by Judith Post
They made small talk for the rest of the meal. When it came time for dessert, Voronika curled a leg under herself to sit on and turned to serious shopping talk. Angel wandered off to play on her computer, and Enoch and Danny carried their slices of chocolate cake to the sitting area to eat.
"How are Derek, Rob, and Wayne?" Enoch asked.
"Derek and Wayne have it bad," Danny said. "They're going back to the club tonight, but now they know what not to drink. Goth and Ilona are going to sit with them during their breaks."
"And Rob?"
"He's not willing to donate any more blood to vampires."
"Can't say that I blame him." Enoch finished his cake and frowned. "Feral's club is expensive, though. How can Derek and Wayne afford it on a cop's salary?"
"Well, Feral's nothing but a good-hearted citizen, you know? She announced that any cop who visits her place can have four freebies a month. She wants us to know how much she likes Three Rivers and appreciates the jobs we do."
Enoch grimaced. Feral was proving to be a real pain in the ass. "I'm hoping no one intends to take her up on her offer."
"Tony sent out a memo. If they go, they get mandatory days off."
"Everyone except Derek and Wayne?"
"Tony's the one who sent them there, undercover. What can he say?"
Vampires excelled at seduction. Lust wafted in the air around them. Derek and Wayne had inhaled it and fallen hard.
The room darkened as the sun set. Bedroom doors opened, and Ulrich and Lucinda joined Crystal in the hallway. Danny waved a greeting at Ulrich, then went to get Maggie. "It's getting late. Ready to go home?"
She gave a brave smile, but dark circles smudged her eyes. "I'm fine."
"Sure you are. Let's go." Danny helped her into her coat, and they took their leave.
Angel ran to Crystal. "Good, you're up! Want to hear about my day at school?"
Crystal bit her bottom lip, and her small fangs stabbed holes in the delicate skin.
"You're hungry?" Ulrich asked, watching her.
Angel stepped back and edged toward Voronika.
Lucinda clenched and unclenched her hands.
Ulrich looked at Enoch. "We'd better take them out to hunt."
Enoch nodded and got his coat. They were heading to an alley when Lucinda lifted her face, sniffed the air, and raced ahead of them. She was ready to dart her fangs into a homeless man, passed out with an empty bottle of alcohol on the asphalt beside him, when Ulrich reached her and yanked her away from him.
"No! No mortals. Find other food sources."
She sniffed and sped to a rat. Crystal sniffed and sped farther down the alley. She grabbed a cat, sank her fangs into it, and drained it. Lucinda stared. "I thought you liked cats."
Tears misted Crystal's eyes. "I do." She dropped the flat body and buried her face in her hands.
Enoch laid a hand on her shoulder. "You'll learn to control the hunger. The longer you train, the more control you'll have. You're still in the beginning phases of blood lust."
Crystal shook with frustration. "Everything I saw was blood red, and I can hear it move through veins. I hate myself!"
Ulrich sighed. "What's done is done. You're a vampire now. You can choose to be a good one or to give in to the blood cravings. I can teach you how to resist them."
"Both choices suck!"
Ulrich's eyes briefly lit with humor, but he didn't comment on the play on words. Instead, he said, "Why don't you feed on Enoch tonight? Both of you, give yourselves a little break."
Enoch unbuttoned his shirt, and both girls flew to him. His blood was filled with the Light. It would satisfy them longer than rats and strays.
Once they'd fed, Ulrich started their lessons. Crystal half-heartedly went through the motions of defense training. She kept quiet, only giving one-word answers to questions, her expression stony. Ulrich cut the session short, and they headed home.
On the way, Crystal asked, "How much does it hurt, the sunlight?"
Ulrich gave her a hard look. "If you're thinking it's an easy way out, you're wrong. It's worse than being burned alive. I've met vamps who hide somewhere at night, fall asleep, and then a tiny ray of sun finds its way into their lair through a crack or a hole. That sliver of sun hits their cheek or hand, and that part of them burns and turns to ashes. It disintegrates and won't regenerate. They live without a finger or with a hole in their cheek for the rest of their undead lives. And it hurts."
Crystal shivered. "How long will we have blood lust?"
"You're a vampire. You'll always need blood, but you won't be crazed by it once your system finally, fully adjusts."
"How long till that?" Crystal demanded.
Ulrich hesitated. "Probably a few months—and that's fast. It's only because you have Enoch's blood, and I'm here to train you."
"Months?" Crystal's shoulders sagged. "And the prize at the end of the crazy is that I'll be a good vampire." She didn't sound thrilled.
"There are mortals who beg to be changed," Ulrich told her. "That's the way it's supposed to be. That's why it's against Caleb's rules to change a mortal against her will."
Crystal crossed her arms over her chest. "Feral's a bitch, and Desya was a real bastard."
Enoch glanced at her, surprised. She'd never said much about what happened to her, and he'd never heard her cuss. He got the idea she was overwhelmed. She deserved to be angry. Once she dealt with that, she might be able to cope better.
"Desya broke Caleb's rules. That's why Feral had to kill him," Ulrich said.
"Big lot of good that does me!" Crystal's angry footsteps pounded on the cement sidewalks. "I'm still a monster. And now Feral blames me for losing Desya. There's no win-win anywhere. I look at my sister, and half the time I see food."
"A few months will go faster than you think," Enoch said. "Once you can deal with being a vampire better, you can make better choices."
Crystal snorted. "That's what I always told myself about living with Mom. Once I got old enough to cook, I could eat something besides crap. Once I graduated from high school, I could go to college and start a new life. Once I could be my own person, live like normal people do, I could meet someone wonderful, someone smart and special, and he'd see me as me, not as the poor oddball who never fit in."
Enoch glanced at Ulrich. Crystal was talking about Lance, he was sure.
They'd almost reached the apartment. Ulrich stopped walking to look at her and Lucinda. "I'm not going to lie to you. You won't live a normal lifestyle as a vampire, but it's not as horrible as you think it is either. Bart and Claudia have been a couple for centuries. You can find that if you want it."
Crystal stared. "What do they do?"
"They're generals," Ulrich said.
"They fight. What else do vampires do? Do any of them have homes with white picket fences and watch their kids play on the swing set in the back yard?"
"Vampires can't have kids."
The minute the words left Ulrich's lips, Crystal teared up. "I was going to be a teacher. I love kids."
"Look." Ulrich glanced at Enoch for help. "Vampires can run businesses, support charities…."
Head down, she started toward the apartment. Lucinda hurried to walk beside her. She bent her head close and took Crystal's hand in hers.
Ulrich let out a long breath and walked beside Enoch. "That was fun."
"Sometimes, you have to hit bottom before you can start the climb up," Enoch said. "I'm surprised Crystal's waited this long, but she's had plenty of bottoms in her life. Maybe she just expects them."
"That's depressing." Ulrich didn't get depressed often. Enoch had never seen him flinch when the odds were against him.
"I think it's healthy that Crystal's angry," Enoch said. "It'll help her move on."
They walked the rest of the way home in silence, and when they got there, Crystal went to her room and slammed the door. Lucinda flitted from one thing to another, making them restless, so after Angel went to bed, Voronika rented a mov
ie on TV. When it was finished, they played a few board games until morning came, and the vampires headed off to sleep. Enoch got Angel up and drove her to school.
When he returned to the apartment, he sat, cross-legged, on the Oriental carpet in the sitting area and finally made the time to meditate. When he became aware of his surroundings again, over two hours had passed. He went to his laptop and began writing. By the time he went to pick up Angel, he'd finished an article, and he was in a much better mood.
Chapter 22
Angel bounced out of school, more excited than she'd been the day before. "Do you have any old sheets I can use to cut holes in? Our Halloween party's on Friday, and I need a costume."
Enoch frowned. "You're going to wear a sheet?"
"That's what Crystal always did, put a sheet over my head and cut holes in it so I could see, and I'd be a ghost."
Enoch scowled. "Wouldn't you rather try something different?"
"Like what?" Angel blinked, then her eyes went wide, excited. "Would you buy me a costume?"
Her voice rose two octaves. He'd surprised her, he could tell. Enoch didn't pay much attention to Halloween. By the time he left his apartment to prowl the city, all the trick-or-treaters were safe in their beds. Kids didn't go door to door in his apartment building. There was some kind of party in the lobby instead. He always contributed money for snacks and drinks, but he avoided all the noise and commotion. He thought about the costumes he'd seen in the window downtown, but those were for grown-ups. "Where do you get costumes for kids?" he asked.
Silly question. Angel listed off places. "And the teachers asked anyone who could to contribute candy for our classroom party and parade."
"You have a parade?"
Angel sighed. She talked to him very slowly, as though he were dim-witted. "We all dress in our costumes and then we line up and walk around the entire building and parking lot, and parents come to take pictures and stuff."
Uh-oh. Did that mean he'd be sitting in some flimsy lawn chair, watching kids dressed up as princesses and goblins snake past him? "Did your mom come to see you?"
Angel stared. "During the day? Really?"
"Your dad?" Enoch asked.
Angel sighed. "You don't have to come. No one ever has."
That made him feel worse. He made a mental note to buy a folding chair and get his ass to her school on Friday. Oh shit. His language had gotten worse since he had kids in his place. He'd have to think about that. For now, he changed the subject. "Let's go home and let Voronika go shopping with you. We both know how much she loves that." The idea of trying to find the right sized outfit for an eleven-year-old girl didn't appeal to him.
The sunshine of yesterday had been fleeting, and gray clouds descended upon them once more. Voronika's favorite weather. Instead of going straight home, though, Enoch drove to a bakery he liked. He took Angel in with him to choose cookies icinged with orange to look like pumpkins. He bought one for everyone in her class and then bought the ghost cookies, too.
Angel thanked and thanked him, but her eyes kept sliding to a pumpkin pie two cases down.
"We want that pumpkin pie, too," Enoch said.
Angel blushed all the way to her hairline. "You don't have to do that."
"Is it one of your favorites?"
She looked at her feet, embarrassed. Enoch laughed and bought it. On the way to the Land Rover, Angel said, "I feel bad. You do so much for me."
"Just enjoy and appreciate it," Enoch said. "If you get spoiled or jaded, there'll be words."
She smiled, obviously feeling better. "You have more money than anyone I've ever heard of, and you're not a snob."
"Thank you." He knew what she meant.
She carried the pie up in the elevator, being very careful with it. He carried the two boxes of cookies. As usual, Voronika was up to greet her.
"Enoch said you'd take me to buy a Halloween costume," Angel told her. "Can we go now? Please?"
Voronika laughed and slid into her shoes. "What do you want to be?"
They were bickering about it as they left the apartment. Enoch shook his head. He went out on the balcony for a few minutes of peace and quiet. That's when Danny called.
"Sorry, bud, but I was hoping you could meet me at the apartments of Canterbury Complex. I don't know if your touch would work for this or not, but I'd like to try it."
"Give me an apartment number." Enoch didn't hesitate. He left a note for Voronika and locked all the grids in the apartment except the door to the foyer. He was sure Voronika hadn't taken her key, and he didn't want to lock her out. And then he drove to the north side of town.
Wayne was standing in front of an apartment. Yellow tape warned passersby away.
"How's it going with Goth?" Enoch asked him.
A sappy look answered his question. Wayne had it bad.
"You two have talked about the fact that she's a vampire and you're a mortal, right?"
Wayne shook his head. "I'll age. She won't, but I've never met anyone like her. I'd rather enjoy what we have than miss out on Goth."
Enoch nodded. He knew the feeling. He'd done the same thing with Grace. And Goth had worked for Feral long enough to know that mortals were temporary. She knew what she was getting into.
The door of the apartment opened and Danny motioned Enoch inside. "Pretty sad really." He led Enoch to the bedroom, and there lay the rich, young guy they'd met on the staircase at Feral's club.
A bag and syringe had dropped to the floor by the edge of the bed. Enoch balled his hands in frustration. "What happened?"
"Looks like an overdose."
"Are you done here?"
Danny nodded. "Crime scene's come and gone. The body baggers are waiting on you."
Enoch started for the door. "I've seen enough. Let's go visit Feral."
"Wait. Can you touch him? See if any more people will die like this?"
Enoch turned, hesitating. "I'm not sure it will work. I only see who a killer will target next. There's no killer." When he'd been sent here to clean up Caleb's mess, he'd been surprised by his gift. Surprised, and frustrated. At first, it had seemed more of a bother than anything else, but he'd learned to work with it.
"Yes, there is," Danny said. "An overdose. But I can't help thinking that it's connected to venom somehow. It's worth a try."
Enoch stalked to the boy, knelt, and touched his fingers to the boy's neck. Immediately, he saw a long line of faces. The first was an older man with deep creases in his forehead, gray hair, and wire-rimmed glasses. He stated his name, "Seth Heyerly." The second was a young girl with dyed, black hair and lots of piercings. "Macy Carlisle." And the third, a wraith of a girl almost too timid to speak. "Tindle Perry." The names and faces went on and on. Dazed by how fast the responses were and how many victims showed themselves, he yanked away.
Danny's expression went grim. "A lot of them?"
Enoch nodded.
"We have a starting place?"
"Seth Heyerly's next. We need to find him."
Danny sighed. "Another kid?"
"No, he's older, but most of them are young." They had to be over twenty-one, though, or they couldn't enter the club. Still, how many people were really grown-ups at twenty-one? Responsible maybe, but just starting out. Still unformed.
"Now, I'm ready to visit Feral." Danny started for the door.
Enoch followed Danny through heavy, rush hour traffic. When they parked in the lot behind the club, a dozen cars were already there. Had they arrived early? Or had they never left?
The men walked to the back door and Enoch knocked. Incisor raised an eyebrow when he saw them. "The club's not open yet."
"We didn't come to be entertained. We came on business," Danny said.
Incisor motioned them inside. "Wait here. I'll get Feral."
Twenty minutes later, Feral walked down the winding staircase, dressed in a snug, black tuxedo with a plunging neckline. Her ebony hair fell in waves around her face, and scarlet lipstick painted her lips.
"What did I do this time?" she asked, going to the bar and motioning for Incisor to bring her a drink.
Danny explained about the boy they'd met at the club. "He died of an overdose. You don't sell drugs here, do you?"
Feral smiled. "Not unless you count venom. It hasn't been outlawed yet."
"That's because not many people know about it," Enoch said.
Feral pursed her lips, thinking. "Sal's dad cut him off, no more allowance, no more money. He was blowing through it too fast. Sal was a college student. His dad paid for his apartment near the campus. I'd guess Sal tried to get the same kind of high by using cheaper, street drugs. They can't compare."
"So they keep taking more and more?" Danny asked.
She nodded. "Venom wipes away all your problems, and you can never take too much of it. Once you have it, street drugs are a pale comparison."
Enoch debated with himself and decided to go for it. "I have a gift," he told her. He explained about his touch. "When I put my hand on Sal, I saw lots and lots of other faces. They're all going to die because of you."
She raised her eyebrows, surprised. "Hmmm, that explains the body counts in other cities I've worked in."
"That hasn't done you any favors," he warned. "Maybe it's time to correct that."
She frowned, considering. "I wish I could, but I can't control people, can I? They want what they want."
"So do your vampire servers. They get free blood once a mortal's hooked."
She smiled. "There is that."
Danny leaned forward. "Maybe you could be a responsible provider, like the really good bartenders. Maybe you could cut people off."
"Like Sal's dad did? Then I'd be responsible for them overdosing on something else."
"Not if you cut them off soon enough," Danny pointed out.
Feral laughed. "I'm not a babysitter. I run a business. A nightclub isn't a daycare center."
Danny gave her a dirty look. She shrugged.
Enoch tried again. "Once the body count grows, you won't be welcome here. Mortals will notice, and you'll have to leave."
She shrugged. "That usually takes a few years. I must say, though, we're building clientele faster in Three Rivers than most places. Vampires can't wait to come here and get a chance of meeting you."