"No. She must be back at the hospital."
Lauren was afraid. Afraid to trust him and equally afraid not to. It was night. If she got into a taxi with him...
"Shall we get a cab?" he suggested.
She hesitated.
"I swear to G.o.d-and I do believe in Him-that I am not going to bite the taxi driver and kidnap you," he said.
Deanna had told her that there were two. One who was evil. Stephan. And Jonas?
She looked around the Square. Bourbon Street would still be buzzing, but the artists here were closing up. The guitar player was already gone.
"All right," she said. "But I need to warn you. I"m wearing a cross."
He smiled. "So am I."
As they walked to the through street, she asked him, "How is it you can wear a cross?"
He offered her a shy smile. "Because I"m not evil. Because I have no desire to harm anyone."
"So...the fact that they"re evil makes crosses holy water poison to the others?"
"Of course," he said. "It makes sense if you think about it."
They found a taxi, but even as they climberd in, Lauren still felt nervous. She was worried, as well. Worried about Mark.
Worried about Deanna.She kept her distance in the cab, and Jonas didn"t pressure her, and they reached the hospital without incident. She started to pay, but Jonas insisted on covering it.
When they reached Deanna"s room, Bobby was at the door. "Sweet Jesus, there you are!" he exclaimed, holding her for a minute. Then he drew back. "Where"s Mark?" He looked over her shoulder at Jonas, arching a brow.
"Mark is...otherwise engaged," she murmured, then introduced the two men before looking past Bobby into the room. Stacey was in a chair near the bed, and Heidi was there, too, sitting as straight as a ramrod, wearing a frown of irritation.
"What"s wrong with Heidi?" she asked quickly.
Bobby looked unhappy. "I guess you never spoke with Mark."
"No. Not really." There were too many people in the hallway and beyond who might hear their conversation for her to explain what had happened.
Jonas, ignoring everyone else, walked to Deanna"s bedside. He took her hand and stared at her, and he was either as concerned as he claimed or a fabulous actor, Lauren thought.
"What"s wrong with Heidi?" she repeated, returning her attention to Bobby.
He dropped his voice to a whisper. "She"s been tainted."
"Tainted?" she asked, but her heart sank. She was pretty sure she knew what that meant without a lengthy explanation. "How?"
she asked.
Bobby shrugged unhappily. "Um...well, I guess she let him in."
"Oh, G.o.d. Then...?"
"She isn"t really all that...ill. I think we can deal with it," Stacey said, rising and walking over to join them. "I just have to get her to Montresse House. She needs to be guarded. Kept safe from...from bringing more harm to herself."
Stacey fell silent as a nurse walked into the room. She had a sour face and was clearly not pleased to see all of them. "This is a hospital room, not a bar on Bourbon," she said irritably. "Please keep it to two visitors."
"We can take care of Heidi if you want to stay here with Deanna," Bobby said.
Lauren hesitated. That meant she would be left alone with Deanna-and Jonas.
He seemed desperately sincere. Did she dare trust in him?
Did she have a choice?
And anyway, weren"t Bobby and Stacey practically strangers, as well?
Bobby"s cell phone rang as she hesitated. The nurse gave him a disapproving look and started to lecture him on the hospital"s prohibition against cell phones, but he just flashed his badge at her and took the call. When he flicked his phone close, he looked at her authoritatively.
"We"ll be leaving shortly. Lieutenant Canady is on his way in, and we won"t leave until he gets here."
The nurse looked at him disapprovingly, sniffed and departed.Bobby looked at Lauren. "Mark is at Sean"s place," he told her.
He and Stacey sat down to wait, and Heidi continued to sit in silence, as well, staring at the window as if she could see out of it, despite the fact that the curtains were drawn.
There was no way out of the fact that he"d behaved rashly, Mark thought.
Far too rashly.
But what the h.e.l.l else could he have done, under the circ.u.mstances?
At the very least, Lauren was safe. He had to believe that. Had to believe that Jonas could be trusted. The other man had taken quite a blow.
But could it all have been an act?
It was a small point compared to the fact that, once again, Stephan had escaped. The violence of their fight had taken them down several streets, and when Stephan had managed to pull his disappearing act, Mark had found himself staggering onto Bourbon Street, where the cops had found him. He had a.s.sumed-correctly-that they would think he was a drunk who had been involved in a barroom brawl.
When they had argued over whether to arrest him or take him to a hospital, he had convinced them to call Sean Canady instead.
Canady had collected him and taken him back to his own home, where, Maggie had patched up his wounds, even though he had a.s.sured her that he was going to be all right. He had been worried sick about Lauren, but Canady had quickly gotten hold of Bobby Munro and found out that she and Jonas were safely at the hospital.
When he had started to rise, Canady had stopped him.
"You need to recover. Give yourself time."
"I can"t."
"You have to. Or you"ll be worthless."
That was true.
"Look, I"ll going to the hospital myself," Sean said. "You stay here and get your strength back."
"We have a great guest room upstairs," Maggie told him. "You can lie down and rest now that you"re patched up and you"ve had something to eat."
They were right. He felt suddenly grateful to have met them.
So he agreed, though he still felt frustrated and useless as he watched Sean leave.
Maggie sat with him while he lay down. "I realized after we met the other day that I"d seen you before," she told him after a minute.
He looked at her. Studied her and thought about where he was. "Yeah, I guess you have."
She smiled. "You"re originally from here." "Near here," he agreed. He shook his head. "I don"t get it, though. You were a vampire. And you"re certain that you"re not anymore?"
"Oh, Lord, yes. Sometimes I"m glad, but sometimes...sometimes I wish I could do a few of the things I used to do. But I have Sean, and we have our family. I"ve never heard of this kind of reversal happening with anyone else, but...my case was different."
She rose and walked around the room restlessly. "It was all so long ago, but my father and some of his friends killed the vampire who created me while he was still in the process of turning me. That kept me from actually dying, and I think that somehow made the difference. But Sean and I have good friends who are in mixed marriages. And as Sean told you, Jessica Frasier, who owns Montresse House, is a vampire, and though they aren"t married, her partner is a guardian, as ancient as she is, who"s sort of like an angel of death against evil vampires. It"s a crazy world, huh?"
"What do you think about Jonas?" he asked her.
"You said he fought Stephan," she reminded him.
"Yes, but...I just worry about leaving Deanna and the others alone with him."
"Don"t worry. Sean will be at the hospital soon. You"ve got to rest. I"ll leave you alone now, so you can get some sleep."
She was right. He needed his strength.
He closed his eyes.
When Sean Canady arrived, so clearly the voice of authority, Lauren couldn"t help but be glad he was there.
She felt far more secure. His faith in Bobby and Stacey became hers. She watched while they escorted Heidi from the room, promising to keep an eagle eye on her.
Jonas didn"t move from Deanna"s sid, sticking so close that. there was no way for Lauren to actually get near her. But there was also no way she was leaving her. Not even if Sean Canady was the one sitting guard.
However, the rest of the night pa.s.sed without incident.
She discovered that she had fallen asleep when the nurse came in at the crack of dawn to change the IV and check on Deanna"s vital signs.
Lauren felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Sean Canady. "Come on. I"m taking you home."
"I can"t leave her," she whispered, indicating Jonas.
"Yes you can. Bobby is on duty. He"ll sit right here in the room, and he won"t be alone."
She looked over Sean"s shoulder, to the very attractive, auburn haired woman standing behind him. She introduced herself as Maggie Canady, Sean"s wife.
"I swear, your friend will be safe," she vowed.
Lauren was exhausted and knew she really did need to sleep. She might be insane to be so trusting, but if she didn"t accept these people, she might as well lie down and die then and there. They were all she had.
The sun was out as Sean drove her back to Montresse House. Birds were singing. Pretty ones, in beautiful colors.
He let her off at the end of walk."Aren"t you coming in?" she asked him.
He shook his head. "Stacey knows you"re here. Look, she"s got the door open already."
"You have to work?"
He looked away. "I have an autopsy to attend," he said wearily.
"The second girl who was found in the Mississippi?" she asked.
He paused for a moment, then handed her a newspaper from the back seat. She saw the headline as he spoke.
"Third victim," he said briefly.
"It"s like...one a night," she murmured.
Sean shrugged. "Actually, it could be worse. Stephan Delansky is apparently keeping his minions in check and killing just enough to make sure that law officials up and down the Mississippi wind up chasing their tails."
"He has to be stopped," Lauren said.
"Yes, he does. But not by you, especially not now. Go get some sleep," he told her.
She started to exit the car, then paused. "Mark?"
"Mark will be all right. Go on in."
She obeyed at last. Stacey was waiting for her at the door, and w2hen Lauren entered, Stacey stepped outside, waved to Sean, then looked around-upward. Seemingly satisfied that no one was there, she followed Lauren inside and closed the door.
"Coffee"s on," she told Lauren. "Except maybe you don"t want coffee. It would just keep you up. But I made waffles, and they"re delicious. Eat, grab a shower, curl up and get some sleep."
"What about Heidi?" Lauren asked her.
"Heidi"s doing well. I gave her a sedatives, enough to keep her out for a while. She won"t be doing any communicating until she"s had some time to get rid of the...infection."
Lauren looked around warily. "How do you know that, er...evil can"t get in?"
Stacey laughed. "Take a good look around. See the planters? We water them very carefully-with holy water. And if you if you take a good look at the way the windows are constructed, you"ll see that the beams are crosses. There"s also garlic powder worked into some of the molding. Trust me, we have any number of protective devices here. Of course, you still have to be careful."
Stacey led the way to the kitchen, reached into the microwave and produced a plate for Lauren. "Sit down. Eat."