Sheesh, Lucern thought. Modern women sure were a pain.
"Here we are," Kate announced, leading him to a taxi. She gave the driver an address as Lucern followed her in.
Apparently, she had done her research. She obviously believed in being prepared-just like Bastien.
Despite the pain he was suffering, Lucern felt his lips twitch with amus.e.m.e.nt. He couldn"t help it; Kate was just so delightfully cute.
It wasn"t a long ride. When the taxi stopped and Lucern got out, it was to find they had been dropped in front of a restaurant, of all places. Luc stood staring at the building in bemus.e.m.e.nt as Kate followed him out.
"Kate, I think we"re in the wrong place," he said as the taxi pulled away. "I don"t see-"
"This way." She took his arm and steered him up the street. "I didn"t want the cab to drop us off in front, in case our little adventure made the papers tomorrow. The cabbie might have remembered picking us up and dropping us off there, and they would be able to trace us back to the hotel. Now, that isn"t a worry." Her voice was brittle. Despite this being her idea, she seemed extremely tense.
"Ah. Good thinking," Lucern murmured. He didn"t want to point out that the way they were dressed-not to mention the metallic clinking of the backpack he carried-would make them memorable anywhere. And being dropped off a couple of buildings down would be of little help. Still, it wouldn"t be a concern. Lucern would see to that. He had no intention of endangering Kate.
He spotted the building they sought, but Kate grabbed his arm and led him past it. He was about to ask why, when suddenly she turned down an alley that ran along the opposite side of the building.
"I cased the place before I went shopping," she whispered as she skulked down the alley, dragging him behind her with one clawlike hand entrapping his wrist. She was walking in the most peculiar fashion; crouched over as if she thought that would reduce the chance of being seen.
Lucern eyed her behavior with some bewilderment, and wondered if her usually sensible mind had snapped. Surely she understood that walking in such a manner made her no less visible, and also made her look as if she was up to no good. Apparently not.
He sighed as the toe of his shoe hit a stone and sent it skittering, which in turn sent Kate skittering, too. She burst into a run, dragging him along with her until they reached a dumpster a little more than halfway down the alley. She pulled him behind it, then crouched there and peered out fearfully.
"Did you hear that?" she asked in an anxious whisper. "I thought I heard something. I don"t see anyone, though.
Maybe it was just a cat or something."
"Or a rat," Lucern bent to whisper in her ear. He knew it was a mean thing to do, especially when he knew what she"d heard. But he simply couldn"t help himself. She was so easy to tease. He hadn"t had this much fun in... well, centuries, he realized with surprise.
"A rat!" Kate straightened abruptly, her head slamming into the bottom of his chin. Lucern jerked back. Wincing, he rubbed the spot even as Kate grabbed her head and issued a howl of pain. She cut the noise off almost at once, of course, but still, Lucern couldn"t help but think that perhaps stealth was no longer possible in this endeavor. Kate wasn"t very good at this crime business.
"Shh," she said sternly, as if Luc had been the one who"d just let out the caterwaul. Lucern let her get away with it, instead watching with interest as she pulled two woollen hats from her pocket. She donned one, tugging it onto her head and pulling it down over her face. It was a ski mask. When she had the holes adjusted so that only her eyes and lips showed, Kate handed him the other.
"Put it on," she ordered. Taking the backpack he held, she set it on the ground with a clank.
"I am not putting this on," he said with disdain.
Kate heaved an impatient sigh. "Put it on, Lucern. I don"t want to open the papers tomorrow and find your wan face glaring back at me."
"How could-"
"Security cameras," she interrupted grimly.
Lucern snorted. "They would hardly have security cameras in a-"
"They have security cameras everywhere nowadays," she interrupted again. "It lowers the insurance or something."
Muttering under his breath, Lucern gave in. Donning the stupid thing, he felt like an idiot, and was grateful none of his family members were there to witness it. Etienne in particular would have enjoyed taunting him for decades.
Knowing Kate could not see his scowl did not prevent his aiming a particularly ferocious one at her. Not that she noticed; she was quite busy sifting through whatever was in her bag. There was an awful lot of banging and clanking going on.
What the h.e.l.l had she brought? he wondered irritably.
"In your years of living," she began in a strained tone, "I don"t suppose you learned anything about burglary, did you?"
"A thing or two," Lucern admitted.
"Good." She sounded relieved. "Because all I know about it is what I"ve seen on TV."
Lucern raised an eyebrow, but since again he knew she couldn"t see it, he said in a solemn tone, "One would never credit it."
"It"s true," she told him earnestly. "I like cop shows, and I just went by those. I hope I got what we need. I wasn"t sure-I just went through the hardware store and grabbed anything that looked useful."
Ah. This explained why she hadn"t attended the cover model reunion. Lucern knelt at her side and peered curiously into her bag. The first thing he saw were several long, pointed tools. They looked like screwdrivers but with sharpened ends. There were several of them, in a variety of sizes. "Scratch awls? What are those for?"
"They always use sharp, pointy things to break into places on TV," Kate explained. "To pick locks." She paused, her expression thoughtful. "Or credit cards." She frowned briefly, then cursed. "I knew I should have brought my purse."
Lucern wasn"t really paying attention; he was sorting through the bag. "A pipe wrench?" he asked, lifting the large, heavy plumber"s tool.
Kate bit her lip and shifted uncomfortably. "I thought maybe if you couldn"t pick the locks, you could break a window."
Lucern arched an eyebrow, then pulled out a coil of... "Rope? Rope, Kate? What the heck did you bring rope for?"
"In case you had to climb into or out of a second-story window," she explained defensively.
"It"s a one-story building," he pointed out.
"Oh, yes." She peered at the building with displeasure, as if suspecting it may have shrunk a floor while she wasn"t looking.
"I thought you cased the place."
"I did. I just..." She waved her hands wildly. "Okay, so you won"t need to climb out a window. You might have to tie someone up, though."
"Hmm." Lucern reached for the next item. "Duct tape?" He drew out a roll of the silver tape. Even through the darkness, he could see her blush.
"Dad always said there wasn"t a job where duct tape didn"t come in handy," she said lamely. Then she straightened her shoulders and added, "You can tape the gla.s.s before you break it, if you have to break it. That would reduce the noise and mess. Or if we have to tie someone up, duct tape is impossible to tear."
"I thought the rope was for tying them up."
"Fine," she said irritably. "Use the rope to tie them up. You can duct tape their mouths shut to gag them."
Lucern nearly laughed aloud but managed to hold it back. She had obviously considered every eventuality. Except one. He didn"t need any of this nonsense. Packing all the tools back into her bag, Lucern closed it, and stood up.
"Wait here," he ordered. Then he walked up the alley to the side door.
As usual, the woman didn"t listen, but chased after him. Her voice was panicky as she asked, "What are you going to do?"
"What we came here to do," he answered. "Rob the blood bank."
He knocked at the door. Kate could hardly believe it. She didn"t believe it. Lucern"s idea of breaking into the blood bank was knocking at the b.l.o.o.d.y door? He really needed to get a TV so that he could get a grip on reality. One didn"t pull a break and enter by knocking.
Maybe he"d lost his mind, she thought unhappily. That thought took hold, and Kate considered it seriously. It was definitely possible. The hunger and pain caused by his lack of blood could have pushed him over the edge. He might now be a raving lunatic, she thought. So she told him so.
"You"re insane," she muttered in the silence that followed his knock. "The bloodl.u.s.t has driven you over the edge.
You-"
She snapped her mouth closed as the side door opened. Kate was so surprised she merely stood and gaped as a man appeared. Sandy-haired and about her age, he wore a lab coat and a questioning expression as if it were only slightly out of the ordinary for people to be knocking at the side door after hours.
Kate hadn"t really expected anyone to answer but, if she had, the last person she would"ve expected was one of the blood-bank workers. They should all be at home, shouldn"t they? She"d expected a security guard, or maybe a member of a cleaning crew.
Her thoughts were distracted when the fellow seemed to notice their ski masks. She was pretty sure that was the cause of the sudden panic on the man"s face. When he started to close the door, Kate glanced at Lucern and gave him a nudge. Apparently, she needn"t have bothered. In the next moment, the man halted. Lucern was already working to control his mind.
There was silence as Lucern merely stared at the man, whose face slowly became blank. Lucern asked pleasantly, "Are you alone?"
"Yes." The blood-bank worker"s voice was dull, almost sounded drugged.
"Are there security cameras here?" Lucern asked.
Kate felt justified in having insisted on the ski masks when the man said yes. Lucern, though, looked less than pleased. She supposed he"d hoped to take his mask off.
"Would you be so good as to show us to your supply of blood?" Lucern asked next. Kate rolled her eyes at his Old- World courtesy. It seemed the man did everything that way. Even break-and-enter.
When the blood-bank worker turned and started up the hall, Lucern glanced at Kate. "Wait here. I"ll return directly."
"Yeah, right," was her answer. She hefted her bag over her shoulder and followed him inside. This had been her idea; she"d be d.a.m.ned if she was going to wait out in an alley, wringing her hands like some wimpy heroine in a novel.
Lucern glared at her. She glared back. Moving to follow the man in the lab coat, she left Luc to fall into step behind her.
She glanced around nervously as they walked up the hall. The blood bank was as silent as a tomb. Not a happy thought, she decided, but it brought to mind coffins and she wondered about them. Obviously, Lucern didn"t need to sleep in one. While he had reinforced the darkness in his hotel room by hanging a blanket over the curtains, he wasn"t sleeping in a coffin. She supposed that was something else Stoker had got wrong. But, then, according to Lucern, he didn"t need a coffin because he wasn"t dead. He was just old.
Kate was scowling as she, Luc and their guide entered a room with metal and gla.s.s refrigerators around it. Luc was very old. She usually preferred to date men her own age. Lucern did not fit in that category. She could safely say he was the oldest man she"d ever dated. Maybe he was the oldest man anyone had ever dated.
She paused just inside the door and merely watched as Lucern walked past her to one of the refrigerators. He opened its door, revealing neat rows of the red liquid he so needed.
Kate peered curiously at the man in the lab coat. He looked completely out of it, a zombie at Lucern"s mercy, and she felt a moment"s grat.i.tude that she had a strong mind. If not, Luc could have put the whammy on her and gotten her to do anything he wanted. Which was a scary thought.
She turned her attention back to Lucern, then watched with interest as he selected a bag and poked his teeth into it.
The procedure was pretty clean. He was apparently able to suck the blood directly up through his teeth like through straws, because he just stood there, teeth inserted as the blood drained away. It was relatively quick. Still, Kate found herself glancing nervously up the hall as she waited for him to finish.
Lucern went through eight bags that way, one right after the other. When he had finished with the last, he started to close the refrigerator door. Kate rushed forward and stopped him.
"What are you doing?" he asked as she opened her backpack. She began shoving bags in.
"Getting some to go. You"ll need more tomorrow," she pointed out. "And I don"t want to go through this again."
Lucern nodded. "Take the empty bags, too," he instructed. Then he moved to the blood-bank worker, murmuring something she couldn"t hear.
"What did you say?" Kate asked as they hurried back up the hall through which they"d entered.
"I instructed him to change the records to reflect the difference, so that the blood isn"t missed."
"Oh." Kate fell silent as she stepped outside. The cool air on her face as she removed the mask was a relief, and she felt some of her tension drain away. But she didn"t relax completely, not even once they were in a cab and headed back to the hotel. She was as wound up as a clock, and had been all day. She could hardly believe it had been so easy. Knock on the door? Sheesh.
Lucern"s hand closed over hers, and Kate glanced at him in surprise. The man was actually smiling. Sort of. At least, his usual scowl was missing. That was the equivalent of a smile with this man, she thought, noting his cheeks were now flushed with color and the lines of pain were gone from his face. She couldn"t believe how much blood he"d drunk, but it appeared to have done him good. He looked healthier than she"d ever seen him.
Her gaze dropped to his hand covering hers, and she turned hers over to clasp it. She knew he had sensed the tension still gripping her, and he was trying to tell her without words that it was all right. But she felt like a teenager holding hands with her boyfriend for the first time. She was sorry when they arrived at the hotel and he released her to pay the driver.
They were both silent as they walked inside and took the elevator to their floor, Kate wondering if he would kiss her and thank her for her help once they got there. She hoped he would. She hoped he"d do more than that. But she knew it wasn"t likely when they entered the room and heard the television playing. Chris was back, relaxing on the couch.
"Oh, hey! I was wondering where you two had got to. A delivery came while you were gone." He gestured to a large box on the table by the window. "It"s addressed to Lucern Argeneau c/o Kate C. Leever. I guess your brother must have re-sent it. He must have figured everything out on his own." He frowned at his words, then shook his head.
"Though, I guess the first box couldn"t have got back to him yet-it"s only been a day." He shrugged. "He must just have sent you something else."
Kate wasn"t listening. She was gaping at the box on the table with disbelief. It had "A.B.B." stamped on its side.
Argeneau Blood Bank? Dear G.o.d. All that stress and anxiety had been for nothing.
Chapter Twelve.
Lucern glanced across the hospitality suite to where Kate was talking to Deanna Stancyk. Kate was easy to find in her sunny yellow skirt and matching jacket, aglow with life and vitality, smiling, her face animated, her hands moving as she talked and laughed. She was beautiful. Just looking at her caused an ache in Luc"s chest. Although it could be indigestion, he thought, recalling the greasy breakfast he"d eaten that morning.
Kate had been terribly quiet with him since they"d returned to the suite last night to find the box from Bastien. She hadn"t even followed him into his room to see for sure what the box held, but had merely handed him the backpack with the six bags of stolen blood, murmured good night and slipped into her room. Which had turned the night flat for Lucern.
He"d unpacked the box in his room and stored all the blood-from their adventure as well as from Bastien-in the mini fridge. He"d had to remove everything from the fridge to do so. He"d stacked the cans of pop, the little bottles of alcohol and the snacks on the dresser, and then had wandered to the living room and dropped onto the couch to watch TV with Chris for a while, hoping Kate would reappear. She hadn"t.
The temptation to go to her had been strong. With his need for blood satisfied, Lucern had found other cravings bothering him-top among them to just be in Kate"s presence. Her company somehow made him feel lighter, younger.
As if he hadn"t existed six hundred years and become weary of living. The woman was playing havoc on his psyche.
After watching a bad vampire movie-dear G.o.d, why was the vampire always the villain?-Lucern had left Chris and gone to bed. He"d awoken early, consumed a couple more bags of blood, put the Do Not Disturb signs on both his door to the hall and the one leading into the living area of the suite-so that the cleaning lady wouldn"t find his blood in the fridge and pitch a fit-then had joined Kate and Chris to head out for breakfast.
The three of them had eaten in the main dining room, joined by a handful of other Roundhouse authors. Lucern hadn"t said much at the meal, just listened with interest as Kate and Chris talked to the others. It was then that he"d realized how much of their time he was monopolizing. They were babysitting him as if he were a child. He"d almost felt shame.
His pride had made itself known, then, and when they"d all moved on to the hospitality suite, Lucern had insisted that Kate circulate and talk to her other writers, telling her he could take care of himself. She"d appeared torn, but at last had given in to the need to spend time with as many authors as she could. She glanced his way often, stopping by occasionally to make sure he was all right, but she had spent the better part of the morning circulating the room, talking and laughing, rea.s.suring and praising.
Chris, too, had gone about his business, tending to his own authors, leaving Lucern to sit with the writers with whom they"d breakfasted. Luc had spent the morning mostly listening, only commenting once in a while. These were nice women, interesting and creative, and they had included him in their circle without question. But they also tended to act a touch protective toward him, helping him handle his never-ending droves of fans.
He appreciated their a.s.sistance, but Lucern was starting to get something of a complex. Why did everyone think he needed protecting? They acted like he was fragile and-he shuddered-sensitive. Lucern was the least sensitive man he knew. Why, in his youth he"d been a warrior, thinking nothing of hacking men down with his sword. When pistols had been invented, he"d fought countless duels, shooting men dead, then riding to his club for breakfast. He could take care of himself. But Kate and the others didn"t seem to realize that. Though she had left his side, Kate still watched him as protectively as a mother bird watching her chick make its first shaky flight. He had no doubt that, should she deem him in need, she"d be at his side at once.
Kate happened to glance his way just as he had that thought, so Lucern glared at her for thinking so little of him.