by Aimée Thurlo
He sat there, holding their wounds together as one, looking for signs of life and healing in Diane’s body.
Minutes went by, and Lee began to hear sounds in the forest around him, like the soft pad of footsteps. John turned around slowly, peering into the dark, his rifle up and ready. Neither spoke, not wanting to draw any more attention.
Keeping their wrists in contact, Lee turned as much as he could, checking from time to time for signs of an animal approaching. His night vision was a blessing, but it wouldn’t let him see past the van to whatever was on the other side, and he couldn’t see through the thick brush in several places.
Finally he noticed that the blood on Diane’s neck wound had stopped seeping out. Was she dead? He reached over with his free hand and felt at her neck for her pulse, his hand shaking. Her heart was still beating, and if anything, was stronger than before. The gash at her throat was closing.
“Yes!” he yelled out loud, not caring if a pack of wolves was steps away. Lee took his wrist away from hers, and noted that both their cuts were healing.
“Give me a heart attack, will you? So she’s alive?” The medicine man gestured toward Diane. “I kind of like her, don’t you?”
“Yes. You could say that.” Lee took off his jacket, rolled it up, then slipped it under Diane’s head as gently as he could. He picked up his pistol again now that both hands were free.
“What about the other night walkers? And the Navajo witches?” Buck looked around as he fed fresh rounds into his rifle. “I shot a wolf uphill from here. He was limping badly. Any others around?”
“A mountain lion—cougar. She was cut under her eye, and has a light-colored streak on her coat. I think it was the youngest woman, but wouldn’t swear to it. Everyone else is dead, finally. At least I hope. Did you see the vampires over there?” He gestured with a cock of his head.
The hataalii nodded. “They looked really dead to me before. I’m not going any closer, though.”
“Friend, did your uncle ever teach you the Sing needed to treat the vampire sickness?” Lee recalled how Bowlegs had treated him that night with special herbs and songs, helping to reduce the change in him, making him less than a full vampire, and able to withstand more sunlight.
“I know the Sing, but have never been asked to conduct it.” Buck shrugged.
“She isn’t Navajo. Will the ceremony work for her, hataalii? Maybe limit her affliction, as your uncle did for me?”
“We can try, but we need to get her to my medicine hogan soon. Can you carry her that far?” John looked around, wary of the skinwalker cougar still out there somewhere.
“To Albuquerque, if need be. Let’s go now.” Lee stuck his and Diane’s pistol in his belt, then picked her up gently. She opened her eyes.
“Feel so strange, like in a dream. What’s happening to me?” she whispered.
“No time to talk about it. We’re going for help. Hang on to my neck.” Lee started straight downhill ahead of the medicine man, who followed closely, his rifle ready.
Lee moved quickly, forcing the hataalii to jog to keep up, knowing that unless the medicine man could provide Diane with the powerful medicine necessary, she’d be a walker of the night like him. If not, at least she’d still be alive.
The cougar screamed loudly somewhere farther up the mountain, and the sound chilled Lee to his bones. He quickened his pace, and the medicine man did too.
“A black panther attacked me,” Diane whispered in his ear. Her grip on him was now strong and steady, and he knew she was healed, at least physically.
“I should be dead, but I feel strong, Lee. Set me down, and I can walk.” Diane patted him on the arm, and he stopped, easing her to the grass in front of him.
The hataalii caught up to them. “We must hurry if I’m going to be able to do anything to stop the changes.” He looked at Diane, his eyes wide.
“You mixed my blood with theirs, didn’t your” Diane looked at the hataalii. “It’s like daytime outside for me now, but the colors have all faded a bit, and the sky is gray. I’m a vampire now, aren’t I? A night walker.”
“It was me, not the hataalii, and it was my blood.” Lee reached out and took her shoulders, turning her to face him. “I alone made that decision. It was the only way to save your life. You may hate me for it later, but for now we need to see if anything can be done to stop or slow the process. This man’s uncle helped me, maybe the hataalii can do the same for you.”
“Wait.” John Buck held up his hand, then reached into his pocket and took out a flashlight. He aimed it down toward the underpass, and turned it on and off three times.
The roar of a diesel truck engine down below reached up the side of the valley to them, and headlights came on. “The bulldozer operator is waiting for my signal. He’ll come to give us a ride to my medicine hogan.”
Ten minutes later, the hataalii led Diane into his medicine hogan. Lee was standing outside beside the truck driver, who was looking at him strangely. It was understandable, considering the amount of dried blood that he and Diane had on their bodies and clothes, and the fact that they both looked perfectly healthy.
John appeared at the entrance, pushing aside the blanket. “Come inside, friend of my uncle. My patient wants you to be with her during the cure.”
Lee stepped inside. Diane was seated on a sheepskin, and she looked up anxiously as he entered. “I don’t blame you for this, Lee. I would have done the same for you, whether you liked it or not. I wanted you to know that before the medicine man begins.”
Lee nodded. He still felt guilty, not for trying to save Diane no matter what the cost, but for doing it for selfish reasons. He’d grown attached to the woman, and would have done anything to save her. Now, unless the Navajo medicine worked on her more effectively than it did on him, she’d have to pay a price. Immortality meant some sorrows never ended, and she’d face an eternity in shadows—like him.
John Buck brought out his talisman against evil, blessed the three of them with corn pollen, and then produced an old-looking medicine pouch. He took two smaller pouches from the leather bag, then mixed the contents in a small pottery bowl. He added a liquid squeezed from an herb, then mixed the medicine and blessed it with a short song. Pouring hot water into the bowl from a container on the fire pit, he blessed the contents, then gave it to Diane.
She drank the liquid down, grimacing, as he sang a curing song. Then the medicine man began another preparation, and the process continued, for hours.
Finally, just before dawn, Diane went to sleep, exhausted from the ritual and all she had endured before it. Lee went outside with the hataalii. His friend, the bulldozer operator, had already left in the truck.
Lee wanted to ask about the process, and Diane’s prognosis, but didn’t want to seem to question the medicine man’s skill. John Buck had already done so much for them, keeping them alive with his friend’s help, then saving them from Ingrid.
“I know the questions in your mind. You want to know if the cure helped her or not. All I can tell you is that we’ll know when she wakes up, after the sun comes out. You are only half vampire, so perhaps the cure will work on her. But be careful and don’t let her injure herself finding out. If my medicine only works on the Dineh, then stay with her until she has a chance to adapt and accept what she has become. When it is dark again, you can go back and do whatever is needed to the remains of those you fought and defeated. I know you have other secrets to keep.”
Buck continued. “Many times yesterday I thought about calling all those people on the paper you gave me, needing their help. But I finally decided they would have gotten you two killed in the process. They had no idea what was really going on. And I knew that you realized there were Navajo witches on that mountainside that would seek out the night walkers.”
“And your friend, the bulldozer operator? He can be trusted?” Lee wondered how the man was accepting all he’d seen.
“He’s my brother. He’ll say nothing. I’m sure you’ll have
a good story to tell the state police and FBI when the time is right. Your enemies will be blamed for damaging the bulldozer, I trust.”
“I’ll see to it personally. Thank you for everything. But remain vigilant. A mountain lion escaped last night, one with a human memory. She’s an attractive young woman, but now may have a scar on her face, unless it heals when she changes form again. You will know her from a light streak in her hair.”
“I’m not worried. Like wolves, when a witch pack is decimated, the survivors usually move on to new hunting grounds. I still have my rifle, and my dog is safe at my brother’s home. He’ll be back with me tomorrow.”
The hataalii walked away slowly, rifle still in hand, and Lee watched until he’d reached his house. Then Lee went back into the hogan.
The sun would be up soon, and Diane would know if he’d doomed her to the loneliness of a night walker.
CHAPTER 22
Lee sat down on the floor of the medicine hogan, watching Diane sleep, wondering if she was dreaming.
She looked small and vulnerable, and had thrown off most of the thin wool blanket that he’d covered her with earlier this morning.
But he knew Diane was strong inside, smart, and a woman of integrity. He’d gotten to know her as well as he’d known any woman, except for Annie, and he’d liked what he’d seen in her heart. She represented good, not evil, and he was certain she would never use her new abilities against others, as had Muller and his people.
Lee recalled what he’d felt and done when he’d discovered he’d been turned, and had become a walker of the night. He’d learned as a Navajo the importance of balance in nature, and in an individual’s life. His thrill over immortality was tempered by his condemnation to life in the shadows and constant fear of discovery.
Vampires were one of humanity’s biggest secrets, and the legends of old that had become grist for Hollywood movies and horror novels provided a distorted view of the reality one faced as a night walker. Some of the stories, such as the legendary avoidance of sunlight, were essentially true, while the blood feeding was quite wide of the mark. Blood was very nourishing for his kind, and it was the vector for the ailment. He supposed that was how the story began.
One truth in all the stories—movies, books, and reality alike—was the inherent loneliness most vampires faced unless they had another of their kind as a companion. Even then, they had to keep their lives a secret for fear of discovery.
The world just wasn’t ready for a revelation like this, and perhaps it never would be, though he wondered if vampirism had been the basis for the promise of immortality certain religions gave as a reward for their followers.
“It wasn’t just a dream, was it, Lee?” Diane said, and he turned to look down into her sleepy eyes.
He shook his head, and she sat up, pushing the blanket aside. “Do you think the hataa . . . medicine man, was able to help reduce the condition . . . of me being a vampire?” She started to stand, and he took her hand.
She rose easily, obviously strong and refreshed, and let go of his hand, checking her shoulder and moving her arm around tentatively. She then put her hand up to her blood-crusted throat. “I really need a bath, don’t I?”
“We both do. But the wounds are healed. Notice how strong you feel, charged with energy?”
“Like I was a kid again. How long does the feeling last?” Diane looked at her hands, stretching out her fingers, then her arms in an enormous yawn. “Excuse me.” She smiled.
“Glad to see that smile again. We haven’t had much reason for that over the past several days, have we?” Lee reached for two cups sitting on a small shelf against the wall, and brought them over. “I have instant coffee already in these. Care for a cup?”
“I’d love one. Is there any sugar around?” She touched the pot Buck used to heat water, and noticed it was hot. “I’ll pour.”
A few minutes later, they were sipping their coffee, looking around the hogan, avoiding the obvious topic.
Finally Diane brought it up. “How will I know . . . if it worked?”
“Well, we know you can heal yourself, and your sight, even in the dim light here, is nearly perfect. Correct?”
“Still kind of dark, but I can see enough to get around. Certainly not perfect—not like last night. Maybe because you’re half vampire, I’m only one quarter?” Diane said, then looked up at the blue sky that was visible through the smoke hole of the hogan. “What about that?”
“Unfortunately, the only way to find out is by sticking your finger into the sun’s fire and seeing if you get burned,” Lee said.
She looked at him skeptically. “You mean that, literally. Would I burst into flames, or something?”
“Not unless you’re a full vampire. I’ve seen how they are affected by the sun, though, and I experience the same sensations, only more slowly and with much less intensity. The first thing that happens is that you immediately feel heat on the skin. In a few seconds more, the skin starts to darken, and within five minutes or less, a full vampire would be burning up, literally, as you said. After a few hours, you’d need dental records to be identified. It’s disgusting, actually.”
“And the reason Muller, Ingrid, and Kurt survived in New Mexico is by staying out of the sun, wearing gallons of sunblock, and covering their bodies completely. If I’m part vampire now, I’m going to need something besides my FBI standard-issue bad-ass shades.”
“Exactly. But if your vision doesn’t seem as good as it was last night, maybe you got a full cure, or at least more than I did. But before we start thinking about applying the lotion, we need to know.”
She looked up again at the blue sky that was visible through the smoke hole, then shrugged. “Well, the sun’s up now. Let’s put it to the test.” Diane stepped toward the blanket serving as a door.
“Let’s take it slowly. You don’t want to burn your eyes, then have to walk around blind until you heal. Just stick a finger out into the direct sunlight.”
Diane reached out, moving her finger slowly toward a beam of light from the sun. Dust motes floated in the beam like tiny insects, and she hesitated. “I’ll know if I’m like you, or them?”
“You’ll know.”
She stuck her linger out an inch farther, and held it there for a few seconds. “Can’t feel a thing. I’ll leave it out a while.”
“Maybe you’re completely cured. Be careful.”
She stood there for about five minutes, then pulled her finger back. “The hataalii’s ceremony and herbs worked! I’m normal—well, for me.”
“Yes, so it appears.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, and she squeezed back, not letting go as she looked into his eves.
“I don’t have to cut myself, do I, just to make sure?”
“No. If the sun didn’t get you, I wouldn’t count on a quick heal either. You’ve got your life back now.”
“I don’t know if I should be happy or depressed about it though. Being a half vampire would have made me a kick-ass FBI agent.” She grinned.
“You do pretty well just like you are, Diane. And you have a lot more freedom than a night walker will ever have,” Lee reminded. “You can still kick ass,”
“True.” She let go of his hand finally, and stepped hack, her smile fading. “And that brings us back to some unfinished business. We’ll hunt tonight as a team. How many shape-shifters got away?”
“There were four in that particular pack. At least two were killed last night, maybe a third one by Kurt and Muller before they were brought down.”
“You are immune to their bites, right? I mean you won’t turn into a skinwalker?”
“No, but you will. So be very careful.”
“Always. Now tell me, did the mountain lion that I cut with the knife get away?”
“Yes. She’s a young woman with a light streak in her hair. She and I have met before, and she’s a crafty creature, She’s . . .” Lee couldn’t help but remember her lace . . . Annie’s lace.
“She’s what?
Lee?”
“She reminds me of someone else I used to know, that’s all. No big deal.”
Diane looked at him closely, then either understood, or had the good sense not to pursue it further. “Okay, we’ll catch them tonight. That’s when they shape-shift?”
“Yes,” Lee said, wondering if Diane would be depressed later once she realized she’d lost her chance at immortality. But right now, she seemed just happy to be alive. Near-death experiences had a tendency to do that, he’d discovered more than once.
“I think I’m going to enjoy this hunt, partner.”
Lee nodded. They had become a real team the past few-days, and Diane had discovered another world, and probably even more about herself and her own values and beliefs.
Soon their reasons for working together would end. How would she cope with the knowledge she had about him and that other, usually hidden world out there? He wanted them to stay close, though he knew that Annie’s memory prevented anything deeper than friendship, at least for now.
He wondered how Diane felt about him, and what she was thinking right now. Then Lee wondered why that was so important to him, despite memories of Annie. “How about another cup of coffee?”
That night neither had much to say, except for some needed strategy discussions, though Diane seemed to appreciate his company. Lee drove down the dirt path past the derelict bulldozer in his police cruiser, which had apparently escaped close scrutiny from any passing authorities. Diane was in the passenger seat. They’d cleaned up, and were wearing clothes that were intact, thanks to loans from John Buck. They were also armed to the hilt now with nine-millimeter pistols and the department shotgun, which had been in the squad car instead of the optional AR-15 semiauto assault rifle.
Lee had turned on his police radio and periodically heard calls asking for him, though it was apparent the dragnet For Muller’s group was continuing full strength in Albuquerque, more than ninety miles away. But he’d only listened, not responding. They still had work to do that nobody else needed to know about before they could report Muller s demise.