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IT’S EASIER THAN IT used to be to traverse the city streets in the daylight. Buildings have been constructed so high and so tall, they block most of the sun’s light. Still, a grown man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt drawn down over his face is bound to attract attention among throngs of gray-suited office workers, so Dax keeps to the back alleys when he can.
It’s damp and cool in the laneways. The scent of rotting garbage hangs thickly in the air. Still, it’s a relief from the burning sun. Even though he’s hurrying through the shadows, he can feel its searing rays all around him. It’s not just the sun he needs to worry about. Now that the police know who they’re dealing with, they’ll be watching the area.
Sure enough, there is a police cruiser parked in front of the store. A bored officer sits in the car. Dax inches toward the end of the alley, making sure to hug the shadows. The cop in the car is human, no match for his speed and stealth.
Even though the police have identified the assailant, they’re clearly still thinking the robbery might perhaps be only a crime of convenience because no one is guarding the back door or the window beside it. It requires little of Dax’s strength to wedge the window open wide enough to slip inside. Quietly he closes the window, careful not to alert anyone inside. He doesn’t want to frighten the woman. Nor does he want to tip off any other police officers who might be inside.
For a moment he stands silently, reaching out with his senses. There’s only one occupant in the store. Female. Human, he thinks at first, then changes his mind. Almost human. Human and...something else.
He doesn’t want to frighten her. The last thing he needs is for her to cry out and alert the police officer in the car out front. He knows she saw him and if he can tell she is something more than human, she would recognize that he is as well. It’ll only be a matter of seconds before she registers his presence.
* * *
MYAH KEEPS ONE EYE on the front door. The police have returned and the news isn’t good. It only took one clear frame from the surveillance camera next door for the police’s vampire division to realize who the perpetrator was. But they still believe it was merely a crime of a convenience, a desperate man on the run looking for some easy cash. If only that were true.
She can’t leave the store. She’s promised the owner, she’ll wait until she returns. Now the police want to talk to the owner as well. So far the only police officers at the store have been human, but that could change. The last thing she needs is for anyone on the vampire liaison team to show up. She needs to leave now, but she can’t go.
So far she’s managed to keep most of the memories at bay. But the vivid recollection of cold steel, sharp implements, pain and terror are only one thought away. Stay in the present, she tells herself sternly. Nothing is happening at the moment.
That thought no sooner crosses her mind when she becomes aware of another presence in the store. Someone not human. Someone other, like herself. She opens her mouth, not sure whether to call for the human officer in the car outside or not.
“Please don’t,” says a melodic voice from the back room. “I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to talk.”
Myah recognizes the voice. It’s the man from this morning. The man who intervened, saving her from what she is certain would have been a far more gruesome crime than the police imagine.
“I’m going to step out of the back room now,” he says in that calming voice. “I promise you, you’re completely safe with me.”
“Honestly, I doubt you can make that claim.” Her tone sounds far more confident than she feels.
She can only see the bottom of his face in the shadows of the back room, but she gets the impression of a square jaw and full lips. It appears to be a pleasant enough face. Handsome even. Then again, a lot of his kind are. A ghost of a smile crosses his face. “I’ve, uh, eaten already this morning. So yes, I can make that claim.”
“That’s what you were here to do this morning, weren’t you?”
He doesn’t reply, which is answer enough.
“You know that’s illegal.”
Another quirk of those generous lips. “So is robbing a store.”
“You were looking for a victim who wouldn’t report you because then he’d have to report the robbery as well.” She tosses the accusation into the space between them.
His jaw hardens as he realizes she’s seen through his deception. “I prefer the term donor, but that’s essentially the idea.”
She’s surprised he admits it. Most of his kind wouldn’t. “It’s still illegal.” It’s all she can think to say.
“And again, so is robbery.” He pauses, then says. “Or whatever that was.”
And there it is. He knows it was no simple robbery. He knows who Jeremy is, but he likely can’t discern what she is. He’s come back to find out what he’s blundered into. The anger she’s buried so deep inside springs free. All those months of rebuilding her identity blown in one instant because a vampire wanted a fresh meal. She starts to say this, but then she remembers that if it wasn’t for him, she might be back in that maniac’s clutches. And that would be a lot worse than trying to hide the truth from the police.
He’s waiting for her to say something, probably hoping she doesn’t yell for the police officer still sitting in the car. Her eyes dart in that direction, a gesture she knows his keen eyesight catches immediately.
“Please don’t,” he whispers again. “I only want to talk. I just want to know what I’ve gotten myself into.”
“You probably don’t.”
“Right. But since I am in it now, it might be a good idea to know, don’t you think?”
“Debatable.” She knows she’s being difficult. He did intervene in a dire situation, even though he had ulterior motives. She should give him points for that.
“Jeremy Landis is still out there. The police are looking for him, but they don’t have him yet.”
Her resolve wavers. The vampire makes a good point. It might be easier to freeze him out if he wasn’t trying to be so reasonable. Or if he had a bit more bravado about him. Instead he seems like an ordinary guy who got himself into something he shouldn’t have. If ordinary guys were vampires. She reminds herself that no matter how attractive she might find him, he is neither ordinary, nor entirely a man.
He’s waiting, carefully watching the cruiser parked at the curb.
“Okay come in,” she says finally. “But stay here.” She points to a spot on the floor where she’ll be out of his reach.
Obediently he comes to stand where she’s bid him, like an actor making his mark. He could be an actor she thinks when she sees him in the light. He’s tall and squared jawed with commanding blue eyes. His gaze snaps to the camera above the door, then back to her.
“Don’t worry about it. It hasn’t worked in years. The police have no video of you. They extracted their wanted poster from the surveillance camera next door.”
His shoulders sag with relief. He pulls off his hood, revealing a head of dark curls, mussed now from his hood. The overall effect is one of boyish charm. She’s sure it’s been a long time since he was a boy and refuses to buy into it.
He holds out his hand. “Dax.”
He doesn’t offer his last name, so neither does she. “Myah.” His skin is warmer than she expected. Then again, he said he’d eaten. She stops herself from thinking about that. “Okay Dax. Nice to meet you. I’ll give you the bullet points—pun intended— and then you need to get yourself out of here, understand?”
He offers her the ghost of a smile. “Skip the bullet points. I think I’ve figured that much out. This guy, Jeremy—”
“Landis.”
“He was some kind of mad scientist who was incarcerated for trying to create a super vampire, or something.”
“Or something. You make it sound like a B-grade movie. It was a lot worse than that.”
His jaw twitches. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to make light of a really bad situation.”
“Honestly, you really can’t imagine.”
“I believe you. Question is, why didn’t you turn me in? And what did he want with you?”
The officer in the car glances at the store. The last thing she needs is for him to come in to make sure all is well. She waves reassuringly in his direction before pulling Dax further into the shadows.
“The answer to your first question is, you saved me from my worst nightmare, so I thought I owed you a favor. I know the cops don’t always deal fairly with vampires, even though they have their own department now.”
“True enough. Though the vampire liaison seems like a decent enough guy.”
She lets that comment go. Until now she’s never entertained the idea that vampires could be decent guys. Should confess the rest of her story? Since she escaped, she’s never told a soul the truth about what she is. The police are only starting to figure out what they’ve stumbled upon. They think they have the whole picture, but the extent of Jeremy’s experiments has yet to be fully discovered. Once they are, everyone will know. The last person she wants to trust is a vampire. Still, he did save her...but he won’t like the truth.
“Jeremy wanted me because I’m unique. I’m the only one of a particular experiment who survived. I’m the anti-vampire.”
