Blood Therapy (Kismet Knight, Ph.D., Vampire Psychologist) (45 page)

“I can’t get past the fact that so many innocent people were murdered just so he could make all of us—and the police—run in circles for his amusement. He really was a monster.”

Devereux gave me a serious look. “He was a vampire, Kismet. Vampires do not behave like humans or hold similar values. I know this is hard for you to hear, but to most of the undead, humans are merely food. Those of us who wish to live parallel, hidden lives alongside you are in the minority. And this is an issue that will not go away simply because Dracul has been destroyed.”

“So things are getting stranger in the vampire universe?”

“You could say that.” He sighed. “But regarding myself, I acknowledge that I behaved badly with everyone, especially you. I have discovered that I possess a
healthy
ego, as you have often said, and I am not sure what to do about it. Or what I
can
do about it. I fear it is such an ingrained part of my nature that I might never be able to moderate myself. And if I cannot, I wonder if you will put up with me.”

“I’m already impressed by the level of introspection and insight you just shared. That’s the first step toward change. Maybe simply being aware of your challenges will help.”

“That is good to know. I will endeavor to explore my interior world more thoroughly.” He grinned. “Perhaps I will seek out a psychotherapist, if I can find one I am not in love with.”

“Master?” Luna popped in next to the bed. “I’m sorry to bother you in the midst of your
important
business”—she rolled her eyes—“but Valentino’s being rowdy in the club. Do you want to come upstairs and deal with him?”

Devereux gave her a hard frown. “Of course not. You are in charge in my absence, and you have dealt with him before. Go and take care of it, and do not disturb me again.”

Appearing properly chastised, she bobbed her head, then vanished.

Yes! Another indication of trouble between the Master and his obnoxious assistant! Dare I hope?

“What was that all about?”

“I do not know what is wrong with her. She has not been herself lately.”

Which, to my mind, would be a vast improvement.

My stomach growled, and I realized I hadn’t eaten actual food in a week—and come to think of it, I hadn’t showered either. Yuck!

“You are hungry. Allow me to arrange for food—”

“Wait, Devereux.” I grabbed his arm. “I’d really like to go home. I want to take a shower, check my e-mails and messages, and start to feel normal again. Do you mind?”

A disappointed expression flashed over his face before he regained control and once again looked charmingly neutral. “Not at all. You have gone through a miserable experience and you wish to return to your life. I completely understand. I am sure you have had enough of vampires for a while.”

Unaccustomed to being able to sense the essence of Devereux’s feelings and thoughts, I was surprised by a burst of clear knowing.
He thinks I want to get away from him. He’s still acting vulnerable. I wonder what’s up with that?

Well, Zephyr did say the elders’ blood would probably make me able to sense vampires now, too. I guess he was right.

“I guess I
am
tired of vampires in general.”

He gave a tight smile. “Of course. I will take you home.” He tucked the blanket around my body and lifted me into his arms.

“But
you
”—I looked up at him and playfully batted my eyelashes—“are not vampires in general.”

With a joyful laugh, he sailed us through space.

Devereux thought us to my town house, and I invited him to return in a couple of hours, which seemed to make him happy.

Before he left, I kept picking up that he felt insecure about us, but I didn’t know if it was because he couldn’t read me as a matter of course anymore, which threw him off his game, or if he really thought I’d chosen Alan over him. Or perhaps there was some other mystical vampiric reason I couldn’t possibly fathom. Nothing I could do about it at that moment, so I let it go.

Everything at home appeared to be just as I’d left it, except cleaner. The cleaning fairies—or vampires—had not only scrubbed and vacuumed my place to perfection, but someone had shopped. There was food in the refrigerator and cabinets and a stash of my favorite wines sat on the counter.

There were definitely perks to hanging out with a rich guy.

After inhaling a couple of sandwiches, a bowl of soup, several chocolate cookies, and a glass of wine, I headed upstairs. More than ready to discard the filmy white nightgown, I stepped out of it in the bathroom and took a long, luxurious shower. I lathered up with an amazing-smelling soap that hadn’t been there when I left and washed my hair with a new French shampoo.

Feeling totally spoiled and indulged, I wrapped up in my familiar pink terrycloth robe and let my hair air-dry.

Downstairs again, I ambled to my desk, turned on the computer, and reached for the telephone. I was eager to check my voice mail messages and e-mails to make sure my entire private practice hadn’t evaporated while I was away. Not that I didn’t believe Anne Boleyn about her efforts on my behalf.

True to her word, the message she’d recorded sounded like me, and it was exactly as she’d described. As I studied my appointment book, I was pleased to see she’d done an excellent job rescheduling all my clients. Of course, I had no idea what had become of some of the vampires who never made appointments in advance, but no doubt they’d heard about what
really
happened through the vampire grapevine.

I’d just finished answering the e-mails that couldn’t wait until morning and started toward the stairs to get dressed when I walked through a clammy, frigid spot. It felt like stepping into the cold storage at the morgue, which I’d experienced in grad school. I recognized the feeling from when the ghost at the hotel walked through me, and I jumped back, then froze, confused that I couldn’t see anyone. I retreated a few more paces, and a form materialized into view.

“Doctor Knight?”

Brown Hat—er, Jack Kent! I gasped and grabbed the front of my robe, making sure it was closed, and looked around for something to use as a weapon.

“Don’t be afraid. I can’t hurt you. And I wouldn’t anyway. Probably. I remember being angry all the time when I was alive, but now I don’t know why.”

He was still wearing his usual wool cap and dark coat.

Could ghosts lie? I didn’t see why not, so it wasn’t likely I was going to lower my guard.

“Sorry about scaring you. I’m not so good at the ghost stuff yet. It takes me a while to manifest.”

“Why are you here? What do you want?” I rubbed my arms, which had broken out in chills from walking through his ectoplasm or whatever the hell it was.

“I’m not sure. I think I need to apologize to you.”

“Apologize? For what?”

“For stalking and threatening you?”

“Er, okay. Why were you doing those things? What did I ever do to you?”

“Nothing. I’m not sure why I targeted you. I don’t remember.” He fiddled nervously with the zipper on his coat. “I think I had the idea that you were helping the vampires take over the world, but that sounds stupid when I say it now.”

“How did you know about the vampires?”

“I started following you last October, and I trailed you and a couple of guys to that club, the Crypt. I watched the blond man, who I now know is the head vampire, join the three of you at the table. I figured you’d stay put for a while, and there’s no smoking in the bar, so I went outside to light up a joint. Actually, I’d smoked quite a lot that night. While I was toking, I was approached by a beautiful woman, the kind who never pays any attention to guys like me.”

“Are you saying she was a vampire?”

“Yeah.” He stuck his hands in his coat pockets.

“How did you know?”

“She told me. She said she wanted to drink some of my blood, and in exchange she’d do whatever I wanted.” He shrugged. “I guess she thought I’d want sex, but I wanted to interview her, and she said okay.”

“You used your cell to record the interview?” I shifted my weight from foot to foot, noticing I was still cold, as if a dank breeze emanated from where he stood. It made me feel like I was walking through a graveyard. I shivered.

“Uh-huh. This one was just audio. But she didn’t know I was recording. I have a small mic that nobody can see unless they’re looking. Anyway, after we talked I let her suck my neck then she tried to welch on the deal.”

“What do you mean?”

“All of a sudden, I felt bad—dizzy—and had to sit down. She showed me her bloody fangs and said she’d entranced me, and I wouldn’t remember anything about her in the morning. I don’t think she knew I’d recorded her. But when I woke up the next day, I
did
remember, and I had the official recording. I think smoking so much pot must have messed with the effects of the vampire hypnosis.”

Really? That information could come in handy.

“Anyway, after that I started filming vampires and their victims in the alley behind the club. I have a password-protected secret website where I downloaded all the video that only I can access. Since I’m dead, I guess I won’t need them anymore. What a waste. I had entire documentaries about the vampires. And about you.”

Swell. Fifteen more minutes of fame.

“So you’re saying all your video about me is safe? Nobody can
find it?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Nobody knew about it but me. And after I died, I saw the blond vampire take my cell from the NYPD evidence room. The web address where I stored all the videos is on the phone in a text, so you can go to the site and destroy the videos if you want. You should get the phone from him. But before you wipe the videos, you ought to watch them. You might really enjoy the stuff I taped. It could help you with your vampire counseling practice. Lots of good details.”

“Okay, thanks. What’s the password?”

“Kismet.”

Great.

Thinking I might not get an opportunity like this again anytime soon, I decided to ask the questions we humans all want answered.

“So, what’s it like, being dead?” I tugged the belt on my robe tighter.

He scratched his head and frowned. “I don’t really know. I still feel like the same person, except my memory is a little fuzzy and none of the stuff that used to piss me off does anymore. And I’m not hungry or thirsty.”

“Did someone
say
you had to apologize to me?”

He thought really hard. “That’s a good question. I’m not sure, but I think so. I remember a woman telling me I’d be carrying anything I didn’t heal.” He rubbed his hands together, then blew into them, as if they were cold. “Shit. I don’t even know what that
means
. And then I showed up here.” He gave me wide eyes. “Who knows where I’ll end up next?”

We just stared at each other for a couple of minutes. I tried to think of something meaningful to ask, but he didn’t seem to have any answers, and he’d looked as surprised to be in my house as I was to see him. Then he began to fade. “Do you forgive me?” he said, with what sounded like panicky sincerity.

“Yes.”

As soon as I said that, he vanished.

I stuck my hand out, feeling for the cold place, and it was gone. “Well, damn!”

“Damn what?”

I clutched my chest and twisted sharply to face the opposite direction. “Shit, Devereux, you’ve got to stop sneaking up on me. You scared me! My heart’s going to explode.”

“Sorry.” He wrapped his arms around me. “I was sure you had heard me arrive, but since you were talking to someone I could not see, I assumed you had ghostly company so I did not disturb you. You have never mentioned a spectral guest visiting your home before. Is this the first time?”

“Yes.” I sniffed the air, breathing in his enticing aroma. “And I hope it’s not the start of a new trend. I liked having a lunacy-free zone.”

“Was it Colin?” He gave me a quick squeeze then released me, moved to the couch, and sat.

“No.” I joined him. “It was Brown Hat—er, Jack Kent. The reporter we talked about. He said he came to apologize for harassing me.”

“That is interesting. What else did he say?”

“He said you have his cell phone and I should ask you for it.”

I almost told him about the vampire documentaries Jack had recorded, but then decided against it. That probably fell into the category of things vampires wouldn’t want humans to have access to, and I wanted to see them. Better to keep that bit of information to myself for now.

“I do have it. I liberated it from the police station in New York City. As a matter of fact, I almost destroyed it, but simply forgot in the ongoing chaos. I will bring it to you tomorrow night. Or I can have a mortal deliver it during the day if it is important.”

“No. Tomorrow night is soon enough.”

We sat in awkward silence for a couple of minutes, each of us looking at anything but the other. I took advantage of the time to practice the hum.

I couldn’t remember ever sensing discomfort from Devereux. I was pretty sure he had no idea I could read his emotions so much more clearly than before I drank the ancient vampire cocktail. I looked at him, deciding on full disclosure. “Do you know what effects drinking the elders’ blood had on me? Did Zephyr tell you?”

Surprise flashed across his face, so fast I barely caught it, and the unease radiating from him increased. He met my eyes. “He said they did not know exactly what consequences would come from you ingesting such powerful old blood, but he suspected all your abilities would expand over time. He also explained that the blood would keep any vampire, including me, from reading you, the exception being when you are in a high state of emotional arousal. He suggested that I help you remain as calm as possible in my presence, so that your brain is not affected. Why do you ask?” A muscle in his face jumped ever so slightly.

Why does this topic make him nervous?

“I was wondering if he told you about the likelihood that I’ll now be able to sense vampire emotions. Previously, that skill only worked with humans.”

“No.” He erased all expression from his face. “He did not mention that.” He looked away.