Bloodchild (26 page)

He stared at her a moment and then nodded. She wasn't going to step out of his way gracefully. He could see that.

"Excuse me, then," he said. She leaned back, but as he passed between her and the doorjamb, she leaned into him again, her breasts caressing his arm and shoulder. He didn't stop, however. If anything, the touch had driven him down the hall a lot faster. He thought he heard her laugh as he descended the stairs.

When he stepped outside, he felt as if he had just stepped out of a steam room. His heart was beating madly and he was very flushed. He vigorously scrubbed his face with his palm and looked around. Except for the rhythmic barking of the Jensens' dog, the street was deadly quiet. It looked more like an empty movie set. There was no movement, no sign of life in the houses. He felt like yelling "
Action
!" and bringing the world back to life.

He started for his car, parked in the driveway, and stopped when he looked back at the shed. Strange, he thought, how something so innocuous had become the object of such fear for his kid sister. He saw where he and the detective had left the door open, so he went back to it. Just before he closed the door, he looked in at that mop and jacket, trying to imagine how they could have formed such a horrible illusion for Colleen.

How had they gotten in here, anyway? he thought. He hadn't put them there. Must have been something Dana had done. He couldn't ask her about it, though. Not right now. He didn't want to bring up something so ugly.

He closed the door and turned away, looking up at his house as he did so. Something caught his attention in the window of his and Dana's bedroom. The curtain moved. Suddenly Nurse Patio appeared, standing in the window, looking down at him. She wore what he thought to be a smug smile.

And in her arms she held Nikos, who looked like he was smiling in the same way. In fact, it wasn't until that moment that he realized what it was that bothered him so much about the baby's newly formed facial features.

He looked a lot like Nurse Patio, especially around the eyes and mouth. His face was taking on a similar sculpted look.

It was almost as if he were her child and she had come surreptitiously to take care of him.

He looked back only once before getting into his car, and saw that they were both gone from the window. Perhaps it had only been an illusion, he thought. Perhaps he had caught Colleen's problem.

Shaking it from his mind as best he could, he drove off to work.

Dana felt herself shrinking in the bed. She wasn't really asleep but was midway between consciousness and unconsciousness; in some dazed, drunken state. She was vaguely aware of her surroundings, but at the same time falling back into a dreamworld. She fought against it, even though she was so tired that she longed for respite. There was something horrible waiting for her the moment she fell into unconsciousness, some terrible, lifelike nightmare. She knew that the shriveling of her body was only the beginning of it, so she tossed and turned and struggled against losing her grip on reality.

But she couldn't stop the deflating of her body. It was as though she had been pumped with air and then sprouted a leak. Where was the leak? She ran her hands down her hips and over her legs, searching for it, hoping to feel the air escaping. She brought her palms up over her pelvis and lower abdomen, sliding her hands back and forth, but she felt nothing. Gradually she brought her fingers to her breasts, and only then did she feel the leak. The air was escaping from her nipples. If she listened hard enough, she could hear the silvery
sssing
that sounded like breath gently blown through closed lips.

She pressed her hands against her breasts to stop it from happening, but the pressure continued to build, making it harder and harder to hold her palms there. Her nipples became stiff and sharp. They were starting to become painful, as though they were nails being pressed into her hands. She moaned and held on as long as she could, but finally she had to pull her hands away.

Now, instead of air, blood spurted from her breasts. She screamed and sat up.

For a moment she did nothing. Then she rubbed her eyes and waited for them to focus. Nurse Patio was standing there at the foot of the bed with Nikos in her arms. She was smiling, but the baby was simply staring, its face harder, colder, its dark eyes unmoving, now more like two shiny black onyxes set in tiny pools of pearl. He smacked his lips. He began to squirm, reaching out for her.

"What happened?" Dana asked.

"You must have had a bad dream. It's nothing. Put it from your mind."

"It was so real." She looked down at her bosom and screamed. "My God, what happened?"

"It's nothing. Relax," Nurse Patio said quietly, even though there were large, bright red bloodstains on the bodice of Dana's nightgown.

Dana touched them gently and looked at her fingers. The blood was there, fresh; it had just happened. She looked up at Nurse Patio and held her hands toward her.

"Look!"

Nurse Patio continued to smile. She put the baby down on the foot of the bed and went into the bathroom, returning with a damp washcloth. She took each of Dana's hands and washed the blood off the tips of her fingers.

"Just take off the nightgown," she said. "I'll see to it."

"But what happened?"

"You broke a capillary. No big deal," Nurse Patio said. "Come on. Lift your arms."

Obediently Dana did so. Nurse Patio helped lift the nightgown from her body, crumpling it into a ball and dropping it to the floor. Then she guided Dana back to the pillow. Dana watched her as she brought the washcloth to her breasts and carefully cleaned away any traces of blood.

"Nothing to worry about," she said. Dana glanced down at the baby. Nikos squirmed and grunted, clawing at the blanket in an attempt to pull himself toward her.

"But the baby…"

"There's no problem. I told you, it's all right," Nurse Patio said. She put the bloodied washcloth with the crumpled nightgown and lifted the baby from the bed, bringing him up to Dana. "He's hungry again," she said. "You can see that."

"But it seems like I just fed him, and besides, shouldn't I wait awhile to see what more will happen?"

"Nothing more will happen."

"But suppose another capillary breaks while I'm nursing? Maybe we should call Dr. Claret."

"It's nothing," Nurse Patio said, widening her smile. "You'll see. Here. Take him to you."

"But—"

"Take him," she said more firmly. Dana stared at her and then looked at the baby. He grimaced and started to cry. "See? I told you he's very hungry."

"Oh, dear," Dana said. Reluctantly she reached up and brought the baby to her bosom. Nikos was at her nipple instantly. Nurse Patio stood over them, watching, a wide smile on her face.

"He's growing so well, so fast. It's wonderful," she said.

"I'm so tired right now. I feel like I could fall asleep with him at my breast."

"It wouldn't matter. It's all right. Close your eyes."

"Really? You won't leave, though, will you?"

"I'll stay right here, right next to the bed, until he's satisfied again," she said. She reached down and wiped some strands of hair from Dana's forehead. Dana was grateful for her soft, loving touch. She closed her eyes and then opened them quickly. "I'm here," Nurse Patio said. "Relax." Dana closed her eyes again.

The baby was drawing the liquid steadily and firmly, but that sense of shriveling came over Dana again. Her legs felt as though they were shortening, being drawn higher and higher into her hips, her hips becoming more and more narrow. Her ribs closed in on her lungs. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. She started to open her eyes and felt Nurse Patio's fingertips on her lids.

"Sleep," she said. "Sleep."

Dana eased her hold on the baby, but he didn't move; he didn't shift position. After a moment her arms fell to her sides. They felt as though they were telescoping in toward her shoulders. Her hands became as small as the baby's. Everything was shrinking except her breasts. They were rapidly filling up with all the blood in her body.

She continued to battle against unconsciousness, but the fatigue that came over her rose up her body like a heavy, warm blanket. Its ascent couldn't be prevented. Soon it was at her chin, and then it was nearly overhead, shutting her into the darkness. She sank deeper and deeper into the bed as the mattress came over the sides of her body to engulf her. The baby was getting heavier and heavier, and pressing her down as it suckled.

Before she lost consciousness, she had the distinct impression that her own bed had become her coffin. She tried to scream, to show that she wasn't really dead, but the lid was being closed over her, anyway.

The last face she saw was the face of Nurse Patio, who had pulled the blanket back. She looked down at her and smiled. Her lips moved. "It's all right," she said. "There's nothing to worry about. It's all right."

Then she brought the blanket all the way over Dana, and all went dark.

Colleen was exhausted. She could barely talk. Her throat was raw from screaming and cheering. As soon as the gun ending the game was sounded, she raised her arms and jumped with the crowd from her seat, actually feeling as though she were being lifted by the roar and the thundering of their feet on the stands. The game had been close up to the beginning of the second half, the lead seesawing back and forth; and then Teddy led one successful drive after another, maintaining a two-touchdown lead right to the final moments. They were the league champs.

Moments after she started away from the stands, Colleen sensed that she was indeed very tired. She had misjudged the effect the emotional drama had had on her over the past thirty-six hours. That, plus the excitement of the championship game, worrying every time Teddy got the ball, feeling every blow to his body, riding the emotional roller coaster of a successful pass, and then an unsuccessful one, was overwhelming. Her legs felt shaky.

She got to her car as quickly as she could, avoiding as many of her friends as possible. She knew everyone would try to talk her into celebrating with them, but she had promised Harlan she would go right home, and now she believed she truly had better. By the time she reached the driveway, she had settled down a bit, yet she still thought that right after dinner she would go up to her room to rest.

She found Harlan in the living room watching the news. He hadn't even heard her arrive. She thought he looked tired and small in his easy chair. He was staring at the set as if he had been watching television for hours and hours and had become mesmerized by the glow. He still had that uncharacteristic disheveled appearance. His hair was unbrushed and his tie was loosened and lopsided.

"Hi, Harlan. We won. Much bigger than anyone expected."

"Oh. Really? Great." He sat forward and looked around as though he had just woke up. "Fantastic," he mumbled. "How are you?"

"A little tired. My throat feels like I swallowed sandpaper," she said, pressing her fingers gently over the front of her neck.

"Sure. It's only natural. So," he said, "we won. Teddy's a hero again."

"He was great. He's supposed to drop over later."

"Uh-huh."

"Should I help with dinner?"

"Oh. No. Nurse Patio is in the kitchen. Everything's been done."

"And how's Dana?"

"She's… been sleeping," he said, as though just realizing it. "Ever since I came home. The baby too," he added. Colleen looked at him, debating whether or not to say anything else about it, but recalling how he had reacted before, she just nodded.

"I'll go up and change."

"Yeah, good. I told Nurse Patio that as soon as you arrived, we would eat."

"Be down in a jiffy," she said.

"We'll be in the dining room," he said, getting up. She saw that he rose out of the chair as though he were years older.

"You all right?"

"Yeah, sure. Just a tough day. Still a lot of strike talk. A lot of tension. Everywhere," he added sadly. She nodded in understanding and left to change.

She wasn't going to look in on Dana, but when she came out of her room to go back downstairs, she thought she heard a distinct moan. Since the door to Dana's bedroom was open, she walked over to peer in.

Dana was in bed, but her eyes were open and she was staring up at the ceiling.

"Hi," she called, but Dana didn't respond, nor did she look her way. She simply continued to stare at the ceiling. "Dana?" Still nothing. Colleen walked farther into the room, moving tentatively, her arms folded under her breasts. "Dana?" She stepped up to the bed. Dana turned to her slowly. Colleen thought she was exceedingly pale. There was barely any color in her lips and her eyes looked so glassy. "Hi. How are you doing?"

Dana blinked rapidly but didn't respond. She stared at Colleen as though she didn't know who she was.

"Are you all right? You act like you're in a daze or something."

Still she didn't respond. Instead she closed her eyes and turned away. Colleen stood there staring down at her, debating whether or not to try to wake her. She decided she would call Harlan upstairs and turned to go out of the room when Nurse Patio suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"We're waiting on you," she said. "Dinner's getting cold."

"What?"

"Your brother sent me up to fetch you, but you weren't in your room."

"Dana's not feeling well," she said. "She looks terrible."

"She's simply tired. She's been up all day with the baby today. He was a little more difficult than usual and it has fatigued her. Just let her rest."

"She doesn't look well," Colleen insisted. "She's terribly pale."

"She had no fever and her blood pressure is good. I told you, she's simply tired. After a good night's rest that paleness will be gone."

"I don't believe you," Colleen insisted. "I think she's sick."

"Don't you dare talk to me like that. Don't you think I know what I'm doing?" Nurse Patio snapped. Her shoulders rose and her head seemed to sink between them. Colleen thought she looked like some kind of bird. Even her hands, the fingers curled inward, looked more like claws.