Watcher in the Darkness, Book 3: Imprisoned

Chapter 35, Part 2

I moved to intercept just as a huge crack of gunfire exploded to my right. Ethan's forehead burst, then Karen screamed a sob as she covered her mouth with both hands.

A black figure stepped out of the mist, her gun pointed in our direction. I ducked my head and raised my arms. There was no way I could bolt before she squeezed off a shot. The officer's blonde hair was pulled back in a bun, her eyes unforgiving. "Hands where I can see them. What the hell are you two doing out here?"

I said nothing, for fear she'd see my fangs. A vampire standing this close to a ghoul is all the justifiable cause most cops need.

Karen moved closer to me, stammering, "I—we go to school here. We go to school here."

The cop made a disgusted sound. "Nice try. Where's your uniform? I should arrest you both right now. This isn't a fucking sideshow. People are dying in there."

I peeked at the gun through my hair, weighing the risk of snatching it out of her hand.

Luckily, Karen was a quick thinker. "Work study?" She took a breath through her nose, then spoke with greater confidence. "We have work study. My cousin and I both have jobs at the Savemart distribution warehouse on Lexington. Our shifts start at two o'clock."

"Work study?" the cop said.

"Yes. I'm a file clerk in the accounting office, and James works on the loading dock. Please, don't shoot us."

I guess, in this scenario, I was supposed to be James. I nodded as I put my hands behind my head to hide my claws.

The cop seemed unconvinced but lowered her weapon. "Can you tell us anything about what's going on in there?"

Karen shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. We heard people screaming and thought maybe someone had brought a gun to school. We ducked into a janitor's closet to hide."

"And the vampires didn't smell you in there?"

Fuck, I thought. Why hadn't this bitch made detective yet?

Karen shrugged as she said, "I guess not. There was a bunch of cleaning chemicals around. Plus, I guess they were too busy chasing down—" Her voice broke, as though her emotions had gotten the better of her.

The lady cop sighed when Karen began to sob. "Why did you come out?"

Karen sniffled and I could smell actual tears. "We were there for...god, it felt like forever. When everything got quiet, we decided to make a break for it."

"You should've stayed put. Between the vampires and the ghouls, you could've gotten shot running through the fog like that."

"We're sorry. We were just so scared." Karen ducked down to look at my face then pinched my nostrils closed. "Oh, my god, I think my cousin broke his nose." The position of her hand covered my mouth.

The cop rolled her eyes as she gestured for us to follow her. "Ordinarily, I'd tell you both to keep going and to get as far away as you can. Unfortunately, there's no way to know what you'll run into in this fog. You'll be safer back this way. We have emergency medical services set up over here." She turned then began to speak into the walkie-talkie attached to her body armor. Karen let go of my face, in case I needed to run. "Officer Huckabee, coming in, escorting two students." I couldn't make out the staticky reply.

We followed a step or two behind Huckabee, and every instinct in my head screamed at me to turn back. Somehow, I managed to keep putting one foot in front of the other.