"Well, I didn’t really put much thought into it."
"You deserve better. Let’s go find one of those VIP rooms."
"Shouldn’t we maybe tell a nurse or doctor or something?"
"You’re so cute. No wonder Jack likes you so much."
*****
Thirty minutes later two men stepped into Erica’s old room. The TV was still on, quietly playing late night advertising. One man gestured to the other, pointing at the feminine head of hair barely visible under the sheets. The man in back closed the door behind them, careful not to make a sound. He readied his gun as his partner grabbed the corner of the sheet. He yanked the sheet away, but didn’t see what they expected. Instead of seeing a woman hours removed from a car accident, a beautiful redhead in jeans and a white tee shirt spun in bed toward them.
"Boo!"
Victoria studied the men sent for Erica. She shook her head at both of them for different reasons. The man on the left holding the gun was Officer Derek Thomas. She didn’t recognize his partner, but could smell the vampire blood in his veins.
"Well, well," she said, casually resting her head on her hand. "Laurel and Hardy." She stared at Derek. "How did you go from wanting to protect Tiffany from the evil Jack Kursed to wanting to kill her and her teacher?"
He aimed his gun at her, and was noticeably upset when she didn’t flinch. "You’d be surprised at the things a man will do when he gets fired. I have a family to take care of. The way I look at it, this is all Jack’s fault."
"Interesting logic."
"Where’s the teacher? Tell us in the next ten seconds, and maybe we’ll let you live."
"Ah. So, which of you can count to ten?"
The nameless vampire lunged at her, stopping a few inches from her face.
"Listen, bitch, you have no idea who you’re dealing with," he said, his fangs exposed.
"Burke, back off," Derek said.
"Oooh," Victoria said. "You have big teeth, too."
Victoria shoved him backwards, her strength catching him by surprise. He stumbled backwards into the wall. By the time he regained his balance Victoria was already on her feet. She held Officer Derek Thomas’ body up with one hand, having snapped his neck one second before. His gun fell to the floor.
"Seriously?" she asked. "You couldn’t tell a vampire was under the sheet? Do you not have a sense of smell? How old are you? Two? Three?"
Her comments struck home, as Burke was confused and afraid. He held his hands at his side, ready to attack.
"I was turned two years ago. I’ve been trying to find my place ever since."
"Well, you chose the wrong one."
"You won’t be saying that after I beat you within an inch of your life."
Victoria laughed. Burke swiped with his claw. She easily leaned back and thrust Derek’s body out like a shield. He raked Derek across the chest, slicing through his shirt and flesh. She tossed the body onto the bed before it could drip blood to the floor. She didn’t want to spend much time cleaning up.
"Clumsy and slow," she said. "I’m surprised a vampire hunter hasn’t come knocking at your door-"
He swiped two more times, snarling as he did so. Victoria dodged easily, and rammed the broken table leg she concealed behind her back into his chest. She covered his mouth before he could scream.
"Shhh, little baby."
He stared into her eyes as he lost consciousness. She would be the last thing he ever saw. She stacked his body on top of Derek’s and covered them both with the sheet. Speed and timing were important, as she didn’t need Derek’s body trailing blood all over the hospital.
She shook her head as she pushed the bed into the hall.
"Newborns."
*****
Jack and Tiffany stopped short of entering Erica’s room. He took a deep breath and knelt down to look Tiffany in the eyes. The child was quickly looking like her old self. The tears were long gone, the pink back in her cheeks. He'd put a bandage on her scratch. She looked exhausted, like she could fall asleep any second.
"You can’t ever tell anyone," he said. "Okay? About what happened tonight, it has to be our secret."
She shook her head. "I won’t tell anyone ever. I promise. I remember the story. They took me to the wrong hospital, and you came and got me."
"You got it."
"I love you, Jack."
He smiled and gave her another hug. "You’re not so bad yourself."
Jack opened the door to see Erica lying in bed. She was asleep, but woke up when Tiffany shouted her name. Tears ran down Erica’s face as she held her arms out.
"Tiffany! Are you okay?"
She ran across the room into her teacher’s arms. Erica turned on her side as best she could to hug Tiffany.
"I’m fine. They took me to the wrong hospital. Jack came and got me."
"I’m so sorry. God, I feel so terrible."
"It’s okay," Tiffany said. "I’m fine. Are you okay?"
Erica cried, but was able to talk through the tears. "I’m fine. You are one awesome little girl."
Tiffany beamed. "I know."
Jack laughed and looked at the new room. "Took us a while to find you. You switch rooms?"
"Yeah. Victoria snapped, said I should have a better room. I see where you two are a lot alike."
His phone vibrated as the text message came in. It was a single word.
Roof.
"That’s her now," he said. "I’ll be right back. Tiffany, would you stay with Erica for a few minutes? Keep her company?"
"Yeah. But you have to give me another hug."
"And me, too," Erica said.
Jack rolled his eyes. "What is it with you females and the hugs?"
He knelt down to give Tiffany a hug, and nearly stumbled when Erica leaned over and wrapped her arms around him. Tiffany laughed, and the three shared a group hug, the first in Jack’s long life.
"Okay, okay, that’s enough hugging. I’ll be back."
He made his way to the stairwell leading to the roof and saw the lock was broken on the door. Pushing it open, he could see it was almost dawn, the night slowly retreating.
Victoria sat casually in a chair she’d brought up. She turned and offered Jack a smile.
"Hey there," she said. "You’re just in time to see the fireworks."
He stood next to her and looked at the two bodies twenty feet away. He recognized Officer Derek Thomas underneath another body, presumably their vampire. The vampire had a broken table leg through his chest.
"Looks like you had fun," he said. "Did you have any trouble?"
"Please. They both went down like children. How did your end go?"
"Fine. Tiffany’s with Erica."
"Good."
The sun peeked over the horizon, bathing the roof in light. The vampire’s body went up in flames, taking Officer Thomas with it. Victoria pulled out a pair of sunglasses and slipped them over her eyes. The scent of burning flesh brought back painful memories.
"This is a first for us, isn’t it?" she asked.
"Watching a few bodies burn in the morning sun? I’d say so."
She laughed and stood up, slapping Jack on the shoulder. "I have to go," she said. "I have to get that hard drive to my contact."
"Thank you, Victoria. For being there for me."
"You’re welcome. What is family for? Walk down with me. I want to say goodbye to Tiffany and Erica."
The immortal and the vampire went back to Erica’s room. She cut her words off as she turned through the door. Smiling, she leaned in the doorway, gesturing for Jack to take a look.
Tiffany had crawled into bed with Erica and they had both fallen asleep. Tiffany’s shoes were on the floor next to the bed. Erica snored quietly. Her hair fell on Tiffany's nose, and the girl brushed it aside without waking up. They had certainly earned some rest.
"You’ve got the makings of a little family here," Victoria whispered. "I’ll be back in a few days."
Jack waved at Victoria one last time
before she vanished into the elevator. He turned his attention back to Tiffany and Erica. For the first time, he felt absolutely no jealousy or anger at watching others sleep.
CHAPTER 16
Victoria was feeling the effects pushing herself too hard. She’d been driving for the past four hours, only stopping once to lure a man into the bathroom of a highway gas station. The man had been drinking, which gave his blood a nasty taste, but it was enough to keep going.
She patted the pack on her seat that contained the hard drive. Hopefully cracking the data would be as easy as her contact said it would be. Alex and Cindy’s wedding would be upon her faster than she was ready for, and there was no way she would miss it.
Her demeanor eased as the highway finally opened up into a small town. It was nearly noon, and the hot sun danced across her skin. She smiled as she parked in the mall parking lot. Afternoon shoppers and teens cutting class left their cars and headed inside. She grabbed her pack and followed the scattered groups into the mall.
Blood surrounded her, a reassuring feeling. Couples walked here and there, stopping in front of stores and kiosks. A teen couple kissed on a bench with passion, making Victoria miss Jake Bachner. A bored-looking man in the middle of the aisle flew a remote-controlled helicopter near the ceiling with expert precision.
Victoria followed her nose to the food court, where the crowds were a little thicker. She scanned the restaurants until she found what she was looking for, a TGI Friday’s. She shook her head as she crossed the food court, still amazed her contact worked as a server in a restaurant.
"Hi," the pretty young woman greeted. Her name tag read Anita. "Table for one?"
"No, actually I’m looking for someone who works here," Victoria said. A smile crossed her face as her eyes fell on him, refilling drinks at a soda fountain. "And there he is."
Anita followed Victoria’s gaze. "Kevin? Kevin Mishnar? You’re here for him?"
"Yeah."
Anita wrinkled her face as she eyed Victoria with jealousy. She obviously had a thing for Victoria’s friend.
"Aren’t you a little old for him?" she asked.
"Oh, a lot old. Excuse me."
Kevin was still the same cute young man not even a year removed from high school. Short brown hair, bright smile, adorable dimples. The Friday’s uniform didn’t exactly mesh with him. But she wasn’t sure what uniform would mesh well with the most powerful supernatural creature alive.
Victoria was halfway across the restaurant when Kevin spotted her. She could feel the looks she was getting from the male patrons, as well as some of the servers. A few snide comments touched her ears from two or three of the females who had crushes on Kevin. He smiled as they embraced in the middle of the restaurant.
"Victoria," he said. "I didn’t think you’d be here until tomorrow."
"Well, this is important. And it looks like I didn’t interrupt much."
"It’ll be swamped at night, but I’ll be off then." He looked up at a supervisor across the restaurant. "Hey Danny? Can I take a break?"
Danny simply waved him away. Kevin led Victoria out the back to the food court. Anita glared at them both as they left.
"I see you’re still popular with the ladies," Victoria said.
"Eh, whatever," Kevin said. They sat at a table in the center, away from everyone else. "So, how’s my favorite person-who-buried-me-in-a-coffin?"
"You are never gonna let me forget that, are you? You roasted me to a crisp with one of your little magic-sunlight-gizmos the next day, so I’d say we’re even."
He gestured to the sunglasses on top of her head. "At least that won’t be a problem anymore."
She smiled and leaned across the table, giving Kevin a gentle kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you," she said, her voice shaking with emotion. "I wish I had some better way to thank you for the gift."
"Don’t worry about it. Just don’t ask me to do it again. Some of the crap I had to get...absolutely disgusting."
Victoria laughed. "How was graduation? How are Kristin and Rachel?"
Kevin frowned, and she regretted asking the question. Kristin was Kevin’s adopted sister, Rachel his girlfriend.
"Kristin is okay. Graduation was fine. I couldn’t help people cheat in school anymore, so I started working here. Rachel went off to college, of course."
Victoria could almost see the events in her mind, but asked regardless.
"What happened?"
"She met someone, obviously. She met someone that doesn’t carry bird claws and bat fangs around with them."
"Aw, Kevin. I’m sorry."
"It’s okay. It still stings a little, but I’ll live, right?"
Victoria wanted to comfort him, but wasn’t sure what to say. He was nineteen, and would have many more chances at romance in his life. But she knew those weren’t words he wanted to hear. She simply reached out and touched his hand. Her thoughts kept drifting to the pack at her feet, and she felt guilty for it. Kevin saw her mind was elsewhere, and smiled as he gestured to the floor.
"Did the hard drive clone go okay?" he asked.
"Yes. But do you want to talk about this now? We can always come back to it."
He laughed and shook his head. "You said it was important. I’ll be right back, let me get my laptop."
Five minutes later he was opening his laptop at the table while Victoria fished the portable hard drive from her pack. She glanced around nervously as the people ate and talked not far away.
"It’s safe to do this here?" she asked.
"I don’t exactly have a lab, unless you want to wait until I get off at seven tonight."
Victoria shook her head. "Here will be fine. Go ahead and work your magic."
"Nice choice of words."
She sat in silence as he worked for several minutes. He hooked her portable hard drive to his laptop and typed quickly at the keyboard.
"What are you doing, exactly?"
"I’m gonna copy the hard drive image you made, make a virtual machine out of it. We’ll be able to boot it up like it was the real laptop."
"But the security will still be there, right? We won’t be able to access anything?"
Kevin smiled and turned the laptop to show his progress. The same logon window Victoria saw earlier in Collins’ room was in a smaller window, waiting for a password.
"Right. Did you get what I asked for?"
She reached again into her pack and pulled out a wad of toilet paper with some of Collins’ hair in it. Kevin accepted it and looked it over.
"Perfect."
"It was a little gross, trying to pull hair out of his brush."
Kevin produced a vial of what looked like milk, capped with a tiny cork. Victoria had the feeling that whatever was in his hand was far from milk. He popped the cork and shoved the hair inside.
"You drink blood, and you think this is gross? Victoria, believe me, you haven’t seen gross until you’ve seen me in the kitchen while Kristin’s at work."
"What is that?"
"Just something that popped in my head one day after I forgot a password."
Kevin hid the mixture under the table, but Victoria still saw the slight glow as he capped the vial with his thumb and turned it upside-down. He poured a tiny drop on his finger and touched a few random keys on the keyboard.
"And there we go," he said, turning the laptop toward her. "Passwords-Be-Gone."
"You have got to be kidding me," she said as she looked at a desktop full of folders and icons. "Technology and magic, working side by side. This is scary."
"What exactly are you looking for?"
"To be honest, I don’t know. Just a clue as to what this guy’s been up to."
Victoria found much more than simply a clue.
The search was slow at first. She found mostly personal items, pictures of two children, music, a questionable web browsing history. Her entire body froze when she found a folder buried among many others.
Baltimore – Camden Yards.
"What’s up? What did you find?"
Terror gripped her as she browsed through the folder’s contents, and images from her own memory merged with the horrific photos Collins had on his hard drive. Vampires on tables with heavy restraints, lashing out at anyone who passed by. Bodies that refused to die after being drained by a vampire, cramped in cages.
The nature of the photos changed as Victoria browsed. The mindless feral vampires gave way to something much worse, something she hadn't seen in a century.
"God, please, no."
"What?" Kevin said, urgency in his voice. "Tell me what’s going on."
Glancing at Kevin, she realized he didn’t know the whole story, only bits and pieces.
"Believe it or not, Kevin, vampires are rare. Not everyone bitten gets turned. A group of scientists were trying to cure vampirism, but they were way off the mark. The only thing they succeeded in was making it more viral, able to pass to anyone, and making them wild."
"You're talking about Baltimore, two years ago? The fake terrorist attack? Videos of you on You Tube?"
"Yes. I thought it was gone, but I was wrong. This is...not good."
"Okay, so what's this guy Collins have to do with everything?"
Victoria scanned through more videos, photos, emails. She didn't understand all of the science, but one thing was clear.
"He's helping them, consulting." Her heart pounded in her chest as she found recent emails with the best news yet. "They're finally letting him see the facility. It's about an hour away from where I'm staying. I have to shut it down."
"I'll help."
"No, you won't. I don't want you involved-"
She froze as a sudden movement caught her attention near a garbage can. A man dressed in jeans and a football jersey slid his trash into the bin, and then reached behind him, giving Victoria a quick glance.
She moved, but not quickly enough. She was standing up as the bullet meant for her forehead struck her throat. Falling backwards, she pulled the laptop and table down on top of her.
"Victoria!" Kevin shouted.
It took a moment for the diners in the food court to react. Some looked around in confusion. Three more people had to draw weapons at different tables and fire at Victoria and Kevin before the hysteria set in.
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