*Claire*
I remember Nathaniel practically carrying me back to his car after we finished with the scene. We called for backup and agreed that the shared story was we found the kidnappers in the building, confronted them, and then they managed to get away in a vehicle.
Again, I hated to lie, but we could hardly say that they were vampires and that what was left of them were these random piles of ash. Thankfully, Nathaniel did most of the talking since I was in the car typing up the “official" report. My co-workers didn't see the marks on my throat that looked like a hand where I was strangled, and I was going to make sure they never found out.
After filing the report and submitting some time off, I remember leaning back into Nathaniel's car, lulled by the smell of his cologne. I close m
