"I need to get out of here but my truck's blocked in."
"Where are we going?" Mary asked. I raised my eyebrow in inquiry. We?
Her hands moved to her hips and she looked at me sternly. "Don't look at me like that, Mary Kathleen Reilly! You saved Dusty when you yelled out that warning and you saved the rest of us by letting that thing infest you. We're allies. I'm sticking to you like glue."
She grimaced and failed to suppress a shudder.
"Besides, I told you. You are the last person on the planet I want as a queen vampire."
"No shit. I'll drive." Brooks answered and led us in the direction of a plain dark blue Ford sedan. Mary, Rob, and I were followed by a thin darkhaired man wearing a rumpled suit.
"Where are we going?" He asked.
"Ask the lady." Brooks opened the rear door of the car. Mary climbed in first. Rob got in the front seat between Brooks and the partner he introduced as "Detective Adams."
"That was one hell of a thing you did." Adams shook his head as he slammed the car door shut. He reached over the back of the front seat to shake my right hand. "A hell of a thing." His voice sounded almost awestruck, which made me
uncomfortable as hell.
"Thanks." I wasn't sure what else to say. "We need to stop by a liquor store—fast."
"Right." Brooks turned the key in the ignition but before he could put the car in gear there was a tap on the window. The vampire. We'd forgotten the vampire.
"Shit." Brooks swore with feeling. "Adams, out of the car."
"But—"
"Out."
Adams reluctantly climbed out and the vamp
took his place in the front passenger seat. I felt ill. My arm throbbed. I wished the damned air
conditioning would start working. My mind kept fading in and out as more blood was consumed by the eggs. Not a good sign.
"I need to stop the blood flow to the arm." I hadn't realized I'd said it out loud.
"A tourniquet would work." Rob suggested. Brooks turned his head briefly enough to offer,
"Use her bootlace."
The Host was in the car now. Rob had scooted as close to Brooks as the vehicle would allow without interfering with the other man's driving. He tried to get as far from the creature as he could get in the small confines of the front seat. The vampire didn't seem any happier to be there than we were to have him. He looked to be in his early twenties. Still healthy enough to be handsome in a Tom Cruise-ish sort of way. He was probably still able to lure victims in with sex. As his looks faded, he'd have to rely on other methods.
Mary bent down and began unlacing my left
boot. As she pulled the leather strap free, my last knife sheath came loose. She tucked it somewhere out of sight.
I was out again. I don't know for how long. But there was a tourniquet on my arm that hurt like a bitch—and the car was parked in the lot of a liquor store on Colfax not far from the turn-off I usually take to Our Lady when I'm on this end of town.
"How long?" I didn't need to ask more. Nobody in the car could fail to notice my bouts of senselessness. Rob answered. "Three, maybe four minutes. Mind telling us why we're here?"
"Alcohol. Someone told me that the eggs and hatchlings can't stand alcohol." I watched the vamp's face when I said it. He flinched; his eyes hardened with Monica's annoyance. It made me believe that Dylan hadn't lied after all. Thank God. If we both lived through this, I'd thank him.
"And ice." Mary offered. "Without regular blood flow you may lose that arm if you don't ice it."
"Definitely ice." Brooks agreed. "Do you have any preference as to what type of alcohol?" I shook my head. He climbed out of the car, leaving the rest of us sitting in strained silence. I closed my eyes and faded out again.
"Kate—" I came back to myself to find Mary shaking me. We were parked in the lot of a small liquor store. A brown paper bag was sitting on the floor at my feet, and it appeared that they'd been trying to wake me for awhile. The Host looked pleased as pie. "Where now?"
"How long as it been since she bit me?" Rob glanced again at my watch. "One hour forty three minutes."
Right. I wanted them out. I wanted them out now. But I had to wait. I had to abide by the letter of the law. A sudden thought occurred to me.
"Brooks, read me the agreement again.
I forced myself to stay alert long enough to listen to the part about getting medical treatment. It was worth the wait. I found myself smiling, which brought a very attractive frown to the vamp.
"Anybody got a cell phone?"
Brooks reached over Rob's body to open the
glove box and pulled out a small silver model that he handed to Mary over the top of the seat. I recited a number, but let her dial. It was all I could do to concentrate on staying awake. The venom in my veins from the bite was meant to lull me, giving the eggs time to hatch. Then the hatchling would have time to make its way through my veins to the base of my brain. I didn't intend to make it that easy. Already I could feel their awareness in my arm. Twelve individual identities in various stages of waking. All twelve were feeling the pangs of hunger at the blood supply being cut off. One . . . one felt the first stirrings of a personality. I felt her anger; her fear. She was aware of the vampire in the front seat, aware of all of her nest mates. Monica's Host was dying. There was no help for it. But the rest of the nest and the Herds would live. She would make it so. I felt the force of her will like a blow to my skull. Only the sound of the nurse at the at the other end of the phone line kept me awake and aware.
"I need to speak to Dr. Reilly."
I heard the phone shuffle and Dr. MacDougal's voice came on the line. "Kate? Is that you? Thank God." His voice was tight. "They said that a werewolf was dead on the scene at the
Shamrock—and a woman was admitted to
Denver General with a gunshot to the chest. But they won't release identities. I thought . . ."
"Not me." I cut him off. "But I'm in trouble. I need to talk to Joe."
"Kate . . . he's . . . he's been taken. A group of Thrall Hosts killed two nurses and kidnapped him from the middle of a surgery."
My breathing stilled and my mind screamed with all of the fury of my being. MONICA! You BITCH!
Where is my brother?
Her voice in my mind was a tinkle of dark
amusement. Just a small insurance policy, Kathleen. We only discussed safe passage for those in attendance at the motel.
She was right, and I hated myself in that moment. Tom—and Joe. I'd risked them both. My head spun as my safe world collapsed around me.
"Kate? Are you there? What's happening?" I'd forgotten about Dr. MacDougal.
"Miles, this is very important. I'm not allowed to ask for medical assistance . . ."
"Kate, what . . . Oh God! Do you mea—"
"I'm going somewhere safe, Miles. I've gone where I feel safe."
There was silence on the line for a moment, and I breathed a sigh of relief when he responded softly.
"I understand. Tell Father Michael I said hello." I closed my eyes and handed the phone back to Mary. Miles MacDougal would swim through
shark-infested waters to find a way to get a doctor to the church. Mary hit the end button and tossed it over the seat to Rob, who was grinning as he put it back into the glove box.
The vampire was seething. His handsome face had taken on an ugly, mottled flush. "You—"
"I did not go to him. I am not going to him. I have not broken the truce."
I watched his eyes go blank as he consulted with the rest of the nest. After a long moment he reluctantly admitted. "You have not broken the truce."
22
By the time we pulled into the parking lot of Our Lady of Perpetual Hope, my arm was red and cold from the ice. I had forced down almost half of one bottle of Jack Daniels that Brooks had picked up at the liquor store. It's illegal to have an open bottle in a car—but the cop wasn't complaining and I wasn't about to wait. The problem, however, was that the soon-to-be hatchling in my arm had started fighting back. She was using every ounce of her will to try to have the liquor not stay down, and convince me to remove the tourniquet for more than just the couple of seconds necessary to save the arm. So far I was winning. I hadn't thrown up and the tourniquet was in place. But each time the struggle was harder. Either she was growing stronger, I was getting weaker, or both.
"Oh my God." Mary's voice was awestruck and horrified. "Would you look at them all." I opened eyes I hadn't realized I'd closed and saw what she meant. Standing in the bright
afternoon sunlight were well over a hundred of people. Every Host and nearly every member of the Herd had encircled the church—trampling
Michael's carefully-tended flower beds. They were blocking the sidewalks so that no one could get into, or out of, the church.
"They can't interfere with us." Brooks glared at the Host to his right.
"No." Rob agreed with a low growl, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "But they can stop the doctors from getting here. That's why they're here, isn't it?" The vamp flinched under the intensity of the werewolf's gaze.
His voice was calm but pleased. "We are not breaking truce."
My internal curse was met with a chuckle from Monica and her egg.
My voice sounded tired, weak. "Mary, call Miles at St. Elizabeth's. Tell him not to come—and why. He's so damned stubborn he'll try to get here and get himself killed in the process."
Rob retrieved the phone again. He was still growling. So was Mary. The tension in the car was thick enough to cut. Mary's voice on the phone was calm as she gave MacDougal the news. His
response wasn't. Everyone in the car could hear him swear.
"Mary."
She turned to face me, phone extended. "Tell him I said thanks. Ask him not to do anything stupid. Somebody has to take care of Bryan if Joe and I don't make it."
She interrupted his tirade and told him. The silence in the car was deafening. After a long moment, I heard him answer. "I understand." Mary ended the call. There wasn't anything more to say. We were at one hour, fifty-seven minutes. I glanced down at the growing string of pearls under my skin. The skin was becoming purple as the structure of the vein broke down under the constant feeding. "Mary. If this goes badly—take off the arm. I know you can."
"Somebody will take care of it." She gave me a confident look.
"I'll do it." Rob met my gaze over the car seat with calm surety. "You have my word." The vampire hissed. Rob whirled to face the Host and snarled. It was all he could do not to rip out his throat. Mary was likewise having a difficult time controlling her emotions.
"You shut the fuck up! " Rob pointed a finger into the vamp's chest. "The agreement says she can't kill herself. It doesn't say a thing about amputation."
"I really hope it doesn't come to that." Mary whispered as she squeezed my good hand.
Her and me both.
The Hosts and Herd pulled back to clear a path for us to the front door of the church. Monica stood at the front, slightly apart from the others. She was weak enough to be swaying on her feet but her eyes held the sheer power of the combined Thrall Nest. Her gaze was only for me. I returned the stare with one of my own and the things I said in my mind should never reach air. My watch started beeping on Rob's wrist as the two-hour mark elapsed. It was time to get those damned things out of my arm.
The doors were locked. I was amazed. In my
entire life, Our Lady Parish had never locked its doors before 9:00 p.m. Mind you, I didn't blame Mike—considering the company. But I was still shocked. Rob pounded his fist on the painted wood and I raised my voice to call out. "Mike, it's Katie. I've got friends with me. Let us in!"
I heard the key turn in the lock of the big doors. A moment later, Mike held it open as our motley party quickly stepped inside the brightly lit foyer of the church. He started to block the Thrall Host from coming in. Rob had to explain that he was part of the deal. Neither the vamp nor Mike looked particularly happy about it. That told me Mike's opinion of the Thrall was changing pretty fast. Mary, meanwhile, was staring at my brother
Bryan. He was a breathing empty-eyed statue near the baptismal font. She knew what happened, but had never actually seen him this way. The last time Mary had seen him was as a bright, handsome football star at our graduation. I could see the moment she understood my request of Miles.
I heard the key turn to lock the door but my eyes were on the angels in the ceiling as I prayed for help and courage.
"Let's do it." My voice sounded stronger; more confident than I felt.
"But Joe—"
"Joe isn't coming, Michael." Mary said softly.
"They took him. He's a hostage until this is over. So is Tom."
" Damn them! Damn them all to Hell!" Mike would probably need a stint in the confessional after this was over. I didn't answer. There was no more time and nothing to say. I lay down on the cool, smooth marble of the foyer, placing my left wrist against one of the ribs of the railing overlooking the font. "Brooks, do you have your cuffs? I want to make sure I hold my arm really still." Brooks set down the paper bag with the bottles and retrieved his handcuffs from their holster on his belt. He cuffed my wrist to the nearest rib. His eyes were fierce as they met mine. I was struggling to hold on, so I took some strength from his sheer determination. He took charge like the good cop he was.
"I need a sharp knife and a bowl. You," he pointed to Mary. "Hold down her legs.
You—Rob? You pin her wrists to the floor. Vampire—get the hell out of the way." He pointed to the far end of the room. "Stand over by those far doors. If you even blink, you're out of here and Monica can send someone else." He looked around to see who hadn't been assigned.
"Father—watch the Host as soon as we start. Make sure he doesn't interfere."
The Tom Cruise double nodded once but
watched the eggs with eager eyes. "We will not break the truce."
"Whatever." I could tell that Brooks just wanted to shoot him to get him out of the way, but it wasn't that easy.