by Margaret Carter, Crystal Green, Erica Orloff, Patricia Rosemor
“How do you mean?”
“Let me try once more to mesmerize you. I want to test the strength of your resistance.”
“I’m not sure I like that idea.” Did he hope to batter a hole in her shield and use the weakness for his own purposes? After all, he’d admitted how little his kind valued human life. What reason did she have to believe his claim that in some sense he “cared” for her?
“Afraid?” he said with a thin smile.
The taunt in his voice snapped her to attention. She curled her fingers around the ankh. “No way. Do your worst.”
He rose from the chair and stood in front of her. She fought the urge to lean away from his looming height. He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and insinuated his fingers under the hairline. She sighed, feeling her pulse accelerate.
Realizing what he was up to, she blinked to clear the gathering fog from her vision and squeezed the pendant until its sharp edges jabbed her palm.
He gazed into her eyes. “You don’t actually want to fight me, do you?” He dropped his voice so that she had to strain to hear him. “Listen to me. Focus on my face. Nothing else exists.”
She swayed toward him. The pressure on her mind, like waves beating on sand, threatened to wash away her grip on herself. Clinging to the pendant as an anchor, she whispered, “No. Stay out of my head.”
His fingers traced spirals on the back of her neck. “Yield to me. Come into my arms. It’s what you want.”
“No, it’s not.” She could hardly speak. Waves of heat rippled over her body. This was a very bad idea. She had to lock her muscles to keep from flowing into his embrace.
She wrenched her eyes from his and stared at his chest. Not a great improvement, but at least she was no longer in danger of being paralyzed by his stare. “Back off, Max!”
With a bark of laughter, he took a step backward. “Brava! You did better than I expected.”
She felt the pressure on her mind recede. Gasping as if a weight had been lifted from her lungs, she tried to dredge up a sharp retort. Before she could concoct one, a knock sounded on the door.
Max tilted his head as if listening. “One person, human, breathing rapidly, probably frightened. It should be safe to answer.”
When she opened the door, a thin girl with a dragonfly tattoo and pale blue hair stood in the hall.
While Linnet stared with her mouth open, the girl said, “I’m looking for Max Tremayne. Do I have the wrong room?”
“He’s here. Come on in.” Linnet stepped aside to swing the door farther open before she stopped to think that the girl might have a weapon in the backpack she carried over one shoulder. “Jodie?”
“Hey, I saw you in the airport. You chased me.” She sounded out of breath.
“I just wanted to talk.”
“You look familiar. Hold it, aren’t you Dee’s cousin or whatever?”
“Aunt. I’m Linnet Carroll. You came to my house a couple of times.”
Max cast a sharp glance at her. “You saw this person at the airport? And didn’t mention it to me?”
She squirmed under his cool gray eyes. “I wasn’t sure who she was. It didn’t seem worth mentioning.”
“We’ll discuss it later.” He stood up and moved toward them with long strides that reminded Linnet of a panther in the zoo. When Jodie cringed back and cast a glance at the open door, he…leaped? dashed? streaked? Linnet couldn’t tell, except that he blurred into existence beside them and shut the door. Watching him fasten the bolt, Jodie crossed her arms over her chest and flattened herself against the wall.
“Relax, young woman. I don’t intend to rip out your throat.”
Though the curt tone didn’t seem to calm the girl, at least she didn’t lapse into hysterics.
“Come sit down.” Linnet gently touched Jodie’s arm, and she jerked as if zapped by electricity. “It’ll be all right. Let me get you a drink.”
All she had to offer was water. She guided Jodie to a chair, then went into the bathroom to fill a glass. After Jodie had taken a few sips, Linnet said, “What are you doing here? Did you bring us a message from Nola Grant?”
“Yes. Well, no—not exactly.”
“Well, which is it?” said Max, leaning on the dresser.
She darted a nervous glance at Linnet. “I wasn’t expecting you to be here, just Mr. Tremayne.”
Linnet sat on the edge of the bed, trying to look unthreatening. “That’s okay, you can say anything to both of us. I know the truth about Max and Nola.” Not sure of Jodie’s own awareness, she hesitated to speak more explicitly.
Jodie gave Max a quick look, then stared down at the carpet. “You know they’re…not like us?”
“Not human.” Linnet drew a deep breath to tame the shaking of her own voice. She hadn’t begun to get used to the idea yet. “Vampires.”
Since Jodie looked unsurprised, Linnet decided using the V word hadn’t been a mistake. “Nola sent me after Mr. Tremayne. I mean Max. She didn’t know you’d be with him.”
Good, Linnet thought. Their plan of having her distract Nola could still work. “You said she didn’t exactly send you with a message. What does that mean?”
Jodie gulped a swallow of the water. “She ordered me to lure Max into a trap. But I want to get away from her. I came here to ask him to protect me and help me escape.”
Max spoke up. “You expect us to believe that you’ve run away from Nola? After months of groveling to her and feeding her with your blood?”
Jodie answered with a spasmodic nod.
“Why should I accept such a tale? Doubtless this appeal for help is part of the trap.”
“No, I swear.” Her eyes squeezed shut for a second. “I can’t stand it anymore, the way she’s draining my life. It was fun when there were lots of us, you know, so she drank from everybody. Now I’m the only one. It’s awful.” The girl shivered, a reaction visible even through the leather jacket she wore over her black T-shirt. “She keeps bags of pig blood in the freezer. But she still wants a taste of me almost every night. And I can’t go anywhere. This is only the second time she’s let me out. She sent me shopping for food once, but after that she kept me in the house.”
“Why can’t you sneak away while she’s asleep?” Linnet asked.
“We’re, you know, bonded. She made me drink her blood, like she did with Fred before she left him back in Maryland. She says she’d feel it if I tried to split, even in the daytime. I don’t know if it’s true, but I didn’t want to take the chance.”
“Why doesn’t she know what you’re doing right now?”
“Too far, at least I think so. After I got about two miles away, I couldn’t feel her in my head anymore.”
Turning his glittering eyes upon her, Max said, “True, you’re out of range. She would sense your death or some other breaking of the bond, but she isn’t old enough to have the power to spy on your thoughts or emotions from this distance. If the bond were longer established and deeper, the range would be greater. In this situation, however, you’re safe for the moment.”
“That’s what I thought. So I figured, like, you’re stronger than she is. You can protect me.” Her voice sounded choked with tears. “Come on, guys, I’m being straight with you.”
In the same fluid motion as before, Max blurred across the floor and loomed over her. One hand grasped her chin and tilted her head up. Chills prickled on Linnet’s arms as she watched his eyes drill into the girl’s. “Tell me again,” he ordered. “Are you serving Nola, or do you want to break free of her?”
“I want to be free. Please!” The word trailed into a moan.
Max released her and darted back to his seat. “Very well, I see that you’re sincere.”
“Did you have to scare her?” said Linnet.
He shot her a cold stare. “I had to make sure.” Turning back to Jodie, he said in a gentler tone, “How did you find us?”
“Something about Fred. The bond stopped working. Last night, all of a sudden, Nola’s
like, ‘I can’t feel him anymore.’ And then she’s like, ‘It must be Max Tremayne,’ because she said only a superpowerful vampire could break the bond, and you were the only old vampire who’d be interested in screwing around with her pets. You being Anthony’s brother and all.” A tremor crept into her voice. “She was so mad. I thought she might tear my head off.”
“She left you unharmed,” said Max, “because you’re the only remaining pet she has. And she commanded you to intercept me in San Francisco.”
“Yeah. Because of Fred, she knew you’d be coming after her.”
The conversation was flowing too fast for Linnet. “Wait, how much do you know about Fred? Do you know what he did?”
“Uh-huh. He killed Dee and Anthony.” Jodie rubbed her eyes. “I’m sorry. Really. I liked Dee. Liked them both. I didn’t have a clue Anthony was a vampire until Nola told me about it last night.”
“She told you? She admitted she sent Fred to murder them?” It seemed bizarre to Linnet that Nola would discuss her crimes with a mere “pet.” On the other hand, if Jodie was supposed to be completely under the vampire’s control, maybe the conversation meant no more to Nola than a human woman’s chattering to her cat.
“She was like, ‘Did he have to make such a mess of it?’ Then she said we had to get out of Maryland. That was a few nights ago. I kind of lost track of how many. She said she picked me to go with her because I was her favorite, after Fred. That’s when she gave me a drink of her blood.”
“You didn’t mind that?” Linnet said.
“No way, it’s the most incredible trip you can imagine.” A dreamy expression stole over the girl’s face. “But it’s not worth all the other crap. Being a friggin’ prisoner in that house, living with a monster who kills people.” She threw a nervous glance at Max.
Living with a monster. A knot of cold congealed in Linnet’s stomach.
“Nola brought you here,” said Max, who seemed unfazed by the implied insult. “To her house in Pacific Grove?”
“Right. And then, like I said, she lost contact with Fred and freaked out. I think maybe she planned to let him hook up with us later, if he did what she wanted and kept his mouth shut.”
“Yes, she would have wanted to rebuild her harem after she’d been back here long enough to get settled. As soon as she felt safe from attracting attention, she’d have started luring new disciples, so don’t cling to the illusion that she thinks of you as something special,” Max said. After a moment’s thought, he asked, “How did she know when to send you to the airport, though? Surely you haven’t been loitering around the terminal for almost twenty-four hours, making a circuit of the arrival gates?”
Jodie shook her head. “Nola went to the airport in Monterey and hypnotized one of the ticket guys. She made him search the computer for reservations in your name on all the airlines that fly here from Baltimore and D.C. He tracked down the flight you were taking.”
“So you knew what plane to meet,” Linnet said. “You watched him disembark and followed him to the rental-car counter. Then what?” This fresh evidence of Nola’s power cast a shadow on her hope of defeating the vampire.
“I had a rented car, too, that I drove up from Monterey in. As soon as I saw what company Max was getting a car from, I waited outside their lot and followed you to the motel.”
“And you haven’t communicated with Nola in any way since you arrived at the airport?”
“No, I swear.” Again she shook her head vigorously.
Linnet asked why she had waited several hours to contact them.
“I thought Max was by himself. I got a glimpse of you in the car, but I thought you were just somebody he picked up at the airport for, well, a quick snack. I figured if I knocked before sundown, he’d be asleep and wouldn’t hear me.”
“Then I take it Nola makes a regular habit of sleeping all day,” said Max.
“Mostly. I didn’t live with her full-time until a couple of weeks ago, but I don’t remember seeing her up before sunset.”
This confirmation that at least one facet of her plan made sense cheered Linnet a little.
“Now, young woman,” said Max, “I acknowledge that you’ve given us useful information. However, do you expect us to go out of our way to help you?”
“Please, you’re my only hope.”
The desperation in her tone stirred Linnet’s pity. “Max, we have to—” A glare from him silenced her.
“What, precisely, do you want of me?” he asked.
Jodie said, “After you’ve taken care of your business with Nola, get me out of town. Out of this state.”
“Where do you plan to go?”
“I have a grandmother in Denver. I don’t think there’s any way Nola could know about her. Get me a ticket for Denver and, if she’s still alive when you get done with her, protect me until I get on the plane.”
Max leaned forward, staring into the girl’s eyes. “Why are you so certain I can protect you?”
“Nola said you’re a powerful vamp.”
“Knowing what you do about her attitude toward the human race, why do you assume I would bother to help?”
“You can’t be like her. You’re Anthony’s brother, and he was okay.”
With a sigh, Max said to Linnet, “Dark Powers, another one!” To Jodie, he continued, “Regardless, you can’t expect me to make that effort out of pure altruism. I want concrete proof that you’ve broken away from Nola.”
“What kind of proof?”
“Do something quite simple for us in return.”
Her eyes widened with eagerness. “You got it. Anything.”
“Guide us to Nola’s home. Not all the way, of course. We don’t want her to sense your proximity. Just close enough.”
“Sure, I can do that. I can do even better. I’ll give you a key to the house.”
“Excellent.” He leaned back. Linnet felt him relax the pressure on Jodie’s mind. “Jodie, Linnet and I need to confer in private. Go to the lobby and wait there. We’ll be along in a few minutes. We are going to drive to Monterey tonight, and you will ride with us in the same vehicle.”
“What about the rental car?”
“Whose name is on the agreement?”
Jodie shrugged. “I guess Nola’s. She picked it up at the local airport and gave it to me.”
“In that case, do you care whether she gets harassed for failing to return the car on time?”
A faint smile surfaced on the girl’s face. “Hell, no.”
Max walked over to her, at a normal pace this time. “Listen carefully. You will go to the lobby and wait for us. You won’t go anywhere, and you won’t get into conversation with anyone. When we come downstairs, you will be ready to travel. Is that clear?”
She nodded, her eyes wearing the dazed look that Linnet knew indicated a vampire-induced trance.
“Very well, go ahead.”
Snapping back to ordinary alertness, Jodie snagged her backpack and headed for the door. On the way, she bent over Linnet and smirked. “You guys have to confer for a few minutes, huh?”
“What?” It took Linnet a second to absorb the implication. “It’s not like that at all!”
“Yeah, right. I’ve been with a vampire long enough to know what it’s like. I’m going to miss that part.”
Her face hot, Linnet stalked to the door and slammed it behind Jodie. She whirled around to find Max watching her with a smug grin. “That girl is crazy!” She flung her hands in the air. “They’ve all got to be crazy, begging to have their blood drunk.”
“Your niece, too?”
“She may not have been crazy, but I’ll be the first to admit she was a little weird.” The image of Jodie’s dreamy expression, though, reminded her too keenly of Max’s caresses. From what Jodie implied, those delicious sensations were only a mild hint of the potential rapture of a vampire’s kiss. Forget that! I didn’t want to get involved when I thought he was a normal man. I sure don’t now! She plopped into a chair. “Okay, wha
t do we have to confer about?”
“Our new friend, of course.” His expression hardened. “You should have told me you’d seen her stalking us.”
“Stalking you. Now that I think about it, she was watching you rent the car.”
“And you said nothing.” Did he actually sound more disappointed than angry? No, she couldn’t believe she had the power to hurt him.
“I told you, I wasn’t sure I recognized her. And even if I’d been sure it was Jodie, what could you have done about it? She gave me the slip.”
“Damn it, those are just excuses.” He grabbed her by the shoulders. When she flinched, he relaxed his grip. “You withheld the information because you didn’t trust me.”
She glared back at him. “Big surprise. Why should I? Like you haven’t kept secrets from me? Big ones.”
He shook his head and let go of her. “How would you have reacted if I’d told you right away that Nola, Anthony and I were vampires?”
“I didn’t handle it all that badly, did I?” By then she’d had the evidence of her own eyes to convince her, though. “Okay, you have a point. But you could have tried to explain. In case you didn’t know, we lower life-forms don’t like being used.”
“I didn’t—” His protest died in midbreath.
“See what I mean? For all I know, I serve the same purpose for you that Jodie does for Nola. Just a convenient lackey.” Though she wasn’t sure whether she fully believed that statement, leaning in that direction was safer than falling into the illusion that he valued her as a friend—or something more.
“I won’t even try to defend myself against that charge.” He sighed. “At the moment, we have Jodie to deal with.”
“You’re going to help her, aren’t you? You practically promised.”
“If she upholds her side of the bargain.”
“You aren’t sure she will?” said Linnet. “You did your look-deep-into-my-eyes thing. You read her emotions, right?”
“Oh, she certainly believes her own story. She does want to escape from Nola, desperately so. However, I feel something…off…about her.”
“Can’t you be more specific? You’re supposed to be the superhuman creature here.”