Page 48 of Night's Reckoning
Who do you belong to?
He crossed a series of stones laid carefully across a small canal and walked against pedestrian traffic, dodging slow-moving scooters and carts. He stopped and took a selfie in front of a shop, holding up his fingers in aVsign as he searched the area behind him.
There you are.
He snapped several pictures of them before they caught what he was doing.
Oh, you don’t look happy, do you?
Ben slipped the phone in his pocket and kept walking. He passed the cluster of restaurants and clubs. He walked past a small marina with bobbing dark vessels. He turned left into another alley and immediately looked up when he saw the dead end.
Excellent.
The walls of the shops were made of stone. With an ease born of hours of parkour training, he climbed the wall and waited for the vampires to turn the corner.
They walked around the corner casually, two friends out for a stroll. They didn’t hurry, but they did stop short when they realized the dead end was in front of them but no human was. One walked to the end of the alley and hopped up to peek over the old wall.
Nope.
The other side was nothing but water.
They exchanged a few quiet words that Ben didn’t catch before one of them looked up. He caught Ben’s eyes peeking over the edge of the building. Ben lifted his fingers and waved. Then he shot up and over the far side of the building.
He leaped from the roof of one building onto another. He could hear the vampires following him, and he didn’t stop.
Ben suddenly wished he’d spent more time exploring this town and less time napping and enjoying Jinpa’s cooking while they were there. The line of buildings ended in another waterway. He looped his arm around a rainspout and swung over the edge, bouncing from one wall to the other in the narrow alley until he landed on his feet.
He ran, dodging thinning traffic and leaping over narrow waterways. He quickly passed the business center of town and found himself in a deserted residential section with narrow canals and fewer pedestrians.
Shit.
The vampires were gaining on him, running just fast enough to pass for human while still outstripping him. As soon as there were no humans around, they’d drop all pretenses.
Which was… now.Shit.
Ben saw the blur to his left as one vampire raced in front of him and blocked his path.
He stopped in his tracks, panting. The vampire blocking the pavement in front of him stood calmly, his hands on his hips.
Ben looked over his shoulder. The one behind him stood with similar posture. Neither of them looked willing to budge or negotiate.
Ben nodded and turned his attention to the vampire in front of him while still keeping one ear attuned to the man behind him.
“How can I help you guys?” Ben had a knife in his boot. He always carried one there. Of course, a knife only took you so far with vampires.
Neither of them said a word.
“Great,” Ben said. “So you’re the silent types, I guess. Strong silent types? I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Kind of overrated, if you ask me.”
The vampire in front of him cocked his head.
Ben switched to Mandarin. “Who sent you?”
Nothing. It was like talking to two robots.
Were they robots?
Ben asked, “Have you been sent from the future to kill me or protect me?”
