Page 88 of Blade

Blaine was back to watching me oddly again. “Is that something most people do now?”

What?

Oh, the tracker.

“It depends on how insane their relatives are.” I shrugged, not downplaying the crazy. If he was going to stay in my life, he needed to know what he was up against. “I’ve done my best to stay under the radar but I think I’ve used my debit card too many times around here.”

I’d ended up spending more on necessities than I’d expected and had run out of cash the other day. I knew that’d been going to bite me in the ass but I’d been hoping they’d think I was just driving through the area.

“You have lived a very interesting life.” Blaine turned in his seat and studied the small compact following us a few spots back. “What are the ways they could’ve ended up with that car? It doesn’t look like anything you would drive.”

“Yeah, you just can’t hunt for Mothman or anything like that if you don’t have four-wheel drive.” Getting stuck while monster hunting was a serious hazard because tow companies asked a lot of questions.

What are you doing out here?

Where’s your camping gear?

Why do you have so many guns in the back of your truck?

“Options are they either stole it or rented it if they flew down? There are some regional airports nearby, but they’re small, so I don’t know which they’d have done.” I should’ve done more research on the different ways my family could stalk me. “I wish I knew if the local police are helpful or not.”

I’d been more focused on staying under their radar.

“I think Serena mentioned one of the coven members working for them when you went to the restroom, but she didn’t give their name.” Blaine’s frown matched mine. “I didn’t think to ask. It was a passing comment about jobs in the area.”

“We can’t just call and ask for the witch.” That would be awkward. “Okay, I’ve got an idea.”

Grabbing my phone, I started with 911 and worked my way to the nonemergency number. When I was greeted, I played dumb tourist and did my best to sound confused. “I’m just driving through, so I might be wrong, but does North Carolina let people drink and drive?”

I was an asshole wasting police resources but it was the safest way to handle the situation under the circumstances.

“There’s this little blue four-door sedan that’s weaving on the road and I think I just saw him throw a bottle out of the window. You guys let people litter like that too?” Yep, I was a moron tourist but I was eventually somewhat helpful and ignored the way the woman who was taking the information seemed to be fighting to keep a neutral tone.

She was definitely rolling her eyes and wondering where in the hell I was from.

Blaine was just smirking and shaking his head as he watched my performance until I hung up. “That was amazing, my mate.”

“Thanks.” It was easy as far as acting went but I loved his grin. “The thing you have to remember is that with most phones they can track you when you call the police. I’ve got this app thing that fixes that problem, though. We’ll make sure to put it on your phone when we get one for you. It’s part magic and part technology. I have no idea how it works but it changes the number it looks like I’m calling from. I love magic.”

My family was really missing out on some amazing magic-tech stuff that made being dishonest a lot easier.

Blaine blinked. “I’m going to have more questions on that once I understand the new phones better.”

“Okay.” It was a lot to take in. “Alright, let’s keep an eye out. This is a small town and it shouldn’t take the police long to come check out the problem.”

Two minutes.

I both loved and hated small towns.

This time I loved it because they weren’t coming after me.

Whatever the cop saw as he pulled up behind the sedan must’ve raised questions because the lights came on and we were free. As they pulled over, I made a turn and disappeared into the winding country roads that would eventually lead us back to the trailer.

“So…you starting to question that wholemate with a monster hunterthing?” It wasn’t a terrible intro to the drama my family could create, but some people had low thresholds for insanity.

Blaine reached over and ran his hand over my head as he smiled. “I’m just appreciating that our life will never be boring and wondering what else I need to research to keep you safe.”

Probably a lot.