CHAPTER TWENTY #2
I locked up his place for him. Thankfully, he had a digital lock on the front door that auto-locked ten seconds after I walked out. I waited those ten seconds, just to make sure.
I went out to the parking lot and froze as the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
I could smell blood. I still had the building at my back, and I used it as protection to look around to see who I could see.
The blood was human. Or, the stronger of the two bloods was human.
The blood of a vampire had also been shed.
I started moving. I had two choices—just leave and ignore it since it wasn’t my hunt or kill or whatever was happening. Or investigate. It was so close to my brother. That was dangerous for my brother. I had two and a half hours until sunrise.
I had time to investigate.
I texted Alexius quickly with one hand that I could smell blood, some of it vampire, at my brother’s condo building in the parking area.
He knew how to see my location data, and I trusted him to do so or tell me if he couldn’t make it.
He also could deal with getting Maria to clean up whatever this was.
I followed the smell of blood into the parking floors at the bottom of my brother’s building. I saw the other vampire quickly and hissed softly, angry that it was feeding right here, in such a dangerous place, on a human in the glow of lights inside a secure garage.
“What are you doing?”
The vampire male I recognized when he looked up seemed panicked, not because of what he was doing, but because he was caught.
At least that’s what my read of the situation was, but I had a somewhat low opinion of vampires who made messy public kills like this.
I could smell his blood from the lines on his face.
He hadn’t lured or calmed his victim at all.
She had clawed his face and drawn blood.
It didn’t save her. I listened to her heartbeat make its last beat.
She was too far gone to save. His blond hair was long enough that it had grazed the bleeding on her neck and was red-tipped now, while the other side kept sticking to the scratch on his face.
“Hold on. We’ll get cleaned up,” I said, looking around. But when I looked back, the vampire was gone. I could hear him running.
Was he one of… He might have been one of the vampires Alexius is looking for!
I ran after him, fast, knowing that Maria’s people were going to have to scramble to do cover-up now.
“Wait!” I called out, still running, but suddenly, I stopped. Because I knew to stop. Because following a vampire I didn’t know this close to sunrise in a city I barely knew… that was a recipe for disaster.
So, I turned around, running back to the parking garage quickly. I was already on camera with the other vampire and the now-dead woman. I called Alexius now, who answered before the first ring finished.
“I was already talking to Maria. You will go get in your car and drive back to the safe house,” he said, and I heard the thumping of very fast running, the wind of his speed hitting the mic.
“I’m running back to my vehicle. We don’t have time to do anything except debrief about it.
She’ll want to hear everything from you as well.
We’ll call her when we meet at the house.
She’s already sending her best crew to the address. ”
“Thank you,” I said, sitting in my car and locking the doors.
“I tried to follow for a little but decided against going too far. I didn’t want to get lost or caught out in a city I don’t know.
” I stayed in explanation mode, unable to stop talking.
“I didn’t know if he was a threat to Declan or not, or a spy, or lost control…
I figured I could ask him to stay, and we could get cleaned up.
It wasn’t until he ran that I realized he might be one of the vampires you’re looking for.
” I started to pull out and stopped. “This was so close to Declan.”
“But it wasn’t Declan. You said his security was good, and I trust your estimation of security.
Tell him to stay home in the evenings or only go out with you or with werewolves.
Leave him a text if he’s already asleep.
Then get back to the safehouse… Get back to the safe house first, then send the text. ”
I was already driving again, and on the drive, I passed what seemed to be a small convoy of big SUVs going in the other direction, and I hoped they were from Maria.
Alexius was already there when I pulled in.
He was next to me in a heartbeat, looking me over and inhaling deeply.
“Yes. I recognize it,” he said softly. “I’ve caught this one’s scent before. How did his blood get drawn?”
“The woman he was feeding on? She raked her nails across his face.” I already had my phone out, trying to text my brother about what happened without saying exactly what happened. How he needed to stay indoors at night now unless he had me or one of the werewolves he knew.
“So he’s untrained…” Alexius frowned, then turned away, rubbing his neck as he paced for a moment, thinking about what I had already told him. “Or he likes when they fight. Stupid to get injured, though. Stupid to feed in that sort of place. So, I’m going to lean towards untrained.”
“What if it was a message or a sign?”
“This is the first time any one of these vampires has left a body, and you caught him actively feeding. It feels opportunistic, not a message. He got hungry and found prey that was alone. Maria’s team will have more information once they secure the body and footage, but that’s my first guess.”
“Can I help now?”
He stopped pacing, his brows in a flat line as he looked at me.
“No. You are on vacation.”
“He killed someone in the covered parking of my brother’s condo building,” I reminded him.
Alexius called someone, ignoring what I had just said.
“Maria? Your team is there? Perfect.”
I told her everything I had seen and what decisions I had made and why. She asked thorough questions. In the end, she came to the same conclusion as Alexius.
“We’ll get everything from their footage. The cameras seem to be at the right angles to catch everything… if they work. You would be surprised by how many places have cameras that don’t work.”
“I wouldn’t,” I said, huffing. “They better fucking work.”
“Alexius, Everly, stick close together tomorrow for the full report. Considering where it is, it’s only fair Everly gets to know everything about what happened so close to her brother,” Maria said, seeming to placate Alexius with reason before he could argue that I not join the conversation.
“Fine,” he muttered.
“I’ll talk to you both when I have the report this evening.” Maria hung up.
I looked at Alexius, one question I needed answered.
“I did the right thing, right? I could have kept chasing. We’d have the time before sunrise and—”
He kissed me. He leaned down and stopped the words with a long, all-consuming kiss, slowly maneuvering me until my back hit a wall. When his lips left mine, he only said one thing.
“You did exactly the right thing,” he said before lifting me.
“I’m not in the mood tonight, not after what happened,” I said as he carried me to his room.
“You’ll be safer with me than in another room.” I was dropped onto the bed, bouncing a bit. “I don’t like that some strange vampire and you ran into each other. I would feel better if you were secure in here with me. Just like other trips we’ve taken.”
“Okay. So, like Alaska, when we barely had any space and slept in a basement.” I watched him strip. “You licked me.”
“I lied when I said I was hungry for blood. I was hungry, but most of it was just for you. Blood on you had been a sight I had been unable to handle.” He joined me in bed, pulling me close to him, his mouth next to my ear. “And when you’re ready for it, I fully intend to lick you again.”
I ended up allowing him to do as he pleased after that comment, a strong distraction in the pre-sunrise hours when I could do nothing else.