The word ‘abomination’ seemed to create a frenzy among the crowd as they shouted in agreement that yes, the woman standing before them was an abomination and needed to be dealt with.
A sharp pain shot through my scalp as a woman grabbed my hair from behind and pulled hard. Another woman smacked me across the face, and I let go of the sparks for a moment to clutch my cheek in surprise.
The noise of a gun firing rang out, and I heard Finn shouting, “Get away from her, all of you, or I’ll shoot.”
Some people moved, but others continued to attack me. I regained my composure long enough to summon my sparks again, throwing them haphazardly at my attackers. Finn was still too far away to be much help, but seconds later, the attack stopped, and all I heard was an eerie snarl. I turned my head and found Ethan behind me, facing my attackers. His fangs were out, and his silvery gold eyes were murderous.
“It’s a vampire!” somebody screamed in terror. “A vampire in daylight!”
Complete and total chaos followed as a stampede formed, the crowd now desperate to get away from Ethan. I couldn’t decide if one guy was courageous or just plain stupid when he jumped on Ethan with a stake. Ethan swatted him away like he was nothing but a fly. The man hit the ground hard and scurried off, quickly realising the error of his ways.
Then, from somewhere close by, I saw a white light. I pulled myself to my feet and stood to see that the light was emanating from Alora. Wow … just wow. The people who hadn’t yet fled were strangely beginning to calm down. Finn stared at her with a look of amazement mirroring my own. Was she doing this? Was she somehow calming them?
My attention was drawn away from her when I heard Ethan snarling again, but this time his anger was directed at me. He pulled me into his arms and glared down at me.
“Coming here without informing me was a very bad idea, Tegan. If I hadn’t found you in time you could have been beaten to death by those humans,” he seethed.
“I know, but I wanted to see Rita,” I said, tears forming, emotion clogging my throat.
“The witch is not worth risking your life for,” he replied, his tone softening a smidge.
“She’s risked plenty for me before all this happened. I know I can get her back. I just know it.”
Ethan’s hard expression faltered, and sympathy filled his gaze. “Don’t ever do anything like this again,” he said. “If you want to go somewhere dangerous, I won’t stop you, but at least let me come so I can protect you.”
His heartfelt words made my lungs fill with butterflies, and I wrapped my arms around his middle, pulling his rock-hard body into mine. I kissed his collarbone, which was the highest part I could reach on his tall frame without him bending down to me.
“Jesus, that was a close call,” Finn said, coming up to us with Alora at his side. Ira was on the other side of him, and I looked around to find that Theodore, Rita, and everyone else had fled the scene.
“The humans have seen you in daylight,” Ira said, addressing Ethan. “Even though it’s not exactly true, rumour might spread that vampires are not confined to the night and things should settle down.”
“In other words,” Finn added. “They’ll be too scared shitless to leave their homes, and the city will be a ghost town again.”
“Well, it’s not ideal, but it is preferable to what happened here today,” I interjected, meeting Finn’s eyes.
“Theodore knows we’re onto him now. He also knows where you live. You must all come and stay at my house until we know it’s safe,” Ethan said, and his words surprised me.
To be honest, I didn’t think he gave much of a crap about my little group of friends, but now I saw that he did, and my heart didn’t know what to do with that information.
“I hate to admit it, but you’re right,” Finn agreed, dismayed. “And I’ve only just gotten back into my own bed.” He paused and eyed Ethan. “Is there room in your place for all of us?”
Now I was surprised that Finn was going along with this and not putting up a fight. Perhaps we were all maturing.
“There is plenty. Go pack up your things and gather the others. You’ll need to act fast before Theodore decides to pay you a visit. I’m sure he knows where I live, too, but he’s scared of me. He won’t dare come to my house.”
Finn quietly agreed and began leading Alora and Ira back to wherever he parked his van. Silently, Ethan lifted me onto his back, and moments later, we were outside his house.