by Karen Ranney
"I'm attracted to you. I'm drawn to you. I feel connected to you, somehow, and I haven't the slightest idea why."
What had I expected, an avowal of love? A decree of undying affection? He sounded as confused as I felt.
“I would say it's lust, but it's more than that. I don’t know what the hell it is, but I'm fighting it every step of the way."
"Good to know," I said.
What did he expect me to say? That I'd never been as confused in my life as when he kissed me? That my dreams had been fevered imaginings and I’d wanted him in my bed and in my body for weeks?
Lust, love, attraction, fascination – whatever you wanted to call it – it was out of place right now.
"He's going to die. You know he's going to die."
"Why do you care?"
I was suddenly blazingly angry.
"Because I’m mostly human. Because he's another human being. Because a monster hurt him. Because whatever you think of me, I'm not a monster. At least I don't want to be. And he saved me. He saved my life. If Maddock hadn’t gone for him, he would have gone for me. If Maddock had gotten his hands on me, I'd be in a cage in his basement. I can only imagine what my eternity would've been."
“He’s been getting a series of transfusions. He’s losing it as fast as it goes in.”
That might have something to do with the rabies vaccine. Or whatever Maddock had done to drain him down.
“Then you have to let me try,” I said.
"You'll have to get it approved by Kenisha,” he said.
I stared at him, incredulous. ”I can't talk to Kenisha. She’ll tell the Council about me.”
He shook his head. “I doubt it, especially if it means saving Mike’s life.”
I threw my hands in the air. "Why are you, suddenly Dear Abby of the vampire set? How do I know that turning me into the Council won't get her some great kind of reward like saving Mike's life?"
“Because I’ve already gone to them.”
“What?” Now that was a shock.
“Their representative verified that if a human is drunk down to the extent Mike is, the chances of saving him are nil.”
“Will Maddock be punished for it?”
“No. It was, as they said, ‘A regrettable and horrific act, brought about by an excess of passion.’”
“What?”
I know, I know, Marcie Montgomery, brilliant conversationalist.
“Evidently, you spurned him, and Maddock is a man exquisitely sensitive to rejection.”
“I spurned him?” My laughter sounded like a cackle. I uttered a word I normally do not say in polite company and, despite the fact that Dan had been a Ranger, I’d never heard him use it, either.
I would apologize later.
"I understand that you’re trying to do the honorable thing by Kenisha. I get it,” I said. “But is her affection, her love, for Mike strong enough to make her defy the Council?” I really couldn’t take the chance that she’d betray me, especially now. “If she goes to them and tells them what I am, are you ready for vampires to storm the castle?”
He didn’t say anything to that.
“Look,” I said. “I don't know if my blood will save him, but if there’s no hope, shouldn’t we at least try?”
“Only if Kenisha agrees,” he said.
I almost rolled my eyes, but I refrained. I couldn’t do anything about the sinking feeling in my stomach, though.
I’d traded a witch test for another conversation with Kenisha. I’d failed Bargaining 101.
Chapter Nine
What's One More Aberration?
I was delaying. I knew I was delaying, but sometimes procrastination has its advantages. I didn't want to talk to Kenisha, especially as drained as she was. All the way to the kennels, I occupied myself with thinking of the various strategies I might employ. I could throw myself on her mercy, but she had never struck me as a merciful kind of person. Granted, she'd been through a lot. I don't know how warm and fuzzy I would feel about the world if my son had turned me into a vampire and then was killed for doing so. That was another thing I had to take into consideration. If Mike was turned, we had to make sure that Kenisha wasn't held responsible. If the Council thought it was her act, she’d be killed.
In order to get her approval for what I wanted to do, I’d have to count on her feelings for Mike. She had to agree. I didn’t want his death on my conscience. I was trying to keep it as clean as possible. I might need a blank slate in the future.
Charlie was out gamboling with the labs when I got to the kennel. They had opened up another part of the yard, something I hadn't seen before: an agility course. Next to it was large shallow pool that I bet the dogs loved in the summer.
Were the labs used as guard dogs? Or were they trained to detect vampires? Just add that to the list of things I didn't know and needed to find out. Right now my list was about fourteen feet long.
As I watched, Charlie ran up the narrow ramp and across what looked like a balance beam before jumping down. He raced over to sit in front of me, tongue lolling, a look of pride on his canine face.
I bent down to pet him and he stiffened.
"You've got Kenisha on you," Opie said.
One of the kennel workers was standing five feet away. Opie had never spoken in front of someone else, especially when the risk of discovery was so great. I don't know what surprised me more, the fact that she was talking or that she/Charlie was now sniffing me from toes to knees.
His/her nose was wet and very, very intrusive.
I backed up, but Charlie followed, nose ready to dive into places his nose had never been.
"Stop it!"
I heard laughter from behind me and I wanted to explain. But what could I possibly say? Look, if it was just my dog, I wouldn't feel so weird about the whole situation. But this is a vet who sniffing me. A ghost vet.
Yeah, that would go over really good.
I backed up, turned around, and started walking away from the kennel. Once we were alone – if you discounted the security cameras that were probably everywhere – I addressed Charlie, but without looking at him.
"What the hell has gotten into you?"
"You have Kenisha on you," Opie said. "K girl."
"What?"
"K girl. Kenisha."
I knew that she and Kenisha had been friends, but she was acting strange.
“We’re best buds," Opie said. “At least we were. We met before I was turned," she added. "I took care of her cat."
I was having trouble with the idea of Kenisha having a cat. She was more the German Shepherd type. K girl?
"Best buds? Like you went out partying together?"
"No, Kenisha wasn't a party girl. But we were on the phone a lot. Plus, we went to church together."
Okay, now I really was having an episode of cognitive dissonance.
“Does a vampire go to church?"
It was difficult for a dog to give me a look of disgust, but Charlie somehow managed it.
"Of course a vampire goes to church."
"So, you were friends? Best buds?”
"Yep." Opie said it so emphatically that it came out as a bark.
"Do you trust her?" I asked.
"Trust her?" Charlie's head tilted up to look at me. "Of course I trust her."
"Can I?"
One thing about Opie/Charlie or Charlie/Opie, they were both smart in their way. It didn't take a brick to hit either one of them before they figured out what I was really asking.
"I would. Except for the bun in the oven part. She's still sensitive about her son. But the rest, yeah."
Then I'd tell her about everything but the baby.
"You do realize the bun in the oven part is very, very confidential."
There was that disgusted look again.
As we hit the elevators, it struck me that I should present Kenisha with Opie in a dog suit. Then, while Kenisha was still reeling from that revelation, I could tell her that I had given Maddock the
rabies vaccine and oh, by the way, I was a goddess.
I don't know how much one person could take, especially a tired vampire. It hardly seemed fair to dump everything on her, but we were running out of time. Mike couldn't subsist on one transfusion after another. Sooner or later, his organs would start to fail and then we'd be too late. I might have goddess powers, but I'm not God. There's a big difference between us.
We hit the elevators and while we were descending, I talked as if I were speaking to myself, hoping that Opie would get the clue. I didn't doubt that there was surveillance equipment in the elevators and no doubt audio recordings, too. If I was talking to myself, I would be labeled eccentric. Better that than the nut job who was talking to her dog.
Or even worse: a dog that was answering her.
Once at the sub level I strode through the corridor on my way to what was essentially the intensive care wing with my shoulders back, my boobs front and center. My chin jutted out as if I were feeling pugnacious instead of terrified. I am not given to challenging authority. When I was learning how to drive, I was once stopped by a patrolman. I think my turn signal was broken, but he didn't even get to the point of telling me that before I burst into tears. He was authority and I was petrified.
But no one looking at me right now could tell that I was quaking in my sneakers. Nope, I stared each one of them down, and when I turned right into the wing where Mike was being treated, Charlie trotted along at my heels like the perfect service dog. That was my cover if anyone stopped me. He needed practice.
I didn't bother knocking on Kenisha’s door. I only opened it slightly, got a glimpse of the tray, blessedly emptied of its contents, and entered. My bravado died the moment I saw her. She didn’t look as drained as she had before, but there was an expression in her eyes that hit me right in the solar plexus, or wherever compassion and empathy was stored. She’d been crying. In that second everything I thought about Kenisha underwent a rapid reevaluation.
"I brought you a visitor,” I said, taking a few tentative steps forward.
She glanced at Charlie. “You shouldn’t bring a dog in here."
"Well, that's just it. Charlie isn't exactly just a dog."
“K girl," Opie suddenly said.
Way to ease into a situation. I was going to gradually introduce the subject of ghostly visitations, maybe even reincarnation, but Opie just stepped all over that idea.
She went up to the couch and sat in front of Kenisha.
“K girl, I’ve missed you.”
Kenisha sat back, folded her hands in her lap and stared at the golden retriever.
"You're not losing your mind,” I said. “I had the same reaction at first.”
Slowly, Kenisha looked up at me. She had evidently been attending the Dan Travis School of Blank Expressions, because I didn’t have a clue what she was thinking.
I guessed, however, that she thought she was going crazy.
“I know,” Opie said. “It's a lot to take in, isn't it? I felt the same way when I woke up to find out I was a dog. It could be worse, I guess. I could be a snail. Then nobody would ever hear me or see me or talk to me. At least, this way, I can vary my locale. Plus, as a snail, somebody was bound to step on me."
"What would happen to you then?" I asked, curious.
"I haven’t the slightest idea," she said, turning Charlie’s head to look at me. "Where would you go to get that kind of information?"
I thought about Dan’s archives. I doubted his grandfather had acquired anything about talking dogs or ghosts.
Kenisha shook her head, then glared at me as if I were Jeff Dunham and Charlie was just another puppet.
"I can assure you my skills don’t include ventriloquism," I said. “It’s Opie.”
Kenisha looked at Charlie, then at me, then back at Charlie.
“Do you remember the time we wanted to know if we could get drunk as vampires?” Opie asked. “And we went through four bottles and a box of wine before we got a buzz? Marijuana worked better, but you were terrified you were going to get caught.”
Kenisha’s eyes widened.
“Or when you were so worried about Jake that you insisted on calling me every hour on the hour to make sure he was okay?” Opie turned to me. “Her cat got into a fight with a dog.” She looked back at Kenisha. “How’s he doing, by the way?”
"Opie?” Kenisha leaned forward, raised her hand as if to pet Charlie but drew it back at the last moment. “Is it really you?"
“It is. In the flesh. Canine flesh, but still…”
"How?" Kenisha asked.
I didn't mean to laugh, really, but it was such a ludicrous question from a vampire.
“Who knows?" I said. “The whole world is a little screwy right now. What's one more aberration?"
Kenisha patted the couch beside her and Charlie didn't hesitate, jumping up and putting his head on her lap. Kenisha, whom I’ve never seen being gracious, kind, or sweet, put her arms around Charlie and burst into tears.
There are some emotions that are a relief to feel. You cry; you get over it and you’re better. What I was feeling right now wasn't the least bit refreshing, but more like an SOS pad had scrubbed my insides.
I wanted to comfort her, do something to take away her pain. The only thing I could think of doing was giving Mike a transfusion. With any luck, it would give her hope.
Chapter Ten
I Vant To Transfuse Your Blood
For the next fifteen minutes, the two of them were like schoolgirls, and I found myself feeling like a third wheel. I missed the friends I’d made at my apartment complex. They’d disappeared like fog after I became a vampire. I’d been promoted pretty fast at work, so I was mid-management before I had a chance to make any friends there. Once I was management, I had to make sure I didn’t play favorites, which meant that friendships had to be confined to people at the same level.
Unfortunately, commercial insurance was probably one of the last bastions of male dominated industries. The two other women in management weren’t my type. One was deeply into LGBT causes and the other collected cats.
I’d heard that some of Melanie’s subordinates had complained of the odor and asked to be moved to different cubbies. Evidently, eau de litter box lingered on her clothes. So did cat hair. When we had pot luck lunches, I always made sure to find out what she’d brought so I could avoid it.
What was with pot luck anyway? Why was that considered a team bonding exercise? Going to the water park wasn’t much better. There were certain people I didn’t want to see in a swimsuit. Or, God forbid, a Speedo.
They were laughing now, and Kenisha’s tears were drying up. That was the good part about Opie being “with us”, if you’ll pardon the very broad definition of that term.
I had gotten used to not having her body around and my mind had made the leap to accepting her in a dog suit. I think I just blanked out from time to time, especially when we were having a heart to heart talk. I wasn’t used to getting advice from someone who could slobber all over me in the next minute.
I hadn’t figured out how to ease into the subject of Mike, but trust Opie to take the initiative there, too.
“Tell me about Mike,” she said. “He’s a new guy, isn’t he? Do you like him? How’s it going with him? Nobody mentioned him to me.” At this, Opie turned and gave me a reproachful Charlie look.
I occupied myself with studying the ceiling.
"It doesn't matter," Kenisha said listlessly. "He only has hours to live."
"About that," I began.
Charlie jumped up to catch and came to my side. I had never been herded by a dog before, but he moved behind me and shoved at my leg until I took a step forward. Finally, I sat on the end of the couch and he jumped up to occupy the space between Kenisha and me.
"When I first knew of Mike's condition," I said, "I thought we had three alternatives."
Neither Kenisha nor the dog between us said a word.
"I thought we could petition the Council to tur
n Mike.”
"You can't petition the Council as a Fledgling," Kenisha said. Her voice had lost that dead sound to it, if you'll pardon the pun.
"How come?"
"I don't know," she said, shrugging. "All I know is it's part of the rules. You can't even address the Council as a Fledgling. You have to be a vampire for a year before requesting an audience.”
See what you miss by not attending orientation?
"Well, that's out anyway. From what I understand, he's been drained too far to turn."
Charlie leaned his head on Kenisha’s shoulder. The two of them giving comfort to each other was such a sweet sight.
I didn't tell them that Dan had already contacted the Council. I imagine that didn't go over very well, especially since he'd been actively trying to find his sister for ten months and suspected that vampires were responsible for her disappearance.
"The next alternative is just to let him die."
I hated to be blunt, but it was always better to face the truth of the situation and then make arrangements to mitigate them. Pretending didn't help anyone. I made a mental note to flog myself with that thought.
"But that's not really an alternative," I added. "He's Dan’s best friend and you care about him a lot. Plus he’s here only because he was my bodyguard and Maddock attacked him. So that only leaves one alternative. Me."
Now came the hard part. I had to trust her. I had to trust her not to take the information and go scampering over to the Council.
I looked at Opie and Charlie's brown eyes stared earnestly back at me.
"Are you sure?" I asked her.
She nodded Charlie's head at me emphatically, adding a little canine bark to the mix.
I sighed and turned to Kenisha. “Remember when you asked me if I was menstruating?"
Kenisha nodded.
"I lied."
She stared at me, unblinking.
"I'm not a normal vampire," I said. I looked away from her, staring at the tray on the table by the door. "I don't drink blood." I had to hurry up and skim over that fact before I got sick to my stomach. "I eat regular food."