Northbound I-15

Salt Lake County, Utah

“It isn’t too late to change your mind,” Jezebel said, keeping her puffy eyes fixed on the road. She wore the signs of an emotional evening followed by a fitful night’s sleep, a marked departure from her usual primped and pressed appearance. Still, she rolled herself out of bed at an ungodly hour so she could drive her daughter to the airport. She was having difficulty letting go.

“I’m not going to change my mind, Mom,” Beth said, making every effort to be patient with her mother.

Jezebel could feel a tension thrumming in Elizabeth, a strange vibration coming from where she sat in the passenger seat. It wasn’t a true physical symptom, but rather a perceived sense of the emotions and thoughts within her daughter. Though she looked nervous, it seemed like Beth couldn’t get to the plane fast enough. Seeing her clutch a hand to her belly and wince, Jezebel felt fresh concern blossom in her chest.

“Sweetpea, you okay? I can pull over if you need to throw up.” Jezebel started checking her blind spots in preparation to do just that.

“I’m not going to be sick. I’m fine.” Beth grumbled. She wasn’t going to be sick, but she wasn’t fine, either. A heavy sense of foreboding had taken root in her gut; Beth assumed it was caused by the nightmare she’d had during her short nap between last night’s farewell/birthday party and leaving for the Salt Lake International Airport.

Something had gone wrong with the plane. People were screaming and the plane was tilting and lurching. As if the real-world terrors weren’t enough, her subconscious brought a monster into the nightmare; the man sitting across the aisle from her turned into a demon and snatched her up before tearing a hole in the side of the plane. The demon had jumped from the plane, taking Beth with him. She had woken covered in a cold sweat, tangled in her sheets, her heart threatening to burst from her chest. As she disentangled herself, she’d sworn she could still smell the sky.

Sitting in the car her brain kept throwing brief clips of the nightmare to the forefront of her mind. It was giving her a colossal case of pre-flight jitters. Her palms were slick, she could feel wetness under her arms, and the back of her neck felt far too warm. Now, compounding her anxiety was a worry that her deodorant would fail and she’d offend other passengers with her odor.

She needed to press through her nerves; it was important that she get to San Francisco. She knew she needed to be there, but she still didn’t know why. Perhaps, she was losing her mind. Elizabeth had said as much to her therapist, only to be told it was normal to have such wanderlust at her age. She didn’t think this was wanderlust, though. It felt acuter than that.

Sensing Jezebel’s watchfulness made the commute feel like hours rather than minutes, in spite of the favorable weather and empty interstate. Beth’s relief at the airport coming into view died a sudden death when Jezebel maneuvered the car into the lanes entering the parking structure rather than pulling over in the drop-off area.

As though her mother had read her mind, Jezebel said, “Oh, you aren’t getting off that easy. I’m going with you as far as they’ll let me.”

The silence between the two was heavy with things unsaid as they walked from the parking garage to the airport. When they reached the TSA security checkpoint, Beth turned to her mother, her grey-blue eyes stinging with held back tears, “I’m not good at the whole farewell thing... Why don’t you head home?”

“But I wanted to see you off,” Jezebel argued, her warm hazel eyes brimming with unshed tears. She tucked her straight blonde hair behind her ears, a nervous habit.

“You’re seeing me off right now, alright?” Beth smiled at her and offered a hug, an offer Jezebel would never refuse. They hugged each other tightly, neither ready to let go of the other. Jezebel reminded Beth to call her when she arrived at her Aunt Kathy’s house.

“I love you, Beth,” Jezebel said softly, swallowing a sob as Beth walked towards the metal detectors.

“I love you, too, mom. See you in a few months,” Beth called back to her. Then she went on her way. Jezebel remained rooted where she stood and probably planned to stay until Beth wasn’t visible anymore.

As Beth set her carry-on on the x-ray conveyor the feeling of dread reemerged in her gut. With effort, she dismissed the feeling as nerves and stepped through the metal detector. It beeped loudly as she passed through. Her insides churning with renewed anxiety from the alarm, Beth stepped back and looked at the TSA officer, a balding Asian man, with a kind face.

“Your necklace set it off,” he said, smiling.

She flushed bright red, “Oh! Sorry, I forgot about it.” Beth struggled to take it off, but the TSA officer allowed her to step through and be checked with the wand. Once he verified she didn’t have any sort of weapon on her person, he let Beth proceed.

When Beth arrived at her terminal, the steward informed her the flight was delayed and boarding would be later than planned. He directed her to the seating area. She perched on a chair and sat with her head in her hands, the dread gnawing at her again. This time she decided she was just worried for Sarah.

The weight of impending doom grew heavier in her chest, but she continued ignoring it. It wasn’t long before Beth began to people watch to keep her mind off the fear twisting in her gut. There was a father trying to calm his hyped up 6-year-old son, a couple who looked to be newlyweds headed off on their honeymoon, and a group of three elderly ladies talking loudly about a family reunion. The next person Beth saw really caught her eye.

He looked to be in his mid-twenties or so. He was alone and avoiding looking at anyone. He had short cropped, dark red hair, and he seemed tall, though she couldn’t be sure given he was seated. She couldn’t see his eyes because they were fixed on the floor. He was alarmingly pale and he sat so still it was almost unworldly. She didn’t recognize the man, but he seemed familiar to Beth. He felt familiar.

This stranger was unsettling enough that Beth found herself studying him for longer than was socially acceptable. After a while, the man looked up, his eyes locking with Beth’s. She was so embarrassed he caught her watching him; she looked away and acted like she was searching for someone. He didn’t seem convinced by her ruse.

The Guardian felt a jolt of amusement rush through him; she’d seen him. It was a nice change of pace to be out in the open rather than skulking in the shadows, nice not to be hiding from his charge. Refreshing as it was, the Guardian had to swallow a growl as he was reminded of the reason why his presence needed to be so public. The rogues, Ivy and Kabir. He turned his gaze to the vampires in question and sent a wave of fear into their minds, hoping to scare them off as he had in the past. Nothing happened. It was as though the fear had been diverted by some unknown force. The Guardian’s nose twitched as he picked up the smell of magic.

Not for the first time, he wished Beth wasn’t following this compulsion to go to San Francisco; he had a bad feeling about this trip. The Guardian wished his companion could have joined him on the plane. Sensing the danger his charge was in, he withdrew his phone from his pocket and sent a message to his sire asking for backup. It wasn’t the first message he sent about needing assistance on the flight and like the others before it, the text went unanswered.

The Guardian eyed the rogues once more. The ivory-skinned, plump, blonde woman clung to the caramel-skinned man with sleek black hair, the pair looked thoroughly in love with one-another. The Guardian wasn’t entirely sure if that was part of the roles they were playing or if they genuinely were in love. One thing he was sure of was that Ivy and Kabir were radicals who answered to someone powerful; someone dangerous. Damien clenched his jaw tightly. He’d love to get his hands on Milo, whoever he was. The frequent attempts to kidnap, harm, or kill Elizabeth had worn on his patience.

The steward began calling out rows to embark and people moved towards the gate slowly, forming a line. Beth noticed that the newlywed couple joined the group whose rows were called first. She watched them curiously as they made their way through the line, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Something wasn’t right about them. She quickly shook the thought away. Still, her gaze returned to the newlyweds; they were walking through the threshold of the tunnel leading to the plane. It was the oddest thing: they both look back at Beth… and laughed.

Bemused, Beth glanced down at her clothes to see if she’d spilled on her shirt at breakfast, but her clothes were fine. In fact, she thought she looked pretty good. When her row was finally called, Beth stood and noted that the familiar stranger stood as well; they fell into line with the other passengers. Beth walked through the long tunnel, acutely aware of the familiar stranger flanking her right side. Part of her screamed that he was invading her personal space, but another part of her felt protected by his presence. It was strange and conflicting. Beth was tired and couldn’t wait to settle into her seat and rest her eyes. Perhaps, staying up so late the previous night had been a bad call.

On the plane, the flight attendant checked Beth’s ticket and directed her to her seat. She was disappointed to find she had an aisle seat; she’d have to keep her elbow tucked in tightly to avoid it getting rammed with a cart. Beth put her suitcase in the overhead compartment and slumped into her seat, fastening her safety belt. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to sleep through take-off, Beth observed the other passengers who boarded the plane.

The familiar stranger came up the aisle; now Beth could see his eyes were dark brown. She tried to appear as though she wasn’t paying him any attention; but again, he didn’t fall for it. He fought a smile and chuckled a little under his breath as he got nearer. Beth scowled at the chair in front of her but watched him in her peripheral vision. He took his seat.

His seat was right across the aisle from Beth! She wanted to let loose a frustrated groan but held it in. She convinced herself she was only irritable from lack of sleep and not from this stranger catching her out, yet again.

When the flight attendant finished his safety speech, he went behind the curtain at the end of the aisle. Within a few minutes, the “fasten seatbelt” sign lit up. Though already fastened, Beth double checked her belt. Soon, the plane began taxiing to the runway. Everyone on the plane seemed to be talking to someone else; everyone except, of course, Elizabeth and the familiar stranger. The plane started to speed down the runway and lifted off. A few of the children onboard began to cry, and one or two of the adults looked to be focusing all of their efforts on remaining calm. Beth felt the pit in her stomach grow and wished she’d taken one of her mother’s anxiety pills when Jezebel had offered it.  

They reached altitude and the plane steadied enough for Beth to try to nap.The last thing she saw before slipping into unconsciousness was the familiar stranger watching her closely. She was annoyed as she watched his amused face fade away. With her last waking thought, Beth worried the nightmares would find her. Darkness overtook her vision and Elizabeth slept.

The Guardian only sent the sleeping compulsion into Beth to free them both from the repeating images of her nightmare that were playing on a loop in the back of her mind. Upon boarding the plane, he came to the shocking realization that he could no longer see into the rogues’ thoughts. He was now expending considerable effort to spy on the pair by using the consciousness of the humans surrounding them. With so much flight anxiety coming at him from those minds, he didn’t need Beth’s nightmares distracting him, too.

Even now, he was observing the male, Kabir, standing in the aisle chatting with one of the female flight attendants. She had an odd vacant expression on her face and The Guardian quickly tried to latch onto her mind to see if he was working a charm of some kind on her, but he came up against a brick wall. The scent of magic, which was subtle when he boarded, was now heavy in the fuselage. The fine hairs on the Guardian’s neck lifted and he quickly unclipped his safety belt before leaning across the aisle to unfasten Beth’s, also. The middle-aged woman seated next to his charge gave him a dirty look and the Guardian sent a sloppy compulsion into her mind to forget what she’d seen.

His full attention was abruptly pulled to the minds in the first class section where the rogues were. A handful of passengers were becoming alarmed. It seemed Kabir had convinced the flight attendant to take him and Ivy into the cockpit. A marshal seated by the connecting gally to first class picked up on the commotion and went to see what the fuss was about.

The Guardian turned the bulk of his focus to the marshal’s mind and observed while the man tried to calm the passengers and talk sense into the brainwashed attendant. In a startling burst of movement, Ivy launched herself at the marshal and sank her teeth deep into his exposed throat, tearing and rending viciously, not even consuming the blood that gushed from the wound. Before the marshal died, the Guardian heard Ivy hiss at Kabir to get into the cockpit.

There were only two reasons the Guardian could think of that the rogues wanted access to the pilots: they were either planning to hijack the plane to kidnap Beth, or they were planning to crash it. The Guardian wasn’t about to wait around to find out which. He stood and yanked his pack and Beth’s suitcase out of the overhead compartments. Using the kit from his bag, he strapped the harness around the suitcase so that he could wear it like a backpack. Passengers in their section started becoming alarmed by his unnaturally fast movements; they were standing in their seats, and a few were moving to gain distance from him.

The Guardian’s gaze shot toward the front of the plane as he became aware of the co-pilot’s mind in agony; Kabir had torn her hand clean off. The woman’s agony was soon over, Ivy saw to that. The plane lurched and the Guardian came back to his own body, knowing that monitoring the situation in the cockpit further couldn’t help anyone.

“Your eyes,” It was a soft whisper.

The Guardian looked at Beth and saw she’d woken when the plane lurched. All around them people were crying out in alarm as it became clear the plane was descending too quickly. The seats jostled violently and air masks dropped down from above the seats. Beth’s face was drained of its color and her eyes were locked on his face. He knew his eyes must have gone black. He couldn’t worry about alarming his charge; he was too busy making sure they both survived. He scooped her from her seat and locked her tight against him as he made his way to the emergency exit.

All was chaos and gravity was working against him, but he reached the door. Instead of fighting with the lever, he plunged his clawed hand through the many layers of plastic, insulation, and metal then tore an opening large enough for them both to fit through. Knowing Beth wouldn’t hear him if he spoke directly into her ear, he said into her mind, “Hold on tight. Everything will be okay.”

He felt the panic in Beth’s mind and was grateful she wasn’t screaming. He turned, and, with his back to the opening, pushed himself from the fuselage. As they began to plummet, the wind whipping at his skin, the Guardian closed his eyes, centered his mind, and called forth his gift of flight. He hadn’t had much opportunity to hone this skill, but something in his gut told him he could rely on it to save his ward.

When he opened his eyes, he and Beth were cloaked in a billowing cloud of shadow, appearing like smoke streaking across the sky. No longer careening towards a bloody death, the Guardian found he could direct their speed, direction, and altitude with his mind. Before long, he figured out how to alter the shadow to appear more cloud-like. It was a thrilling experience and the moment he got the hang of it, he shouted into Beth’s ear and mind simultaneously, “You’re safe! I’ve got you!”

When she only looked at him with fear-filled eyes, he held her tighter and sent her to sleep. He wished he’d thought to send her to sleep the moment he had her out of her seat and knew it was a moment he’d regret for the rest of his days. He hated that she’d been awake through such terror. Of course, she hadn’t been aware of the horrors in first class and the cockpit. Small mercies, he supposed.

With his sleeping ward safely in his arms, and her luggage strapped uncomfortably to his back, the Guardian made up his mind to secret Beth away. If no one knew she survived the crash, then no one would seek her out or try to kill her. Faking one’s death wasn’t an unusual occurrence in his world, though he’d never done so, himself. Before he reached his safehouse, the Guardian felt a familiar tugging on his mind from some distance away. Knowing it was his sire attempting to use their blood-bond to access his memories, he swiftly threw up walls around his mind. He couldn’t have his sire, Emerson, learning about his companion.

Additionally, the Guardian wasn’t certain he could trust Emerson with the knowledge that Beth hadn’t gone down with the plane. There was only one person he felt he could trust with the truth, and he was probably nearing the end of his day-long run from Salt Lake to San Francisco. Looking back, the Guardian was glad his companion hadn’t been on the plane with him after all. If he had been, the Guardian would have had to leave him behind to save Beth, and… No, he wouldn’t follow that thought to its conclusion.

The Guardian scanned the area before touching down on the gravel walk leading to the cabin, his safehouse. He set Beth in one of the rocking chairs on the porch, retrieved his hidden key, unlocked and opened the door, and unstrapped Beth’s luggage from his back, setting it inside by the door. He then carried his ward through the cabin and tucked her into the bed in the first room he reached, removing her shoes so she wouldn’t be tangled when she woke. As he went about fortifying the room from the inside and from the exterior, he stayed tuned into Beth’s mind, keeping her sleeping and pushing treasured memories into her dreams to crowd out the plane crash.

Finally, he sat on the cabin’s front steps and drew out his phone. He composed a message to his companion, something only he would understand the meaning of. Then he removed the SIM card from his device and destroyed it. He looked at his device with distrust for a few moments before destroying it as well.

The text read: “Return. Now. You know where.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 06