“I have thanked you several times for helping with the snake.” As we entered an artistically decorated alleyway covered with wooden trellises dotted with dying vines, I adjusted my hold on my dagger and considered pulling out my radio, until I saw Grove was reaching for his.
Bless Grove. He might one day kill me with his poisons, but he’s always on top of using his radio.
“But you treat me like I have the plague,” Considine complained—he was still following us.
We exited the alleyway, popping out on Main Street, as I heard a firetruck—which was far enough away that I mostly heard echoes of its siren. “We treat you with the degree of concern you deserve,” I said.
Considine tapped his vampire speed, zooming around us so he stood in front of me. “See, that sounds like a compliment, but you treat me so coldly that it’s hurtful.” He reached for me, and I raised my dagger.
Considine made a show of keeping one hand up in the air and then patted me on the shoulder with his other, before he took a few steps backwards.
I warily watched him as the siren of another firetruck faintly registered on my senses.
Elder vampires don’t hang out on streets like this. He’s got to have some angle—I just can’t figure out what it is.
A honk echoed through the quiet city, and I heard another wail of sirens.
I stiffened. “That’s the third firetruck we’ve heard in the last few minutes. Something is wrong.”
Brody stiffened, tilting his head from side to side.
“Do you smell anything?” Grove asked.
“No—wherever those fire trucks are going, it’s not in the downtown area,” Brody said.
Keeping an eye on Considine—I didn’t want him attacking me just for kicks when he thought my guard was lowered—I pulled out my radio.
“This is Team Blood. We’ve heard three firetrucks in the last couple of minutes heading away from downtown,” I said.
Grove yanked out his own radio and added, “Also, we’ve got Ruin hanging around making eyes at Blood.”
I paused, then realized my error—Grove was right, we should report Considine’s presence. I nodded but with my hood up and mask hooked into place, I think it might have looked more like I was bobbing my head.
“Checking in with homebase,” Sarge announced over the radio.
Considine clasped his hands behind his back, all too casual.
Just as I was considering whether I should swap my dagger for my gun, I heard the wail of a fourth firetruck.
“Should we tell Sarge?” Brody asked.
I hesitated, and then our radios crackled when Sarge shouted over the line. “There’s a fire at the public library—Team Blood and Team Yellow, head over there, immediately!”
I sheathed my dagger and hooked my radio on my belt. “Let’s go!” I kicked into a run.
“Please tell me we’re going to pick up the car!” Grove moaned as he followed.
“Yes, but we’re running to the car!” I shouted.
When I risked looking back, Grove and Brody were following and Considine had seemingly given up.
He waved to me, then turned around and strolled up the street, uninterested in the news that the library was on fire.
It’s a good thing, I told myself. He’s a massive liability. Fighting together once doesn’t make him safe.
“Brody, you’re driving—you have the keys,” I shouted as we reached the car.
“Got it!” Brody unlocked the car and we piled in.
Five minutes and several traffic violations later, we arrived at the library pulling our car into a back corner of the parking lot, so we’d leave the road and area closest to the library free for firetrucks.
I burst out of the car, my hand on my radio as I assessed the situation.
Everything glowed orange from the flames. The smell of smoke tickled my nose as it hung overhead in a giant cloud, blotting out the sky and reflecting back the light of the fire.
The fire was big but from what I could tell, it was focused on the front lawn—a large garden-like area that I knew from previous visits housed several statues depicting scenes from famous kids’ books. The garden was nestled into the side of the library, not the actual building itself.
Nothing was left of the colorful flowers and shrubbery except for ash and even though there were four firetrucks dosing the ground, the flames weren’t going out.
However, they also weren’t spreading. They just seemed to be eating up the already scorched ground.
Fire doesn’t normally behave like this.