few feet in front of her face. She heard the thing in the darkness…and heard that it was not alone. The ghoul had come with friends, and they were chasing her.
It was then that she rammed fully into someone who appeared too quickly from the fog for her to stop herself. In her panic, she staggered back and raised her gun. But it was neither a ghoul nor a vampire that stood before her. It was a handsome man in a long peacoat, watching her in surprise and amusement.
She furrowed her brow. “Jonathan?”
9
It was not Walter or a ghoul as Maxine had feared. Instead, it was the oddly charming gentleman she had shared a dance and a drink with barely an hour ago. The poor Englishman who had found himself caught in the middle of mayhem. He was cast dramatically in the flickering light of the amber glow of the gas lamp overhead.
He raised his hands in surrender, and she realized she still held her gun pointed at his chest. She lowered it and shook her head apologetically. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how you found me in the fog, but you should go.”
“I decided I could not leave you there to defend yourself alone in good conscience.” Jonathan glanced down to her gun. “Although it seems you have the situation handled.”
“Not really. Not I, at least. I will be all right, though. Mostly…” Who was she honestly trying to convince? The gun was useless against monsters like them. But it made her feel better regardless—any shelter in a storm.
“Mostly?”
She let out a breath. “I know this is a lot to absorb, Mr. Harker, but there are creatures in this world that aren’t human. They prey on mankind. I fear one of them has their sights set on me. He sent his friends—his minions—after me.”
“Do you know why?”
“No. I know what I have done to inspire him, but I do not know what he wants from me.”
He cast her an incredulous look with one eyebrow raised. But over which half—her ignorance over the vampire’s mission or that there was a vampire at all—she did not know. “I do not care if you believe me.” She laughed sadly. “I merely need you to leave before you’re harmed.”
A crash and several inhuman roars inspired her to whirl, pointing her gun off into the darkness. The boom of gunfire and the screams of monsters were close, far closer than the distance she had run. Either the fight was moving after her, or between the fog and her fear she had gone in circles. It was a fifty-fifty chance at the rate her evening was progressing.
She kept her gun pointed aloft into the darkness. The screams in the shadows were not the sound of any beast or man she had ever known. Ghouls, perhaps. Or worse. The things at the gala that she had witnessed were beyond her imagination.
Harker pulled in a breath of air in surprise. “You aren’t lying, are you?”
She glanced over her shoulder and winced in regret. This was probably a great deal for him to witness. His brown eyes were wide as they scanned the shadows. She was sympathetic. This was all very new to her too. “I know, and I’m sorry. Attribute this to having too much to drink and go home. Go, before they see you with me and attack you.”
Another roar and a crash, and she turned her focus back on the battle that was coming closer, not at the man behind her. A figure lurched from the darkness, and its glinting, terrible red eyes gave it away. Another ghoul was coming for her.
It leapt through the air, and she opened fire. She put a few bullets into its chest and head before it landed in a heap some five feet away from her. It hissed and tried to claw at her, its fangs distended, its lips drawn grotesquely away from its rows of sharp teeth.
She waited for it to get to its feet. She waited for it to lurch upright and continue its goal of tearing her apart. She jumped back in surprise as it suddenly and abruptly burst into flame, howling as it was reduced to dust.
Strange. I did not do that. I suppose I shouldn’t look a gift-horse in the mouth.
“Do you know what is after you?” Jonathan asked from behind her. His hand took her empty one. Glad for her gloves, she squeezed it gently and felt him hold hers tighter in return.