Page 41 of Dead

A few minutes later, both front doors opened and two large vampires emerged. They headed straight for the diner.

Noah reached into his jacket and released the snap over his weapon as he moved closer.

A few feet away, he could see their teeth elongate and their claws lengthen.

He drew his weapon. “Hands up!” he cried.

Both vampires turned and rushed him.

He took aim at the closest one. A light pulse hit him, eliciting a scream. The vamp’s skin turned a bright shade of blue as he fell to his knees. It was enough for the second vampire to stop dead in his tracks.

Noah trained his weapon on the second male. “Hands up, I said!”

Just then, Chris rushed out of the diner and surveyed the scene. As Noah turned his attention, the vampire lunged.

Noah hit the male with two shots—and the vampire disintegrated into ash.

The first vampire fell to the pavement, crying in agony.

Chris moved closer and pulled out a set of cuffs. He bound the moaning vampire and then looked up at Noah. “Maybe I should reconsider that gun idea.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Noah said, shoving the weapon back into the holster.

Just then, a scared looking male exited the front door of the diner, his pale skin and deep-set dark circles under his eyes made it apparent he was likely Chris’ informant. He turned tail and ran down the street in the opposite direction.

“Seems I might’ve scared off your feeder,” Noah said.

Chris rose to his feet and hefted the mewling vampire, too. “No worries. I got what we needed.” The gorilla shifter smiled widely. “I know where we need to go.” He forced the vampire forward. “And this guy just might give us more details.”

“Die, pigs,” the vampire cried before crying out in pain again. His skin looked almost aflame with blue fire. There were burns all over his flesh, and the smell wasn’t great, either. “I ain’t telling you shit.”

“My friend over there can just shoot you again,” Chris said as he shoved the vampire down the street and closer to the car.

“Fine. Kill me.”

“Oh, those guns have lower settings… we don’t have to kill you. We can just hurt you until you talk,” Chris said.

Noah opened the back door of the cruiser and let Chris shove the vampire inside.

“Ready to play pin the UV on the vampire?” Chris asked with a grin as he shut the door.

“You bet,” Noah murmured. “What about the location?”

Chris fished a piece of paper out of his pocket. “My feeder drew me a map. With the added descriptions he gave me—I’m fairly sure I know where these buildings are.”

Noah took the paper napkin from Chris’ hand. “We need to call the others—get them to get as close as possible and stake out these locations. We need to be sure.” Noah remembered something and turned. “The car these guys came in… we need impound—”

The car was gone.

Fuck.

Someone else had been in the car, more than likely, and they were gone—knowing their friends had been taken down.

“We need to work fast, Chris.”

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