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The hair on Sam’s nape rose. Something was off here. Way off.
Behind the perp, Miranda scrambled to her feet. “Don’t talk to him,” she cried out. “Just shoot him!”
That wasn’t the way things worked, she knew that. He had a badge. The guy, well, except for the claws and teeth, looked unarmed. If he could take him down the right way, he would. Sam sucked in a sharp breath. “On your knees!” he ordered again.
“I’m a god,” the man—Paul Roberts?—snapped. “I don’t kneel for anyone.”
A god, his ass.
Sam saw that Miranda had grabbed a broken limb and was holding it like a bat. At any minute, he expected her to slam it right into the back of the perp’s head.
“I’m counting to three,” Sam snapped, “then either you’re on your knees, or I’m shooting.” Ample warning. “One.” His finger tightened around the trigger. “Two.” Sam finally realized something odd was up with the guy’s eyes. They looked far too dark. Empty. Like a dead man’s.“Thr—”
He never finished counting. The bastard launched his body at him, growling. Claws raked over Sam’s face, slashed into his neck, and then Roberts’s mouth came at him, teeth snapping.
Sam’s finger jerked, squeezing the trigger. Once. Twice. Three times.
Those creepy eyes widened. The guy’s mouth went slack. The bullets had been fired at point-blank range, and they’d thudded straight into his chest.
The claws fell away from Sam, and the jerk’s body hit the ground.
“Sam!” Miranda stepped forward. Hesitated. “Sam, come over here, now!”
He bent next to the body, searching for a pulse.
“No!” Her bellow had his head whipping up. “Get away from him! He’s not human, dammit, he’s a vampire—and he’s not dead! He’s gonna get back up, so move your ass over here, fast!”
A vampire? Sam blinked at that and slowly rose to his feet.
Impossible.
Fangs. Claws. A supposedly dead man on the ground in front of him.
Oh, hell.
He ran to Miranda’s side. Grabbed her left arm. Spared a moment to appreciate the pure bulk of the limb she was gripping with her right hand.
“We’ve got to get inside, call for backup.” How fast would backup get there?
She nodded. Her lips trembled just the faintest bit, but her eyes were wide and determined.
They hurried inside, each casting fast looks back at the prone body of Paul Roberts.
Sam hoped the bastard stayed down. But if he didn’t, Sam had more bullets.
A fucking vampire. Just when he’d thought things in Cherryville couldn’t get more screwed-up.
* * *
Miranda paced in her kitchen as terror clawed at her insides. She and Sam had pulled the two wounded officers inside and barricaded the doors with her furniture.
“I need an ambulance and more damn backup at 101 Lakeview Street!” Sam spoke into her landline. His voice cracked, “I need—”
Glass shattered.
Sam dropped the phone, and they both ran for the living room at the same time.
But it was too late. The vampire was already inside. Paul crouched on the floor, shards of glass from one of her picture windows all around him.
