Free One Late Night by Ashley Shayne Page B

again.
    The amusement in his eyes changed to appreciation as he took
me in. I’ve been told I’m hot—though both my body and my features are too
irregular to ever be described as “beautiful”—and from the unmistakable look in
his eyes, it seemed he found me attractive too. Even while huddled in a corner
of an alley in terror, apparently. He smiled slowly at me, a full smile this
time, and came toward me. He crouched down in front of me and I noticed that
his teeth weren’t human. The incisors came to points. Very sharp points.
    Oh my God! He’s a vampire! I followed this
thought with a choked-off laugh and a mental slap upside my head. Of course he wasn’t a vampire. Vampires aren’t real, I told myself sharply.
Almost unwillingly, I looked across the road at the crumpled shape lying there
and back to the man kneeling in front of me. At least, I thought they
weren’t real. After the last five minutes, I wasn’t so sure.
    “Are you all right?” he asked me softly. His voice was
soothingly melodic, deep and gentle. “I’m Adin. Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt
you.”
    Stunned, I managed to nod. He opened his mouth to continue
and I heard the soft snorting noise again. I made a sound I can only describe
as a squeak and Adin’s head whipped around toward the noise. For several
seconds, he appeared to listen intently. I thought I heard a sound come from
the direction opposite to the one the odd noise came from and heard myself
start to take short, harsh, ragged breaths as terror flowed through me. Adin
looked back to me and I stared into his eyes in desperation. I was suddenly
certain those things would kill me if they found me. I was equally sure only he
could save me and I really, really hoped he was going to. It would be so easy
to just leave me here for the monsters.
    “Please don’t leave me,” I begged, grabbing one of his hands
and looking into his eyes fearfully.
    He stared back at me for a moment and then seemed to come to
a decision.
    “I won’t leave you. This is my fault. You shouldn’t have
been caught up in this. Come.”
    In one quick motion, he rose from his kneeling position and
swept me up into his strong arms. He told me to hold on and then swiftly started
running for an alley I hadn’t noticed, which ran behind what looked like an
abandoned plant. I tightened my arms around his neck as we sped down the alley.
We were going much faster than any unburdened man could possibly run, much less
one who was carrying a full-grown woman in his arms. The wind whipped the hair
back from my face and my skirt out around my legs. I turned my face into his
chest to help me breathe in the strong wind and thought again that whatever
Adin was, it wasn’t just plain old human.
    We rounded a corner and Adin skidded to a halt so suddenly
he almost dropped me. Not one but two more of the monstrosities were waiting
for us in the alley. They snuffled and both their heads snapped up. I assumed
they smelled us on the wind. One roared, a terrifying sound I was sure I would
hear in my worst moments for years to come, and Adin quickly put me down and
thrust me behind him.
    “Sorry about this,” he told me ruefully. “Stay behind me.
Pay attention and try to run if you can.”
    And with that, he leaped at the nearest of the two
creatures. He moved almost faster than I could see and I heard a bellow of pain
from the beast he’d targeted. It staggered back and fell but before Adin could
follow up, the other beast was on him. Quick as a flash it backhanded him into
a wall and he slid down the rough brick surface to land propped up on the alley
floor. He shook his head and seemed dazed and I had a moment of terrified
despair.
    The second creature advanced on him and I cursed silently to
myself. I thought about running but it seemed pointless. My death would be mere
moments behind Adin’s, of that I was sure. Desperately I cast my gaze around
the alley, looking for a weapon. I spotted a steel pipe lying on the