Forever Night (Darkness Falls Book 3)

Chapter Nine

In my mad dash to get home, I hadn't even considered that the police might get involved in all this, but it wasn't surprising that someone had called them, considering the commotion that the fight in the diner had caused. During my years with the team, I'd been trained to stay under police radar, but this time it had been totally out of my control.

It transpired that one of the houses in the road that ran parallel to the Waffle House had heard a girl scream – that was Georgia – and, when they'd looked out of their window, had seen something suspicious going on through the diner's huge front window. The police had investigated what they believed was a simple break-in, and along the way had discovered Georgia's body.

I found a moment to at least be glad that it was the police who had found her, and not some innocent passerby who'd probably end up scarred for the rest of their life.

The witness had also reported seeing a blonde girl run from the diner, and the police, either having looked at the employee records or talked to Arthur, had tracked me down.

Of course I wasn't obligated to speak to them. I could even refuse them entry to my home, but what was the point? The last thing I wanted was to be seen as suspicious in any way.

So I sat and answered their questions while Luke busied himself making coffee for everyone. Surreptitiously he stuck his still-full mug of blood back in the fridge. We'd have trouble explaining that if either of the cops saw it.

"So you didn't know the man?" one of the officers asked, referring to the bearded vampire that had lied his way into the diner.

"I've never seen him before in my life. He said he was being followed and begged me to let him in. I did so, and then he punched me." I tilted my head to the side so they could see where my cheek had started to swell. I might as well tell them as much of the truth as I could. "His friends got inside before I could lock the door again."

"And then?" the officer asked.

He'd told me his name but I couldn't remember it and I wasn't racking my brains to find it. My head already hurt too much.

"Then I held them off. I don't know if they were trying to rob the place or if they were after something else, but I wasn't letting them get it without a fight."

The man looked slightly sceptical at that, running an assessing eye over my slight frame. The candy-striped Waffle House shirt hid the scars on my shoulder and the muscles in my arms, so I looked like any ordinary teenage girl, hardly a prime candidate for fighting off a gang of thieves.

"I'm stronger than I look," I told him.

I didn't mention that I'd wielded a knife against my attackers. It was best that the police think I was mostly a witness, with only minor involvement. I would answer their questions now because it would look suspicious not to, but after tonight I wanted to be done with their investigation. I had a mad vampire to kill, and that was going to be hard enough to pull off without the police watching my every move.

"I realised we couldn't hold the gang off for long so we escaped through the back door. Georgia ran, but I slipped and fell."

There was a long scrape on my palm from where the vampire had tackled me, and I held out my hand as evidence.

"By the time I picked myself up, Georgia was already gone."

"And you didn't go after her or call for help?"

I widened my eyes, trying to make myself look as innocent and helpless as possible. If only I could cry on cue. "I was terrified. I didn't think...I just ran home."