“Good to know.” She swiveled and kicked him directly in the chest. He staggered back a couple of steps, coughing, with an expression of shock on his face.
She closed the distance between them and he sliced the knife upward, catching the bottom corner of her jacket before she moved away. She spun around and punched him in his stomach. He let out an “ughh!”
Then she grabbed the arm that had the knife, twisted it behind him, and brought her knee up against his elbow.
I heard a sickening crack and a surprisingly high-pitched scream of pain for such a large, scary man. The knife clattered to the ground.
He stared at her in silence for a few long seconds, clutching his broken arm against his chest. And then turned and ran away.
I think he was crying.
During the entire duration of this unexpected action sequence I stood against the cold brick wall with my mouth open long enough and wide enough that my fangs had dried out.
Janie leaned over and picked up the knife. She breathed on the blade and wiped it against her ripped jacket. Then she looked at me and there was a fierce, fiery expression in her eyes, which quickly extinguished back to a cool blue.
She shrugged. “I hate vampire hunters.”
“Holy crap,” I managed. “That was the most impressive thing I think I’ve ever seen. Who are you,La
Femme Nikita ?”
She shrugged again and slipped the knife into her purse. “It was nothing.”
I shook my head slowly. “No, that was definitely notnothing . Did I say ‘holy crap’ already? Hold on . .
. did you say you hate vampire hunters?”
“They’re just so . . . indiscriminate. You know? Well, most of them, anyhow. Are you okay?”
I frowned at her. “You’re my other bodyguard, aren’t you?”
She smiled. “Guilty as charged.”
“So you know I’m a . . . a . . . ”
“Bloodsucking monster. That’s right.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“And miss the fun?”
“You call that fun?
She shrugged. “Kinda. Still not thrilled about the ruined shoes, but I’ll just include it in my fee. By the way, that’s actually the third hunter we’ve taken down today. This one got a little too close for comfort,
but all is well.”
“The third?” I let it all sink in. “So you’re not a distance kind of bodyguard like Lenny. You like to get up close and personal.”
“Total mistake. I just wanted some caffeine. You were the one who initiated contact.”
She was right about that, I guess. “Who taught you how to fight like that?”
She picked her shopping bag off the ground. “My brother. He was into all thatKung Fu shit. Needed a sparring partner so he taught me some moves. He always called me Grasshopper, like in the TV show.
He was a total geek.” She got a faraway look on her face, but then seemed to shake it off and smile at me. “Listen, we should probably get you off the streets. As much as I love a little afternoon workout,
we’ve had enough face time for today. I’ve got something else to take care of, but Lenny will see you safely home.” She turned and left the alley, merging onto the sidewalk as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.
“Wait a minute.” I had to hurry to catch up to her. She was walking faster now. I guess when you kick a guy’s ass without even breaking a sweat you might get some adrenaline flowing.
If I knew how to protect myself like that I probably wouldn’t even need to rely on any bodyguards at all.
The fitness classes I’ve been taking with Amy didn’t come anywhere near what I’d just witnessed.
Amazing. The mugger had been easily twice Janie’s size. And he hadn’t been wearing heels. That was a definite disadvantage. In this case, for him.
“You know,” I began, a plan formulating in my mind as I tried to walk and juggle my shopping bags without dropping anything. “Since you’re already being paid to hang around me, maybe I could get you to teach me some self-defense.”
She studied me for a moment, shifting the bag to her other hand. “You must know how to protect yourself, don’t you?”
“Yeah, that’s why I was standing there wearing my ‘I’m the Victim’ T-shirt while you took care of business.”
She frowned. “I don’t know, I’m not much of a teacher. But, like you said, I am going to be around—I guess I could, if you like.”
“I would like.” I smiled, feeling as though this was the best idea I’d had all day. All decade, really.
“Sarah!” I heard somebody shout, and I turned to look, surprised to see that it was Quinn on the other side of the street waving at me.
He wore dark sunglasses, a black leather jacket, and faded blue jeans and was smiling so widely I could see his fangs from a distance. I waved back, and he started to cross the street.
“What the hell is he doing here?” I said, mostly to myself. “Janie, I’m going to have to introduce you to
Quinn.”
I turned to look at her and realized that she was gone.
Gone. Disappeared.
I frowned. Where did she go?
“What’s wrong?” Quinn asked, when he reached me. “You look a little disturbed.”
For a second I thought about my dream. It had been so vivid. Both the kissing of Quinn and the staking of Thierry. But it was only a dream.
Only a dream.