Page 60 of The Vampire and the Case of the Baleful Banshee

He froze. ‘Killed? Aoife?’ His voice was a strangled whisper, his confusion evident. ‘You’re lying!’ he said slowly, trying to work out what my game was. ‘Banshees are damned hard to kill. She’s fine – she has to be! How dare you lie to me, you bitch!’

His confusion and his dismay were believable. Maybe he hadn’t killed her after all. ‘I’m not lying. I have no reason to lie. Aoife is dead.’

Something in my tone must have convinced him because he turned and punched a pile of boards. ‘Fuck!’ he screamed.

Fluffy decided that was the perfect moment to take Jayden down. He ran from the door and, using the darkness, pounded towards the witch. Unfortunately he’d timed it wrong because Jayden was turning to face me with a question on his lips when he spotted the incoming canine.

He instantly raised his hands and I knew something nasty was heading towards my dog. He was going to hurt Fluffy! My rage burned hot, and this time I had no chance of containing it. A blast of fire leapt from my chest towards Jayden. He saw it and leapt aside just as Fluffy reached him, grabbed his arm and pulled him to the floor. I used the distraction and my vampire speed to rush forward and flip him face down. I planted a knee in his back and reached for his arm to cuff him.

Before I could secure the cuff, I hurtled backward and slammed into the wall. My gun skittered away and my breath whooshed out.

As I struggled to pull in air, Fluffy leapt forward with a ferocious growl and grabbed Jayden’s wrist between his jaws. The witch screamed as my dog clamped down hard. No more Mr Nice Fluffy.

Jayden flung up his other hand and Fluffy went sliding back deep into the stacks of boards and out of sight. I heard his sharp squeal as he struck something.

‘I thought you were a fucking vamp, not a fire witch!’ Jayden yelled at me. He flung up a hand and his magic slowly dragged me back up the wall. Then he rushed me.

I wasn’t the same vampire I’d been when Virginia had done something similar; she’d held me off the ground and cut me so I’d bleed out. No, I wasn’t the same at all. I knew I had fire magic and this was the perfect situation to use it.

I let my rage boil up in my centre, and when it was unbearable I let it out. At that point, I wasn’t thinking about a warehouse full of wood – I wasn’t thinking about anything. The fire struck Jayden and he flew back.

I slid down the wall and grabbed my fallen gun as he screamed. I didn’t want him to die like Virginia; I didn’t want to hear his screams in my nightmares. I called the fire back to me and in a second it had flown towards my chest and fizzled out.

‘Stay down!’ I barked.

Jayden rolled onto his feet and I didn’t hesitate; if he wasn’t staying down, I’d have to make him. So I shot him.

He dropped like a tonne of bricks. If he was eliminated as a threat then he wasn’t my focus anymore. I ran past the prone witch and hurried over to Fluffy, who was heaving himself to his feet. He limped for a moment then seemed to shake it off.

‘Are you okay?’ I asked urgently. He gave me a lick. ‘Thank goodness. Can you find Connor?’ He put his nose down and started weaving through the stacks. ‘Good boy, find them!’ I encouraged.

God, let them be alive.

Chapter 37

Fluffy picked up speed as he kept his nose down and wove through the stacks. Finally he gave a yip which I recognised meant, ‘I’ve found something!’ As I turned the corner, I was both relieved and panicked to see Connor and Lee: relieved because we’d found them, panicked because they were either dead or unconscious.

I rushed to Connor and desperately pressed my fingers on his neck. I felt a bolt of pure panic when I found no pulse, then my brain caught up. He was a vampire, a proper one. He never had a pulse and, unlike me, he didn’t need to breathe.

How did you wake a sleeping vampire? My brain supplied the unhelpful punchline: by coffin. Shut up, brain, you are no help at all.

I gave the reins over to panic and slapped him across the face. ‘Connor, wake up!’ His eyelids stirred and I nearly fainted with relief. He was alive – or undead. ‘Connor, wake up!’ I said again and shook him none too gently. I really needed him with me.

He groaned as I tried to get my shit together. Connor and Lee were fine, though they’d probably needed blood to recover. I hastily untied them both. Lee moaned as I moved him but he didn’t regain consciousness.

Connor’s eyes fluttered open. I had never been happier in my entire life than I was when I saw that shade of blue. I tried to keep a lid on my emotions – bawling with relief wouldn’t have been professional and I was hanging onto my professionalism by a thread. I’d shot someone, for fuck’s sake. After I’d set him on fire. I wouldn’t be winning any law-and-order awards anytime soon.

‘Do you keep any blood around here?’ I asked Connor.

His eyes sharpened on my face and he jolted up. ‘Run, Bunny!’ His fangs snicked down as he tried to struggle to his feet. He staggered and I took his arm to steady him.

Just like him to think of my safety first, even when he was half out of it. My heart warmed. ‘It’s okay,’ I reassured him. ‘I shot Jayden – after I set him on fire. I promise we’re safe. But he did something to you and you need blood. Do you have any here?’

‘Fridge,’ he managed. ‘Break room.’

I had no idea where that was but I trusted Fluffy to find it. He knew the words fridge and food. ‘Fluffy, find the fridge.’

His eyes told me that he understood. He raised his head and sniffed, chose a direction and trotted off. I followed.

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