She looked away. “That’s not it. Not really. And you believe in justice, too. And loyalty. But you’re so…”
“Immortal.” Her impermanence had eaten him up for nights. “And you are not.”
“I’m not.”
“We should talk more.” He nodded, still stroking along her cheek. “But right n“hy ow, I should keep looking.”
“What are you looking for?” The deep voice rang from the shadowed edge of the parking lot, causing Natalie to jump. Baojia smiled and took her hand again, turning toward Tulio. He’d detected the old vampire on the edges of the desert but didn’t know how old the trail was. Apparently, not that old.
“I’m looking for the car Ivan’s man was driving.”
The big vampire stepped forward. “Who cares? I have something more interesting to show you.” He waved them over and Baojia followed.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Underground,” Tulio said.
She hesitated, but he pulled her along. “Again?”
Tulio chuckled. “Now you’ll really see the way to travel, human.”
Baojia saw it ahead of them, the black mouth where the sandstone and rock had opened for the earth vampire. Baojia suspected that Tulio had tunnels all through the desert that he used to move around undetected. It was even possible that, like the oldest of their kind, he could stay awake through much of the day, which meant the underground was a safe place to be.
Natalie hesitated. “Wait, we’re going down there?”
“Baojia, it’s a long, fairly straight passage. It goes deeper and shallower, but doesn’t twist and turn too much.”
“Got it.” He let go of Natalie’s hand and turned his back toward her. “Hop on.”
“You want to give me a piggyback ride?”
Baojia turned to Tulio. “How long to where we’re going?”
The other vampire shrugged. “Forty, fifty miles, maybe?”
Baojia asked her, “You want to run to keep up with us for forty miles?”
She was on his back with a leap. “Hope I can hang on.”
He reached back and hitched his hands under her knees as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Just close your eyes; I’ve got you. Try not to worry.”
Natalie placed a kiss on the back of his neck, just behind his ear. “I’ll try.”
The passage was dark as a moonless night. Baojia followed Tulio’s trail more like a bat than a vampire, listening for the slight echoes and sounds of the immortal running ahead of him, following the trail of amnis left in his wake. And for forty miles, he didn’t breathe as Natalie gripped his neck so tightly she might have been trying to kill him if that was possible. Every now and then, he heard her squeak when a tangle of roots brushed against them or some debris fell from overhead. But she held on. Finally, he felt Tulio begin to slow down and a light glowed farther up the passageway.
When Tulio slowed to a walk, Baojia paused and patted her knee. “You okay?”
“Are we there?”
“I don’t know.” He brushed the sand from her face and looked for their guide. “Tulio?”
“Here.” Just ahead, there was a glowing break in the tunnel. He crept up to it, making sure Natalie was near him.
“What are we looking at?”
Tulio nodded toward the opening. “Look for yourself.”
They scooted closer, crawling on their bellies to be able to see out of the crease. When he finally reached the gap, Baojia looked around. It was a moonlit valley, sparse and dry, with similar vegetation to the desert farther north. “Where are we?”
“Northern edge of the cartel’s territory. Ivan’s territory. Just south of the border.”
His thoughts immediately turned to the woman at his side. “It’s not safe here.”
The vampire shrugged. “We’re fine. They’d be foolish to try to best me. This is my desert.” Tulio lifted a hand and the earth sighed as it moved for him, widening the opening so they could see more.
“These vampires, they are stronger,” Baojia said. “There is a drug we haven’t told you about, and it makes them more powerful.”
“I was wondering about that. Something seemed different.” Tulio lifted one eyebrow. “It makes them stronger. Does it make them crazy?”
“Yes,” Natalie said. “It’s called Elixir, and it affects your amnis. Also, it smells like pomegranates, so don’t drink anyone who smells that way.”
He huffed and nodded toward the valley. “That explains a few things.”
Baojia squinted. “Is that… are those…?”
“People. Humans.” There were nine or ten huddled shapes darting around the floor of the small valley. Ducking behind rocks and tumbleweeds. A few seemed to be trying to climb out.
“What are they doing?”
Tulio’s eyes narrowed. “Hiding. Before they come. They get an hour. Or the last group did.”
“An hour?” Natalie’s voice rose. Alarmed. “An hour for what?”
Baojia let out a long breath. “An hour to hide, Natalie. Before they are hunted.”
It was barbaric. An old game most civilized leaders had outlawed before he’d been sired. He’d heard the stories, of course, but he’d never seen an organized hunt. Ernesto, even as indifferent to most humans as he was, would never have allowed it.