“When you opened the door, you set off an alarm,” she said over her shoulder. “The police and fire department will be here soon. People are evacuating the bar.”
Julian crushed the vamp’s heart as he glanced around the alley. Both ends opened onto streets; he couldn’t carry the body out either way, especially not to his left as a growing number of people milled about on the road. The other way offered a few doorways, one of which led down a set of stairs. He didn’t know where those doors led, but he didn’t have any other choice.
Bending, he grasped the vamp by the back of its neck and lifted its torso off the ground. “Go back inside,” he told her.
“Julian—”
“Don’t look,” he interrupted when she started to turn toward him. “You’re freezing, Aida. Go back inside. I’m not going far, and I’ll be back soon.”
Before she could reply, he closed his hand around the vamp’s neck, lifted him, and dragged him down the alley. If anyone were to see them, they’d probably assume he was helping his drunk friend down the alley.
He searched for cameras as he walked but didn’t see any before he carried the vamp down the stairs. It was a little too late to look for them now, but he was too far gone earlier to consider the possibility someone was recording them. If he discovered any, he would take care of them.
Grasping the doorknob, he wasn’t surprised to find it locked. He almost twisted it off and shoved the door open, but he couldn’t trigger an alarm, so he double-checked for cameras before dumping the vamp’s body in the stairwell. In the shadows of the stairs, the body was unnoticeable, but a search would uncover it. He’d have to run interference if it became necessary.
Aida rubbed her arms and shifted her feet as she waited for Julian to return. When he ascended from the stairwell, she retreated into the room to find a towel or something he could use to clean himself.
Stepping back inside the bar, she discovered Kyle and Cassidy speaking calmly with the humans who’d come this way in the hopes of fleeing out the back. Aida didn’t have to hear what they were saying to know they were using their ability to manipulate the humans’ minds. She stayed to the shadows as she searched for a towel. She discovered one near the remains of the table and snatched it off the floor as the humans turned and headed back into the bar.
It wasn’t until water landed on her hand that she realized she still had snot and tears coming out of her like she was a two-year-old throwing a tantrum. And now that her adrenaline wasn’t pumping as much, the discomfort of the pepper spray was sinking in. She used the towel to wipe her face, but more tears spilled free as soon as she finished.
When the back door opened, she turned as Julian entered again. Before he could make it more than two steps, she stepped in front of him and used the towel to wipe the blood splatters from his face.
“Don’t,” he said and clasped her hands. “You shouldn’t touch this stuff.”
“It’s a good thing I’m touching the towel then,” she said and pulled it away when he tried to tug it from her hands. “You can’t see what you’re doing.”
“Aida—”
Whatever he was about to say died away when a bull of a man appeared in the doorway. Aida recognized Rick, the manager of Addy’s. He’d probably been busy evacuating everyone out the front door until now.
“What happened here?” Rick demanded.
“Someone went out the back door, Rick,” Cassidy said. “They triggered the fire alarm.”
“What did they do to the door?” Rick asked as he took in the dented door.
“Apparently battered it with something to get outside,” Cassidy lied smoothly.
“Why would they do that? It’s an emergency door.”
“Who knows why anyone does anything. He also trashed the room for no reason. Some people are destructive assholes,” Kyle said.
Kyle crossed his arms over his chest as he surveyed the room. Then, his eyes landed on Aida and Julian. Aida shoved the towel into Julian’s hands. “Wipe your knuckles off,” she whispered from the corner of her mouth.
“What are you two doing back here?” Rick demanded of them before focusing on Aida. “And what happened to you?”
She’d just been tossed around by a vampire and was still suffering from the effects of pepper spray; she had to look awful. She was at the bar often and friends with two of Rick’s star employees, so they knew each other well enough to talk when they ran into each other. However, judging by the way his eyes narrowed on her, he didn’t trust her.
Aida started to respond when Julian said, “You never saw us.”
The calm tone of his voice and the swell of power oozing from him caused Rick’s eyes to take on a glassy look that made Aida’s skin crawl. She hated the way vampires could manipulate the minds of others. It was such a horrible invasion that people were helpless to fight.
“We were never here. Someone came into this room in search of something to steal. When they finished, they trashed the place before battering the door and fleeing.”
Julian pushed open the battered door, and clasping Aida’s hand, he returned to the alley. Blood stained the bricks across the way, but it was one of many stains in the alley, and it was already dry. He doubted the police in a city as big as Boston were going to do much investigating into a vandalism and robbery case where no one was injured and nothing was taken.
They’d probably want to search the alley, but he would take care of it. He drew Aida against his side as he took up a position outside the door and waited for the police to come out. He couldn’t take the chance they might find the body, and he didn’t want Aida anywhere near the thing.
She trembled as she leaned into him and rubbed her eyes. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Fine,” she replied, even though she was miserable. She yearned for a shower, the coat she left inside, and… “Oh, my purse! It’s in the back room, and so is my pepper spray!”
Cassidy and Kyle were stepping outside when she announced this. “I’ll get it,” Kyle said and retreated inside.
He returned with her purse and handed it to her along with her empty can. She dropped the pepper spray into her purse; she had more at home. She also had some other knives, but her favorite one remained buried in the vamp’s foot. No matter how much she loved that knife, she was happy to leave it where it was.
“What about the pepper spray in the back room, it’s probably still lingering on the air?” she asked.
“We’ll take care of it,” Julian said.
She was still wary of allowing herself to get emotionally attached to him, but she couldn’t resist resting her hand against his chest to soothe him. He’d killed for her tonight, and she had no doubt he would do it again.
She’d sworn she wouldn’t let him in again, but it was growing increasingly difficult to keep her heart protected. He brutally murdered that vamp, yet his touch was tender as he rubbed her arms to warm her.
“We’ll take care of everything,” he promised. “I’m going to keep you safe.”
She didn’t doubt that.
“What happened?” Cassidy asked.
At the end of the alley, a police car and fire truck sped past with their lights flashing. Doors slammed shut, and the crowd fell further back as the officer approached to herd them away,
“I’ll tell you later,” Julian said. “For now, we have to keep them out of this alley.”