Claim the Night

by Rachel Lee

  “Sure. And make sure to get a plumber out here soon to put in a water heater.”

  Chloe looked at Terri. “Four years,” she said. “For four years I’ve been taking icy showers when I’ve had to stay here for days on end because of a case.”

  “You should have said something,” Jude retorted. “Damn it, Chloe, I don’t read minds and I haven’t really noticed temperature in nearly two hundred years.”

  Chloe now arched both brows. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  She hitched one shoulder in a sort of shrug. “Well, I can understand why you wouldn’t think of it then.”

  Jude’s tone grew sarcastic. “So I’m forgiven?”

  “I’ll think about it. Now, on to the news. Creed called just a few minutes ago. He’s going to be late. Something about his granddaughter in a crisis.”

  “Hell,” Jude said quietly. “How bad?”

  “He didn’t say. And since when do vampires have grandchildren?”

  “Since they married and sired children before they became vampires!”

  Chloe pulled her head back a bit at Jude’s frustrated tone. “Sheesh. Okay. Cool your freaking jets, or whatever antiquated slang you understand. The rest of the news?”

  “Please,” he said between his teeth.

  “Garner didn’t find anything. He said he’ll look until he gets too tired and then start again in the morning.”

  Terri watched the exchange, wondering what had put Chloe so much on edge. Jealousy? Hadn’t she said she had long since gotten over her fascination with Jude? But what if she hadn’t? Terri squirmed uncomfortably.

  Chloe, however, presented the answer a moment later. “I did the research you wanted. At least as much as I could.” She pointed across the room to a stack of very old books. “I even hit some rare-book stores. You read fast, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Good. Because just from the little I’ve managed to pull together today in addition to what you learned last night, I’d say we’re in serious trouble, boss.”

  “I thought that was likely.”

  “No, are you hearing me, Jude? We, as in all of us, are in serious trouble!” Chloe rose from her chair. “You’d better start training us all. Fast. Because from what I’ve learned so far, one of us—Garner, me, you, Creed, or Terri—is the target.”

  Terri sank onto the couch, suddenly light-headed and weak. Chloe hurried across the room to sit beside her. “Jude, what did you do? Drain her?”

  “No!” The answer came simultaneously from both Jude and Terri.

  “She looks awful. Maybe sleeping in your coffin with you isn’t restful for a human.”

  Terri shook her head. “I’m fine, Chloe. Just…frightened.”

  “Ah, a wise person in the bunch.” Chloe patted her hand. “Someone who sees the dangers here. You’re a marvel, Dr. Black. You’ve probably noticed by now that Jude believes he’s invincible. I suspect Creed labors under the same delusion. Garner is every bit as cracked, too. You and I need to restore some sense here.”

  In spite of the chill creeping along her spine, Terri had to smile. “There’s plenty of sense to go around, Chloe. Jude was the first to recognize the seriousness of the threat.”

  Chloe sighed. “And here I was enjoying thinking I was on top of things first for a change.”

  A snort escaped Jude.

  Chloe ignored him. “We’ve got to get you some fresh clothes.”

  “I don’t want to go back to my apartment. At least not alone. That thing may be following me.”

  Chloe’s eyes widened. “What makes you think that?”

  “I’ve been feeling watched for a while now. And Garner said he could smell it around me, very faintly. As if it had come and gone.”

  Chloe looked at Jude. “Not good.”

  “Do you think I don’t know that? It’s the main reason she stayed here last night. I wasn’t about to let her go home.”

  “No ulterior motive, huh?”

  Terri shook her head. “Chloe, please. Jude offered me my choice of where I wanted to sleep. I didn’t feel safe alone in the outer office.”

  “Well.” Chloe frowned. “I guess I can understand that. After what I read today, I don’t want to be alone, either. I thought Jude would never come out of there.”

  Jude pulled a chair over, sitting closer to the two women. “I agree neither of you should be alone. So here’s what we’ll do. We’ll get you both some clothes, enough for a few days. Then I’ll get you a meal and bring some food back here.”

  Chloe groaned. “Oh, joy, a campout.”

  “Would you prefer to go home?”

  “No.”

  Which seemed to settle the issue.

  Jude went to get his coat, and Terri watched as he checked all his pockets to ensure he had the tools of his trade. Then he pulled out a spray bottle of holy water.

  “Hey, I’m sort of a Wiccan,” Chloe protested, but she nevertheless submitted to the spraying, muttering to Terri, “White magic is white magic.”

  Outside in the evening darkness, with the air feeling as soft as satin, they piled into Jude’s car with Chloe in the backseat.

  “I’d better warn you both,” Jude said, “but I can’t handle brightly lighted stores for long. So if you want me to stay with you, this is going to have to be as fast as you can make it.”

  “Fluorescent lighting bothers you?” Terri asked.

  “If it’s bright. My eyes are extremely sensitive. And if a place uses full-spectrum lighting, it’s painful to my skin.”

  “We’ll be fast,” she promised. “I’m not shopping for fancy. If it would be easier on you, we could just run by my place and I could get my own stuff.”

  He reacted instantly. “No, I don’t think that would be wise.”

  Chloe leaned forward until her head was almost between them. “Go to the mall on Brownville Avenue. There’s a clothing store there with an outside entrance. We can be in and out fast, and the place isn’t as bright as a mega store.”

  “Good idea,” Terri said. “I still don’t know my way around town enough to even know of a place like that.”

  “How long have you been here?” Chloe asked.

  “About six weeks. I came from Chicago.”

  “A big-city girl.”

  “Only recently. Before that I lived in a really small town. This place is as big a city as I ever want to live in.”

  “It’s big enough,” Chloe agreed. “I find everything I want here.”

  “And a few things you don’t,” Jude remarked.

  Terri cocked her eye his way. “You had to bring that up.”

  They shopped rapidly. All either of them wanted were some comfortable slacks, a few lightweight shirts, a jacket and underwear. Lots of clean underwear. The clerk allowed Terri to change into one of her new outfits in the dressing room, which made her feel considerably better.

  Jude paid at the register for all of it, then carried their bags to the car where he put them in the trunk.

  “Now,” he said, “a quiet, dark restaurant, preferably one where we won’t have to spend most of the evening. What kind of food would you like?”

  Chloe looked at Terri. “Chinese or Italian?”

  “Italian. Less animal fats.”

  Chloe sighed. “I knew there had to be a downside to knowing a doctor.”

  “There’s a downside to having a vampire as your host, too,” Jude remarked. “I haven’t scoped out any restaurants.”

  So Chloe guided them to a small restaurant with dim lighting that wasn’t terribly busy. “The food’s passable,” she said. “But you want fast service so we’re stuck with a place that isn’t real popular.”
/>   “Maybe we should just get takeout,” Terri suggested.

  Both Chloe and Jude instantly looked at her, alarm clearly evident on Terri’s face.

  “Something wrong?” Jude asked.

  “Not really. I never used to be agoraphobic, but right now I’m feeling exposed. Silly, I guess.”

  “Not silly.” His eyes were darkening again. “Maybe takeout would be the best thing.”

  “It would save you having to pretend to eat,” Chloe retorted, but she quickly wrapped her arm around Terri’s shoulders. “Takeout it is. I’m in no mood to ignore anyone’s feeling of uneasiness.”

  “Neither am I,” Jude replied.

  Forty-five minutes later, back at the office, Chloe and Terri ate at the desk while Jude went into his office to make some calls.

  “I don’t like this at all,” Chloe told Terri. “I mean, I’ve always known what Jude deals with, but it’s never seemed threatening to me before. So he exorcises people. Hard for him, no problem for me. I’m safely away from the action. But not this time.” She shook her head.

  “What did you learn today that got you so worked up?”

  “There’s this kind of demon I’ve never heard of before. Some call it a hunter demon. It’s after one specific thing.”

  “Which is?”

  Chloe shrugged. “It varies. But it’s a weird kind of demon because it can manipulate lots of people to get what it wants. It’s not just looking for any old thing it can get. It wants one thing. And there’ve been cases where groups of people have been brought together in order to set the stage for the demon getting what it wants.”

  Terri lost interest in eating. She put her fork down. “How do we know what it wants?”

  “We don’t. Not yet. But after reading that stuff, I started to get creeped out. Too many coincidences.”

  “That’s what I said last night.”

  “You, too?” Chloe looked down, pushing penne around on the bottom of her foam container. “Too bad we don’t know what it wants. Or how it thinks.”

  “Is that what had you so edgy when we got up?”

  “Yeah.” She looked up from her dinner and met Terri’s gaze. “I wasn’t jealous or anything, if that’s what you’re thinking. A few years ago, I might have been, but I got over it. Jude’s too old for me.”

  That surprised a short laugh from Terri. “What?”

  “Seriously. I work hard at not growing up too much. He’s lived more than two hundred years, and I know I strike him as a kid. Garner, too. Most especially Garner. Jude treats him like a troublesome son. And sometimes I think he feels the same about me. Although of course I’m not nearly as much trouble as Garner.”

  Terri smiled. “No, you’re definitely not.”

  A grin answered her. “Anyway, I can see you don’t strike him that way. So if you and he get something going, you won’t hear any whining from me. He’s got friends, both vampire and human, but sometimes I wonder if he’s lonely, anyway.” She shrugged one shoulder. “Of course, what do I know? Maybe vampires don’t get lonely. Most of them seem to prefer solitude from what I’ve seen.”

  “And most of us,” Jude said from the doorway of his office, “could have heard that conversation from halfway across town.”

  Chloe made a face at him. “Eavesdropper.”

  “With my hearing, it’s hard not to. Creed says his granddaughter seems to be pulling through the crisis, so we may well see him in a few hours. Garner has promised to be here before dawn to keep an eye on you, Chloe.”

  “Oh, great. Protection from Garner. I may as well hang myself now.”

  “It’s better than nothing. You know I can’t stay awake to do it myself. I would if I could. But I’ll teach you both a few things tonight for self-protection, and you know that Garner would smell the thing coming.”

  “What good will that do if you’re asleep?” Chloe asked.

  “Chloe, you know I can’t stay awake. At most I can only wake in short bursts.”

  “I know.” Chloe sighed. “I’d just like something better than Garner to depend on.”

  “I’ll see that you have it. Before this night is over, I’m going to seal this office in every way I know.”

  Chapter 10

  Chloe complained that she was getting sleepy, having arrived at work shortly after dawn.

  “Go get some sleep then,” Jude said. “On the cot, on the couch. You’d probably sleep better tonight than tomorrow.”

  “Oh, definitely. Tomorrow you’ll be dead and I’ll be relying on Garner.” Chloe cleaned up the leftovers, putting them in a refrigerator in the kitchenette, then made her way to the small room that contained a cot. “When the demon breaks the door down, be sure to wake me. I wouldn’t want to miss anything.”

  Terri turned to Jude, wishing she could just walk into his arms and feel his embrace again. Then she pushed the longing away. One act did not a relationship make, she reminded herself. And anyway, how sure was she that she wanted to get any more emotionally involved with a vampire?

  Chloe was right, and if Chloe didn’t claim to understand a vampire’s emotional needs, how could she truly be involved after just a few short weeks that added up to actually very little time with him?

  Get a grip, girl, she told herself. Almost the instant she had the thought, Jude seemed to frown at her. Then his face smoothed over and he went to pick up the stack of books Chloe had purchased earlier.

  “I’ll be in my office reading,” he said.

  Leaving her to sit there like a fifth wheel. Not a thing to do except ponder a million questions, and the strange world she had entered when Jude had rescued her from those creeps.

  Being alone with her own thoughts didn’t seem to be the wisest choice right now.

  Then she remembered what he had said about being so closely connected with her since drinking from her. Had he felt her withdrawal as a rejection?

  The thought brought her instantly to her feet. She might have questions about a lot of things, including what a vampire really was, and whether she wanted to get any more involved with one, but she also knew one thing for certain: she didn’t want to hurt him.

  She hurried to the door of his office and saw him reading. Pages in the book flipped so fast a breeze might have been blowing them. Astonishment drove other thoughts from her mind for a second. Then she asked, “Are you really reading that fast?”

  He glanced up. “Yes.”

  The pages resumed flipping.

  Oh, she had hurt him. “Jude, before…” But what could she say?

  He looked up again, his face revealing nothing.

  Finally she blurted, “I wasn’t rejecting you!”

  “I don’t know what you mean.” Cool, composed.

  “I think you do.” She walked into his office and closed the door behind her. “I’m still trying to adjust, that’s all. You’re different.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  “What I mean is, I don’t know what it means to be a vampire. What it means to be you. What you feel. What you need. Heck, I’m still having trouble at times believing what you are, and I’ve certainly seen enough that you would think that wouldn’t be a problem anymore.”

  The pages stopped flipping. After a moment, he put the book aside, open, and sat back. He folded his hands and gave her his full attention.

  The full attention of a vampire, particularly a vampire named Jude, was enough to make her heart skitter and race, and her mouth grow dry.

  “Take a seat, Terri,” he said quietly.

  Her legs felt jerky as she walked over and took the chair facing his desk. She knew this was going to be awkward and possibly frightening. But right now understanding Jude seemed far more important to her than un
derstanding a demon. Maybe the feeling was foolish, but it ruled her right now.

  “Ask,” he said. “I’ve told you before. Just ask.”

  “I know so little. I don’t understand how you can exist.”

  “Neither do I, but I do. And many others like me. We exist just as you do. Our births, if you can call them that, are the main difference. That and the fact we die every damn day, like it or not. But I can’t answer your scientific questions. They’re impossible.”

  “I know. It bugs me because of my background, not to understand how you can be.”

  He nodded, tightening his lips.

  “But,” she said finally, “I’m learning to live with that. Would I love to analyze a sample of your blood and DNA? Of course. But if I did that, I couldn’t do it secretly, and that might put you in danger.”

  “Thank you for recognizing that.”

  “I don’t want to endanger you, Jude.”

  Again he nodded.

  “But I need to know you. I need to know about you. How different are you from me? Do you even have the same feelings?”

  His gaze darkened, and when he spoke his voice was quiet, controlled. “I have the same feelings as you, Terri. Every one of them. I even have some extra ones I’ve mentioned. But the ones I have that are like yours?”

  “Yes?”

  “They’re a hundred times stronger.”

  “Oh.” Her heart fluttered nervously. “That could be…bad.” She said it uncertainly. The things she felt for Jude were already strong enough to scare her, especially when they were for a creature who wasn’t human. At least not in the way she thought of human.

  “I scare you,” he said flatly.

  “Not you,” she said quickly. “The idea that you feel things so strongly.”

  “I don’t always feel things that strongly. Most things in life we don’t feel much at all. Think of your average day, Terri. How much emotional energy do you expend on most things?”

  “Little enough,” she admitted.

  “So multiplied by a hundred isn’t so very much, is it?”

  “Maybe not. But isn’t it hard to feel so strongly?”