Thanks to the ridiculous weather, the roads were slick, and Jack wasn’t keen on slowing down. When we came to a stop in front of the park, the car skidded sideways, and Jack jerked the wheel. The Lexus lurched over the curb, and slid across the slush covered grass before finally coming to a stop two inches away from hitting a tree.
“Is everyone okay?” Jack asked, looking around. Bobby had hit his head on the back of my seat, but otherwise everyone was okay.
“You’re a really terrible driver,” I muttered. I opened the door and stepped out of the car, instantly slipping in the grass. I grabbed onto the door just before I fell to the ground, but I wasn’t boding well for how I would do in battle.
“Careful,” Bobby said as he got out of the car.
“No!” Jack shouted. He’d already gotten out, and he pointed at Bobby. “You. Get back in the car.”
“What? No!”
“No, if you come with, you’ll only hinder us,” Jack said. “Stay here so you don’t get us killed.” Bobby wanted to argue, but he had to realize that Jack had a valid point.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Milo promised. Grudgingly, Bobby climbed back in the car, and Milo leaned in to give him a quick kiss.
“I love you!” Bobby said, but Milo was already hurrying after Jack and me. We went down a winding pathway through the center of the park. It had been salted and sanded so it was much less treacherous than walking on the grass.
“Where is she?” Milo asked when he jogged up to us.
“We don’t know,” Jack glanced over at me, hoping I’d have more information.
Milo was about to ask something logical, like how did we plan on finding her, but I shushed him. I was trying to get a read on her, but it was hard. Even late at night in bad weather, downtown Minneapolis still had tons of activity. It was hard to separate sounds.
On top of that, I was getting really hungry. I kept getting focused in on the wrong smells and sounds because they were far more appetizing than what I was looking for.
“Ugh.” I wrinkled my nose, catching onto something. It smelled dirty and not quite right.
“What?” Jack froze and looked at me.
“I don’t know. I just smell something.” A cold wind came up, blowing it away, and I shook my head. “It was probably the dog park. But it definitely wasn’t Jane.”
We walked a little further down the trail, but then I started noticing the smell again. It wasn’t even a dirty smell so much as it smelled like dirt, like the ground and trees. A hint of pine, and something else, something familiar. It reminded me of when the fair came to town, and I always spent too much time feeding the goats in the petting zoo.
I kept walking, and I had started following the scent, but nobody questioned me about it. Even when we veered off the trail, they didn’t say anything to me.
Finally, too late, I placed it. I froze in my tracks, and my heart stopped in my chest.
“What?” Jack asked in a nervous whisper.
“Reindeer.” I could barely even say it aloud.
“What?” Milo asked incredulously, and even Jack gave me a confused look.
Neither of them understood what that meant, but I scanned the trees frantically. I knew how fast they could move. They were probably here. We might be surrounded already. I turned in a circle, slipping in the slush, and Jack caught me before I fell to the ground.
The wind picked up again, taking the scent away from me, and that was the only hint I had to where they might be. Thirst mixed with my panic, and the edge of my vision blurred red. My hands trembled, but I couldn’t say for sure if that was from hunger or fear.
Milo looking around, trying to figure out what exactly had me so freaked. Jack still had his hand on my arm, steadying me, and the scent became stronger behind me, so I turned around.
Only thirty yards from us, a vampire stood on a bench. I had just been looking at it a few seconds ago, and nobody had been around, but here he was. His dark blue work jacket hung open, revealing his bare chest covered in dark hair. His jeans were filthy and ragged and hadn’t been washed in months. Despite the cold slush on the ground, he was barefoot.
The wind blew his black hair across his face, but I could still see his black eyes staring right at me, giving me the same chill they had when I first saw him in Finland. It was Stellan, the lycan that wouldn’t speak English, and he’d already spotted us.
“I never should’ve brought you here,” I said, both to Jack and Milo. Letting them come along had been a death sentence, but I didn’t realize it until was too late.
“What is going on?” Milo asked.
“Who is that?” Jack followed my line of vision, where I was staring at Stellan, and Milo turned to look at him too. Stellan was by himself, and he didn’t look that threatening, but I knew more of them were nearby.
“Lycan.” I couldn’t look away from Stellan because I knew he would move as soon as I did, so I couldn’t see Jack’s reaction, but he instantly tensed.
“Go back to the car,” Jack said through gritted teeth. I thought of Bobby, sitting unguarded in the car, and I choked back vomit. They probably had already found him.
“No.” I glanced back at Milo. The car was a deathtrap, and I couldn’t have him going back there. “Run, Milo.”
I looked back at Stellan, but he was already gone, and my heart sank. We didn’t stand a chance. Milo would never be able to outrun him.
“Get out of here!” Jack shouted. He had just seen Stellan’s disappearing act, and he just learned what we were up against. “Alice, Milo, get out of here!”