I shifted my bags to my other arm. “I fell asleep waiting for my friend to come back from the lineup. Had a bad dream and woke up flailing like an octopus. If octopuses flail.”
“You’re lucky you’re able to fall asleep so easily,” she said.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
I felt uneasy standing there in the middle of the sidewalk in the broad daylight. It wasn’t safe. A hunter could be watching me right now while trying to figure out how to kill the Slayer of Slayers in a way spectacular enough to impress his buddies. I suddenly got a visual of a thousand tiny wooden
Sarah-seeking missiles flying through the air. Or just one big one. Either way, not a good place to be for long.
“I’m going to grab a taxi,” I told her.
“Do you mind if I share one with you?” She glanced up at the surrounding skyscrapers with a confused expression. “It’s so hard to get used to things around here.”
“You’re not from around here?”
“No. Actually, I’m from Florida.”
“And if you’re from Florida, why would you come to Toronto in January?” I asked. “If I had a choice
I’d rather be sitting on a beach right now.”
“You can get sick of beaches.”
“That’s crazy talk.”
“Then call me crazy. I’m Janelle, by the way. Janelle Parker.” She shifted her bags to offer me her gloved hand. “You can call me Janie.”
“Sarah,” I told her, as I shook her hand. I left off the last name. Nobody needed to know my last name.
It might get me in trouble, and it didn’t matter who I was talking to. Nope. From now on I would just be
Sarah . Much like Madonna. Or Cher. Or Mary-Kate and Ashley. “Welcome to Toronto. Which is actually Cherokee for ‘we will ruin your designer footwear upon arrival.’ Where are you staying?”
“The Royal York.”
I whistled. “Fancy. How long are you in town for?”
She shrugged. “It’s business related so it could be a day or two. Maybe more. I’ve got some personal stuff to attend to as well.”
“Do you have family here?”
When she didn’t say anything right away, I glanced at her sideways to see her moisten her lips and blink hard.
“Family’s one thing I don’t have to worry about anymore,” Janie said grimly, but then seemed to shake her melancholy moment away. She turned to offer me a bright smile. “You just never know what’s behind the next corner, do you?”
I nodded. “Ain’t that the tru—”
As we passed the next corner—ironically enough—a hand reached out to grab my coat and yank me into an alleyway. I went sprawling onto the ground in a heap, surprised, with the wind knocked out of me, the contents of my shopping bags spilling out onto the pavement.
Something blocked out the sun. Was it an eclipse? I squinted up, feeling dazed. No, no eclipse. It was a behemoth of a man blocking the sun and my potential escape.
“You’re Sarah Dearly, right?” he asked.
My thousand tiny missiles dissolved and were replaced by the image of one huge man who’d just pulled me into an alleyway, away from the maddening crowd who were apparently the only thing keeping me alive until now.
Yup.
Spectacular death. Right here. Right now.
Oh, shit.
The behemoth had a knife in one hand. “Slayer of Slayers. I’ve been following you all day, waiting for this moment. I’m a very patient man.”
My eyes widened, and my gaze darted around the darkened alleyway. Where did Janie go? Where the hell was Lenny? “Uh, I think you have me confused with somebody else. It’s okay. I get that all the time.
No harm done.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You want my purse?” I said again, my chest tightening. “Here. Take it.”
He fixed me with a narrow-eyed stare. “I don’t want your purse, vampire.” Then he eyed my brand-new handbag. “Hold on. Maybe I will take it. Then I can have some proof that I was the one who took you down.”
“Hey, what’s your name?” I asked through chattering teeth. Maybe he wanted to talk a bit likeChad did.
Buy some time.
“Shut up, bitch.”
Maybe not.
I glanced around the narrow alleyway. No doors. No other way out. Where was Lenny? Shouldn’t he be swinging in on a vine like a big hairy Tarzan to save me?
The hunter grew nearer and so did his knife. A silver knife. Every bit as deadly as a wooden stake to your average vampire.
“Hey, Sarah! You okay?” I heard Janie shout from behind him.
He bared his yellowed teeth and turned to face the blonde, then grabbed her leather jacket and shoved her in my direction. I heard a rip.
Janie looked down at herself. He’d ripped her jacket along the right underarm seam.
She looked up, her eyes flashing angrily. “Oh, no, you did not just do that. First my shoes today and now my jacket?” She took a step forward.
“Janie, he’s dangerous—” I tried to catch her arm to stop her from doing anything too stupid, but by then she was out of my reach.
Janie’s eyes widened. “He has a knife.”