“Just a precaution,” I said, leaning close to her ear, and she nodded in silent acquiescence.
When I pulled back, Tegan was watching us both with one eyebrow raised over her sunglasses and a smirk tugging at her lips.
“Got something to say?” I asked.
“Nope. Nothing to say at all,” she answered with a cheeky lilt to her voice.
I took Alora’s hand, and together the four of us blended into the crowd. All around me I heard stories about Theodore spreading like wildfire. Not a single one of them was true. The most prominent was that he was a widowed doctor who spent most of his time providing free medical care for the poor. What a load of bollocks.
“I don’t doubt it,” one woman said to her friend as they walked past. “I like to think you can judge a person from their eyes, and Mr Girard has the kindest eyes I’ve ever seen.”
I did my best not to laugh. More like the craziest pair of eyes she’s ever seen.
“He’s done such good for the city by organising all of this. I think he should be voted in as mayor once the vampires are all killed,” said the other woman.
Okay, I couldn’t contain my laugh this time. Both women shot me dirty looks before continuing with their Theodore Girard panegyric. When we reached the first residential street, not a single house was without a chalk circle on the door. The people mumbled about it being a good, respectable neighbourhood, which explained why no vampires lived there.
I felt like telling them I knew for a fact that vampires lived in some of the most respectable areas in the city, but I held my tongue. We were on the fourth street now, and still, no circle-less homes had been found. A restlessness began to take hold, and people were growing suspicious.
A half an hour passed and still no houses to burn. A man standing several feet away from me looked like he was about to start lashing out, but then all of a sudden his face lost its agitated expression and a look of calm overtook his features.
I turned immediately to glance down at the pretty blonde whose hand was in mine. “Did you do that?” I whispered to Alora.
She nodded. “I could sense his rage. In situations like this, all it takes is for one person to lose their cool, and before you know it, there’s chaos.”
“I don’t doubt that,” I murmured, and we continued walking.
Tegan drew close, her voice a whisper. “At some point, Theodore’s going to know that something is up.”
“I think that point has already arrived,” Ira said.
Theodore walked down the centre of the crowd. It instantly parted for him, and all movement stopped.
“I think we have spies amid our ranks,” he announced as his crazy gaze inspected each person he passed. How could those two women mistake such crazy eyes for kind ones? I guess people sometimes saw only what they wanted to see.
Rita walked closely behind Theodore, inspecting people right along with him.
“Somebody has warned the vampires of our plan,” Theodore said loudly as he continued to walk through the crowd. “And I have a feeling that person is among us now.”
Outraged murmurings drifted among the gathering.
“Who is it? Who is it?” one lunatic woman cried.
I wanted to take my three friends and get the hell out of here, but if we moved now, we might as well be wearing big flashing signs on our heads that read, SPIES. All we could do was stay put and hope Theodore somehow managed to overlook the four people who had very subtly obscured their faces from view.
When I glanced at Tegan, she looked like she was holding her breath. I might’ve been holding mine, too. I’d been in so many dangerous and fucked up situations in my life, but this one took the cake. We were surrounded by several hundred angry people, and if Theodore pointed us out as traitors, we’d probably be crushed to death by the sheer numbers.
Remind me why I thought it would be a good idea to leave my safe, warm bed this morning for this shit?
Oh yeah, because I was a stupid, brave idiot with a hero complex.
I squeezed Alora’s hand and tugged her closer to me. She was shaking, but I couldn’t tell if it was because she was afraid or if she was using her ability to calm the people around us. When I noticed her lip tremble, I decided it was the former. She was scared and that only made me want to protect her more. I let go of her hand to wrap my arm around her shoulders, rubbing up and down in soothing motions.
A couple of yards ahead of our group, Theodore stopped in front of a skinny, brown-haired man and looked him up and down.