"Morning," Jessica said, showered and dressed, ready to face the day.
Gareth, pouring himself a cup of coffee, grunted. He looked at her worriedly, then offered her the cup.
She smiled and accepted it. "You," he said, pointing at her, shaking his head.
"What?" "You"ve got to learn to be careful, missy, that"s all I"ve got to say."
He stared at her firmly for a long moment, got another cup and filled it with coffee for himself. "Stuff to do to this house," he said, shaking his head. "As if time and nature weren"t enough." Tsking, he turned away. "Now I have to worry about you more and more."
"Hey, I can take care of myself."
"Don"t care what you say. I"ll be watching your back." He started out determinedly.
"Gareth," she called.
He looked back.
"Thank you."
He smiled.
Stacey had been reading the morning paper. Now she stared at Jessica, a question in her eyes.
Jessica"s fingers trembled slightly. She wondered if she looked different. "Good morning, Stace," she said. She noticed there were plates on the counter, covered with plastic wrap; Stacey had made pancakes and bacon.
"Good morning," Stacey said, still staring at her. "Well?"
"Well?"
"You were attacked last night," Stacey said. "How are you feeling?"
"Oh," Jessica said. After the night she had spent, she hadn"t been thinking about the attack at all. So that was why Gareth had acted so strangely. They both knew what had happened in the hospital parking lot.
"It wasn"t anything, really. Just a pair of idiots wearing really bad vampire fangs."
Stacey shook her head. "Gareth is all kinds of worried. He"s going to spend the day prowling around making sure this place is tight."
"They were a pair of idiots. Seriously. It was nothing."
Stacey pointed a finger at her. "Don"t try to tell me that. I"ve known you awhile now, and when I heard about the attack on the radio, I recognized one of the names. You tried to help that Cal kid."
Jessica shook her head. "He didn"t attack me because of who I am-I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"But I heard they were prowling around the hospital. Were they after Mary?"
Jessica was uneasy that Stacey"s thoughts seemed to follow her own. "Who knows?"
Stacey leaned forward, whispering, "Are you being targeted? Does it have something to do with that party?"
"Don"t be ridiculous. Those parties go on all over the place. Let"s drop it, okay? So-our guest is out?" Jessica asked.
"Yes. And I"m rather insulted. He doesn"t seem interested in tasting our delicious breakfasts," she said, grinning quickly to show it didn"t really bother her. "I get the impression he loves to roam the streets when it"s early-before everyone else is out." Jessica shrugged, then yawned and stretched.
"What are your plans for the day?" Stacey asked.
"I"m going to finish up Maggie"s bathing suit," Jessica said. "I promised I"d have it done as soon as I came back from Romania.
Then, I don"t know. I might drive out to Sean and Maggie"s again."
"Again?"
"I went there last night for coffee." She hesitated. "With Bryan."
"Oh?" Stacey dropped the paper. "After he rescued you? But...he had a lecture last night."
Jessica shrugged. "Sean and I went to hear him."
"And you didn"t invite me?"
"It was a spur-of-the-moment thing."
"And?"
Jessica sipped her coffee. "He"s good. He really knows his stuff."
"Did you see Bobby there?"
"Bobby-your Bobby?"
"Well, I don"t think he"s actually my Bobby," Stacey said with a smile. "But, yeah, Bobby Munro."
"I saw him at the station, but he said he was working an off-duty job. I didn"t see him at the lecture. Did he go?"
"Yeah, he said he happened to be in the area when he was done working. He"s been doing a lot of parties and weddings, even funerals, lately. I hope he"s saving up for a ring-or at least a fast trip to Vegas."
"Hey, he loves you. It"s obvious. Still, it"s strange that he wound up at the lecture and didn"t call you to join him. Plus he must not have had to work more than about an hour."
"That"s about it. Can you believe it? You wind up going, my boyfriend goes-and no one invites me."
"I would have invited you if there had been time."
"Never mind, I"ll get there on my own one of these days, and I won"t invite any of you."
"He"s here for the semester," Jessica said. "So you"ll have plenty of chances. The hall was absolutely overflowing-that"s probably why we didn"t see Bobby and he didn"t see us. There were tons of students, of course, but plenty of other people were there, too. It"s such a cool topic, and I guess the word that he"s an incredible speaker has gotten around."
"You think some of your crazies were there?"
"Don"t call them crazies. And I don"t know. I"m just musing aloud. They would have been interested, though. He talks about the differences between deep-rooted beliefs and the way something becomes trendy at a certain point in time, like these vampire parties."
Stacey leaned toward her. "What do you think he knows that he doesn"t say?" "I don"t know," Jessica murmured, sitting back. She hesitated. "He wants my help, though."
"Your help? Doing what?" Stacey asked.
"He thinks there"s going to be a party here, like the one in Transylvania. He thinks I might hear about the details through my practice."
"Well?" Stacey said.
Jessica lifted a hand evasively. "It"s against the law for me to reveal anything a patient tells me in confidence."
"You"re nervous, aren"t you?"
Jessica nodded. "It"s like knowing something is going to happen, knowing it, but being powerless to stop it."
"Yeah," Stacey muttered. "I"ve been wondering what"s going on with all this-with Bryan MacAllistair. Bobby saw him when he was there before, at the police station, leaving Sean"s office."
"What does Bobby think?"
Stacey opened her mouth to speak, but Jessica frowned in warning, suddenly aware that they were not alone.
Bryan MacAllistair was back.
She stared at him, at first thinking of nothing but the night just past. How could she explain her behavior? In today"s society, she knew she needed no explanation, but in her heart, she did. That thought raced through her mind, along with the fear that he hadn"t felt what she had, that for him it hadn"t been unique, something once in a lifetime, not just s.e.x.
Because she"d felt as if they"d been made to be together, something neither heaven nor h.e.l.l could stop.
She felt an awkward moment coming up.
But it wasn"t awkward. It was worse. Far worse.
She saw the darkness, the gravity, in his rugged features, in his eyes.
"Mary is dead," he said.
9.
J eremy was beyond distraught. Jessica wondered if Mary had ever known just what a friend she"d had.
By the time she reached the hospital, Mary"s parents were long gone, her mother apparently sedated, her father taking what comfort he could from his other children.
Students hovered in the waiting room, though there was nothing to wait for. Except for Nancy and Jeremy, they began to drift away, muttering words, knowing they weren"t the right ones.
Jessica sat with the Jeremy and Nancy for several minutes in near silence. She had voiced her sorrow and had nothing left to say.
She felt stunned, though she knew she shouldn"t have been. How could she have been so blind? But Sean had sent an officer, who had been on duty all night.
Then Jeremy started talking and told her that no one had been there but him, that he"d had horrible dreams every time he dozed, but no one else had been in the room.He was holding something, though. Something he kept a tight grip on. She pried his fingers open, then gasped when she saw what it was.
Mary"s little silver cross.
Again she d.a.m.ned herself.
Then, forcing herself to speak, she asked, "Do you know what the arrangements will be?"
His eyes were red, his face damp with tears. "They wanted to take her home right away, but...it may be several days before the hospital releases the body."
"Oh?" Jessica murmured.
He looked at her. Numb. "There"s going to be an autopsy."
"I see."
"She"s in the hospital morgue now."
Nancy looked at her helplessly. "She died because of Transylvania. I"m so..."
"Scared?" Jessica suggested softly.
"Yes."
"Come on. Let"s get out of here. Let me take you both for something to eat."
"I couldn"t. I couldn"t swallow," Jeremy said.
"You need to."
He looked at her blankly. "Why?"
"Because you"re alive," she said softly. "Whether you want to be right now or not. And you have to do the things people do when they"re alive." She stood, pulling him to his feet, not giving him a chance to protest further.
Nancy, seemingly glad to have a leader, stood, as well. Jeremy rose at last. "Where are we going?"
"My office. We"ll order something."
Twenty minutes later, the two students were on her couch, waiting for pizza. Jeremy had muttered that he"d like a beer, and though Jessica was afraid the alcohol might enhance his misery, she knew he deserved a drink if that was what he wanted, so she ran down to the street and bought a six-pack.
He looked a lot like Mary had, just staring ahead, occasionally sipping his beer.
Suddenly he looked at Jessica.
"They were vampires. Not people who thought they were vampires, not nut jobs who like to drink blood. Vampires."
Jessica exhaled softly, her expression skeptical.