"Thoughtyou were going to a movie?"
"Andmiss all this excitement?" I motioned toward the crowd with my hands.
"Coffee?"
"Lovesome." I turned around. "Everybody get back to work. Party's over."
Thetension in the group lifted. The nervous chuckles turned into full-fledgedlaughter of relief. Not that I could blame them. It was one thing to expect tobe hated and feared, and another to realize that maybe you were imagining thewhole thing. "Try and stay out of trouble, Master," Shea said with agrin and pulled Dar and Ellis into the shadows of the building entrance we wereskirting.
"I'mgoing back to bed." Yuki humphed and disappeared with a minitornado of leaves.
"Canwe get out of the cold now?" Jimmy had his hands stuffed in the pockets ofhis jeans and implored me with his eyes.
"Youbet. I'm buying." It was only fair. He bought dinner.
Heand Dennis started walking toward the diner, gratefully. Chief had just put hishand on the small of my back to move me along when a scream tore through the square.The crowd of thirty protesters had scattered. Where they had been standing, oneof them was lying on the ground, hands clutching his throat as red stained thebrown grass before him.
Anotherwas pinned against a tree, vainly batting against the head of the vampire thatheld him there while he fed from the gaping wound he'd torn open. Four morewere herding the scattering protestors toward the large alleyway beside cityhall.
LordAbernathy Jr. had made another move.
"Fuck,"I grumbled and ignored Shea's warning. Striding toward the commotion, I yankedthe broom charm from my neck and held a broom a moment later. One shake of my armand a silent command later, I held the scythe.
Thevampires were having a ball. There wasn't an iota of fear from them. But the scaredshitless humans assaulted my olfactory senses and brought out the vampire in me.I snarled in rage. Then, and only then, did the vampires sense me. Slowly theyturned. The one that was feeding dropped the human and sighed when he saw myapproach. A moment later, Yuki was back at my side as we bore down on them.
Normally,when she moved, I couldn't follow her movements. She was that fast. Time slowedas my other senses took over illuminating the square in silver light. Each ofher footfalls echoed in my ears as she broke off and headed toward thecorralling vampires, breaking them up with well-placed kicks and punches. Thehumans didn't stop to watch the show, not that their eyes could have followedwhat was happening.
Onemoment I was launching myself at the feeder, and the next I was beside him,unsure if it was my vampiric powers that had gotten me there, or if I hadsimply stepped through the shadows. Either way, a moment later, his headthudded against the nearly frozen ground as he disappeared in a burst of ash.
We'rekilling them? Yukiwasn't delighted, but she wasn't sad either.
Atthis point, we have to.
Ifelt her mental nudge of agreement. Kicks and punches turned into bonecrunching, wet squelches as she used the only weapons she had to separate theirheads from their bodies. Her hands.
Sheastepped out of the shadows and separated another head with his keen, wickedlooking dagger. Dar and Ellis ran back into the square. Dar immediately joinedthe battle while Ellis, surprisingly enough, aided the wounded, and hopefullynot dead, humans. His hands were aglow with purplish fire.
Someof the vampires in the local branch of the clan were formidable. Not one of theones in the square were anywhere close to being remotely powerful. Abernathyhad managed to cultivate the weakest of the bunch. But his intention had neverbeen about winning, it had been about exposure. In that, he hadsucceeded.
"Fuck."I stood atop the steps of city hall and surveyed the damage. Of the vampires,there was nothing left but dust. The one human sat at the base of the treecovered in blood. Another was being held up by his brethren. The one lying onthe ground didn't make it. Ellis' stare and sad shake of his head told me thatmuch. Absolutely pissed, I banished the scythe and hung the broom charmback on the leather thong around my neck. Shoving my hands back in my pockets,I headed toward Chief to figure out if there was any way to salvage thesituation.
Imade it halfway toward him when one of the OWLs pulled a gun and shot me in thehead.
Chapter 15
"Will you shut off whatever the fuckis beeping. My head is fucking killing me." The nurse's shoes screechedagainst the linoleum tiled floor. Then her voice matched the sound of her shoesstill echoing in my cranium as she took off running without shutting off thegoddess damned beeping machine.
Holdingup my hand, I smothered it with shadows until it was muffled enough that thepain subsided, and my eye stopped twitching in time. Muffled meeps I couldstand. Ear piercing beeps, not so much.
Twosets of racing footsteps returned a moment later.
Withoutopening my eyes, I knew it was Dr. Shapiro. I recognized his scent the momenthe walked through my door. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised you're awake.Let alone alive."
"Hey,Doc."
"Canyou…uh…release my machine? I want to check your vitals."
"Canyou put it on mute?"
"Yes."
Iwaved my hand, releasing it from its shadow cocoon. It beeped twice before hefound the right button and made my fucking day. "Thank you."
"You'rewelcome."
"So,what's the prognosis?"
"Yourvitals are stable, EEG normal, and you seem fine."
"Whydo I feel a but coming on?"
"Youneed surgery to get the bullet out of your brain."
"It'sstill in there?"
"Theguy shot you with a thirty-two ACP. I can't believe it made it through yourthick skull to begin with." He sighed.
Iopened my eyes and instantly regretted the decision. The blinding white lightsof the overhead fluorescents were twenty times worse than the incessantbeeping. My eyes twitched and started watering. Closing them as quickly as Icould, I felt for the wound in my skull. That wasn't there.
"Don'tbother. You healed right up."
"Witha bullet in my brain."
"Yep."
"Luckyme."
"Comeon. We're going to take you
