“Hey, stop!” Ruby called out as her hurried steps turned into running.

But the man she had spotted pulling a woman toward a nearby alley either didn’t hear her or didn’t want to hear her. The streets around her were dark, and while there were a fair amount of people milling about on the sidewalk, they were all minding their own business. Ruby’s shouts did little more than turn a couple of heads and earn a few shrugs.

That kind of reaction didn’t surprise her. Having been a proud member of the New York Police Department for over five years now, she was well aware of the average person’s desire to not get involved in something that could inconvenience them, or god forbid, waste their time.

In the bystanders’ defense, the mysterious man had already slunk off into the dark alleyway when Ruby had started shouting, so there was every chance she looked like your regular crazy lady, yelling to herself.

Leather boots thudding softly on the pavement, she tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear as she reached the corner rounding into the alley and flattened herself against the edge of it, hand already reaching for the service revolver at her side.

Not wanting to cause a panic by pulling out her gun while she was in her plain clothes, and not entirely sure if this all wasn’t her overreacting to a couple looking for a private moment to get frisky, she unclenched her fingers and forced her hands to rest at her sides.

Most of the time, being trained to assume the worst was a good thing. It had gotten her out of many sticky situations. But it also happened to make a person suspicious, and entirely too pessimistic when it came to people’s motives.

Slowly edging forward, Ruby peeked around the corner, and could barely make out two shapes near the back of the alley, one of them resting against a wall. Hand still hovering near her gun, she stepped into the narrow, dirty space in between two red-brick buildings, the smell of garbage wafting in the air.

“Sir? Ma’am?” she asked evenly, her voice as authoritative as ever. “Is everything okay here?”

There was no reply. Only a soft moan echoed in the air, and a wet, sucking sound.

Great, I’ve just interrupted some tourists’ make-out session, Ruby thought with a roll of her eyes.

But she had to make sure. That was just how she was built. A good cop always followed through, and Ruby was nothing if not a by-the-book officer. A woman’s safety could be at risk, and that outweighed the possible awkwardness of cutting in on some couple’s private time.

“I’m a police officer. Don’t make me ask you again,” Ruby warned, taking a step closer.

As her eyes started adjusting to the dark, she could see that the woman pressed against the wall had her head lolling back and to the side. Her blonde hair was brushed away from her face, and the man Ruby had spotted earlier seemed to be nuzzling her neck.

Tall and broad, clad in a dark coat and with light-brown, slicked back hair, the guy looked to be holding the girl on her feet as her body was limp and her knees bent. What Ruby had first thought were moans now sounded more like choked sighs, or even groans.

Every primal instinct Ruby had was suddenly screaming at her, as the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. It was an unsettling feeling, as Ruby rarely found herself afraid. And in this situation, as her hand landed on the cool metal of her Glock 22, she was the one in control. Even if this man she was observing was armed, he would never reach his weapon before she did.

Then why do I feel my fight-or-flight instincts kicking in? she briefly wondered, before taking another step closer.

The man finally acknowledged her, raising his head from the woman’s neck. When he looked straight at Ruby, she instinctively pulled her gun from her holster, aiming it at the man and clicking off the safety with a smooth, practiced motion.

Blood, Ruby’s thoughts registered, as she quickly assessed the scene in front of her.

Now that the man’s mouth was off the woman’s neck, the red liquid was openly pouring down her throat and soaking the collar of her shirt. The guy’s mouth was stained with it, and he stared right at Ruby as his tongue snaked out and he licked the blood from his lips.

What the hell…

“Step away from the woman,” Ruby ordered, her right finger resting softly on the trigger as her left palm held her weapon steady.

“But I’m not done yet,” the man replied, and the coldness in his voice cut right through her.

He grinned at her, and his total lack of concern about having a gun pointed at him made Ruby think she had to be dealing with someone who had been on the wrong side of the law before.

Her instincts about something being off had been proven right, and she was glad she had gone with her gut. Now she had to get this creepy dude with a biting fetish away from the poor woman sagging in his arms, and get her some medical attention.

“Oh, yes, you are, buddy,” Ruby said. “Gently set the woman down and step away,” she ordered again, keeping a close eye on the man’s movements.

“You should have minded your own business,” the man hissed, as he threw the woman aside.

“Hey,” Ruby protested, as the woman slumped to the ground with a thud.

But before she could say anything else, the man was already charging at her. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, he was suddenly in front of her, teeth bared in a snarl. Ruby struggled to react in time, squeezing the trigger of her trusty sidearm, but it was too late.

Heavy and unyielding, the stranger was already on top of her, teeth gnashing as his eyes focused on her exposed neck. Ruby’s head bounced off the concrete as she hit the ground, back-first. Disoriented, she tried to push at her assailant with her knees, but it felt like she’d have more luck fighting off an elephant.

Fighting through the fog in her mind, she clenched her fingers and almost let out a sigh of relief when she realized she still had her Glock in her hand. With the stranger still on top of her, she struggled to angle her hand so that the barrel of the gun would be pointed at him.

“I guess this will have to be a two-course meal,” he sneered, and Ruby didn’t even try to figure out what he meant by that.

She had more pressing matters to attend to. But as she tried to wrestle against him, she couldn’t help but fixate on his face. The expression he was wearing was inhuman, with his strong, long nose furrowed, heavy brows knit together, and his thin lips pulled back in to reveal unnaturally long, sharp canines.

She almost froze when he leaned in, and she could have sworn his teeth looked more like fangs. Only the massive amounts of adrenaline now speeding through her veins got her moving again, and she pressed her gun into the man’s side.

Only hesitating for a moment, she pulled the trigger. That woman this guy had been assaulting was still lying on the ground, bleeding out, and Ruby had already given the man more than enough warning.

This wasn’t the time to hold back.

The shot was deafening, making her ears ring and echoing off the walls on either side of her. The man jerked on top of her, but that was it. It sounded like he chuckled lightly to himself, before he continued to lean down, one arm pressing her shoulders down as his mouth came down on the side of her throat.

“Stop,” she said weakly, as a sharp pain erupted in her neck.

Everything started to become fuzzy, as her limbs started spasming. With all the strength she had left, she pressed the trigger again. And again. But that only made the man press his forearm more forcefully over her collarbones, to the point she was sure they would snap in two at any minute.

This can’t be happening…

Three shots to the gut at point blank range would incapacitate anyone, but this man reacted like it was little more than a tickle for him. Ruby’s vision started to blur at the edges as he gnawed on her throat, the wet sounds he was making enough to make her want to vomit. She could feel her blood pour down her body as it began to get hard to breathe.

This is it, she thought, her lingers growing limp around her gun.

Just as she was about to pass out, she heard a male voice in the distance. Clear and demanding, it broke through the fog in her brain.

“Grant, stop,” this new voice said.

The man on top of Ruby, now identified as Grant, only snarled into her ear before sinking his teeth deeper into her, until tears started leaking out the sides of her eyes.

“I said, stop,” that same voice said again, but Ruby had no hope that Grant would listen. “I claim her as mine. Now step aside,” was the last thing she heard the mystery man say before everything went black.