“Girlfriend,” she blurted. Well, why not? It was true, for the moment at least.
The old gent beamed. “You picked a good one, Miss Addy. This guy’s a gem. When our generator died in the middle of the 4thof July street fair, he patched it up right quick.”
“Glad to help, signore.” Kieran slung his arm around Addy’s waist and drew her away.
“Girlfriend, eh?” He snugged her close. “I like the sound of that.”
“Sounds a little silly at our age, but if you’re up for a long-distance, weekends-only thing…”
He crooked a finger under her chin and lifted her gaze to his. “Sounds perfect.” He kissed her softly. “Though be forewarned, I hope to lure you here on a more permanent basis.”
Shimmering inside with hope and happiness, she smiled into his kiss. “I’ll add that to my list of possibilities.”
Shouts from the bar’s entrance interrupted their happy canoodling.
“Pretty rowdy tonight, even for a Halloween party.” Addy rose on tiptoe to see what all the ruckus was about.
One by one, revelers drifted toward the door. The cries outside grew louder and more urgent, and soon the male bartender grabbed a baseball bat, shouted for his partner to call 911, then sprinted to the exit.
“Well, shit. Better go help.” Kieran kissed her forehead and headed for the exit, with Addy close behind.
Outside, in the middle of Main Street, a scruffy white-haired man wielding a broken beer bottle charged back and forth, menacing anyone who came near. For an old guy, he had amazing speed, and the wild look in his eye set Addy’s nerves on edge. She’d seen that look before, when a combat soldier, triggered by a sudden shock and fueled by adrenalin, tumbled into his own inner hell.
Sprawled on the ground, a man in a gruesome horror-movie villain costume clutched his abdomen and writhed in pain, while another guy with gory Halloween makeup dodged the attacker’s thrusts, stupidly trying to knock the broken bottle out of the older man’s hands.
“Fuckin’ V-C! You killed my brother, but you ain’t takin’ me!” The attacker lunged and slashed, ripping a gash in the younger man’s palm.
The wounded man tripped and tumbled backward, real blood mixing with fake as the old guy tackled him.
Kieran, the bartender, and a dozen other partygoers dove in, pinning the old man’s arms and yanking the bottle from his hands, but the guy continued to rave and buck as they wrestled him to the ground.
Thankful she hadn’t ordered that drink, Addy sped into the fray with Liv on her heels. While Liv knelt beside the attacker and tried to gentle him out of his flashback, Addy shouted instruction. The second monster to fall could wait, but the first one had a deep stab wound dangerously close to his liver.
Calm descended over Addy as her training kicked in.
“I need clean cloths. You—” She pointed to a pink Care Bear. “Run to the bar. Get me bottled water and clean towels. And you—” She indicated the Spandex superhero at her side. “Get me the bar’s first aid kit.”
Carefully, she peeled off the victim’s creepy mask to reveal a pale young man shivering so hard his teeth chattered. “Am I gonna die?” he whimpered.
Considering the growing pool of blood he lay in, that was a very real possibility. She lifted his shirt to find a deep puncture wound welling with dark blood.
Crap, this was bad. What were the chances that, when this guy was donning his scary getup, he foresaw ending his Halloween like this? Maybe even his life, if she didn’t stem the bleeding fast.
Blue and red flashing lights painted the victim’s ashen face as a police cruiser pulled up with a piercing “Whoop.” A uniformed cop pushed through the crowd. “I’ve got this, ma’am. You need to back off.”
“I’m a doctor,” she snapped. “Where’s that ambulance?”
“At least thirty minutes out. We only have one, and some idiot kids were horse playing around a beach bonfire.”
The first of her runners arrived with clean towels and a water bottle. Saline would be better, but this would have to do for now. She twisted the bottle open, moistened the towel, and applied pressure, carefully keeping her voice calm. “You’re gonna be okay, hon. We’ll get you to the hospital and take good care of you.”
Liv dropped to her knees beside Addy. “Vietnam vet, highly intoxicated. According to witnesses, he freaked out when these two chuckleheads crashed the VFW party.”
“It was just a joke,” the other victim moaned while the vampire bartender patched him up with gauze and tape. “We just wanted to scare the old guys. Ow, that alcohol fuckin’ hurts.”
“Serves you right, numbnuts,” the vampire hissed.
“Liv, hold pressure here.” Addy placed her friend’s hands over the bloody towel.
