Blood Trails

by Alianne Donnelly

  Too bad it only worked on the body, not the mind.

  Hailey couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this tired, physically and in every other way. Exhaustion was pulling her back to sleep before it even got dark outside.

  But she wasn’t ready to check out just yet.

  *

  “Agent Calen! Agent Calen! What led to your discovery of the criminal?”

  Jeremy was nearing the end of his patience. Another press conference. It felt as if there’d been hundreds of them already, always the same. A crowd of reporters jostling and shouting, trying to get his attention just so they could fire questions that had already been asked and answered dozens of times. He was sick of it. His shoulder ached, his telepathy was still going the subtle kind of haywire in crowds, he missed Hailey like a phantom limb, and there seemed to be no way to shake these jackals.

  “Pain sells,” John said in what Jeremy figured was supposed to be consolation. “It’s like watching a train wreck. It’s horrible, but you can’t look away. The public eats it up, the stations cash it in. They’ll want to milk this for all it’s worth.”

  His boss and mentor had taken a break from his busy schedule to come here as an official cover story. With John MacMurphy, the director of Earth’s Special Unit, in the picture, no one asked about how Jeremy got on the case. No one cared about a missing persons investigation. What they wanted was to tell people that a dangerous criminal was caught and no longer posed a threat to society.

  And show as many gory pictures as they possibly could.

  There, at least, they were shit out of luck. Jeremy had savored telling the first group of reporters that the bodies of the criminal and his latest victim had already been taken for medical examination and no reporters would be allowed near them.

  “Through teamwork and collaboration with the police departments,” Jeremy said, repeating a rehearsed line yet again, “the Special Unit became aware of certain factors in the case which ultimately led us to Torrey, following the suspect’s movements.”

  “How did you know who to watch?” a woman asked. It wasn’t her turn, and she got a lot of dirty looks for speaking up.

  “By comparing notes from each individual case against arrival and departure times to and from the cities. As you can imagine, it took quite a lot of work. The Special Unit would like to convey our gratitude to everyone who helped us in this investigation.”

  “Very diplomatic,” John said.

  “Maybe they’ll lay off and go bother someone else for a change.”

  “If the entire Special Unit was involved,” the first reporter said, “why were you the only one present at the scene? You were the only agent on the planet.”

  That was new. “Torrey is my home,” Jeremy answered. He didn’t have much more to add to that.

  “I believe,” John cut in, “that Agent Calen is being modest. Naturally, when we discovered that the suspect was heading to Torrey we immediately dispatched several agents and informed Agent Calen of the situation in full detail. He was our eyes and ears here until the other agents arrived. It was purely by stroke of luck that Agent Calen happened to find the suspect so close to his home.”

  “Still,” the reporter insisted. “Don’t you think it’s a little suspicious that the suspect came to this specific village, was found by Agent Calen, and attacked him, supposedly sustaining a fatal injury in the process?”

  “If you do your due diligence,” Jeremy said, his temper spiking, “you will find that the shuttleport outside of Amberley is the largest on this particular continent, and the only one equipped to support inter-world travel. Torrey’s not exactly a tourist hub.”

  “Oh, I have done my homework,” the reporter said. “And it seems that your travel itineraries match up to the suspect’s very well. In fact, your arrival on Torrey preceded the suspect’s by a day or two, isn’t that true?”

  Jeremy saw red. He wasn’t usually a violent person but at this particular moment he wanted to rip the reporter’s tongue out to shut him up. He crushed the now empty paper cup in his fist. It was all he could do. He had to keep his face impassive but his hand was concealed by the podium. Jeremy imagined that the cup was the guy’s throat.

  John nudged him aside and took the podium. “As we said in our official report, and in answers to the media, the chase after this dangerous criminal was a team effort. What you have so astutely discovered was our effort to connect with different precincts and compare notes. At the time of Agent Calen’s return to Torrey, the trail was cold, and we had no further leads. Agent Calen returned home to address a personal issue, and it was purely by chance that the suspect happened to follow.”

  The reporter spoke again but Jeremy didn’t hear him anymore, or anything else that followed. He’d had enough of this circus. And from the looks of it, Amberley shared his disgust. The residents were relieved that their community was safe again, but no one wanted this kind of attention.

  The town still mourned the death of one of their own and the media with their constant questions and complaints about the lack of amenities reminded them of it daily. The town market was almost empty most days and there was talk of cancelling the Baroque Bash in English Village. Amberley and the surrounding villages were in a crisis like they’d never had to deal with before.

  When John announced that he would answer no more questions the reporters went wild, shouting a dozen more at him. Jeremy just turned and walked away. It was either that, or dive in there and start busting heads. With his arm still in a sling, that was probably not a good idea.

  “I don’t remember you being this temperamental,” John said. He wasn’t following, but taking another way around town to lead the reporters elsewhere.

  “A lot’s happened in the last five years.”

  John chuckled. “Far more has happened in the last five weeks, is my guess.”

  Jeremy rubbed his jaw. He was outside Amberley now, taking the slow way home – walking. He needed time to breathe and cope.

  “Don’t worry about the reporters,” John told him. “I’ll get one of the others to cover for you. We’ll talk it around somehow. They won’t get anywhere near the Chase sisters.”

  “Thanks,” he replied. But that wasn’t his only worry. “How’s Pixie doing?” His sister hadn’t talked to him since he and Amelia had brought Hailey back to the lab. She was staying at Hunt’s castle now, planning to go see the world or something. She didn’t answer his calls and she’d shielded her mind against him. It was the first time he’d ever been so completely cut off from her.

  “Confused,” John said. “She knows what she did might have been questionable but she stands by her choices. At the time, there really wasn’t anything else she could have done.”

  “She could have not sent Hailey to her death.”

  “Yes, well, she was trying to save you.”

  Jeremy groaned and sat down hard on a log next to the road. God, this was a mess.

  “Bottom line is, she knows she hurt you. She had her priorities and didn’t realize that they might have needed to shift. She needs some time to adjust, is all.”

  Jeremy had no idea how to deal with that. As an external observer he probably would have told himself to give her time. They’d been together constantly since before Pixie could probably remember. Maybe she needed this time apart to figure out who she was, and how she fit in this world.

  But as an older brother all he wanted was to have his baby sister back safe and sound. He wanted to drag her back by her ear and lock her up until she was at least twenty-two. He could just imagine how well that would work.

  The sun was going down. The sky faded and what few clouds there were became fiery hues of red, purple, and orange. They looked like Hailey’s rosettes to him. If he looked hard enough, he could almost make out the shape of her leopard face in the patterns.

  She’d died twice.

  Jeremy had felt her heart stop beating almost as soon as Amelia had injected her with that final serum. She’d been
dead for five goddamn minutes before Amelia managed to bring her back to life. Barely. He didn’t remember how long it had taken them to get her into the taxi and back to the lab. Probably wouldn’t want to.

  Watching Amelia chemically induce Hailey to change shape back to human had nearly killed him. Conscious, Hailey had a modicum of control over the shift. She could steer it and slow it down or speed it up. Unconscious, her body did whatever the hell it wanted to. By the time Hailey had completed the change to full human she’d been in no better shape than that very first night, her body black and blue with internal bleeding, numerous broken bones, and bloody tears tracking from her eyes.

  She’d died again seven hours later. For nine and a half minutes. Which would make it a total of three times Hailey’s heart had stopped since she’d changed herself. Another little factoid he hadn’t known until Amelia had told him. The very first time Hailey had died had been moments after she’d injected herself with the virus five months ago and the only thing that had saved her life had been the regenerative serum kicking into gear inside her.

  “Stop thinking about it,” John grumbled. “I’ll have nightmares for months as it is.”

  “Can’t.” For the rest of his life, he would remember how it felt to watch her slipping away and be completely helpless to stop it.

  “You’ll get over it.”

  “What?”

  “Okay, maybe not get over it, exactly,” John said. “But you’ll appreciate every moment you get with her even more. Unfortunately, nothing does a better job to remind us how precious life is, than death.”

  Jeremy respectfully expelled his mentor from his mind and got to his feet. He had four more miles to walk. He was only going home to shower and change his clothes before he went back to the lab. Hailey was doing better. Her body was healing, and the bruises were finally beginning to fade. Amelia had high hopes that she would wake up soon.

  He wanted to be there when she did.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “What do you mean, she’s gone?”

  “Hailey Chase is not in the facility,” the computer repeated. Jeremy was going to smash it to pieces. All of it. The computer, the equipment, the whole damn building. Starting with whatever was emitting that automated voice that refused to give him information.

  Hailey’s room was empty. There was glass on the floor and a few drops of dried blood on the sheets. The covers were hanging off the edge of the bed, the monitors were turned off, and the patches that used to be attached to Hailey’s chest and arms were stuck together and tossed in the trash.

  Not exactly what Jeremy had expected to find.

  “Locate Amelia Chase.”

  “Dr. Amelia Chase is in room 202. North Wing. Second floor.”

  That was just down the hall. Jeremy ran the few yards, and banged on the door with a curled fist before he barged in without waiting for an answer. “Ame—” he yelled before he spotted her by the window, “—lia,” he finished at a more reasonable decibel level.

  She blinked up at him. “Come in,” she said drily. “Something I can help you with?”

  “Where’s Hailey?”

  She set down the notepad and took her feet off the coffee table. “What do you mean, where’s Hailey?”

  “Did you move her to another room?”

  Amelia shook her head. “Locate. Dr. Hailey Chase.”

  “Doctor?”

  “I submitted our research on managing the virus’s side effects to a medical board in her name and they awarded her an honorary medical degree. All she needs to do is take a written exam and pass a test on a cadaver and she’ll be a fully licensed research MD like me.”

  “Dr. Hailey Chase is not in the facility,” the computer said.

  “That is, of course, if she doesn’t disappear again,” Amelia added and got to her feet in a hurry.

  Jeremy followed her out of the room and down to the main floor. “She’s got to be somewhere close by. Tell me you implanted a tracking chip in her ass this time.”

  “Not exactly, but if I adjust the scanner’s range I should be able to locate her.” In the center of the facility was a giant lab with a lot of medical equipment and computers. Amelia went to the largest computer and typed in command after command, swearing at the results that popped up on the screen. “She’s not here,” she said after the last string of curses.

  “Yeah, I got that,” Jeremy said. He should have seen this coming. Hailey wouldn’t have stayed put to save her life. When it came to running, she was an expert at finding a loophole and sprinting for freedom. “Just expand the range to all of Amberley and the surrounding area.”

  “No,” Amelia said. “I mean, she’s not on Torrey.”

  Jeremy’s shoulders slumped and his gaze turned up toward the heavens. “You have got to be shitting me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  September 19th, 3032, Lotus Three

  The Beach wasn’t so much a town as it was a sprawling beach resort. An island in the clearest, most beautiful shark-free ocean known to man. The water was glistening green and all sorts of colorful fish swam in it. There were coral reefs circling the island about fifty yards from where the waves broke on the beach, palm trees scattered here and there for shade, little huts with bars offering every refreshment and drink known to man.

  It was a sandbar, really. Only bigger, with a strip of green running down the middle of the snowy white expanse of beach. The best a guest could hope for in terms of accommodations was a hammock strung up between the palm trees. Maybe an extra one to serve as a roof when it rained.

  This was as cheap as it got on Lotus Three and it was leagues beyond five-star resorts on other planets. People didn’t come here to sightsee or hold business meetings. They came to surf, and dive, and sunbathe. And for that, Hailey didn’t need a hotel room.

  She was actually tanning. Oh, she’d missed the sun so much! Now that she didn’t have to worry about sprouting fangs and claws or a coating of fur every few minutes she could just lie back and enjoy. And the best thing about this was that The Beach offered complimentary sun block. The stuff was amazing. It adjusted to the skin and let just enough sunlight through to tan but not burn.

  So someone like Hailey, who had begun to blend in with the sand here, didn’t have to worry about looking like a lobster at the end of the day. She could fall asleep, wake up hours later, turn over, fall asleep again, and she wouldn’t burn.

  That was pretty much what she’d been doing ever since she got here. It was the best therapy ever. Hailey now had her healthy tan back and she loved it. She adored being on the beach, listening to the waves hiss in and out, even the chatter of other people.

  It was as close to heaven as a woman like her could get. Absolutely perfect.

  Except for the times she thought of a certain telepath and got that achy hollow feeling in her chest and craved a giant bear hug, she was getting along swimmingly. Her body had healed in record time, she hardly thought about the psycho anymore, and she could just enjoy being free.

  All on her own.

  By herself.

  Alone.

  At first, she’d had a little trouble relaxing, kept feeling exposed, but that had faded in time. She still felt that something important was missing, but Hailey was almost certain that sensation would go away at some point too. She was fully prepared to move on with her life.

  She deserved it. After all Hailey had been through she was looking forward to a little peace and quiet. Some quality alone time. R&R without anyone stirring up trouble in her mind, or making up outrageous fantasies that made her toes curl and her body respond whether she was awake or asleep.

  Yep, solitude was nice. Really, it was.

  She’d started making friends again. There was a group of college graduates she’d met just this morning. They were a handful of twenty-somethings celebrating their entrance into adult life and they’d invited her to a bonfire tonight. Hailey planned on attending with glee and enthusiasm. Just thinking about it made
her all giddy and excited. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been to a bonfire.

  Around noon, Hailey went for a dip in the ocean to cool off. Hellcat might be completely integrated into her now, but she was still a creature of cold climates. She got cranky if she didn’t cool down every so often.

  The water felt like heaven. Hailey swam for a while up and down the beach, even dared to go up to the coral reefs but without her snorkeling gear she couldn’t fully appreciate its beauty. A wide circle to the reef and back. That was her exercise for the day. When she swam back to shore she felt like stretching and purring at the same time. Her bikini was hot pink today, ensuring that every male eye in the vicinity turned her way at some point. Many of them tended to stick and she’d get a whiff of desire carried on the breeze.

  Normally that would be a good thing. Great, even. Now it irritated her. She licked a fang, pondering what to do next. Her stomach felt not full. Not a dire need for food but Hellcat got fussy when she was peckish.

  On the other side of the island was a shack that served the most amazing seafood. She went there. No more nuked meals for her—ha! She dined on world-class cuisine these days, ironically, for about the same price as a prepackaged meal. Why couldn’t she have found this place earlier?

  The bartender-slash-cook saw her coming from a ways away and smiled in greeting. “So you’re back again,” he said, giving her a once-over. As usual, his gaze touched first on her breasts, then on her ass, then trailed back up to her hair, as if it bothered him. It was an annoying habit of his and even though he never said anything about it, Hailey was offended that there was something about her he didn’t like—and that it was something she thought of as one of her better features.

  As far as men went, Marco was on the steamalicious side of the spectrum. Long, sun-streaked hair, player smile, ripped arms and abs, and most definitely a flirt. Add his dreamy accent to the mix, and a girl was liable to melt. When he wasn’t making a face at her hair, thinking she wouldn’t notice.