CHAPTER 41

We got to the diner by taking a very round about way back, ensuring there were no vampire followers. I wasn't sure how they'd found me, probably something to do with being marked, which was just peachy.
Subconsciously I reached up an arm and rubbed the back of my neck. I hadn't had a single hint of anything wrong since being bit, the wound hadn't even left a scar.

There were some rough looking men outside the diner when I limped the civic to a stop in the alleyway. They stared at me through my missing door.

"Trouble?" One of them asked, recognizing me.

"Probably," I told them. I waited for Leon to exit the car before pushing my way into the back door.

"Alice?" I called raising myself to be heard above the clanging of the kitchen.

A frazzled blond head popped up from where it had been bent over one of the counters.

"Raven!" she grinned, and, peering behind me, "and Leon, come in dear, you look starved half to death. *Benny*!" she yelled loud enough to make Leon flinch, "get a full breakfast on the grill for Leon, here, before the poor kid starves to death, extra eggs." She turned to me again. "I didn't know you would be in tonight, dear. What can I do for you?"

I smiled tightly as she led us through the kitchen into the dining area.

"Who do you have in tonight? Ive got some unfriendly followers. I think I lost them, but there's a good chance they know how to find me."

Alice's smile turned sharp.

"Hector's boys are here for their monthly."

Hector was one of the organizations loan sharks. His boys were picked for their size and brute strength, so they would be an asset, should the vampires persist, but I wasn't sure they would be enough.

"Anyone else?"

Alice's eyebrows rose.

"If you need more than Hector's boys they must be really unfriendly. How many are we looking at?"

"Three," I told her, "but these aren't wolves, they're vampires."

We'd pushed out into the diner, but were still behind the counter.

"You're shitting me," she said in disbelief.

"I wish I were," I told her. "They exist, and they're here, and for some reason they want me dead."

That last bit wiped away her confusion and plastered determination in its place.

"I don't care what the fuck they are, they show up here, they'll wish they never set foot in Boston."

I gave the woman a pat on her broad shoulder. "Thanks, Alice."

She smiled at me genuinely, "Peter still talks about the day you saved his life, you don't have to thank me for anything."

Peter was Alice's youngest, and I hadn't really saved his life. He'd been a stupid fourteen year old and took one of Rob's nicest cars for a joy-ride one night when he was busy in a meeting at the diner. I'd sensed something off and managed to trail him half way across the city where he'd caught the notice of the local fire department and panicked, running off the road into a nearby pond. I arrived just in time to pull him out and call the pack's lawyers and legal representatives to deal with the aftermath.

"Well we're just gonna take some quiet time in the corner over there," I told her, pointing to an empty booth in the corner.

I knew we looked a little rough because the humans in the crowd—it was still early enough for Alice to attract regular customers—were watching us warily. I decided being out of sight might be for the best. Alice nodded, just as a new group of customers walked through the front door, a man and a woman. They looked around, a little lost. At the same time her phone rang. She pulled it from her pocket.

"Hello? Hello?" She looked down at it and frowned. The screen was dark, as if there'd never been a call in the first place. "Piece of junk," she muttered.
"I'll bring your food out in a minute," Alice waved us toward the table and before heading toward the door and her new customers, and we were left to our own devices.

"What the hell was that all about?" Leon asked when we sat down, me with my back to the wall and him facing me on the other side. It was one of those old style booths with the high seat backs that mostly divided you from the rest of the restaurant, for which I was greatful.

I pulled out my phone, which was miraculously intact.

*I broke the civic*. I texted Anthony.

"I mean, those were real. Live. Vampires."

"Technically I don't think they are. Live, that is," I mused.

"And you managed to piss them off somehow?"

*What do you mean, broke the civic? Were you in an accident? Are you alright?*

"What the hell pisses off a vampire? Wait...didn't that woman say you'd killed someone?...her sister?"

*Not exactly, and I'm fine. But we might want to take a stronger stance on the vampire problem.*

"How did you kill one of them? Did you see that thing? She wasn't even dead when she hit the road. I shot her through the forehead!"

*Where. Are. You?*

"The forehead!"

People were looking at us now, especially the humans. Their mouths hanging open, their eyes bulging a little bit.

"Video game," I waved at them, then leaned forward. "Leon, get a hold of yourself before I have to do it. You won't like that."

Leon looked like he was about to explode, but he glanced around a little sheepishly.

*At the diner*.

*Stay there, I'm on my way.*

Normally I might balk a little at the command, especially since we'd been having this ongoing discussion about who gets to dictate my autonomy, but in this case I knew he was right.

"If they'd caught up to us we would have died," Leon said, his voice slow as if he was just figuring out how very mortal he was.

A plate of food appeared in front of both of us. Bacon, toast, sausages and a huge pile of five eggs, over easy. Alice, having heard Leon's words put an arm around the boy's shoulders.

"You had Raven," she said reassuringly as if that would have made any difference against three creatures that were faster than me and could physically tear my head from my body if they wanted to.

Leon looked a little relieved and Alice patted his shoulder before walking away. I didn't dissuade him of his starry eyed glance at me, like he'd just found a new hero. Because I was too busy trying to figure out how the hell I was going to solve this new problem before it killed me.

All I knew was that I was in very, very deep crap.