“Tennessee is gorgeous,” Raina marveled as she stared at the passing greenery from her back window.
“Yeah,” Christoph mumbled from the driver’s seat. “I sure wish we could see it in the daytime.”
It hadn’t escaped their attention that he had grown melancholy over the last few hours but the pack knew better than to ask why. They all knew from experience that their mysterious friend with the fondness for cheeseburgers and crossbows would share his feelings in his own time and in his own way. Raina simply scooted up closer behind him and encircled his shoulders with her arms in her quiet manner of comfort. Even Leo had backed off from harassing him, evidently deciding to give his favorite target a break for the time being.
“Well, don’t get used to it,” Dominic said, turning around from the passenger’s side to return the bottle of whiskey back to Jarek. He had nursed it for longer than he’d planned but was enjoying the warmth it provided nonetheless. “We’re heading into the city in a few minutes and it’s not all pretty trees and quiet beauty; take my word for it.”
“Which city?” Leo asked from his seat atop the coffin.
None of the others would be able to get away with perching themselves on such a high platform without pushing the tops of their heads right through the ceiling but their small friend looked as comfortable as he could be. His mood had become much more positive and upbeat since his last snack and he still donned the baseball cap as a souvenir after discarding the driver’s body.
“Oz, stupid,” Jarek piped in though they had all thought him to be asleep. His head was thrown back against the back of the seat and his breathing had become heavier, like one in a deep slumber. “We’re almost in Oz and your new name will be Toto when we arrive.”
Though he continued to berate Leo, the words were delivered with more humor than malice.
“What city do you think, moron?” he continued.
“I don’t know, asshole,” Leo threw back. “History wasn’t my best subject.”
“Geography, you idiot,” Jarek muttered with an eye roll. “Geography wasn’t your best subject.”
“How do you know what I did good in?” Leo snapped back, throwing a candy bar wrapper toward him and wincing when it only fluttered in the air and landed on his own lap because of its weight.
“Forget it,” Jarek answered, frustrated.
Head still back against the seat and body still slumped in preparation for a nap he turned his face toward Raina and stared at her profile. Watching how gentle she was with Christoph made him love her even more than he already did but it was not a feeling he would ever share in mixed company. Instead, he turned his face toward the window again and closed his eyes.
“See what I mean?” Dominic asked, pointing through the windshield and ignoring their petty arguments. “And they call us freaks.”
A dark hooded figure stood at the corner a few yards ahead, counting out money and handing a small package over to a tall skinny man with stringy hair and pockmarks over more than half his face. They didn’t even try to disguise their drug deal nor did they appear particularly concerned that a pack of vampires had their faces glued to the glass as they watched it play out. Once his goods were purchased, the pitiful customer strode away with a limp and an obvious case of the shakes, no doubt in search of a dirty needle and a quiet spot in which to fill it.
“Where are we