Page 187 of White Wolf
Trina’s hand landed on her gun out of reflex. “Normally I’d call for backup in this kind of situation.”
“No,” Sasha said. “More humans is evenmorecomplicated.”
“So what, then?” Lanny asked, growing impatient.
“They’ll catch my scent soon,” Sasha said. He stood there a moment longer, then seemed to come to a decision, standing up straight, shoulders squared. He walked up the steps to the door and yanked it open – Trina heard the lock give way with a protestingclank.
She traded a look with Lanny, who shrugged.
By mutual, silent agreement, they drew their guns and followed.
The building was quiet inside, but hummed with that low-level current that spoke of habitation. People breathing, turning over in their beds, starting coffee. Despite the stink of garbage, and the fifty-year-old peeling wallpaper in the lobby, the abandoned sneaker with suspicious stains on it at the foot of the stairs, the thought of company was some comfort.
She was scared, she realized, as they started up the stairs behind Sasha. She closed her mouth to cut off the ragged sound of her breathing, but her heart was pounding hard in her throat, adrenaline spiking in painful waves.
She snuck a glance at Lanny. His jawline looked sharp enough to cut glass, all the tendons standing out in his throat. He was scared too. If she took his hand in hers, she had no doubt their frantic heartbeats would match. They’d busted into cook houses, participated in raids, gone running after suspects in dark alleys, but she’d never felt this kind of apprehension before. What they stalked now wasn’t human – not anymore.Anythingcould happen.
Sasha jerked to a sudden halt, threw his head back, nostrils flared wide.
“What–” Trina started.
He took off at a run.
“Shit,” Lanny muttered, and they broke into their own uneven, too-tired running strides.
Sasha moved quicker than a man, though he only looked like he was jogging. His footfalls were light as a child’s, barely touching, almost soundless.
Wait, Trina wanted to call after him, but her throat was too tight.
Up and up, across one landing and then the next, Sasha going faster and faster.
She wasn’t ready.
She thought of the things she’d seen through Nikita’s eyes. Rasputin’s awful red mouth, dripping blood onto the snow.
Shewasn’t ready. She…
Her toe caught the tread of the next stair, and she went sprawling.
Everything seemed to happen at once, after that.
She landed hard on her knees, managing to hold onto her gun, slapping at the next stair up with her other hand. The impact hurt; snapped her teeth together so hard she bit her cheek and tasted blood.
Lanny reached for her and grabbed her under the arm.
And two men leapt into view from the next landing.
A vicious snarl echoed through the stairwell, low and deep and threatening, like a Rottweiler on the attack. Trina knew, with certainty, that Sasha had made that sound. And that the echoing growls, the rumbling, angry tones of big cats at the zoo, belonged to the men – who were in fact vampires.
One of whom was Chad Edwards.
“Fuck,” Lanny swore, and dragged her to her feet. He pressed her to the wall and shielded her with his body, trained his gun on the tangle of snarling boys up on the landing. “Hey, shitheads!” he called to them. “Put your fucking hands up!” It was his booming cop voice, and it got results. Sort of.
Chad snapped around, wide-eyed as a wild animal, and then launched himself down the stairs. In one jump, he cleared all the steps to land on his toes on the next landing, a blur of movement that left Lanny swearing and jerking back out of reflex.
Sasha grabbed the other one by the throat and slammed him up against the wall with another snarl, lips peeled back off his teeth.
“We should…” Lanny started, but trailed off, because Chad was gone, no two ways about it, and they both knew they didn’t have a prayer of catching up to him.
