Read Online Alliance by Lacy Williams as Lacy Yager, Haley Yager - Free Book Online Page A

I’m wondering the same thing, I just slip out of the truck and slam the door. Blondie bangs on the front door—I can hear it from two houses away.
    I stay in the shadows between the houses and get closer. I’m downwind, so hopefully she can’t smell me. Even if she can, I can take her.
    Someone inside the house screams. Without hesitating, Blondie kicks in the front door and disappears.
    Crud. I can’t just run in without knowing if the house is full of vamps.
    I palm my knife and find a window on the side of the house. Even from outside, the smell of filth is nauseating.
    Through the window I see what looks like a living room. In the center of the room, a burly man holds a little girl by the neck. She’s turning blue.
    A teenage girl—not Maggie—runs in from another room and launches herself at the man, but he knocks her away with a backhand. She crashes into a glass china cabinet and falls to the floor. She’s weeping, so I know she’s still alive.
    I start to stand up. Someone needs to intervene here. Before I move, Blondie tears into the room from a different door. She kicks the man’s knee out from under him, sending him to the ground. She breaks his nose with the heel of her hand. It’s really a beautiful move.
    The man is stunned enough to let go of the child. The little body slumps to the floor, unmoving. The girl in the corner, who now has blood all over her, is sobbing and screaming.
    Blondie leans over the kid and touches her neck, and I bend my knees in preparation to launch through the window. I can’t let the little girl die. Blondie lowers her head and I freeze. Am I about to watch her rip out the jugular of an innocent child?
    But then she covers the kid’s mouth with her own and I see the little chest rise. She’s doing CPR ? The girl coughs and Blondie gathers her up into her arms. She moves to the teen and I wait for her attack—the girl is covered in blood. Instead, Maggie helps her up and gets her to hobble out the door Maggie came in only moments ago.
    I can hear them talking through the thin walls of the obviously cheaply-built house.
    “Where are we going?”
    Blondie sounds completely calm when she answers, not even winded. “We can’t discuss where you’re going right now, but I promise you’ll be safe.”
    “What about my clothes? Can I pack a bag?”
    “No. We need to leave. Quickly.”
    “I don’t have any money. I don’t have any way to get out of here.”
    “Don’t worry about that right now. It’s taken care of.”
    I come around the corner of the house as the girls step onto the slanted front porch. They stop. I hesitate, still in the shadows. It’s obvious the two girls need help, so I can’t kill Blondie yet.
    “Where’s the cab?” Maggie asks. Then she uses a very unladylike word. “I asked him to keep the meter running—” She juggles the small girl in her arms and reaches into a pocket, pulling out a slim silver object. Cell phone.
    “Hey!” A yell from the back of the house makes the other teen yelp, and Maggie pulls her down the rickety steps into the front yard.
    Something slams inside the house. I can’t believe the guy is standing after that punch Blondie gave him, but apparently he’s mad enough to try for more.
    The teen girl with Maggie starts to cry again, which causes the little girl to whimper. Maggie dials the phone and looks back at the house like she doesn’t quite know how to handle everything all at once.
    Crap. Am I really going to do this?
    I step out from the shadows. “You need a ride? My truck’s down there.” I yank my thumb toward where I left the truck and Chloe.
    “Shane?” Blondie’s voice reeks of disbelief. “What are you doing here?”
    A loud curse and footsteps getting closer give me some credence as I jog over to the group on the sidewalk. “I’ll tell you later. Do you want a ride or not?”
    Now that I’m close I see her eyes are green. Green, even with the bloody teen standing so close to her? I