By the time I finished my shower and dressed in fresh clothing, my hunger had increased, but I resisted. Feeding after what happened tonight seemed wrong. Besides, I wasn’t a brand new vampire anymore. I could go a few nights without blood. The older I got, the longer I would be able to wait between feedings.
I sank down on the couch and flipped the TV on. A news report was running on the theatre attack. Reporters questioned Violet, who seemed to have pulled herself together. In the background, Cam stood in front of an ambulance apparently denying he needed to go to the hospital.
My cell phone rang, and I answered right away seeing Nathan’s name on the ID. “You made it.”
“Rue, are you okay?”
“Me?”
“Yeah, I saw a report on TV about another attack in New Orleans. Maybe I shouldn’t have left when I did.”
“Because you think I’m a delicate flower who needs my boyfriend to take care of me?”
“You know better than that.”
“I’m fine, Nathan.” I touched the spot where I had been bitten. The pain had lessened considerably, but it wasn’t all gone. If I had fed, the wound would have disappeared in an instant. “No ghoul is going to get the best of me.”
“So it was the ghouls? How do you know?”
If I told him about being at the theatre, he would have a fit, so I left out the details. “Humans attacked by crazy people trying to bite them. Isn’t that what that one witness said? What else could it be?”
He agreed. “Okay, well stay safe, baby, and don’t feel you have to get involved just because it’s humans.”
“Nathan, I know how to mind my own business sometimes.”
He made a noise of doubt.
“You concentrate on your MLM werewolf scheme. I’ll be fine until you return.”
“It’s not multi-level marketing!”
I giggled. “I know. I’m sorry. Hey, Nathan, are you going to challenge Trace for alpha of the wolf pack here?”
He was silent. After Nathan’s best friend was murdered, who was the alpha of the local group, his second in command, Trace, had taken over. I had learned during the investigation that Nathan also had the potential to be an alpha and that he had refused to step into such a role because of his anger issues.
“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “Trace is a good guy, but some have said he’s not strong enough to lead. I’m not saying I am, yet. There are other rogues in New Orleans I might be able to make a pack with.”
“You mean Violet?”
“She’s one. There are others.”
The pack hadn’t wanted Violet to join because of the stench of law enforcement clinging to her, weird considering they all held various jobs. For instance, Trace owned a restaurant. Maybe she shouldn’t want to be a part of such a group that could look down their noses at her in such a way. Since Violet used to have feelings for Nathan, and he was still considered a friend, I assumed she would join him if he offered.
“Will you join my pack, Rue?” Nathan’s voice had gone deep and seductive.
“I’m not a wolf.”
“You can be the token vampire.”
“Funny. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I can be in a vampire coven and a part of a wolf pack. Silvano might whine about it.”
Nathan grumbled. “He doesn’t have designs on you, does he?”
I looked down at myself although Nathan couldn’t see it. “I’m not spotting any patterns on my skin, so probably not.”
“Rue, don’t be sarcastic.”
“Sorry, my love. It doesn’t matter what Silvano has in mind for me. I’m my own woman, and I say bad boy wolves all the way.”
“One in particular,” he said, and I heard the happy grin in his voice. Rolling my eyes, I assured him again that he was the one, and we ended the call.
The next night, another attack, this time at a salon. I zipped along the dark city streets until I reached the police station, and just for fun, I sent the demon lurking on the rooftop to his own realm and out of the human one. When I was finished playing around, I popped in on Violet as she was strapping on her gun belt in the police locker room. She glared when she spotted me.
“How did you get back here?” she complained.
I widened my eyes. “Was it supposed to be hard?”
She sighed and slammed the locker closed. “Can you cloak now?”
“Here and there,” I said. “It’s not reliable yet, but I’m getting the hang of it. This time, I just moved faster than they could see.”
“You have a lot of fun with your abilities.”
“That’s what happens when you’re not born this way. Plus, I like to stay somewhat positive. If I get down on myself too much, then I face eternity miserable. It’s all in the mindset.”
“Hmm.”
I followed her out of the locker room, and several officers glanced at me. Violet shifted her shoulders in that way she had which told me she was uncomfortable and hoped no one would approach her. She didn’t want to have to explain my presence. We left the station, and I joined her in her car.
“How long are you going to follow me?” she snapped.
Her irritation didn’t bother me a bit. “Well, I wanted to ask about the attacks. Don’t you think it’s weird that they’re happening in public places? I mean if I were a ghoul, I wouldn’t want to risk the exposure. I’d snatch the occasional human in a dark alley and hide the evidence.”
She ground her teeth. “You mean like you do?”
“I’m not a killer.”
Her expression said she begged to differ. “You’re assuming they can reason.”
“Didn’t you see it in their eyes? They’re not mindless zombies.”
“Well, I don’t care what they are. I want them all dead.”
“I didn’t hear a heartbeat. I’m pretty sure they’re already dead. They sure smell like it.”
Violet almost whined in agreement. I figured her poor nose had suffered terrible abuse during the fighting. Then her countenance changed again, and I sensed her sadness. The emotion took me by surprise. Surely, she wasn’t feeling sorry for the ghouls.
“I’m thinking of breaking it off with him.”
Now I understood the emotion. “Cam?”
She frowned at me. “Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Aw, but you two looked so cute last night at dinner and holding hands while you walked.”
Violet’s face pinked. She was a beautiful woman in her own right. “I’m not talking about him to you.”
I ignored the attitude. “Does he know what you are? I bet he would be okay with it. He seems to like you a lot, Violet, and he has some backbone. I mean he has to, being a cop, right?”
Her hands tightened on the steering wheel, and when I didn’t get out of the vehicle, she grumbled under her breath and started it up then pulled out of the station.
“Where’s your partner?” I asked.
“She’s sick.”
“Tough dealing with humans. It’s not so bad having a nonhuman friend. I can be a friend, Violet.”
She eyed me and then stared straight ahead through the windshield. Her foot hung heavy on the gas petal, and she sped along the street. When a light turned red too soon, she had to slam on breaks, and her agitation mounted.
“Violet, are you okay? You seem much more wound up than usual.”
She hesitated, but I waited. “He was almost killed. I should break it off with him. He’s human. They’re so darn fragile. I should stick with my own kind.”
“That’s not what you want.”
“Don’t presume to tell me what I want!” She sucked in a few deep breaths and blew them out. “If I had an alpha, he could help me calm down. Plus, I’d have a group where I’d meet other wolves and a potential mate.”
“It doesn’t matter, Vie. Look at me and Nathan. We’re doing fine.”
Off she went flying along the road again. “I don’t agree with your pairing, but you both can do what you wan
t.”
“You really think it’ll only work out if you’re with a werewolf? People are people. We all have our challenges, whether we’re human or nonhuman, wolf or anything else. You’re scared he’ll be hurt, but if you were human, can you honestly say you would worry less about him? Worrying about the ones we love comes with the territory.”
She didn’t seem to like this logic, but I believed she understood it. Violet was too stubborn to acknowledge my reasoning, so she stayed silent. I figured a change of subject was in order. Semi-change. “So, about last night… If your partner is sick, you need backup. These ghouls are a big challenge, and if I wasn’t there at the theatre, I don’t know what would have happened. I propose—”
“No.”
“You haven’t heard my suggestion.”
“I know what you want, Rue, and this case is not going to be for your entertainment.”
I rested a hand over my chest. “I would never.”
She sneered.
“Almost never. Vie, you have to admit the cops are no help, especially when a bullet won’t keep these things down. We both had a hard time with that fight.”
“We did, but it’s my job to take care of it, not yours. I don’t want a civilian under foot and getting in my way. Those people were killed right under my nose, Rue.”
“All the more reason for my help.”
She refused to agree. If I wanted to do anything about the ghouls, I would have to work alone. I had one last question to ask her before returning to my night patrol.
“Did Cam say anything about the incident?”
For a second, Violet’s eyes blazed brighter. “He put your strength down to adrenaline, but he’s already talking about questioning you.”
“I could glamour him,” I offered.
“And I could make you sorry,” she shot back.
I rolled my eyes. “The sensitivity of some people.”
She pulled to the side of the road and pointed. I got the message and stepped out of the squad car. As soon as my feet touched the ground and I shut the door, her tires squealed on the asphalt. We had made excellent progress as friends.
Chapter Seven
After scouring the city twice—maybe I missed a spot or two because I wasn’t that fast—I decided I wasn’t going to find the ghouls. Perhaps we had killed them all off the night before, but instinct told me we didn’t. I believed more would crop up, and right now I had no choice but to wait for it to happen.
Instead, I worked on my second important task, that of finding a job. Now that The Rusty Ankle no longer existed, I didn’t have a steady source of income. I assumed I was still working part-time as a sort of private investigator, but no one had buzzed my phone since I came back from the past. My phone had mysteriously been at Nathan’s apartment along with a few other personal items. Time changing was quite confusing.
I chose to first stop by the hotel I used to work at before I walked off the job when my boss tried to put me on the afternoon shift. As I strode along the alley leading to the service entrance, I expected to spot Carl, a former coworker, who never failed to grab a last smoke before he had to go in for the night. Instead of Carl, a woman maybe in her early thirties leaned in his spot. Because I was hungry, I sniffed the air as I approached and wrinkled my nose. Her blood smelled odd, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
“Hey,” I said when I drew alongside her. “Carl around?”
Dull eyes drifted in my direction. She dragged long and deep on a cigarette. “No.”
I waited, expecting more and got nothing. “Um, is he off for the night?”
“Who wants to know?” There was no attitude in her question, just mild curiosity. I had the feeling she passed the time with the question more than anything else.
“Rue Darrow. I used to work with him.” I hoped Carl could lead me in the direction of a place hiring because I recalled he was good with that type of information. “He still works here, right?”
She rotated her shoulders as if it were a supreme effort to speak. “He’s on sick leave. Attacked by those weird people.”
I stilled, and she leaned toward me, squinting. Recalling I should at least give the appearance of being alive, I shifted my weight from one leg to the other. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yup. Happened a few nights ago.” Talking about Carl’s health animated her a little more. “Heard the boss say he’s in the hospital. Got some strange fever they can’t get to go down.”
“How is a fever strange?”
Her eyes widened. “Do I know? I’m not a doctor.”
Again, the words were combative but absent of heat. I tapped a hand against my thigh and peered up and down the alley. Then I looked at her again. “Are you sick?”
“Why would you ask me that?”
I pressed. “Are you?”
She glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone was nearby. “I don’t know why I should tell you, but I have cancer. I can’t afford the treatment, and I don’t know that I would get the chemo even if I did. They say it makes you sicker.”
“It could save your life.”
She shrugged and went back to smoking. I left her where she stood and headed down the alley. For the next hour, I put in applications at various businesses that might hire me. Funny enough, I even offered my services at a rival cleaners and drew great satisfaction in thinking about helping them grow beyond the Stanleys’ “success.”
Since I had met the goblin Stanley, I had wondered why they would settle for such a moderate income from the business they owned, especially when they had to split it among however many brothers there were. Then it hit me—laundering. I was sure I was right. The Stanleys were probably using their business as a cover. Interesting theory, but I had no reason to pursue it. My employment prospects were limited because even while many businesses stayed open late, most needed someone to work starting late afternoon. During spring and summer months, the sun was still in the sky during that time of day.
When I was ready to admit temporary defeat, I headed over to the paranormal library and slumped into a chair to lie dramatically across the table. Lily hovered over me, patting my back. Each time her hand came into contact with my body, a tiny electric shock zipped through me. Nothing painful but enough to alert me she was there.
“I’m unemployable, Lily,” I complained.
“There there,” she cooed.
“Where’s Bill?”
“He’s here.”
I sat up and looked around. “Where?”
She pointed, and I looked toward a bare wall with nothing adorning it.
“Unless Bill has become a wall, he’s not over there.”
“Look harder,” she said, and I squinted. The wall fell away, and there was one of the other dimensions he had showed me at my first visit. Bill walked about an identical library, helping customers, smiling, and seeming to enjoy himself. While Bill spoke to one woman, a man strode up to him. I recognized the wild man who had come rushing into the library previously.
The two men finished their conversation, and the stranger turned in my direction as if he planned to cross the dimensions to my side. Bill caught his arm and shook his head. Then his gaze slid to me, and I knew just as before when Bill rushed me out of the library, he didn’t want me there at the same time as the man. When I first met him, he’d admitted to signaling when other visitors weren’t welcome if I was already in the library.
Realizing the truth of what Bill did, I huffed and folded my arms. Well, that man could take the long way home, assuming there was one. I had no problem with anyone visiting the library when I did.
Bill crossed the dimensions and greeted me. “Good evening, Rue. It’s good to see you. Would you like a bottle?”
Something inside me leaped to attention. “No, thank you. I’ve just had my meal.”
Bill looked at me with an odd expression, and too late I recalled he could read my thoughts. I performed a fruitless effort to block him out, but he made no comment about my l
ie. Bill tended not to involve himself too much with others’ situations except when it overlapped library business.
“I would like to search the underweb for a job,” I said. “Do you mind if I take a peek?” One didn’t just use Bill’s a facilities willy nilly. One always got permission.
“You have access at home.” He said it matter-of-factly. I wondered if he hadn’t read in my head about the changes I had caused. Then again, I hadn’t been thinking about it so maybe not.
“Um, Nathan is out of town, and he took his laptop with him. I apparently don’t own one anymore.”
Lily passed through the table and faced me. “Why do you say ‘apparently,’ Rue? Don’t you know?”
“I used to have a laptop, but recently almost everything I owned has, uh, shifted around.”
She was about to ask another question, but Bill distracted her. He gave his permission for me to use the equipment, and soon I searched the underweb for a job. At least, I knew there existed plenty of creatures who were nocturnal like me. You might think I would run into the same problem Nathan had when people feared hiring him because they thought he would eat them. No, not quite. I could always find someone willing to use a vampire for their own purposes. That didn’t mean they liked me.
“Factory worker,” I mused and wrinkled my nose. They packed and shipped spices. That was asking for pain. I ran my finger down the list. So many jobs for unskilled labor, so little time. I had come down in my little world having been a schoolteacher in the past. Transferring bodies meant I couldn’t use the old degree or references. Not to mention no one in my hometown knew who I was now or where I lived. They all believed the lie Ian and I had provided for them.
On the second page of the list, I came across an interesting opening, just posted ten minutes ago, according to the tag. Odd that it should fall back so far. I had no idea why I even stopped to read or for that matter click on the link. Maybe because it blinked off and on at me.
Night Fever (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 3) Page 5