Blood Red

stopped running at last. Jonas was still holding her as she turned back and looked down the alley.

All she saw was…

Nothing.

No wings, no shadows. No sign of Stephan.

And no sign, either, of Mark.

11

“W e shouldn’t have left him,” Lauren argued.

They were standing on the edge of the Square. A nearby sign advertised the Pontalbo Museum. A Civil War cannon stood behind a fence, just to her right. If she looked across the green, she could see the statue of Andrew Jackson on horseback.

If she looked around, she could see a world that was normal in every way.

Jonas turned to her, shaking his head sadly. “We had to leave him. Don’t you see? He would have been more vulnerable if you had stayed. He would have had to defend you.”

She looked at him. He looked like a regular guy. And yet she knew he was anything but.

She had just seen him materialize from shadow.

He was a vampire.

She inadvertently took a step back.

He groaned. “I was ready to give my life for you back there,” he said softly. “Why are you afraid of me? You can trust me, you know.”

She frowned, shook her head, and then spoke ruefully. “You do realize I still think I’m insane for believing that vampires exist, don’t you? Trusting a vampire may take a bit of effort.”

“If people only knew how many totally decent vampires actually walk among them,” he began.

“Vampires aren’t exactly known for their good works,” she pointed out, then looked toward the alley again, her concern growing. “Where did they go? How did they disappear so quickly?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. All I do know is that I have to watch out for you until Mark reappears,” he said firmly.

She couldn’t help but look anxiously toward the alley again. “What should we do?” she asked.

“We should go to the hospital,” he said.

She frowned. “You want me to let you into Deanna’s room?”

“I swear to you, I’m not the one who hurt her and I never would. I give you my word.”

“Forgive me, but I’m not sure about trusting the word of a vampire.”

“I was ready to die for you,” he reminded her again, sounding genuinely hurt.

“Maybe that was just a ploy,” she said. “Maybe you’re on Stephan’s side, and you’re just stringing us all along.”

“Look. What he wants is you. That’s pretty evident. And he might have had you, right then and there. I’m pretty sure the only reason he didn’t just swoop right in and take you is that he thrives on the chase.”

“Why not chase us right into the Square? What could these people have done against a host of vampires?”

He shook his head. “If everyone believed—no, knew—that vampires are real, that they exist right here alongside you in what you think of as your safe little world, they’d try exterminat them. Us.. The good and the bad. The good would die first, because they try not to hurt other people. Then you’d be left with the bad. And the bad could turn the tide enough to kill everything. You have to realize that there is an entire underworld out there. Some people sense it. Some even know that it exists. Some people, like Sean Canady, know it and know they need our help in the fight for human safety. If Stephan had carried his battle into the Square, if enough people had seen him and been attacked, the truth would have been revealed and a real war would be on. A blood bath. Creatures like Stephan exist because they prey on what human beings consider to be real fears. If he tires of his victims and decides not to accept them as members of his flock, he decapitates them and discards their bodies. When he came here, he began throwing them in the Mississippi.” He hesitated for a moment. “Once there was an entire hierarchy system, a code of vampire law. A vampire could only create three more of his own kind each century. There was—is—even a…a king if you will. Of course, there were always monsters who broke the law, and their behavior threatened exposure for everyone. They were dealt with by their own, or occasionally by a vampire hunter or a guardian. This king, actually resides here, in New Orleans.”

“Then where the hell is he?” Lauren demanded.

“Out of the country, apparently.” He shook his head. “Look, I came here because of Lucian, the king. He leads an alliance of those who work against evil and believe that they can find redemption and be part of a better world. I swear to you, what I’m saying is the truth.”

It couldn’t be.

It could. Either that, or she was suffering from the most real and ridiculous delusion that had ever plagued a person.

“Please. Let’s go to the hospital and wait there for Mark. I’m sure he’ll come find you. I ran into him earlier, when he was looking for you here in the Quarter.”

“Was he with Heidi? My…our other friend.”

“No. She must be back at the hospital.”

Lauren was afraid. Afraid to trust him and equally afraid not to. It was night. If she got into a taxi with him…