Make Me (16 page)
Authors: Parker Blue
Her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes widened. “I don’t know.”
Alejandro patted her reassuringly on the arm. “If it did, we would have more cases by now. They must have come across it some other way.”
Yeah, by sipping directly from a vein. But I kept my mouth shut. We were outnumbered here, and I didn’t want to get them pissed off at me.
“I can’t think how,” Lisette said. “
Mon dieu
. How could this have happened? Perhaps the demons forced them to drink?”
I couldn’t help it. “Oh, yeah. I can just see demons grabbing vamps and forcing them to bite their necks and suck out all their lifeblood.”
“You aren’t helping,” Alejandro said sternly.
“Okay, okay. I’ll be quiet. But you need to come up with a more likely scenario.”
Lisette frowned. “We have another who hasn’t checked in yet. You think… ?”
“It’s possible,” Austin said reluctantly.
“Then we must check all the supplies,
tout suite.
” Lisette turned, and with a regal move of her hand, picked up a bell on the side table and tinkled it.
One of the Tweedles came on the double.
“Wait,” I said. “What do you want me to do with these two? I can’t hold them forever.”
Lisette glanced at Alejandro. He bowed smoothly. “With your permission, I will take charge of them. We have had some success in restoring sanity to our afflicted ones. But I’ll need the help of some of your people.”
Lisette nodded, and as she gave instructions to her minion, I followed Alejandro back into the elevator with the two mindless vamps. Austin, Jack and Fang joined us, and we rode down together, my two charges stinking up the elevator. We stopped at the basement where Alejandro gestured us toward a room that looked like an old-fashioned hospital ward, with neat beds, boasting crisp white sheets, lined up on both walls down the entire length of the room. All of the beds were empty.
Was this where the vampires slept during the day? Darn. I’d had visions of silk-lined coffins in my head.
I DOUBT IT, Fang drawled. IT’S PROBABLY JUST WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE—A HOSPITAL.
Too bad. I really wanted to see where they slept someday.
Alejandro gestured toward two beds. “If you wouldn’t mind asking them to lie down and go to sleep?”
“Of course. Wes, Ronald, lie down on the beds.” I went even further. “And do anything Alejandro asks you to.”
“And Lisette as well,” Alejandro reminded me. “This is her house.”
“Okay, do whatever Lisette asks you, too. Now, go to sleep.”
With them taken care of, I said, “So, now that the chupacabras have been caught and identified, how are you going to spin this?”
“Spin?” Alejandro asked in confusion.
Austin translated. “She means, what story are you going to tell the press?”
The vamp leader frowned. “I don’t know yet, but we will think of something. Wild dogs, or coyotes perhaps. Those with mange have been mistakenly identified as chupacabras
before.”
“So, your chupacabras
are identified and caught. That means I’m free of the contract,” I said, grinning.
“Not quite yet,” he said. “There seems to be the possibility of another afflicted one. I would appreciate it if you would help us find him.”
“Can’t you do that on your own?”
Austin turned to look at me. “You are the best person to handle them without hurting them. And you seemed so concerned earlier about the demons they drank from. Don’t you want to know who the demons are and if they’re all right?”
HE HAS YOU THERE, Fang said.
Like I needed to be reminded that Austin always had the upper hand. Dang it, I really wanted out of that contract. But he was right. The demons here weren’t close family like the ones in San Antonio—more like distant cousins you didn’t really want to hang out with but still felt akin to. I didn’t care about Dina, but I owed it to Micah—and David and Pia—to find out what was going on.
I sighed. “Of course I do.” I gazed down at the two we’d caught, remembering how mindless they’d appeared. “Austin, did they seem more out of it than the ones in San Antonio to you?”
Austin nodded. “You have a theory about that?”
“Yeah. I think they drank a lot more demon blood than the others.” If the demons in question even had any left. “I’ll go back to the park tomorrow in the light of day and see what I can find. We didn’t get a chance to look around much.”
“I appreciate it,” Alejandro said. “I’ll ask Lisette to send a clean-up crew after nightfall tomorrow to get the deer and anything else you find.” He paused for a moment, then added,
“It is close to dawn and we have much to do here. We’ll see you tomorrow at sunset.”
Oh, good. Free time. I headed for the elevator before he could change his mind, with Jack and Fang following. What should I do? Call Shade? No, he could call me for a change. Besides, he was probably asleep. The question was, who was he sleeping
with
? Not that I distrusted Shade, but Dina’s succubus could force him.
I winced. No—don’t go there. That place hurt.
HOW ABOUT FEEDING YOUR FAVORITE HELLHOUND? Fang asked plaintively. AND JACK IS HUNGRY, TOO.
Jack’s stomach growled, right on cue. He shrugged, looking sheepish.
Thankful for the distraction, I said, “Okay, let’s get something to eat.”
A diner was open nearby, so I grabbed some breakfast and took it back to the room so Fang could eat with us.
While we ate, I decided to grill Jack some more about the books. “So, what else can you tell me about the books?”
“What do you want to know?” he countered.
Sheesh. Squeezing info out of Jack was like trying to take pizza away from Fang. Even if you could eke out a little, what was left wasn’t worth much.
VERY FUNNY, the hellhound said.
“If I want a particular ability, can I ask the encyclopedia for it, or do I have to look through the whole thing to find it?”
“You can ask.” Jack shrugged. “But whether the books respond or not is up to them. And only the second two volumes have spells. The first is merely an encyclopedia of demons and other nonhuman species.”
I knew that. “So, if I decide to read one of the spells to get an ability, do I lose some of the succubus abilities right away?”
“No, not until you use the new spell or ability.”
“Then how much succubus power do I lose?”
Jack paused, then said, “It depends.”
COME ON, DUDE, Fang said. IF YOU DON’T TELL HER, I CAN READ IT FROM YOUR MIND, YOU KNOW.
From the widening of his eyes, I gathered Jack hadn’t thought of that. And didn’t like it much.
“What does it depend on?” I asked him.
With a sidelong glance at Fang, Jack said, “It depends on how difficult the ability is and on how long and how intensely you use it.”
GO ON, Fang said. TELL HER THE REST.
I raised my eyebrows at Jack. “Give.”
“Some spells you can use all the time, like the shield Trevor used. Others, once you use them, you have to wait a period of time before you can use it again.”
Oh, wonderful. “How do I know which is which?”
“There’s usually an indication on the page, at the bottom.”
In other words, read the fine print. Mage demon lawyers… just peachy. “What else aren’t you telling me?”
He hesitated for a moment, and Fang said, HE’S WORRIED IF HE TELLS YOU EVERYTHING, YOU WON’T HAVE ANY MORE USE FOR HIM. HE ISN’T FAMILIAR WITH THIS TIME, SO HOW CAN HE SUPPORT HIMSELF?
“It’s okay, Jack,” I told him. “Micah will find something for you to do. That’s what the Underground is for, remember?”
He nodded, but the tight expression around his eyes showed he didn’t quite believe me.
“It’s all right,” I told him. “There’s time.” And now that I’d finished eating and relaxed a little, I suddenly felt all of the day’s aches and pains clamor for my attention. And that wasn’t even taking into account how tired I was. “How about we get some sleep and do some more searching in the morning?”
“Good idea,” Jack said, and left for his own room.
I cleaned up the debris from the take-out and checked the windows. Since this was a vampire establishment, they had excellent black-out metal blinds that completely cut off the light. I made sure they were closed and asked Fang, “Need anything before I take a shower?”
He settled down on the bed. NOPE. JUST SLEEP. YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT VIOLENCE AND MAYHEM TOMORROW WILL BRING.
I chuckled. “Maybe it’ll be uneventful.”
Fang snorted. AROUND YOU? I DOUBT IT.
I woke around two in the afternoon, and by the time I roused Fang and Jack and fed them, it was almost three.
I stood up from the table outside the diner. “C’mon, guys, daylight’s burning.” The sun set around five thirty this time of year. Luckily, someone had left keys to one of Alejandro’s cars hanging on my doorknob with the license plate number on a tag.
I drove back to the park and there were a few cars around, but not many. I hadn’t noticed it last night, but now I saw a sign saying, “All pets on leash.” I read it aloud to Fang.
I’M NOT A PET, he said stubbornly.
“I know, but no one else does.” And there was a Parks and Recreation truck parked in the lot, with a man inside watching us. “Don’t worry, I won’t keep hold of it unless I have to.” I rummaged in the backpack for the leash, carried for times like this when Fang had to pretend to be a real dog, and snapped it on him.
“You lead the way,” I told him, trying to make him feel better.
He set a brisk pace that Jack and I had a hard time following, until we got to the place where the coyote had been killed. “Okay, let’s search.”
“What are we looking for?” Jack asked.
Good question. This was Dan’s area of expertise, not mine. “I don’t know. Any kind of clue. Another pile of ash, a scrap of fabric or any sign of where the vampires may have holed up during the day.” A big sign with a pointing arrow saying, Clue Here would be nice.
I dropped the leash and we investigated the area around the ash pile that had been Etienne. We didn’t find anything, so we went to take a look at the areas where the animals had been killed. Jack headed for the deer and Fang took off in his own direction, trying to sniff up some identifiable scents, I guess. I took the coyote kill, checking every square inch around it.
I was bent over, peering at a bush, when I heard a voice behind me. “Didn’t you have a dog earlier?”
Startled, I spun around to see a fit middle-aged man with a Parks and Rec logo on his shirt. Pressed pants, short haircut, very straight arrow. “Sorry, you scared me. What did you say?”
He smiled, the kind of smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I said, didn’t you have a dog earlier?”
From the expression on his face and the book in his hand, I gathered he was about to write me a citation.
“Yes,” I said carefully.
“You know they’re supposed to be leashed.”
“Oh, he is. My friend has him.” I turned in the direction Jack had gone. “Jack, can you come here?”
Fang
, I called mentally.
Find Jack, tell him what’s going on and have him bring you here on the leash.
Fang grumbled, but knew it was necessary. I heard some rustling through the underbrush, then Fang bounded out, with Jack behind him holding the leash. Fang sat down beside me, his tongue lolling out, making him look innocent and goofy.
Nice touch.
I THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE IT, Fang snarked.
“What is it?” Jack asked, looking at the guy and acting dumb. He was almost as good at it as Fang.
I nodded at Mr. Straight Arrow. “He just wanted to be sure we had… Snookums… on a leash.”
SNOOKUMS? Fang said indignantly. COULDN’T YOU COME UP WITH A BETTER NAME THAN THAT?
Sorry. Not on such short notice.
I didn’t want to get into a whole conversation about Fang’s name.
Jack nodded, saying heartily, “Of course we do, sir. We’d never break the law, would we, love?” Jack grabbed the man’s hand and pumped it. “Thank you, sir, for everything you’re doing to keep our parks safe and clean.”
Fake much?
Tell him to tone it down a notch, willya?
I asked Fang.
ALREADY DONE. HE’LL KEEP IT ZIPPED.
“Call me Ben,” the guy said. Then, “What were you doing there?”
“What? Where?” I asked, stalling for time. I could use Lola to force him to do what I wanted, but I didn’t see any need for that yet.
“You were looking very closely at that bush. Did you lose something?”
“No, I uh… I’m just doing some research.”
“Research on what?”