We raced to my car. Even though it was probably unwise, I let Henley get in the passenger side. There was something wrong about this. I needed time to figure it out and most of all, I needed to talk to Alaric. That wouldn't happen until I lost the person trying to kill Henley.

It didn't surprise me that General Lockhart would send his own team in to do the job. He was determined to be the one responsible for Henley's death.

As I took off, I thought about his involvement, wondering if he was getting paid off to do the job.

"We need to get off the street," Henley said as he turned back from the view out the rear window. "My house is close by."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because it is a known location. We will not be going to any of the places that you frequent."

Pulling the piece of paper from the center console, I handed it to Henley. My path out of this place was to the vampire gate, not the lady that let me through. I don't know what the guards will say when I turn up with Henley sitting beside me but I had to get to safety.

It wasn't like me to run, I preferred to stay and fight. Someone was lying and I had to find out who and why before an innocent human died. That is if Henley is innocent. Maybe he was using what happened against me. Manipulating me into a situation that benefited his escape.

The whole situation didn't sit well with me, something was wrong and I couldn't just send Henley on his way. He'd be dead by morning if I did that. At least with me, he had a chance to survive the night.

"Who wants you dead?"

Henley put the piece of paperback in the console. A dejected shrug was offered as he despondently looked at his lap.

"I don't know. I guess it could be a gang leader. It's not like I go out of my way to make enemies but anything is possible."

"I'm amazed that they didn't give any information about you if you've lived here for years."

"It is surprising considering that I lead a predictable and public life. Go to work until five, then to the pool hall until eleven. I usually go home and I don't venture out until the next morning. Tonight was a little different."

"Well, clearly you've annoyed someone so think about it and find something that makes sense or no sense at all. I don't know. Just figure it out."

Henley looked at me, I glanced in his direction. The street light flashed over his face, showing the amusement on his face.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Yeah right. Spill the beans or I'll pull over and kick your ass out."

"I was just thinking that you are kind of funny."

I shot daggers at him. Henley shrugged like he didn't care.

"It's my opinion so, live with it."

I huffed, rolling my eyes.

"I can have an opinion, can't I?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Where are we going?"

"Through the gates, if they'll let us."

Glancing at him, I saw the wordless stare that said he didn't think it would happen. I hoped it would but to be honest, I doubted it. There was enough information against Henley to push for his capture and termination which meant that he was listed as a restricted human. He could not travel anywhere. The only thing that could be used in his favor is that they all think that Henley is in the vampire section of the land, not the halfways. Technically, he should be on the other side of it.

It took about half an hour to reach the gate, all of it was done without any issues. I was silently grateful, not wanting to put any of my driving skills to the test.

Slowing at the gate, I lowered the window and pulled out my identification. The guard took it and looked at me, then lowered to see who my passenger was.

"I will be traveling to area H-five, taking the service road."

He frowned heavily at me, I sighed and took my card back.

"Henley Davenport, a restricted human."

Instantly, the guard reached back for his gun.

"And he's in danger. Our information is not correct. I'm taking him to H-five using the service road. I am being precautious."

The clip was flicked, releasing the gun from the holster.

"He needs protection until we can figure out who wants him dead. We've already been shot at once tonight."

"Get out of the vehicle slowly. Keep your hands where I can see them."

"Well," Henley said in a mocking tone. "This is an interesting turn of events."

"Just do what he says."

Opening the door, I kept my hands visible as I got out of the car. It was awkward and rather clumsy but there wasn't much else I could do when a gun was pointed at me.

Shots rang out, missing me because I moved. The guard turned, searching for the gunman. I began to back away as more shots echoed. They landed in the walls near Henley. As soon as the guard called for backup, chaos erupted. Guards swarmed the area and I stepped back into the shadows.

Giving Henley a flick of my head, I wordlessly ordered him to follow. This was the only chance that we had to escape. Otherwise, we would be stuck in the interrogation room for hours while they asked the same dumb questions.

Slipping through the gate, we entered the service road and began the search for somewhere that was safe for the both of us. Our reasons to be safe were vastly different. Henley had someone that was trying to kill him and had tried several times and I had to be kept safe from him.

I could pretend that my safety was needed because I was a vampire and he was this supposed slayer but it wasn't the truth. I could see that he wasn't a slayer. No, my issues were far deeper, more emotional. I had to hide from him or he'd hurt me in the worst way possible, scarring me for life.

There were a few issues that we had. The first was that once the guards killed whoever the gunman was, they would soon realize that we were not with them anymore. There was an alternate concern to that one, the guards might not survive and whoever was trying to kill Henley would continue through the gate.

The next issue was the rising sun and the sky had started to lighten. We still had several hours before dawn but I knew that time would escape us. I was also tired and Henley looked like he was death warmed up. We had to find somewhere to sleep and it had to be safe. Our issues only continued to mount with that idea. Sleeping left us vulnerable to the guards, the gunman and to ourselves.

Would Henley try to kill me in my sleep? I hoped that things were okay between us but I didn't know this person. He was human and he had some pretty horrible things to say about vampires. With those thoughts in mind, I decided that we had to find a house that was designed for vampire safety.

Being that we were in the area that was dominated by vampires and there technically shouldn't be any humans, there were still a few houses that had safety bars and safe rooms. With the split of society and the humans being in their own area, the vampire safety scheme was a thing of the past. It was now seen as unfashionable to have these things and only the older houses had anything worthy of checking out.

Rather than walking along the street, we kept to the backyards as much as we could. Where we couldn't, we slipped through the shadows. At this hour, there was a lack of shadows and like everything else, it was difficult and tedious.

An engine started to grow louder as a car drew closer. Perched at the edge of a house, I peered around the corner. Before the driver could see me, I quickly moved back. A large searchlight slipped over the land, I looked at Henley. He returned the grim look. They were searching for us and they were close.

"We can't risk it anymore. It's almost daybreak and they're searching for us."

"I'm good for the sun."

"But are you good for protecting yourself once they figure out that the only person left standing in the sun is not a vampire? You might want to check the smart mouth at the door and remember that this vampire is the one that is saving your ass from whoever it is that is trying to kill you."

"I don't understand why. Sure I'm anti-drugs and gangs but it's not like they've ever paid attention to me in the past."

"Look, someone is after you. I was given your picture and your name. You are Henley Davenport, right?"

Henley stared at me and shrugged.

"Yeah, I am but so is my father. I'm Henley Junior."

My heart began to sink.

"Where's your father?"

Leaning on the wall of the house, Henley dragged his finger over the brick, looking rather despondent.

"Wouldn't have a clue. Not seen him since mom decided to enter the halfways. She said that if there was ever going to be peace then it was in there. Dad didn't agree, he said the vampires would kill us."

I stepped forward, hoping that he'd see the truth.

"So, he stayed in what is now vampire town?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"And he was anti-vampire?"

"From what I could remember, yeah."

"Enough to become a slayer?"

Henley's eyes lifted, the realization hitting hard. It was clearly a case of mistaken identity and I knew the path for tonight. I had to get Henley into somewhere that had continuing safety while telling Alaric that the information was wrong.

As for this mystery person shooting at Henley, I could only hope that they're now dead. It was likely to be a secondary hunter and those orders probably came from Lockhart. I would not be surprised if he'd gone behind Alaric's back and sent one of his own men in to do the job. The man was an ass.

"Anything is possible. He was pretty involved in the rallies and demonstrations. I never saw or heard anything about him killing a vampire but as I said, anything is possible."

With a heavy huff, I shook my head. Walking onto the patio of the house, I slammed my shoulder against the door and broke it open. Henley followed me, looking at the door that wouldn't shut now.

"That's going to screw you over in a few hours."

"We're not going to be here in a few hours."

Pulling out my phone, I rang the pain in the ass and hopefully benevolent king.

"Claudia, you have good news so soon?"

"I have troubling news. You've got the wrong Henley Davenport. You're after the father, not the son who happens to be an upstanding pillar of a halfways human community. Research your information, jack ass. He's a mayor, he's trying to clean up the town and he's got some lunatic trying to kill him thanks to someone's monumental screwup. We've been shot at."

"Did it ever occur to you that this someone that you think is after Henley might be trying to kill you? We discussed this earlier, Claudia. You might like to ignore the death threats but I don't. Where are you? I'll send guards to you."

"Not a chance in hell. If you're as right as you think you are then anyone could be dirty."

"Fine. I'll come to get you."

The line went dead and I wondered how he'd know where I was. Then again, this was Alaric. It was highly likely that I'd put my phone down somewhere and left it there while I went and did something. Family events were supposed to be just that, for our family but it was guaranteed that the jack ass would have put a tracker on my phone.

"Jack ass," I muttered tersely.