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“Any more news concerning the league?” Levka hated how strained his voice sounded.
“They’re pissed off. Luckily, they’ve kept a lid on the rumors among our people that vampires attacked the teens. Only a few of our kind in the city seem to know about it. So we should be safe other places as long as they don’t connect you with being the wounded teen in the Dallas shooting,” Arman said.
Levka gave a start when Stasio walked into the bedroom.
Stasio pulled a backpack off his shoulder and deposited it on the bed. “I got the blood, but I set off some alarms.”
“Were you seen?” Ruric asked, his voice terse.
“I don’t think so. I’m not sure though. I sensed someone following me.” Stasio unzipped the bag and handed a bottle of blood to Levka.
“One of our kind?” Ruric asked.
“Yeah. One of our kind. He may be one of the local enforcers, wondering why four male teens suddenly appeared in their territory. Maybe he’s afraid we’ll stir up trouble.”
Levka gave a strangled laugh.
“What?” Arman asked.
After drinking the rest of the bottle of blood, Levka leaned back against the bed. “We are trouble. Didn’t Stasio just rob a blood bank?”
Ruric sat on the edge of the bed. “Can you move in a couple of hours?”
“An hour,” Levka said, not intending to put his friends at any more risk than they already were.
“I stole enough blood to last us the trip, Levka. Sorry about setting off the alarm.”
Levka wanted to ask Ruric why he hadn’t gone instead. Arman wouldn’t have, as much as he didn’t like breaking rules. But poor Stasio. He was always making some kind of mistake, despite having the best intentions. Ruric should have gone.
“We’ll leave soon,” Levka reiterated, intending to rest until they had to move again.
But then he and the others sensed a vampire near the Applewood Bed and Breakfast Inn, attempting to scan for vampiric telepathic communications.
For a moment, no one said a word. Still feeling like he’d been run over by an eighteen wheeler, Levka swung his legs over the edge of the bed and closed his eyes against a wave of dizziness. Hating his inability to do anything for himself, Levka said, “We leave now.”
Arman carried him again. “Next stop, Fort Lauderdale and the Sea Wanderer Cruise.”
Ruric opened the bedroom’s back window and raised his specter light saber to the star-filled sky. “To sailing in the wide-open galaxy.”
The four vanished and flew under the cloak of blackness. Neither vampires nor mortals could see them, invisible until they chose to become visible again. They communicated telepathically the entire time to keep their bearing and stick together. Masking their communication, they ensured other vampires in the vicinity couldn’t hear their thoughts.
At one point while they were flying, Levka and Arman lost the others, but they soon saw a landmark, a white steeple on a church and headed in its direction, directing the others to do the same. Twice more, they lost each other, but by nightfall they reached the port of Fort Lauderdale, and Arman set Levka down on a bench resting under palm trees in front of a hotel.
“What do we do until the ship leaves tomorrow?” Ruric asked.
“We’ll get a suite at the Holiday Excursions Hotel.” Stasio waved his hand at the five-star hotel behind them, brightly lit on the dark night.
“All right. I’ll check us in, then bring a wheelchair out for Levka. It’ll look a little odd if any of us carry him into the hotel,” Arman said.
Everyone else stayed behind and kept their senses on high alert, scanning the area for any of their kind that might suddenly appear who may be trouble. Levka couldn’t shake the feeling the vampire looking for them in Atlanta hadn’t remained there.
***
Half an hour later, Levka was resting in a bed in the hotel suite, glad they’d had no more difficulties. Though he’d insisted on sitting on the sofa in the living area instead, his friends outvoted him.
“We’ll get our gear,” Ruric said, motioning to Stasio.
“Maybe Stasio should stay with me.” Levka tried not to show his distress, but he was a much better actor when he wasn’t suffering so much.
