Vlad had angled his body downward. The noise from the wind increased. In the distance, I saw tiny dots appear.
“He’s over somewhere populated now. I can see lights. Lots of them.”
A slap burned the side of my face. “Where? I need something more specific than ‘populated’ and ‘lights,’ you stupid bitch!”
I wanted to cradle my cheek, but didn’t because I needed all my attention on my link with Vlad. I hope you go medieval on his ass when you get here! I mentally spat.
Vlad’s grin widened, showing those sharp-looking upper fangs. “I’ll remind you that you said that.”
Then he angled his body in a steeper slant. The glow of lights beneath him became brighter, objects forming distinguishable shapes instead of blank nothingness. I squinted to try and see better, hoping he wasn’t hours away.
“It looks like . . . he might have just flown over an amusement park,” I continued. He was going so fast, it was hard to be sure. “I think I just saw a roller coaster.”
He didn’t slap me again, but if Jackal shook me any harder, he’d dislocate my shoulder. “What park?”
“Stop that!” I snapped, anger getting the better of me. “You want me to lose the link? Then keep breaking my focus by roughing me up.”
The shaking stopped, but Jackal’s hand felt like a concrete boulder on my upper arm. “What park?” he repeated.
“Too late to tell, he’s past it now. I see lots of roofs and buildings coming up . . .”
And water. Excitement threaded through me. Florida had theme parks set near water and large cities. If Vlad had just flown over Disney World, he might only be about an hour away.
Is that where you are? I sent to him. Florida?
Another grin was the only reply I got, but the blur of scenery below him began to take clearer shape. It took me a second to realize why.
“He’s slowing down. Dropping lower . . .”
My heart began to beat faster. I wasn’t adept at recognizing landmarks from a bird’s-eye view, but I thought the cluster of buildings Vlad just flew over looked familiar.
“Well?” Jackal’s grip tightened again. “What do you see?”
That thumping in my chest continued to increase when I saw a harbor that I was now positive I recognized.
“He’s over a marina. I can’t see any street names yet, but he’s . . . he seems to be slowing down even more.”
“A marina?” All of a sudden, Jackal sounded uneasy. His hand loosened on my arm.
I clutched the silver knife like it was a lifeline. “Yes. Now he’s heading toward a city. I see lots of buildings . . . he’s dropping down even lower . . . I see a sign on one of them—”
“What does the sign say?” Jackal interrupted, his voice tight with urgency. “What’s it say, Frankie?”
I dropped the link to Vlad, not needing it anymore. The hotel room seemed to rush around me in a series of colors, swallowing up the inky darkness that had surrounded Vlad. My heart pounded like it was trying to free itself from my chest and sweat slicked the knife in my hand.
“It says,” I rasped, nerves and determination making my voice rougher, “Red Roof Inn, Tampa.”
I only had a moment to savor the shock in their expressions before the hotel window imploded from a large form hurtling through it.
Time seemed to switch into fast-forward. One second I was being pelted by flying glass, the next I was shoved into a corner, staring at the back of a dark-haired man in a trench coat. Before my next blink, flames coated the walls in orange and red waves, covering every inch of the room except the section where I was.
“I heard you were looking for me,” a now-familiar voice said mockingly.
The instant heat and smoke had me looking for a way out, but before I could attempt to crawl away, a blur of violence erupted in front of me. It was so fast I was reminded of the cartoons I’d watched as a kid, only this whirling mass of limbs was frighteningly real. With their incredible speed and the smoke making everything hazy, I couldn’t tell who was winning, or if more than two people were involved in it.
If I got caught up in that deadly maelstrom, I’d be finished, but this was my chance. I took in a deep breath for courage, coughed at the smoke, and crawled to the nearest light socket. Then I placed my right hand over it, feeling the instant surge as the currents in me connected to the voltage in the socket.
Energy flooded me like an adrenaline shot to my heart, followed by a searing ache along my nerves. The lights blinked out, but even with the sudden darkness and my eyes watering with pain and smoke, I could still see the window Vlad had decimated. Flames and some jagged pieces of glass clung to the frame, making it look like the mouth to hell. A few feet away, several vampires were locked in a death match that defied tracking with the naked eye. None of that made me hesitate. I took in another coughing breath and then hurtled toward the window, jumping at the last second as if the floor were a springboard.