Grave New Day

by Lina Gardiner

  He eyed the vehicle warily, but then he suddenly experienced a sense of time draining away. An unexplained sense of urgency. Without understanding his feelings, he knew he had to hurry, and the sooner he found out about himself, the sooner he’d be able to figure out what it was he had to do next.

  And there was something he had to do. While the entire reason for this urgency remained out of his mental grasp, something inside told him he needed to pay attention to these feelings. He looked at the Vandermire woman and knew instinctively it had everything to do with her. But how had Zeke known? And why hadn’t he told him?

  His gut felt as if it’d been turned inside out while a frisson of cold dread worked it’s way through him. Something was coming. Something dark and awful, and he was the only one who knew. The only one who could protect the woman—the vampire? Whatever the hell she was.

  Wait. Not just her, he realized as a memory floated tantalizingly close. He was the only one who could protect … everyone. Whatever was coming, would …

  Arggh … he’d nearly grasped it, but that tantalizing memory slipped away.

  Now all felt was the dread of something pending. Something so horrible, his mind wouldn’t tell him what it was.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  Chapter Seven

  “Britt’s DNA is on file. Shouldn’t it tell us everything we need to know?” Jess asked, pacing back and forth in the lab.

  “That’s not completely trustworthy, Jess, because Britt’s last blood sample exhibited atypical DNA,” Sampson said.

  “Are you saying there’s no way you can verify whether or not he’s Britt?”

  “That’s not what I said. It’ll depend on whether I can find matching gene pairs before I know for sure.” Sampson lowered his shiny, bald head and returned his attention to the computer readout comparing the two men’s blood.

  When he finally lifted his head again, his eyes twinkled. “Welcome back, John. I think you’ve got some explaining to do.”

  Regent let out a whoop of happiness and grabbed Britt’s arms and shook him. Jess’s legs went limp for only the second time in her life, and she lowered herself quickly to a stool before anyone noticed.

  “Britt. Thank God you’re back,” Regent said.

  But someone did notice Jess’s sudden incapacitation. Her skin actually flushed when his blue-eyed gaze raked over her body with a careful determination.

  Gripping the side of the table so hard it was a wonder it didn’t crack, she said, “Okay, if it’s him, what is he?”

  “What do you mean what am I?” Irritation worked behind his voice but it didn’t show in his eyes. Those eyes still watching her.

  “You have abilities that John Brittain never had. For instance, you have the strength of a vampire.”

  Britt tipped his head and glared at her. “And what does that mean?”

  “It depends on what your intentions are,” she said. “Do you have an agenda? What do you want from us?”

  “I don’t want anything. All I know is the man who told me to help you was the one who took away my pain. I felt I owed him for that.”

  That sounded so much like Britt that she rubbed two fingers between her eyebrows and avoided looking at the three men in the room.

  “Another question might be how that man knew where I’d be tonight, when I didn’t even know myself until moments before I got there,” Jess said.

  She flashed her attention back to Britt to gauge his response.

  “Damnit, I don’t know how he knew! “ Britt said, drawing one hand through his hair in a classic Britt move and frowned. “But I do know I want my life back. I want to remember who I am.” He scanned their expressions. “You people say you know me, but you act as if you don’t trust me. What kind of a person was I, anyway?”

  “The best kind,” Jess said immediately, “But with everything that’s happened, we don’t know who you are. Too many things about you just don’t add up.”

  Britt’s mouth clamped shut and he shoved his hands into his jeans pockets.

  “One thing I should mention, there are still anomalies in Britt’s blood that I can’t explain. It could take me weeks before I have an answer as to what they are,” Sampson said.

  “But was he really dead before his body disappeared?” Jess asked.

  “He was definitely dead.” Sampson pushed his glasses onto his forehead and rubbed one hand over tired eyes. “I might not have been so sure if I hadn’t been the one at the scene who pronounced him, but I know dead when I see it.”

  Britt gaped at Sampson and shook his head in disbelief. “Sorry, Doc, but I think you’d better go back for a refresher course. I’m definitely not dead.”

  “If he’s not a vampire how can he come back?” Jess asked, ignoring Britt.

  Sampson shrugged. “I don’t know. Like I said, his DNA is strange. There are markers that are Britt’s, but his DNA is even more complex now. He has extra markers. Quite a few extra, truth be told.”

  “These extra markers, can they make him stronger?”

  “Possible,” Sampson said.

  Jess swallowed. “Has his body structure changed? He seems taller to me.”

  “Probable,” Sampson said, squinting at her, then looking up at Britt. “You’ve seen it, haven’t you, Jess? He has extra strength?”

  “As strong as me, at least,” she said.

  “Holy cow.” Sampson’s gaze flashed over Britt again with the excitement only a scientist could project at such news. “He’s that strong?”

  “Is that unusual for me?” Britt asked.

  Not sure he’d like the answer, Jess ignored his question and asked, “But what else does it do for him? And what’ll we do with him in the meantime?”

  “You people do remember I’m in the room?” Britt said, his jaws working with apparent irritation.

  “Sorry, my son,” Regent said. “You’re more than welcome to jump in at any time. Do you have anything you can tell us that will help?”

  Britt sighed and shook his head.

  “Unfortunately, I can’t wait around here any longer to find out. I should be out looking for James, not sitting here with my thumb up my …”

  “Jess!”

  “Yes, Regent?” She grinned at him, and he laughed in response. “You do that just to get my goat, don’t you?”

  “Someone has to make you smile.” He’d been so pale and so distraught, and she’d known she’d get a rise out of him this way. “Seriously though, I have to go. I’ll check back later to see what going on with him.”

  “So, in the meantime what’ll we do with him?” Sampson asked.

  She sputtered. “Well, I don’t know. Someone will have to figure that out while I’m tracking James.”

  “I can’t take him. I’m under review by the Arch Diocese,” Regent said.

  “I can’t either,” Sampson said. “I have to go downtown. I have a friend who’s going to do a full workup on Britt’s blood. If anyone can figure out what going on with it, my friend can.”

  Her attention riveted on Britt when he stood and straightened his shoulders. “Look, I have no intention of moving in with any of you. I don’t even know you people,” he said. “Besides, none of you trust me.”

  “He’ll have to stay with you,” Regent said to Jess as if Britt hadn’t spoken.

  Jess mumbled while she paced the length of the room. She returned to her original spot and threw her hands up. “I can’t believe you’d say that, Regent. You’re always worried about my safety. He can’t stay with me while I’m vulnerable!”

  “Jess. It’s Britt. He needs us.” Regent cleared his throat. “He needs you. He would never hurt you.”

  “Are you so sure?” She slashed out one hand and pointed at Britt without allowing his disconcerted expression to affect her. “He doesn’t know me. He didn’t know any of us. Forgive me, Sampson. I’m not trying to say you don’t know your job, but if this is truly Britt, shouldn’t I feel it inside?”

  “With your
vampiric abilities I would think there’d be several ways in which you could identify him. Visually, by scent, by picking up on the minute differences in the resonance of his voice.” Sampson frowned. “You’re not getting any hits that indicate he’s really Britt?”

  “No,” she lied, gritted her teeth, and glared at the stranger before her. “Look, if you really were Britt, and I’m not saying you are …”

  “If I’m not Britt, I’m back to square one,” he said in a monotone.

  She sucked in a long breath when she realized that what she was about to tell him would be hard for him to believe. “The truth is, you should either be a vampire or you should be dead. Being bitten and turned doesn’t allow you to return in human form. Ever. You can’t possibly be the Britt I watched die. In fact, I know you aren’t.” She shot an imploring look at Regent and Sampson. “Am I the only one who can see there’s something very wrong with him?”

  His gaze shifted away from her fractionally. “I’ll say it again, you do know I can hear you, right?”

  Jess’s heart pinched. Dry humor to cover pain, delivered in a way only Britt could, nearly brought her to her knees.

  “But do you have the slightest clue as to what we’re talking about?” Jess asked.

  “I have amnesia. I’m not brain dead. I’m getting the gist of it.”

  Right now he sounded like the tough cop she’d hired that evening in the pub. The cop who’d seen the underbelly of the city and was willing to try and make it a better place.

  Regent ran a shaky hand through his thinning hair and adjusted his clerical collar. Completely ignoring Jess’s concerns, he said, “As much as I’d like to take him, Jess, he can’t stay with me. I’m under review, remember? Besides, it should be you. It’s not a matter of kindness. He needs someone to keep an eye on him until he remembers who he is, until he remembers what’s out there.”

  Her brother’s meaning slammed into her. Of course! He’d be a target to vampires as a NYPD cop and vampire hunter. He wouldn’t last a day in the city alone. She scanned his broad shoulders and his muscled physique. Or would he?

  She slammed her hands onto her hips. “Am I the only one who thinks his amnesia and sudden interest in us is too convenient?”

  Everyone muttered unintelligibly but didn’t agree to anything. She looked at Britt, who’d moved off to the far side of the room. He stood with his back to them, but his head was tipped in a way that told her he might have been listening with enhanced hearing as well.

  Was this another attempt to get the paste? Was he a Trojan horse sent to get it from her? She had to consider every possibility.

  She approached him again. “Look, I have to start searching for James and Terry, and if you really are Britt, you’d want to do the same thing.”

  “Yes, I promised I would.”

  “You promised who?”

  “I don’t know who he was, nor do I know who it is I’m offering to help you find. All I know is you need my help. I’ve been sent here for you.”

  The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She didn’t like the sound of that. Her Britt would never become a pawn for anyone, and it sure sounded as if someone was using this guy as one.

  “You say you don’t know who helped you, so why in the name of the Lord would you feel so much responsibility?”

  He shook his head. “I’m remembering little bits of things. I want to help find these people. I don’t remember them, but I feel inside that they mean something to me.”

  Even though she made an exasperated sound, his last words lessened her danger meter—just slightly. “But, you don’t even remember them!”

  Britt’s expression shadowed. She felt like a prize ass. If he really had amnesia he didn’t need reminders that his mind was Swiss cheese.

  Again, ignoring the intensity of their discussion, Regent looked at his watch. “I have to get back to my inquisitor. Call me the minute you find James, Terry and the baby.”

  Jess bit her lip and scanned her brother’s disturbed expression. “Is Bishop Brooks that bad, Regent?”

  “Probably not,” Regent sighed and looked heavenward. “It’s just that he’s keeping me from you, Jess. And at a time when I’m sorely needed.”

  Britt watched these people with a vague sense of deja vu and a feeling of responsibility. He felt he knew them, but couldn’t quite make their images fit in his mind.

  He looked at Jess again. Noticed that she rarely made eye contact with him. If she did, would he remember her?

  Vampire or not, every time he looked at her he wanted to drag her into his arms and kiss her. That pervasive, compelling urge didn’t make sense. Especially if she really was a vampire, a monster who killed people and drank their blood. What kind of relationship had he had with her?

  Another barrage of memories randomly and painfully spiked his brain. Like tiny miners hammering for gold. It had started just moments ago. Instant, horrifying mental images of vampires attacking humans flashed into his recollection in full color, then disappeared to allow another set of horrifying images take their place. Almost like his memory banks were resetting.

  “I’ve changed my mind,” he suddenly said. “I assume I have a place of residence in the city? That’s where I want to go.” He turned on one heel and strode out of the lab the same way he’d arrived.

  He had a home somewhere. Maybe if he saw it, touched his things, something would come back. After all, he knew his name, so how hard would it be to find where he lived? For that matter, he might even be in the phonebook.

  He heard the flurry of concerned voices behind him, but he was on the elevator before they could stop him. One quick glance back before the elevator doors closed and he saw the shocked looks on their faces.

  Why had they been staring at him like that? he wondered, as he exited the elevator and strode quickly toward the door.

  It didn’t matter, he decided when he stepped out into the open air. Making tracks down the street and away from that God-awful building felt good. His long legs could cover ground easily, and it felt good to move his muscles. To stretch them out. How long had he been out of commission? No way did he believe he’d actually been dead. He’d probably been in a deep coma and they’d mistaken it for death. Otherwise, he couldn’t possibly be here right now.

  With hands shoved into the pockets of his leather coat, he ignored the jumbled memories of his past bursting forth in his brain like a slew of fireworks, disjointed and meaningless—and mostly damned unattainable.

  Ignore them.

  Rain misted down on him, and the night sounds of the city seemed familiar in a fuzzy kind of way. The sounds felt natural and somehow reassuring. A strange feeling considering most of the tidbits he remembered were violent in nature.

  He’d barely made it two blocks when a blur passed him on the sidewalk. Suddenly, Jess Vandermire waited a few steps ahead of him. Stepped out of the shadows in such a way that it stopped him dead. A familiar feeling squeezed his heart, and he knew these feelings were deeply connected to the beautiful vampire in front of him.

  Even though she wore gray dress slacks and a yellow sweater, in his mind’s eye he saw her in a very sexy leather getup that accentuated her curves and her prowess as a kick-ass vampire. Instantly, he remembered the night they’d met.

  “How’d you get out of the building that fast?” she asked.

  He ignored the question. Too many other things were tripping his memories. “I told you to go home to your mother that night,” he whispered, and recalled how she’d licked her luscious lips, laughed at him and asked how old he thought she was.

  At his words, she froze. Didn’t say a word. Her normal pallor had turned arctic white. Made her luscious lips even more pronounced.

  Wait! He remembered training to be a member of a Black Ops team. That’s why he had so many violent memories! He was a cop. And he fought vampires alongside Jess—and James. He vaguely remembered James now, too.

  “I’m a cop! You and I …” He halted and sea
rched for more. “We worked together for the police force,” he said in a ragged voice. “Tell me, what happened to me?”

  She stood in front of him, obviously impacted by his sudden memories. If he wasn’t crazy, she looked like she might cry. Vampires didn’t do that, did they?

  “In a roundabout way I caused your …” she hesitated and he wondered why. Then she said, “Death.”

  He sucked air through his teeth. For some reason, he felt as if he could feel her dark side seconds before more images assaulted him. “I remember a brick wall. I remember you in leather.” His gaze raked over her.

  She actually flushed and her eyes were unfathomable. “Go on. What else do you remember?”

  He stepped forward and pressed his hands on her shoulders. She didn’t flinch so he slid them back until he held her tightly in his arms. “God how could I have forgotten this?” He buried his nose in her hair. He inhaled her scent and another flood of memories returned. He knew how she tasted. He knew she loved her brother beyond all measure. And he knew she was the only woman in the world for him.

  She hesitated. “I’m not totally sure this is real, Britt. I want it to be, but it’ll take me a while to believe it.”

  A shiver slithered up his spine. “I wish I could reassure you. Truth is, I can’t. Maybe everything will come back and I’ll understand this whole thing.”

  Jess pushed away from him and his muscles automatically tightened. “In order to be safe, you have to remember, and the sooner the better. If you are Britt, and if word gets out that you’re back and vulnerable, you won’t last long. You’ve taken out too many vampires.”

  Then she tensed for another reason. He’d heard it too. Someone was on the rooftop above them.

  She frowned. “You heard that?”

  “I did.”

  “Britt, even though Sampson says you’re not a vampire, you’ve got abilities you shouldn’t have. You were bitten by a vampire who drained your blood. Do you feel different?”

  He made a face and looked down at his own body. “I don’t know. I don’t remember me, so how can I remember what’s normal?”