Page 54 of The Vampire and the Case of the Hellacious Hag

He shook his head. ‘I couldn’t find anyone.’

‘How many people should be working here at this time of the night?’

He checked his watch. ‘There should be at least four people. They might be getting ready to close down for the night, but it shouldn’t be deserted. Not like this.’

‘Who supervises this area?’

He scrolled through his phone and finally gave me a name. ‘Sven Ogelvie.’ He pressed the call button and I heard the ringing tone at the other end before the call flipped to voicemail. At the beep, Thomas said, ‘It’s Patkotak, call me back.’ He tucked the phone into his jacket pocket. ‘He should be at work. Let’s hope he was on the phone or in the john and calls back soon.’

As we turned to walk back to our vehicles, I saw Shadow leap from the broken window – and then a huge explosion knocked us all to the ground.

Chapter 32

I pushed myself slowly to my feet. Sidnee was also standing up, but Thomas wasn’t moving. I rushed over but Sidnee beat me to him. She threw herself down next to him, her hands clutching and unclutching.

I leaned down to check his pulse. It thrummed strongly against my fingers. ‘He’s okay!’ I said. Or at least I think I did, because the blast had knocked out my hearing. Immediately I realised that, my ears made a clicking sound and I moved my jaw to rebalance the pressure. Noise was restored in a rush that made even the slightest sound seem like a roar.

Finally Thomas’s eyelids fluttered open. He groaned, then rolled to his side and tried to sit up. Sidnee grabbed his arm to help him. ‘What the fuck?’ he mumbled.

Yeah: what the actual fuck? ‘I don’t know,’ I admitted. ‘Something went boom.’ I looked around and saw a huge cloud of dust and smoke in the distance. A chill ran downmy spine. My voice, when it came out, was a harsh whisper. ‘My God, I think there was an explosion at the mine.’

Thomas swore and rolled to his feet. ‘We’ve got to get over there,’ he said grimly. ‘Can you call the fire department?’

I pulled out my phone and dialled. ‘666. What is your emergency?’ the perky female voice asked, as if people dialling 666 were inquiring about party supplies. It was the number of the dedicated emergency line for supernats; sometimes supernat emergencies weren’t compatible with calling 911. Okay, most of the time.

‘We need response at the Chrome Mine in Portlock,’ I said briskly. ‘There’s been an explosion.’

‘Who am I speaking to?’

‘This is Officer Barrington with the Nomo’s office. We need immediate emergency response.’ I paused. ‘Send everyone.’

The voice on the other end stuttered a bit. ‘Yes, of course. On their way.’

I hung up and called Gunnar. ‘We felt it,’ he said grimly. ‘The whole town heard the boom.’

‘We’re going to need all the emergency personnel here as soon as possible," I said.

‘From the sirens, they’re already on their way – and so am I. Are you and Sidnee all alright?’

‘Yeah, we’refine. The blast knocked us down but we’re not injured.’

Other than swiping at his ears, Fluffy seemed to be okay. Shadow was nowhere to be seen. Dammit: I should have kept an eye on him! The moment he woke up, I should have known something was going down – that lynx really did have a sixth sense. I hoped that he was hiding because cats were sensitive to noise and vibration and Shadow was more so than most.

‘We gotta go!’ Thomas called. ‘Move!’ He already had the engine running. Much as I hated the idea of leaving Shadow wherever the fuck he was, I also knew that my feline fur baby could definitely look after himself.

The windows of the SUV had been blown out but Thomas had wiped the glass off the seats. ‘We’re going to the mine, Shadow!’ I yelled before we set off. I doubted he’d understand because he wasn’t a shifter like Fluffy, but it was worth a try. I was worried but lives were at risk and we had to see if and how we could help; I’d come back for my cat before I went home.

Thomas drove like a man possessed; I didn’t blame him, though I did clutch onto the door handle. As we tore down the road, I texted Connor that I was okay but there had been an explosion at the mine.

The car park was littered with debris and the whole entrance to the mine was gone, leaving a gaping hole in the hillside. My jaw dropped. The debris was still smouldering and producing noxious smoke. I coughed as it hit the back of my throat.

There were dwarves and humans everywhere, most of them moving and moaning; supernats tended to be harder to kill, which was one plus. Sidnee, Thomas and I jumped out of the SUV, spread out and ran to help those nearest to us.

I ran over to one of the moving bodies, a dwarf. I checked him over: his hair was singed; he had cuts and scrapes and probably a broken wrist. I helped him up and moved him to a clear area.

‘Less serious injuries here,’ I barked to Sidnee and Thomas. They nodded and moved another two of the walking wounded to sit with my dwarf. All three were obviously in pain and shock, but they weren’t in mortal danger. Sidnee grabbed supplies from the SUV and gave them each some painkillers and a thermal blanket.

I went to the next dwarf, triaged and moved him to the less serious area. A vampire, blood pouring out of him, was moving towards one of the dead dwarves intent on getting some fresh blood. ‘No!’ I said hastily. ‘They can’t go to theafterlife unless their whole self is burned, including their blood. Here, bite me.’

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