“Which way, Christoph?” Dominic asked.
“Just keep following,” he answered.
“I’m tired,” Raina complained.
She had tried not to take on the role of the typical girl, doing her best not to whine in the face of their challenges but the truth was, she was exhausted. Mardi Gras had been fun but it had also zapped her of the necessary energy she had needed for such a journey. Even though their New Orleans motel had provided them with beds and hot meals and much deserved relaxation, it hadn’t been enough. The need for blood had become stronger during their trip and she had found herself having to turn away from even the youngest of humans they passed so as not to take a quick snack along the way.
“It’s been hours, Christoph,” Leo griped. “Are you sure you know where you’re going?”
“Yes.”
“I’m starting to wonder,” he muttered under his breath. “Stupid empathic abilities gonna lead us no-where….”
“Back off, little man,” Jarek warned him.
“Come on, you have to admit this is ridiculous! We’ve been walking for hours; we should have driven if he knew it was this far!”
Christoph ignored the comments and just continued walking, leading his pack to an undisclosed location while throwing them the rare cryptic bone every once in a long while with bizarre ramblings about forests and pixies and hidden mansions. Dominic caught up to him and kept an even pace. He stared at his friend’s profile as they walked and he wondered which abilities and instincts Christoph was really relying on to get them there.
“I trust you,” he said to him simply.
He wanted to say more. In fact, he wanted to ask a thousand questions that might shed some light on why his friend’s mood had changed so drastically since they had left the motel for the last leg of their trip toward Lucius, but he didn’t. He knew, somehow, that Christoph would not steer them in the wrong direction and his growing anxieties and apprehension came more for his concern for his pack’s increasing hunger than over a lack of faith that they would eventually make it there. He knew they were all starving and he knew that their hunger had turned purely to the need for blood over anything else. It hadn’t escaped his attention how they ogled the last group of humans they passed a couple of hours earlier. The truth was, it had been difficult for even Dominic to walk past the small family without fighting the urge to tear them to shreds – the husband, the wife, and the baby alike.
“Did you guys ever see that movie ‘Alive?’ ” Leo asked by way of disturbing conversation. “They crashed their plane in the Andes or some shit and had to eat each other to survive.”
“What are you saying, wee one?” Jarek asked. “You thinking of eating one of us to stay alive? Ha! Good luck!”
“It’s amazing what one can do when survival is threatened,” Leo defended. “That’s all I’m saying.”
“What good would it do you, stupid? We don’t spill blood!”
“We do upon our deaths,” he answered quickly.
“So you would kill one of us to survive?” Raina asked, disgusted. “That’s what you’ve been thinking about as we walk together?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Yeah,” Jarek added. “You pretty much just did say that and you can wipe those thoughts out of your head because you’d have to get past me to get to anyone here and I don’t see that happening in even your wildest fantasies.”
“You never know,” Leo mumbled to himself, though they all heard him clearly.
Dominic turned around to face