by Chloe Garner
“Are you… Are you fully vampire, yet, or does it take a while?” he asked.
“I was fully vampire the night you met me,” Tina answered. “It can take longer, but I was mostly dead when it happened, so it went really fast.”
“And he’s fully human?”
“Yes,” Tina said.
“I’d love to examine him,” Tony said. Tina shook her head.
“He has smallpox,” she said very quietly. It almost seemed harder to say than vampire. “Apparently it stuck with him since before he got turned the first time. He’s in quarantine.”
“Wow,” Tony said. “That’s…” He looked at her carefully. “That’s a lot.”
“It is,” she said. “I’ve been as careful as I can be to scrub down and get rid of any contamination I might have on me, and I can’t catch it, so… We’re trying to keep everyone else safe. It’s why he won’t stay human for long.”
“Okay,” Tony said, returning his attention back to the scans. “I mean, there are protocols to examining a smallpox patient…”
“Which haven’t been used in this country in, what, a century?” Tina asked. “No. It’s not worth it. We’re locking him away and that’s that. What else do you see?”
He shook his head.
“You have pooling all over that suggests a dead body. I mean, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by that…”
“Look at him,” Tina said. “I appreciate your insights on me, as well, but he’s the one that I think is going to be important.”
“Why?” Tony asked. “He’s human. He’s in good shape…”
Tina waited.
“What do you see?”
“Let me have it,” he said. She let him pull the laptop over in front of him, squinting and sitting close to the screen as he tapped through the paired images. Tina picked up a menu, ordering as the waitress came back, just to make the woman go away for a while, and then she checked to make sure that the Mendez siblings had been successful getting their order placed.
“It’s got to be congenital,” Tony said. “You have to tell me how he came back. I don’t care how he turned, but how did he come back?”
“Medically?” Tina asked, still watching around them, listening, trying to be alert for its own sake. “I have no idea. They say that it’s magic from a woman that he fed off of.”
“Magic,” Tony scoffed. Tina smiled. “Tell me about what happened when he turned back.”
“Lots of gurgling and bubbling,” Tina said. “She told me that it was his systems turning back on. Nothing specific or useful. I took blood samples every two hours through the whole thing.”
He sat up to look at her.
“You’re not that much older than me, are you?” he asked, and she shook her head. “You’re really good at this,” he went on, looking at the images again. “I’m only a med student. You should get a real expert to look at these, but unless his heart was damaged during the transition, he’s got something going on there…”
“I don’t have someone else,” Tina answered. “I have you.”
He sat back in his seat, frowning.
“You need a cardiac expert. I’m… I need to look at my textbooks and get a…” He frowned harder, then shook his head. “They say it’s hard, but I…”
“Speak,” Tina said.
“I think he has cancer,” Tony said, looking at her. Tina covered her mouth, almost laughing.
Almost.
“That poor man,” she said softly. “Is he in pain?”
“You said he’s got… smallpox too?” Tony asked, and she nodded. He shrugged.
“I don’t know. I don’t even know.”
“It’s in his heart?” Tina asked, and he nodded, turning the images to point. She couldn’t see anything useful and he finally shook his head.
“Can I show this to one of my professors?” he asked. Tina frowned and shook her head.
“I don’t think you should. Seriously? Cancer, too?”
He nodded.
“I think so. With a biopsy, we could probably figure out if it’s benign or malignant… You think it’s relevant?”
Tina twisted her mouth to the side.
“It’s certainly something that’s specific to him.” She paused. “Wait. Is he in danger? Like, could that kill him?”
Tony sighed, then spread his hands.
“You need a cardiologist and an oncologist just to start with. Not a guy with three years of school studying to be a surgeon.”
“You’ve got a better opinion than mine,” Tina said. “Should I tell Hunter to turn him back?”
Tony drew a slow breath and nodded.
“That much mass in his heart… If you have to be, like, good and alive for turning to work, it’s probably more risk than I’d want my mom to take.”
Tina nodded, getting out her phone.
It rang.
Tell.
She answered it.
“I was about to call you,” she said.
“They have her,” Tell said. “Hunter is turning me as soon as I hang up, but I’ve got a long night ahead of me to be back at anything like full strength. I need you to go get her and get her somewhere safe for the day.”
“Um,” Tina said, looking at Tony.
“Is he okay?” Tony asked, and she nodded.
“The other case we’re working on blew up. I need to go take care of it.”
“Can I have the samples that you took?” Tony asked.
“Yes,” Tina said. “I took several vials every time. You can have one of each.”
“You have your blood in there?” Tony asked, and she shook her head. “All right. I’ll just use the early ones as a control for what normal looks like for a vampire.”
“I took blood before he turned,” Tina said. “But you have to be so careful. He’s sick. I’d rather not figure it out than expose the world to smallpox again.”
He nodded.
“I’ll be careful,” he said. “I just… I could win awards for this, if it was the kind of thing I could publish.”
“You tell him he tries to publish anything based on my blood, Ginger will kill him dead,” Tell said. “Are you walking out the door yet?”
“Put on Hunter,” Tina said. There was a pause.
“Hey, beautiful. How’s your date?”
“Excellent,” Tina said. “He has a heart tumor that could kill him. Turn him now and if you have any control over how fast it happens, do it fast.”
“I love it when you two agree,” Hunter said.
“And then I need you to put one of each of my samples in a box and send it to the address… Wait, no, I just have to tell you. Get a pen.”
“You’re serious?” Hunter asked. “Who uses pens?”
“There’s one with my notes,” Tina said. “Move. Come on. Lives at stake and stuff.”
She handed the phone to Tony.
“Give him your shipping address. It’ll show up today.”
“It’s one-five-six… Oh. Yeah, I’ll wait.” Tony paused, and then started again, giving Hunter his address, then handing the phone back to Tina. “He wants to talk to you again.”
“All right, so I’m looking at a whole tray of shooters,” he said.
“They’re all labeled,” Tina said, exasperated. “I want one from each timestamp.”
“They all do have little stickers on them,” he muttered. “You seriously do use a pen, don’t you?”
“What do you use to sign contracts?” Tina asked. “Quills?”
He snorted.
“All right, I’ve got it. I can figure that out. I’m going to go turn my best friend into a vampire for the second time this year.”
“All right,” Tina said.
“Wait,” Hunter said. “He wants to talk to you again.”
Tina sighed, waiting as the phone transferred hands again.
“She was out front of the Order center thirty minutes ago,” Tell said. “I have it on my images. They saw her, and someone grabbed he
r and dragged her away. If you can get there before they get dug in, I think you stand a fair chance of getting her out and someplace safe until I can get to you. Don’t take a cell phone or anything. Nothing electronic.”
“Then how are you going to find us?” Tina asked.
“You’ll figure that out,” Tell said.
“And do I trust her, locked in a room with her all day?” Tina asked. “She seems suicidal to me. Are we sure she isn’t going to kill me?”
Tony’s eyes went wide, and she shook her head. Not his problem.
“She’s the client,” Tell said. “And she’s just here to try to keep her brother safe.”
“That’s not a no on the killing me thing,” Tina said. “I’ve never been out of the apartment during the day. How do I pick a place that isn’t going to bleach me?”
“Stay near the bottom,” Tell said. “Underground is best, with a tall building on top of you if you can get it. You want a good solid door that locks with an unkeyed lock, like a bolt or a chain, but if it’s a chain, make sure that it’s set well in concrete, not in drywall, right?”
“Tell,” Hunter said, exasperated in the background. “You could be a vampire again by now.”
“You want her to bleach?” Tell asked. “Give me a minute.”
Tina looked off into the distance and nodded.
“All right. I need you to send a car to diPalma to pick up the Mendezes. I’ve paid for their meal, but I’m not going to have time to drive them home. Tony will be gone by the time it gets here, so I think we’re safe.”
“All right,” Tell said. “Get moving. Every minute is going to cost you. I’ll find you tomorrow night. Just give me a sign, and I’ll find you.”
Tina took a deep breath and sighed.
“I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
She hung up the phone and put it away.
“I have to go. The files are here.”
She handed Tony the jump drive she’d backed everything up onto, then she put her computer into her bag.
“I wish there was more time to talk. Maybe another time when the threat of everyone around me dying isn’t so high.”
“You’re serious,” he said. “Someone is going to try to kill you? Tonight?”
“If I’m lucky,” Tina said absently, then looked down at him. “And you can’t help. You need to go back to your dorm or your apartment or wherever you’re living and not get yourself killed.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow if I find anything,” he said.
“I don’t know if I’ll answer tomorrow night or not, but I’ll text you to let you know I’m alive, as soon as I get access to electronic devices again.”
He nodded, pocketing the jump drive. The waitress came back by to tell them that the pizza would be out in just a minute.
“He’s taking it to go, thank you,” Tina said. She took cash out of her wallet - she didn’t often use it, but Tell insisted that there were times that it would come in handy - and she paid for Tony’s pizza and the Mendez’ pizza shop, which was coming out in a parade of servers.
“I have to go somewhere else from here,” Tina said to Georgia. “Tell is sending a car to take you home. I’m sorry.”
Georgia was looking at the stack of pizza boxes that went from her elbows to over her head, and she grinned.
“We’ll find something to do to amuse ourselves,” she said, and Tina went out to her car, closing her eyes to focus for a moment, then nodding, starting the engine, and starting the drive toward the Order.
She parked two blocks away, getting out and putting the hood up on her heavy coat. She walked with her shoulders hunched and her hands in her pockets, nearly invisible and walking as much by hearing and scent as by what she could see. She crossed in front of the Order’s building at speed, not looking over at it. It wasn’t quite midnight, and there were still a few people out, but while she could hear people inside the building, the first floor was unlit.
She was smelling carefully, trying to find a human scent that might stand out from the others. Something desert-y, maybe. Or petite and blond.
Smells didn’t work like that.
What she did smell was fear.
She knew that Tell had the ability to smell people’s emotions - that was part of his human lie detector kit - and that various emotions had distinct scents, but she was still surprised that she could tell one human from another. The nuances of scent that came off of people were too advanced, though she wasn’t giving up hope like she had with her hearing. She could still learn.
Here, though.
Here, the smell of fear started out just a faint idea and quickly turned thick and sweet and stomach-churning. It actually smelled the way it felt, and Tina could have picked out the woman who was putting it off from a lineup in a dark room on the moon.
She followed it, trying not to walk faster in case anyone was watching.
It went around the corner, where it spiked again and Tina looked at the spot where the car had been parked.
Tell could all but smell history. Half a dozen times, he’d had a miraculous insight to a case that revolved around being able to smell what had happened in a room.
On the street, it was different. The scents were drifting on a cold wind, and confused with a city’s worth of other activity. She knew that Colette had been right here. Right here.
But she couldn’t tell what had happened after that.
Frustrated, she closed her eyes, willing whatever focus she hadn’t yet used to the front, and she listened to what her nose could tell her.
The car.
The car wasn’t running exactly right.
It had a distinctive scent as it had idled there, just for a moment, before they’d taken off.
What was she going to do? Chase it down the middle of the street?
Hope that they hadn’t gone far.
“Diesel,” she whispered, taking out her phone. She called Tell, going to stand against the wall.
“I saw you go by,” he answered.
“It was the red diesel,” she said. “The one from Kyle’s apartment. I wrote down the plate in my notes.”
There was a gap.
“Tell isn’t here right now,” Hunter said. “He’s turning into a vampire, as you might recall.”
“In my notes,” Tina said. “I know you heard me.”
“I’m working on it,” he said. “There it is.”
He started to read it to her, but she shook her head.
“No, I need you to look up where it’s registered.”
“That sounds like a Tell question to me,” Hunter said.
“Well, tonight it’s a you question,” Tina answered. “Just get out his computer. I’ll talk you through it.”
“I’m not allowed to touch Tell’s computer,” Hunter said his tone indicating that he had no problem breaking this rule.
Tina waited.
“Okay. Password.”
“Have him type it,” Tina said. “No way he’ll tell you.”
There was a longer pause, and Tina listened as Hunter tried to convince Tell that this was okay.
“Tell him he’s wasting time,” Tina said. “I need to know where they took Colette. I could smell her.”
Hunter repeated it back, and then came back to the phone a moment later.
“All right. That’s done.”
Tina sighed.
“Okay. From here…”
It took her about twice as long through Hunter than it would have on her own, but he was nowhere near as technically illiterate as he made out to be. He gave her an address, and she had him look up who owned the place after that.
The Order.
Unhelpful.
It was a residence, at least, so Tina went with it.
When there was nothing else to do, guess.
“I’ll call if I need more help,” she said, moving quickly again.
“If you see people in your rearview, come here,” Hunter said, serious. “I’d rather you lose her tha
n they get you, too.”
Tina nodded, hearing as Tell protested the perspective.
“I understand,” she said. “I’ll be in touch.”
She hung up and walked back to her car in the same slouch, putting the address into her phone.
Ten minutes.
She was so far behind already.
Lucas Austin lived in a single-family home in a run-down portion of town that was too close to downtown to be cheap. Tina pulled into his driveway, looking at the children’s toys out in the snow, and she frowned.
This was not going to be fun.
There was no car in the driveway ahead of hers, and the red diesel wasn’t out on the street, so she didn’t think he was going to be home.
But his wife was.
The woman answered Tina’s knock after several minutes, wearing a robe and with eyes that bespoke exhaustion.
“What?” she asked.
“Mrs. Austin?” Tina asked.
The woman flashed fear, her heart rate spiking.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
“I need to ask you some questions about your husband,” Tina said, hoping that that was enough to keep the woman from panicking that the man was dead, but without sounding friendly. This wasn’t going to be friendly, and to start out that way was disingenuous.
“What about him?” the woman asked, pulling away from the cold outside.
“Ma’am, he isn’t home, is he?” Tina asked. “Do you know where he is?”
“No,” the woman said sullenly. “You should come back in the morning. It’s the middle of the night.”
“Forty-five minutes ago, he was seen kidnapping a woman, putting her into the back of his car,” Tina said. “I’m afraid this can’t wait until morning.”
The woman narrowed her eyes, drawing the door another fraction closed.
“Lucas wouldn’t do that,” she said.
“Are you certain?” Tina answered. “Do you know that he runs around in a brown robe in a building downtown, chanting about death and hitting himself in the forehead with a board?”
She was guessing about the board part, but the chanting and the forehead part she was pretty certain of. She’d been able to hear it the night she’d listened to them talking; it had been really distracting.
“It would explain the bruises,” the woman said. Tina nodded.
“You know that there’s something wrong with the people he’s spending time with,” she said.