“Fuck,” I swore beneath my breath and ducked back into the alley. Had I gone the wrong way? Steeling myself, I peeked around the red brick again. There were the bars Serena had mentioned. I glanced back in the direction I’d come, frowning.

Two lots of police cars? That couldn’t be good.

Had the killer come here, too?

Chills swept down my bare arms. I glanced down, grateful for my boots. I might have to run, after all.

No, that was stupid. Serena was right. The killer was out here, somewhere. If he’d hit two places, there was no telling if he’d hit a third. A lone girl walking home in the middle of the night would become another likely target.

I pulled my head away from the corner and pressed my back against the rough wall. Time for a plan. One that made sense. If I wandered out from this alley, the cops would see me. Not a big deal if I didn’t have anything to hide. Would they want to question me? Would they realize I’d fled the party?

That would look really, really bad.

Maybe I would just stay here, hiding in the alley, until the cops went away.

No, that wasn’t any better. They’d search the streets for the guy, hoping they could catch him before he got away. I was a sitting duck. I couldn’t stay.

I had only two options. Walk out of here and surrender myself to the cops. They’d question me. They might even suspect me. And my name would be plastered all over the internet again. The hounding reporters. The death threats. The chaos of it all.

Or I could sneak away through the alleys and risk stumbling into the path of a killer.

I’d told Serena that I wouldn’t let fear control me, but it had controlled me for the past two years. Every decision I made. Every disappointment I encountered. Every pessimistic thought that swirled through my head. It all stemmed from my fear. I was scared that my past would never release its grip on me. It would shadow my steps for the rest of my days, no matter how far I ran.

It would always catch up to me. And it had found me yet again.

With a deep breath, I turned away from the flashing lights and the shouting cops. I wound my way through the dark, solemn alleys, fisting Az’s apartment keys in my hand. I didn’t think it would make much of a difference if someone attacked me, but it put a bounce in my step, a determination in my bones.

Az’s building was only a few blocks away. The maze of alleyways would end, and I could curl up in the safety of a Prince of Hell’s penthouse.