I'll never know if I could have saved Nate by myself, because at that moment, before I could land my blow, police closed in on the scene in mere seconds from both directions.

"Shit." the two of them chimed in chorus. The man briefly examined Nate curiously. He obviously wasn't a friend of Blackborne's and realized that Nate wasn't either. I hoped for him to understand that the enemy of his enemy could be a friend.

Nate landed gracefully on his feet, released from the man's grip. "What'd you do that for?" Nate sneered hoarsely. The man only growled in response.

"Okay, not that it isn't nice the two of you are making up or anything, but we're kind of in trouble here" I hoped Nate still had fight in him as the police descended from their vehicles, armed with crossbows, batons, and of course, vampiric teeth.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the man grab Nate by his collar. As I reached over to stop him, Nate was flung into the air, towards the third story of the building. With his quick reflexes, Nate braced for the impact. He hit the wall, but digging his fingers into the mortar, holding himself against the brick. His feet slipped a few inches and I was afraid of him falling, but he held fast. Nate began making his way up the side of the building, moving between cracks in the brick and window sills. That was when the first arrow narrowly missed its mark, Nate. I looked to the crowd closing in on us; some brandishing crossbows began shooting at both Nate and the man to my side. Pulling me roughly towards him with his left arm, he shielded me from any projectiles and pulled me off the ground.

"Brace yourself," he growled in my ear, as he sprung upward.

I found myself pressed between the wall and the man holding onto me. He climbed up, burrowing his claws deep into the brick. In what felt like only a moment we reached the ledge. The man pushed me up. I stumbled until Nate, already waiting for us, reached for my hands. I peeked over the edge of the building. A group of police were already halfway up, climbing as Nate had.

An arrow whizzed past my ear, and the man pulled me away from the threat.

"Com'on" He snarled.

Grabbing my waist, he was about to throw me over his shoulder.

"Hold up. I can take her." Nate offered.

"We don't have time for this, vampire." We all turned to see the hands of the first wave of vampire police reaching to pull themselves onto the building.

"Fine, follow me." and Nate sprinted in that supernatural way vampires can. Without hesitation he vaulted over the alley to the next building.

The man helped me onto his back. I clung tight as he followed across each gap between buildings, up the sides of others, and hopefully out of the police's sight, until a sudden, purposeful fall to the street. I dug my face between the man's shoulder blades, not wanting to experience the terror of the dangerous jumps and heights we encountered.

"We're here." I heard Nate say calmly.