Vampires Among Us [Vampires Among Us 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)

in the front door a little overwhelming. As it was, she was still so shaken up. All she could do was place her hand over her chest, willing her heart rate to slow down.
    Kevin delivered a quick order for the other two to stay put and guard, as he threw himself out the same open window Shawn had used to chase him down. Marshall told Joshua to stay put and guard the women, as he started a security sweep of the house just to be certain it was empty.
    Erica looked down when she noticed Jennifer was still in a crouched position. She hadn’t moved, and seemed to be in some type of trance. Suddenly, she looked up at Erica and stood up abruptly. Taking a quick glance down at the disarray that used to be Erica’s makeup, she glanced at her hand and snorted. “Oh crap, I chipped my nail polish!”
    Erica stood staring at her in total disbelief. She took a few seconds to pull her thoughts together, still in a bit of shock over what had transpired. They had just had an unwanted visitor threatening murder, and Jennifer complains of a chipped nail! “Seriously, Jennifer, you’re concerned about your nails?” Erica asked, with a bit of a chuckle, as some of the tension slipped away from her. As soon as Jennifer glanced over Erica’s way, both girls burst out laughing over the comment.
    Joshua, who stood guard over the two young women, shook his head in disbelief thinking they surely were suffering some sort of mental breakdown over the stress. “I am sure glad I don’t have to live with these two on a full time basis,” he muttered to himself, as he wondered how Kevin did it.
    Erica quickly threw together the last few remaining items she wanted. Suddenly, she was in a hurry to put as much space between her and the horrors this house held as she could. In a sudden moment of clarity, she realized everything around her could be replaced. The house and everything in it was a constant reminder of what a horrible monster she had married to. She wanted those nightmares behind her. She was ready to start her new life. As she took one final look around, she didn’t need or want anything else in this house. She walked to the front door, knowing this would be the last time she would ever have to see this house again. That thought alone lightened her mood considerably. She was more than ready to leave.
     
    * * * *
     
    Kevin chased Shawn as far as he could. He couldn’t follow Shawn by scent, and this puzzled him. Without his scent to go by, Kevin lost track of him pretty quickly. Shawn had a good head start. Kevin had used Shawn’s footprints to get as far as he had, but those quickly faded away as he reached the dense forest. Shawn could be anywhere by now. Kevin would have loved to change into an animal form to pursue, but since he had no idea where Shawn was or what he was up to, he decided against it. Kevin had no backup at this point. He had left the others back at the house, and didn’t want to risk the chance that Shawn was somewhere close by, watching him change forms. Kevin would rather catch him off-guard with that little surprise another time. Turning in defeat, he headed back to the others.
    By the time he arrived back at the house, his anger was raging. He walked straight up to Marshall and Joshua, unable to stop the flow of his frustrations. “There is definitely a problem here. Why couldn’t we smell him? How is he able to mask his vampire scent?” Erica stood well in the shadows as she watched Kevin vent his frustration on his coworkers. It was easy to see he was aggravated as well as frustrated. She could hear it loud and clear in his tone. She inched her way over to stand behind Jennifer, hoping he wouldn’t spot her until he had calmed down.
    “I’ve had enough of his crap! I’m sick of his games! Whatever he is up to, we’ve got to figure it out and bring him down once and for all!” Kevin continued venting, and Marshall and Joshua were both smart enough to keep quiet. They had seen their boss aggravated like this before, although both men would openly admit it did take a lot to get Kevin to this point. Marshall would be able to speak with him later, after he cooled off. For now, the best thing for everyone involved, was to just let him vent his frustrations.
    It was Marshall that alerted him to something not being right. Marshall kept looking over Kevin’s shoulder, then look back at Kevin. A silent message passed that there was a problem behind him, and Kevin would bet it had something to do with