caught half-naked.
“I’ll see you out,” the detective added, facing Kellan.
“No need. I can find my way,” Kellan said.
“Maybe so, but I’d feel better making sure you got to the street.”
McKenna broke in. “Truly, Derek, does he look like he needs help?”
“Which is exactly why I’m offering it,” the detective said.
“He brought me home,” she explained.
“I see that.”
Wanting to avoid more tension, Kellan shrugged into the jacket and zipped it up. After rolling his shoulders, he said to the detective, “See ya.”
“I’ll be back,” the detective told McKenna as he followed Kellan into the hallway. “In the meantime, Mac, maybe you can turn on more lights?”
She offered no remark in return. Her eyes followed Kellan.
Ten steps toward the staircase, with the detective tagging along behind, Kellan stopped abruptly, alerted to a new problem. Looking up, he said to the detective, “You’re going to keep an eye on her?”
“I usually do,” the detective replied.
“That gun’s loaded?”
“Are you wondering if I’ll shoot you for taking liberties with McKenna?”
“I promise you there are far worse things than me around tonight,” Kellan announced truthfully, able to smell the vampire on the roof and sense its bottomless hunger.
“Maybe so,” the detective said. “Yet I think I’ll deal with one thing at a time.”
Kellan didn’t want to leave McKenna and vowed the separation wouldn’t be for long. He just had to take care of the little problem on the roof without this detective’s prying eyes, and then get rid of the detective.
McKenna might wait for him. Then again, maybe she’d lock the door for good since she’d been afforded the chance to regret her actions and her invitation now that their night together had been interrupted.
Still, he’d find a second opportunity.
He had to.
Their footsteps were quiet on the steps. Once on the street, the detective waited with a shoulder against the building’s brick entry for Kellan to reach the Harley. But Kellan couldn’t leave. The fanged bloodsucker was clinging to the side of the building above them like an oversize spider. Really nasty vamps with bad intentions did that in order to peer into windows to locate their next unsuspecting victims. This one didn’t seem to care about the two people below.
If Miller glanced upward, he’d see the danger lurking there. Possibly he’d even believe his eyes. At the moment, though, the detective’s only concern was getting rid of the biker who had fraternized with his old flame. Like most mortals, Miller wouldn’t catch a whiff of the supernatural threat that was almost in his face.
Leaving now was impossible. As soon as he exited the area, the dead fanger might drop, and Miller wouldn’t know what hit him. It also might swing through the window and reach McKenna before Kellan could hit the stairs.
He saw McKenna at the window. The damn vampire was dangling a few feet above her, its white face gleaming with malice.
Kellan knew he could get past Detective Miller easily enough, but if he used his special speed, the cop would know there were things on this earth that lay beyond the realm of the possible. Miller’s gun could slow the rogue vampire down if the detective got off a few rounds, yet those bullets wouldn’t kill the monster, even if Kellan were to point the bloodsucker out.
This was his problem. Taking care of bad guys was what he did.
“Why were you with her? What’s McKenna to you?” Miller asked as Kellan turned toward him.
“Is that your business?” Kellan asked.
“I’ve just made it my business.”
Kellan figured he had a few seconds at most to play along with the detective’s line of questioning.
“I gave her a ride,” he said.
Miller’s dark eyes were almost rudely assessing. “Yes. That’s why the lights were off in her apartment, as well as your jacket. Mac’s gratefulness for that ride being the reason?”
Kellan kept his eyes on the detective so as not to call attention to the monster closing in. He said, “I offered to get her home when she needed help.”
“Mac seldom needs help. So if she did, you have my thanks for that.”
Of course, Miller didn’t mean that about the thanks. Most likely he’d been informed about the call McKenna had made, though, and would know she tried to reach him first.
This was checkmate when there was no need of it. Kellan supposed he would be pressed to honor his vows to the end, as he always did, so that humans wouldn’t panic over seeing what hid in the shadows. He went so far as to think about showing his fangs to this detective, just to get Miller on board.
Turning to the Harley, Kellan peered over his shoulder. The vampire had reached McKenna’s window, where she was standing very close to the glass. Another couple of breaths and the rogue would find its way in.
Kellan considered what might constitute the lesser of two evils. Reveal himself and his abilities to this detective and get to McKenna, or let Miller find out the hard way about one of the world’s darkest secrets.
“I forgot something,” Kellan said, rounding back to where the detective stood.
“I’ll save it for you, whatever it is,” Miller promised sarcastically, pushing off the wall to block the doorway.
“It’s important that I go back up there, Detective.”
Miller gave him a look that more or less translated to over my dead body. But by then the sound of breaking glass filled the night.
* * *
McKenna didn’t know what happened. One minute she was looking at the two men on the sidewalk, and the next minute there were shards of shattered glass in her face.
She stumbled back, caught herself from falling on the bed and sprang sideways with an adrenaline surge as something barreled through the opening that moments ago had been a sturdy dual-paned window.
Intruder.
A shout lodged in her throat, but her police-trained reflexes rallied. She hit the floor and rolled toward where her gun was hidden in a drawer, figuring that timing would be her ally and provide the precious seconds necessary for her to protect herself from attack.
Unfortunately, she didn’t get far. The guy was incredibly fast. Strong hands caught her by the hair and swung her around. Gasping, she was on her back before her next breath, smelling the rancid odor coming from her attacker’s open mouth.
McKenna
