“How can you tell?” one of the humansinquired.
“Gas is still dripping from that car.” Ipointed at the side of the small, overturned, red car and the beadof gas forming at the bottom of the gas tank. “This wasn’t anaccident. These cars were purposely put here.”
“Why would someone do that?” Verininquired.
A cold chill shot through my heart as myfangs burst free. “They know where River is.”
“How could they possibly know that?” Baleasked.
“Ghosts,” Shax sneered.
“Lucifer is behind this,” I said. “He’s sentsomeone for her.”
“How do you know that?” Shax asked.
I switched into our language to answer him. Ididn’t care if it upset the humans not to know what we werespeaking about; I didn’t want them to have any information aboutRiver that they didn’t need to know. “She connected with Lucifer inthat dream she had a while back. He knows she is my Chosen and hisprogeny. He didn’t know where she was living before, but he wouldhave surmised she is American from speaking with her, and herdialect is of the northeast. He must have sent some of his minionsin search of her, and now they know where she is.”
“Shit,” Morax said.
Desperate to get to her, I stormed over toone of the overturned cars. My muscles bulged and sweat beaded mybrow as I grasped the roof of the car. With a low growl, I liftedit from the ground and flipped it away. The screeching sound ofmetal twisting filled the air as the vehicle bounced over theroad.
Springs and glass scattered across the roadbefore the car slammed into the guardrail and teetered precariouslyon its side against the rail. Beneath the weight of the car, theguardrail bowed outward before giving way. The car slid over theside of the embankment.
Turning away, I gripped the front bumper ofthe other car and bent down to lift it up. My shirt tore across myback as I threw the vehicle aside. More metal screeched and sparkedacross the asphalt, but I barely noticed it before I turned myattention to removing the truck and finally the SUV from theroad.
When I’d cleared the truck out of the way,the broken road lay beyond, stretching endlessly into the night.River was only five miles away, but it felt like hundreds of milesseparated us. Running back to the vehicle, I didn’t wait for Baleto get completely inside before stomping on the gas. She cursedloudly and grabbed the door to close it.
“Easy, Kobal, you’re going to break one ofthe tires off,” she cautioned.
My teeth ground together as the truck bouncedover the ruts so hard that my knees hit the wheel and my headbounced off the roof. I didn’t ease off the gas. I couldn’t. Wewere so close, yet I could feel River slipping away.
She was in danger, and whoever was in pursuitof her now would take her to Lucifer, where he would try to twisther and do things to her that would break her. Or he would kill heroutright if he felt she couldn’t be of use to him.
I’d die before I ever let anyone hurt her insuch a way.
An unfamiliar emotion swelled within me. Itwas more than fear, more than desperation and it took me a minuteto pinpoint exactly what it was; terror. I’d never experienced itbefore, not even when Lucifer had nearly killed me all those yearsago, had I felt terror. I’d only known anger then and adetermination to survive so that I could destroy him.
River was mine to protect and cherish, but Ibegan to realize there was more to what I felt for her than theChosen bond forged between us. I cared for her, I respected andadmired her, and now it sank in that I was also in love withher.
I’d told her that demons loved too, and I hadmeant it. However, I never thought I’d be talking about myself whenI said those words to her. I’d seen the love between Morax andVerin, as well as other demons with their Chosen. I’d witnessed thelove of demon parents for their offspring, but I’d never hadparents and I’d never been in love, before.
Being bonded to her as my Chosen was onething, this was something else entirely, something deeper. I didn’tknow why I hadn’t seen it sooner, why I hadn’t told her, but I sawit now. Love for her swelled within my chest, clutched at my heartand drove me to push down harder on the gas pedal.
The truck groaned when it left the road andcrashed down with enough force to crack something beneath it.“Kobal!” Bale hissed when her head hit the ceiling.
“Hold on!”
I jerked the wheel in order to avoid a holethat would have broken off a tire if we’d been doing ten instead ofpushing sixty. None of the other vehicles kept up with our pace,except for the one Shax drove, and he was a good fifty feet behindus. Bale clutched the handle over her head, but she still slammedinto the passenger side window so hard the glass fractured beneaththe impact of her elbow. She rubbed at her injury while sheglowered at me.
We were only two miles from the truck stopwhen another rut in the road sent us into the air again. Crashingback to the earth, whatever had cracked beneath before, now gaveway with a reverberating bang. The entire truck wobbled before thepassenger side tire spun away from the vehicle. The truck tilted tothe right, the bumper leaning toward the road before plowing intothe asphalt.
Sparks flew up against the windshield as thevehicle continued its skid across the pavement. It tore up theroadway and sent chunks of asphalt flying by us before it dug inentirely and the ass end of the truck lifted behind us. I pressedmy hands against the roof, bracing myself when I realized the truckwas going to flip.
A creaking sound filled the cab as the backwheels rose directly above us so the vehicle stood on its frontbumper. The truck hesitated there for a second before going overwith a loud squeal. My teeth jarred together from the impact as thetruck rolled over. Going over the guardrail, the truck flipped endover end as it plunged down the hillside.
The world became a blur as supplies tumbledout and smashed into the window behind me. The window finally gaveway. Glass crashed and bounced around us as it filled the cab.Metal crumpled and broke in a rising cacophony of sound. Packs offood, water, and clothing slipped in from the cab to bash againstmy side and face as the truck rolled one more time before coming toa stop on the passenger side against a grouping of trees.
The roof all around me was dented in, but myhands had kept the roof directly above me from caving in. My sideand jaw throbbed from where debris had pummeled against me. Takingstock of the rest of my body, I realized everything else remainedintact.
