Page 3 of Chasing Secrets
“Holy shit!” Jalen shouted as the intruder lunged forward and sank his fangs into Chase’s forearm.
Fangs!
Blood welled from the puncture wounds, bright crimson against Chase’s tanned skin. The intruder’s throat worked as he actually drank, making wet, greedy sounds that turned Jalen’s legs to jelly.
A vampire. A goddamn vampire was in his apartment!
All those weird growling sounds and vampire conversations he’d dismissed as drunk talk just became terrifyingly real.
His brain scrambled to make sense of what his eyes were seeing, but it was like trying to force puzzle pieces from different sets together.
For a hysterical moment, he wondered if his renter’s insurance covered supernatural attacks. Probably fell under “acts of God” or some other loophole they’d use to deny his claim.
Chase roared in pain, his face contorting in an unnatural, impossible way. Before Jalen’s eyes, the man’s fingers elongated, the nails extending into curved, deadly claws. His canines lengthened too, thicker and more brutal-looking than the vampire’s delicate fangs.
Not just vampires then. Whatever Chase was, he wasn’t human either. Like okay, vampire in the living room was already nightmare fuel, but now his hot hallway stranger was sprouting weapons-grade claws?
Jalen slid down against the kitchen cabinet until his butt hit the floor. The 911 operator was still talking, but the phone had slipped from his nervous fingers. What was real anymore? Had someone slipped something into his coffee at work? Was he having some kind of psychotic break?
The sound of splintering wood jerked him back to reality as Chase yeeted the vampire across the room, smashing Jalen’s dining table into kindling.
“So much for my security deposit,” Jalen muttered, trying to find humor in a situation that had spiraled far beyond his comprehension.
Heavy footsteps pounded up the hallway outside, followed by a sharp knock. “Sheriff's Department! Open up!”
What was he possibly going to tell them? “Yes, officer, my supernatural bodyguard is currently yeeting a vampire through my furniture, please hold.”
But neither creature paid any attention to the command. They remained locked in their brutal struggle. The door burst open a moment later, revealing two muscular deputies with their weapons drawn.
“Freeze!” the taller one shouted, taking in the destruction with assessing eyes.
Surprisingly, both Chase and the vampire stopped mid-fight, the vampire with his hand around Chase’s throat, Chase with his claws poised to strike.
“Deputies,” Chase acknowledged, slowly lowering his hand, his claws receding.
The vampire, however, looked ready to flee. Or attack.
The shorter deputy nodded grimly, his gaze darting between Chase and the vampire with surprising calm. Almost like he’d seen this sort of thing before.
Jalen noticed their nametags as he pulled himself up from the floor. Deputy Santi and Deputy Leverton.
“Mind telling us what happened here?” Deputy Santi asked Chase, apparently deciding he looked more reasonable than the hissing man with blood on his chin.
“Found this one breaking in,” Chase replied, never taking his eyes off the vampire. “Just in time too.”
Jalen noticed the claws had retracted, Chase’s hands looking human again. His teeth appeared normal as well. If not for the blood still oozing from his arm, Jalen might have convinced himself he’d imagined the whole transformation.
Without conscious thought, he found himself moving from the kitchen toward Chase. His feet carried him across the debris-strewn floor as if drawn by some invisible thread. It made no sense. He should be running in the opposite direction, not approaching a man who’d just sprouted claws like some kind of werewolf.
Yet here he was, stepping over broken glass to stand closer to Chase. The man radiated heat like a furnace, the scent of pine and something wild emanating from his skin.
Deputy Santi secured the handcuffs around the vampire’s wrists with a metallic click.
The vampire’s eyes never left Jalen, his gaze hungry and calculating. A chill ran through Jalen’s body at the naked want in those eyes, as if Jalen was a meal delayed rather than denied.
“Let’s go,” Deputy Santi said firmly, guiding the vampire toward the door.
The creature went without resistance, though his lips curled in a smile that promised this wasn’t over.
