Hard Times (A Sam Harlan Novel Book 2) (22 page)

Callie hunched over the kitchen table. The first aid kit from the truck lay on the table next to her and I stood behind, inspecting the bloody furrows that Santiago had sliced across her back.

Her delicate white skin was angry shades of red and purple, the dark freckles stained with blood that welled from the cuts. Santiago’s claws had shredded her coat, and I balled it up and set it on the chair next to her. Her shirt was pulled up, her simple white bra snapped in half and dangling to each side.

It was the dangling bra that made me hesitate. Callie was circumspect. In the six weeks living together I had never seen any sign of flesh. Now she was baring her back and I found the gesture oddly … intimate. I held the bottle of alcohol and wadded a piece of gauze, then noticed my shaking hands.

“Sam,” she said weakly. “Do it.”

I nodded to myself and said, “Bite down. This is going to sting.”

She tensed as I poured alcohol on the pad, then I swiped it across the first claw mark. She arched her back and let out a muffled scream, then writhed on the chair. I poured more alcohol on the bloody pad and swiped at the second. She stomped her foot and clenched her jaw as I switched to a fresh section of the pad and repeated the action for the last two.

She almost smacked her head against the kitchen table as I finished, and I grabbed her by the scalp, trying to keep her from injuring herself. She jerked for almost a minute, then finally nodded.

“I’m going to glue the wounds shut,” I said, removing a tube of water-thin superglue from the kit. “It’s going to get hot when it sets. I’m sorry about that, but there’s nothing I can do.”

She turned to me and said through gritted teeth, “Do it.”

I squirted glue in the first wound and pinched the skin together. She trembled as the water in her blood caused the cyanoacrylate
to set, sending a puff of steam rising to the ceiling. She pitched forward and banged her head against the kitchen table before I could stop her, then turned her glare on me. “I know it’s not your fault,” she growled, “but I
really
want to hit you.”

“That’s not a very Christian thing to do,” I said. My hands shook as I prepared to continue.

Her lips curled up in the ghost of a smile. “We have to do it again, don’t we?”

“Yes,” I said. “We do.”

She chewed at her lip. “Get on with it.”

I did it three more times, until all the wounds were closed and the blood finally clotted, then I swiped her back with a fresh piece of gauze to clean the remaining blood.

Tommy had assembled Angie’s body parts next to Elias by the time we were finished. He stood there, looking lost.

“Tommy,” I said. “See if Angie has a shirt that Callie can wear. Her old one got shredded.”

He nodded and went to investigate Angie’s bedroom, leaving me alone with Callie.

“How are you?” I asked.

“It hurts,” she said, “but I’ll live. How are you?”

I just couldn’t manage it. “I made a mistake,” I said.

She shook her head. “All
three
of us made a mistake.”

“We could have been killed.”

“We weren’t.”

I removed her coat from the chair and sat down. “I don’t know how to keep going,” I said. “Everyone is counting on me, but I don’t know what I’m doing.”

She took my hand in hers. “Nobody expects you to be perfect. Not even the Lord. You are a good man, Sam Harlan. I feel it. In here,” she said, motioning to her heart.

“I felt something from
you
,” I said. “At the motel.”

She turned away, avoiding my gaze. “Yes.”

“I’ve never really understood what Lewinheim and Jack meant when they talked about your bloodline,” I said, chewing at my lip. “I want to apologize.”

“For what?” she asked.

“I never took your faith seriously,” I said. “I didn’t understand. What happened at the motel—”

“That’s never happened before,” she said. “I didn’t expect it. I wanted to stop Santiago from killing you, but—”

“But what?”

Tears welled up in her eyes. “I thought we were going to die, so I prayed for God to end it.”

* * *

Tommy returned with a red flannel shirt and offered it to a grateful Callie. She went to the bathroom to change while we inspected the bodies.

“How are we going to hide this?” I asked.

“Hide this?” Tommy asked. “They’re
dead
.”

“You’re a cop,” I said. “It’s in your nature to follow the law. What does the law say about this?” I swept my arm around the room. “How would they explain the cause of death? A woman ripped to death with no sign of a knife or cutting tool. A man’s neck broken, twisted around by inhuman strength. No, if the law starts poking around here, it would raise more questions. That would attract the attention of people who don’t like attention.”

“Who?” he asked.

I swallowed. “People who don’t want the world to know about vampires. People who make sure the world
never
knows.”

He absorbed that piece of information, and his eyes narrowed. Deputy Mueller was learning a lot more about the hidden world than I’d hoped for.

That might cause me problems in the future. Assuming we survive.

“What do we do?” he asked.

Callie returned from the bathroom wearing Angie’s flannel shirt. It was at least two sizes too big and her hands barely cleared the sleeves. Her face was pale and she looked exhausted.

Tommy’s eyes widened when he saw her, a look of awe that he quickly hid. I didn’t blame him. The faith she’d displayed in the motel had certainly awed me.

“We need to find Santiago before the night is over,” she said. “It will be stronger in the daylight.”

“Stronger in the daylight,” Tommy said, shaking his head. “
That’s
a scary thought.”

“I need to get you somewhere safe,” I said, “then I’ll return and clean up this mess.”

Tommy looked like he wanted to argue, but then his eyes drifted to the bodies on the couch and he swallowed hard. “I want to kill this thing,” he said. “Elias wasn’t exactly a friend, but he wasn’t a bad guy. He didn’t deserve this. She”—he pointed at Angie’s torso, his voice breaking—“definitely didn’t.
Nobody
deserves to die like this.”

I wanted to kill it, too, but after having my ass handed to me at the motel, my faith in my abilities was shaken. As much as I felt a responsibility for the deputy, as much as I wanted to send him away for his own safety, another part of me was glad for his help. “Callie, we’ll take you to the Glicks’. You’ll be safe there.”

* * *

I pulled in front of the Glick house and turned off the engine. The house was dark and still, but I sensed something, a lingering trace of a vampire’s evil, and then the feeling was gone so quickly I thought had imagined it.

Callie turned to me and gently shook my shoulder. “Sam. Where are you?”

I was staring at the house, trying to dispel the cold knot of fear in my gut. “Sorry,” I said. “I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

“Leticia. She has to be working with Santiago.”

“Perhaps Santiago subverted her will.”

I sighed. “I can’t believe she would willingly sacrifice her daughters. I can’t believe a mother would allow her son to be murdered.”

“You have felt a vampire’s will,” she said softly. “You, more than anybody, know what it can do.”

“I would like to think that no vampire is that powerful,” I said. “I don’t want to live in a world where a mother would give up her children for slaughter.”

Tommy was on the other side of Callie, leaning against the passenger window, listening to us. “Let’s get the Sister safe, and then let’s find Santiago.”

We got out of the truck and walked up the sidewalk. As we neared the door, there was movement inside and the echoing report of gunfire. I grabbed Callie and Tommy and yanked them to the side as I heard yelling from within.

“Stay here,” I told them.

Callie slumped to the ground and rolled to the side, away from the door, trying to make herself a smaller target. Tommy pulled his Glock and motioned for me to enter.

The door was still off its hinges, propped in the doorway, and I pulled my Kimber and kicked it. It flew back and skidded across the floor as we rushed inside.

The room reeked like a slaughterhouse. Duane Glick’s body was torn in half, the upper torso facedown on the floor, his legs five feet away near the far wall. Carrie Glick was on the floor next to her father. She stared at the ceiling with lifeless eyes, her black T-shirt sliced in long bloody gashes across her stomach, opening her bowels to the air.

I gawked at the bodies, and the tiny ceramic thimbles strewn about them, and only one thought ran through my mind.

They were supposed to be safe here.

Lori and Mary Kate Glick huddled in the corner, crouched in front of Colden who was whipping his head frantically from side to side. Mary Kate saw me and lowered her .38. “Oh, thank God.”

“What happened here?” I asked, my voice faltering.

Lori Glick was still pointing her .38 at me, and the barrel was shaking as she sobbed so hard she couldn’t manage a breath. Mary Kate turned to her and put her hand on the barrel, gently lowering it to the floor. “Lori! It’s okay.”

Lori’s eyes searched the room, stopping everywhere but on the bodies of her husband and daughter, then she took a racking breath and dropped to her knees, letting out a low moan that sounded more animal than human.

I heard footsteps behind me and turned to find Callie taking in the room. Her face was white, her back rigid. “Oh, Lord.”

“Tommy,” I said. “Check the rest of the house. It should be clear. Santiago is gone.”

Tommy nodded in acknowledgment, then left with his Glock held high.

I wanted to kick myself.

I knew I felt something. I knew a vampire was nearby.

“What happened here?” I demanded.

Mary Kate turned to Colden and placed her hand on his cheek. “Honey, I need you to take care of your mother. Can you do that?”

Colden stared at his aunt, his eyes haunted, then nodded dully. He dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around his mother. The pistol slipped from her fingers and she hugged him tight, her lungs working like bellows to fuel a sudden keening from her throat.

Mary Kate watched as Colden tried in vain to comfort his mother. She finally turned to me and said, “The vampire came for us.”

“When?” I asked, still in disbelief.

“Just a few minutes ago,” Mary Kate said, her voice shaky. “We were sitting here and then it came through the back door. It was blackened, but I saw its white fangs. Its mouth was open and I saw them clearly.” She took a breath and choked back a sob. “It wasn’t—I—I don’t have words. It moved so quickly. It grabbed—”

She swallowed several times before continuing. “It grabbed Duane and tore him open like he was a bag of flesh and blood. I didn’t … I didn’t believe that could happen. I thought I understood…”

Callie knelt over Carrie Glick’s body, praying softly, and I pointed at the girl. “And her?” I asked through the lump in my throat.

“I shot it,” Mary Kate continued, her face a rigid mask. “At least, I
should
have. It dodged the bullet and sliced through Carrie. I pushed Lori and Colden into the corner. Lori started shooting and I started shooting … and it left. It just left. Like we were nothing.”

I took in the room and then asked, “Where’s Davenport?”

I heard a noise from down the hallway and Billy stumbled into the living room, Tommy close behind. Tommy had his Glock pointed at Davenport’s head. Tommy’s face was red and he pointed at Davenport. “I found this asshole hiding under the kitchen table like a coward.”

Mary Kate turned to Davenport with murder in her eyes. “He ran. When the vampire was killing Duane, he ran away. He
is
a coward.”

Davenport was sobbing uncontrollably. “What was I supposed to do?” he asked. “I can’t fight a
vampire
.”

I took a step forward and realized I had the Kimber pointed at Billy’s head. “What happened?”

Davenport wiped tears from his face with his flannel shirtsleeve. Great strings of snot ran from his nose and formed a bead that hung from his face, which he tried unsuccessfully to remove. “The vampire came for us.”

“Not that,” I said.

He caught my gaze and rocked back like he’d been hit. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I mean,” I said, “what happened to the protection around the house? What about the ritual?”

He turned away, his eyes settling on Duane Glick’s body. “It’s too close. I told you that.”

Somehow I knew he was lying. Maybe it was his expression, or maybe I was suddenly damned suspicious of everyone. The Kimber began to shake and anger seeped into my voice. “Last chance, Billy. A lot of folks died tonight because of us. One more won’t make a difference.”

I saw Callie frowning and shaking her head out of the corner of my eye. “Sister,” I said, “he’s been lying to us. I’m willing to give anyone a chance. This is his.” I focused on Davenport. “Speak up or you’ll be forever holding your peace.”

Davenport finally turned to me and his sobs faded. “I told you I couldn’t do it,” he said wearily. “I said I didn’t have it in me. I wasn’t lying.”

“What are you saying?”

He shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry, kid. I really am. Jack was my friend. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt—”

“How could I have been so stupid?” I said, smacking myself repeatedly in the head with the Kimber.

Billy Davenport watched me with tired eyes, awaiting my judgment.

“What’s going on?” Callie asked. “What did he do?”

It felt like a ten-ton weight on my shoulders. “Nothing. He did
nothing
. He can’t. You really can’t, can you?”

He shook his head slowly and wiped the snot from his nose. “If only I could. I’m not a bad man—”

“You’re a damned
con man
,” I spat out. “He didn’t protect Jack’s house. He didn’t protect
this
house!”

Callie whirled to face him. “What?”

He shrugged. “Jack had his own way of protecting his farm. I don’t know how he did it.”

“B-but the ceremony at Jack’s house,” Callie said.