Page 21 of Surging Reef
Who the hell was Naveen? Another vampire? Kazimir sat straighter. Were there more people here? He leaned forward to see if he could see more of the kitchen and the bedroom, but there was no one there as far as he could tell.
The man checked his phone, shook his head. “Nothing.I’ll make sure he’s okay.” Then he walked out the front door and closed it with a soft snick behind him.
Anne checked her phone too, but then she pocketed it.
The volume of the sirens increased as if they were right outside.
“Did anyone see you enter the building, Brian?” She wasn’t smiling anymore, didn’t look friendly at all.
“I don’t think so. Or I assume your boy did, since he came in after—” He gestured toward the door the man had exited through. “—but I didn’t see anyone.”
Before she could reply, the front door banged open, and the man rushed back into the apartment. Faster than anyone should be able to move. “Cops and ambulances are parking right outside, and there is a crowd in the alley.”
Anne glared at Kazimir, and he raised his hands in a hold-on-take-it-easy gesture. “I didn’t come through the alley.”
The man gave a minuscule nod, and Anne whirled around, only to pace.
“People are moving up the staircase.” The man spoke in a calm tone, but Kazimir noticed tension in his shoulders. He strained to listen but couldn’t hear anything other than his heart thudding in his ears. Fuck.
“Should we leave?” The man studied Anne’s every move.
“I want Ashby.” She flashed teeth.
“We’ll get him, but the human police will be here within a few seconds.”
Anne held up a finger to Kazimir. “I’ll see you again, Brian Birdwell.”
God, he hoped not.
Then they were gone. Not in a puff of smoke or anything but gone much faster than should be possible. Kazimir pushed off the chair and stumbled toward the narrow console table in the hallway where a wallet was resting. He opened it and sawAshby’s photo on a driver’s license.
He pocketed the wallet right as there was a loud knock on the door. It would be weird if he were fully dressed this time of night. He hit the light switch, dousing the apartment in darkness, and stripped off down to his underwear. As he rushed into the bedroom, there was another loud knock. “Police. Open the door.”
He rumpled the covers on the bed.
“Coming!” Then he spoke lower. “Come here, Pharos.”
Pharos limped over to him, and he opened the front door, squinting at the light outside as if he were partly asleep. “Yes?”
“Mr. Kalen?”
“Eh…no…Ashby is out of town. I’m his boyfriend, Kazimir Wrenley.”
The cop doing the talking looked surprised for half a second before he concealed it.
Pharos moved forward to greet the cops, but Kazimir bent to pick him up. “Better stay inside, boy.” He nuzzled Pharos’ ear and yawned. He didn’t have to fake it.
“Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Wrenley, but someone reported a break-in.”
Kazimir blinked at him. “What?”
The policeman sighed and dropped his shoulders, and the three others who stood behind him lost their rigidity alongside him. “Someone called in and reported a break-in here on the third floor, and we have a body outside—”
“A body?” Ice shot through him. “What do you mean by a body?” Fuck, had Anne gotten hold of Ashby after all? Had she killed him out in the open?
The guy held up a hand as if to calm him. “It looks like a falling accident. Maybe a burglar trying to get away on the fire escape and falling.”
Kazimir stared at him. “A…burglar?”
