A/N" Special thanks to Anni, who may have left the longest review in the history of , but certainly the longest I've ever received out of my 23 stories! Reviews are like crack for writers, and as I've shown in this story, if you request it, Santa Hearttorn just might bring it! (that totally won't make sense to anyone who isn't reading this story in December) We're getting down to the wire here, to the end… but for those of you who want to know what happens when Bones finds her gone, it will be in the beginning of my next story, which covers book 2. I already have those chapters written, so it's just a matter of me getting this book wrapped up!
I knew when they were getting ready to move Kitten and her mum by the flurry of activity on her floor. Then they cleared a path down to the parking garage. Subtle, that. Anyone watching could've figured out what was going on, and not just a vampire.
I'd known what I would probably need to do to get them out, so I refilled ahead of time – I drank until I was stuffed as a tick. Then I simply dropped down from my vantage point nearby, waited to see which direction they took her, and shot ahead of them.
It was simple, really. I just stepped out in the road and stopped the car. Oh, I could've stopped it using mind control, but I wanted to leave chaos in our wake so the coppers had no idea which way to look for her.
Well, I say it was simple. Technically, it was. I let the car plow into me and it went upending into the air. I did my best to look unaffected, but inside I was screaming, bollocksfuckwankshitarseboll ocksbollocksBOLLOCKS that hurt! Behind Kitten's car, other cop cars went careening around to avoid hitting hers – some still went plowing into the rear of hers, some went into ditches, etc. Quite funny to watch really – well, it would be if I wasn't in excruciating pain.
However, it was time for action, not whimpering in pain, doubled over on the concrete like I wanted. I raced around to the now resettled back on Earth car, ripped off the front door and flung it at the car behind us so they couldn't shoot. I gave her a cheeky grin and said, "Hallo, Kitten!" Her mum started wailing as I ripped off Kitten's door and gave it similar treatment. I gave Kitten a once-over to make sure she wasn't hurt, then grabbed her mum as she tried to scurry out her side.
"Not so fast, Mum. We're in a bit of a hurry."
A bloke in the front seat moaned and I casually swatted him in the head. Then Kitten piped up.
"Don't kill him, Bones! They weren't going to hurt me!"
"Oh—right, then. Let's just send them on their way nicely." I yanked him clear from his seat. I took a sip from his neck to rejuvenate from being a walking brick wall and tossed him fifty feet in the air. He landed in the grass by the shoulder of the road. The driver attempted to crawl away, but I grasped him and gave him the same treatment.
"Get out of the car, luv," I directed, and Kitten sprang from the ruined remains of the vehicle. I was still holding her mum by the arm. She was crying and cursing me at the same time.
"They're going to kill you, they know what you are! Catherine's—" Her words were cut off when Kitten suddenly punched her right in the jaw. She collapsed without another word.
A bullet flew by us. Kitten dropped to the ground, but I just gave an irritated glance in its direction and then grasped the floorboards of the car.
The coppers from the cars in front of us had taken cover behind one of their overturned vehicles, and they were firing at us. I gave a wolfish grin as I lifted the car off the ground. I spun in a semicircle for maximum velocity, and then the twisted hunk of machinery went sailing through the air, landing dead-on the makeshift barricade of the agents' vehicle, which made a terrific boom as it exploded when it landed.
The highway became nothing sheer pandemonium. Traffic on the opposite side of the road piled up as disbelieving onlookers stopped driving and gaped at the carnage to their left. Brakes were squealing as accident after accident happened as a result of my little handiwork. But there was no time to delay. I grabbed Kitten's hand, threw her mum over my shoulder and we raced into the trees out of sight.
I'd planned ahead and had a car waiting for us about five miles ahead from the wreckage, where the lanes were clear, a new Volvo SUV. I dumped her mum in the backseat none too gently, pausing only to clap a piece of duct tape over her mouth before driving off.
"Glad you were the one that socked her, luv. It saved me the trouble. You don't get your meanness from your father—you get it from her. She bit me." The slag.
"How did you do that? How did you stop the car? If a vampire can do that, why didn't Switch prevent me from bashing into the house last night?" Kitten was almost babbling.
I snorted. "That pup? He couldn't stop a toddler on a tricycle. He was only 'round sixty, luv, in undead years. You have to be an old Master vamp like me to pull such a trick without regretting it dearly afterwards. Believe me, it hurt like blazes. That's why I took a nip from your two blokes before chucking them off. Who were they, anyhow? They weren't police."
She stammered a bit. "Um, they were from some branch of government, they didn't say which. Weren't real chatty, you know? I think they were taking me to a special jail or something because of Oliver."
I shot her a look. "You should have waited for me. You could have gotten killed."
"I couldn't wait!" she protested. "One of Oliver's dirty cops tried to shoot me, and he was supposed to plant a bomb in the hospital where they were taking my mother! Oliver was the one, Bones. He admitted it, practically bragged about how Hennessey was 'cleaning up' his state for him. Like all those people were nothing but garbage. God, if I'd killed him ten times, it still wouldn't be enough."
"What makes you think those blokes who were taking you away weren't more of his men?"
"They weren't. Besides, you hardly treated them like you were giving them the benefit of the doubt. You dropped a car on four of them."
"Oh, don't fret." I replied blandly. "They jumped free before the explosion. And if they were too thick not to, then they deserved to die for their stupidity."
"Whose car is this?" she suddenly asked.
I gave her a sideways glance. "Yours. Do you like it?"
She shook her head. "Not whose it is now, but won't it be reported stolen soon?"
"No," I replied. "This was your Christmas present. It's registered under the name on your false license, so there's no way for them to track it. Hope you don't mind missing out on the surprise, but under the circumstances, it was our best option."
Her mouth dropped open. "I can't accept this. It's way too expensive!"
Oh, Kitten, Kitten, Kitten… I gave an exasperated sigh. "Kitten, for once could you just say thank you? Really, luv, aren't we past this?" Way past this?
"Thank you. It's beautiful. All I got you was a new jacket."
"What kind of jacket?" I was intrigued, since all I ever wore was my faded denim one.
"Well, it was long, like a trench coat. Black leather, so you'd look spooky and mysterious. The police probably ransacked whatever was left of my apartment the vampires didn't destroy. It was wrapped and hidden under the loose board in the kitchen cabinet."
I took her hand and squeezed it gently. For some reason, she seemed to be crying a little. Also, I was touched. I didn't get very many presents, and she'd clearly put a lot of thought into this one.
"Switch?" she asked, changing tack.
"Shriveled in Indiana. That bugger ran at full speed for hours. Sorry I couldn't have taken my time with him, Kitten, but I wanted to head straight back to you. When I caught him, I staked him and left him to rot in the woods by Cedar Lake. With all the bodies left back at the house, one more isn't going to rock the boat. In fact, Indiana's where we're headed now."
"Why Indiana?"
"Got a mate there, Rodney, who will set you and your mum up with new identification. We'll bunk at his place tonight and leave tomorrow afternoon. Just have to run a few errands in the morning to be set. From there, we'll proceed to Ontario for a few months. We will track down those last two sods, mark my words, but we'll do it quietly once this heat over Oliver cools down. When your lads can't find a trace of you after a bit, they'll look for other fish to fry."
"How did you know when they were moving us?"
I grunted, amused. "By watching. When they cleared a path from a floor to the back exit and had armed guards waiting by a bunch of vehicles, it was obvious. I just stayed ahead of them until the timing was right."
A solid thumping noise drew our attention to the backseat. I grinned.
"Looks like your mum woke up."
