Undeniable (The Druids Book 1) by S. A. Archer, S. Ravynheart

neighborhood that evening. Coming across her in the grips of the vampire had been accidental, and fortunately for her, he’d noticed the commotion as he’d been walking past. But now he was curious about why she’d been down his particular alley that particular day. As he scanned the backs of the shops that line the alley he gauged where she might have come from. Some doors were locked and bolted from the outside, but one was unlocked and with a weak bulb hanging over the door. It was the fire exit for one of the taverns, Granger had to guess. He gauged the distance down the alleyway and then walked around to the front of the shops on the main street. It was a dance club, of all things. He wouldn’t have thought London much for the dance club type, but then again, perhaps she was there for another reason.
    Walking into the low light, the flickering of neon dazzled his eyes at first and Granger paused just inside the doorway to glance around. The crowd seemed young, mostly 20’s and 30’s, and just here to dance, drink, and enjoy the atmosphere. The music thumped away, coming from the live band on the stage at the far end of the narrow building. He didn’t see London among the crowd, but then again, the LoJack was reading somewhere close to her own neighborhood at the moment, but it had been there for the majority of the day and he had to wonder if she’d caught a ride with someone. Just as he was getting ready to start strolling farther into the club, a fellow leaned over and greeted him, “You seem like you’re looking for someone. Can I help?” The fellow seemed pleasant enough, with an easy smile. Might have been one of the college students, which was Granger’s first guess.
    “I’m looking for a friend of mine. Her name’s London. Do you know her?” Granger wasn’t expecting an answer, one way or the other, but it never hurt to cast out bait and see if he could catch anything interesting.
    The fellow’s smile grew a little bit wider and he gave a nod. “Yeah, I’ve met her a couple of times. She might be here, I don’t know. But if anyone does know, it’ll be Joe, over there by the bar. I’ve seen her hanging out with him a few times.”
    Granger gave a nod of thanks to the young man, and headed off in that direction. He could feel the gaze still following him and, when he glanced back, the young man was smiling, and following his progress with his gaze. Granger turned back more slowly, thinking the bloke was a little bit too interested, given the circumstances.
    But he headed towards the bar at an easy pace, and leaned up next to the guy he’d been directed towards. “How’s it going?” He asked in a casual manner, like just another stranger being polite in this social environment.
    Joe turned towards him, and then gave a glance past him up to the stage. The drummer paused mid-beat and gave a cutting gesture across his throat with one hand before rolling the sticks, and going back into the rhythm without missing a beat. Joe looked back towards Granger.
    He gave a half smirk. “I get the feeling I was expected.”
    “Shall we step into my office?” Joe said, gesturing towards the back exit, which Granger knew led out to that alley.
    This was an interesting turn of events, Granger thought. Was this London’s bruiser of a boyfriend, about to get jealous and threaten Granger to shove off? Or was there something more at play here? As Granger glanced around, he noticed more guys than just the young man at the door were tracking the pair of them. No, there was definitely something more to these people than what met the eye. Granger was game to find out what. “All right. Lead the way.” There was nothing in his expression or his voice that suggested that he wasn’t aware of what was probably getting ready to happen. It wouldn’t be the first time that he had to negotiate with knuckles.
    Joe pushed open the outer door and Granger followed him. There were just a couple steps down from the door to