About ten miles out of town, she pulled over to the side of the road, and they carried the vamp into the woods. There, they dug a grave and buried him. Brie drove the vehicle another fifteen miles before she pulled over to the side of the road.
Instead of cleaning the vehicle or taking the chance of missing something, they set it on fire. By the time the fire department got to it, there wouldn’t be any evidence of them left, and they would be far from here.
Of course, they now had the fingerprints and possible hair in the vehicle he still drove, but they could take care of that too. The radio in the car crackled, but no voices came over it, and no alarm sounded about the escapees.
They were long gone from the town, and still, no one had realized they were missing, but he wasn’t going to stress about it either. Instead, he enjoyed sitting behind the wheel and feeling the vehicle’s power beneath his hands.
Brie dialed Cabo’s number; it was answered before the first ring finished. “What happened? Are you okay? Did that son of a bitch do something?”
“We got arrested. I’m fine. And no, it was just bad luck, but we’re out now. We had a shit time of it, though.”
“What happened?”
“I’ll tell you all about it later. Where are you guys?”
“We’re still behind the grocery store. I’ve been trying to get any info on what might have happened to you two but haven’t had any luck.”
“Get out of that town.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice. Where should we meet you?”
“I don’t know yet. We have to get rid of the car we’re in soon. I’ll give you a call back once we do.”
“Sounds good.”
“Stay safe.”
“You too.”
She hung up and leaned back in the seat as she closed her eyes and rested both hands on the box. It was over… or it might be over. If the stone wasn’t in this box, they’d have to come up with a new plan and head back into town.
She couldn’t imagine anything worse.
“They okay?” Asher asked.
“Yeah. They’re still where we left them.”
“Those are good friends. A lot of others might have left.”
“They’re the best of friends.”
Opening her eyes, she watched as the black road unfurled beneath the glow of the headlights. It was the only source of illumination as the tires hummed along the quiet back road.
They traveled almost fifty miles before Asher pulled to the side of a wooded stretch of road. They’d driven through a small town about a mile ago. It would be an easy walk back for them.
“I don’t think we can burn this one,” he said. “It will draw attention to it, and it will be suspicious if we arrive on foot in town soon after.”
“We’ll drive it as far into the woods as possible and leave it there.”
Asher’s hands tightened on the wheel as he grinned. “Sounds like fun.”
The corners of Brie’s luscious mouth quirked into a smile before she smothered it. She leaned forward and pointed at a break between some maples.
“The trees aren’t as thick through there; we should be able to get through there for at least a little bit.”
Asher eased his foot onto the gas pedal and navigated toward the briars choking the road’s edge between the trees. The flattened plants might alert someone a vehicle had gone off the road here, but if no one reported an accident, those passing by probably wouldn’t notice the disruption to the land.
He eased the police cruiser between two trees. They bumped and bounced over the land, through the vegetation, and over a couple of stumps before the chassis got hung up on a log that pierced something with a screech of metal.
