The Vampire Next Door Read Online Free PDF

everything I was holding into the Rubbermaid container, then climbed on the scooter, fumbling to get the key in the ignition as I swept the kickstand up with my left foot.
     
    I squeezed the brake, turned the key, and the engine purred to life.
     
    A scream rang out behind me, and for one awful moment, I thought that the vampire was eating the man inside the store- but then I saw the man come rushing out of the same doorway I’d only just exited. He no longer held the rifle. Blood streamed down his arm. Somehow the starving vamp had got hold of this guy.
     
    I twisted the throttle and pressed forward, trying to escape.
     
    “Stop!” the man screamed behind me. “Stop!”
     
    He lunged at me and managed to somehow catch the rack on the rear of the scooter with his torso. The force of the impact sent my back tire skidding sideways, and because I wasn’t quite going fast enough to have gained any sort of momentum, I lost my balance almost immediately. The scooter went down, and I went down with it, hitting the asphalt hard even as I threw up my hands to shield my head from the collision. The pavement scraped my forearms from wrist to elbow, sending searing pain through my torso.
     
    It was over before I even had time to comprehend that I’d crashed, and I felt wetness on my leg. I looked down to see my left leg pinned beneath the scooter, which was still running. Gas was leaking from the gas cap, staining my sweat pants. As I tried to move, I realized with horror that my left leg was pinned beneath the scooter, and every time I tried to move it, pain shot through my knee.
     
    Was it broken?
     
    Terror struck my heart with unbridled ferocity. I couldn’t have a broken leg. I would have no way of fixing it, no way of getting home. The clouds were coming, and a hungry vampire was less than a hundred yards away from me, just waiting for the sun to disappear. I had to get out of here.
     
    Despite its lightweight appearance, the scooter was too heavy for me to lift from the ground. I grunted, pushing against it, trying to dislodge it enough to slide my leg out from under it. But then I saw the man, my human attacker, climb to his feet about ten feet away. He swayed as he stood up, and I saw a trickle of blood run down his forehead.
     
    “Give me that bike,” he slurred, stumbling forward.
     
    I saw the 9mil spilling out of the bag, still inside the Rubbermaid container. I shifted, wincing in pain as I reached for it. My fingers closed around the barrel, and I pulled it free with shaking hands.
     
    There was no hesitation. I raised the gun and fired off two shots. Both struck his chest, and he went down.
     
    Fighting back tears, I shoved the gun in the waistband of my pants, grabbed the handlebars of the bike, and lifted. With my renewed determination, the pressure on my leg relieved just the slightest bit, and I moved my battered limb out from underneath it. As I shifted my leg, blood rushed back into it, intensifying the pain, and I nearly cried out with relief when I realized it wasn’t broken. It still hurt like hell, but at least everything was where it was supposed to be.
     
    Using the scooter for leverage, I managed to pull myself into a standing position. I tried to put weight on my injured leg, and the pain made me gasp, but I knew I didn’t have time to sit around whining about it.
     
    I gritted my teeth and leaned to pick up the scooter, grunting as I put more weight on my leg than I’d intended. I couldn’t move my left leg enough to put the kickstand down, and I couldn’t support my weight on that leg so that I could use my other foot to engage the kickstand, either, so I just held the bike and tried to look it over for damage. There were some scrapes on the side, but nothing serious. The Rubbermaid container was collapsed on one side and cracked in several places, but miraculously my shopping bag and the crossbow were still inside and unharmed.
     
    The sun chose that moment to disappear behind