So he could catch the scent, they went back to the alley where the fight had happened, but he stopped well short of it, Xun and Wei stopping behind him.

Cop cars with flashing lights were blocking the alley, yellow police tape cordoning it off. There was a flash, black SUV parked on the street close to the police vehicles as well as a black Porsche. There were also a meager number of onlookers, meager as it was late and this was a business district. And the fire Abel had lit to be certain the vampires were disposed of had been put out.

They had no other choice but to drive by so he could catch the scent.

Abel turned his head to his brothers, jerked up his chin, got two return gestures, then he gave his bike gas, gliding by the scene, Abel hoping that no one looked their way. The bloodstains on their dark clothes had dried and darkened, imperceptible in the night (unless you were vampire or wolf and could smell it), but he and his two brothers still had stains on their skin.

He looked down the alley as he went by, seeing two dark-haired, well-dressed men who were not cops standing on the sidewalk outside the alley.

One was speaking to a police officer.

The other was on his phone.

But his eyes followed Abel.

Abel smelled them both and knew they were what he’d learned from their scent that night.

Vampires.

Since they were, they would no doubt smell him.

And the blood he and his brothers had all over them.

Fuck.

He buried the urge to put on more gas until they were well away from the scene.

But he’d picked up the scent and followed it, straight to the bay. They made it there without cop cars chasing them or gaining any company. He didn’t know what that meant, but he didn’t trust it and he didn’t let his guard down.

He stopped his bike in the deserted parking lot by the rocky beach, swung off, and moved over the rocks toward the water, feeling Xun and Wei following him.

He stopped at the edge where the gentle waves were lapping the shore, this also being where the scent died.

“Gone swimming?” Wei asked.

“Yep,” Abel answered.

“So we lost him,” Xun stated, frustration in his tone.

“Yep,” Abel repeated, also feeling frustration along with the disquiet gnawing at his throat.

“You have any dreams, premonitions, or freaking anything about the shit that went down tonight?” Wei asked.

This was a pertinent question.

Abel dreamed. He did it every night and had done it for as long as he could remember.