by Kate Hill
“Examine me.”
“What?”
“Go on. Give me a full examination. Blood samples. Whatever you want. Just make it quick.”
“All right.” Nancy sighed. He knew she was humoring him, but the only way she’d believe him was to see with her own eyes.
* * * * *
“I don’t believe it.” Nancy stood, her hands clasped, in front of Matthew. “No wonder you never seem to get tired. Unbelievable. Absolutely amazing. To think I’ve known you all these years and never noticed. You have a pulse that’s a step up from a dead man. The stress test didn’t even get it to a normal human level. How long could you have run?”
“At that speed?” He shrugged. “Hours. Almost all night.”
“How fast can you go?”
“I’ve timed myself at forty-six miles per hour, but I can’t sustain that for longer than a couple of miles.” Matthew thought to himself, Several years ago, I clocked Adam at close to fifty miles per hour. What would she think of that? Though he had revealed his nature, he needed to keep other vampires’ existence secret. It was dangerous enough—for her and for them—that she now knew the truth about his kind.
“Couple of miles,” Nancy breathed.
“I can do twenty miles or so at twenty to thirty miles an hour.”
Nancy shone a light in Matthew’s eyes and watched his pupils disappear.
“Don’t do that too long, please,” he said, trying not to flinch with discomfort. “Light’s not my favorite thing.”
“No. It wouldn’t be,” she murmured. “It’s the first time I’ve ever had someone read ‘Made in China’ on a vision chart. All these years your stethoscope has been just for show? Your hearing is really that good?”
“I can hear your heartbeat right now, but the stethoscope does come in handy at times.”
“Doesn’t all that noise drive you crazy?”
“I’ve learned to block it out. I have to concentrate on hearing a heartbeat.”
“What are you really, Matthew?” Since examining him, Nancy seemed to have lost some of her fear. This gladdened him.
“Please don’t be afraid of what I’m about to show you.”
“I’m scared as hell, but I trust you, Matthew. Now I at least know you’re not crazy.”
He held out his hand, extending his claws from beneath his short, human nails. Nancy took his hand and stared.
“There’s more,” he said.
“I’m almost afraid to ask, but I’m fascinated.”
He unsheathed his incisors and parted his lips. Again, her heartbeat quickened.
“Matthew, you look like a—”
“Vampire?” he smiled. “Exactly.”
“But there are no vampires. There’s no such thing as a supernatural—”
“I told you, I’m not supernatural. Neither is the child.”
“You’re aliens?” She folded her arms across her chest, hugging herself. “Why the hell not?”
“Nancy, I can trust you.”
Staring into his eyes, she nodded. “Yes. You can.”
“I owe you for this.”
She offered him a familiar smile of friendship. “Big time. And believe me, Matthew, I won’t forget it. Now, what do you want to do about that boy in there?”
* * * * *
When Dulcie left Matthew’s parents’ house, it was after one in the morning. By then, her sorrow and fear mingled with fury. Fury at Matthew for leaving so abruptly and fury at Jay for driving him to it.
Jay! Why hadn’t she gone to him immediately? Perhaps that had been another kind of fear. She knew he had something to do with Matthew’s disappearance. Had she been so terrified for her own life that she hadn’t gone to the one person who might know her husband’s whereabouts?
Tires screeched on Dulcie’s jeep as she swung the vehicle around and sped toward the research center.
Security met her at the door.
“Tell Jay Ashford that Dulcie Evans is here to see him,” she stated. “Now.”
The guard’s eyes widened with surprise. Dulcie smelled the hybrid’s curiosity and arousal. He found her attractive and intimidating. Being an Immaculate, she could have ripped him apart, and he knew it. Matthew had been right. The entire center was staffed with vampires. The scent of hybrids was overpowering. None of them could beat her in a one-on-one fight, but they could destroy her with their number. Apprehension crept up her spine.
As the guard phoned Jay, his eyes remained focused on Dulcie. Finally he turned to her. “Dr. Ashford would like you to go to his office. The tenth floor. Turn left out of the elevator—”
Dulcie disappeared before he finished speaking.
Jay waited for her outside the elevator.
“Dulcie. I am surprised to see you, under the circumstances.”
“Where’s Matthew, you son of a bitch?”
Jay’s solemn face twisted into a smile. “You’re a lot like your husband. Direct. To the point. However, I can’t help you, Dulcie. I was hoping you might tell me Matthew’s whereabouts, but I can sense you really don’t know. He’s a brilliant man, your husband. Covers all grounds…” Jay’s voice faded. For a moment he looked far-off before he said, “I didn’t expect this of him. It’s not often I’m taken by surprise. Funny, but I thought I knew him.”
Dulcie’s laugh was full of contempt. “You don’t know anything about him.”
“I know how much he loves you. If anything should happen to you, he’d be shattered. Oh, he’d go on, of course. A man like Matthew Winter didn’t get as far as he has by allowing emotions to rule him—at least that’s what I thought. Damn. He is a complex specimen.”
“Specimen?”
“Still, should anything tragic happen to you, it would at least be the equivalent of a nice kick in his testicles, and oh, does he deserve it after what he’s done to this center. I trusted him when no one else would. I—”
“Are you threatening me?” Dulcie’s fangs lengthened and she unsheathed her claws, a growl trapped in her throat. “I could kill you right now, Jay Ashford. As a matter of fact, I’m getting hungry for hybrid blood.”
Jay backed up as Dulcie advanced on him. “You could, but you won’t.”
“Why not?”
“Gentlemen,” Jay called. A group of hybrids emerged from the hallway. Dulcie glared at them. A smaller group she could have taken, but not this. “Please escort the lady out.”
“I can find my own way,” Dulcie snarled, pushing past the brawny guards. She glared over her shoulder at Jay. “You better hope Matthew’s alive and well.”
“I most certainly do. The bastard has the child with him.”
Dulcie’s eyes widened.
“Until I get that child back, Dulcie, you and Matthew’s family had better keep a careful look over your shoulders.”
As Dulcie left the center, she plotted Jay’s death. In the parking garage, she heard footsteps behind her as she approached her car. The security guard from the center’s entrance stepped in front of her, pulling his gun.
“These are platinum bullets,” he stated, but couldn’t continue.
A gun went off and, shrieking in pain, he dropped to his knees, blood spreading through the sleeve of his jacket.
“So are these,” growled a deep voice.
Dulcie spun, facing Adam.
He strode to the guard, dragged him to his feet and said, “You’re coming with us. Shut up until I say you can talk.”
“You—”
Adam’s wolfish teeth flashed. His growl sounded more like a roar. “You don’t breathe until I say breathe, understand?”
The hybrid nodded slowly. Dulcie heard his frantic heartbeat echoing through the garage. Adam hurriedly stopped the flow of blood on the hybrid and shoved him into the back of Dulcie’s jeep, climbing in beside him. “Dulcie, take us to Poet’s Manor.”
“But Jay is upstairs—”
“There’s nothing we can do about Jay. Not now.”
“Dr. Ashford will—
” the hybrid began, but Adam’s hand clamped his jaw so hard that the guard’s small, sharp fangs cut his own lips.
“Did I tell you to talk?” Adam demanded. “I’m in a really bad mood. This situation has kept me from taking a job I wanted. I worked my ass off for eight years. Do you get that?” The hybrid nodded, and Adam continued, “Good. Now keep your mouth shut!”
“If you feel that way about it, Adam, then why are you here?” Dulcie demanded. She well understood a man obsessed with his career, but she was past the point of empathizing with anyone. Her husband was missing, and his brother, whom Matthew had once put his entire life on hold for, was complaining about this situation ruining his professional plans!
“The Network wants to know what happened, and so do I.”
“The Network?” Dulcie snarled, glaring in the rearview mirror. “Don’t you care at all about Matthew?”
Adam remained frustratingly silent.
At Poet’s Manor, Marcus, his delicate face more solemn than ever, guided them up the back stairs of the hotel to a steel room specifically created as a holding cell. Adam dragged the guard inside and flung him to his knees. Marcus and Dulcie followed.
“You should go,” Adam said to Dulcie.
“No.”
“I said—”
She glared at Adam. “You don’t give me orders. I’m not one of your Network bootlickers!” Marcus cleared his throat loudly, and Dulcie glanced at the reserved hybrid. “Sorry, Marcus. I didn’t mean you.”
“You’re not of the Network, so you have no authority here, Dulcie,” Adam told her. “I don’t want you to be upset by—”
“If this has to do with Matthew, I want to know! I have the right to know.”
Adam nodded, then focused his attention on the captive. “Why did you try to kill her?”
The hybrid clenched his teeth, lifting his chin defiantly. The back of Adam’s fist cracked across his face, knocking him to the floor.
“Why did you try to kill her?”
“I was told to,” the guard stammered, pushing himself to his knees, blood running from his lips.
“Who told you?”
Again, the guard mustered the courage to keep silent.
“I see.” Adam clutched the man’s shoulders, pinned him against the wall, and stared hard into his eyes.
Dulcie and Marcus remained silent as Adam probed the man’s mind. Dulcie focused on the captive’s thoughts as well. It took forever to wade through the jumble of memories. The hybrid’s telepathic skills were poor, and he was young. Obviously a simple minion. But who did he really work for? It wasn’t Jay. The man had not a single memory of making murder plans with Ashford. Thoughts of a tall, powerfully built black man predominated in his mind.
“Did he tell you to kill her?” Adam demanded aloud, referring to the black man.
Slowly, as if stunned, the captive nodded.
“Who is he?”
“Judah.”
“Good. That’s a name. Now tell me who he is.”
“I don’t know! He pays me. That’s all. I swear, that’s all!”
Adam sighed, dropping his hands and walking to the door as the hybrid sank to his knees, trembling. Dulcie knew mind invasion wasn’t always the most pleasant experience, nor was being the brunt of Adam’s physical blows. The First Father had been holding back most of his strength or else he’d have knocked the captive’s head off.
“I’ll send someone to take care of this mess,” Marcus stated, locking the door behind them. He handed Adam another set of keys. “Room 512 is available for you.”
Dulcie followed Adam down the hallway to the suite, furious at her brother-in-law’s behavior but unable to fully despise him because he looked so much like Matthew. In fact, she couldn’t keep her eyes off him.
In the room, he closed the door and said, “Dulcie, we will find him.”
“A lot you care.”
Adam’s dark blue eyes narrowed, as if truly confused by her words.
“All you care about is how disrupted your life has been. How quickly you forget. About eight years ago you crashed in on Matthew’s life, half-dead, and who helped you, Adam? Matthew didn’t even know you, and he worked day and night to save your life! Who helped you kill the First Father? Remember that?”
“Dulcie, why else would I be here if not for Matthew?”
“Because the Network sent you!”
Adam’s jaw tightened. “The Network doesn’t send me anywhere. They ask me, and I go where I see fit. I know what it must have sounded like to you in the car. How can I explain? I feel like I’ve been on edge forever. This is not an excuse, but between studying medicine and Network business… I’m sorry. I spoke out of frustration. Residency’s finally over and I’m about to start my career…and all of this sounds so incredibly self-centered. I apologize. I’m here because I love Matthew. I want to know what’s happened to him and I want to see that you and his mortal family are protected. I already have hybrids watching their house. Vincent is going to stay with you—”
“Vincent!” Dulcie shouted. Though the goofy Immaculate had his good points, he annoyed her.
“He’s one of the best fighters we have. He’s also going to check around the center. You and I have to try to outthink Matthew, God help us.” Adam folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. “The only thing we have going for us is Matthew has so little criminal experience. Hopefully he’ll slip up somewhere and—”
“Slip up?”
“I know. We’re talking about Matthew. We have to think like him. No one knows him better than you. Where do you think he’s gone?”
“I honestly haven’t a clue.”
“Then we have to find clues. We’ll go to your house and access his computer.”
“He only keeps work in that computer. All his personal things, journals and such, are handwritten.”
“Journal? He keeps a journal?”
“Dozens of them.”
“Good. Maybe he wrote something in them we can use.”
“Adam, do you think he’s all right?” Dulcie wondered if she sounded as desperate as she felt.
“Yes. Matthew is very resourceful.”
Dulcie nodded, blinking tears from her eyes. “You look so much like him. Looking at you is almost—”
“It’ll be all right. We will find him.” Adam took a step forward and tugged her into his arms.
For a moment, Dulcie clung to him. It was an embrace of total friendship, because no matter how much Adam looked like Matthew, he felt different. The two were identical twins, but it was not Matthew’s chest her cheek rested against. It was not Matthew’s heartbeat or Matthew’s scent. Dulcie longed for Matthew more than she ever imagined longing for anything.
Chapter Fourteen
At home, Dulcie and Adam stood in Matthew’s den, gazing at the volumes of plain black journals in the desk drawer.
“Adam, I feel like I shouldn’t be doing this,” she said.
“I know, but if we want to find him, we’ll need to learn all we can. The most recent entries will probably be the most help.”
“We’ll have to open them to see which is which. None of the covers are marked.” Dulcie pulled out all the journals, placing aside the oldest ones, written in Matthew’s childlike handwriting. She smiled affectionately. Leave it to Matthew to keep such detailed diaries, even as a little boy.
She opened one that read,
September, 1975
Monday
Started med school. At fourteen, I’m the youngest in my class. I’m amazed I’m here. Mom and Dad seem very proud. I’m thrilled, but nervous. I hope I can live up to the expectations of my parents and the school. More than anything, I want to be the best I can be.
Dulcie glanced through the pages, scanning Matthew’s experiences in medical school, becoming more proud of him with every word. He’d been so young, so responsible and so brilliant. He’d handled the pressures of education and dealing with lives well, but so far there was little
mention of his vampirism. She knew he hadn’t yet reached vampiric puberty. Then she came across this entry.
December, 1979
Sunday
Why is this happening to me? All I can think about is blood. My teeth are changing. I have claws…I can’t even write the words. Why? There’s no medical explanation that I can think of, and I’m so afraid to ask for help. What if none of this is real? I think I’m a vampire. I know I’m going crazy. I can hardly focus on my studies, but I need to keep up my grades. I’m afraid of myself.
Dulcie’s heart twisted. Even Matthew’s handwriting had changed, gone from its usual flowing beauty to dark, jagged lettering. The following entries worsened. He struggled to keep up his grades while faced with ever-increasing hunger and the drastic changes in his body. It amazed her that he’d kept his needs hidden and survived days in the sunlight when he wanted nothing more than to crawl into a dark room and sleep. Without the hybrid blood his body required, his desperation must have been agonizing.
“Adam,” Dulcie nudged her brother-in-law who was also absorbed in reading. He glanced over her shoulder and read.
January, 1980
Tuesday
(Internship)
I know I’m insane, but I try to look rational. I’m the youngest intern at the hospital, and this is the most difficult experience I’ve ever had. I’m working day and night, but it’s so hard to focus. I’m exhausted all day, but at night, when the moon rises, I want to run for miles and drink blood. The blood scent in the hospital makes me so hungry I get dizzy. I’m starving all the time, but food—when I get a second to actually eat during these crazy hours—isn’t enough. I’m terrified to even write this, but if I don’t, I think I’ll explode. I’ve been drinking my own blood. It’s the only way I can satisfy the hunger. I’m trying to be a doctor, and I’m drinking blood. I wish I was dead.
Dulcie and Adam silently read the remainder of the journal together. When they’d finished, they looked at each other.
“Poor Matthew,” Adam murmured. “And I thought I’ve had it hard.”