When I attempt to push him off me, it’s like trying to move a life-size marble statue.All I can do is crane my neck to look up and berate him.The full impact of what just happened hasn’t sunk in yet.
“Let me go!You might think you can take the law into your own hands, but that’s not how this works.”I am and always will be the daughter of a cop.
Shadow pulls off his helmet and flops onto his back.He is panting as if he just ran a mile.
And then I see it.There is blood pooling and leaking out of Shadow’s eyes.I thought vampires were meant to be able to heal themselves?Like those superheroes in the movies.
Is he playing a joke on me?As macabre as it seems, I reach down and touch a trailing tear of blood.There is something so familiar about the red fluid as I inhale its copper scent.It reminds me of every finger cut I’ve ever had.His blood is mixed with mine, mixed with the blood he fed off me last night.
But now the blood is as cold as ice.
“Sh- Shadow?Are you okay?”
I know I should be thanking my lucky stars and praising the Lord that I am still alive, but that’s not how being caught in the middle of a gunfight works.
My dad told me when I was old enough to understand.
“It happens too fast for the brain to process, Luna.All I could ever think about was getting the job done.”
Not the job of staying alive to go home to his family—the job of apprehending the perp and bringing him down.Typical law enforcement priorities.
My job is to remain calm and ascertain the damage.
It all happened so quickly.The door opening.Jake Farmer standing there with his shotgun raised.Shadow protecting me with his body.Riders rushing outside.
And now there are bloody streaks coursing over the blond stubble on Shadow’s chiseled jaw.His eyes close.
“Got some damage, darlin’.Don’t you fret your pretty little head ‘bout it.”He doesn’t bother asking me if I’m all right.He would smell my blood if I were injured.
“All clear?”he calls out weakly to the other Riders.
“Yep.”One of them replies in a casual voice.
When Shadow lets me go, I peep around the one called Larsson’s broad shoulders and bulging biceps that block my view.I don’t expect to see Jake Farmer there with his hands in the air.I know that ship has sailed.We’re dealing with vampires here.
I would feel more pity if Jake hadn’t tried to kill Shadow and me first.What harm have I ever done him?
“Can one of you come and help Shadow please?He’s got blood leaking out of his eyes.”I look up at his face and amend my observation, “And his mouth.”
Shadow staggers slightly as the Riders pick him up.The burly biker with russet brown hair runs to catch him before he can fall.The name on the front of his leather jacket says “Baltosson.”
“Let’s see the damage.”He calls over his shoulder to the others, “Y’all get back in here before the Heiners come looking for the source of that gunshot.Celia is kin to Jake from way back.”
The biker with short-cropped pitch-black hair sweeps the balls off the pool table.The others hoist Shadow up by carrying his arms and leg and then lay him down on it.
I am so distracted, I don’t know which way to turn.I am babbling.
“I thought you were immune to guns!Why is he bleeding?What have you done with Jake Farmer?”
A heavy hand thumps onto my shoulder.“Why don’t you head on back home, Luna.”
It’s the biker with long silvery blond hair and a fey slant to his green eyes.I noticed the way he looked before the helmet covered his face.He looks so much like the Witcher character that it’s uncanny.“It will help us more if you sort out the recipe and get the fucking distillery going again.Shadow needs fluids.We all do.”
He pushes me out of the door.Just as I suspected, there is no sign of Jake Farmer’s unexpected visit outside.
No blood, no guts, not even a stain on the rain-soaked grass.
“I… I want to stay with Shadow.He saved me—” Shrugging his hand off me is like trying to remove a dead weight.
