Blood Hunt (17 page)

“How can you
laugh
at this?” Sarah exclaimed.

“I am so fucking happy that we’re both alive right now, you have no idea. I’d dance if I could.”

“Rhes, they broke your ribs! They bashed in your face. Who knows what else they did to you?”

“Yeah, I can feel the ribs. And the face. And the leg, both arms, something in my back … even the place where Two’s friggin’ coffee table got me in the back of the knee. My body is a symphony of pain!”

Rhes began to laugh again, the noise sounding more and more like a disturbed giggle than real humor.

“He’s in shock,” Jakob said. They were well away from Two’s building now.

“Can’t people die from shock?” Sarah asked.

“People can die from a lot of things.”

“I don’t want him to die.”

Sarah could hear the smile in Jakob’s voice as he said, “If he seems headed in that direction, there are things I can do to help.”

“Don’t you even fucking think about biting him!”

Rhes had stopped giggling. “I bow to her authority on that one,” he said. “Part of the whole ‘soul mates’ deal.”

Jakob laughed. “I won’t do anything without consulting both of you first.”

“Good,” Rhes said. “Ouch. Jesus Christ, this hurts so bad! Can we stop walking yet?”

“Yes,” Jakob said. They stopped by a news stand, and he helped Rhes shift his weight to the wooden wall.

“Never a cab when you want one,” Rhes muttered. He touched his eyebrow and winced.

“Stay here. I’m going to make a call.” Jakob pulled a cell phone from his jacket pocket, dialed, and wandered away as he began to speak. Rhes got his first decent look at the vampire who had saved them. Jakob was perhaps five-eight with dark brown hair cut to shoulder length. He had heavy brows, dark eyes, and olive skin that made Rhes think of the Mediterranean. He was powerfully built, and wore a long, dark trench coat. Rhes assumed that whatever blade the vampire had used was housed underneath to avoid arousing suspicion.

Sarah brought Rhes’s hand to her lips and kissed the back of it. “How you doing, soul mate?”

Rhes smiled. “I’m all right, soul mate. A little loopy. He’s probably right about the shock … I feel like I did the one time I dropped acid in college, right before it really kicked in and I spent the next five hours staring at the wallpaper. You OK?”

“No, not really. I’ll survive.”

“You don’t have to beat yourself up over this, hon.”

“We’ve still got a date to talk about how much I hate, hate,
fucking hate
being blind. For right now, let’s worry about you.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. I’ve been dealing with this for almost twenty years. One shitty night isn’t going to change anything. It’s just a shitty night.”

“OK. You want to change the subject?”

“Yes.”

“You suppose Molly’s OK?”

“I told her we’d be out late, and not to worry unless we weren’t back in the morning and hadn’t called. She asked if we were helping Two, and I figured the truth wouldn’t hurt, so I told her that we were trying.”

“Good. She’ll be fine.”

“Yeah.”

They were quiet for a moment, resting against the news stand.

“Sarah, will you marry me?” Rhes asked.

He couldn’t look at her, was afraid of the expression he might see on her face, but he heard her pull in a sharp breath of air that wasn’t quite a gasp. Her grip on his hand tightened.

“Yes. Yes, I will.”

“I’m sorry to ask you here, like this. I have a ring at home and I wanted it to be special, but I … I needed to know the answer now, in case anything else happens. I don’t trust our friend on the phone.”

“I understand. It’s not
exactly
how I imagined it either, but I’ll take it.”

“I don’t care if the rest of my life lasts five minutes or fifty years, I want to spend it with you.”

Sarah was crying again. “Let’s shoot for fifty years, OK? Or maybe eighty.”

“OK. Sarah, I’m so sorry.”

“For what?”

“Everything. All this bullshit that you got stuck with when you decided to get involved with me. Prostitutes and heroin addicts and vampires. Jesus, I thought you were going to say ‘no.’ I really did. I feel like all I’ve done is fuck up your entire life. I’ve been scared to ask you.”

Sarah laughed through her tears. “Dummy. You could’ve asked any time in the last two years and I’d have said yes. I knew from the third month in. I was just waiting for you to figure it out. I don’t blame you for this, not for any of it.”

“Then why are you crying?”

“The last person I saw in the mirror was this ugly little redhead eight-year-old with a bowl haircut and fucked up teeth. That’s who I still see when I think about myself. Just an ugly blind girl who never even had a date until she met her current boyfriend.”

“You are the polar opposite of ugly.”

“That’s not the point. The point is that now here you are, beaten to shit by fucking
vampires,
and you’re more worried about proposing to me than you are about internal bleeding. That makes me so happy, even though it also makes me want to punch you. I’ve been waiting for this practically since I met you, Rhes, because I
love
you!”

“Do me a favor then?”

“Anything.”

“Put your arms around me and kiss me and say ‘Yes, I will’ again?”

“Won’t that hurt you?”

“Probably. I really don’t give a shit. Will you marry me, Sarah Taylor?”

Sarah grinned and gently embraced him. Trying her best not to hurt him, she kissed him, and said, “Yes, I will.”

* * *

“I hate to break up whatever is happening here, but I must,” Jakob said as he returned. “I’ve called a friend who lives not far from here. She will take us to the hospital.”

“Why are you helping us, Jakob?” Rhes asked. He was pale and shaky, but the strange, drug-like confusion seemed to be receding.

“You needed help.”

“That doesn’t really answer the question. Why were you there? How did you even know we would be there to help?”

“I didn’t. I was not there to help you – I was there to find this friend of yours. I’d heard that the Burilgi were looking for her, because she has been poking her nose into places where she does not belong.”

“Were you there to hurt her?” Sarah asked.

“You might say that I was there to determine whether she needed to be hurt or not.”

Sarah frowned, not happy with this answer. She said, “Two was one of you, once. Do you know that?”

Jakob raised his eyebrows in what Rhes thought was honest surprise. “What do you mean, ‘was’? There is no ‘was’ for us.”

“Doesn’t that depend on the vampire?” Rhes asked.

“Oh, I thought you meant one of my people specifically. Well, I suppose it might be possible for an Eresh, but I don’t—” Jakob’s eyes kindled suddenly, and he leaned forward. He seemed about to grab Rhes by the shoulders and then stopped himself, aware of Rhes’s injuries.

“This girl … do you know what happened to her? Do you know her story?”

“We know a lot of it,” Rhes replied.

“Her sire, the man who made her a vampire … what was his name?”

“Theroen Anders,” Sarah said.

“God. Dear God …” Jakob’s voice trailed off as he searched for a lie in each of their eyes. When Jakob was satisfied, he said, “This is not good.”

“Great. Does that mean it’s necessary to hurt
us
now?” Sarah asked. She didn’t sound afraid, but rather disgusted, tired with the entire affair.

Jakob drew back, ran a hand through his hair, looked around as if trying to get his bearings. It was the first gesture Rhes had seen him make that looked fully human.

“If the Burilgi catch her and find out what she is, it could be very dangerous for her, and for everyone she has told. You are in tremendous danger.”

“You didn’t answer my question, Jakob. Are you going to hurt us?”

“I don’t believe so. In fact, if she has been caught already, I may be your best hope of living through the week.”

“That’s comforting,” Rhes muttered. “How do we even know we can trust you?”

“If I wanted you dead, could I not simply kill you?” Jakob asked. “That course of action holds no interest for me. What is important now is determining whether your friend is still alive.”

“That’s what we were trying to do. She’s not home,” Sarah said.

“Did you see any evidence of a previous attack?”

“No,” said Rhes. “The place was pretty much spotless. The windows were all still fine when we got there. I think the people … the things that you killed were the first ones there.”

“Speaking of which,” Sarah said, “are we fugitives now? There are three dead people in the apartment, and our fingerprints are all over the place.”

“It will be taken care of,” said Jakob.

“You can just ‘take care of’ the NYPD?” Rhes asked.

Jakob grinned. “People who live for hundreds of years make lots of friends.”

Rhes shut his eyes, shook his head, and said, “Jesus, Sarah, wake me up, would you? This is just too fucking bizarre to be real.”

“I was about to ask you to do the same thing,” Sarah replied. “To be honest, part of me is dead-convinced that this is all some sort of massive, elaborate joke on the blind lady.”

Rhes made a noise of discomfort. “Where’s your friend, Jakob? I don’t think I can actually stand up for much longer, wall or no wall.”

Jakob glanced up the street. “I believe the Cadillac sedan three lights up is hers.”

“Good.”

They were quiet for a moment, and then Jakob said, “So. Your friend is not home. She has not yet been abducted by the Burilgi, unless they were uncharacteristically subtle about it. That begs the question: where is she?”

“Out walking. It’s what she does,” Sarah said.

“Do you know where she walks?”

“I think it’s different every night. Random. She’s looking for people like you.”

Jakob rolled his eyes. “Fantastic. So we’ve only a few million people to comb through.”

“She always comes home,” Rhes said. “Can you post someone to look out for her?”

“I can and will.”

“Why do you care if one human gets killed by these Burilgi things, anyway?”

Jakob glanced over at Rhes. “She killed a … a demigod that had been ruling our council for several hundred years. Whether that deserves prosecution or some sort of reward is a matter of some debate. In either case, I know many people who would like the opportunity to talk with her.”

“Judging from what she told us of Abraham, go with reward,” Sarah said.

Jakob shrugged. “It’s not my decision to make, at least not alone. Come, my friend is here.”

Struggling against the pain, Rhes shifted his weight back to Jakob’s shoulder and let the vampire help him toward the car.

* * *

Jakob was sitting in the front passenger seat of the car, speaking to someone on his cell phone. He had not introduced the car’s owner to Rhes and Sarah, nor had she made any greeting of her own. Rhes was stretched out across the back seat, his head in Sarah’s lap, only half conscious.

“I don’t care if she left orders not to be disturbed, Karl,” Jakob was saying. “I need the number to Naomi’s private cell, and I need it now. Something has happened that will be of great interest to the council.”

“You suppose that’s Theroen’s Naomi?” Sarah asked Rhes.

“Whuh?” Rhes looked up for a minute, then put his head back in her lap. Sarah stroked his hair.

“Never mind, baby. Just relax.”

“I asked you to marry me, right?” Rhes asked, his voice fuzzy.

“You did, Rhes.”

“You said ‘yes,’ right?”

“Sure did.”

“Good deal.” Rhes seemed to settle into sleep.

Sarah laughed to herself.
Yes, good deal,
she thought.
Good deal if we ever get out of this bullshit and back to anything resembling a normal life. Me and Rhes and Molly, and maybe a little brother or sister for Molly to—

“Oh, shit!” she said out loud.

“One second,” Jakob said into the phone. “What is it, Sarah?”

“Our … we have a girl who lives with us. She’s still at home. Is she safe?”

Jakob looked concerned. “Probably, yes, but I’d rather not take any chances. I won’t have anyone wake her up, but I will put her under guard. Karl, are you listening? Yes, two of them. Ay’Araf. Where do you live, Sarah?”

Sarah hesitated for a moment, and then gave him not only their address, but the safety word that she and Rhes had worked out with Molly for emergencies. Jakob gave this information to Karl, and said, “If you can’t get me Naomi’s number, at least tell her to call me if she checks in.”

He hung up the phone and glanced at his friend, who kept her eyes on the road but slowly shook her head.

“We’re nearly there,” said Jakob. “How is he?”

“Asleep. Still breathing. Thanks for the help, Jakob. Does your friend have a name?”

“She is not comfortable with humans. I’m sorry … bad experience about sixty years ago with an overzealous priest. She’d prefer to remain anonymous. It’s best if you think of her as a taxi driver on this occasion.”

Sarah raised her eyebrows. “OK, then … well, thanks, ma’am. For what it’s worth, not all of us are going to start digging out the garlic and crosses the minute we come in contact with a vampire.”

“She knows. Please do not take offense, Sarah.”

Sarah shrugged. “You’re helping Rhes … far as I’m concerned, you could have Hitler driving the car.”

Jakob smiled, nodded, said something to his driver in their vampire language. The woman laughed. Sarah considered asking about the joke and decided against it. What did she care? These people were not like her, and it really didn’t matter if one of them didn’t care to make friends.

She felt the car slowing and guessed that they had reached their destination. Jakob confirmed this, saying, “We’re here. Is he all right?”

“Beats me. He’s still alive. What’s the story? What am I telling them?”

“Take the cash out of his wallet. We were at a bar, he was meeting us there. When he didn’t show up, we went outside to see where he might be. We found him in the alley, beaten up and robbed.”