Page 50 of The Vampire and the Case of the Perilous Poltergeist

Nuts. There was no way we could get to them before they opened fire. I motioned to Connor that we should back away; I was out of ideas and, by the frustrated look on Connor’s face, so was he. Fluffy was locked into his fake limp until we made a move, though no one was looking at him as he faded into the darkness. He was also making a strategic retreat: smart dog.

We were all on Team Sneak Away, except we’d forgotten the trickiest member of our team, Shadow. He must have slipped free from Harry because suddenly he was slinking past my leg. I tried to grab him but, like his name, he was mist, fog – and he washunting.

I shivered as smoky colour lifted from his silvery fur and melted the cute harness right off him. He raced along the ground, enveloped two of the men and they went down screaming, as acid-like smoke consumed them. The other soldiers looked on in horror, as did I. Memories of the beastfrom beyond the barrier besieged me, and I fought for a moment to get back to the here and now.

When I looked at my lynx, unlike the beast he still retained his golden eyes. For the billionth time I wondered what my sweet boy really was. I didn’t want him to be a killer; I wanted him to remain an innocent kitten, not become a murderous, deadly beast. This wasourfight and it wasn’t a supernatural one because the men were human.

Nevertheless, this was our chance and we rushed the remaining soldiers – but I tripped on an uneven patch of ground and the sound of me stomping on the gravel had them whirling around. Fucksticks!

Connor killed his target and Fluffy knocked another man down, but the leader had his gun aimed right at me. I tried to step aside at vamp speed as it boomed but I hadn’t fully regained my balance. Connor stepped in front of me and the bullet went through his side.

As the blood seemed to spray in slow motion, my heart stopped and terror filled me. I wanted to throw up but I rushed to his side instead. He’d taken a bullet for me. My God,he’d taken a bullet for me!

Connor didn’t even hesitate before reaching out to the man closest to him, the one Fluffy had knocked down. He opened his mouth wide, latched on to his neck and started to drink. Fluffy was wrestling with the leader, holding on to the man’s wrist so he couldn’t aim his gun at me again. As Connor drank to heal himself, I gathered myself and leapt into the fray.

I tore the gun away from the leader’s grip but it was on a strap around his neck, so when I yanked it he went over backwards and pulled me down with him so that he, Fluffy and I were tangled in a pile of limbs and guns.

I threw a few hard punches, expecting him to defend himself and scramble backwards, but he let them land then movedtowards me. He straddled me and pressed his rifle against my throat. Fluffy bit him on the ass and tried to pull him away, but although the guy yelled he didn’t let up the pressure on my windpipe.

Shadow padded over and hissed but his smoky coat was back. He didn’t have a lot of energy left after he’d deployed his shadow, so he probably couldn’t use it to kill again.

I realised I was trying to take in panicked breaths like a human – but I wasn’t a human. I was verynothuman. I met the man’s eyes, reached into the cold part of my brain and shoved my will at him. ‘Stop!’ He froze. ‘Lift your gun away from my throat.’ Captured by my mesmerising magic, he did so.

Connor prowled forward, death in his eyes. ‘Connor, stop! We need answers!’ I yelled before he could rip the leader’s head off. He stopped and ground his teeth.

The man was panting and blood was pouring from his mouth. My few punches had been solid and I reckoned I’d cracked a rib that had punctured one of his lungs. I had no time to be sympathetic, though, because we needed answers.

I held onto his eyes. ‘What are you doing here with the supernats?

‘We are experimenting with some new drugs that will control you filthy supernats. We need more of you to experiment on because you keep dying on us. We were told to take more subjects from the academy because no one would report it.’

Connor barked, ‘Who are you working for?’

‘Answer him!’ I ordered when the man didn’t reply.

‘I’m MIB. We’re working for a secret black-ops group that doesn’t have a name – at least, not one I know.’

Connor and I looked at each other grimly. ‘And what’s your objective here?’ I asked.

‘I told you. We’re taking some of the supernat recruits from the academy for experimentation. We especially want the vamp.’ Hiseyes remained on mine even as he hacked and coughed up more blood. Panic filled his eyes; he needed medical attention or he’d die – and he knew it.

‘You can’t have her,’ Connor snarled. With a lightning-fast movement, he reached out and snapped the man’s neck with an audible crunch.

Sidnee ran over. ‘Are you okay? I couldn’t get to you because they’d have seen me.’

‘Don’t worry. I’m glad you stayed safe.’ I handed over her clothes. ‘We’re fine, but we’ve got a lot of bodies to deal with. What should we do?

Connor looked at Sidnee. ‘You feel like another swim?’ he asked.

She swallowed, and when she spoke her voice was unnaturally high. ‘You wantmeto get rid of the bodies?’

‘Is that possible? Won’t they float up eventually?’ I asked. We’d had the cold-water survival class but no class on what happened when someone dumped a body – or several.

Sidnee smiled and this time she showed her shark teeth; she was on the edge of going mer. ‘Not if I put them in the Alaska current. They won’t surface until they hit the Aleutians, and by then they won’t surface at all.’

I shivered slightly at the change in my friend, though not enough for her to notice.

‘You two drag them down to the water,’ Sidnee said. ‘I’ll reappropriate a net and pull them out with me.’

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