by Margaret Carter, Crystal Green, Erica Orloff, Patricia Rosemor
“I’m afraid not. Her emotions feel murky, a whirlpool of confusion.”
“She’s been seduced and practically kidnapped by a vampire. Two of her friends have recently been murdered. Who wouldn’t be confused?”
“I hope that accounts for it. Nevertheless, I have reservations about trusting her too far.”
“As far as Nola’s house in Monterey is the most we have to trust her. It’s only a few hours, and you can keep an eye on her all the way.”
“Granted. I would be more comfortable with a passenger who didn’t share a blood bond with my brother’s killer, though.”
“You and me both.” Although she didn’t like the pleading tone she heard in her own voice, Linnet couldn’t suppress it. “Max, we have to help her. We can’t let Nola get her back and do God knows what to her.”
“Why is this girl suddenly so important to you?”
“Because of Deanna. If anybody had gotten her out of Nola’s clutches soon enough—”
“I should have known. More atonement.” Max heaved an exaggerated sigh. “It seems I’ve acquired a destiny to avenge and rescue Nola Grant’s victims. My softhearted brother has a lot to answer for.”
Chapter 10
“One thing I don’t get,” said Linnet, as they gathered their baggage to leave the motel. “At Nola’s place, when I chased you to your car, you could have turned invisible and lost me instantly.”
“You might have noticed me vanish. I didn’t think the risk of using the psychic veil was justified. For the same reason, I didn’t resort to inhuman speed.”
She wasn’t sure she bought that explanation, since he’d shimmered into visibility right before her eyes in the motel corridor. Had their interlude in the room rattled him enough to make him drop his guard? The idea gave her a twinge of guilty satisfaction. “Why did you let me catch you invisible in the hall today?”
“You called my name, and I responded by reflex. I momentarily forgot I couldn’t make you ignore what you’d seen. Or not seen.”
“Forgot? You?” She tilted her head back to give him a skeptical look.
“Our kind have photographic memories for words and visual images, but we’re as capable of repressing unpleasant truths as you are.”
“All right, but how about when I caught up with you right after we left Nola’s house? When I jumped into your car, you could have just shoved me out.”
“Have you forgotten your threat to report my license number to the police? Having discovered I couldn’t mesmerize you, I had no immediate way to ensure that you didn’t carry out your threat. I could have handled police inquiries, but I didn’t want the bother and delay.” At the door, his hand closed around hers as she reached for the latch. “Also, I suspect I was already developing a weakness for you, an inexplicable desire to know you better.”
“Inexplicable, huh?” His icy fingers suddenly seemed to scorch her wrist. She felt her pulse throbbing under his touch. She caught herself leaning back to gaze up at him.
“I’d never met a human female I couldn’t fascinate at a glance. Are you surprised I responded to the challenge?” His head bent toward hers.
She watched him with wide eyes and parted lips. “Just a challenge?”
“A distraction,” he murmured. “Definitely a weakness.” Just before his mouth would have touched hers, he straightened up. “A weakness for both of us. Remember our resolution.”
“Right.” She opened the door, trying not to feel disappointed by his abrupt withdrawal. “Our guide’s waiting.”
In the lobby Jodie sat huddled in the chair next to the potted palm. She jumped when Max placed a hand on her shoulder. “Come along.” Without a word, she picked up her backpack and followed Max and Linnet outside. Linnet sat in the front seat of the car, while Jodie, still wide-eyed like a trapped rabbit, crawled into the back.
Now that the sun had set, Max took the wheel. Linnet accepted his decision gladly, not eager to fight the downtown San Francisco traffic, especially at twilight. Even as a passenger, she caught herself clutching the armrest at every screech of brakes and abrupt lane change.
“Do you have a death wish?” she muttered after one dash through a yellow light. “Oh, yeah, you’re immortal. Don’t forget, we’re not.”
“Neither am I,” he said, his eyes focused on the road. “We’re long-lived and hard to kill. We are not indestructible. But you have nothing to worry about where the traffic’s concerned. I have superhuman senses and reflexes.”
“Easy for you to say,” she muttered, prying her fingers off the armrest.
South of the city they picked up Highway 101, passing through San Jose, Salinas and mile after mile of farming and wine country. Scraps of popular songs and fragments of Steinbeck fiction tumbled through Linnet’s brain. She wished they could have driven the route in daylight and seen the landscape clearly.
Jodie spoke up timidly from the back seat. “What are you going to do when you find Nola?”
“The same thing she did to my brother,” said Max.
“Not necessarily.” Linnet frowned at him. “We haven’t completely decided.”
“Man, I don’t know if I want her dead.” Jodie’s voice quivered.
“You want to be free of her, don’t you?” said Max.
“Sure, but—oh, God, I just wish I could be sure she’s not inside my head right now. Like, hiding, you know.”
“I don’t believe she’s powerful enough to reach more than a mile or two or invade your mind without attracting your attention. I could mesmerize you and break the bond, of course.”
“Yeah, but then she’d—”
“She would notice the emptiness where that link had been. That is why I haven’t suggested it.”
“Yeah, she would.” Linnet thought Jodie sounded relieved, as if she still felt an emotional tie to the vampire woman. Maybe Max’s reluctance to trust the girl had some basis in fact.
“You’re not planning to go in there tonight, are you?” Jodie said.
Linnet twisted around to look at her. “No way. I’m not about to act like the brain-damaged vampire-hunters in the movies. We’ll go tomorrow. With your key, we won’t have to break in. We’d like to catch her asleep.”
“Besides directing us to the house,” Max said, “you must give us a sketch of the interior, especially the location of her sleeping quarters.”
“Okay, I can do that.”
“Hold on,” said Linnet. “Why don’t you just draw us a map to her place?”
“I don’t know the town well enough. Nola only let me out once, to buy some stuff we needed, and she planted the directions to the store in my head. She didn’t trust me to run loose on my own.” The girl’s voice held a tinge of resentment. “So I don’t know street names or anything. If you drive me around Pacific Grove, I’ll recognize the area sooner or later.”
“Very well, you’ll have to guide us that way,” Max said. “One thing we do want to accomplish tonight is to locate the house. You’ll direct us there, so we can become familiar with the route.”
“But Nola will feel my thoughts.”
“I told you, I won’t take that risk. Trust me to gauge how close we can get without any risk of making her aware you’re nearby. Now what exactly do you recall about the area?”
Jodie gnawed on her lower lip for a minute before answering. “When we drove in the first time, I noticed a big tree with a plaque in front of it. Nola told me it was called the butterfly tree, because every year the Monarchs land on it when they migrate. It’s on the road that runs right along the coast. I think that’s a couple of miles from her house, and I definitely know the way from there.”
“Very well, that should do,” Max said.
She cringed into the corner of the seat, obviously alarmed by his impatient tone.
“And I’m not going to bite your head off, either. We have rules against feeding on others’ chosen prey.”
“I know that.” She sniffled, and Linnet handed her a tissue. “That�
��s why Nola threw a fit when Dee ran off with Anthony. She said Anthony stole her pet.”
“My niece was nobody’s pet!”
Jodie shrugged. “That’s how they think of us.” She glanced at Max. “You think he’s any different?”
Linnet’s chest tightened. All too probably, she had let herself be kissed and pawed by a creature who considered her an entertaining animal with a few useful skills. “Anthony was different. I know he loved her. He wouldn’t have sacrificed his life for a pet.”
“Maybe. But all Nola saw was this young guy trespassing on her turf.”
“Enough of that.” The rough edge in Max’s voice reminded Linnet that even if he didn’t care about human lives, he must have loved his brother. “We have practical matters to discuss.”
“Right,” Linnet said. “Like shopping. We have to make a list of stuff we’ll need. Garlic powder, for sure. What else? Does Nola have a fear of religious objects? Would she run from a crucifix?”
Jodie shook her head. “She laughed at all that lame horror-movie crap. Said it was a good thing people believed it, because stuff like that made it easier for her kind to pass. You know, like people thinking she had to be a normal human because she could go out in the daytime.”
“Movies,” Max snarled. “How long would we have survived if we burst into flames in a ray of sunlight?”
“What else?” Linnet said. “We’ll need something super-strong to tie her with. For that we’ll have to go to a hardware store. Chains and a padlock? Or just heavy cord?”
“Boat line,” Jodie spoke up.
Linnet turned to look at her. “Huh?”
“The stuff you tie up boats with,” Jodie said in a “duh” tone. “My folks have a sailboat. Those ropes are really strong.”
“Not a bad idea,” said Max. “Make sure the line is as heavy as possible while still flexible enough to wrap tightly around her. That will be my job, of course.”
“Will we need weapons? I don’t think we could buy a gun on the spur of the moment, but how about a stake in case she attacks?”
Max flashed her a smile. “I have trouble visualizing you driving a stake into a vampire’s chest, even if she’s doubled over with nausea from garlic fumes.”
“Okay, so I’m not superwoman, and I’ve never used a spear. But I could swing a crowbar to bash her head in if things got desperate.”
“Really? I thought you couldn’t see yourself as a killer.”
“That doesn’t mean I’ll stand there and let her rip me apart. Anyway, like I said before, I don’t have a thing against causing her pain.” Although the words popped out with little forethought, Linnet realized she meant them. Now that she’d heard from both Max and Jodie how Nola regarded people as nothing more than food sources, head bashing sounded like a fairly reasonable response.
“That shouldn’t be necessary. Leave the hand-to-hand combat to me. I won’t need weapons. I’m several centuries older than she, and therefore stronger.”
“All right, this is the plan.” Linnet paused to collect her thoughts. “Tonight Jodie gives us directions to the house and how to find Nola once we’re inside. Tomorrow we use her key to get in, and I go to Nola’s bedroom.”
“We both do,” Max interrupted. “If she remains dormant, I can stun her with a single blow to the head.”
“What if she’s active instead of asleep?” Linnet asked.
“Then I go in alone.” His curt tone left no room for argument. “In that case, our only hope is that I can disable her in hand-to-hand combat.”
“Okay, if that happens, I admit there isn’t much I can do to help. Back to the dormant scenario.”
“If she shows any signs of life, throw your jarful of garlic powder in her face. I’ll follow a few paces behind, where I won’t risk inhaling it,” he said.
“Next you charge in, and then what?”
“Holding my breath to minimize the effect of the garlic, I’ll knock her out. That will give me several minutes to bind her.”
“With a break every few seconds so the smell won’t make you too sick. Then we wait for her to wake up—or maybe dump a pot of water over her head—and I can get my confession. Hey, maybe I should take along extra garlic and threaten to give her a fresh dose if she doesn’t talk.”
“That might be counterproductive,” said Max. “If she knows you aren’t prepared to kill or even seriously harm her, petty torments will only make her more resistant.”
Jodie said, “Then you aren’t going to kill her?”
With a sidelong glance, Max said, “We haven’t settled that. Linnet, have you considered how vengeful she’s proven herself to be? If you let her survive and remain free, you’ll have to live the rest of your life in constant fear that she’ll find you. And since I doubt you’re ready to give up your career and go into hiding, it may be a short life.”
“Same thing applies to you, doesn’t it?”
“Probably not. I don’t think she’d want to suffer the penalty for murdering another vampire, nor would she risk her life attacking one who’s older and stronger. She’ll more likely take out her anger on you.”
The image of Deanna’s dead face on the steel shelf flashed into Linnet’s mind. She closed her eyes, breathing slowly, until it faded. “We’ll worry about that when we get to it. Maybe we should go with the idea of shutting her up someplace she can’t escape from, somewhere she’ll fall into a coma the way you described. Regardless, I’m determined to get her confession.” For a few minutes she stared through the window at the dark fields, dotted with lights from widely spaced houses. “That reminds me of one more thing we need. A pocket tape recorder.”
A few miles later, she heard Jodie sniffling. Linnet reached into her purse to get the girl a fresh tissue. Jodie dabbed her eyes. “Sorry. I know I have to get free of her, but I miss it already.”
“You miss that monster?” Linnet’s throat clogged with anger at the thought of anyone feeling sorry for Deanna’s murderer.
“Not her. I miss, you know, the feeding.” She threw a defiant glare at Linnet. “Don’t look at me like I’m a freak. You don’t know how great it feels, so don’t judge me.”
“She’s addicted,” said Max. “The fixation works both ways. I believe I mentioned that when a vampire feeds too often on one donor, a mutual dependency develops.”
“That’s why I have to get far away from Nola,” Jodie said, “before I cave in and run back to her just for another fix.” Crumpling the tissue in her fist, she leaned forward to speak over Max’s shoulder. “You could…you know, to let me down gradually.”
“No. Such contact would only make your condition worse. There’s no point in prolonging the discomfort. You must withdraw ‘cold turkey,’ as drug addicts say.”
“What good would it do anyway, if she’s dependent on Nola?” Linnet asked.
“The donor has a bit more flexibility than the vampire in that respect,” Max said. “She’s addicted to vampire venom in general, as well as the emotional high of being fed on. Any vampire’s bite would ease the pangs somewhat.”
This conversation plunged Linnet into deeper gloom. Had Anthony and Deanna actually loved each other, after all? Or had they died for a passion no more noble than a crack habit?
They checked into a chain motel on the outskirts of Monterey. Jodie had a single room. Before leaving her there, Max gave her a hypnotic command to stay put until he came for her. He and Linnet shared a double room. Linnet suspected he still wanted to guard against her sneaking out to take action on her own. She didn’t mind, since she harbored the same suspicion about him. For similar reasons, he wouldn’t let her shop for supplies without him. They considered leaving Jodie behind, but rather than risk her vanishing if the “stay put” command wore off, Max decided to bring her along.
Linnet looked through the Yellow Pages until she found a supermarket and hardware store with addresses on the same block. She showed her notes to Jodie.
“Doesn’t sound familiar. When Nola s
ent me for groceries the day after we got here, the store was pretty close to her house.”
“Groceries?” Linnet said as they piled into the car. “For a vampire?”
“Well, I had to eat, didn’t I? And she drinks milk.”
Using the street index and a sketchy map in the phone book, they discovered the address was in Monterey rather than Pacific Grove. They found the location, a strip mall, in less than half an hour. Jodie, nervous about being spotted in spite of the presumably safe distance from Nola’s place, waited in the car with Max there to watch her. Linnet found the garlic powder but noticed garlic spray, designed for flavoring Italian bread, and decided that would work better. As an afterthought she picked up a carton of juice, a bunch of bananas and a box of doughnuts. Even if Max didn’t need solid food, she and their companion did. In the drugstore she found a cheap portable tape deck, small enough to carry comfortably in her purse, and a flashlight. At the checkout counter she added batteries and a local street map to the total. Last she zipped over to the hardware store. Despite Max’s advice, she grabbed a hand ax. Wishing he had come along for this part of the expedition, she mulled over the different weights of boat line before choosing one and having the attendant cut a twenty-foot length. Hoping that would be long enough, she lugged the bags to the car.
Jodie, dozing in the back seat, blinked at her. “There you are. I thought maybe you chickened out.”
Linnet shoved her purchases into the seat beside the girl, who wore her leather jacket like armor despite the season, then got into the front. “Don’t be silly. I just had a little trouble at the hardware store. And I still think maybe I should have bought a crowbar.”
“It wouldn’t do any good,” said Max. “Nola would rip it out of your hands in the first five seconds.”
“Big encouragement you are.” She jerked her seat belt tighter and folded her arms. “I guess you thought I’d decided to take off, too?”
“Certainly not. You don’t have the directions to Nola’s lair yet.”
“It’s great to know you trust me.” Jumpy with the anticipation of confronting the other vampire, crabby from lack of sleep, and irritated by Jodie’s weepy-rabbit expression, Linnet felt as if imaginary ants were scuttling up and down her arms.