The worksite appeared to be shut down. There were still bright lights shining around the exterior, and the equipment and debris were in the same chaotic disarray. No men, though. Maybe they were inside? She doubted it. Unlike before, the interior of the building was dark and there were no sounds of work, no machines grinding on, no hammering or banging. No voices.
And her keen hearing would have picked up on all of that in spite of the wind.
Continuing onward, she arrived at the mini-mountain created by the city plows, and picked her way up and over the summit, using the predetermined footholds countless pedestrians had turned into steps.
On the other side, she stared up the flank of the building—
The sense that she was being watched leveled her head and twisted her around. Bathe’s light-show entry had been turned off, and in spite of the familiar streetscape and all the lampposts, she suddenly felt like she was in the middle of nowhere.
Alone.
The reality of her isolation blew through her, an arctic gust from a different compass point, and it was as she shivered that she saw the shadow lurking in the alley by the club’s emergency exit. If she’d had human eyes, she wouldn’t have seen whoever it was, but her vampire retinas were especially good at night.
A big, hulking shape. A male? A man?
She was upwind, so there was no scent, and surely if it was someone she knew, they would have called out. Heart pounding, she took a step back—
Binnng…binnng…binnnng…
As the radar-like noise registered, she looked down. That the peculiar sound was coming from her left ovary was a shocker for so many reasons—at least until she shoved her hand into the pocket of the construction jacket and took out a cell phone.
While the binging continued, she glanced over at the alley again.The figure was gone and she scented the air. The wind was still coming at her back, so no information there, but given the tingle of warning at her nape, she knew she had to get out of—
“So there’s my phone.”
Lyric jerked around. “Oh! It’s you.”
Her savior had come out of nowhere for a second time, and he’d had a shower and changed since she’d seen him last. Now sporting a SUNY Caldwell hoodie, a black parka, and hair that was wet, she focused on his face—and the fact that she didn’t recognize it made her really worry about the way her brain worked.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Ah, here, sorry.” She held his cell out. “And I want to give you back your jacket—”
He took the phone. “I told you to keep it. Did you come over here just to return that old thing?”
“And your phone.” Even though she hadn’t known it was in the pocket. “Everyone needs their phone. I was returning the phone.”
Shut up, she told her mouth as she rechecked the alley.
His brows lowered and he glanced around. “And you’re going home now, right.”
“Yes.”
“Good. This city is dangerous at night.”
“For sure.” Her eyes returned to the club again. “You never know what can fall on a person. Billboards. Maybe a piano or two. Cars…”
What thefuckwas she saying.
He glanced toward Bathe. “What are you looking at?”
“Nothing. I… it doesn’t matter.”
She swung her eyes back to him, and as his stare met her own, there was a long, quiet moment.
“Go home,” he told her. “You need to go home.”
Good advice. The problem? She didn’t want to leave this stranger undefended against whatever the hell had been over there.
