The Asylum Read Online Free PDF Page B

ensure Damon had enough time to escape, I knew I needed to create a distraction. “Help! Police! Help!” I shouted, an idea forming in my mind. I grabbed Cora’s waist and pulled her close to me.
    â€œPretend you’ve fainted,” I whispered under my breath. “Help!” I called louder.
    An officer running by slowed and turned toward us, his eyes flickering with suspicion.
    â€œMy sister fainted!” I called, allowing my voice to break a bit for dramatic effect. Playing along, Cora had gone heavy and limp in my arms.
    Two more officers halted, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Seconds were paramount, and I was hoping this pause would give Damon time enough to escape. Why had he left the tunnel? He knew he was on the front page of the paper. He knew Jack the Ripper was the name on everyone’s lips. Why was he always tempting fate?
    â€œBoys, keep going. I’ll tend to this,” the first officer ordered, charging at me. The other policemen took off in Damon’s direction, but the ruse should have gained him thirty seconds on them. Time enough to put significant distance between himself and his pursuers.
    â€œPlease, come quickly!” I continued, my voice ragged as the officer puffed up the hill toward us. I felt Cora’s sides involuntarily contract and knew she was laughing at my admittedly terribly overacted performance. “Please help!”
    The officer leaned over to inspect Cora, and she stilled. “Probably just fright,” he said, prying her eyelids apart with his pudgy fingers. At that moment, Cora righted herself unsteadily.
    â€œWhat’s happening?” Cora asked, fanning her face with her hand. “I heard the Ripper was here, and I just … why, fear must have overtaken me.” Cora blinked her large eyes up at the officer.
    â€œYes, ma’am, you fainted,” the officer said sternly as he fished a handkerchief out of his pocket and rubbed it over his sweaty, moon-shaped face. He was in his late forties and looked like he’d rather be chasing the Ripper than dealing with a hysterical young woman. “You shouldn’t be out here, even with your brother. A murderer is on the loose!”
    â€œOh, thank you for protecting us,” Cora said. “I don’t know how to repay you, except to pray that you catch the Ripper soon, Officer…”
    â€œOfficer Evans,” he said gruffly, tipping his black hat at her. “And I don’t want to be rescuing you again!” he called over his shoulder as he jogged down the hill. The rest of the police had disappeared into a patch of trees, and I only hoped Damon had outrun them all.
    Cora turned toward me, her blue eyes wide, the flirtatious expression she’d given the officer wiped from her face. She looked deadly serious. “We need to go back to the tunnel and find that idiot brother of yours.”
    I nodded, pressing my lips together. If Damon knew what was good for him, that’s where he would hide out until this all blew over.
    I grabbed Cora’s hand, acting as if we were just out for a stroll. Cora squeezed it, and together, we made our agonizingly slow way through London’s winding alleys. The streets smelled like sewage and rotting vegetables, and the cobblestones were covered in a thin layer of water. I tuned into my vampire senses, picking up the whoosh of blood coursing through millions of bodies. But nowhere did I hear Damon.
    Instead, what I heard was fear. I couldn’t help catching strains of conversations between passersby.
    â€œSaid he fled London, but what good does that do? Still means the Ripper’s terrorizing our country.”
    â€œAnd for the killer to be that well-off? Shows money doesn’t buy common moral decency.”
    â€œMy bet is he’s back on the town and will be terrorizing again tonight.”
    â€œI’m telling you, any man who allows his wife out of his house after dark is asking for