesses with bars on the windows, a storage facility and a bunch of warehouses.

The intersection up ahead looked more substantial than the others she’d passed. Left or right? She had to make it fast. The Jeep was just half a block behind her. Left. She cranked the handlebars and leaned into the turn.

Please be the road to the bridge.

Rows of dark warehouses loomed ahead and she realized she had made a horrible mistake. Fear swelled her throat and she could hardly breathe. This wasn’t a major intersection. It was just a stoplight for the warehouse complex. She was now in a dark parking lot. A dark deserted parking lot, and the lights of the Jeep flashed behind her.

She weaved around a few buildings, accelerating when she could, looking for another way out, but everywhere the Jeep was on her tail.

When she turned right, a loading dock loomed straight ahead, blocking her way. A dead end.

Her breath came in shallow bursts, the ringing in her head became a roar. She cranked the bike around, the loading dock behind her. The Jeep stopped about twenty feet ahead of her, its headlights blinding her for a moment.

The wind picked up and she heard one of them, or maybe both, laugh. The high-pitched sound promised nothing but evil and her whole body trembled. For some reason, she cried out silently for Dom. If he was here, he’d know what to do.

The men climbed out of the vehicle simultaneously, and with each step, each swing of their arms, they seemed to be a perfect mirror image of the other. Their toothy smiles reminded her of hyenas eager to attack their prey.

I’m almost there, she imagined Dom saying.

Empowered by the voice in her head, she reached back, unsnapped the top of the saddlebag and fished out her handgun. She could do this. This was why she owned a handgun and spent time at target practice each week. Her instructor drilled it into her head that if you carry a gun, you needed to be prepared to shoot and kill. She had never been more ready in her life.

“Mackenzie. Do exactly as I tell you.” It was Dom, as clear as if he were next to her. It gave her strength and she brought the gun up.

“Aim at their torsos and pull the trigger. Fast. Both of them. Hear me?”

“Yes, but—” It sounded like she was talking to herself.

“Now. Do it now.” His voice boomed in her ear.

Taking a deep breath, she aimed at the guy on the left and pulled the trigger. He stumbled backward. She hit him directly in the chest. Just as she took aim at the other one and fired another round, she heard Dom’s voice screaming in her ear. It was then she saw a glint of metal.

“Duck left. Left.”

She barely shifted her weight when something slashed through her jacket sleeve and she felt a slicing pain. But how could he—? How could she be hearing—?

“Go. Go. Go.” Dom yelled in her head.

She didn’t have time to think about what happened, about the warm wetness flowing down her arm. She jammed the gun into her waistband and hit the throttle. The bike jumped ahead and she surged forward.

“Right past them. Don’t slow. Don’t look. Just go.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see one of the men getting up. What the hell? He was the one she’d shot right in the torso. He should be dead, or at least seriously wounded. When he made eye contact with her, she saw what looked like fangs hanging from his mouth.

The panic that had coated her insides was suddenly replaced by a chilling horror. Her hands numbed and her vision blurred.

“Mackenzie, listen. Steady yourself, I’m almost there. Go left at the next building. Hustle.”

Dom’s voice yanked her out of this strange reality. She cranked the handlebars, dragged a foot and leaned into the turn.

“Good. See the second building on the right? The one with the blue awning?”

“Yes.”

“Turn right when you pass it.”

She accelerated and as she leaned into the next turn, a flash of light glinted behind her. Headlights.

“Oh God, Dom, they’re following. How is that possible? I shot them.” She knew she sounded hysterical and tried to push the panic away.

“Love, I’m almost there. I’m coming for you. Just keep going. I can feel you. We’re getting close.”

Mackenzie saw the main road straight ahead and the headlights of another car approaching. It careened into the parking lot, fishtailed a couple of times, then barreled straight toward her. With a screech and another hard turn, it stopped about fifty feet in front of her.

“Ditch the bike.” Dom’s voice boomed so forcefully she couldn’t be sure if she heard it out loud or in her head.

“But—”

“Goddamn it, now.”

Headlights from the Jeep flashed on the open passenger door of Dom’s car. Squeezing the hand brakes, she jammed her weight to the side, lifted one leg and laid her beautiful bike into a slide on the pavement. The skidding, scraping and grinding echoed in her ears as she imagined layers of chrome and pearlescent white paint on the pavement.

She tensed her muscles, ready to push her body away, when from out of nowhere strong arms wrenched her off the still-moving bike and shoved her into the car.

The door slammed shut and Dom flattened himself against it, a barrier between her and the Jeep. When the vehicle stopped, Dom pulled something from his waistband and swung his arm around his head. A crack like a whip stung the air, jangling her raw nerves. His arm jerked down and a body flew from the Jeep, landing on the pavement in front of Dom’s car.

Like a snake striking, Dom was on the man before her mind even registered that he’d moved from the door.

He stood astride one of her attackers, his heavy boot crushing the man’s neck. Flailing and kicking, the man struggled, trying to push Dom’s foot away. For the briefest moment the guy managed to turn his head toward Mackenzie and her heart practically stopped. The headlights illuminated him like a spotlight. Fangs hung from his mouth in a wide snarl and his eyes were two black orbs with no whites. Mackenzie’s hands flew to her face and she watched through the slats of her fingers.

A long glint of metal caught the light as Dom lifted both arms overhead, his back arching, his strength coiling. The blade flew down in a fierce blow and plunged into the chest of her attacker.

A sob spilled from her throat as the man shuddered and convulsed. She wanted to pinch her eyes shut, to block the horrifying images from her brain, but she couldn’t. The man’s body folded in on itself, leaving a dark pile of rubble, ashes maybe, because a few small bits floated away, disappearing beyond the headlight beams into the night air.

Oh God, this couldn’t be happening. It was just a dream. A damn nightmare.

As Dom holstered the knife somewhere beneath his clothes, he raised his head and his eyes locked onto hers. And that was when she saw them. His fangs.

He was one of them.

DOM TOOK A step toward the driver’s side and Mackenzie flung herself over the console, scrambling for the lock. She hit the window button and it rolled down slightly before she found the right one. With a click, the locks engaged.

“Open the door.” His mouth was at the crack in the open window.

Stifling a scream, she fumbled with the keys and turned them in the ignition. A harsh sound grated the air. The car was already on. She grabbed at what she thought was the stick shift, but it was the emergency brake and nothing happened.

“Mackenzie, I’m not going to hurt you. Open the damn door. There are others coming and I can’t take them all down myself.” He rattled the handle and she flew back to her seat, away from the sound of his voice. She grabbed at the passenger door handle, which lifted easily without opening. Locked. A movement outside the window caught her eye. A figure emerged from the Jeep. Blood pounded in her temples. She was trapped.

A weapon. She needed a weapon. She patted her waistband. Nothing. It must’ve fallen out in the slide.

Oh God, oh God.

“I’m sorry.” Dom’s voice was low from the driver’s window and her head snapped to the left. He stood on the other side of the glass with his dark brows pinched together in an unfathomable expression of worry, the ice blue eyes pleading with hers. He looked almost normal except…

A swirling gray cloud enveloped him and he was gone. She whipped her head around. Where was he? What had happened?

A thick fog spilled in through the crack of the window, cascading into the car like a waterfall. Her screams echoed in her ears and she clawed at the door to get out.

The man from the Jeep was at her window, teeth bared, blood dripping from his temple. With nowhere else to go, she scrunched down into the foot well and covered her head with the collar of her jacket, wishing she could snap her fingers and be gone.

With a jolt, her head bumped the underneath side of the dashboard as the car lurched backwards. Knees and elbows banged against hard surfaces as she was buffeted about like a rag doll.

“Get up.” A hand grasped the scruff of her collar and wrenched her up.

As Dom cranked the steering wheel hard to the right onto the roadway, she fell on the center console, almost into his lap. He punched it and the car shot forward. She flew back with what seemed like the G-force of a jet fighter.

“Seat belt. Now.”

What did he just say? Her mind was numb as she tried to translate the words into something she understood. Seat belt? She pawed at the side of the bucket seat where the strap originated but her hands fumbled getting the thing over her shoulder. Without taking his eyes from the road, Dom reached across her chest, pulled the belt over her lap and snapped it into place.

The dull throbbing pain in her upper arm pulsed over and over with every bump and turn. Warmth dripped down the inside of her sleeve and she tried stanching the flow with her good hand. Don’t look. It only makes it worse. She leaned her head against the cool glass of the window, closed her eyes and wished she could sleep, make everything go away. Another jolt knocked her hand free. It was covered in blood.

“Here. Use this.” Dom waved a handkerchief. His knuckles were white as they gripped the steering wheel and his hair billowed in the wind from his rolled-down window.

Her mind barely registered the car rounding another sharp corner but the pain in her arm had sharpened even more. Dom grimaced as he looked in the rearview mirror. He didn’t act like one of those monsters, but she knew what she saw.

So when Dom’s darkened gaze met hers, the blue of his irises completely gone, she remembered the monsters in the Jeep and everything went dark.

DOM LOOKED IN his rearview mirror. The freak was still on their tail. Must be a fortified engine in that rig. He should’ve been able to put more distance between them by now. If he couldn’t outrun them, he wouldn’t be able to head to the loft. He’d have to think of some other way.

The Porsche practically flew over the bridge, catching air a few times, and he banked it sharply to the left into the SoDo district. The sound of his suitcase thumping against the side reminded him he wasn’t catching that flight to San Diego tonight after all.

Punching it, he saw he had put some distance between them. With the Jeep’s high center of gravity, it wasn’t able to make the turn as tightly as the Porsche had. The key to outrunning it would be in the cornering, not the straightaways.

Dom turned up and down various roads heading into downtown. The Jeep still followed and even though it fell farther behind, he didn’t dare take a chance and head to the loft. They weren’t that far ahead.

As he cranked the vehicle under the Alaskan Way Viaduct, he heard the horn of the ferry up ahead, signaling its departure.

If only…

He slammed on his brakes and veered into the holding area, flashing his pass at the ticket booth. The last vehicle had been loaded, the tie ropes cast off, and a ferry worker reached for the neon orange netting to secure the car deck.

Laying on his horn, he sped down the loading chute. The worker jumped out of the way as the Porsche caught air and flew onboard, skidding to a stop behind a delivery van.

Thank God the terminal was quiet this late at night. Doing a mass mind scrub wasn’t an easy task for one.

“What the hell. Are you crazy? You can’t do that.” The ferry worker ran toward them, grabbing his walkie-talkie from its shoulder holster. Dom jumped out of the car and flashed him his identification.

“You still can’t…”

Dom brushed a hand across the man’s temples.

“We paid at the gate and were the last car on the ferry before you attached the netting and pulled away from the dock.”

The man blinked a few times and said, “You staying on the island or heading to the peninsula?”

“Not sure yet,” Dom said and watched the Jeep screech to a stop on the dock as the ferry churned through the water away from the city.