Page 47

Chapter 14

From her position in the back alley behind Ye Old Curiosities, Toni could see a small crowd was beginning to form outside of the shop. The broken window had been noticed then, or perhaps they’d been drawn by the bangs and crashes that had started after Lawrence went in after the intruder. Another crash sounded inside the shop, followed by a silence that was somehow more menacing.

“Did anyone call the police?” someone called out.

“I did,” another person said.

Toni still felt as if she’d taken a heavy dose of allergy medicine. What the hell was going on in there? Police sirens echoed in the distance as she struggled to make sense of the events that had led to her standing on the street, waiting for Lawrence to emerge from her family’s shop.

She wasn’t worried for his safety. Toni knew from Alessandra the original vampires were nearly impossible to kill. They’d tried to do each other in many times, she’d said, and always failed. The longer their kind lived, the faster and stronger they became—as the oldest of their kind, the Morleys and Derricksons were evenly matched.

More and more civilians gathered out front, some of them emerging from houses and townhouses, as two police cars pulled up in front of the shop. This was what she worried about: discovery. If Lawrence was found inside the shop, how would he explain it? Any minute now, the concerned townspeople would find her too, and then there would be no escaping.

“Let’s go,” a familiar voice said into her ear.

Toni’s shoulders sank in relief as she obliged. She hadn’t even seen him leave the shop.

Lawrence linked her arm into the crook of his own, and they strolled as casually as two lovers away from what she supposed was a crime scene.

“Where are we going?” she whispered. “Is the shop okay?”

“My house,” he answered. “The shop is fine.”

He said it with enough hesitation that Toni knew something was very wrong.

“Just keep walking,” he urged her.

They did. Past the closed shops and courthouse, up into the hills behind Main Street. By the time they got to Lawrence’s house, Toni felt as if she’d taken two allergy pills and chased it with a cocktail, or a few of them.

She looked up, reminded this was not just any house. A few months ago, it had been a tourist destination.

“I’m feeling a bit sleepy,” she said. More than a bit actually. “So what happened?”

One minute, Lawrence stood beside her in the foyer of his expansive Victorian home. The next, her feet were actually swept out from under her and she found herself nestled against Lawrence’s chest.

“What are we doing?” she yawned.

“I’m taking you upstairs.” His lips were mere inches from hers—a tantalizing reminder of what they’d done earlier. “To bed.”

She opened her mouth to respond.

“And before you consider attempting to take advantage of me,” he said, “I mean for you to sleep, lass. No more.”

Laying her head against him, she smiled. “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try my best not to accost you.”

As he walked up the grand, winding staircase with ease, he finally got around to explaining the last half hour of their night.

“I heard glass shattering—”

“From the bank?”

The corners of his mouth tipped up. “I’m a vampire, Toni.”

Indeed.

“The side door window was shattered,” he continued. “When I went inside, a man was behind the counter—”

“What man?”