CHAPTER 12
Allister
IT TOOK ME A momentto realize who the person was holding the sharp edge of a dagger to my neck. "Piper? What, what are you doing here?"
I winced as she pressed the dagger tighter against my throat. "I asked you first, you rat bastard."
We were gathering a crowd, and at the sake of not causing Piper to end up as dinner, I waved them off and tried to push up onto my elbows. Piper didn't give me an inch. "I think it best if we take this elsewhere. Don't you?"
Piper noticed the crowd of hungry vampires and gritted her teeth, pulling away from me reluctantly. "You're right. This isn't the time or place." She grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and jerked me up with more strength than I expected.
"Allister," the woman, Yvaine, who had been my companion for the evening, reached for me, placing a hand on my arm. "Who is this woman?"
Before I could answer, Piper jerked me away from Yvaine and hissed, "Hands off. He's taken." A bit turned on by this new aggressive Piper, I allowed her to push me through the crowd and toward the back of the club.
"Not that I'm not enjoying your manhandling, but you never answered my question."
Piper shoved my shoulder. "You never answered mine."
Just then, before I could answer, the front door burst open, and hunters came pouring in.
"Shit. We don't have time." Piper dug into her pocket and pulled out her keys. Pushing them into my hands, she ushered me toward the back door. "Go. My car is out back."
I stared at her blankly.
"Go. You idiot. Before they see you."
"But what about you?" I couldn't just leave her behind. My brothers would never let me hear the end of it.
"I'll be fine. I have no doubt they will use your being here as an excuse to take you out." Piper shoved at me once more, and I had no choice but to do as she asked.
Hurrying out the back door, I kept to the shadows as I made my way to Piper's old vehicle, the one she had arrived in when she first came to our home. I was too big to sit in the front seat comfortably, so I squeezed into the back of the car and laid down, hiding from sight.
The shouting from inside of Club Dead could be heard through the door the hunters had busted down. I feared for Piper's safety, but as she had told me, she'd be fine. The hunters thought of her as one of them, and my being there would only put her in danger.
It felt like the fighting went on forever as I waited huddled in the car like a coward. I was tempted to phone Antoine and the others but didn't want to draw attention to myself. The car door opened all of a sudden, and I jerked up, flashing my fangs, and prepared to attack the person who had opened the door.
Piper gasped and then scowled. "Sit back and put those away before you get hurt."
I closed my mouth and relaxed back into the seat. "How'd it go?"
Piper cranked the car and peeled out of the parking lot without looking back. "How do you think it went?"
Leaning forward in between the front seats, I caught the metallic scent of blood filling my nose. "You're hurt." I placed my hand on her side, my fingers coming away wet.
She flinched away from me. "I'm fine. It's just a scratch."
"It doesn't smell like a scratch."
Letting out a long puff of breath, Piper murmured, "I'll be fine. Let's just get home."
"That's two hours away. You'll bleed out or wreck before then." I brought my wrist up to my mouth, sinking my fangs into my skin. Blood bubbled up from the wound as I offered it to her. "Take my blood. Heal yourself."
Piper sniffed and pushed my arm away. "I'd rather bleed to death."
"Well, I wouldn't. It would kill me if you died, let alone what Antoine would do to me if I let you die when I could have saved you." Piper leaned her head away from me, and I snarled in annoyance. I grabbed the back of her head and shoved my arm against her mouth. She struggled against me, the car jerking all over the road. Thankfully, the road was empty enough because of the time of night that we didn't hit anyone, but we were in danger of going off the street.
When I couldn't smell her blood as prominent as before, I released her. She shoved my arm away from her and swiped at her face.