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“Then I followed two vampires into a bathroom, rescued a human, and taught the bloodsuckers a lesson.”
Brooklyn blinked. “I take that back. Maybe you and Logan shouldn’t go out drinking.”
Kieran chuckled. “I wasn’t bored.”
“You’re insane.” He couldn’t imagine hunting down dangerous creatures, let alone more than one of them. He would have run in the opposite direction if he’d spotted them. Then again, Brooklyn had no clue who was a vampire and who wasn’t. “How can you tell they’re vampires?”
“Their stench.” Kieran wrinkled his nose. “It’s cloying, like the scent of cold, wet earth after a heavy rain with an underlying hint of decay that reminds me of a cemetery.”
“Sorry I asked.” Brooklyn shivered. “My attacker just smelled like a regular person to me.”
“Consider yourself lucky you don’t have heightened senses like I do.” Kieran pulled to the curb in front of a convenience store. Brooklyn would have rather gone to a grocery store, but this would do.
“I’ll just be a second.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Kieran asked.
“No, I got this.” He slipped from the car and was heading toward the door when his phone chimed. Brooklyn looked at his phone as he entered, seeing that it was a text from Marcus saying they had to meet up again because he’d had fun.
When Brooklyn finally looked up at his surroundings, he stopped dead in his tracks. In front of him was a guy with a gun, pointing it at the cashier. From behind a shelf, he glimpsed a woman huddled with her child.
The gunman swung his arm around, pointing his weapon at Brooklyn. “Don’t be a hero. Just move to the side. Don’t say a word, don’t do anything, and you might make it out of this alive.”
Brooklyn pressed his back against a cold metal shelf and held his breath, silently praying that he wasn’t shot. The air was thick with tension and the smell of gunpowder, and Brooklyn struggled to keep himself from shaking as he surveyed the scene.
If he smelled gunpowder, that meant the gunman had already fired his weapon. Was someone injured or worse?
Brooklyn tried to think of a way out of this. He considered lunging at the gunman, but he knew that would only get him killed. He had to think of something else, something that would keep the other people in the store safe.
He slowly turned his head to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of the woman and child behind the shelf. The woman’s eyes met his, and Brooklyn saw the fear and desperation in them. He silently mouthed, “It’s going to be okay,” hoping to provide even the slightest bit of comfort.
The gunman’s attention was focused on the cashier, demanding that he empty the register into a bag. Brooklyn tried to calm his breathing, not wanting to draw attention to himself, but holy shit, he was shaking badly.
He also realized the gunman was wearing a ski mask and gloves, making it impossible to identify him. He was tall and muscular, with a menacing aura that sent shivers down Brooklyn’s spine.
But then he heard the cries of the woman and her child. She was trying to keep her little girl quiet, but the girl was scared and didn’t understand what was happening. Brooklyn’s heart broke for them, and he knew he couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.
Slowly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his pepper spray. Ever since his attack, he’d made sure he stuffed it into his front pocket.
Brooklyn took a deep breath, trying to steady his trembling hands. He knew he had to act fast. With a swift motion, Brooklyn pressed the button on the pepper spray and aimed it directly at the gunman’s eyes, causing him to stumble back. He squeezed the trigger, and the gun went off. Brooklyn felt the bullet whiz past his ear, narrowly missing him, before the guy dropped the gun, howling in pain, his eyes shut tightly as he clutched at his face.
Brooklyn didn’t hesitate. He lunged forward and grabbed the gun off the floor, pointing it at the bastard. “Stay down!” he shouted, his voice shaking with fear and adrenaline.
The gunman hesitated for a moment before slowly lowering himself to the floor, hands raised in surrender.
The cashier and the other customers in the store were staring at him, mouths agape. Brooklyn didn’t blame them. That had been the most asinine thing he could have done. He wasn’t a goddamn cop. In fact, Brooklyn had never held a gun in his life.
The door burst open, and Kieran ran inside. He looked at the gunman who was still rubbing his face, and the gun in Brooklyn’s hands. “What in the fuck happened?”
“I-I lost my mind.” Brooklyn heard sirens in the distance. His whole body was shaking, and he felt sick to his stomach. He didn’t know if it was the adrenaline or shock, but he really wanted to throw up.
Kieran eased the gun out of Brooklyn’s hands. “We gotta go.”
“Go?” Brooklyn shook his head. “I just stopped that guy from robbing the store. You have to see if anyone is hurt.”
“You…” Kieran frowned. “You stopped a gunman?”
It dawned on Brooklyn what the situation must have looked like when Kieran ran inside. “You thought I was robbing the store?”
