Vampire Blood (27 page)

It was that it’d taken so long, she’d nearly given up hope.

“Jenny?” He pulled her closer, his bare skin hot against her flesh. “Nothing to say? You usually have so much to say.”

She could sense his apprehension. He was waiting for her to let him know where he stood. Ah, so the shoe was on the other foot this time.

“Jenny,” he sounded hurt, “are you still mad at me for what I did to you?”

It was the first time he’d actually asked her that. She was quiet for a moment or two.

“I hated you,” she said in a hesitant voice, “for a long time.”

“It wasn’t just that you went to bed with another woman. I could have taken that. No, it was when you told me you loved her, not me and you never loved me ... and married her. By doing that, you betrayed me in a far deeper way, betrayed everything we’d ever had and what we could have had. “I don’t know if you’ll understand this but when you left, Jeff, you took a part of me with you. Memories. My youth. Memories of our high school days; making out in the back seat of your old Chevy; the special times we had together with my friends and family; and the way I used to look and smile at sixteen. Our first Christmas together. Our happiness. Samantha when she was a tiny baby.”

Jeff was silent beside her.

“Or the way it feels at eighteen to make love for the first time with the love of your life.
You
have those memories of me, no one else does or ever will. So many moments I could never recapture. Moments you tainted, I’d thought forever, by your betrayal. When you walked out on me, you took them with you. Worse, by leaving, it was as if you were telling me that the special love I thought had existed between us had all been a lie. Our life, everything. A lie. Your leaving voided all that had come before. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Jenny was weeping by then, the tears splashing down her face, as her body quivered. She couldn’t stop the words, though, once she’d begun. “You promised to love me
forever.
I couldn’t believe that you had
never
loved me as you said. It hurt so much.”

He gathered her into his arms tightly, rocking her, and whispered, “I lied. God, Jenny, I’m so sorry. I never stopped loving you. I was only trying to hurt you. It helped me to walk away with less guilt if you were mad at me. Hated me. I was a fool.” He kissed her on her lips, as if to wipe the hurt away. “That’s behind us now. Don’t hate me anymore. Forgive me. Love me. I’m so tired of not being loved,” he admitted.

“You’ll never leave me again?” Jenny probed between sniffles, snuggling up closer to his naked body.

“Never.”

Jenny kissed him.

“I love you, Jeff. I always have and I always will, heaven help me.”

They made love again and went to sleep in each other’s arms.

It was later in the night that they heard the crying outside the trailer.

“What is that?” Jenny mumbled, half-asleep, into Jeff’s warm back. “A sick cat?”

“Don’t know,” Jeff mumbled back.

It was louder now, pathetically human. Someone was knocking weakly against the door.

Jenny sat up in bed, fear silencing her. She touched Jeff’s arm for comfort before he got up and tugged his jeans on.

“I’ll go and check it out.”

He stumbled to the kitchen, switching on lights, and grabbed a flashlight from under the sink. He went to look while Jenny was slipping on a robe.

“My God, it’s Joey!” she heard him yell from outside. “My God, he’s been hurt.
Call an ambulance, Jenny! Now!”

Jenny ran to the phone and made the call then ran to help Jeff drag Joey inside. They gently laid him on the couch. He was a mess, cuts and bites over his hands, arms and face. Blood everywhere.

He was hysterical, or so Jenny thought. He was raving.

“Vampires,
Jenny. Help me! Don’t let them get me!” he groaned, curling up on the couch like a frightened child, his expression one of dread.

“I
saw
them!” Her brother’s eyes were terrified.
“They ... were ... wolves!”

The sound of an ambulance’s siren droned louder and louder as it traveled from across the city.

“Joey, it’s okay. I’m here.” Jenny leaned over and hugged him. Jeff had found a towel to help staunch the blood from the nasty punctures on Joey’s hands. He held it tightly over the wound as Joey thrashed about.

“You’re safe now.”

Joey’s eyes cleared and focused panic-stricken on first Jenny then Jeff. He was obviously fighting to remain conscious.

“No ... not safe. None of us. You know the missing people? They took them.
Vampires.”
He grabbed at her arm, and yanked her down so he could whisper in her ear, “... killed Dad, Albers ... but he
saved
me.”

“Who
saved you, Joey?” She was cradling him in her arms.

Before he could answer, he passed out.

“God, Jeff,” Jenny gasped. “What the hell was he talking
about, and why was someone trying to kill him?”

Jeff didn’t have time to respond, because the ambulance arrived, and they were too busy watching the attendants trying to save Joey’s life.

Chapter Fourteen

September 7

“God, I can’t take much more of this.” Jenny stared glumly out the car window into the dawn. The sun was coming out from behind the earth’s rim.

In a few minutes it would be a new day.

Her face was drawn. Her gestures draggy as she leaned her head against the leather seat and cradled her face in her hands.

They’d spent half the night in the hospital waiting room or pacing the hallways while the surgeons worked over Joey in Intensive Care. He’d been hemorrhaging when they arrived.

Jenny, with the same rare blood type, AB-, had donated blood, and the doctors had done their job; Joey had made it. Now fatigue hung on Jenny like grief.

The worse of the cuts and bites would leave scars. He had a couple of busted ribs and a broken left arm. The doctors were mystified over the bites on his hands and body, and his deep coma, and had no explanation for the causes.

Jenny had called Laurie and then had had her hands full the rest of the night with the hysterical young woman. Until last night, Jenny hadn’t realized how much Laurie loved Joey. Now she knew.

They’d sent her home to get some rest.

“I was so afraid there for a while that he wasn’t going to make it.” Jenny’s eyes were closed, but she returned the squeeze as Jeff encircled her left hand with his strong right one.

“I had no doubt that he would.”

Jeff released her and turned the key. The car roared into life, and they left the hospital behind, Jeff squinting. The bright sunlight hurt his eyes.

“Where are we going?” Jenny looked over at him. “I thought we were merely coming out for fresh air.”

“Jenny, you need to rest, too,” Jeff argued. “You look half-dead. Joey doesn’t need you now. They’ll call us when he regains consciousness.”

Jenny had stopped listening.

“Jenny, I’m taking you home now.”

“No, Jeff. Not yet. Joey said something about the other missing people, about Dad and the Albers being killed. Someone must have a hell of a grudge against either my family or me.” She bit her lip, something she involuntarily did when she was ready to collapse. “I have to have answers, or I’ll go crazy.”

Jeff started to protest, but Jenny reached over and touched her fingers to his lips, shushing him.

“I know, I know. How would Joey know anything about any of that? I don’t even want to hear it.” She raised her hand as if to ward off his disapproval.

Jeff glanced at her, and his expression reflected her struggle. She hadn’t decided what to believe yet. Joey’s appalling injuries, the shock of the attack, had upset her almost beyond her endurance.

“I think the place to start would be Joey’s restaurant. Whatever happened last night probably originated there. He was working last night. I want you to take me there. Now.”

Jeff shook his head. “I think you’re being rash. You saw what your brother looked like. You heard what he was saying. There are other people missing, not only your dad and the Albers. I know, I’ve been reading about them in the newspapers. This isn’t a game, Jenny,” he commented gravely. “I don’t know why, but I think we’re in great danger. All of us. Just like Joey said.”

“Joey was delirious, out of his mind with fear and pain. You don’t really buy that vampire story, do you?” She heard her voice come out timid, unsure.

“Joey wasn’t delirious, he was in extreme pain,” Jeff contradicted her, uneasily.

“I think you should let the police take care of what’s at the restaurant, Jenny, and we should go home.” His words were adamant.

“Jeff, someone or something is terrorizing this town and kidnapping my family and friends. Someone did that to Joey, and by God, I’m going to find out what or who before it does it to someone else. Now take me to Joey’s restaurant, or I’ll kick you out of
my
car and go by myself,” she retorted, angrily.

He turned the car around and headed in the appropriate direction with a face closed in dismal contemplation.

She sneaked anxious looks at him as they drove through the empty town. He was mad at her, but she couldn’t really understand why. Didn’t he want to find out the truth? Didn’t he want to catch the ones doing this?

It suddenly hit her.

“You believe Joey,” Jenny uttered with a groan. “You believe there might be vampires behind all this?
Vampires?”
She didn’t laugh, though. Too many strange and horrible things had occurred for her to do that anymore. At the moment she was no longer a skeptic, though still not a true believer. Yet.

Instead, she offered her idea of a plausible alternative: “How about someone who thinks he’s a vampire, Jeff. A nut case? They can be pretty damn strong.”

“You think only one person is behind this?” Jeff seemed astonished.

“Well, maybe more than one?”

“All nuts, huh?”

He met her eyes, and she tried to hide the fear in their depths.

“Do you want me to drop you off somewhere, Jeff? You don’t have to come, you know.”

“Wherever you go, Jenny, I go. I told you that. I’m not leaving you alone to face anything anymore.”

She remembered his promise and nodded.

He was nearly there when he turned at an intersection and parked the car before a local donut shop.

“Before we do anything, Jenny, I have to have a cup of coffee and something to eat. I don’t know about you, but I’m famished. We can eat them on the way.”

“That’s a smart idea. I could use food myself. It might wake me up.” It crossed her mind that there would be plenty of food at the restaurant, but then just as quickly she dismissed the idea. Heavens knew what they’d find there. Better to pick up something to eat somewhere else. She got out of the car and followed him into the shop.

Sometime later she and Jeff were surveying the damage at Joey’s restaurant with Styrofoam cups of steaming coffee balanced in their hands, the donuts long gone.

“Look at this mess, would ya?” Jeff snorted, shoving broken glass around with his shoe on the sidewalk outside. “The picture window and the door smashed to smithereens.” He gulped down the last of his coffee and tossed the cup into a nearby trash can on the sidewalk. “I’m getting tired of fixing windows.”

“At least we know where some of his wounds came from. I wish I knew what happened here last night and why.”

Shading his eyes, he bent over and stared inside. “Not too bad in there, though. It can be fixed easily enough, with a little money and some elbow grease.”

He’d walked to the door and carefully reached his hand through the broken glass to unlock it. He opened it and went in, flipping the
Open
sign to
Closed
.

Jeff trailed Jenny inside, and they picked around in the rubble.

He retrieved the brown paper bag from beneath a stool. When he opened it, he whistled.

“Not robbery.”

Jenny took the bag from him.

“Then what?” She looked around. She was fuming inside, itching for a fight, feeling powerless and frightened but did her best to hide it from Jeff. “Do you have any thoughts on who it was Joey was talking about last night?”

He wouldn’t answer at first.

“Jeff?”

“Well, the Michelsons come to mind right off.” There wasn’t a trace of a smile on his face.

Her mouth fell open, and she was about to refute him on his outrageous accusation when Sheriff Samuels drove up in the squad car, strobe lights whirling.

She stepped through the shattered window to meet him.

“Morning, Jenny. Jeff,” the sheriff said, after he dragged himself from the car and trudged up to them in the sunlight.

“I heard about your brother, Jenny. I’m real sorry. The hospital told me he was going to make it, though. I’m glad.” He was eying the rubble, but didn’t seem to notice any of it, as if it wasn’t important. “Seems like someone around here doesn’t like your family none too well.” He dropped the half-smoked cigarette from his fingers to the sidewalk and ground it out slowly with his boot.