Page 70 of Memories Like Fangs
In an instant, I felt shock radiate through the bond. But then, it was quickly replaced by love and such a powerful sigh of relief that I couldn’t stop the breathless laugh that came out of me. The tears finally won, and they streamed down my face. I was afraid they would freeze there from the winter’s cold.
Quinn, my Starlight, my pumpkin, my mate,I thought, hoping to the gods that she could hear me.
Byrd,mi vida, mi tesoro,my mate,I heard immediately, her voice coming through my head like we were having a phone call.I’m so happy you are alive.
I know, but I don’t know for how much longer. Lilah’s done some spell to find my father’s extended family’s enchantment. It’s outside of Chicago. But only I and Uncle Everett know how to get there and enter.
There was the briefest pause as I could feel Quinn processing this news.Understood. I love you, and I’m coming to you. Do you know where you are?
I opened my eyes. I was still in my memory. My giggles and the laughter of my family filled the air more than anything else I could hear around me. I could still see my pink coat and Pops’s brown one as we skated together, both of us doing tricks and lifts like absolute naturals.
“You’re just full of precious family moments, aren’t you?” Lilah’s face swam into view before me, blocking out the scene. I was going to object, but her eyes were so sharp and glinting, so triumphant and ravenous, that my mouth closed back up in an instant. She had the look of a cat who had just caught her mouse, but she was far from done with playing with her food.
Before I could respond to her mocking question or move, I was slammed back into my body in the present. I snarled at the jolt, the disorienting snap through time. I don’t know which one was worse: the lingering pain from Lilah’s magic at work, or the nausea from being in my own head and experiencing my memories. I was so grateful when Lilah pulled her hands away from my forehead so some of the pain could ease.
“What did you find?” Cooper asked, sharp eyes trained on Lilah.
Lilah smirked as her chest heaved. She was breathless like she had just completed an impossible stunt in front of a crowd of thousands. “Chicago. The Concession Stand in her memory was selling Chicago dogs, and I had never seen that much Chicago Bulls merch before in my life. Looks like we are headed east.”
Although it irked me that they were both talking about me like I wasn’t there, I did my best to ignore it.Focus, Byrdie. Where are you? There has to be something you can use to tell Quinn.Wait?—
I’m still here, baby girl.Relief surged through me.Talk to me. What do you see around you?
I looked around the camper again, this time with more focus on all the little things that could point me in some direction. With my life on the line, I had a renewed vigor to dissect everything around me to find something that could help.We are in a camper. It’s one of those driving ones. I hear rain outside, I think. It’s already dark from what I can tell in the cracks in the windows that let some light in. There’s a clock on the microwave that says 14:00, but it looks like it hasn’t worked since 2012, if I’m being honest. Um… I don’t think I see anything. Wait. There’s a mug! A souvenir mug holding pens is on the counter. It says Forks, Washington. I think we’re in Washington State.
I know exactly where you are.
Those words washed me in sweet bliss. But, what if Quinn got here and just missed me? Feeling a little emboldened, I interrupted Lilah’s and Cooper’s hushed conversation about logistics, “So, when did you two say we would be leaving?”
Cooper sneered my way without looking at me, like I was less than the gum stuck to his shoes or the dirt under his feet. “That’s none of your concern, lizard.”
“Feels like it would be my concern.”
Lilah placed her hand on Cooper’s bicep. “Oh, come on, Coopie! She has been such a good little girl by giving us that information. We can tell her a little something. I mean, it’s not like she can do anything about it.” She turned to me fully then. “We leave in the morning, love, so make sure you are all packed up and ready to go for another little road trip. I don’t want to waste a single minute getting there.”
Bingo.
We’re leaving in the morning, babe. She’s in a rush.
Sweetness, I’m so fucking proud of you. We’re already on the way to you.
I love you so much, Quinn. Hurry?—
“You fucking whore!” Lilah’s eyes widened as she yelled. “I felt that! What the fuck did you just say?!”
“What’s going on?” Cooper asked, eyes looking between me and Lilah.
“Here I was just bragging about what a good girl you were, but you really are a naughty one, now aren’t you?” She slammed her hands on the table, making me flinch. But I noticed there was a stagger in her steps, a weakness to the move. “You sent something through your little mating bond, didn’t you?!”
“Mating bond?” Cooper unsheathed his gun and shifted a bullet into the chamber of it. He looked around at the air around me like he could see Quinn there. “I thought you turned that shit off!”
“I did! But, the spell to get the information on the enchantment… it must have taken more magic than I thought and left the bond open.”
“Well, fucking close it, Lilah! They could find us and be here any minute!”
Lilah swayed on her feet. Her eyes were half-lidded, and there was a slur in her speech as she said, “I-I can’t… The spell took too much…”
Cooper rolled his eyes. Then, he aimed his gun at my bicep. “Never depend on magic to do the job of a hunter’s weapon.”
