I was incredibly sore, tired and terrified. Only adrenaline and Lasciel's backing was keeping me on my feet. Even with all her power, she couldn't keep me upright forever. I was only a human, just a bruised and battered passenger car ferrying her from place to place.

When the vampires charged, I didn't have a prayer of outdistancing them. Even if I could, where would I go? The kitchen had been blocked off by a dog gate that I'd have to vault. I didn't trust my balance at the moment. The hall to my right was sure to only lead to bedrooms. It was just a surefire way to trap myself in with a predator.

My dour musings were scuppered when Nixon plucked me up easily and leaped for the wide bay window that dominated one wall. I caught Salem doing the same with the slumped form of Penelope, Hannah bringing up the rear, keeping the vampires at bay for the time being with a pinpoint accurate application of fire magic. One of the vampires went down without so much as a cry of pain when a lance of searing white fire bore a hole into its head. One of its fellows stumbled over the body, giving the rest of us time to escape.

Nixon and I went sailing through the bay window, shattering the glass pane into a million diamond-fine shards as we went. He kept his big, burly body curled around mine protectively, taking most of the glass rain on his arms and back. I received only a few slender cuts on my forearms and cheek. It wasn't actually the worst I'd been hurt today. The bruises blooming across my torso and back were competing with the deep puncture wound in my shoulder. The wood was still embedded there, like a cork in a bottle, keeping my blood from pulsing out in a hot, tempting gush in front of Nixon's face.

The brain is a really funny thing, reacting unpredictably in a crisis. I couldn't say why, but in that moment the big man's arms felt incredible wrapped so tightly around me. It was a bad idea, but I had the urge to run a hand over the flexed line of his jaw, across those full lips.

Bad Molly. Not the time.

We hit the lawn, taking the impact on our shoulders, rolled once, and then Nixon was on his feet, dragging me upright with him.

"Keys?" he checked, as Salem leapt out after us.

Penelope's head flopped like a rag doll, another soft moan rolling from her mouth. Guilt twisted in my gut. What I'd done to her was awful. Even I could acknowledge that. My shiny moral compass was getting a little dinged and tarnished these days. Even if she and Esme deserved what they'd gotten, the fact I was capable of it unnerved me.

"I have them," I confirmed.

"Good. Give them to me. We'll split up. The Reds will have to divide their forces to follow both. The plates on the Lexus have probably been run. We'll lead the police the opposite direction. You still have Wardens to dupe."

I stared at him, deeply incredulous. They still wanted to see this cockamamie plan through to the end?

He gave me a shove toward the Nissan. Apparently so. I stumbled, caught myself and then began to shuffle toward it. Salem was there before me, slinging Penelope into the backseat before slamming the door behind her. She loped back to us, hand out for the Lexus key. I handed it to her numbly and accepted the Nissan's key in return.

The new car smell tickled my nose when I climbed into the driver's seat and twisted the keys in the ignition. Smoke was beginning to pour out of the bay window. I waited a few seconds, chewing my lip anxiously as I waited for Hannah to emerge. She had to be alive in there. Had to be. She was too magically gifted to let a few foot soldiers take her out.

After a minute of agonizing waiting Hannah cleared the ledge of the bay window like it was a hurdle and landed adroitly on her feet, making a beeline for the Nissan. She was in the passenger's side in thirty seconds, belted into her seat in five.

"Floor it," she ordered. "That'll only hold them for a little while."

I did my best impression of Vin Diesel and peeled out of the driveway with all due haste.

Hannah was right. We were only halfway down the street when the Reds clambered out of the broken window, still in their flabby bat forms. They didn't stay on foot for long, slinging their grotesque forms onto the back of freaking four wheelers before tearing down the road after us. This day was just full of fun imagery, wasn't it? Strange how the disgusting and the comical were being juxtaposed with each other so often. They didn't even bother to change back, just clutched the handlebars with their clawed, misshapen hands.

"They're not transforming," I gibbered. "Why aren't they transforming? People will see them!"

Hannah shrugged, glancing back at our pursuers in her rearview mirror. "You'd be surprised what people are willing to ignore. They'll be spinning this as gang violence by this time tomorrow."

People were absurd.

"Indeed," Lasciel said with an emphatic nod. "Yours is an ineffably obdurate race. I often wonder what he was thinking when he seeded your potential into the primordial ether."

No time to respond to that little dig at humanity. Another car whipped around from the opposite direction, making me slam on the breaks lest I T-bone the convertible. To my dismay, I spied that the driver was none other than the roguishly handsome Warden who'd chucked knives at me. The grizzled man sat in the passenger's seat and Emory was sitting half-crouched in the back seat, a spell at the ready in her hand. She looked pissed.

"Well shit," I hissed. Vampires behind, Wardens in front. I threw a hasty veil over Hannah, shielding her from their probing gazes. I wasn't going to out her to them if I could help it. "Time for a little off roading."

I adjusted the wheel and then floored the accelerator, jumping the curb. The undercarriage scraped the curb hard, caught for a second, and then we spun wildly into someone's yard, spitting grass and dirt clods in our wake. The car was just narrow enough to navigate the space between the house and its neighbor and I plowed over a kid's bike as we went. I'd feel guilty for that too, when I could spare the brainpower.

We caught shocked and furious glances as we rocketed through the space and then emerged on the opposite side of the block, tearing off like a bat out of hell. The Reds and their four-wheelers had no trouble following, and the Wardens reluctantly brought up the rear. The ride was bumpy, and I was pretty sure I was destroying the shocks on this thing with every new stunt I pulled.

"Which way to the edge of the city?" I demanded. "Things are about to go tits up, and I don't want to hurt any innocent people."

Hannah gave me terse directions and I steered us accordingly, a tense knot of anxiety forming at the base of my skull. A tiny voice chanted a panicked refrain. I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die.

The reds kept on our trail and the wardens were not far behind, though now their attention seemed divided. They were taking potshots at the vampires as well. Maybe I could use that to my advantage, play them off each other while we beat a hasty retreat.

No sooner had I thought it than one of the four wheelers came level with us. The vampire leaped, claws digging deep into the metal frame as it struggled to hold on. It freed one hand after a moment and then effortlessly burst the back window open, shoving its batlike head into the interior, gnashing teeth clamping tight onto Penelope's neck She bucked weakly, gave a little cry, and then went silent. That was all the reaction she had to the bite. She didn't even scream as the thing tore a thick, quivering gobbet of flesh from her throat. Blood sprayed into the interior of the car and I was intensely grateful that Salem and Nixon had gone elsewhere.

Hannah's careful composure slipped and she let out a cry of alarm. The thing was trying to shove its thick rubbery shoulders into the car. If it got in, we were toast.

I made an executive decision. A reckless, intensely dangerous decision. This ended and it ended now.

"Whatever you do, do not fight me," I instructed Hannah.

Then I turned the wheel sharply, steering us into a low concrete divider that separated us from a shallow ravine. As intended, the car's momentum sent us flying up and over the thing and into a barrel roll. The first revolution happened in midair, giving the Red a split second of warning before we crashed to earth. The thing was smashed flat, its stomach bursting like the world's most disgusting pinata, disgorging a gallon of blood.

I shielded. I was shielding as hard as I could manage, enclosing each of our bodies in a shield tight enough to restrict movement, to keep the furious rolling impact from wrenching our necks or worse. Hannah let out an unabashed scream but at least didn't try to fight me. She stayed still, trusting that my magic was going to keep us from being shaken like dice in a cup.

The car came to a shuddering halt, landing on it's wheels in an astonishing display of improbability. Hannah was letting out harsh, ragged breaths.

"You. Are. Insane," she panted. "What the hell was that?"

"That's my death, Hannah. Get Penelope in the front seat and let's torch this thing."

We scrambled out, huddling under my veil to keep from the eyes of anyone who might be looking. The wardens were still about a mile back, and still too far to discern much with their sight. They wouldn't have it active while driving, anyway. Now was our only chance.

I got a grip on Penelope's arms and dragged her around the car, leaving a bloody swath in the dirt. I tried not to examine the gaping side of her neck too closely. I'd pretend that I hadn't seen the trailing remainder of a carotid artery, or the gleam of white vertebrae beyond it.

"Clear," Hannah called. I loped as far away from the car as I could manage.

With a well placed spark Hannah ignited the gas leaking out of the car. It went up almost instantly in a blaze that burned so hot that it almost blistered, even from ten feet away.

"Thanks," I said shakily. "You guys really saved my bacon back there. I guess I'll owe you one."

"You bet your sweet as you owe us," she panted, but the manic grin on her face took most of the bite out of the words. It looked like I wasn't the only one riding the high that came with danger.

I smiled, though it was stretched thin and brittle by fatigue. Once the adrenaline drained away I was probably going to pass out.

I glanced back at the car. "Sorry. I don't think you're going to get the deposit back."

Hannah barked out a loud, victorious laugh and then tugged me toward a copse of trees in the distance. We didn't emerge from the shadowy hiding place for another ten minutes, until we were confident both the Reds and the Wardens had cleared out.

We slumped, both exhausted, but still grinning like idiots. It was the first time since taking up Lasciel's coin that I felt genuinely elated. Catherine Lenhardt was dead and a whole world of possibilities had opened up for me.

"I'm beat," I admitted. "Any idea how we're getting back?"

"We'll find a payphone and call Nixon. In the meantime we should rest and I needed food."

I laughed and nudged her in the ribs. " Or maybe coffee. And idea where a dead girl go to get a latte?"

"I think I know where to find a Starbucks."

"I think I might love you."

"I bet you say that to all the girls," she said, lovely lips quirking up into a pleased grin. "Come on. Let's get that coffee, Lenhardt. You've earned it."