Keeping my eyes and gun focused on the woman, I called out to Bernie. “Bernie, can you hear me?” He didn’t reply, which made no sense because the vampire’s eyes were closed. She shouldn’t have been able to trance him with her eyes closed.
I tried again. “Bernie, it’s Diana. Listen to my voice. I need you to move away from the woman.” Still nothing. Shit.
“Diana!” I heard Mick call from behind me.
“Stay there!” I shouted back at him.
A rustling noise to our left caught my attention. That’s when I remembered the little girl. Dumb Diana. In my freak-out over zombie-Bernie, I’d completely forgotten about her. Where are you little vampire? I didn’t even want to think about the kind of evil who would turn a child. Tomorrow, I was going to march my ass over to PHD and demand they investigate. Better yet, I was going to take it to the top, to the Southern Vampire Organization. The SVO needed to be made aware that children were being turned, right under their neglectful noses.
Shuffling forward a few steps, I halted beside a still-crouched Bernie and shifted my aim to the woman’s head. If she so much as flinched, I would fire. Steeling my grip on the gun, I closed my eyes and pictured the little girl in my mind. I’d never tried this before, so it was highly likely it would fail, but at least it was worth a try. I touched on Bernie’s lukewarm glow before skirting past the creepy vamp on the ground—who I was beginning to think was either an award-winning actress or might really be dead. Casting my mental feelers a little wider, I landed on Mick. God, he was so warm, like stepping from an icy mountain top into a steaming-hot bath. Reluctant to step back into the cold, but knowing that I had to, I pulled away from Mick’s glow and concentrated my focus on the little girl. Got her! Her signature was different than the woman’s—slightly warmer and less tingly. She was in the corner by the dumpster. I cracked open my eyes and peered at her through my lashes. Sure enough, there she was, staring straight at Bernie. Damn, a vamp that could trance with her voice and stare. What next? If I tried to take her out, the gig would be up. Who was I kidding, the gig was already up.
With a deep, mind-clearing inhale, I lifted my gun and fired at the little girl. She ducked, and the trance was broken. Before Bernie did something stupid, I latched on to the armhole of his vest and started running backward, pulling him along with me.
I screamed for him to run, but it was too late. They already had us surrounded. I counted five vampires, but there were probably more.
A no-longer tranced Bernie suddenly jerked to his feet, and shrieked, “What the fuck!”
“Stay calm. Aim for the head or the heart and don’t look them in the eye,” I quietly instructed out of the corner of my mouth.
“Stay calm? Are you fucking kidding me!? That little bitch just mind-raped me!” he screeched.
I tried to sympathize with him, but I was having my own troubles, like trying to breathe through the panic constricting my chest. My body felt as if I’d stepped on a live wire. The ants were no longer marching; they were biting. We were knee-deep in shit, and if Bernie didn’t shut his damn mouth, it was highly likely that neither of us were walking away from this alive.
One minute the woman was lying on the ground and the next she was in our faces. Bernie screamed, and I shouted, “Don’t look at her!”
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” she crooned.
Staring at my feet, I said, “I’m officer Duvail, and this is officer, uh—” Realizing that I didn’t know Bernie’s last name, I whispered, “Tell her your last name.”
“Gonad,” Bernie squeaked. My brows shot into my hairline. How did I not know his last name was Gonad? I couldn’t wait to tell Mick. Speaking of Mick, hopefully, he’d called for backup and they were on the way.
Trying to calm my shaking voice, I continued, “I’m sure we look tasty, but I’ll warn you now, if you so much as drop a fang in our direction, the SVO will end you.”
Ice queen scoffed. “Pish-posh. A few drained police officers are nothing to Zacharias. In fact, he’ll probably commend me for it.” The Zacharias she was referring to was Zacharias Wylde, the head of the Southern Vampire Organization. Ice queen continued, “And you, my dear, smell like one tasty morsel.” The ants started back with a vengeance.
Forgetting all semblance of self-preservation, I jerked my head up, and gritted out a harsh-sounding, “Fuck you.”
Eyes so blue they were almost silver stared back at me. Her eyes, along with her white-gold hair and flawless skin, made her a breathtakingly beautiful woman. Beautiful and deadly. She narrowed those evil eyes on me, and pain such as I’d never experienced lasered through me. Spots danced across my vision, and I screamed for her to stop. My spine arched in agony as she turned it up another notch. I knew if I didn’t do something fast, I was going to die. Closing my eyes, I broke her stare. My hands dropped to my knees as I leaned forward and took a deep breath. I sucked every last bit of pain and rage into my lungs and hurled it back at her with a giant exhale.
She gasped, her eyes widening with surprise, then she started to clap. “Bravo!”
Bernie whimpered beside me. We’d both had enough. Screw proper protocol. The goal now was to get out alive.
“I’ll make a deal with you. If you let us go, I won’t report you for entrapping Officer Gonad and endangering
