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Not now…

She kept her eyes focused ahead of her, trying not to give any outward appearance of awareness to whoever followed her.

In hopes of throwing them off her trail, she crossed the street and turned down a small side alley that would circle back around above the bus stop.

She breathed out in relief when she saw a couple ahead making out against the wall. No one would attack her with witnesses around. Right?

Keeping her eyes averted, she approached, preparing to pass the couple without impeding their privacy, but the clear sound of pain instead of pleasure made her stop short.

Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the alley lit by the dim glow of street lamps from the main road, so she could make out the figures against the wall.

A man with a shock of red hair had his head tucked close to the neck of his partner. They weren’t kissing. The other guy’s head rested against the bricks, his face visible and contorted into a grimace.

A wet, popping sound reached her ears as the young man against the wall cried out. The sound turned her stomach. Those weren’t cries of pleasure. His partner was hurting him. How?

Cold tendrils of fear unfurled in her belly when her eyes connected with the man in pain. His lips moved, but she didn’t hear.

Again, he tried, and a broken plea reached her ears. “R-run… go…” He squeezed his eyes tightly as he gnashed his teeth and groaned in discomfort.

At his words, the red haired man hunched over him lifted and turned his head to look at her.

She choked on the scream lodged in her throat.

Eyes glowing blue like a glacial cave stared back at her in the dim light. Blood dripped from his lips and chin. Blood belonging to the young man who remained motionless against the brick wall, supported only by the hood on his jacket, and the grip of the other man.

When the man’s lips peeled back in a sneer, she saw the sharpest canines she’d ever seen. Longer than the rest of his teeth, they grazed his lower lip. They, too, were coated in blood.

When a low rumble echoed in the alley, she started. The growl coming from the man was enough to shake her from her silent, but stunned, perusal of his features and make her turn and run in the opposite direction, darting down another alley to throw the red haired man off her trail.

What in the hell had she witnessed?

That wasn’t a trick of the lighting. There wasn’t any blue lighting around. His eyes glowed.

And the blood.

So much blood coated his face.

The other man had to be dead by now. His last words had been a plea for her safety, not his own.

Tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision as she stumbled on the sidewalk, her foot slipping on the edge of her sandal in her frantic attempt to get back to a busy street and the bus stop before it was too late.

It was the weekend in a college town. The main streets were always filled with bar hoppers. She only needed to reach them or the bus stop.

Dragging her arm across her eyes, she wiped the tears away. She couldn’t mourn the young man right now. She needed to ensure she didn’t meet the same fate.

What fate would that be?

What was that?

Long, sharp fangs flashed through her mind.

It couldn’t be real.

Vampires weren’t real.

How else could she explain what she witnessed?

She rounded another corner and heard the hydraulics of a bus. She wanted to sob in relief.