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“Can I just say the whole vampire with gun thing is still weird?” I asked as Lucian pulled me in the opposite direction.
“We can talk about it another time.”
I flinched when a gunshot rang out like a rogue firecracker. Except it wasn’t from behind us. It was from high above and on the other side of the street. I looked up and saw Alaric holding a pistol sideways and firing wildly. If the little puffs of dust exploding from buildings and the glass bursting from cars was any indication, he had inhumanly bad aim.
Next to him, Vlad was holding a crossbow. He aimed, fired, and I heard one of the vampire women call out more in annoyance than pain.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw our pursuers had ducked behind a car and started firing toward the rooftop.
Within seconds, the streets were full of people running in either direction, which thankfully meant Alaric was less likely to take out an innocent bystander with his horrible aim.
We had covered quite a bit of ground when I heard Alaric let out a frustrated grunt. “Fuck. I really liked this shirt, assholes!” His voice was drowned out by a flurry of gunfire.
“Are they going to be okay up there?” I asked once we’d reached the end of the block and turned a corner. I could still hear gunshots in the distance and the wail of approaching police sirens from all directions.
“Yes,” Lucian said.
“How can you be so sure? What if those three go up to the rooftop to get them?”
“They won’t want to wait around to deal with the police. In small numbers, they could charm them. If they get surrounded in the streets, it would be a much lengthier ordeal to charm their way out of captivity.”
“How will Alaric and Vlad get away from the police, though?”
“Vlad… He has a unique talent. They will be fine.”
I squinted. “A unique talent? Like what?”
“He can turn into a very large bat.”
I stopped, forgetting the gunshots. “You’re serious? Vlad can turn into a bat?”
“Yes. But don’t ever ask him to do it. When he changes back, he’s completely nude. He loves to show it off at parties.”
“I’m sorry I asked,” I said, resuming our half jog away from the carnage. “So what does that mean? Bennigan and his people keep coming after us with guns. I thought all your diplomacy was supposed to be protecting us, or something.”
“That hasn’t gone as well as I’d hoped. We may end up having to deal with Bennigan more directly to resolve this.”
“Directly? Like what, killing him?”
“That’s one option on the table.”
“You still haven’t even told me if it’s possible to kill you people.”
Lucian’s smirk looked like it belonged more in a darkened muscle car parked above the city instead of the aftermath of a firefight. “Keep asking how to kill us, and I’ll start wondering if you’re a vampire hunter.”
“Wait,” I said, jogging to catch up with him as he continued walking. “There are really vampire hunters? What about werewolves?”
Lucian’s grin told me he wasn’t going to answer me and that he was highly entertained to get to leave me hanging. It seemed like deadly gun fights and ricocheting bullets weren’t enough to stop him from enjoying a little casual teasing.
Asshole.
30
Lucian
Once I got Cara back to my house, I gave her a very thorough look. I ran my hands down her arms and turned her by the shoulders, all while she watched me with a wry, amused smile.
“I’m starting to wonder if you are staging these gunfights for an excuse to feel me up,” Cara said.
“I need to make sure you’re not hurt.”
“The benefit of dealing with humans instead of animals is you can just ask them if they’re hurt. Have you tried that?”
I gave her a slight smile. “I considered it but preferred the hands-on approach when it comes to this particular human.”
Cara’s eyes twinkled with innocent shyness and mingling fire. It was a devastatingly effective combination on my libido, which was pounding in time with my heart.
“I’m sorry I’ve dragged you into this. It’s far too dangerous for a human. And if anything happened to you, I—"
“Hey.” Cara put a hand on my arm. The slight contact was making shockwaves of heat roll through my cold body. “You’re taking better care of me than anyone ever has. I mean, my roommates are super protective. But this is different. I guess because I feel like you actually can keep me safe.”
“That’s a ringing endorsement for your roommates.”
She laughed. “They mean well. But they’re basically over-sized puppies. And they are typically trying to protect me from things like walking home at night or dating guys they don’t approve of. Nothing serious, I mean.”
“Yes, well. I will need these oversized puppies to learn to do a better job of keeping you safe when this is over.”
