Page 37 of Nosfer-Meet You

Merde, I will make them eat every last one of those bullets if it’s the last thing I do on this earth.

I lean against the wall of the building, making sure to hide my face underneath my hood. The Helsings stop laughing and look in my direction. Yes, good little boys. Look this way. Come to me, foolish children.

“Hey,” one of them calls over to me. I pretend to ignore him, and he starts walking in my direction. “Hey! I’m talking to you!”

Scotty tenses behind the car, and his eyes go wide. But he doesn’t have to worry. I’ve been doing this far longer than he has even been alive.

I point at myself. The Helsings both snort. “Yeah, you. Take your hood down. Let us see your face. What are you doing out here?”

I shrug and turn my back to them, then begin walking away. Predictably, the Helsings give chase. When I look over my shoulder, I see that the one clutching his gun is gaining on me. But Scotty leaves the safety of his hiding spot, also as I predicted, and stalks behind them like a dark, looming specter.

He grabs the Helsing lagging behind and snaps his neck in silence before he even has a chance to understand what’s happening. Before his body can fall to the ground, Scotty catches it and lays it down gently on the pavement. One down, one to go.

The Helsing with the gun doesn’t even realize his buddy has been killed, that’s how single-minded he is. “I told you to wait! Stop, or I’ll shoot!”

I stop dead in my tracks and put my hands up. “P-Please,” I say in a mock-pleading tone. “I didn’t do anything wrong!”

When I turn around slowly, the Helsing aims his gun straight for my chest. Scotty’s fangs gleam in the moonlight as he moves behind the Helsing like a cat ready to pounce. And then he grabs the man by the back of his neck and slams him into the ground.

The gun goes off, but luckily, it’s aimed at the stars before it drops to the ground beside the human.

“What the fuck!” he screams. Scotty drops on top of the Helsing’s chest and lets out a primal snarl that awakens an ache deep within my core. Merde. He is far too attractive when he’s like this. “Where did you come from?!”

Scotty smirks as he leans down. “I guess that’s what happens when you don’t pay attention. Someone gets the drop on you. But unlike the last poor vampire you killed, I’m not afraid of you.”

The Helsing yelps, and Scotty presses a finger over the human’s mouth. “Shh, shh. You think it’s fun, murdering people? Do you?”

“You’re not people,” the Helsing says through a grimace of pain, and spits in Scotty’s face. Scotty wipes the saliva from his face with the back of his hand, completely unfazed by the insult.

I cross my arms as I watch Scotty. He’s playing with his food at this point, yes, but after the night we’ve both had, I will allow it this one time.

“Do you think it’s funny, hurting women? Hurting girls smaller than yourself?” He hisses, his eyes going preternaturally dark. The Helsing’s veins throb in his neck, and all I can think about is gorging myself on his blood.

“Scotty—” I start, but he isn’t finished tormenting the man. Of course he isn’t. This feels personal.

He slams the Helsing’s head into the pavement once, then twice, then a third time, until blood seeps onto the sidewalk in a thick pool.

“You thought you could just hurt her?” he roars as his fingers curl around the Helsing’s neck, squeezing it until the man’s face is almost as white as my own.

Merde. I’ve never seen him like this before. It’s like he’s a completely different vampire than the one I rescued, and he doesn’t stop taking out his rage on the man. It’s not that I pity the Helsing. I do not have any sympathy for this creature who blindly kills vampires without a second thought. But I also cannot stand to watch Scotty descend into madness like this, either.

“You thought you could just take her from me?! She’s mine!” Scotty rams the Helsing’s head into the pavement again. A sickening crunch follows, along with more blood and … oh, putain. I cover my mouth as I watch. Shards of teeth join the blood on the sidewalk.

“Scotty,” I say more loudly, but he’s too lost in himself to hear me.

I rush forward and grab Scotty’s arm before he can slam the Helsing’s head a fourth time.

“Stop it!” I hiss. “You’re making too much noise! And besides … you’re wasting our dinner.”

Scotty looks up at me, his dark eyes finding mine. His fangs retract, as though he suddenly remembers himself, and he climbs off the Helsing’s chest. “Fuck me … I’m sorry.” He runs his palms down his face and paces in front of the two bodies. “I don’t know … I don’t know what came over me.”

“I do,” I say, and step toward him. “And it’s okay. Come on. Help me get these into the alleyway before someone sees us.”

Chapter 20

Scotty

WHATEVER SHE WANTS TO GIVE