He stared out the front window, not blinking or moving the slightest inch. Katie waited for him to say something. When he didn’t she added, “If you refuse, that’s fine. I’ll go after the creep myself. I figure I have a few days before he leaves.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Katie’s hope of gaining his assistance dwindled.
“I see two problems with your request,” he said.
Her mood perked up. He had listened and considered her appeal. She faced him with a curious gaze. “What problems?”
“First and foremost, you’re human and your revenge will get you killed.”
“My problem, not yours,” she said flatly.
“It is my problem since I made a promise to Kyle.”
His loud and deep tone grabbed her attention. She adjusted her attitude to a more polite and kind one.
“He’s not here anymore.” She lowered her eyes. If his vow to Kyle prevented him from helping her, then she could possibly end up six feet in the ground. “What is the second issue you have?”
“The vampire who extinguished him is probably looking for you.”
“I don’t see how. Everything was under Kyle’s name.”
Riker slid his eyes from the road to her. “Do you really think your existence is hidden?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you know what this vampire is doing right now?”
“Cleaning up the mess.”
“He’s making sure Kyle didn’t exist. He will wipe the memory of Kyle from anyone who had contact with him.”
“Not many people did. He stayed on the farm, and I ran errands for him when he needed things.”
They’d ventured out together a few times, but ninety-eight percent of those trips were ones out of town. He took her to big cities, museums and historical places. The police station was the one place he’d visited in Mishawaka and that was only to resolve her speeding tickets. She’d received plenty, but to date, she only had a warning on file. Sometimes mind manipulation came in handy.
“You said the police questioned you.”
“There was a headless body burning in the yard.”
He clamped his jaw. “My point is, the police knew about the event. Therefore, the vampire will pay a visit to the station and erase it from their minds. He’ll make sure Kyle never existed. In doing so–”
“Fuck.” A tsunami of gloom lowered her spirit. Riker didn’t need to explain any more. Ben and Charles were one of the few who did know about her relationship with Kyle. All the vamp had to do was slip into their minds to learn Kyle had a girlfriend. Shit!
“What?”
“I went to college with Ben. He knew about Kyle and me.” She reached in her purse and withdrew her phone. Here was the perfect opportunity to see if Riker was right. Was the vampire who destroyed Kyle looking for her? And if he was, would he kill Ben?
“Is this Ben an officer you spoke with?”
“Yes,” she replied while she dialed the number for the police station. Once the call went through, she pressed the phone to her ear and stared at Riker. “I hope you’re wrong.”
“I rarely am.”
“Mishawaka police, how may I help you?” asked a female on the other end of the line.
“I’d like to speak with Officer Ben Hildebrand please.”
“One moment.”
The hum of the engine grew louder. Riker cut off the lights.
“What are you doing?” Katie asked.
“Driving. Don’t worry, I can see just fine.”
Katie considered complaining, but it wouldn’t do any good. He had control of her car. Fortunately, there weren’t many vehicles on the road, which meant less chance of an accident. And if by chance a trooper pulled them over, Riker could easily wipe the memory from the officer’s mind.
“Hello, this is Ben Hildebrand.”
“Ben, it’s Katie.”
“Hi, Katie. How are you?”
He sounded fine. She didn’t detect anything unusual about his tone.
“How’s the investigation going?”
“Which one?”
“The one with Kyle’s death.”
“Who?”
The prickly feeling on the back of her neck spread down the rest of her body. She stared at Riker. Her heart pounded within her chest.
“You know, Kyle Brown. You saw his body burning–”
“Hang up,” Riker snapped.
“A body burning? Katie, are you all right?”
She lowered the phone and ended the call. Dread swept through her and made the dinner in her stomach sour. The vamp had tampered with Ben’s mind.
“So much for keeping your existence hidden.”
“I’ll pay a visit to him during the day and see what’s going on.” She slid the phone back into her purse.
“I recommend you stay away from him.”
She hated to take Riker’s advice, but it seemed appropriate. If the vamp had wiped Ben’s mind of Kyle, then Ben would ask her questions and might think she’d fallen out of a rocker. She didn’t want to cause any trouble, nor put his life at risk.
“I guess this means you were right. The vamp is after me now.”
Katie lifted her head. Maybe having the assassin looking for her was a good thing. Instead of her trying to find him, he could find her. Then, she could torture him and chop off his head. Her mood improved with the pleasant thought of acquiring her revenge. Kyle would be proud.
“I told you, I’m rarely wrong.”
Asshole.
“Did you talk to anyone else after you left the police station?”
“No.” The word shot out of Katie’s mouth. She didn’t want him to know about Jules or Joe, or her visit to the Devil. Jules was her best friend and she’d do anything to protect her, even if it meant fighting the vamp sitting behind her steering wheel.
Riker’s brows tightened as he eyed her. “Where did you stay the night?”
“I parked behind a building and slept. Then I went shopping for clothes during the day. You saw my bag in the trunk.”
“You’re certain no one else knows what happened to Kyle?”
“Well…” She lifted a shoulder. “If someone had a police scanner, they could’ve heard about it.” It was a true statement, proven by Andy.
“Yes, that is possible.”
Katie sat silently, staring out at the dark highway. She hated lying, but felt it was her best option to protect her close friends. Daylight was a few hours away. As soon as the sun rose, she’d find Jules and warn her. Then, she’d take money from her account and send her and Joe on vacation in Indianapolis for a week. Neither the vamp after her nor Riker would ever know others had knowledge of Kyle. But she’d have to act fast.
“So…what now?” Katie asked.
“I have to make sure Kyle’s existence is erased.”
“What? Why? Isn’t the assassin taking care of that?”
“I assume he is, but I need to make sure.”
“But Kyle was your friend? Why would you–”
Riker shot an arctic glare at her. “Because we do, even for our comrades. Many of us want peace and not to be looked down upon as evil creatures. There’s enough terror and horror in the world. If humans found out about us, it would only intensify their fear and cause them to hate us.”
Although his explanation made perfect sense, it was sad. Many of them were kind, honorable, respectable–minus the one next to her–and willing to coexist with humans. But mankind only knew of their own race and what science could explain. Stepping outside of those boundaries was simply too difficult. If only more humans could understand not all vampires were murderers.
“All right. Where to first?” Katie asked.
“The coroner. We have just enough time to pay a visit. Then, we’re checking in at a hotel.”
“We?”
“Yes, I booked two rooms together.”
“But–”
“I’ll sleep in the bathroom. It’s not my preferred place to r
est, but it will do.”
The bathroom? Of course. He could cover the bottom of the door with a towel and no sunlight would filter in. Kyle did the same thing when they were out of town. She mentally berated herself for not remembering. Perhaps if she’d been more alert instead of sleeping most of the day, she could’ve visited the fifteen hotels in Mishawaka to try to find the rogue. Then again, she didn’t have a clue what he looked like and she couldn’t search every room in fifteen hotels. Not to mention, if she severed the vamp’s head, leaving a headless body in a room might cause a scene.
“I’ll check the barn and cellar in the morning and bring everything back with me.”
She glanced between the seats. Her Camaro was her prized possession, but one detail it lacked was space. “On second thought, I’ll bring what we can use. The rest I’ll leave there.”
“Is the barn secured?”
She twisted to face the front. “Well enough, from humans anyway.”
“Good.”
Katie leaned back in her seat and stretched out her legs. She disliked the thought of visiting the coroner at such a late hour. Moreover, she hated the idea of seeing Kyle’s charred remains on a silver tray. The thought sickened her.
“I doubt you’ll find much at the coroner’s office.”
“I expect to find nothing.”
“You think his remains are gone already?”
“Your assassin has had all night to cover Kyle’s trail. It doesn’t take long to clean up a mess, especially if Kyle stayed hidden as well as you say he did.”
The good news was she probably wouldn’t have to see Kyle’s remains. The bad news was the memory of him lingered in her mind and only a few others. Such a kind and loving man deserved remembrance, not erased or treated as if he never existed.
Her heart ached as she thought about Kyle. She missed him and would never forget him and their happy times together. No vampire could ever wipe her memory clean of him.
“Will you help me catch the vampire who destroyed Kyle?” She asked as calmly and politely as she could, hoping he’d reached a decision by now.
He stared at the front window. “Revenge turns a heart cold.”
She eyed him curiously. “You’re familiar with it.”
He veered his gaze to meet hers. “Very.”
She gave him a slight grin. “Thanks.”
He turned his gaze back to the road. Although he wouldn’t say his answer, it was clear enough to her. Maybe they did have a chance to become friends after all.
6
“The hospital?” Katie asked as Riker turned into one of the less used entrances on the side of the facility. “I thought we were going to visit the coroner’s office.”
He steered around to the back of the building with the headlights still dimmed. “Your coroner performs his work at this facility. The bodies are kept here until someone decides what to do with them.”
“How do you know all this?”
“I called during my flight and acted like a reporter.”
Clever.
He parked in a spot at the end of the three-story building, which resembled an office complex instead of a busy hospital. The emergency entrance on the opposite side had far more idle cars near it. Lights from within the entire facility shined brightly through many windows.
Riker took the keys from the ignition. “Coming or staying?”
“Coming.” She shoved open her door and headed toward the nearest entrance.
“Have you ever seen a dead body before, Ms. Dillinger?” Riker asked as he strolled up beside her.
“No, I haven’t.” She never considered Kyle part of the dead even though he was immortal and most literature considered vampires the living dead. His heart beat as much as a human one. Therefore, she considered him living. The small amount of blood he took from her and ordered from blood banks sustained his immortality. Could he have died if his heart stopped or he ran out of blood? She asked and he’d told her anything that prevented the heart from working would only turn them into savage beasts. As for loss of blood, well they needed it to survive, so any great loss would intensify their thirst. Their predator instinct would take over until they could return to normal. Fictional vampires were totally different from the ones in real life.
“I suggest you wait in the waiting room.” Riker’s blondish-brown strands fanned slightly as he walked.
The doors swished open and to the side. Side by side, they strode into the hospital.
“I’m coming with you.”
Lips pursed, he shifted his gaze to her as they passed by a check in desk.
“I can handle it,” she said.
Riker said nothing more and led the way down a long hall. When he reached a section of elevators, he stopped and hit the button with the arrow pointing down.
Katie waited a few feet from the stiff vampire and eyed him curiously. How did he know where to go in the hospital? “Did the person you spoke with give you directions?”
“No, I read the signs.” He pointed behind her.
She turned and spotted a sign stating where to find the morgue. Biting her lip, she silently cursed. Maybe she needed to be more observant.
“Kyle met you when you were eighteen.”
She twisted to face him. “How do you know?”
The elevator dinged, then the doors slid open.
“He told me.”
Riker walked into the silver box and she followed him. A mildew scent made her wrinkle her nose. He punched the button for the lower level.
“You look different. Stronger.” He grazed her body with his eyes. “More defined.”
She crossed her arms. “I’m pretty sure my boobs haven’t grown much since I was eighteen.”
“You would be surprised at what a body can and does do.”
While her anger rose, something else irritated her. How did he know what she had changed from when she was eighteen? Had he seen a photo of her? She had to ask.
“How do you know so much about me? I thought you said Kyle didn’t tell you my name.”
The elevator dinged.
“He didn’t.”
“How do you know what I looked like at eighteen?”
The doors opened and he stepped out. He stared at the sign on the wall, then turned. Katie followed him down the cold hall while patiently waiting for his response.
“You stayed with him for a long time.”
“Not long enough,” she said softly while she wondered if would ever answer her question.
Riker walked around the corner and five steps later, he stopped at a check-in desk. An older man with gray hair, glasses and wide gut sat in a chair. His white uniform with the word security above his breast pocket gave clear indication his purpose.
“May I help you?” the guard asked as he stiffened.
Riker stared directly at the man. “My associate and I need to look around.”
Emotion or maybe it was life, drained from the guard’s face. “All right.”
“You won’t remember us. You don’t know we’re here. If you see someone coming this way, be sure to stop the person, and speak loudly. Nod you understand.”
The zombie nodded.
“Good.” Riker turned to face her. His green eyes shimmered. “Let’s go.”
A slight chill gave rise to gooseflesh as Katie followed him. She’d seen Kyle manipulate human minds in the past. The color of his eyes would become clearer, greener and his pupils would swell and contract. It mesmerized her when she watched.
Riker stopped at a door and opened it. “Why did you stay with him?”
Katie stared at him instead of walking into the room. Why was he asking questions about her relationship with Kyle? And why ask her in the morgue instead of during the drive to Mishawaka? The vampire was not only rude, he had a creep factor steadily increasing.
Ignoring him, she stepped into the room. She paused a few feet from the door. Two florescent lights in the ceiling revealed they were in a storage room. Lateral and ve
rtical file cabinets lined the walls with a single desk backed up to one of the walls. Katie guessed this wasn’t the morgue unless dead bodies were stored in the cabinets instead of freezers.
“Are we in the right place?”
Riker walked in and the door shut behind him. He passed her and headed for the pair of doors in the middle of the room. He pushed open one. Katie followed him down a long, wide hall. A set of stainless-steel double doors met them at the end. Riker tugged on both handles. They opened and a rush of cool air brushed over her skin.
He glanced over his shoulder. “Yes, we are.”
Katie’s heart jumped a beat as she walked into the cold room. The wall in front of her and behind had two rows of square sized metallic doors. Oddly, they resembled a modern day catacomb. Two long, silver gurneys sat in the center of the room. They were clean and spotless. Stretchable light fixtures similar to the ones found in dental offices hung from the ceiling, but were up and out of the way. A long table against the farthest wall housed a variety of tools. She stopped in the center with her gaze lowered. The tiled floor had multiple drains.
“Do you still love him?” Riker asked, jarring her attention.
“What?” She stood in the middle of a depressing morgue and the vamp wanted to know if she loved Kyle?
Riker opened a square door on the wall. “Do you still have feelings for Kyle?” He closed the door and tugged the handle on the one below it.
Katie held her arms, hoping to ease the chill. “I don’t understand you. Of all times to ask how I feel about Kyle, you choose now, in a room with dead bodies.”
He paused, having checked four little coolers, then glanced at her. “Check the other side.”
Katie turned, rolling her eyes. She stepped up close to one of the min-refrigerators and pulled on the handle. The top of a head covered with dark hair and a strong rotting smell greeted her. Overcome by the stench, she held her breath and quickly closed the door.
“I sense you still love him even though he no longer exists.”
She moved to the next holding cube and paused while she considered his questions. Did the vamp think she could just forget about Kyle and move on? Did he think she could drop all her feelings because Kyle wasn’t around for her?
Immortal Revenge Page 6