of my own head, at least. If he asked, I’d tell him how his technique wasn’t up to par…
Not going to happen, though, because I wasn’t going to see Nate again any more than I was going to see Matthew.
My emotions weren’t quite the same as a lynx — or at least, my ability to parse them wasn’t the same. Right then, I was grateful for it. The world was simpler. Whatever complicated mess of regrets was stewing in the back of my head, it’d wait until I was on two legs again.
Speaking of which. I had to cross the boundary. It didn’t really matter if Nate felt the disturbance, although he wouldn’t; my spells hid more than my scent. I’d feel like any other wild animal trotting through the woods, unless Nate was much, much more skilled than I suspected he was. He’d get there eventually, but years with Jonathan Hawthorne would’ve stunted anyone.
I had to cross the wards. I had to leave. There was no going back now, even if I wanted to; there was nothing forcing them to keep me alive, now that Matthew wouldn’t die if I did.
I didn’t want to go back, of course. Cats didn’t cry, but my eyes stung, and I rapidly opened and shut both of my sets of eyelids.
Putting my paw over the line broke something in me, and I ran and ran and ran, trying to escape something that wasn’t going to be left behind, no matter how fast I went or how far I fled.
Hours later, it was clear that there wasn’t going to be any pursuit — or if there was, it wasn’t going to be effective. I was far enough away that if they’d come howling after me, I wouldn’t have heard it anyway.
The fresh, light scent of running water drew my attention, and I veered off course to find it. A small stream flowed through the redwoods, rushing over polished rocks and gurgling between pine-needled banks. I stopped and drank deeply, savoring the cool of it on my tongue and in my belly. My paws ached. I needed rest, but I didn’t think I was far enough away to completely relax yet. This wouldn’t be a bad place to take a breather, though.
I sat back on my haunches and worried a fragment of redwood needle out from between my toes with my teeth.
There. Much better. Now I could evaluate.
I’d headed northwest, going on instinct and not really thinking about it too hard. Now I had a choice: keep going, which would take me into the larger local town of Lancaster, or veer to the east to avoid it, circling around and continuing north once I’d cleared its outskirts. I didn’t want to go west, certainly, since that would take me straight into the Kimballs’ territory. And I definitely didn’t want to go farther east than I needed to, since that would take me toward Parker’s territory — hundreds of miles away, but still. Nevada was off-limits for me forever, and I wasn’t too upset about it, either. I mean, it was Nevada.
Lancaster. Charlie Fenwick ran Lancaster with a petite freckled fist, and it was crawling with vampires. He kept them in line and kept them off the local human population, but I’d be fair game, even if I wasn’t recognized.
And Fenwick wasn’t an ally of mine. If Nate made some of those glittery fan posters, I doubted Fenwick would want one.
On the other hand…I couldn’t run forever. I needed information, and I needed somewhere to get a few things — a lot of my magic didn’t need spell components, but anything more complicated might require a shopping trip.
A shopping trip made at night during hours when the store was closed and not involving the exchange of money, but details.
And Parker was still out there.
That was really the rub. I could hope he gave up after I disappeared, or hope to evade him if he didn’t, but — I was tired of running. I wanted to kill him.
While he was here, distracted and not on his home turf, would be the best possible opportunity.
Lancaster it was — and then, once I was supplied with what I needed and not simply on the run with nothing but my relatively small claws, I’d scope out the Kimball territory, find Parker, and kill him with extreme prejudice.
I took one last slurp of the clear, cold stream water, told my hungry belly it’d need to wait, and set off to the