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“So why did you agree?”
“I’ve got you with me, I’ll be safe. ”
The look of pride on her face at my compliment did almost as much good as Keaty had done damage earlier. “You trust me that much?”
“Bri, you’re one of my best friends. And you once managed to tackle me. I’d say you’re tough enough to keep me protected from a macho rogue werewolf if one shows up. ”
She crossed the room and gave me a big hug, her ample bosom pressing into my chest. “I’ll take care of you. ”
“You always do. ” I pulled back, not accustomed to all the touchy-feely hug business I’d been on the receiving end of today. “Now let’s go before I change my mind and let Kellen run away to join the traveling fairy circus. ”
“This’ll be fun,” Brigit assured me. “Sleepover at Kellen’s house. ”
“Yeah, I don’t know if fun is the word I would go with. ”
Brigit had gone ahead of me, the apartment door swinging open. “We’ll make it fun. Think of all the champagne she has!”
“I’m trying not to. ”
“Can you grab my purse?” she called from the foyer. “I want to check the street before you come out. ”
She was certainly dedicated to her bodyguard job, I had to give her props for that. “I’m just going to grab a sweater,” I announced to my empty apartment. Brigit was a vampire. She’d probably heard me fine.
It was weird, needing a sweater for something other than keeping up the appearance of being normal. When I’d gone out with Desmond that morning, I’d decided the yellow sundress crammed in the back of my closet was the perfect thing to wear. Now I didn’t want to waste time changing, but I knew I’d freeze half to death if I went outside without something to cover me.
Outside, a car backfired. Brigit must have left both doors wide open if I’d been able to hear it in the bedroom. So much for her awesome bodyguarding skills.
Tugging on a black cardigan, I jogged through the living room and grabbed both our purses from beside the door, locking the apartment before I left and noting the street door was ajar, as I’d expected. Brigit was standing on the sidewalk outside, her back to me.
“Nice job with the doors, sweetie. No one would suspect I’d leave the welcome mat out. ”
She didn’t move.
“Bri? Did you hear me?” I closed the street door and jogged up the first two steps.
When I was halfway to the top, she turned towards me, swaying unevenly as if the slight breeze was strong enough to knock her off balance. Her red shirt glittered in the moonlight. How had I not noticed the sequins before? I was about to compliment her on how pretty the effect was until I saw her face.
As a vampire, she was naturally pale, but there was something wrong in her expression. Her mouth was drawn in a grimace, and red-hued tears had swelled in her eyes, giving her a ghastly raccoonlike expression.
Brigit lifted her hand and touched the front of her shirt. When she pulled it away, she stared down at her own chest. That’s when I remembered.
She’d been wearing a pink shirt. With no sequins.
Our purses dropped from my hands as I jumped the top two stairs and reached her the moment she buckled over. I wasn’t in time to keep her from skinning her knees on the pavement, but I managed to keep her from pitching face-first back down the stairs.
When Brigit opened her mouth to speak, there was a burble noise, followed by a stream of blood over her lips. For someone whose body gave off no heat, her blood felt shockingly hot on my chest as she pressed her cheek against my collarbone.
“S-s-sorry,” she managed, her jaw trembling with the effort to form words. “S-so s-sorry. ”
“Shhh, shhh. ” I stroked her hair, trying to be calm, but my eyes were frantically scanning the street. It had been only seconds since I’d stepped through the door. I still didn’t know what had happened, but I didn’t need to be a detective to figure out a plausible explanation. I knew what a silver-bullet wound looked like on a vampire. Between the bloody chest and what I’d thought had been a backfiring car, the math added up to someone shooting her.
Movement behind a nearby car caught my eye. I dragged Brigit closer to me, angling her body away from the street. I might have been the one in danger, but there was no fucking way I would use my injured friend as a shield.
My purse was a few steps away, gun stashed inside. Too far to get to easily.
I didn’t care.
Brigit gasped for a breath, a weirdly human response considering she didn’t need oxygen to live. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish thrown into a boat, waiting for the club to fall. She continued to gasp in hoarse, ragged breaths, like the air was just out of reach and if she kept trying, she’d be able to catch it finally.
