“I’d say. He ran over and fucking caught you!” Peter exclaimed. “You fell thirty feet and the guy caught you.”

“I remember falling but that’s it.” How was it possible to catch a person falling from that height? How was I still alive after that?

“Probably better if you don’t remember.” Roland eyes took on a haunted look. “Seeing you fall like that… I never want to feel like that again.”

“So he caught me and left?” I could not keep the tremble from my voice. He saved me from a fate worse than death then just… disappeared?

“Yeah, he went after the um…”

“Vampire. You can say it, Peter.”

Roland and Peter exchanged looks and Roland’s tone gentled like he was speaking to a child. “You’ve been through a lot and you’re in shock right now. We should talk about this later.”

“I know about vampires, Roland,” I said wearily. I heard Peter’s sharp intake of breath as Roland’s mouth fell open. Another time I might have found their reactions comical. “Of course I know more about them now than I ever wanted to.”

“How do you –” Roland broke off as a group of people left the club and came down the stairs.  It felt surreal to see people laughing and carrying on after what I’d just experienced and I had to force down another wave of tears.

Roland jumped to his feet. “We should leave. We can talk in the car.”

“Okay.” I stood with him but I pulled back when I remembered there hadn’t only been vampires in the alley. “Wait! What happened to the werewolves?”

He paled and looked around nervously. “Werewolves?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t see them. Or hear them.” My mind was still a bit fuzzy but I’d never forget those yellow eyes or that massive jaw. “I only saw one but I think there were more. For a minute there I was sure they got you. How could you not have seen them?”

“It was pretty crazy in there. I’m not sure what I saw,” Peter replied slowly and right away I knew he was hiding something because his face grew flushed. He never could lie worth a damn.

“Oh come on, you were –”

“I really think we should get out of here,” Roland cut in and I heard the urgency in his voice. “Vampires normally travel in groups. There could be more of them around here.”

I pulled back. “Wait, how do you know that? How do you know about vampires at all?”

“We’ll explain later but right now we have to get out of here in case there are more.” Roland tugged on my arm.

The thought of encountering another Eli sent a tremor through me and I almost ran to his mother’s blue Toyota Camry parked across the street. Roland waited until I had buckled myself into the front passenger seat before he went around to the driver’s side and got behind the wheel. Through the windshield, I saw Peter pull out his cell phone and make a call. Peter’s worried eyes met mine as he spoke into his phone and I wondered who he was talking to at this hour.

Peter hung up and climbed into the back seat. He looked troubled when he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the backs of our seats. “Dad said we need to bring Sara there before we take her home. He’s pretty pissed at us.”

“Take me where?” I asked apprehensively. “Why does your father want to see me?”

Peter and Roland shared a look before Peter answered. “To the farm. Dad will explain it all to you when we get there.”

“Why don’t you guys explain it to me now?” I unbuckled my seat belt and turned in my seat to face them. Neither of them could look me in the eye and that made me nervous. “Roland, what is going on?” I demanded.

Roland gave me a pleading look. “Please Sara, let’s just get out of here and I promise we’ll tell you everything.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean…?” The question died on my lips when something brushed softly against my mind just as my eyes fell on the dark figure striding down the empty street toward us, light glinting off the knives strapped to his chest. I remembered how he had walked out of the dark and faced down the vampire without a trace of fear and a shiver went through me. I wasn’t sure if it was pleasure at seeing my savior or fear; maybe a bit of both.

“Stay here,” Roland ordered before he and Peter jumped out of the car to intercept Nikolas.

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” I muttered, already reaching for the door handle. After what I’d been through, I had no intention of staying put. And something told me that Nikolas had not come back to see my friends.

“… hunter doing around here?” Roland was saying to Nikolas as I approached them. “This is not Mohiri territory.”

Hunter? Mohiri? Eli had used the word Mohiri too. There was obviously a whole lot more going on here than I knew about.

Nikolas looked past my friends at me. “Hello again. You seem to have recovered quickly from your adventure.” He wore a wry smile but I thought I heard admiration in his voice.

He waved a hand at Roland and Peter. “So these are the friends you spoke of earlier,” he said with less warmth. “It’s no wonder you were attacked with nothing but a pair of pups to protect you.”

Peter scowled. “Hey!”

I pushed between my friends to face Nikolas. Saving my life did not give him the right to talk to my friends that way. “It’s not their fault. How could they have known something like this would happen?”