As far as that crash went, shoulder injuries were minor. It couldâve been much worse.
âWellâŚI guess we need to see whatâs nearby,â he said, still gingerly touching his head. Whatever Podunk town they were in had to have some dinky motel they could sleep in until the storm had passed and the car was fixed. He knew a hospital visit would be in their future, unfortunately. People might stare if he didnât.
David watched Emma expertly maneuver herself out of the car despite her shoulder, the car door too jammed to allow her any chance to get out the old-fashioned way. While David wanted to get out and help, his head was telling him to do otherwise. So he stayed in the driverâs seat, gathering what bags he could from the back and placing an old blanket overtop them to keep them concealed. They were too big to pass through the crack in the window Emma made, and he wasnât sure the other windows were fully operational with the conditions they dealt with.
The act of moving made his head throb, but he did his best to ignore it.
âThat bad, huh?â he asked. She had a point though. Fucking October blizzards were going to be the death of him, apparently. And what a shitty day for the weather to decide it was going to throw a snowy tantrum. He sighed, deciding it was time to risk the effort and get out of the car. David didnât look nearly as graceful as he thought Emma had looked, but seeing as he was bigger than her and he was dealing with an ever-growing headache, maybe he could let the embarrassment slide this time.
âI donât like it either.â Small towns hadnât been his favorite for some time now. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the charge. âNo, but itâs at fifty percent,â he said, handing Emma the cell. David wasnât in the mood to deal with social graces and loud talking. His eyes couldnât help but scan her shoulder to see how she was handling it, but Emma was tough. Mentally and physically, that girl was tough. She had to be to hang around his sorry ass.
David pulled his jacket tighter around him. âSee anything good we could go to?â He hadnât been paying that much attention to what was outside. Obviously. And he was trying to hold off on going to the hospital. Obviously.
âOkay,â Emma said picking up the phone from him, âokay,â she repeated, glancing around the snow before shoving the phone into her jacket. If the snowfall kept getting worse, ruining their one phone by snowflakes wasnât going to help them. And waiting in a car with a cracked windshield and deployed airbags wasn't going to do them much good on the warmth factor. She tried not to focus on the blood going down Davidâs cheek. âwe canât stay here,â she said and looked around, âI think I saw a place back there,â she said motioning the direction they came in, âbut Iâm not sure what it was.â
That was better than nothing.Â
âWe should head there and then call,â she said, âthen get the car taken care of.â She looked back at him. This was the problem with being with a more senior hunter with a death wish. Emma knew she was good, very good, and that she had been trained in ways she hadnât understood. But for sheer man-hours stalking vampires, David had her beat. So he was the senior hunter. In their unspoken set of rules, she had to defer to him. Which would be a lot easier if he wasnât constantly showing how little he cared about his own life.
He cared about hers though.
That--that was frighteningly clear. Terrifyingly so. Watching him throw himself into danger was bad. Watching him throw himself in between her and danger was way worse. Usually. At the moment if the value he placed on her life was going to get him away from the car and somewhere where they could both get checked out, well, she was going to use it. And only feel mildly bad about it. Grabbing the essentials, she looked back over her shoulder at him and nodded towards the building they had seen earlier. Fortunately it was still within view. Which was great, until she saw the sign outside.Â
âWell,â she said, her voice strangled, âitâs kind of fitting. You know, considering its almost halloween.â
















