Page 51 of Depths of Obsession
She shakes her head and then winces. “I don’t know. My car is done. Totaled. Should we call the cops?”
I stare at her. “Maybe.” I pause. “Or we could call an Uber and go to the airport. Royce is still there, right.”
Luna stares at me, blinks and then a slow smile spreads across her face. “I like what you’re thinking. I’m game if you are.”
“Yeah. Let’s just get out of here and call an Uber from a street or two over. No need to draw any more attention to ourselves.”
Luna frowns. “Should we call one-one-two for that guy?”
“No. They’ll send an ambulance, but they’ll send thepoliziaas well and we’ll be here all night. We’ll never get away. He’s got to be dead and besides, he just held me hostage. I’m in no rush to help him. Thank God Rafe and Tony taught us what to do if we ever get carjacked.”
“I know, right?” Luna shakes her head and then puts her hand on the door handle.
Suddenly the stranger makes a weird gasping noise and sits up. His head tips gruesomely to the side, but then it jerks upright. My mouth drops open. He turns and looks at us. His eyes narrow again and he starts to crawl toward us when he cocks his head and listens. Then he slides off the trunk and takes off down the street, at first dragging one leg and then by the time he hits the corner, using both legs. He disappears from sight.
“Did you see that?” Luna asks, her voice two octaves higher than normal.
My stomach rolls and the urge to puke nearly overwhelms me. It’s true. All of it. Every time I think I can convince myself that the whole vampire thing is a joke, or a prank, or just not real, I’m smacked in the face with reality. Vampires do exist, and that guy was one, or some other magical creature.
“We need to move,” I say. “Let’s just get out of here.”
Luna nods, still staring in the direction where the stranger disappeared. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
I undo the seatbelt that saved my life and reach for the door handle when suddenly the car door is ripped open.
CHAPTER 17
“Pippa,” I say as I crouch down next to the car, my eyes scanning her. The sight of blood on her face tightens my chest. “Are you hurt?” I croak.
“Er… no. I’m fine.” Her voice is shaky, her eyes darting around, avoiding mine.
“You’re bleeding.” I hadn’t needed to see her to know—I could smell her blood from two blocks back, the metallic tang calling to me in a way I hate.
“It’s just my head. I must have bumped it on something.” She glances at me, but her gaze quickly shifts, her eyes scanning our surroundings nervously.
I gently turn her head, examining the wound. “It’s sliced. So is your cheek. Did he do this to you?” My voice drops, fury simmering beneath the surface.
“He?” she echoes, still glancing around. Something’s off. She’s not being honest, and the scent of fear lingers in the air, mixing with the call of her blood.
“Yes, the man who was in the back seat. The man you thought was my cousin,” I growl, my temper fraying. He was in the car with her. He tried to kill the blonde at the club, and he was in the fucking car with Pippa.
“He jumped out and left,” Luna says, coming around the car. She’s pale, her eyes wide. Rocco stands beside her, his posture tense.
I look up at Luna. “Explain,” I demand, my voice harsher than I intend. “Tell me exactly what happened, from the beginning.”
Luna exchanges a look with Pippa, then licks her lips nervously. “Well, he held Pippa at knife point and got in the car with her. He sat in the backseat. We put on?—”
“The police,” Rocco cuts in.
“I know,” I say. “We have to move.” I nod toward the car, and Rocco nods back. I pull Pippa out of the car. If Luna wasn’t here, I’d take off and carry Pippa back to my place—we’d be there in minutes. But Luna doesn’t know about vampires being real.
“Come,” I say to both of them, wrapping an arm around each of them and moving them quickly down the street.
Rocco is getting everything out of the car, and as we hit the corner, I hear the license plate clank, followed a few seconds later by a whoosh sound.
“What’s that?” Pippa asks, her voice shaky.
“Rocco lit Luna’s car on fire.”
