Blood Lily (Lilith Adams Vampire Series Book 1) (10 page)

Lilith returned his smile. “Thank you, but I can manage it. I need to stow away my kit anyway. You might be able to find something out from Spencer. I spent a lot of time with Miriah over the summers but I was never really close with Spencer.”

“Well now, that really hurts my feelings.” Spencer’s southern drawl was unmistakable. His voice would have been something girls dreamed about if it wasn’t a couple octaves too high. Lilith blinked in shock. She would never have recognized him on the street. His sandy brown hair was disheveled, his clothes were rumpled and stained, and his eyes were beyond bloodshot. Tremors were coursing through him and he just looked panicked. He was a lot thinner than she remembered, tall and lanky. His clothes just kind of hung off him. The smile on his face was painfully forced in a way that made goose bumps fly over her flesh. He looked like a meth-head on the verge of a breakdown.

Chapter 5

“H
oly crap, Spencer. You look like hell.” The words came out before she could stop herself. Chance just stared at her wide-eyed, like he couldn’t believe that he was the silently tactful one. Spencer’s eyes narrowed at her with a look that said “How are dare you judge me.” “Sorry. I… I know things are crazy.” Lilith could see the tightening muscles in his face, all the barely chained anger waiting to bust out. “Are you okay?”

“No actually.” He snapped each word sharply. He released a breath and all the anger went with it, leaving him looking simply exhausted.
He was about to say something when a violent cough doubled him over. After a couple deep, ragged breaths he finally continued. “You don’t look much better right now. Chance said on the phone that you were attacked here. I guess that would explain all the blood and the shattered door out there.” Spencer was so on edge that it almost sounded like he was more upset about the mess than her being attacked. His eyes dropped to the floor and when he finally looked up, his red rimmed eyes were glistening. “I’m glad you are okay. Everything is just so fucked.” His voice was shaky and the trembling in his hands caught her attention. His knuckles were raw and bruised. He rubbed at his temples and winced in pain.

Lilith
looked up sharply and her voice held a soft caution. Tension strummed along every fiber of her body and blood pounded in her ears as she realized just what was wrong with him. “Spencer…” It sounded like she was trying to talk a jumper off a ledge, which wasn’t much of a stretch. “Have you
eaten
?” She wasn’t talking about a burger and fries at a rest stop. A human might think that’s what she meant, but most vampires understood the subtext.

He shook his head without looking at her. “Not in a few days.” It didn’t even sound like he was talking to her, just mumbling to himself.

Her eyes snapped up to meet Chance’s worried look. Very slowly he stepped in front of Lilith, his hand guiding her behind him. When a vampire goes too long without blood, without the infusions, it can be very dangerous. Our blood has excessively low levels of hemoglobin, which is needed to bond with oxygen in our bloodstream and carry it through the body. That’s the reason we need blood. When the hemoglobin is really low, the oxygen is really low, and the brain doesn’t breath. It can critically affect your ability to think, causes massive headaches, coughing fits, and drastic mood swings, impairing your control.

In that state they are likely to revert to baser instincts and simply attack for what they need. The body knows what it needs, which meant Chance was more at risk than she was. Taking her blood wouldn’t solve his problem, but Chance, being a half blood, naturally carried more hemoglobin in his blood stream.

“Hey, Spence. Why don’t we heat up some blood for ya? I have some right up in the kitchen.” Chance took it seriously but kept his voice light and casual.

Spencer just nodded and wandered out of the room toward the stairs. Lilith released the breath she’d been holding and dropped her forehead against Chance’s back.

“Thank you, but you know if he snapped it wouldn’t be me he came after.” She whispered and then pulled back.

Chance
didn’t turn around but she could hear the smile in his voice. “I can handle myself. My job is to keep you safe, remember? I’ll take care of Spencer, get him to choke down a bag and throw him in the general direction of a shower. All I ask is that you let me get him upstairs first. He’s very unstable right now, which isn’t only due to his bad eating habits. If you think he won’t attack you, you’re wrong. You saw his hands, Lily. He wants to lash out at anything he can create a reason to attack.”

Once Chance had Spencer settled in at the kitchen table with a warm mug, Lilith crept out the front doo
r. She pulled out a fresh change of clothes, some casual jeans and a randomly printed lavender t-shirt. As she bent over to zip up her suitcase, the aluminum tin dug into her side. She couldn’t keep it on her like this. She needed some time to really examine what was inside, and until then she wanted to keep it quiet.

Her eyes searched over the bags, she needed some place safe, someplace no one would look for it. The bags were way too o
bvious. She started tugging the luggage out of the back, not really sure what she was going to do. She paused long enough to look back at the house. She didn’t hear or see anything. With her focus all on the car, she pulled open the spare tire hatch, unscrewed the lug holding the spare down, and slid the little box under the tire. 

After meticulously putting everything back in place, Lilith scooped up her clothes and jogged back into the house.
She could hear Chance and Spencer talking in the dining room and as she slowly stepped forward, they both sounded pretty normal, even casual. Lilith stole a peek around the corner of the living room. Spencer was sitting with his back to her, staring down into his mug. Chance spotted her and flashed a small smile her way. With a slight nod of his head, she knew Spencer was doing much better already. A weight lifted from her shoulders and she breathed a sigh of relief as she crept back down the stairs.

Peeling her blood caked shirt off was not fun. It clung to her skin like tape.
The shower, however, felt divine right up until she stuck her head under the water. As soon as the hot water pelted against her bruised head, she winced and flinched back so fast she almost fell over. Very carefully, she engineered getting her blood flecked hair wet, shampooed and rinsed. The water was cold by the time she finished.

After pulling on her clothes, Lilith faced the mirror with a small bottle of foundation.
They would have to adventure into the general public eventually and she couldn’t walk around looking like the poster girl for domestic violence. The colors were already changing again. The deeper purples were almost gone, except right around the wound, leaving mostly the sickly yellows, greens and browns. The cut was almost closed, but not completely and it was still pretty tender.

With slow, delicate fingers, she worked
with the foundation, making the glaring bruise a mere shadow. She teased her copper curls down to cover most of the cut. After a final glance, she balled up her dirty clothes and jogged up the stairs to join Chance and Spencer.

Lilith breezed into the dining room and slipped into a chair between Chance and Spencer with a smile. Chance grinned at her and it made her feel warm down to her toes. “Well, well. You can hardly tell you’ve been knocked in the head.” The slight undercurrent of guilt still tugged at little muscles around his mouth, but he sounded casual and cheerful.

She flashed him a smile and turned to Spencer who was looking a million times better. He still looked like he’d been living in the same clothes for a week, but his skin had more color. The distracted, dangerous attitude was mostly gone. He looked sullen, but calm and his hands rested around the empty mug on the table without any of the tremors he’d had earlier. Physically, he was better. Emotionally he was still a wreck. He was clinging to his dark blue mug like it was the last stable thing in the world, holding on so he didn’t spin out of control and fall off the world.

“When was the last time you slept, Spencer?” Lilith kept her voice soft and comforting. She really felt for him. First, his father goes missing, and with the
possible blood evidence, it didn’t seem likely that he left willingly. And now, he couldn’t get a hold of Miriah. If it was her father, her sister, the last thing she’d do is sleep. Sadly, the truth was they had nothing to really go on yet, and she needed Spencer’s help.

He looked up at her
and his eyes were still bloodshot and full of misery. A tremendous amount of guilt pulled at every muscle in his body. “I can’t sleep, Lilith. I never should have…It’s my family.” His voice broke with the raw emotion shredding him from the inside. His wounded hands flexed, cracking the scabs and blood welled around them. Lilith reached out and lightly patted his arm in true sympathy.

“What happened to your hands?”

Spencer looked down at them like he hadn’t even realized he was hurt. He flexed his hands again and stared at the scabs. Guilt and shame flashed across his face. “I…I have a tendency to punch things when I’m angry.”             

Lilith nodded slowly and pulled her hand away from his arm.
“I’ll do everything I can, Spencer. I need to know what’s been going on with you and your dad.”

Anger flashed across his face in an instant
, eyebrows drawing together, narrowing of the lips. It was a split second warning that gave her time to duck as he threw the coffee mug across the room. He surged out of his chair, sending it clattering to the ground, as the mug shattered against the wall, leaving bloody remnants on the wall. She’d love to see a normal CSI explain that. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He spat the words venomously at her, making her jump back in her seat. Chance moved without any hesitation. He yanked her out the chair, dragging her behind him and held his hands up to Spencer.

“Whoa! Calm down. We are not the enemy, Spencer.
Lilith is just trying to figure out what has been happening, trying to figure out why anyone would want to hurt the family.”

Lilith tried to move past Chance, but he dropped his hands and held
her still behind him. She settled for trying to peek around his shoulder. It was easier said than done. Her five foot nine was no match for his six foot three.

Spencer
pulled his chair off the floor and slumped down into it, leaning forward on his arms. “I’m sorry.” His breaths were still ragged, but it didn’t seem to be the blood. He simply looked completely worn out. He rubbed his hands roughly over his face and sighed. “Dammit. I haven’t slept in two days and I’ve been driving and making phone calls all night and day.”

She tried to move forward again and this time she shoved Chance’s hand away when he tried to stop her. “Spencer, look. I’m sorry if that came out wrong. Perhaps you should try and get some sleep. Chance and I found some research notebooks in the downstairs office. We can start going through them while you rest.”

Spencer was about to protest, she could see it plain as day on his face, but then he nodded slowly. “You’re right. I’m not doing any good in this condition. I’ll get some sleep and then we can get some dinner and share what we’ve got.” The smile stretching his thin lips was definitely forced, but he was making an effort. Spencer looked Chance over and it seemed very calculating, a testosterone based habit. “You move pretty fast for a half-blood.” His eyes darted from Chance to her and back so fast that she almost thought she just imagined it. “If you’re as protective with Gregor, then I can see why he keeps you around.”

Chance just nodded. It must be some unspoken man etiquette to just nod at compliments, especially ones that were somewhat demeaning at the same time. Lilith remembered why she didn’t spend much time with Spencer growing up. He’d always been kind of judgmental and aristocratic, especially for someone who’s only real talent was art appreciation. 

Spencer dragged himself sluggishly from the chair and stumbled through the kitchen to the small bedroom. “He’s a real charmer.” Chance whispered once the door was closed. He turned and frowned down at her. “Hopefully he’s just exhausted and in withdrawal, and not a raving lunatic. Because if he’s gone over the edge, he’ll be more harm than help and I’ll lock him in the trunk.”

“I never really spent much time with Spencer. He’s a few years older than Miriah and me. I know he’s an art appraiser, so he travels a lot. He studied for several years in Amsterdam. Gregor doesn’t talk about the family much, and Duncan and Miriah never mentioned anything significant about him. He seems very distraught. I just don’t know.” She shook her head and felt the weight of the last few days.
Something bothered her, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“What about that box? Should we take a closer look?”

Lilith considered it, and finally shook her head again. “Spencer could walk out of that room at any time. Until I know exactly what it is and what it means, I want to keep it to ourselves. It has to be significant, and somehow I don’t think Spencer knows about it. Duncan was losing it, but if he didn’t mention it to Spencer, then he had a reason. We just don’t know what it is. I have it stashed some place safe. If I drag it out now, I may not have time to hide it again.”

Chance nodded thoughtfully and ran a hand through his
chestnut hair. He was frustrated and struggling with things that had him completely closed off. He was all business, a stark contrast to earlier down in the basement. “Is it always like this? It just seems like we have nothing, nowhere to start looking.”

“It’s not like a TV show drama. They have one hour to wrap it up. Sadly, suspects don’t show up with nifty little red bows. But, honestly, I usually turn up more than this. Of course, I usually have a body. Unfortunately for us, there was very little forensic evidence, Duncan and his
group weren’t in close contact with the family, and the only person I know that may have any clue about what’s going on is too tired and distraught to be any help right now.”

“So what do we do while we wait to see if Spencer’s cracked completely?” Chance was a man of action, he couldn’t just sit here. She could see the need to do something itching under his skin. Of course her plan of
action probably wasn’t going to help him much with that.

She looked up from the table with a fragile smile and already knew what the response would be. “There’s the mass amount of journals and tapes I found down in his office. They weren’t hidden, and whoever was here searching the place left them, so they probably aren’t crucial. However, they might lend some insight into what Duncan’s been doing. They may not solve the case, but they might point us in a direction.” She shrugged at Chance’s frown. “We might get lucky. Maybe he hid something in plain sight within those notebooks.
If we can find a motive, perhaps it will help.”