"Where to?" Reuben asked as he got us away from the mansion.

My gut felt like it was on fire and my right hand was in agony. I had my mouth on a bag of blood but I stopped drinking long enough to reply, "My place! We need to grab our stuff!"

He got us heading south at a good pace, while being careful not to attract any police attention with his driving.

As soon as I drained the first bag Tara handed me a second. She had her eyes on me, she looked worried but she didn't seem panicky or frantic. She didn't look wild either, more like she knew the situation was serious but she was handling it calmly and efficiently.

While I was sucking on the second bag she pulled some bandages and gauze out of her pocket and actually started tending to my right hand.

Reuben had us heading south on Bayview, we went past the big hospital which felt kind of ironic. He glanced over his shoulder at Tara before focusing on the road again. "Kid? What the hell were you shooting back there? Those weren't silver bullets were they?"

She didn't take her eyes off me and didn't stop what she was doing as she replied calmly, "They're normal hollow-point bullets, but I loaded each one with almost a cubic centimetre of silver powder."

"Holy shit," Reuben shook his head. "You two really are crazy! And how'd you move so fast? I couldn't even follow what was happening."

With my hand bandaged, Tara pulled my t-shirt up to check my abdomen. I didn't get a chance to see the wound before she carefully placed a bandage over it, then she gently lowered my shirt back down.

She kept watching me as she answered him, "That ancient blood Isabelle mentioned in her letter? Sam gave some of it to me."

He shook his head again and commented, "Damn."

When the second bag was drained Tara took it and offered me a third. By now the burning in my gut was down to a strong ache and the pain in my hand was starting to fade. I accepted the bag though and bit into it. I figured as long as we were in the city we weren't safe. And if we weren't safe I might still need to fight, so I'd need all the blood I could get to keep me moving.

We pulled up in front of the apartment building just as I finished drinking.

Reuben did well, he got us there in under twenty minutes and without getting caught speeding. I could feel exhaustion tickling the edges of my mind, I knew I needed sleep but that would have to wait. The blood was doing its thing, the pain in my gut was down to a dull ache and my right hand simply felt numb.

"Wait for us here," I told Reuben. "Me and Tara will be back as quick as we can."

Tara frowned, "Are you sure Sam? I can do it, you need to rest."

I shook my head as I opened my door, "Faster if we work together. Let's go."

"Stay safe you two," Reuben said as he waited behind the wheel.

Fortunately the place was fairly quiet at this time of night so we didn't encounter anyone in the lobby or the elevator. During the ride up I had a chance to check myself over. The bolt left a three-edged hole in my t-shirt. There was a little bit of dark blood staining the shirt, but it didn't look too bad. Nobody would really notice anything amiss if they just saw me walking past.

My hand was another story. In addition to the pinky and ring fingers I'd also lost a chunk of the palm, including those two knuckles. I'd basically lost a third of my right hand. It didn't look too bad with the bandage on now, and fortunately vampires didn't really bleed that much. If we did I'd have been an awful mess after all that.

The rest of my hand looked ok, the remaining fingers and thumb were fine. Those were the most important digits anyways. Losing the other two was painful and inconvenient but I'd manage.

The gut wound was more of a problem. I knew at best I'd come out of this with another scar. At worst though, it might not heal at all because of the internal silver burns. Something to worry about later.

When we got to our room I told Tara, "Pack everything of value, everything you need or want. We're never coming back here."

She nodded but she still sounded worried as she asked, "You're ok? Are you sure you don't need any help?"

"I'll be fine Tara." I tried to sound strong and confident. "Once we're back down in the car I'll have some more blood, then maybe I can rest."

She nodded then dashed into her bedroom.

I started throwing stuff onto the middle of my bed. The books and money from Isabelle went first, then all my clothes, and finally the contents of my bed-side table. I didn't actually have a lot of personal stuff, but there were a few trophies, keepsakes, and sentimental things I'd picked up over the years that I didn't want to leave behind. I stuck my pillows on there too, then pulled the sheets and blankets up and sort of ended up with all my possessions wrapped in a big bundle of bed linens.

I held it in my left hand and slung it over my shoulder then emerged from my room. Tara basically did the same thing, she had her stuff bundled up in bedsheets as well.

"You have everything you need?" I asked.

She nodded, "Yeah. I also grabbed all our make-up and stuff from the bathroom, and our favourite mugs from the kitchen."

"Cool," I grinned. I left the apartment key on the coffee table, along with my Family-issued phone. Then the two of us left the place for the last time.

A couple minutes later we were back down in the lobby.

Reuben stood next to the car as he waited for us. When he saw us coming he opened the cargo door so we could dump our stuff in there, then all three of us got back inside.

"Where to next?" Reuben asked as he slipped behind the wheel again.

Tara handed me another blood bag, but before I bit into it I replied "Your place. Me and Tara will stay with the car while you grab your stuff."

He got us moving while I started on my fourth bag of blood. The other ones already took the edge off so I drank this one slower. It was just to keep me going, and to keep me calm.

When we got to Reuben's place I told him, "Ditch your phone. They can track us through that."

"Right," he nodded. He left the engine running as he stepped out of the car and said, "I'll be quick."

As he walked for the front door I saw him pull his phone out and toss it into a neglected weed-filled garden next to the front doors.

"Hey Tara?" I asked my girl, "Do you know how to drive?"

She nodded, "Yeah, why?"

I opened my door, "Let's get ready. When Reuben comes back we'll hit the road."

She was surprised but didn't question me. The two of us climbed out of the car together.

Tara came around and helped me get into the passenger seat. She got the axe out of my way and stowed it in the cargo area at the back with our stuff.

While she was back there I asked, "Tara? Can you grab me one of my pillows, and a blanket?"

"Of course."

She moved quickly to extract a blanket and pillow from my bundled-up belongings, then came back around to my side and helped me get comfortable. I tilted the seat back and got the blanket overtop of me and the pillow tucked under my head.

"Thanks Tara," I smiled up at her.

She leaned in and gave me a passionate kiss on the lips, then stepped back and closed the door.

I watched as she went around then climbed into the drivers seat beside me. It took her a minute or two to get the seat and mirrors adjusted, fortunately this thing was top-of-the-line with fully-adjustable power everything.

Tara didn't seem annoyed or exasperated as she took the time to get it all set for herself. She had to bring the seat all the way forward and raised up almost as high as it would go just so she could reach the pedals and see over the steering wheel. I was positive if this were a month ago, she'd have had a few uptight comments. Or at least an exasperated sigh or two. Now she just got on with it.

I couldn't help but smile. She was absolutely cute and adorable, and she was fucking hardcore as hell when she needed to be.

Once she had the seat and mirrors all ready to go, she glanced over at me then frowned. "What are you smiling at?"

I grinned at her, "You. You're amazing. That's why I love you."

When I saw her reaction I added, "And you have the most adorable blush, cutie."

She tried to pout but it soon became a smile. "I love you too, you know? I should have said that a long time ago."

She added before I could respond, "And I don't think I've ever said this before, but thank you Sam. Thank you for saving me, that night on the bridge."

I felt a surge of emotions. I didn't know what to say, but before I could think of something Reuben returned.

He didn't comment on the change of seating, he just rolled with it. He had a cooler box in his right hand and a big black duffel bag in his left.

The cooler box went into the back seat behind me and his duffel joined our stuff in the back. Then he settled into the seat behind Tara.

With everyone ready, Tara looked to me and asked "Where are we going? What's the plan?"

"We're going west," I replied as I let my head settle into my pillow. "But we have to go north to get there."

I could feel the exhaustion pulling at me again and my words may have slurred as I continued, "Highway four-hundred north, to eleven. Then highway eleven north...west. Get us out of the province cutie."

Reuben spoke up, "I can navigate if you like, Tara? Turn right when you pull out onto the street. Then another right, north on Jane."

"Ok," Tara nodded.

As we got under way I mumbled, "We'll take turns driving. Keep going, keep moving. No stops, except for gas."

"We get it Sam," Tara said with a smile. "Now shut up and get some rest."

I smiled back as my eyes closed, "Ok cutie. G'night."

• • • • •

It seemed like only a minute after I closed my eyes I was opening them again. I felt hands on me and I started to struggle as I suddenly woke up.

"Shh Sam!" Tara's voice was by my right ear, "It's just me! We're ok!"

I relaxed as I realized we were stopped somewhere. Tara was standing by my open door and she'd just slipped my sunglasses on me. She had hers on already too.

It smelled like we were at a gas station, and when I sat up I saw that's exactly what was happening. Reuben had his shades on and he was filling up the tank. The highway was a few dozen meters to the left. Apart from that there wasn't much else around but trees. There was light in the sky but it was overcast.

"Where are we?" I asked as I tried to get my bearings. "What time is it?"

"It's about quarter after eight," Tara replied. "We're just outside Sault Ste Marie. How do you feel? Are you hungry?"

I shook my head, "Not hungry. I'm achey, sore, but ok."

Reuben headed into the little kiosk to pay for the gas while I examined my hand. I peeled the bandages off and discovered skin had already formed, sealing over the wound. It was still pink and tender, but it was better than the raw meat and bone look.

Next I checked my belly, which was still aching. That seemed to be healing too, but a lot slower. There was a hole in the middle of the wound, with three faint pink lines stretching out from it. I'd definitely have a new scar there, but at least it was actually healing. I put the bandage back over it for now.

I looked up at Tara and asked, "Have you eaten? And what's our food supply like?"

She shook her head, "I'm still not hungry. It's been more than thirty hours since I last fed, I had about half a pint from that woman? And I'm still not hungry. Fresh real blood straight from the source is so much better than the packaged stuff Sam."

"Yeah," I nodded slowly. "Until we're ready to hunt though we'll stick with the bags. How many do we have?"

"Reuben had one about an hour ago, and you sucked down four of them last night. He transferred everything Jess gave us from the duffel into his cooler to try and keep it fresh. There's thirty-five left."

"Ok. So if we have to rely on that and we each have one a day, that's just under twelve day's worth."

"Yeah," she agreed. "How far west are we going?"

I waited till Reuben returned. Tara got in the back this time and he took the drivers seat, after he re-adjusted it.

"Good morning Sam," he greeted me as he started the car. "Glad to see you're awake and looking better."

I smiled, "Thanks Reuben."

As we pulled back onto the highway I told them both my plan.

"We're going to Winnipeg. Population over three-quarters of a million people. I think it's big enough to support a small group of us, but hopefully not big enough that there's already a family established there. Plus, it's Winnipeg. Nobody will ever think to look for us there, right?"

I grinned at the other two as I waited to hear their comments or complaints.

Tara rolled her eyes but she kept quiet.

Reuben smiled but kept his eyes on the road as he replied, "Ok Sam. You're the boss."

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