Michelle only let her go to help Lauren up, who groaned with the effort, but cheered up as Alex hugged and thanked her. “Cheers, big ears. Where’s Melina?”
Michelle answered as she reloaded her pistols, “She was going to take care of his minions. She said she’ll catch up.”
Lauren nodded and all three moved out into the office area. Alex stopped to look at the devastation. The office was completely destroyed. Lights hung from the ceiling, supported by nothing more than a chain or connecting wires. Police officers littered the ground. The Superintendent’s office window had been demolished by the body of the man himself; it was hanging half out of it, blood from his torso flowing down like a water feature. Something out of the corner of her eye caused Alex to stop. Just out of the exit corridor was Solomon Crane, crawling along the ground like a thirsty man in a desert. She rushed over to him, ignoring Michelle’s calls for her to come back. She helped him onto his back, saw his throat had been punctured and held her hand over the oozing blood.
“Call an ambulance!” Alex said, over Solomon’s coughing.
“Alex, we don’t have time,” Lauren replied.
“He’s still alive! Please.”
Michelle reached for the nearest phone on the desk but quickly slammed it back down. “Disconnected,” she muttered, before pulling out her mobile.
“It’s ok,” Alex whispered. “You’ll be ok.”
“Go… leave me. They’re still here,” he wheezed back.
“It’s ok, my friends will take care of them. Just keep your eyes open.”
“You know what they are…don’t you…”
“Yes, and so do you.”
Solomon leaned back, as if the truth, and the word that neither said but both understood seemed to filter into his mind. Vampire.
“I never wanted to hurt you…or cause you trouble…I just…”
“I know. I know,” Alex shushed him. “You just wanted to know. But I couldn’t tell you. It would’ve put us both in danger.”
Solomon smiled as Michelle confirmed, in the background, an ambulance was two minutes away. They had to go. Now. “Better off to let the truth have its day, Miss Hensley. Did you do it… Did she know something?”
“No, I didn’t hurt her…well…I don’t know if I did. That’s the truth. Here…” She placed his hand against the wound, hoping he had enough strength to keep it there until help arrived. Alex rose and walked away, which was harder than she ever thought. It was instinct that told her not to look back, but she ignored it. She shouldn’t have. If it was hard to leave him lying there, it took everything she had not to run back when she saw his hand fall away from his throat and drop to his side, just as she rounded the corner taking her outside to the parking lot.
“Oh, fuck me,” Lauren said, looking out straight ahead. Alex and Michelle joined her. Directly in front of them, were four sinister looking individuals. Hunched over, two of them were feeding off a female cop, her blonde hair cascading down as she shivered and quaked. Upon seeing the three of them, the cop was dropped unceremoniously.
“Which’o you is Alex?”
Lauren gripped her hands into fists so quick her knuckles cracked. “What’s it to you?”
“She’s blonde. So it could be either you or her…and you’re worth twenty five grand dead. Fifty alive.”
“You got ripped off. My left tit is worth at least fifty,” Lauren said through her elongated fangs, bouncing on her feet.
“Yeah…” Michelle clocked the guns and aimed them at the group, gesturing to Alex behind her with her head. “And her arse is worth two hundred for each cheek.”
Alex would’ve smiled at the weirdest compliment she had ever received had it not been for the group beginning to stalk their way forward. The battle was approaching any second. The group collectively changed their stances and straightened their backs, fixated on something behind the trio. Michelle and Lauren turned before Alex, but all three leapt out of the way as a horde of German Shepherd police dogs, snarling with enraged flecks of phlegm leaving their snarling jaws, rushed past them and onto the group. Melina calmly trailed behind them, arms outstretched as if guiding their direction. Then Alex remembered. Of course, she could talk to animals. The dogs tore into the group with a ferocity that was a sight to behold. The vampires scattered as the hounds bit and tore their way through undead flesh.
A car screeched to a halt beside them, Clive burst the side door open. “Get in! There’s a whole heap of cruisers on their way.”
“How?” Lauren asked over the sudden increasing sound of sirens. “The power was shut off in there.”
“I sent them orders as soon as you went in. I got the same blocks as the riot so it took longer. Communication cut off, but I re-routed the-”
Lauren rushed over and kissed him. Alex and Michelle jumped in the back seat, leaving Melina to gaze over the scene.
“Have fun my darlings. Tear them apart…” Melina whispered gleefully before joining the rest. Clive shifted into gear and raced off, leaving the destruction and the oncoming sirens far behind.
“Where are we going?” Michelle asked.
“We are splitting up. But you two-” Clive said, turning briefly and looking at her and Alex, “I’m dropping off at Central Station. You’ve got to get out of here.”
“Where are we going?” Alex asked.
“Anywhere. But don’t tell us. Don’t tell anyone. Don’t use credit cards. I’ve got cash here for you. You are being watched, we think, and you know Julian is after you. You have to get out of the city. Can’t use the airport, photo ID is needed. So, the train is the best thing. Get as far away from here as you can. But keep it to yourselves. Leave your phones in the car. No internet. No online purchases. Nothing.”
