He said nothing in return. In that silence, she realized how stupid she was being. He must have been infected once, must have given in to it, must know better than she did how it felt.
“If you go to Coldtown,” she said, hoping to change the subject, “you won’t be able to get out. Are you sure whatever you’re going there for is worth it?”
“What’s that?” he asked suddenly, one hand leaving the wheel to touch her arm.
“What?” she said, looking down.
His long fingers traced the outline of the scar just beneath the crook of her elbow, his expression unreadable. Her skin felt too warm against the coolness of his touch, as though she were feverish. “These are old marks,” he said finally. “You were just a child.”
“Should it matter?” Tana asked. She was usually careful, but she must have pushed up the sleeves of her dress.
“Why should death discriminate between age and youth, you mean?” he asked calmly. “Death has his favorites, like anyone. Those who are beloved of Death will not die.”
She was relieved he hadn’t asked her any of the awful, stupid questions she’d grown used to: Who bit you? I heard that it doesn’t hurt when you’re bitten—does it hurt? Did you like it? Come on, you’re lying, you did like it, didn’t you? But then, he must know most of the answers. “Seems like Death came back for me.”
He grinned, a subtly odd grin that somehow made her smile back. “You drove him off again. Sleep, Tana. I will guard you from Death, for I have no fear of him. We have been adversaries for so long that we are closer than friends.”
“I’ll just close my eyes for a minute,” she said. “It’s not even really that late.”
There was something else that she wanted to say, something that she was sure she was on the verge of saying, but the words were swallowed up by the night.
Tana awoke to the sound of voices. She was alone in the car, spread out across the front seat, head pillowed on her arm, one of her booted feet kicked up against the glass of the driver-side window. The pleasant scent of coffee in the air mixed with car exhaust. And she felt chilled through, as though she’d kicked off a blanket in the middle of a winter night.
For a moment, waking up seemed like a nice thing to do. She remembered a party and being worried about going alone, where she was sure she was going to run into Aidan. She heard his voice outside the car, though, so it must all have worked out. Except for memories that seemed to be part of a nightmare—stuff that couldn’t be real. Blood and empty eyes and a shimmering rain of shattered glass.
Then everything came back to her in a rush and all her muscles clenched with instinctive alertness. Her heart sped and she scrambled in her seat, kicking the wheel in her eagerness to be upright.
Her Crown Vic was parked in a lot, far from the central cluster of cars and trucks. In the distance she saw a large, sprawling building, blinking bulbs and glowing floodlights announcing it as DEAD LAST REST STOP OPEN 24 HOURS. The sheer gaudy brilliance of it made the outer edges of the lot seem even darker by comparison.
She’d never been there before, but she knew the place, the same way she knew South of the Border. Kids at school wore T-shirts emblazoned with the logo or plastered its bumper stickers on their cars. The Dead Last Rest Stop was as flashy and famous as it was because of its proximity to the first Coldtown.
They’d come a lot of miles while she’d slept.
Gavriel was sitting on the hood of her car, a paper bag and a steaming cup resting beside him. His head was down and, shadowed as his face was, he looked like a pale human boy and not a monster at all. Aidan stood with his hands in his pockets, talking to two people she didn’t know. He must be reeling with infection, but he seemed to be hiding it well, his voice only a little unsteady. The pair were a girl and boy, their hair dyed the vibrant azure blue of butterfly wings and gum balls. They looked so alike that Tana thought they must be siblings.
“You sure you can give us a ride? I mean, thanks, of course, but I just want to make sure you’re serious,” the boy was saying. His hair was razor-cut in the back and sprayed into a shaggy, teased mop, with longer pieces framing spiky bangs. His eyes were lined with kohl, and a single silver stud shone just above the right side of his lip, like a beauty mark. “Out here in the dull world, we’re just a couple of kids without any cash, but inside it’s all about barters and favors and who you know. Midnight is tight with lots of people through her blog, so we’re going to be set up when we get to the city. We brought plenty of stuff to trade and we’ve got a plan. So we could help you if you help us.”
Aidan smiled. “Definitely.” He looked back at the car, toward Tana. She wasn’t sure if she should get out. It was bad enough that he was promising people rides.