Blood Red (21 page)

“No one here knows you,” Mark told him curtly. “The cops here know that vampires exist—some of them, anyway. But no one knows
you
.”

Jonas lifted his hand and pulled a chain out from beneath his T-shirt.

He was wearing a cross.

“Could I wear this if I were associated with that monster, Stephan?” he demanded.

Mark arched a brow.

“Look, I
am
new to the area,” Jonas went on. “I've been in New York City for a long time. No one there notices anyone else, there are blood banks up the kazoo…I came here to work the music scene. That's all. Not to hurt anyone.” He offered a rueful smile. “Hell, there are enough rats around, you know?”

“Make sure you stay out of my way,” Mark warned him.

“I can help you. I want to help you. Look, I haven't been…what I am now for very long, and I'm not very powerful, but I'd give my…existence to help Deanna. I'll do anything.
Anything
.”

“Just stay out of my way,” Mark repeated.

He started walking away, his anxiety for Lauren rising to the surface again. He wasn't going to kill Jonas—though letting him live might be a serious mistake. But he didn't have the time right now to figure out the best way to handle the situiation. He had to find Lauren.

“How the hell can I prove myself to you?” Jonas called after him.

Mark kept going without answering.

He moved with long strides, eager to quit Bourbon Street. It felt as if he were screaming on the inside.

He had to find her.

Now.

The figure at the end of the alley continued to stand there, staring.

She stood dead still and stared back.

She was almost out of holy water, and she was trying desperately to remember everything that Mark had said. This was Stephan, she was certain. Mark had said he was very strong. She could hit him with what remained of the holy water, and undoubtedly she would hurt him, but would it be enough? It might only serve to enrage him and make him all the more certain that the time to sink his teeth into her throat was now….

“I am not Katya!” she shouted.

“You are the one I will have,” he said softly in return.

It seemed as if the entire world had gone still. As if time itself had stopped. She was alone in the alley with him, wrapped in darkness and shadows.

“No,” she said softly. “You don't know what it is to really
have
anyone. You will never have me. And in your brutality and your cruelty, you will find your own destruction.”

He started walking toward her.

How far would her water pistol shoot?

“Put down that weapon. And take off your cross. Because I
will
have you. I will have you in the way I want to have you, and that's all that will matter. When I tire of you, well…maybe you'll be lucky and that won't happen.”

She took a step backwards.

He seemed closer than he had been.

As if he had floated.

But now he was walking casually toward her, as if they were old acquaintances, just chatting after a chance meeting on the street.

She sensed, more than felt, a sudden fluttering.

A shadow in the air. Darkness…

Like wings.

Lauren realized that Stephan was frowning.

Then, suddenly, another man materialized in front of her, standing between her and Stephan.

It was Jonas, the young, dark-haired stranger who had so captivated Deanna.

“Leave her alone,” Jonas said.

Stephan paused, then almost immediately started laughing. “And just what are you going to do about it?”

Jonas turned slightly toward Lauren. “Run!” he yelled to her.

She realized that Stephan probably had the power to tear the young man apart. Young
man
? He was a nothing but creature himself; she had just seen him create substance from shadow.

“Don't fight him,” she said vehemently.

“Go!” he urged.

Stephan was coming swiftly closer, floating….

He reached Jonas, lifted a hand. It was a casual movement, but his touch sent Jonas flying across the alley, slamming hard against the wall of the church.

Then Stephan was walking toward her again.

And she found she was having difficulty moving. She could see his eyes. They were dark, and they were light. They were blackness, a Stygian pit, and they gleamed with something like fire. She wanted to move, but…

She forced herself to blink, then she aimed the water pistol.

“You won't shoot,” he said.

But she did.

His hissed grew into a bellow of fury as the spray hit him, but he didn't stop. Jonas recovered, straightening from where he had slumped to the ground. He raced back, leaping on the older vampire's back.

“Go, Lauren! Don't let him into your mind!”

She nodded, backing away. Stephan was already reaching around and plucking Jonas from his back as if he were no more than a pesky mosquito.

“Let him go!” she commanded, firing her water pistol again.

When the spray hit Stephan, he once again roared in fury.

She squeezed the plastic trigger again. Nothing happened.

The gun was empty.

“Go!” Jonas told her.

Stephan said something she couldn't understand, but it felt as if she was hit by a cold and paralyzing blast of air. Her feet seemed leaden. She opened her mouth to scream as Stephan pounded Jonas to the pavement. Then he kicked him aside like trash and started toward Lauren again with determined strides.

But justbefore he reached her, before his fetid breath could was over her, there was a whirlwind of energy in the street. Suddenly Stephan was hit by an enormous streak of energy and power.

Lauren couldn't begin to imagine the source, and then she saw that it was a man.

Mark.

He threw himself at Stephan in an attack so violent that he seemed to be the very wrath of God himself. His onslaught caught the vampire off balance. For a second Stephan teetered, and then the two of them became a melee of flying limbs and went down, rolling across the stone pavement of the alleyway together, a black mass of fury and rage.

At that moment the sky came to life again, wings appearing from the darkness, then fading back into it again.

Something swept down toward Lauren, and she heard a shout. Mark's voice. He was talking to Jonas.

“Get her out of here! Get her the hell out of here!”

Jonas moved like a flash of lightning. She felt his arms around her. “Run! Help me, Lauren, damn it. Run!”

They ran.

Shadows took form in their wake, as if wings and darkness combined to become tremendous hands, reaching out….

They ran….

And ran.

And burst out onto the Square and joined the sea of humanity once again. People were strolling around, talking, laughing. A guitarist played a country song, a respectable imitation of Johnny Cash.

In the light, in the throng, in the music and chatter and
life
of the square, Lauren stopped running at last. Jonas was still holding her as she turned back and looked down the alley.

All she saw was…

Nothing.

No wings, no shadows. No sign of Stephan.

And no sign, either, of Mark.

“W
e shouldn't have left him,” Lauren argued.

They were standing on the edge of the Square. A nearby sign advertised the Pontalbo Museum. A Civil War cannon stood behind a fence, just to her right. If she looked across the green, she could see the statue of Andrew Jackson on horseback.

If she looked around, she could see a world that was normal in every way.

Jonas turned to her, shaking his head sadly. “We had to leave him. Don't you see? He would have been more vulnerable if you had stayed. He would have had to defend you.”

She looked at him. He looked like a regular guy. And yet she knew he was anything but.

She had just seen him materialize from shadow.

He was a vampire.

She inadvertently took a step back.

He groaned. “I was ready to give my life for you back there,” he said softly. “Why are you afraid of me? You can trust me, you know.”

She frowned, shook her head, and then spoke ruefully. “You do realize I still think I'm insane for believing that vampires exist, don't you? Trusting a vampire may take a bit of effort.”

“If people only knew how many totally decent vampires actually walk among them,” he began.

“Vampires aren't exactly known for their good works,” she pointed out, then looked toward the alley again, her concern growing. “Where did they go? How did they disappear so quickly?”

He shook his head. “I don't know. All I
do
know is that I have to watch out for you until Mark reappears,” he said firmly.

She couldn't help but look anxiously toward the alley again. “What should we do?” she asked.

“We should go to the hospital,” he said.

She frowned. “You want me to let
you
into Deanna's room?”

“I swear to you, I'm not the one who hurt her and I never would. I give you my word.”

“Forgive me, but I'm not sure about trusting the word of a vampire.”

“I was ready to die for you,” he reminded her again, sounding genuinely hurt.

“Maybe that was just a ploy,” she said. “Maybe you're on Stephan's side, and you're just stringing us all along.”

“Look. What he wants is you. That's pretty evident. And he might have had you, right then and there. I'm pretty sure the only reason he didn't just swoop right in and take you is that he thrives on the chase.”

“Why not chase us right into the Square? What could these people have done against a host of vampires?”

He shook his head. “If everyone believed—no, knew—that vampires are real, that they exist right here alongside you in what you think of as your safe little world, they'd try exterminat them. Us.. The good
and
the bad. The good would die first, because they try not to hurt other people. Then you'd be left with the bad. And the bad could turn the tide enough to kill everything. You have to realize that there is an entire underworld out there. Some people sense it. Some even know that it exists. Some people, like Sean Canady, know it and know they need our help in the fight for human safety. If Stephan had carried his battle into the Square, if enough people had seen him and been attacked, the truth would have been revealed and a real war would be on. A blood bath. Creatures like Stephan exist because they prey on what human beings consider to be
real
fears. If he tires of his victims and decides not to accept them as members of his flock, he decapitates them and discards their bodies. When he came here, he began throwing them in the Mississippi.” He hesitated for a moment. “Once there was an entire hierarchy system, a code of vampire law. A vampire could only create three more of his own kind each century. There was—is—even a…a
king
if you will. Of course, there were always monsters who broke the law, and their behavior threatened exposure for everyone. They were dealt with by their own, or occasionally by a vampire hunter or a guardian. This king, actually resides here, in New Orleans.”

“Then where the hell is he?” Lauren demanded.

“Out of the country, apparently.” He shook his head. “Look, I came here because of Lucian, the king. He leads an alliance of those who work against evil and believe that they can find redemption and be part of a better world. I swear to you, what I'm saying is the truth.”

It couldn't be.

It could. Either that, or she was suffering from the most real and ridiculous delusion that had ever plagued a person.

“Please. Let's go to the hospital and wait there for Mark. I'm sure he'll come find you. I ran into him earlier, when he was looking for you here in the Quarter.”

“Was he with Heidi? My…
our
other friend.”

“No. She must be back at the hospital.”

Lauren was afraid. Afraid to trust him and equally afraid not to. It was night. If she got into a taxi with him…

“Shall we get a cab?” he suggested.

She hesitated.

“I swear to God—and I do believe in Him—that I am not going to bite the taxi driver and kidnap you,” he said.

Deanna had told her that there were two. One who was evil. Stephan. And Jonas?

She looked around the Square. Bourbon Street would still be buzzing, but the artists here were closing up. The guitar player was already gone.

“All right,” she said. “But I need to warn you. I'm wearing a cross.”

He smiled. “So am I.”

As they walked to the through street, she asked him, “How is it you can wear a cross?”

He offered her a shy smile. “Because I'm not evil. Because I have no desire to harm anyone.”

“So…the fact that they're evil makes crosses holy water poison to the others?”

“Of course,” he said. “It makes sense if you think about it.”

They found a taxi, but even as they climberd in, Lauren still felt nervous. She was worried, as well. Worried about Mark.

Worried about Deanna.

She kept her distance in the cab, and Jonas didn't pressure her, and they reached the hospital without incident. She started to pay, but Jonas insisted on covering it.

When they reached Deanna's room, Bobby was at the door. “Sweet Jesus, there you are!” he exclaimed, holding her for a minute. Then he drew back. “Where's Mark?” He looked over her shoulder at Jonas, arching a brow.

“Mark is…otherwise engaged,” she murmured, then introduced the two men before looking past Bobby into the room. Stacey was in a chair near the bed, and Heidi was there, too, sitting as straight as a ramrod, wearing a frown of irritation.

“What's wrong with Heidi?” she asked quickly.

Bobby looked unhappy. “I guess you never spoke with Mark.”

“No. Not really.” There were too many people in the hallway and beyond who might hear their conversation for her to explain what had happened.

Jonas, ignoring everyone else, walked to Deanna's bedside. He took her hand and stared at her, and he was either as concerned as he claimed or a fabulous actor, Lauren thought.

“What's wrong with Heidi?” she repeated, returning her attention to Bobby.

He dropped his voice to a whisper. “She's been tainted.”

“Tainted?” she asked, but her heart sank. She was pretty sure she knew what that meant without a lengthy explanation. “How?” she asked.

Bobby shrugged unhappily. “Um…well, I guess she let him in.”

“Oh, God. Then…?”

“She isn't really all that…ill. I think we can deal with it,” Stacey said, rising and walking over to join them. “I just have to get her to Montresse House. She needs to be guarded. Kept safe from…from bringing more harm to herself.”

Stacey fell silent as a nurse walked into the room. She had a sour face and was clearly not pleased to see all of them. “This is a hospital room, not a bar on Bourbon,” she said irritably. “Please keep it to two visitors.”

“We can take care of Heidi if you want to stay here with Deanna,” Bobby said.

Lauren hesitated. That meant she would be left alone with Deanna—and Jonas.

He seemed desperately sincere. Did she dare trust in him?

Did she have a choice?

And anyway, weren't Bobby and Stacey practically strangers, as well?

Bobby's cell phone rang as she hesitated. The nurse gave him a disapproving look and started to lecture him on the hospital's prohibition against cell phones, but he just flashed his badge at her and took the call. When he flicked his phone close, he looked at her authoritatively.

“We'll be leaving shortly. Lieutenant Canady is on his way in, and we won't leave until he gets here.”

The nurse looked at him disapprovingly, sniffed and departed.

Bobby looked at Lauren. “Mark is at Sean's place,” he told her.

He and Stacey sat down to wait, and Heidi continued to sit in silence, as well, staring at the window as if she could see out of it, despite the fact that the curtains were drawn.

There was no way out of the fact that he'd behaved rashly, Mark thought.

Far too rashly.

But what the hell else could he have done, under the circumstances?

At the very least, Lauren was safe. He had to believe that. Had to believe that Jonas could be trusted. The other man had taken quite a blow.

But could it all have been an act?

It was a small point compared to the fact that, once again, Stephan had escaped. The violence of their fight had taken them down several streets, and when Stephan had managed to pull his disappearing act, Mark had found himself staggering onto Bourbon Street, where the cops had found him. He had assumed—correctly—that they would think he was a drunk who had been involved in a barroom brawl.

When they had argued over whether to arrest him or take him to a hospital, he had convinced them to call Sean Canady instead.

Canady had collected him and taken him back to his own home, where, Maggie had patched up his wounds, even though he had assured her that he was going to be all right. He had been worried sick about Lauren, but Canady had quickly gotten hold of Bobby Munro and found out that she and Jonas were safely at the hospital.

When he had started to rise, Canady had stopped him.

“You need to recover. Give yourself time.”

“I can't.”

“You have to. Or you'll be worthless.”

That was true.

“Look, I'll going to the hospital myself,” Sean said. “You stay here and get your strength back.”

“We have a great guest room upstairs,” Maggie told him. “You can lie down and rest now that you're patched up and you've had something to eat.”

They were right. He felt suddenly grateful to have met them.

So he agreed, though he still felt frustrated and useless as he watched Sean leave.

Maggie sat with him while he lay down. “I realized after we met the other day that I'd seen you before,” she told him after a minute.

He looked at her. Studied her and thought about where he was. “Yeah, I guess you have.”

She smiled. “You're originally from here.”

“Near here,” he agreed. He shook his head. “I don't get it, though. You
were
a vampire. And you're certain that you're not anymore?”

“Oh, Lord, yes. Sometimes I'm glad, but sometimes…sometimes I wish I could do a few of the things I used to do. But I have Sean, and we have our family. I've never heard of this kind of reversal happening with anyone else, but…my case was different.” She rose and walked around the room restlessly. “It was all so long ago, but my father and some of his friends killed the vampire who created me while he was still in the process of turning me. That kept me from actually dying, and I think that somehow made the difference. But Sean and I have good friends who are in mixed marriages. And as Sean told you, Jessica Frasier, who owns Montresse House, is a vampire, and though they aren't married, her partner is a guardian, as ancient as she is, who's sort of like an angel of death against evil vampires. It's a crazy world, huh?”

“What do you think about Jonas?” he asked her.

“You said he fought Stephan,” she reminded him.

“Yes, but…I just worry about leaving Deanna and the others alone with him.”

“Don't worry. Sean will be at the hospital soon. You've got to rest. I'll leave you alone now, so you can get some sleep.”

She was right. He needed his strength.

He closed his eyes.

When Sean Canady arrived, so clearly the voice of authority, Lauren couldn't help but be glad he was there.

She felt far more secure. His faith in Bobby and Stacey became hers. She watched while they escorted Heidi from the room, promising to keep an eagle eye on her.