by Jess Haines
Though I was exhausted, my stomach growled and I wondered whatever happened to my Chinese food. Poor delivery guy probably saw Peter or Royce or the cops and went running in the other direction.
I went to the kitchen to fix myself something to eat, putting the gun on the counter in easy reach. Distantly I noted that my hands were shaking. I grabbed some leftover pasta from the fridge and tossed the container in the microwave. While I pulled out some dishes and silverware for myself, I mulled Royce’s offer.
I’d never hurt you. You could stay young and beautiful and strong forever. With me. Think about it.
Creepy asshole.
Chapter 7
I spent the rest of the night huddled in bed, gun in my lap, and every light in the apartment burning. I couldn’t fall asleep until after the sun came up. By then, I was completely exhausted.
I woke up after eleven, not feeling at all rested and still jumpy as anything. Showering helped, but I was still bleary-eyed when I headed down to my car so I could pick up some groceries. There was a black-and-white parked conspicuously in front of the building when I nudged my SUV out of the gated garage. One of the officers sat up straighter and I noticed they pulled out behind me when I merged into traffic. I sighed, wishing for the patience and fortitude to make it through my errands going exactly the speed limit for the rest of the day.
At first I was nervous, but after a while I stopped paying attention to the police cruiser riding my ass. Until I got to the grocery store, where they followed me into the parking lot and parked next to me, stepping out when I did.
“Good morning,” I said, attempting civility. “Or good afternoon, whatever it is.”
One of the two officers, a young kid, looked fresh out of the academy. The other was a grizzled old bear of a man who looked like he’d been there, done that, didn’t like any of it, and didn’t get the T-shirt. The kid kept a serious face until I greeted him, then cracked a goofy-looking grin that made me take about five years off his age. Were they recruiting fresh out of high school or something? “Good morning, Ms. Waynest. I’m Officer O’Donnell, and this here is Officer Grady. We’re assigned to you until six tonight. Doing your groceries?”
He hooked a thumb at the store, and I nodded, feeling more tired than ever. “Yeah. You guys aren’t following me in there, too, are you?”
“No, but we’ll hang around by the exits until you come out.”
Biting my tongue to avoid saying something caustic, I nodded again, hefted my purse strap up to my shoulder, and headed to the store. It was entirely too weird having people stare at me as I was flanked by a couple of uniforms. At least they were going to wait outside.
Since I’d be staying in tonight, I thought I should pick up dinner for Chaz and myself. I pulled out my phone to call him. Forcing the rickety shopping cart to stay on something resembling a straight line, I tilted my head to hold the phone to my ear as I perused the aisles in search of something promising for a romantic dinner for two.
“Hey, love, sorry about last night. What’s up?”
It was a relief to hear his voice, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling despite all the worries plaguing me. “Hey, I wanted to check and see what you’d like for dinner tonight. Going to stay home and cook something since I can’t go out right now.”
“What? Why’s that?”
“Err, I’ll tell you about it when you come by. Just make it before dark, please.”
A low, ominous growl rumbled in his throat. “Vampires bothering you?”
“Something like that. Listen, don’t get all upset about it right now, I’ve got it under control. Come over tonight and let’s relax, and take advantage of the time to ourselves, okay? I’ll put out some candles, make some pasta, pour the Chianti, and make with the cheesy Italian love songs. It’ll be just us, promise.”
“Okay,” he grudgingly agreed after a long we’ll-be-talking-more-about-this-later pause. “Try not to get into any more trouble today, all right?”
“All right,” I promised. “Love you.”
“Love you, too. See you later.”
Feeling much better, I called Arnold. When he picked up, I jumped right in. “Hey, it’s Shia. I’ve got a favor to ask.”
“What’s up?”
I cringed, knowing what his response was going to be. “When you get back in town tomorrow, can you get in touch with Jack and ask him to call me?”
“Jack?” He didn’t sound like he knew the name, then recognition dawned. “Oh, shit! You’re not talking about the guy at the weapons dealership, are you? That guy is bad news, you should stay away from him.”
“I know, but this is important. I’m not going to go into it, but I have to get in touch with him. There are cops following me everywhere I go, so I can’t meet him in person.”
“Why are there cops following you?” I could dimly hear Sara’s voice in the background. What the hell is going on?
“Look, I’m okay. Your shields work perfectly, so you don’t have to worry. There are cops following me around keeping me totally safe and completely paranoid about my driving skills. I just need to get in touch with him to see if I can sic some White Hats on this new vamp in town.”
A woman across the aisle looked up at me sharply. I ignored her and kept going until I got to the canned soups. Hmm, chicken noodle or beef stew for lunch tomorrow?
Arnold laughed incredulously, and I could hear Sara demanding to know what was happening. “You are crazy, Shia. Absolutely, completely nuts. I’ll see what I can do for you. Hold on, Sara’s going to tear my arm out of the socket if I don’t hand her the phone.”
I grinned at that, waiting for her imperious voice to come on the line.
“What the hell are you doing over there? Do you need us?”
“No, no, no. I didn’t call to spoil your vacation, enjoy what’s left of it. I just needed help getting in touch with someone Arnold knows.”
Sara harrumphed. “Oh yeah? So what’s this about the cops following you around?”
“I’ll tell you all the dirty details when you get into town. The short story is, someone’s sent a vampire after me, and I called the cops when the vamp kept trying to get past the barrier Arnold put on the door. I’m fine.”
Dead silence. Then, “I’m coming home. Right now.”
“No, you’re not! For God’s sake, enjoy the rest of your trip and help me deal with it tomorrow. It’s daytime, no vampire is going to assault me right now, and I’ll be back behind the shields long before any of them are up and about.” I maneuvered around a guy’s shopping cart. He’d stopped in the middle of the aisle to stare at me open-mouthed. I growled a curse under my breath and reminded myself to talk more softly in public when mentioning the Others. “Don’t worry about me, Chaz is coming by before dark. Everything will be fine.”
“You better be right about that. If something happens to you before I get back, I will beat you myself.”
I laughed. “Trust me, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Besides, I’d whip you in a fight and you know it.”
Her own laughter sounded a bit less strained, and I was relieved she wasn’t going to go ballistic and come charging back to town to “save” me or something. “Okay, okay. It does sound like you’ve got things under control. Seriously, though, call me if you need me. Don’t wait until you’re in up to your neck to ask for help, all right?”
“I won’t. That’s why I invited Chaz over, remember? He’ll keep me safe.”
“Yeah, I got it. What’s the name of the vamp?” she asked. “I’ll stop by the office and run a background check.”
“Max Carlyle. I did a brief search, didn’t come up with anything solid. If you want to dig deeper, you’re welcome to–tomorrow.”
“I plan on it. I’m coming over as soon as I get back.”
“Okay, sounds good,” I said, making a mental note to pick up more snacks if I was going to have everyone camp out at my place all day tomorrow. Hmm, maybe some movies, too. “See you then.”
>
“Later,” she said.
The call went over better than I’d expected, mostly because I hadn’t told her I’d let Royce into my home. Oh well, I’d tell her when I saw her tomorrow.
I continued stuffing my shopping cart, then got in line at the check stand. A couple waiting two stands down kept looking in my direction and whispering to each other. Had they overheard me talking about White Hats and vampires in the tea and coffee aisle?
Shrugging it off, I glanced at the headlines of the magazines and silly news rags. A special edition newspaper caught my eye. One of the headlines made my jaw drop, and explained why so many people had been staring at me–completely aside from my tendency to talk too loudly on my cell phone.
Right there, under yet another story about a crooked politician, was: VAMPIRE ROYCE SAVES DAMSEL IN DISTRESS! There was a ridiculous, obviously computer-altered picture of a vampire that looked vaguely like Peter looming in a doorway. Royce stood nearby with his arms around … was that me? I snatched the thing up, trying to figure out how in the hell the newshounds could’ve heard about it, let alone gotten close enough to snap pictures.
IS NEW YORK’S NEWEST HERO A VAMPIRE?
by Jim Pradiz
TERRACE HEIGHTS (Sept. 21)–Calls made to the police requesting assistance in a vampire attack last night were answered by Alec Royce. Royce chased away the vampire who assaulted local private investigator Shiarra Waynest shortly before police arrived on the scene at her apartment.
Sgt. Daniel Vega, the officer in charge of the investigation, made a statement regarding the attempted assault on a human and Alec Royce’s involvement. “Right now, this attack is under intense scrutiny. We will find the Other responsible and bring him to justice. Vampires are not exempt from the law. That girl was very lucky that Alec Royce was there to save her.”
Waynest fell into the vampire’s arms after the timely rescue (see photos next page). Neighbors and friends say that Royce and Waynest have known each other for a long time, but some sources stated that Waynest was seeing someone else.
There is speculation that, despite any other men in her life, she will be accompanying Royce to the joint NYPD/NYFD Charity Ball to be held next month at the Metropolitan Opera House. Alec Royce was named New York’s most eligible unliving bachelor earlier this year after ending a tumultuous long-term relationship with runway model and environmental activist Dawn Hartley.
Per public records, Waynest was contractually bound to Royce on March 13 of this year. It is not known if they are officially dating or if Royce has plans to turn her into a vampire. Messages left for comment with Royce’s publicist and H&W Investigations have not been returned.
The story was almost as ridiculous, and parts of it as obviously fabricated, as the doctored picture. I cringed at the photo spread inside featuring the very real, very unaltered, shot of me pinned in Royce’s arms as he leaned down to bite my neck. Even worse were the implications that we were dating and that I was being a ho-bag. The writer, Jim Pradiz, had managed to dig up the information on who I was and that Royce and I were contracted. But who the hell had said we were dating? The speculation that I was going to be Royce’s honey for the next millennium or so gave me the dry heaves.
The photographer must have been following Royce. The picture of my attacker looked like someone had taken a badly cut photo from a cheesy eighties B-movie, blurred it to make the face indistinct, then inserted the vamp in the appropriate spot in what was supposed to be my living room. They’d used another of me from when I’d given statements to the press after an incident at the Embassy Suites, and what I thought might be a stock headshot of Royce. But the pic of Royce about to bite me was genuine.
What was the point of this story other than to give me heartburn and a bad case of the heebie-jeebies? Was Royce behind it? Max Carlyle? Someone else entirely?
I tossed the paper on top of my groceries on the counter, feeling ill and shocked as I waited to be checked out. I felt like I was being railroaded toward some unknown destination and that each of the events of the last few days were tied into it. But untangling how it came together was beyond me right then.
Once everything was paid for and loaded back into my cart, I trudged to my car. I’d almost forgotten about Officers O’Donnell and Grady. They fell in step on either side of me once I emerged, drawing yet more unneeded attention. Sigh.
Officer O’Donnell piped up, his serious-cop-face on. “Ma’am, can we escort you home? We heard on the radio that there are an unusual number of paparazzi at the station asking about you. It might be best to get you back to the privacy of your home.”
“Ugh, thanks for telling me. Yeah, let’s go.” I paused. “Actually, do you guys want to come up for coffee or anything once we get back? I’ve got enough food here to feed a herd of elephants.”
Officer Grady finally cracked a smile, looking like a grumpy old bear who’d just been given a pot of honey instead of one woken from hibernation. His voice was surprisingly mellow, and didn’t match the gruff exterior. “Thanks, miss, but we should probably stay posted at our vehicle and keep watch outside.”
I shrugged and nodded, pulling open my trunk as I got to the car. As I dumped the groceries in the back, I thought about what to do next. The rest of my errands could wait. I could watch movies or fart around on the Internet until I needed to start cooking dinner. My answering machine was probably overloaded if paparazzi were asking about me at the police station. I could while away some time by returning a few calls and threatening to bring a suit if they didn’t retract the ridiculous stories about me.
Hopefully none of my friends or family had seen the stupid article.
Chapter 8
Though it was a little chilly, I put the windows down while I drove to help wake myself up. The cold air was nothing compared to the chill I was feeling wondering what would happen if Chaz or my parents stumbled across that article before I had a chance to explain.
The cops were once again in tow. At any other time it would’ve been funny how everyone around me all of a sudden found it vitally important to slow their pace to a crawl, but I was not in the mood for a laugh. The mix of good music and fresh air was helping my sour frame of mind. It’s hard to stay mad when you’ve got the wind in your hair with rock ‘n’ roll blasting out of the speakers.
I was only a few blocks away from home when a black sports car with tinted windows screeched around a corner and zoomed past us. It scraped a good chunk of paint off the cop car behind me and clipped my side mirror on its way, making me yelp in surprise. Jeez, the guy must’ve been going ninety in a residential area. Blue and red lights flashed to life, followed by the wail of sirens as my escort slid around my car to give chase.
“Stay put!” Officer O’Donnell shouted out the passenger window as they pulled away. I watched as they zipped out of sight, shaken and hardly able to believe some idiot would pull a stunt like that right in front of the cops.
I was so close to home that it would be stupid to let my groceries spoil while the officers were off chasing the speed demon. I started to take my foot off the brake when another black car pulled up at a slant in front of me, blocking any attempt to pull into traffic and forcing me to slam on my brakes again. I saw through my rearview that a similar car had pulled the same move right behind me. Now I couldn’t back up either.
Shit.
I put the car in park, rolled up the windows, and locked all the doors, watching with narrowed eyes as two men stepped out of the car in front of me. They looked like feds with their matching black suits and reflective shades. One of them walked up to the driver’s side door and unnecessarily rapped on my window with his knuckles. This close, he looked more like a bodyguard than a government official. Eyeing him nervously, I turned off the radio, but didn’t roll down the window.
“Ms. Waynest? Shiarra Waynest?”
His voice was muffled by the glass, but I heard him well enough. “Yes?” I gestured at the car in front of me, blocking my path. Other ca
rs were forced to maneuver around and people were honking irritably at the hold up. “Do you mind?”
“Don’t worry about that. Could you step out of the car? We have a few questions.”
Something wasn’t right about this. If they were official and it was that much of an emergency, they would’ve met me at my house or had my cop escorts pull me over. As they showed up right after my cops left me to chase a highly unusual distraction, their appearance was extremely suspicious.
“Let’s see some ID first.”
The two men shared a look. As I suspected, no ID was forthcoming, so I stayed put. They stepped away from the car and spoke to each other for a moment, too quietly for me to make out. After a short debate, the other man came forward. He was short, skinny, and didn’t fill out the suit very well. His eyes kept darting around, not focusing on anything in particular. Despite his slight frame, something about him scared me more than the other guy. He radiated wrongness on some fundamental level, in a far more subtle way than his failure to fill out his suit properly. Whatever it was about him, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
He was smiling absently at nothing, and I watched nervously as he placed his hand against my door, fingers splayed directly above the handle. I couldn’t tell what he was doing, though I pressed against the glass to try to see. His lips moved, and there was a brief flash of bluish light from his palm that left me blinking spots out of my eyes.
Right after the flash, my car died. What the hell?
Another flash of light and the doors unlocked of their own accord. Oh crap. A mage!
The bigger guy stepped in, reaching out to open the door. Cursing under my breath, I slapped at the lock to keep the crazies out. At the same time, I reached for my purse on the passenger seat, scrambling for mace or my cell or something I could use against them.
Too late. I missed the lock on the first try, my fingers scraping the handle as he yanked the door open. Instead of Mr. Muscles reaching for me, it was the creepy guy pressing clammy fingers to the side of my face. “Sorry, lady. You should’ve come quietly.”