Chapter 55
She spun around, intending to go facilitate the removal of the bus from the street. She had to imagine Mikali and Mila had taken care of any humans while she was chasing cars, and when she saw the former kick out the back emergency exit of the bus and leap out onto the street, she recognized she was right.
Ryker wasn’t done, though. He had somehow managed to get himself up off of the ground, bleeding limb and all, and grabbed her shoulder, spinning her to face him. “Why is it every time I turn around, your face is practically up my goddamn asshole?”
Jo’s eyes enlarged. “Are you being serious right now? Do you not realize what we just caught you doing?” She took a step closer to him, and he backed up, but only slightly. “You were transporting humans, with a shitload of Vampires, to become reserva de sange! What did you expect us to do? Ignore that?”
Ryker shook his head. “That is not what I was doing.”
“Oh, really?” she asked, folding her arms. “That’s not what you were doing?”
“No, it’s not what I was doing!”
A crowd had formed around them, but Jo ignored her curious teammates. “Then what the hell is it that you were doing, Ryker? Because it sure the hell looked to me like that’s what you were doing! Or were you and your sharp-toothed friends taking this busload of now deceased humans to some grizzly version of Disneyland?”
He narrowed his eyes and stepped toward her so quickly, Jo found herself retreating. “Did you ever think maybe, just maybe, you don’t always know everything about what everyone else is doing, sister? Did it ever occur to you that perhaps there are other powers at work here, too? Powers that don’t answer to you and your band of ragtag superheroes?”
“Hey!” Mikali called. “We’re not ragtag anything.”
Ryker ignored his comment, and so did Jo. “What are you saying then, Ryker? I think it’s about time you gave us some answers.”
“And I think it’s about time you stopped showing up every time I turn around!”
“Well, as long as you continue to hang out with Vampires, that’s where I’ll be!”
“He’s KGB!” Cassidy interjected, placing herself into the conversation before it got too much more out of hand.
Jo’s mouth gaped open, and she turned to look at her aunt who was appearing from the far side of the bus, Ryker’s coat in her hand. She tossed it at him. “KGB?” Jo repeated.
“You been in my head again, woman?” Ryker demanded, taking his coat and putting it on. Jo noted there didn’t even appear to be any blood on the massive, furry thing.
“No. Just checked your secret coat pocket, that’s all,” Cassidy said with a snicker.
“I didn’t even know the KGB was operating anymore,” Jo said, confused. “What the hell were you doing for the KGB, and why would the Vampires agree to work with you?”
“Because… I have some convincing arguments as to why they’d want my help,” Ryker said, his coat on despite the fact that his arm was still bleeding. Scott hadn’t been able to do much without his cooperation.
Jo still had no idea how the man she’d been trying to save from being killed by Vampires for being a turncoat and ratting out their secret locations could convince a busload of Vampires to trust him. At the moment, she had other concerns as he had turned and started walking away. “Where are you going?” she asked.
“Away from you!” He didn’t even turn to look at her.
“No, you’re not.” She caught up with him quickly and got in front of him. “You’re staying with us from now on.”
“The hell I am!” He attempted to step around her, but she was much quicker and cut him off again. “Get the hell out of the way.”
“No! Everywhere you go, you cause trouble. I’m not about to let you walk away from me again.”
“So you’re what? Gonna kidnap me?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
He folded his arms and then grimaced at the pain, letting them fall loose again. “Didn’t we go down this road once already? And didn’t it end pretty poorly for you?”
“Believe me, the last thing on earth I want to do is babysit your ass for the next few weeks while we figure out where the hell the queen is, but I don’t have any choice.” Jo sent a message for Mikali and Mila to go get the SUVs they’d parked a few miles down the road. She was ready to get back to the hotel and get some sleep. She’d have to put someone else on Ryker duty.
“Then let me go,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant and failing.
“I can’t do that,” she countered. “If you would have just faded into the sunset, never to be seen or heard from again, that would’ve been one thing, but you keep causing problems.”
“I keep solving problems. You’re the one causing them.”
She could tell by his demeanor that he knew there was nothing he could do to get away from them. That didn’t mean he’d go peacefully, but he was injured and probably as tired as she was. When the SUVs pulled up a few minutes later, he quietly climbed in one, and Jo got in the other, half wishing he would’ve just blown up in the explosion like most of the other humans in the bus. Now, she’d have to haul his ass around wherever she went and try not to get him killed, despite his best efforts to end up splattered all over the Russian landscape.
Jo leaned her head back against the seat, hoping Zane drove fast because she was ready to go to sleep and let this long night be over. The remains of the bus had been pushed to the side of the road to be buried by snow or found by local authorities. They wouldn’t know what happened there, and they probably wouldn’t care. That was the world they lived in now. She hadn’t been able to save any of the people, but at least they’d ended the group taking them out. For now. There’d be more.
As she started to doze off, she remembered the car that had driven by and caught her attention. She could clearly picture the back of the sedan in her mind, see the license plate, the make and model of the car. What had it been about the vehicle that had caught her attention? She had no idea, but as her mind began to mingle dreams with reality, she had a feeling in her gut that she should’ve insisted on finding out.
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