be so comfortable with him, compared to how nervous I’d been just a few weeks ago. We could almost be confused with a normal, human couple doing couple errands, instead of two creatures of the night, carrying bags full of expensive noisemakers. I liked this mundane normalcy. No tension. No watching every word and gesture. No fending off aunties.
Though I’d only been there a few times, even I could see that there was something “off” about the music building. Light from the streetlamp glittered against something on the pavement and the pristine pale surface of the building was scarred by red markings.
Beside me, Alex cursed in French under his breath. I didn’t speak French, but I knew the sound of heartfelt profanity when I heard it.
“What the?” I whispered as he slowed to a stop. I took in the hateful messages spray painted on the building in a careless hand. “LEAVE TOWN, VAMPIRE!” and “LEAVE OUR LOCAL GIRLS ALONE!” were among the kinder sentiments. The window had been smashed and the glass scattered all over the parking lot was catching the light.
“Oh, no.” My heart sank as we opened our doors.
Maybe this was what Lurlene knew? Maybe she had seen Alex when he visited the compound, then followed his scent to the school? My cousins had done this sort of thing before, petty vandalism and pointed spray paint messages, but never to someone outside of the werewolf community. What if she’d sent pack members here to harass Alex into breaking up with me? I inhaled deeply, trying to pick up on any familiar scents, but all I smelled was the dry, chemical scent of the paint. That was unusual, but not unheard of. My relatives knew that vampires’ senses were just as keen as ours, and they knew how to mask their scents.
Alex yanked the unlocked door open and rushed inside. I followed, my heart in my throat. He rattled the still-locked office door, sighing a bit in relief as I flipped on the lights. The studio was trashed. Mirror glass glittered on the floor, providing a sort of perverse frame for more choice phrases painted on the wall. Chairs and stands were thrown about the floor. It looked like someone had taken a sledgehammer to the acoustic panels.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
He shook his head and rubbed his hands on my arms.
“You think I haven’t dealt with something like this before? I had most of the spare instruments and equipment with me. This is just a little paint thinner and cleanup. And I’ve been meaning to upgrade the acoustic panels anyway.”
“What about your house?” I asked. “Jane took a report from another vampire in town a week or so ago. Iris something. Her windows were smashed and her porch was spray painted.”
He scoffed. “I’m sure it’s fine. No one knows where I live. I bought the place under a corporate shell. Besides, I have alarms that communicate to my phone if there’s any motion near my property lines.”
I nodded. “But not near your school?”
“I didn’t want to be driven nuts with the alarms going off every time a truck drove by.” He shrugged. “I work at the school. I sleep in my house. I see the error of my ways now.”
“This could get worse,” I told him. “If we keep spending time together. It could get a lot worse.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“I’m worried my family could have done this. They know the kids take classes here, and that you’re a vampire. They could be lashing out at whatever vampires they think are ‘influencing me,’” I gasped. “Oh, no. Jane’s shop!”
I pulled out my phone and dialed the number for Specialty Books.
“Why do you think Jane would be targeted?” he asked as the phone rang.
“My family really dislikes Jane. They blame her for Jolene being pulled away from the family and I’m sure they’ll blame her eventually if they figure out how far I’ve ‘gone astray.’ If they went after you, they’d go after Jane, too.”
Dick picked up on the third ring. “Dick! Are you all right? Is the shop okay? Where is Jane?”
“Slow down, Ty, slow down. What’s going on?”
I explained about the vandalism and the similarities to what happened at Iris’s house. After assuring me that the shop was un-burgled, Dick promised he and Jane were on their way over that moment, “with reinforcements.” I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded very official. I hung up the phone as Alex collected the laptop