Page 34 of New Nebraska Home

The fat around the cop’s jowls trembled.I got the distinct impression he couldn’t have looked away even if he wanted to. But he finally managed to blurt out, “Then where were you at 5:30 pm last night?”

“Oh, we were all here,” I said, trying to break the tension. “I have proof.”

Cal looked away first, and the cop slumped back in the chair, looking exhausted.

“What proof?”

“I recorded a video of the kid after we caught him. It was so I could give it to the officer and maybe his mother.” I picked up my phone and flipped to the video section.

The video was clear as day. Cal and Brock held the kid against the kitchen wall, asking him why he was there, why he threw the brick, did he realize there was a child in the house, things like that.

Then, the video showed the kid panicking and dousing the back door, and Malik in flames. You could hear me scream, and the video cut out. I showed the cop the timestamp at 5:34 pm.

“How did you survive that?” He looked at Malik.

“I saw what the kid was going to do and created a water shield,” Brock answered before Malik could think of some lie.

I remembered Malik made a point to tell the officer he was a shifter, but not what kind. Was there a reason that he didn’t want the cop to know what he was?

“Is there anything else?” Cal asked, the threat clear in his voice.

The cop paled a little before standing and saying no.

As my grandmother taught me, I walked him to the front door like I would any other guest.

“You should move,” the cop said, speaking to me under his breath. “Nothing good is going to come from you living with a bunch of godless sinners. The second one of them puts an abomination in your belly, they won’t be able to protect you. You’re going to end up just like that halfling, dead and broken in the streets.”

And just like that, I knew there would be no justice for that poor kid.

Brock

TEMPLE RUN

“Fuck that asshole,” Malik said, still sitting at the table with me. He was just as pissed as I was.

Who the fuck did that guy think he was to come into our home, into Liz’s home, and threaten her like that? He was a vampire, a low level one at that, and Cal had stated she was under his protection.

I wasn’t generally overprotective, but I wanted to take Liz, throw her over my shoulder, and run away with her. Somewhere safe where assholes weren’t threatening her at the grocery store, where bricks weren’t flying through her window, and douchey cops weren’t accusing her of shit just because she’s human.

My heart raced, and I could feel the red-hot rage building in my gut.

I didn’t think I’d ever been this mad.

“Ew, no, thank you,” Liz said, returning to the kitchen and going straight to the coffeepot. “He isn’t my type. Not to be all body shaming or anything, but I thought all supernaturals were supposed to be hot. That man was… not.”

“Being a vampire doesn’t mean jelly donuts suddenly don’t have calories,” I said, making a dumb joke. Maybe if I could just hear her laugh or see Liz crack a smile at me, I could let this anger go.“Vamps like sugar just like the rest of this. They just happen to survive on blood.”

She looked at me, her lips tilting up at the corner but not quite reaching her eyes.

“More importantly, did you just imply you think we’re hot?” I asked. That time I got a shy smile and the tops of her cheeks turned a little red before she turned back to the coffee.

“How dare he!” Cal said, slamming his hands on the table before getting up and pacing around the kitchen. I hated it when he paced. Cal would never admit it, but when his mind went one hundred miles an hour, his feet needed to do something. It was dizzying.

The only other time I had seen him this agitated was when he left the coven to make things easier for Pandora.

“How dare he what? Be a dick? He’s hardly the first vampire or the first cop to be a dick,” I said. I made my voice as casual as possible. Not sure why I didn’t want everyone to know how pissed I was, but I didn’t.

“No,” Malik said. “But that asshole just basically called Liz a whore and threatened to kill her if she carried an abomination. Overheard him on the way out.”

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