Chapter Nine #2
I leave quickly. Vlad will be behind me soon enough, and I trust that no matter what complicated feelings he seems to have about me being on this job with him, he won’t do anything that might compromise the whole thing.
There’s an alley a few buildings up, one I didn’t think about last night, but as I walk past it tonight, I hear something within. Quiet. A woman, I think.
I pause, tilting my head to one side. I can see well enough in the dark, but the alley is long, the shadows deep. My power has been unruly all night, disliking Jakob as much as I do, and now it spirals out of me, picking up the vague energy of two humans.
I hear the woman again. A moan, but not the good kind. She sounds hurt, and I don’t know who the other person is who’s down there with her, but there is someone else and they don’t seem to be helping. I glance back. Vlad isn’t here yet.
Whatever. What’s a human going to do to me?
I take a couple of steps into the alley. “Hello? Everything okay?”
The woman comes thundering out of the darkness far faster than I’m expecting, and the shock of it gives her the upper hand. She shoves me up against the brick wall and I growl when I feel the press of something—a stake? A knife?—against my chest.
“You need to get the fuck out of here,” she growls. She’s in her late thirties, maybe, broad-shouldered and half a foot shorter than me. The other person moves closer—another woman, who lets out a sudden gasp—but I can’t pay attention to her when this woman is more of a threat.
Not that I’m super worried now that she’s said leave rather than jumped to staking me.
“I was leaving.”
“No, get the fuck out of Margate. We don’t want any more fucking vampires here.”
Well, shit. That’s not good. But before I can say it, the bond between me and Vlad lights up and he appears as a blur, grabs the other woman, and pulls her back against him, a hand around her throat.
He’s furious. I’ve never seen him so angry. Fangs down, eyes dark—he’s ready to kill both of them, and I’m not certain I can talk him down.
“Let her go!” the woman who has me pinned shouts, and I should take the opportunity while she’s distracted to slip out from between her and the wall with minimal fuss, but then I actually look at the woman Vlad is holding and, well…
Fuck.
“Rachel?”
Vlad and the woman holding me both go still. Rachel—my cousin Rachel, Rachel who I grew up with, who was my best friend until we were like fifteen years old—pales.
“You know him?” the woman holding me asks. Her voice shakes, disbelief colouring it. “How do you…?”
Rachel shakes her head. She’s not even glanced at Vlad. She’s just staring at me, eyes wide like she can’t quite believe it. I mean, I guess that makes sense. Guilt floods my cheeks with heat. I didn’t ever exactly let anyone know what had happened to me. All they found was the car and—
“Grant,” Vlad says. “We need to leave.”
I wave a vague hand at the woman still holding on to me, who bares her teeth and digs the makeshift stake further into my chest. Fucking ow. I fight the urge to rub my temples. We do need to get away from here. I don’t think Jakob will have sent his bodyguard or anyone after me, but what if he has?
“Okay, look, we’ll go,” I say. “We were going.”
“Out of the city?” the woman asks.
“No.”
She digs the stake in again, and this time I growl. Just a little bit. Her eyes widen, and Rachel jerks in Vlad’s grip. “Margot,” she murmurs, and fuck, I don’t want either of them scared of me, but we’ve got a good reason to be here.
“Let him go or say goodbye to your friend,” Vlad growls. Fuck, he’s serious.
“I’ll stake him,” Margot replies. She’s serious, too. Honestly, if not for the situation, I’d be impressed. She’s absolutely ready to stare Vlad down, and that takes a lot. Supposedly. It’s never really been a problem for me.
Still. Someone needs to interject and apparently, I’m the only one who has their head on right at the moment. “Okay, so, let’s take a minute. Vlad, could you let go of Rachel, please?”
He growls, low and dangerous. “Not until there is no stake aimed at your heart.”
Oh, I really don’t want bloodshed today. Not so close to a club where vampires are hanging out. I move quickly, grabbing the hand Margot has wrapped around the stake, and my power lashes out, just a little, shocking her so she drops the stake in surprise.
I move instantly out of her grip, vampire speed having me a few feet away in a second. She snatches up the stake a second later and I raise my hands in supplication, never looking away from her. “Vlad?”
He growls again but pushes Rachel away before he moves in front of me. I scowl, ducking to look around him.
“This is not helpful.”
“She tried to kill you.”
He is… single-minded right now in a way I’ve barely seen. I curl one hand into the back of his shirt and press up against him. I don’t mean to, but as soon as our bodies touch, some of the tension leeches out of me. Vlad’s growl, this time, sounds almost confused.
“You’re a vampire,” Rachel says. She’s looking at me, still pale.
“Yeah,” I reply.
“You—” Tears well up in her eyes and she turns towards Margot, who is still eyeing us with no little suspicion. “What are you doing here then? We held your fucking funeral! And you just come back to—”
“We can’t talk about it here,” I say.
“Grant,” Vlad warns.
“We need to do something.” It’s not usual for humans to know about vampires. Rachel certainly isn’t a hunter, and Margot isn’t any kind of professional if she is, because why bring a human along on your vampire hunt?
Besides, they might know something about the fae. Clearly, they’ve been keeping an eye on Jakob’s club.
“No,” Vlad says.
“You want to get this job done, don’t you?”
Margot perks up at that. “Job?”
“Not like this.”
“Vlad.” He finally looks back at me. “They might help us.”
He opens his mouth to reply, except before he can say anything, he must sense the same thing I do.
Another vampire leaving the club. It might be the one who was dancing, or even the bartender, but we can’t risk being caught out in the open like this.
Never mind Rachel and Margot; if Vlad and I are seen together…
“Our hotel,” I blurt and rattle off the address before Vlad can stop me. I’m looking at Rachel the whole time and her expression is pinched with hurt. “Meet us there?”
For a long second, she doesn’t reply. Vlad reaches back and takes hold of my arm. We need to move quickly.
“Yeah,” she says, nodding. “Okay.”
In the next instant, we’re gone.