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not
telling someone about it.
    On the one hand, if she told
someone about it and nothing ever happened, then she made one of her friends
worry for nothing. Of course, if something did happen then someone else had an
idea of what was going on already and could be there to help if it came to that—or
would at least know to go to the police if she went missing. But that all led
to the flip side of the thought. Telling a friend about everything would be
involving them, and involving them could—potentially—put them in danger. She
would hate herself if she put someone else in danger unnecessarily.
    “Well, that sucks,” Mandy declared
as she set Veronica’s piping-hot drink on the shelf.
    Veronica blinked, staring at her
friend for a long second. Had she told her without even realizing it? No, she’s
too calm to have just heard a story like that.
    “V?” Mandy called, recognizing the look
of distraction in her friend’s face. “Everything okay? Is there something else you wanted to talk about?”
    Shaking her head, Veronica grabbed
the cup and quickly replied, “Oh, no, no, sorry I was just a bit distracted for
a minute. Nothing to worry about.”
    Mandy narrowed her light brown eyes
on her and said pointedly, “Uh-huh. Well, when you change your mind, let me
know.”
    That was one of the things she
loved about Mandy. Mandy wasn’t the type to let her friends get away with
anything. If she noticed that something was bothering someone she demanded to
know what it was—though she always stopped short of being rude—and once she
knew what it was she either offered a shoulder or a solution. Sometimes both. But that was also one of the things that
occasionally made Veronica wish she was talking to someone else, because
sometimes she didn’t like talking about the things that were bothering her. And
Mandy was good at being observant.
    Offering Mandy an apologetic smile,
Veronica said, “Really, don’t worry about it.”
    Mandy held her hands in the air,
saying, “I’ll play along. But you should call Ali if you haven’t yet.”
    “I’m going to,” Veronica replied
honestly. “But, actually, to do that I really need to get going. We should
really get together some time now that you’re feeling better, though. Text me?”
    “Will do,” Mandy assured her with a
grin.
    They exchanged goodbyes and
Veronica took her mocha in hand as she stepped out into the fresh, still warm,
night air. She made her way to her car casually and paused, one hand wrapped
around her keys, to inhale a deep breath of her drink. Her eyes fluttered as
she focused on the smell, and she nearly missed the blurred movement in her
peripheral vision.
    As soon as she registered it her
eyes snapped open and her head spun to the side, searching for the movement
that she knew she’d seen. And, at first, she still only saw nothing. But then
she realized that there was a man walking away, his back to the coffee shop and
his hands tucked into his jeans pockets. He was wearing a t-shirt and dark
baseball cap, and between the bad lighting and his distance it was hard for
Veronica to tell if he was familiar to her or not. Had he been there before?
    An uneasy feeling settling in her
gut, Veronica swallowed heavily and hurried to unlock the car and duck inside. Either
she was becoming certifiably paranoid or something really was going on. And
could it really be a coincidence that these weird things would start happening
right after what she’d overheard? She wasn’t sure, but she did know it was time
to go home and lock the door behind her.
    ****
    After a long, frustrating night,
Seth had only learned one thing: Robert’s mystery informant wasn’t the only
vampire who’d suddenly gone missing. Despite searching all night, Seth had been
unable to find Richards or either Wilson brother. Now he needed to meet with
Robert again, to check in and see if anything had happened on his end, but
first he needed his daily coffee. And maybe he’d get to check in