Once they had made love again, she pulled him from the bed by the hand and together they showered, washing one another's bodies playfully. As they were drying off, he said, "I didn't tell you why I came to see you."
"It's because of my call?" She wrapped an oversized towel around her petite body and slipped on dainty pink satin slippers.
"How do you do that? Read my mind that way? Yes, it's about your call. I'm doing some . . . uh . . . research for a man. He's . . . uh . . . interested in blood supplies. I thought I'd check out what you said about one of the banks in town sending out large shipments across the state when there's no reason for it."
"What kind of research are you doing? It's not exactly your field. What about your patients?"
He shrugged, wondering how much to tell her. Believing in spirits that showed up in your kitchen was slightly different from hunting down vampires for a disillusioned old man who was dying. Or maybe it wasn't?
"I have someone filling in for me at the hospital. This other thing is important."
"It must be for you to leave the hospital."
"Oh, I haven't, not for good or anything. I'm just taking some leave time now and then. So tell me about the blood bank. Maybe you can show me the records."
She eyed him. "Well, maybe with your help we can figure it out. Like I said when I called, I'm completely dumbfounded. I called the Strand-Catel people and they gave me some nonsense about how my records must be wrong, they don't send out shipments that way. And I know that's a lie. I have to track every pint of blood in this state, and my records aren't wrong. They're hiding something, Alan. I just don't know why.”
"I'll go with you to the lab today. Maybe I can visit the bank afterward and get some answers."
She hugged him in all his nakedness and smiled when she stepped back. "I'm so glad you were at my door," she said. "For more reasons than one, that's for sure."
~*~
Alan had spent the morning going over Bette's records and being convinced something was foul in Dallas. He could see how she had gone without noticing the discrepancy for so long. Her office was inundated with reams of printouts and faxes, stacks of government forms and file cabinets of computer documents.
Once sure she was right, that the Strand-Catel blood bank was shipping masses of blood all across the Southwest, he left her office and drove to the squat white brick building that housed the Strand-Catel complex. Inside, he asked to speak to the manager, and was taken down a long bare hall to a door that might have opened on a broom closet, for there was no sign to indicate it was an office. On the other side was a small waiting room with out-of-date and rumpled magazines, a cranberry tweed sofa nubby from use, and a desk for a bored secretary. "He's not in," she announced as Alan and the receptionist entered.
"I'll wait," Alan said, making for the sofa and wishing he'd brought a novel along to read.
"He may be a while," the secretary said.
"That's all right, I'll wait." He was not to be outdone. Someone needed to account for the blood bank's strange actions, and the manager was the one to do it.
It took more than two hours, but finally a man hurried through the unmarked door, a briefcase in his hand. The secretary flicked her eyes from the man to Alan. Alan stood, sore from sitting for so long.
"Hello," he said. "I'm from the Bartok Laboratories. I'd like to speak to you if I may?"
"Of course." The manager, Harold Kreeg, ushered him through another unmarked door into an office nearly as messy as Bette's.
Alan found a chair across from the desk piled with papers, and sat down. He would rather have stood, to get the kinks out of his legs, but it would have been impolite.
"What can I do for you?" Kreeg asked. He placed the briefcase on top of a pile of paper and sank into his chair. He seemed to be a harried man, overcome with schedules and paperwork.
"We have records showing that your blood bank has been shipping untested blood all over the state for many years. It was only discovered by accident, but Bartok Laboratories has a mandate to test blood supplies before shipping and they're wondering what's going on here." He paused and then added, "It would be unfortunate if the federal authorities had to be called in to straighten this out."
Kreeg blanched all the way from his receding hairline to his chin. He leaned forward and placed his arms on his desk, knotting his hands together. "I'm sorry, who did you say you were?"
Alan lied, "I'm a representative of Bartok. Bette Kinyo sent me. She called, but someone here told her that her records were incorrect."
The man sank back again, his hands coming unglued to grip the arms of his chair. "Ms. Kinyo was told the truth. I don't know how she has come up with this information about Strand-Catel. We never ship blood before testing. It's a monumental mistake, Mr. . . ."
"Star. Alan Star."
"Mr. Star. I can show you our own records, if you'd like. Not all of the place is run as . . . messily as my office." He smiled. "In fact, we can show you records going back as many years as you like. They all show quite different information than what Ms. Kinyo has been going on about."
Alan didn't like that. "Going on about" indeed. "It seems, then," he said, "that there is a difference of opinion. I have to tell you, Mr. Kreeg, that Bartok does not make mistakes either. And this being a serious allegation, it will have to be investigated thoroughly."
Kreeg spread out his hands in the air. "I don't know what to tell you. I am stating the facts as I know them as the manager of this institution. You're perfectly free to go over our own records. I can have my secretary take you . . ."
When Kreeg leaned forward to push a button on his intercom, Alan stood and shook his head. "I have no choice but to believe you. I don't have time to check today. However, be assured someone from Bartok will be coming to see you again soon."
Alan left the office, shutting the door behind him without saying a formal good-bye. He was being hoodwinked and he knew it. But it was obvious Kreeg had all the records on hand that would show the opposite of what Bette's records indicated and to get deeper into their true files, if they even existed, would take more than a cursory investigation. Bette would have to send someone from her department to put the heat on these people. They were not going to admit they'd been shipping out their blood supplies without any other organization double-checking their operations.
But what did all this have to do with hunting down vampires? Alan asked himself as he left the building. The idea had been a shot in the dark; he'd known that even when Bette had called with her discovery. Kreeg certainly didn't fit Alan's idea of a vampire. He was florid and heavyset, a middle management type of guy who bought his white shirts wholesale and wore brown wing-tip shoes to work. Besides, would vampires have need of a blood bank? Didn't they just grab people and suck out their blood?
Alan wanted to slap his own face. This was the nuttiest thing he'd ever done—signing on with Upton and agreeing to find him a living vampire. Here he was harassing blood bank managers, for heaven sakes, and imagining they shipped blood surreptitiously around the state for vampires to drink! If he wasn't insane, he was teetering. He had taken on Upton's insanity, that's what must have happened. What was he doing here in Dallas when he was needed in the hospital in Houston? How had he thought he would even pretend to do what Upton wanted?
He chastised himself all the way to Landry's Restaurant, where he ordered shrimp salad and sat alone drinking a draft beer while his food was being prepared. Bette wouldn't be home from the lab until after six. He had told her he would come back and report on his meeting with Kreeg, but he had something else in mind before he did that. One more bit of insane detective work and then he'd stop this charade and go back to his normal life as a doctor and a healer.
He meant to stake out Bette's house. From the time she returned home from work, until around nine at night, he decided he would park at a distance and watch her place to see if the mysterious stranger came back to do her harm. He didn't buy that stuff Bette said about he wasn'
t human. How he'd just appeared and then disappeared. Why was it everyone around him had taken a slow train around the bend suddenly? First Upton, now Bette. Vampires. Apparitions.
He stabbed his fork into the shrimp salad, speared a mayonnaise-drenched shrimp, and popped it into his mouth. He had an hour to kill before he called Bette and told her he'd be late. And then he would drive over to the scary, tumbling-down neighborhood Bette loved so much and sit in his locked car to wait.
Chapter 15
Dell had slept fitfully the night before, waking in sweats from dreams of pursuit. She would fall asleep again only for the dream to resume.
She had trouble concentrating in class all day. When Ryan Major stopped her in the hall outside their shared history class, she felt sluggish and inattentive. She was not tired, she realized, as much as she was just dim. She might as well be a tarnished mirror sitting in a dark attic, reflecting dust motes. "What?" she asked, unsure of what he'd said to her.
"I asked if you had a boyfriend."
She almost laughed in his face. Boyfriend! She had trouble keeping her best friends from childhood now. She hadn't talked to Cheyenne in days. How could she hope to interest the opposite sex?
Then she snapped to attention, and her eyes widened. Ryan had asked the question because he wanted to know if the field was open.
She looked into his dark eyes and wanted the same relationship he did, in fact, wanted it more. But Mentor had warned her. She should not let down her guard. She changed more and more each day, becoming a separate being, and what boy would understand her? If he did, how could he want to be with her?
"No," she said, carefully, "I don't have a boyfriend. I . . . I . . ."
"I know it was a dumb question, but I didn't know anyone else to ask about you. Listen, do you think we could go out this weekend? A movie? Dancing?"
The word yes was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't say it. Instead, she pushed past him, mumbling, "No, I couldn't." She knew how rudely she was behaving, and hoped it would discourage him. Yet, she felt him on her heels, his hand reaching out to touch her.
"Well, we could do something else . . ."
She whirled on him so fast kids in the hall turned and looked. "I said no!"
Hurt surprise covered his face as he turned away from her. She wanted to rush after him and take it back. She hadn't had to be so awful to him. It wasn't his fault. He thought she hated him. He didn't know the reason she was treating him so shabbily.
"Ryan," she called.
He turned warily. "Yes?"
"Look, I'm sorry. It's not you. It's me. I'm not . . . not myself lately." She adjusted the sunglasses on her nose as if to emphasize her words.
He shrugged, and she could still see the hurt lingering on his face. "It's okay." He turned and left her standing there, students milling around her as if she were a stone in a swiftly flowing stream.
She hung her head and moved into the crowd, heading for her next class. She imagined her misery was like a billboard hung around her neck. Despair came over her, bringing such a heaviness she thought she would have to run out of the school and all the way home.
He'd just asked her to a movie. She might have gone with him. It wasn't a crime to go to a movie with a friend, was it?
She turned back to see if she could find him in the crowd. She pushed against people, moving through them until she saw him ahead. She didn't know how she could take back the decision not to go out with him, but she was going to try. Looking stupid was preferable to being alone.
Then she saw him stop in the hall and speak to a girl dressed in black jeans. She wore a tattered black top that reached only to her waist, exposing a lily white belly. Dell recognized her as one of the group who called themselves "vampyres." A Loden girl, part of Loden's group. The girl wore black lipstick that caused her lips to pout. Heavy black mascara made her lashes long enough to sweep her cheeks.
Well. Ryan might have picked her for his first choice for a date, but this girl was next on his list. Or had she been the first one he had asked? How many others had he asked before her and how many did he have lined up to ask after the little vamp girl?
Feeling a wave of anger unlike any she'd felt in ages, she turned on her heel and stalked in the opposite direction down the hall. To hell with him. She was right to brush him off. She never should have apologized and she certainly never should have gone after him to let him know she'd changed her mind. She hoped he hadn't noticed.
He was just like the other boys, out looking for a good time with any female handy. He didn't like her specifically or anything; he just wanted someone to go out with and maybe someone to have sex with. He wasn't anything like she'd thought he was. He wasn't special. She didn't care who he went out with. Let him get involved with the crazy cult girls for all she cared. They deserved him.
For the rest of the day not only was she oblivious to the instructors in her classes, but she burned with indignation unlike any she'd ever experienced before. Mentor had warned her about escalating emotions. Well, she was in the eye of an emotional storm. All she could think about was Ryan. His very dark blue eyes. His sweet manners and the way he was kind of innocent and gentle. The look of his shoulders and hips as he walked.
The way he bent over the girl in dark clothes, so interested in what she was saying. The way he hadn't protested when she'd said no, but had turned away at once as if marking her off the list.
At home after school, Dell threw herself on the sofa and turned on the television. Eddie came from his room and, seeing her sprawled on the couch, said, "What's wrong?"
"What do you mean, 'what's wrong'? Nothing's wrong." She stabbed the remote control, switching channels, looking for the Comedy Channel.
"Yeah, something's wrong. You can't fool me. So what is it?"
"Eddie?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up, will you? And leave me alone.”
“Fine." He left the room and headed for the kitchen. "Hey," he called, "you hungry?"
"No!" She wished she'd never gotten sick, never changed, never had to taste blood again. If she were alive, she could date Ryan, the way she'd wanted to. She could go out with anyone. She could have lived a normal life, gone to college on a scholarship, had a career, married and maybe even started a family. Now all she had to look forward to was misery and a sense of bereavement. She would make loneliness her friend and separate herself from the real world.
She leaped from the sofa, dropping the remote control on the coffee table. Her parents weren't home from work yet, so she'd let Eddie know her plans. "I'm going to ride my horse," she yelled toward the kitchen.
"I thought you did that on weekends?"
"Oh, go to hell, Eddie. Leave me alone. I'll be back before dark, just tell Mom for me."
She hurried out the door and to the car. She remembered what Mentor had told her about controlling her emotions, riding rein on them and staying master of her actions, but she couldn't seem to follow the advice.
Well, to hell with Mentor, too. He didn't have to go to high school and pretend he was one of the others. He didn't have to push away relationships and spend every weekend alone, dateless, like some ugly duckling no one could ever love.
Before she reached the car she saw Carolyn coming down the sidewalk. "Hey," she called, smiling, waving.
Dell stood waiting for her, unable to wipe the frown from her face.
"What's up? Were you going somewhere?”
“Yeah. To ride my horse."
"Oh." Carolyn looked disappointed.
"I'm sorry, I need to get away for a while."
Behind Dell came Cheyenne's voice. "Hey, you two, can I join in the fun?"
Jesus, Dell thought. It's turning into a block party. "Hi, Carolyn. Dell, were you going somewhere?"
Cheyenne was looking at the car keys in Dell's hand. "To ride my horse."
"Horse! You got a horse? Oh, my God. I know I haven't been over lately, but when did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?"
Dell didn't know what to say. She looked to Carolyn for support.
Carolyn caught the pleading look and said to Cheyenne, "She got it for her birthday."
"That's not till June. An early birthday present! Anyway, that's seriously cool, Dell. I know you always wanted a horse."
Dell melted, remembering how Cheyenne cared for her and had been her friend for so long. They'd shared everything until now. "I can go another time," she said, holding up the keys.
"Not on your life. Go on, I'll see you at school. Nice to see you, Carolyn. Call me, Dell, okay?" Cheyenne waved and turned back the way she'd come.
Dell looked at her cousin. "Thanks. I got tongue-tied."
"No problem. I guess I'll go back home, too. Cheyenne's right, you should ride the horse before it gets too late in the evening."
Dell hugged her and opened the car door. She saw Carolyn leaving and called out, "Tell Aunt Celia I'll come over to visit this week."
"Okay. See you."
Dell sat in the car a moment, noting that her earlier anger and frustration had leaked away. She started the car and backed onto the street. She had thought she would never be able to live as a Natural, interacting with humans and behaving the way they did. Not when she felt so much anger. So much envy. But as long as she had friends and family who loved her, she might make it.
It was all so new. Before the change, she'd never felt so much anger and never been envious of anyone. Her whole personality was evolving and not for the best, she thought. She was letting the fury overcome and take away the hurt. It was all she knew to do.
The tires squealed and as she punched the accelerator. Riding could help. She would take Lightning on the riding path and be alone. She only wanted to forget all the things in the world she was going to miss now. Most of all she wanted to forget Ryan was going out with Lori on Saturday night.
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