Page 12 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

She hesitated, thinking of how many new cameras had gone up in the past three days. According to Evan’s sources, half the city center was now under surveillance by the new and improved technology that could more easily scan and upload faces in real time. There was no way she could risk taking the train or one of the main roads home. She probably wouldn’t make it halfway there before being picked up.

“Yes,” she lied, refusing to meet his eyes. “I’m just at the next stop.”

Dani wasn’t sure when she first noticed the footsteps behind her. Maybe just past the abandoned building a block after she turned off Market Street? Maybe when she reached the poorer section of the city where maintaining working streetlamps was never a priority.

She prayed she was wrong, hoped it was nothing but the product of an overactive imagination on a dark, cold night.

It wasn’t.

As she rounded another corner, her pulse quickened. She glanced around the dark street, trying to walk faster. She should never have taken the shortcut, should have stayed to the main roads or taken the train, despite the risk of surveillance cameras.

Desperately, she glanced out the corner of one eye as she turned at a burned out streetlamp, hoping to have put some distance between her and the man she was now sure was following her.

But no, the shadowy figure was still there. In fact, she was almost sure he’d increased his speed to keep pace with her.

Dani’s heart pounded. She couldn’t make out much in the dark, only a shadowed form. Definitely male. There was no way to know if he was human, vampire or shifter. Yanking off her gloves, she stuffed them into the pocket of Evan’s coat.

The small amount of power she could yield wasn’t combat magic. Not by a long stretch. She had the weak ability to obscure memories. At most, she could erase the last five minutes of a person’s conscious thoughts. That had always been enough to put her targets into a temporary daze when she and Evan worked together in the streets. No one got hurt. But if her attacker overpowered her, immobilized her hands—

The footsteps were pounding behind her now and Dani realized that they had reached a section of the street where the lights were mostly burned out.

She began to run. Her eyes streamed with tears from the cold as she raced for the end of the alley, which she knew led to a busier road.

Her foot skidded on the ice and she couldn’t help the tiny shriek that escaped as she almost went flying. The sidewalks weren’t salted back here, not in back alleys that were mainly used for trash pickup and deliveries.

Barely managing to keep upright, she staggered on. From behind her came a quiet curse. He’d hit the same black ice.

It was a vampire. She was sure of it now. They always rasped certain consonants just slightly when their fangs snapped down in preparation to feed.

That meant this one was thirsty. The more powerful vampires could shift into smoke and reappear across a room, perfectly formed. But surely if this one could, he would have been upon her by now?

No, she had to keep going, had to make it to the end of the street.

Dani had just rounded the corner, the mouth of the alley finally in sight, when her foot slipped. She went down hard, her handbag flying across the ice. The icy cobblestones rushed up to meet her, knocking the breath from her lungs.

Chest heaving, Dani forced herself to get up.

Behind her, came the sound of low breathing.

The vampire was close. Terror turned her legs to jelly.

She tensed, readying to turn and try to make contact with whatever skin she could find in the hopes her magic would have time to take effect before he drained her, when an unearthly scream tore from the vampire’s throat.

Dani scrambled away. In the dark, it was impossible to see anything, but there was no mistaking the sounds of a fight taking place.

Lungs burning from the exertion and the cold, she staggered towards the end of the alley.

She wasn’t going to make it, wouldn’t get there—

Tears streamed down her cheeks, freezing in the bitter cold. She kept running, unable to stop herself from checking over her shoulder every few steps, certain she would be next, that this time, there would be no escape.

The alley was so dark that she didn’t see the body of the vampire until she practically tripped over it.

Dani stifled a scream, then immediately covered her mouth to keep from gagging at the smell of the blood.

But that wasn’t what alarmed her the most.

No, it was the gleaming silver blade protruding from the dead vampire’s throat.