by A. J. Colby
I guess that explains why it feels like a horse kicked me in the face, I thought as my entire face throbbed in time with my heartbeat.
Sinking back into the pendulum swing of pain and fleeting relief, I lost track of time until the dryness in my mouth became unbearable. Daring to open my eyes, I was met by darkness and at first thought my eyelids hadn’t obeyed my commands. After a few minutes of peering into the dark I was able to pick out areas where the shadows weren’t quite so deep. Blinking a few times to clear the remaining blurriness from my vision, I frowned as an unfamiliar bedroom took shape around me. I wasn’t lying on a cotton candy cloud after all, but rather a king size bed with a thick down comforter that smelled of unfamiliar wolf.
Disoriented by the scent of other weres all around us, the wolf panicked at the foreign location. Growling and ready to fight, she tried to rise to the surface to protect us, only to fall back, dizzy and weak. Whatever was making me feel as if someone had run me through a trash compactor was doing a number on her, too. Reassuring her that we weren’t likely to be attacked while sprawled atop someone’s bed, I went back to surveying my surroundings.
I was surprised when a shadow beside the bed resolved into the slumped shape of someone sitting in a chair. My mind was still foggy from whatever had plunged me into unconsciousness, and—judging from the tingling in my fingertips— a hefty painkiller, but I perked up at the thought that Holbrook had come home. I tried to say something, anything, to let him know that I was awake, but found my tongue leaden and so dry it stuck to the roof of my mouth every time I tried to speak. The rest of my body was just as unwilling to cooperate, my arms so leaden and weak that I couldn’t do more than twitch a single finger.
After several minutes, and many more failed attempts, I mustered up enough saliva to peel my tongue away from the roof of my mouth and whispered a hoarse “Holbrook.”
I didn’t think I had spoken loud enough to be heard, but my sleeping guardian jerked awake and reached out a hand towards me, his fingers stopping just short of touching me.
“Whoa. Take it easy,” he said, easing forward in his chair, bringing his face into focus. Except that it wasn’t Holbrook, but Hank. Disappointment wrapped cruel fingers around my heart, and I felt the wetness of tears clinging to my eyelashes. The joy I had felt at thinking Holbrook had finally come, and everything was going to be okay, was crushed by Hank’s concerned face hovering over mine.
“Water,” I croaked, managing to make my voice a little louder this time.
“Go fetch the Doc!” Hank called out to someone passing in the hallway, and a moment later I heard footsteps retreating down the stairs. “Just relax, Riley. The doctor will be here in a minute.”
I wanted to make some snide comment about how I wasn’t going anywhere without a great deal of assistance, but decided that it required too much effort. Instead I closed my eyes and waited for the doctor to arrive.
A few minutes later Alyssa poked her head into the room.
* * *
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” I said with a weak grin while Alyssa fretted over me, checking my pulse and poking and prodding me until I was on the verge of shooing her away.
“And you need to stop doing stupid things,” she replied as she thrust a thermometer into my mouth with a little more force than was strictly necessary.
“How was I supposed to know Cordova doesn’t keep his vamps locked up during the day? And what the hell was with those fangers?”
“They were probably younger vampires, twenty or thirty years at most. They don’t have the same control the older ones do. We say that vamps sleep during the day, but it’s not like how you or I sleep, it’s more of a catatonic state. If they’re disturbed, they can react like the ones you saw. They call it being Day Crazed.”
“Yeah, they were disturbed alright,” I muttered around the thermometer. “So what the hell happened? I feel like I got sat on by a mountain troll with a killer case of hemorrhoids.”
“I’m not sure,” she admitted, a frown marring the pale skin of her forehead. When her gaze met mine, her violet eyes had lost some of their usual sparkle and were instead filled with worry. “I’ve never seen a were have this kind of reaction to a vampire bite. What you’re describing sounds like a Day Crazed vamp, but are you sure it was a vamp?”
“Yep. Milky eyes, moldy smell, yellowed fangs, ranting about blood. He had the whole shebang.”
“I’ve just haven’t seen anyone other than a fae react like this to vampire venom,” she said, more to herself than anyone else. Pulling the thermometer from my mouth she glanced at it, her frown deepening.
“Venom? What are you talking about?”
“Vampire saliva contains a neurotoxin, a chemical that’s transferred into a victim’s bloodstream through a bite. It inhibits the pain receptors in the brain and tricks the body into pumping out serotonin and dopamine. It’s why many donors are so eager for more.”
“Donors” was the polite way of referring to humans who chose to feed vamps directly from the vein rather than the more socially accepted blood bank donations. The less politically correct names for them were coffin whores and blood bags.
I’d heard of the high they experienced during a feeding and the risk they ran of becoming hooked, but I’d always just thought it was because they were a glutton for pain. I’d had them pegged as a bunch of weirdos for wanting to open a vein in the first place. I certainly hadn’t felt any inclinations for wanting to hang around and let the vamp drain me dry, so I guess the vamp’s happy juice didn’t work on me.
“So what, vamp spit is my kryptonite now? Does this mean I’m in danger any time a bloodsucker hocks a loogey?”
“I honestly don’t know, not without running some tests.”
“I’ve never been a good test taker,” I offered, attempting to lighten the somber atmosphere in the room. I was the one who’d been chewed like a dog toy, yet everyone else looked like they’d just come from a funeral.
They kinda did, you idiot, my brain chimed in helpfully, reminding me that there was a pack of weres in mourning downstairs.
“It’s not that kind of test, Riley.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
RUBBING THE SMALL puncture on my arm, I watched Alyssa leave the room with several vials of my blood. Listening to her footsteps retreat down the stairs, I let myself sink back into the pillows. If I closed my eyes and ignored the smell of unfamiliar wolf I could almost pretend I was at home, curled up in my own bed, far away from Day Crazed vamps and mourning weres.
I was hovering somewhere between sleep and waking when I heard the scuff of footsteps approaching in the hallway.
“You’re gonna have to come back later if you want more blood, Doc. I think I’m all tapped out,” I said, too tired to open my eyes.
“It’s just me,” Juliet said. “I brought you some coffee.” That had me sitting up in a heartbeat, even if the sudden movement did make my head swim.
“You’re an angel,” I declared as she approached with a steaming mug in hand, the heavenly scent of coffee cutting through the haze in my mind and making my mouth water in anticipation. Accepting the mug from her with trembling hands, I sat for a while, letting the warmth seep into my fingers.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like an entire baseball team decided to use my head for batting practice,” I replied before taking a sip from my mug. The hot liquid burned the tip of my tongue but tasted too damn good for me to let it cool. “How are things going downstairs? Is the pack still here?”
“It’s settled down a bit. Most of them have gone home, but I think Genevieve and Jacqueline are going to stay with Vanessa and the kids for a few days. She’s having a tough time dealing with it.” A mournful wail rang out as if to emphasize her words.
We waited in silence for the cries to pass, fading back into wordless, snuffling sobs.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Your phone has been ringing like crazy. Looks like someone really wants to get a h
old of you,” Juliet said, producing my phone from the soft cotton bag slung over her shoulder.
“Probably just Cordova wanting to bitch me out some more for borrowing his Ferrari,” I grumbled as I took the phone from her and set it beside me on the bed. I was so not in the mood for talking to the pissed off vamp.
Chuckling, the petite blonde shook her head. “Yeah, Hank mentioned something about that.”
I wanted to ask what else her brother had mentioned—namely the heated kiss we’d shared—but the words died on my tongue when the man in question stepped into the doorway. Backlit by the lights from the hallway, he looked like something out of a wet dream, and yet I felt little more than a mild appreciation for his physique. The relief I had felt when I thought it was Holbrook standing guard over me while I slept had been a clear sign of where my true affections lay. Sure, in his absence I’d been blindsided by the sexy pack master, but the attraction there was purely physical. What I felt for Holbrook went far deeper than sex.
“There’s someone here to see you, says he’s an FBI agent,” he said and my heart thumped in excitement.
“Holbrook?” I asked, angling to see past Hank into the hallway where a tall figure was coming into view. There was nothing I wanted more than to feel his strong arms wrapped around me and to be able to breathe in his familiar molasses scent. Whether it was true or not, I felt like everything would be okay if he was here with me.
“Where is she?” I heard someone demand and felt my excitement fade. “Riley? What’s going on?” Tillman asked as he pushed his way into the room, red-faced and disheveled.
“Oh. Hey, Tillman,” I said, trying not to sound disappointed at his appearance, and failing.
Frowning at my less than enthusiastic greeting, he asked, “What the hell happened to you?”
“Had a run-in with a Day Crazed vamp. You know, just the usual,” I replied, emphasizing my casual explanation with a sip from my mug.
“With a what?” he began to ask and then dismissed his question with a wave of his hand. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”
The urge to shrug at him was strong, but the pulse of pain in my shoulder from the vamp’s bite limited my motions to raising and lowering my cup. Thanks to my lycanthrope healing some of the more minor bumps and bruises had already started to disappear, but there were still plenty of aches and pains to give me the feeling I was going to be sore for a while.
Damn blood suckers.
Stepping into the room, Tillman exchanged an evaluating look with Hank, the two men sizing each other up, tempting me to tell them to whip their dicks out and get it over with. Glancing at Juliet, I saw what I was sure was an identical expression to my own. Meeting my gaze, she made a show of rolling her eyes at the childish display of machismo and I let out a bark of laughter, which turned into a groan as every inch of my body protested.
“What’s so funny?” Tillman asked in a gruff voice.
“Um...”
“So, Agent Tillman, how do you know Riley?” Juliet asked, saving me from having to come up with a reason for my amusement. I was still on Tillman’s shit list, and I doubted pointing out that he and Hank were acting like a pair of posturing peacocks would help improve his opinion of me.
At first Tillman didn’t look like he would respond, his suspicious gaze remaining on me, but eventually he relented.
“I err... work with Agent Holbrook,” he replied, finally looking at Juliet. In a room full of weres no one missed the sudden flush in his cheeks when the petite blonde smiled up at him.
“Would that be the infamous Holbrook?” she asked, casting a teasing look in my direction.
“I suppose so,” Tillman said, clearly confused.
Deciding to nip Juliet’s line of questioning in the bud before she could get too carried away, I asked, “What’s up Tillman? I’m guessing you didn’t just happen to be in the neighborhood. How’d you even know I was here?”
“Holbrook called me. He’s going out of his mind worried about you. Said something about a vamp attacking you and the line cutting off. I can see he had the vamp part right, but you look okay.”
I wasn’t sure being treated like a vamp chew toy classified as being okay, but didn’t have the energy to argue about it. Shifting on the bed to find a more comfortable position, my phone slid into my hip reminding me of Juliet’s earlier comment. I’d dismissed the calls as Cordova wanting to bitch me out, but in light of Tillman’s presence I had a pretty good idea of what I would find when I flipped the phone over. 6 missed calls and 4 new voicemails, all of them from Holbrook.
Well, shit.
“Can you guys give me a minute?” I asked, gesturing to my phone.
When Tillman and Hank didn’t move right away, Juliet rolled her eyes and grabbed her brother by the elbow to steer him out of the room.
“How about a cup of coffee, Agent? Or maybe a sandwich? There’s enough food downstairs to feed an army.”
Tillman paused for a second before he murmured, “Uh... sure.” From the dazed look in his eyes I got the feeling he’d have done anything she asked.
Catching Juliet’s eye as she herded the men into the hallway I mouthed the words “Thank you.”
Waiting until I heard their collective footsteps moving down the stairs, I pulled up Holbrook’s number and propped myself up in bed while listening to the measured tones ringing in my ear. My fingers drummed on my thigh as I counted the rings, and on the fourth ring felt my anticipation crumble, giving way to disappointment. I’d heard his voicemail message so many times I could have recited it word for word when it started, the recording of his voice barely hinting at the warmth and comfort the real thing held.
My sigh sounded loud in the quiet gloom of the room as I rubbed my hand over my face and waited for the beep.
“Hey Darius, it’s me...” I began and then stopped, unsure of what to say. It had only been a few hours since we’d last spoken, but so much had transpired in that time that it felt as if a lifetime had passed. “I’m okay... a bit banged up, but Alyssa checked me out and says I’ll be fine. Tillman is here, but you probably already knew that. So umm... I guess that’s it for now. Bye.”
I miss you, I added silently as I hung up and sagged back against the pillows, overcome with the sudden urge to cry or scream. Maybe both.
I allowed myself a few minutes to wallow in self-pity, then set my jaw against the pain as I forced myself into motion. Every muscle screamed in protest, but I refused to remain prone and vulnerable in a stranger’s bed. Feeling each bruise and scrape with startling clarity, I was glad no one was there to witness the tears that escaped when I finally stood swaying beside the bed, sucking in ragged breaths through my clenched teeth.
“Cordova owes me hazard pay,” I growled as I shuffled to the door, cringing at the fresh layer of sweat that made my shirt cling to my skin.
My progress down the stairs was slow and full of muttered curses, giving me more than enough time to imagine all the ways I was going to exact revenge on the master vampire and his Day Servant. From my conversation with Cordova, I was leaning towards believing that he and Chrismer hadn’t set me up, but the jury was still out on whether or not I wanted to continue working for him. If the day’s events were any indication of how the rest of the investigation would go, I wasn’t sure I’d survive long enough to figure out who the perp was.
Reaching the bottom, I was forced to lean against the wall while waiting for the world to stop spinning and the white sparkles in my vision to subside. Alyssa had assured me that I hadn’t suffered a concussion during the vamp’s attack, but I wasn’t so sure. Once I was recovered from the exertion of going down the stairs, I decided to go in search of Tillman and the others. Maybe if I asked nicely enough, Juliet would make me a sandwich, too.
I was halfway down the hallway towards the kitchen when I spotted the back of Alyssa’s head up ahead and knew that she’d lay into me if she caught me up and moving without any help. Having a doctor as a friend was useful at t
imes, especially when I seemed to attract every weirdo under the sun, but it had its drawbacks too. Deciding that I wasn’t up to handling a lecture from her, I ducked through the closest doorway, and almost immediately backpedaled out of the room to face down the angry succubus instead.
Caught up in my own problems, I’d forgotten why I was here in the first place, but when forced to face the broken figure of Vanessa surrounded by friends and family it all came rushing back. It didn’t look as though she’d moved from her position on the couch, but at some point someone had replaced her glass of whiskey with a cup of black coffee. Just as before, my entrance brought all conversation in the room to a halt, exacerbating my feelings of being unwelcome. Unsure of what to do or say, I froze in the doorway.
“What the fuck are you looking at?” Vanessa demanded, her tear streaked face contorted with anger and grief. I understood her anger at the situation and her need to lash out at someone, anyone, and couldn’t fault her for choosing me as the convenient outlet for her rage. Who was I other than an unwelcome stranger bearing witness to her grief?
“Um... nothing. Sorry,” I said, backing out of the room.
“Sorry? You’re sorry?” she hissed. “Your ‘sorry’ won’t bring back their father or my husband. Fuck you and your ‘sorry’!”
“I didn’t mean to...”
“Get out!”
Stumbling in my haste to get away, I almost fell flat on my face. Only Tillman’s hand on my elbow kept me from face planting for the second time that evening, though the strain on my injured shoulder made me cry out, and I prayed that I didn’t pass out again, or puke on the brown and green geometric rug in the hallway.