Eli gnashed his teeth as Slade was guided from the house by the hand fisted in the back of her hair. Manny left no room for arguments once he’d secured the ailing gorilla.

“No need to lock it,” he told Eli. Once he tossed Slade down, he declared, “We will take a carriage.”

“A winged carriage? With what barter, genius?” Slade mumbled.

Manny didn’t appreciate her tone. “Well the harpy said two hours, so it will be an hour and a half from now. And it does not matter which direction we go in.” He looked up, satisfied. “Flying would be fast. The wolf will run. The harpy will fly and I will take little sister. Do not separate.” He scooped Slade up with a grin. “And we all know what happens if you do.” He began to float. “Oh, and wolf, you need not worry about masking your scent. The bear I killed last night and scattered around here will guarantee your hiding place is hid no more.”

After he flew up and his silhouette meshed against the moon, he snapped at the harpy to take flight.

Trixie looked worse for wear as she held her jacket in both hands and flapped her wings.

Maybe she was wishing for the same thing—to have the sick feeble Manny back.

Once they faded from view, Eli hooked his kilt around him like a cape and shifted. Sure enough, the scent of bear blood hit him like a bat.

That fucking asshole.

He would have lamented it more but said asshole had Slade and by extension, Trixie. As instructed, Eli ran, giving little care as to covering his tracks.

They traveled no more than ten minutes before Trixie dipped low, far too low, and two minutes later, she grazed the road, stumbled, and crashed to a halt on the asphalt.

A landing in the dirt would have been too much to ask for.

If Eli didn’t know any better, he would have said she behaved like a Fae—too heavy to fly. As they were distant cousins, Eli hurried to help her up.

“Trix? Trixie?”

A minute later, Manny touched down and practically dropped Slade as he rushed to intercept.

Unlike Eli who crouched, trying to help Trixie to sit up, Manny, on the other hand, put his hands on his hips and asked, “What is wrong with it?”

Eli bit down his response. Eventually, he confessed, “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s wrong with her but I do know you being here’s no help.”

“Well, get it up. We are in a hurry. Whores wait for no one.”

Teeth bare, Eli pounced, shifting mid-jump. Something caught his cape. Trixie trembled as she struggled to stand, still with a good grip on the white fabric.

“No, wolfie. I’m fine.”

Eli allowed his human form. He barely got the kilt around him as Slade staggered toward them a well. Between her and Trixie, this was all a pitiful undertaking.

“We should turn back,” Eli insisted.

“To where?” Manny looked smug. “To your man cave that is about to be overrun? Huh?”

“We can’t,” Slade said. “If we don’t follow the vision, Trix pays.” She ruffled the harpy’s head with affection. “And I’m not that sick of her yet.”

Trixie nodded. “Thanks, boss.”

But they didn’t move otherwise. The highway stretched on in either direction with no signs of life.

“We can’t walk there,” Manny concluded. He looked from Slade to Trixie and back. “And I carry no harpy. So you will have to fly.”

The way Trixie grabbed her right wing spoke of injury but that would be hard to prove.

“She can’t fly,” Eli announced. “We’ve got to find a different way.”

He expected some fresh retort so when he turned to find Manny eyeing the harpy in malice, he wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“It is a lie then? Was that vision a lie then?”

Trixie kept her head hung. “It was no lie. We’ll be there in the next hour and a half.”

“How?” Manny demanded. “And it is got be all of us, correct?”

Taking a step back, she nodded. “Right.”

“Then how? Do I just grab you two dumb bitches by the hair and run with you? How? How the fuck are we supposed to get there if you do not fucking fly?”

Still backing up, Trixie muttered, “We’ll get there. It’s set. We’ll get there.”

“Not if you are not airborne.”

Eli caught Manny’s shoulder as he advanced but the enraged vampire shrugged him off.

“Right. Because I am powered up now, meaning that any damn sunlight catches me and it will react. So what is this? Some sick attempt to get us stranded out here and murdered when some wolves find us? Are you stalling yet again?”

“Manos...” Eli began but added, “sir. This isn’t helping.”

“She is doing it on purpose,” Manny concluded. He searched her eyes for any defense. “Same as at the bunker. She is doing this shit on purpose. Correct?”

Slade hobbled to them. “Manny? Don’t you hurt her. Manny!”

“How do we get there?” Manny demanded. “Huh? You are holding your damn shoulder like something is wrong with you. Yet you had no trouble carrying me half-dead here.” He shoved said shoulder again. “Huh? How do we fucking get there?”

“A truck,” Trixie met his gaze and insisted. “We’ll use a truck. Please, it’s—”

“What fucking truck? Look around you. There is nothing for miles. I hear nothing for miles.”

Eli looked right then left, coming to the same conclusion.

“So how do we go? We have wasted enough time.” Manny demanded, “What truck?”

“The one that hits me,” Trixie admitted.

Manny’s scowl bordered hatred.

Gaze cast low, Trixie hunched her shoulders.

“Oh yeah? Well let’s see.” Manny gave her one shove.

A force slammed into Trixie, dragging her down the street as a truck tore out of a portal formed from thin air.

“Trix!” Slade was faster to react.

Eli overtook her, forcing his body not to shift in an effort to reach her sooner.

The crumpled mess that lay where Trixie’s vibrant being should have been, covered in blood and feathers, forced Eli to step back.

He caught hold of Slade before she could witness it.

“Trixie!”

“No. Stay back here. You shouldn’t see this. Stay back here. Her vision said she’d be all right. She’ll be all right. But just stay put here.”

Slade struggled to move past him. “It didn’t say she’d be all right. It said she’d be alive.”

“Well, that’s better than nothing. Just stay put and give me a second.”

Though wringing her hands, Slade finally obeyed him. Eli felt uncomfortable with making a rescue attempt.

By the time he turned his attention back to Trixie, he was stunned to find Manny already helping her up.

“Trix. Hey, harpy. Hey.” Manny moved fast, wincing as he set every bone. “Hey. You are damn overdramatic. Right. I’ll give you that.”

He left her there and zipped back down the road for her jacket. Once he returned, he dug through every pocket until he found the napkin with the honey. “Knew you’d kept it. Here.”

“No.” Trixie couldn’t do more than turn as she writhed in pain. “No. Not that.”

“Shut up, idiot. You are lucky to even have this.”

“Oi. Oi. You lot okay?” A dwarf jumped out of the rig and hobbled toward them. “What in the hell was that?”

Manny took a good portion of the half-dried honey and smeared it along the harpy’s neck despite her very vocal protests.

He had her half naked by the time Eli thought to turn. Feathers decorated Trixie’s body. Mostly her shoulders and sides. The middle of her, from neck to groin was distinctly human otherwise but her legs had feathers and her feet were as always, talons.

Eli focused on the dwarf who watched Manny’s efforts despite Eli and even Slade turning away to give them some privacy.

“Wow. So that’s what a harpy looks like naked?” The dwarf chuckled and focused on Eli. “Looks kinda nice cpet—”

A fist caught him in the throat. Manny darted for him again.

“You fucking moron. ‘The fuck rides a gateway on a highway at night!”

“What?” The dwarf trembled, perhaps finally noticing that he was talking to a fully powered vampire. “What? Sorry. Sorry. But no one’s got that type of runes now. Not since vamps lost power. I wouldn’t hit nobody else. We’d just go right through. It’s a one in a million possibility someone with that much rune power in ‘em would walk on here. It’s almost like it’s fucking fated. I’m sorry, mate. It’s the norm now. It’s the norm. Everybody does it to catch up on a few hours. Everybody!”

Eli debated stepping in the path of dwarf. Trixie’s groan took Manny away from his carnage. When he reached her, she yanked her clothes closed.

A normal person would have helped her up. Not Manny. He looked down at her, annoyed with the inconvenience. Eli puzzled over that because a time or two, he was certain the asshole would picked his victim up.

Nothing.

Slade finally reached them and pulled Trixie to stand.

“Honey’s a pure rune, Trix. Right? So let it heal you.”

“You don’t know what you’ve done.” Trixie cast Slade off and lumbered toward the truck. After she flipped the lever and climbed up into the trailer, she sat with her knees at her chest.

The moment she put her face against her knees, Manny groaned.

“Dramatic. Well, you are welcome for being able to fucking move.” He turned his attention back to Eli and Slade. “Our ride is here. Get in. My whore-fucking time is waning. Let’s go.”

Slade shot him a dirty look as she climbed in and rested against the supplies. “Priorities.”

“Whatever.” Manny turned his attention to the dwarf. “You said fated. You have no fucking idea. I assume you are heading to Bayern.”

“Actually—”

“No, asshole. There is no actually. Get us to the closest city in Bayern or what’s left of you won’t be enough to identify as dwarf.”

The dwarf brushed himself off and scoffed. “Guess I could do with a detour.”

“You have ten minutes,” Manny said climbing up into the trailer.

Eli was the last one to join them. His kilt secure, he sat down on Slade’s side, thankful when she let him take her hand into his.

Manny picked his head up. The truck’s engine roared to life within seconds but Manny vanished. He returned with Trixie’s jacket which he threw to Slade.

“You carry this. I’ve got a feeling we’ll be needing this honey.”

A voice came over the intercom. “Which city is best, Mr. Vampire—?”

“Hey dwarf,” Manny called. “Two second says you won’t want my answer. Move.” He paused and called, “Whatever you do, don’t choose M—”

“München it is. Brace yourselves.”

“Aw, fuck.”

Eli held on to Slade who watched Trixie unabashed.

“Can you get a hold of her?” Slade begged.

But when Eli thought to do just that, the glare he received from Manny stole that boldness.

The trailer vibrated and a whom sound preceded the snap that propelled them onward.

“Well,” Eli drawled, “you figure they’ll be happy to have the Barbarian of München back?”

Manny showed him the middle finger. “You’d be good to take heed as well.”