Page 65 of The Doctor's Wolf: Part Two
The alley itself was unremarkable, cleanish in the way any quiet corner of a big city might get.A spider had made a cobweb between the wall and a rain pipe.Lichen grew on the plaster.
“At the danger of being the Devil’s advocate, maybe our missing college kid got into a bad situation that has nothing to do with an old vampire, and maybe the old vampire is just…a really old bigot,” Gordon whispered, knowing that in all likelihood, he was wrong.
“Ah, youth,” Maxim whispered back, one hand on his short sword.“There was a time, many times, when I hoped bad situations had taken those I was called to find, the vanished, the taken.It’s why humanity has always kept the tales of monsters.The reality of other humans being evil is too much for most of us.”
“The car’s still an option,” Adler said, placing his big warm hand on Gordon’s shoulder.I like that he’s independent and smart and so very beautiful, but if he were a little more scared and preferred hiding over this, I’d be the last to complain.
Gordon chuckled.“Ah, detective.We went over this.I’ll hide behind you.”
Gordon flinched when he realized he’d responded to Adler’s thoughts rather than his words.Shit.I’m telling him, but not out here, not while we’re working with the badassest hunter to ever hunt.
“Yeah, yeah.My independent mate,” Adler said, sounding too fond to care or pick up on any lapse on Gordon’s part.
“I will say, turtledoves, it is getting distractingly adorable to have you around.Please hush now while I pick this lock.”
“Oh, you can do that?”Gordon asked, taking a step closer.
Paula had been able to pick a lock too, and she had shown Gordon once, opening their garden shed one day in high summer.She’d asked Gordon to stand on an old, rickety crate, and he still remembered the feeling of the wood shifting under his weight, of the upside-down green apple painted on the side of the crate, the crisp color long faded.There’d been nothing inside the shed that they had wanted, but it had still felt like an adventure to Gordon.
“Naturally.And I do have to, seeing as there is no doorbell we could ring here, no way to pretend we’re girl scouts with too many cookies.”Maxim had the door open in a flash, pushing it inward slowly, a frown on his face.“This is odd.”
“Huh?”
Adler growled.“The door should swing open toward the outside so that if you’re running—from a fire, someone chasing you—you can get out quickly.”
“Indeed.Gordon, back behind Adler and myself.Stay alert, turtledoves.”
They went into the building.The floor tiles were the first thing Gordon noticed, old looking and patterned with red flowers on yellowish ochre.Dust hung in the air, not the kind of thing that comes from a lack of cleaning alone but from disuse, abandonment.
Quietly, neither of them as quietly as Maxim, they went up the stairs.Maxim was about a flight ahead of where Gordon was when Adler tensed.“Maxim.I smell blood.Not a lot, and not all that fresh.Might not even be from the same person.”
Maxim’s shoulders tensed.“I see.If only young Raven had been into drugs, if only he’d run away with a lover.Adler, I want you and Gordon to stand back.This is my duty first.”
“No eye contact, right?”Adler asked, looking over his shoulder at Gordon.
Maxim nodded.“But if he’s as good as I fear, he can also draw your gaze.It’s easier with wolves actually.I can show you some time, if you consent.”
“Uh, maybe not,” Adler said.
“Fair.Wait here.”Maxim blurred as he sped up the stairs.
After a few seconds, he reappeared in front of them.Gordon, even though he’d seen it before, still found the way he could move without making any noise, extraordinarily creepy.
“A door, third flight up.The attic above that is silent.I’ll go in first, you two follow.If you run into a human, I leave it to you to subdue them, Adler.Gordon, first aid unless you endanger yourself.I will be looking for the vampire.”
Gordon nodded, his heartbeat picking up.Maybe the car doesn’t sound too bad after all.But while he was sure Adler wouldn’t have minded, Gordon knew it was too late to back out now.
Chapter 35
Adlerdidn’tlikethis.Heloathedthat his mate was here, but Maxim had decided it was okay to take Gordon and then Gordon had decided it was okay to take himself, and now here they were.Possibly about to fight another vampire as powerful as Maxim if such a thing existed.
Our killer doesn’t like people like us, doesn’t like that we belong together, that the mate bite has made it an undeniable fact.Adler was hyper focused on Gordon, and ready to defend him at a moment’s notice.He was glad for Gordon’s hand on his back, like a warm lifeline that let him know exactly where his mate was.
The two of them did their best to ascend the stairs as quietly as Maxim did.When they reached the door, a solid, wooden thing, Adler nodded and tapped his nose, mouthedblood.It was stronger here, so strong that Adler was almost sure Maxim’s and Gordon’s vampire senses should be able to pick up on it too.The hunter nodded.
A few seconds ticked by.Adler could tell Maxim, the alpha here, was considering the best path forward, and Adler was happy to wait.Behind him though, his mate shifted to get a better look.
Don’t be curious, let the alpha move us forward,he thought, worried to say the words out loud or turn in case that would attract attention from whoever was behind that door and inside the apartment.
