She hadn"t stayed in that hospital bed the whole time. She"d left the hospital. She"d left her body. She"d gone somewhere...else.
And she couldn"t shake the feeling that when she"d come back, she hadn"t come alone. Something had hitched a ride. The owner of that voice that didn"t even speak her own language, perhaps. She didn"t live alone in her body anymore.
Max was tapping on the gla.s.s of the driver"s side window, and Stormy rolled it down. "I"m okay, " she said.
"What happened? Stormy, you just went out of control for no reason! What is it?"
"Nothing. Really, I...I fell asleep. That"s all."
Max wasn"t buying it. She searched Stormy"s face, then paused, and her eyes widened. "Stormy, your eyes!"
"What? What about them?" Stormy reached for the rearview mirror and stared into it. An ebony-eyed stranger stared back at her. But even as she looked, the color changed from ebony back to their normal vivid blue. She quelled the full body shiver that moved through her and turned back to Max again, schooling her expression to a picture of calm. "There"s nothing wrong with my eyes, Max. Must have been the way the sun was. .h.i.tting me, " she said.
Max squinted at her. "But..."
Lou put a hand on Maxine"s shoulder. "There"s a diner up ahead. Maybe we need to stop for a rest."
"Good idea, " Max said. She nodded to Stormy. "Shove over. I"m driving."
Stormy knew better than to argue. Max was worried. And she"d seen something. h.e.l.l, Stormy was surprised she"d been able to keep her strange symptoms to herself for as long as she had-keeping secrets from Mad Maxie was not easily done. She"d had a few episodes similar to this one: blacking out, seeing strange flashes, hearing incoherent murmurs. But never before had an image come clear, the way this one had, nor had any of the murmurs taken on the form of words, foreign or otherwise. Whatever it was, it was getting worse. But dammit, she couldn"t tell anyone about this, not even Maxie. Not until she knew what it was-what it meant.
She flipped down the visor, looked in the makeup mirror there, and was relieved to see her own eyes looking back at her.
Maxine was pulling her car into motion. "So you gonna tell me what"s up?"
"Honestly, Max, I don"t know. I was tired, and I guess I nodded off." "That"s all?"
"That"s all."
Max thinned her lips. Time to change the subject. "Hey, Max, you remember those flyers we had made up, announcing the new business?"
"Sure do."
"Did you send one to Jason Beck?"
Max frowned at her. "Yeah, I did. A business card, too. I sent them to everyone I could think of. Why?"
"I don"t know. I"ve just been thinking about him lately." "Yeah?"
Storm nodded, then pointed ahead. "There"s the diner. Lou"s pulling around back."
"Probably more room to park that tank back there. We"ll pull around, too." She drove Stormy"s car into the parking lot.
Subject successfully changed, Stormy thought slowly. She wanted to rub her head-it didn"t hurt, exactly, just felt tender. Sensitive, or something. But she didn"t dare. If she gave Max any sign she was in less-than-perfect health, Max would hover like a first-time mother.
"I really am starved, " she said. Max always saw an appet.i.te as a sign of good health.
"Me, too." Max pulled Stormy"s car to a stop next to the van.
"How"s the ride going?" Stormy asked. "Any progress with Lou?"
"h.e.l.l, no. He put the radio on some country music channel to limit opportunities for conversation."
"You sure you don"t want to ride the rest of the way with me?" She tapped her CD collection. "I have Disturbed."
"You are disturbed, " Max told her with a wink. Then she frowned as she looked at Stormy again.
"Despite that, I think I will ride with you for a while. Give you a break from driving for the next couple of hours."
"I was kidding, Max. You need to ride with Lou. Maybe he"ll hit a b.u.mp and you"ll wind up in his lap.
You can"t miss an opportunity like that."
"h.e.l.l, I"ll have plenty of opportunities once we get him installed in the mansion."
"But I thought he wasn"t staying, " Stormy said. "So does he, " Max replied. "But I stashed his bag in your car, just in case."
Stormy looked behind her seat and saw the black leather satchel that she hadn"t put there or even noticed up until now. "How observant am I?" she asked. "Could have been a serial killer squatting back there for all I noticed." "No room for a whole serial killer, " Max observed.
"Hey!" Lou tapped on the roof of the little car. "You two getting out or what?"
Grinning, Max opened her door and got out of the car.
Stormy did, too, but her legs felt oddly weak and her muscles, shaky. As if she"d worked out to the point of muscle fatigue. Only she hadn"t.
When it had happened before, the weakness had soon pa.s.sed. But it had never been this clear or this powerful before, nor had it ever left her this shaken. She"d asked her doctor about it after the first attack, but though he had run a battery of tests, nothing abnormal had shown up.
Whatever it was, Stormy was convinced it wasn"t physical. It didn"t feel physical. She couldn"t describe why, exactly, or what it did feel like.
They walked into the diner, Max watching her every move.
Chapter 3.
"Here they are, my lord."
He stepped through the open doors into his parlor. It had been weeks since he"d fed. He"d learned to do without for long periods, and Fieldner had been whining that no woman had pa.s.sed through Endover in all that time.
But tonight, tonight, he would feed his body and, more important, his soul with the memory of his beloved.
He looked at the female Fieldner had brought to him. Mocha skin, brown eyes, hair like mink that curled to her shoulders. Beautiful. She stood trembling and wide-eyed at his approach. "You needn"t be afraid, "
he said, staring deeply into her eyes, working to ease her mind with the power of his own.
He frowned and moved closer, and when she backed away, he said two words. "Be still." And he waved his hand to direct his power more fully. She didn"t move again. Just stood there, still afraid. He could hear her heart fluttering as madly as the wings of a trapped dove.
No matter. He would calm her soon enough. He moved nearer, and when he was right in front of her, he touched her chin with one hand and studied her face.
Anger flooded him, though he was careful to keep his voice gentle. "How old are you, child?"
"S-s-seventeen."
He lowered his hand and turned away from her, disappointment washing through him as his hunger stabbed more deeply. Free from the hold of his mind, the girl stumbled backward as if suddenly released from a powerful grip.
"A child?" His eyes sought out those of his servant. Fieldner stood in the shadows, cowering now.
"You"ve brought me a child, Fieldner?"
The man cringed into himself but didn"t back away. "Seventeen is hardly a child. And I brought two of them, master."
"Two?" He turned again, noticing the second girl. Caucasian, blond and apparently unconscious on the chaise. He moved to her side, bending over her, touching her, his long fingers sending messages to his keen mind. Then he shot another look at Fieldner. "You"ve drugged her?"
"B-both of us, " the other girl said.
He shot her a look, turned to face the girl again. "What is your name, child?"
"D-Delia. Delia Beck. She"s Janie" Her lip trembled. "Is she going to be all right?"
"Yes, I promise you she"s fine. Don"t be afraid, Delia Beck. You have nothing to fear from me." He took a moment to ease her mind, reaching out to it with his own until she relaxed visibly. "Sit there with your friend, " he told her. "While I deal with this."
She went to the chaise and sat upon it, taking her friend"s hand in her own, speaking softly to her.
He walked across the room to Fieldner, who started babbling at his approach. "I-I had to drug them. I did! There are two of them, and they would have fought me. I didn"t want to have to hurt one of them.
You got angry the last time I hurt one of them."
"And what good did you think it would do to bring me tainted blood, you idiot?" He looked back at the girls.
The one called Delia was staring at him as if she couldn"t look away, her heart still racing, though she wasn"t as afraid as she had been. She was mesmerized and terrified all at once. The other one, Janie, moaned, shifting restlessly on the chaise.
"I cannot feed on tainted blood, " he said to Fieldner. "And I will not feed on children."
"I"m sorry, master." "The damage is done. There"s nothing for it but to keep it from getting worse. They will be missed, surely." "No! They were traveling alone."
That, at least, was a point in his favor. "Good. I"ll command them to forget and send them on their way.
But I need sustenance, Fieldner. And I won"t take it from them."
"The emergency stores, sir?"
"I don"t think so."
Bowing his head, the drone-who was also the police chief of Endover-moved across the room to the hardwood bar, a modern contrivance but one he liked. Fieldner removed a velvet case and set it on top.
Opening the lid, he extracted a beautiful cut-crystal winegla.s.s and then a jeweled, razor-sharp dagger.
"I apologize for the girls, sir. But there is something else. Something you should know before I proceed."
"You wouldn"t be trying to stall, would you, Fieldner?"
"No, master." He held his wrist over the winegla.s.s and, clasping the dagger in his other hand, laid the blade against his own skin. He would do as commanded. But his blood would be gamey. Male blood always was. And the blood of a man as weak-minded as Fieldner would lack spark and power.
The vampire sighed. "Go on, then. Tell me what it is I should know."
"That one. The dark one, " the chief said with a nod of his head toward Delia. "She managed to make a call on her cell phone."
He lifted his brows. "And how did she manage that?" he asked.
"Cowering in the back of my car. I didn"t realize what she was doing." He swallowed, his Adam"s apple swelling and receding like a wave. "Her brother is in town."
The girl gasped. "Jason?"
Fieldner sent her a quelling look. "You shouldn"t ought to have made that phone call, girl. What happens to him now will be on your shoulders."
The vampire felt her panic returning, and glanced again at the child. "No harm will befall your brother, Delia. Trust me."
"But what about him?" she cried, She pointed a finger at Fieldner. "He kept us locked up in the bottom of some lighthouse for hours! It was dark and we-"
"Calm, " the vampire said. He drew the word out, aiming more power at the girl. Teenagers-G.o.d, but their minds were so much more difficult to control than those of adults. "Relax, child. Everything is fine."
She gulped back a sob and sat on the chaise once more.
Turning to Fieldner again, he said, "Perhaps you"d better begin at the beginning."
The other man nodded. "The two girls were pa.s.sing through town. Stopped at the old visitor center.While they were looking for rest rooms, I pulled a couple of the plug wires, so their car wouldn"t start.
Then I offered them a ride to the nearest diner, where they could wait for a tow truck to arrive. They trusted me"
Of course they had, he thought. Fieldner was a policeman. He wore a uniform and drove a marked cruiser. Any woman would trust him.
"That was this morning. I couldn"t very well bring them out here then, so I locked them up in the lighthouse. But on the way there, that one caught on that something wasn"t right and called her brother. I don"t know how she even got through, with the reception being as bad as it is. There must be a hot spot on the highway somewhere."
"And why didn"t you hear the phone call?"
"By then they were making a fuss, demanding I stop the car, let them out. I...I put on the radio to drown out the noise"
Disgusted, the vampire rolled his eyes.
"So she told her brother where she was."
Fieldner nodded. "He was in my office not an hour ago, asking if I had seen her."