Crave

  Would he be able to stop himself?

  “I won’t take too much,” he promised, as much for his own benefit as for hers. He unleashed his eye teeth, bending to the soft skin of her neck.

  Shay gave a high whine of panic. Her body spasmed as his teeth entered her throat, then she went limp in his arms.

  The warmth of her blood hit his mouth and he moaned. It had been so long. He pulled in a deep drink. The warmth turned to fire, to acid, eating away at the delicate flesh inside his throat. His veins suddenly felt like impossibly long shards of glass were shooting through them.

  Vampire. Vampire blood.

  It was too late. He’d taken in the blood, swallowed it down. Too much of it.

  The agony eased as numbness invaded Gabriel’s body, moving from his feet, up his legs. He pulled his mouth away from the girl, but the numbness continued. Gabriel managed a scream of horror before the paralysis took over his vocal cords.

  He collapsed onto the stained tan carpet. Through his blurred vision, he saw the girl pick herself up from the floor. She bent down and took the keys from his pocket. Gabriel could do nothing to stop her as she ran from the room, leaving him to die.

  Shay’s fingers shook as she slid the key into the ignition. As soon as she heard the car whir to life, she slammed her foot on the gas. She had to get out of here. The engine revved, but the Rover didn’t move.

  PARK. It’s still in PARK, she realized. She pulled in a deep, shuddering breath. I’m not going to get very far if I don’t get it together.

  Forcing herself to concentrate, she put the car in gear and slowly drove away from the motel. She got back on the highway, the first entrance she came to. She didn’t care about north, south, east, or west right now. She cared about away.

  A horn blared, and Shay realized she hadn’t adjusted the rearview mirror when she had gotten behind the wheel. She’d completely cut in front of somebody. Trying to save my life here, bud, she thought as he sped past, flipping her off.

  She reached up to fix the mirror, and the Range Rover started to slide across the line into the next lane. She wasn’t up to driving one-handed. She wasn’t up to driving at all. What was the point of escaping if she was going to die in a pile-up—a pile-up caused by her—five minutes later?

  Shay got off at the next exit and parked in the lot of a gas station about a mile away. She put the Rover in park and turned it off. Then she crossed her arms over the wheel and rested her head on them. She needed a few. She just needed a few. And it was okay. She was safe. Even if Gabriel came out of … whatever it was that had made him pass out … he wouldn’t know which way she’d gone.

  Without lifting her head, she reached over and flipped the key, then turned on the radio. She needed music. Or even just voices from a commercial or someone ranting about politics. Anything at all to remind her that the real world was still out there, in spite of the turn into insanity her life had taken tonight.

  A commercial for Pepto-Bismol came on. Shay choked out a laugh, even though there was nothing funny about the inane upset-stomach-diarrhea jingle. She was a fraction away from hysteria. Must be all the adrenaline pumping through her. That, and the fact that she had just been bitten by a goddamn vampire.

  Shay listened to the next commercial and the song that came on after that. Then the next two. I can’t stay here all night, she thought reluctantly. She raised her head, and noticed that she’d caught the attention of a couple of slimy looking thirty-something guys.

  Don’t even think about coming over here, she thought. I’ve faced down a vampire tonight. Well, sort of faced down. More like run when he’d gone unconscious.

  Why hadn’t she told him she was dying as soon as she realized he was taking her hostage?, she wondered as she checked to make sure the doors were locked. If there had ever been a time to play the Sick Girl card, tonight was it. But somehow, even in the horrific situation, Shay hadn’t wanted Gabriel to see her that way.

  She pulled her cell out of her pocket and punched the speed dial for HOME.

  Her mother answered almost instantly. “Shay, where are you?”

  “I’m—” Shay started.

  “Are you still with that man? He’s extremely dangerous. He’s a killer,” Mom cut her off. “Tell me where you are and I’ll come get you.”

  “I got away from him. I’m okay, Mom. Try to calm down,” Shay said.

  “Oh, thank God. Thank God. I’m sorry. I should be telling you to calm down. Shay, honey, I was frantic thinking of you with him.” Her mother’s voice shook, and Shay could tell she was crying. “But I was afraid he might kill you if we didn’t let him take you. I’m so sorry.”

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Shay said. “You didn’t have a choice.”

  “And you’re safe? Just tell me where you are.” Shay could still hear the panic in her mom’s voice, but she was clearly trying to take it down a notch. “I’ll be right there and bring you home.”

  Home. Where Martin was.

  A strange, cold feeling worked its way up Shay’s spine. She’d been so freaked out by Gabriel—his anger, his violence, his very existence—that she’d put the rest of the night out of her mind. But Martin’s name brought it all rushing back.

  “Shay?” her mother said after a moment. “Say something. I’m afraid you’re going into shock.”

  “Well … why wouldn’t I be? I walked into Martin’s office and found a man chained to a table. Chained there. Did Martin tell you that part?” Shay asked. “Or did he just tell you Gabriel was a killer?”

  Her mother gave a little gasp. “Gabriel?”

  “That’s his name,” Shay said.

  “Sweetheart, don’t listen to anything that man told you. He’s insane. Martin had him chained up because he’s so dangerous.” Her mother tripped over her words in her rush to explain. “Please. Let’s talk about all this when I have you safe at home.”

  Shay shook her head, even though her mother couldn’t see. “That makes no sense. If he’s an insane killer, why didn’t Martin have him put into a mental hospital? Or why didn’t he call the police? Why did he have Gabriel at all?”

  “Shay …”

  “There was a shunt in his hand. There was transfusion equipment all over that room where Martin had him,” Shay went on. “And he’s weak. He was never weak before.”

  “What are you talking about, Shay? What did he say to you?”

  “Nothing. I just know he’s always strong. But he’s weak now, from lying on Martin’s table with an IV tube stuck into him.” The answer was so clear that Shay would have laughed if it weren’t so horrible. “Martin was using his blood in my transfusions. Taking it from Gabriel and giving it to me.”

  Her mother sobbed on the other end of the line.

  “That’s why I was so strong afterward.” There was a loud buzzing in Shay’s ears or maybe it was in her mind. Maybe she had passed out from the Black River after all, and this was all some bad dream. “Martin was keeping Gabriel captive … for his blood.”

  “Shay—”

  “What the hell was he thinking? I mean, that’s illegal! It’s immoral. It’s insane,” Shay burst out. “Martin’s a doctor! He’s supposed to help people, not steal their blood against their will.”

  “We were doing it for you, Shay.” Her mother’s voice had become small and meek.

  We? We.

  “You knew, Mom?” Shay whispered. “You knew Gabriel was there?” She’d assumed her mother had thought Gabriel was a drug addict or something who’d broken into Martin’s lab. That Martin had spent the last few hours spinning some story to keep her mom in the dark. But no. Mom had known that Gabriel was a hostage, and she’d done nothing.

  Nothing. What kind of person could do nothing? Her mother suddenly felt like a stranger.

  “It was the only way to keep you alive. You were getting worse, and his blood was the only thing that has given me any kind of hope in so long,” her mother said in a rush.

  “Oh my God, you were in on t
his,” Shay cried. “You didn’t just know he was there; you knew what Martin was doing to him! Did you help kidnap him? Mom, what did you do?”

  “Whatever I had to. You don’t understand, Shay. He’s not like us. It’s not what you think. He’s not—”

  “He’s a vampire,” Shay interrupted. “I know that. So do you.”

  Her mother gave a muffled gasp, and Shay could picture her with her free hand pressed tightly to her mouth. “So you understand,” her mom said. “It wasn’t a human we kept in the lab. We’d never do that, Shay. Never.”

  “Why not?” Shay demanded. “What’s the difference? You wouldn’t need such thick chains for a human?”

  “That … thing … is evil. Dangerous,” her mother said. “It isn’t like us.”

  Shay could barely think straight, she was so horrified. It was true, Gabriel was dangerous. She had seen that. But in her visions, he was also kind, and loyal, and more deeply connected to the world around him than anyone she’d ever met. More than that, she’d never seen him kill. In all the times she’d been inside him, she’d never felt evil.

  But now, from her mother and Martin, she did.

  “I don’t even know you,” she whispered. She’d always thought they were the closest thing to a Siamese-twin version of a mom and daughter. But the mother she knew would never do such a thing to another living being. The mother she knew wouldn’t have lied to Shay’s face every day.

  “I’m the same as I’ve always been,” her mother sobbed. “I would do anything to keep you alive. And I don’t care if it means taking blood from a monster.”

  “He has a family. He has emotions. He feels pain.”

  “Don’t start sentimentalizing. You don’t know anything about them—him!” her mother said.

  “I know a lot more than you do,” Shay shot back. “Gabriel’s not evil. What you did, that was evil. And you knew it, or you would have told me the truth. You knew I wouldn’t have wanted to be kept alive that way.”

  “You can say that because you have been kept alive. It’s easy to be noble now.” Shay heard her mother take a deep breath and knew she was trying to calm herself. “Please tell me where you are. I don’t want you driving home. You’re in shock. You can yell and scream at me as much as you want when I get there.”

  “This isn’t going to go away if you let me have a tantrum. I’m not a little girl anymore, Mom. When are you finally going to realize that?” Shay asked.

  “I’m not going to apologize for doing what I had to do—”

  Her mother’s voice cut off, and Shay heard the sound of the phone changing hands. “Where is he, Shay?” Martin asked in his bedside-manner voice. “We have to recapture him.”

  “So you can chain him up again?” she demanded.

  “You don’t want to be responsible for him hurting anyone. Tell me where he is. I’ll take care of the rest,” Martin told her, calm and rational, all doctor.

  He didn’t even ask how I am, she thought. Usually the first question out of Martin’s mouth was about Shay’s illness. But he didn’t care. He just wanted Gabriel back. Shay sank down into the big car seat, curling herself up into a ball. Martin’s voice wasn’t calm. It was cold. How had she never realized that before?

  “Gabriel won’t hurt anyone else,” she murmured.

  “Tell me where he is,” Martin insisted.

  Shay didn’t answer. She’d run out of things to say. Maybe she was in shock, like her mother thought. She felt overwhelmed and numbed out at the same time.

  “There’s something else you should know,” Martin said, frustration sneaking into his tone. “You can’t live without his blood, Shay. I don’t mean you’ll die in a few years. I mean you won’t survive the week.” Shay heard her mother crying in the background. “We’ve got to get him back. Does he have the Range Rover?”

  “No. I do,” Shay replied. She focused on the sound of her mother’s sobs. She’d always known that would be the last she heard of her mother’s voice. She just hadn’t expected it to be like this.

  “How long ago did you escape? Where did you last see him?” Martin demanded.

  Shay wasn’t listening to any more of his questions. She hung up, tears stinging her eyes. She couldn’t go home, not if Martin was there. And even though her mother’s heart was breaking, Shay wasn’t sure she could forgive her.

  So she was on her own, with a week to live. Or less.

  CHAPTER

  EIGHT

  SHAY REALIZED SHE’D BEEN SITTING in the parking lot, staring blankly out in the darkness, for almost half an hour. Enough of this self-pity, she thought, roughly brushing away the tears that hung off her lower lashes. She didn’t have time for wallowing. She dropped her head back against the headrest. Now what? Call the Make-A-Wish Foundation?

  She sighed. What would she even tell them she wanted to have for her last week on earth?

  First, chocolate, she decided. She leaned over to the glove compartment and fished around inside. Martin always kept cash in the car for emergencies. She pulled out an envelope and peered inside. Two hundred bucks in a neat stack of twenties. More than enough for some junk food.

  Shay got out and walked into the gas station mini-mart. She loaded up on M&M’s—plain, peanut, almond, and even this weird strawberry and peanut-butter flavor she’d never seen before. After all, she was living it up. Having an adventure. Eating an unexplored kind of candy.

  She added a few other things she’d never tried—fried pork rinds, wasabi-flavored peanuts, and a truly noxious-looking drink called Mountain Dew Code Red. The fat and cholesterol and artificial colors wouldn’t kill her. They were too damn slow.

  When Shay dropped her selections on the counter, the guy gave her a knowing grin. “Someone’s got the munchies.”

  Shay tossed out her usual line. “I’m high on life, dude.”

  “Road trip, then?”

  Road trip. Why not? See the world. Go out in a blaze of sugar-fueled glory. “Got it in two,” Shay told him as he dumped her purchases into a plastic bag with a yellow smiley face on it. She grinned as big as the yellow ball as she headed back to the Range Rover. It felt good to have a plan.

  Should she drag out the big atlas she knew Martin had stowed under the passenger seat? No. Road trips were for spontaneity. She was going commando. No maps, no plans, and unless she did some shopping soon, no clean underwear.

  Shay pulled away from the gas station, her hands steady. She was absolutely, completely in control of her life for as long as it lasted. That’s the way it had to be. There was no one she could trust but herself. Not Martin, that was for sure. Not even Mom. Not Gabriel. He’d used her as a human shield.

  She got back on the highway. When she found a town that had a funky name, she’d stop. On her road trip, she was going to stop only at places with funky names. She wasn’t going anywhere she’d ever heard of. Unless she felt like it. Because who was making up the rules here? Shay was.

  She’d passed only one exit before she saw something familiar. A sign with a white H on a blue background. My first word was probably “hospital,” she thought.

  An ambulance passed her, silent. Shay hated the sight of it. She’d had a few rides in ambulances herself, and she always wondered who was in the ones she saw. Wondered if they were going to make it. In a way, the silent ones were the worst. Shay always imagined a body inside. Someone who couldn’t be saved.

  The image of Gabriel collapsed on the motel floor flashed into her mind. Was he still passed out? If he didn’t come to before morning, somebody was going to open that door, and the sunlight would come in, and Gabriel would die.

  Not my problem, she told herself. He took me hostage. I owe him nothing.

  Nothing except running and swimming and kissing and living. Living her life more than she ever had before. And living his life, too, in her visions.

  “What the hell am I doing?” she muttered as she cut across two lanes—getting honked at again—and took the exit, following the ambulance.
>
  If I don’t try to save him, I’m like my mom and Martin, Shay thought. Exactly like them.

  She followed the ambulance for the few blocks to the hospital, then found a parking place in the fairly empty lot. So … the emergency room? If it was crazed, and a lot of times the ER was crazed, she could probably slip into a hospital-personnel-only zone. That’s what she needed. That’s where she’d find the blood.

  But there was always at least one person at the front desk of the ER. If she timed it wrong, she’d get questions. Surgery, she decided. There’d be a few going on, but not many. Only emergencies that couldn’t wait until morning. She started the Rover again and cruised around the hospital compound until she saw the surgical wing. She parked again and walked in.

  The waiting room was big. It was also almost empty. A couple of little kids stared at the TV, while their mom stared into space. Or prayed. Shay wasn’t sure which. She took a seat as close to the door leading into the unit as she could. The wait wasn’t long. An orderly came out, heading for the alcove with the vending machines. The door slowly eased shut behind him. Shay had been counting on those slow-moving hospital doors. She caught the door before it shut and locked, and slipped inside.

  She was in the prep area. There was a nurse behind the long counter, but his head was down as he entered info on one of the computers. Without hesitation, Shay walked over to one of the curtained-off sections and stepped inside. She sat down next to the bed, which happened to be empty. Even if it hadn’t been, she’d probably have been okay. Family could usually stay with the surgical patient until they were taken into the operating room.

  The bed was set up, complete with two neatly folded hospital gowns laid across the blankets. The first thing you did in any hospital was get into one of these hideous-but-comfy things. If anyone caught her walking around in street clothes, they’d kick her out of the restricted areas in a heartbeat. Shay put one on over her clothes with the opening in the back, then pulled the second one on like a robe, open in front. Hopefully no one would look too closely, or notice that she still had pants and boots on under her gown.