Page 80 of Suck This

Pavlov turned and stared at me.

“Is the mayor having a press conference addressing the attacks?”

His eyebrows rose.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I can find out.”

“He is,” Nash said, holding up his phone.

“Good man,” I said. “Where is it?”

“The courthouse lawn.”

• • •

Flashing to the middle of the courthouse lawn, Acadia’s head lolling backward as her hair dripped red droplets on the concrete, I marched through the crowd of reporters and townsfolk.

Straight up the podium I went, disrupting the mayor as he spoke of the ‘horrendous attacks’ on our fellow citizens.

I didn’t stop until I was directly in front of the crowd.

There had to be at least a thousand people there, a hundred of those reporters from Austin as well as the surrounding towns.

“Many of you won’t know the devastation caused, because the media won’t relay the facts. Some are scared. Others are biased. While even more are in the pockets of the human activists,” I started. “But I want to show you firsthand what happens when you start killing just for the hell of killing.”

I shifted Acadia’s body in my arms, and a few droplets of blood flew off and hit the man in the front row.

He didn’t even flinch when the crimson drops hit his white shirt, splattering the entire front of his shirt.

“This woman,” I started. “This woman is the woman that used to work your crime scenes.”

Gasps started to fill the air.

“Yes, the sister of the police chief. Acadia Powell.”

Whispers started up, but I continued as if they didn’t say a word.

“She was nearly raped a few weeks ago,” I continued. “I stopped the man from doing that, and in doing so, put a bright and shiny target on her forehead as a vampire supporter.”

The mayor started to step forward to say something, but I silenced him with a single look.

“Tonight, she went home,” I explained, telling what I knew of her night based on my own recollection and what Corbin had detailed from witnesses. “She had just arrived at her apartment and was getting ready to get in the shower, change clothes, eat ice cream. She never got a chance to do any of those things because her door was kicked in. A concussion grenade was thrown into the open door, stunning her into stillness. Then, when she couldn’t defend herself, they shot her through the head with a high-powered rifle.”

Gasps filled the air.

“If I had not been there tonight, she would’ve died.”

Whispers of excitement started to fill the air.

“I turned her,” I continued. “Saving her life and bringing her back into a world that hates the very being that she now is.”

The mayor grunted out something, and I turned to him.

“And this man is a staunch non-supporter of us,” I went on. “He’s done everything he can to stop us from doing anything in this city, all because he’s convinced that we’re bad people.” I turned back to the crowd. “But let me tell you something. You haven’t seen anything yet.”

With that, I hopped down off the small stage erected for the mayor, and walked into the darkness.

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