Animal Attraction (30 page)

Gerald chuckled as he finished reading the
newspaper article on the latest scandal to excite the citizens of
Fulton Falls. He lounged comfortably on the antique settee I’d
decided belonged in my office. Carved wood and blush pink velvet
upholstery? Of course I needed it.

Dan perched on one of the chairs in front of
my desk. “So far the hunters are holding to the agreed story. No
amount of questioning has shaken them for an instant.”

I repeated his comment to Gerald before
saying, “Do they have a choice? Even shifter deaths get their day
in court and occasionally some justice.”

Once they’d been taken into custody, the
jerks who’d been blackmailing and hunting shifters for sport were
safe from the threat of Levi and Gerald infecting them with Zoo
Flu. It had been the one weak part of Levi’s plan. However that
threat had gotten them to confess the locations of the missing
shifters’ bodies and which guns had been used to kill them. A
subsequent search of the country club’s property by Levi, Gerald,
and others had swiftly uncovered the graves of the missing weres
... along with the ammunition that had killed them. Levi had
ballistics evidence ready to fall on the hunters’ heads if they
didn’t stick with the story about trapping a bear. Illegal trapping
with intent to sell a wild animal didn’t carry nearly the same
punishment as murder.

It probably didn’t hurt that Zoo Flu had been
more than a threat to Tattingail. He’d been infected with it. We
assumed it had happened when Ryan went after him. While in the
hospital, his body raging with fever, the Tats had raved about
Patricia Keith attacking him. Since his injuries were consistent
with getting smacked around by a large animal and not chewed on by
a vampire, no one took his screams seriously. Plus Ryan had covered
my bite marks on the other men with gouges made to look like a
mauling.

It did open up the suspicion that the bear
the club had trapped in their cabin had been a shifter. However,
only Tattingail had succumbed to Zoo Flu. Tests proved he’d caught
his particular strain from a weregator, not a bear. The other men
were cleared of contamination. With no one budging from the story
of luring the animal in through the trap door and it going berserk,
Ryan’s involvement stayed quiet.

Even his truck being there in the middle of
the pile-up was explained to the satisfaction of authorities ...
well, more or less. Mark, the worst friend in history, insisted he
had borrowed Ryan’s truck when his Lexus started having problems.
The nearly dead battery in Mark’s car substantiated that claim.
Gerald and Levi said Ryan had been with them watching basketball
when the accident occurred.

Yeah, it was a shaky alibi. Okay, it was a
terrible alibi. The D.A. wasn’t convinced by a long shot. Yet it
was sworn to by everyone involved and there was no concrete
evidence otherwise. Case closed.

Gerald voiced the one thing that bothered us
all. “It’s a shame they won’t face murder charges. Eight people
heartlessly killed. Eight families lost loved ones.”

I offered the same empty consolation we’d all
taken to saying. “We can’t bring back the dead.”

He nodded. “We have to concentrate on the
living.”

“And undead?” I asked, trying to lighten the
suddenly somber mood.

That earned me a chuckle from both men. I
gestured to Gerald, wanting the newspaper. He folded it and tossed
it to me.

I opened to the story and read it again.
“That’s still something about Tattingail having a weregator
mistress all this time. As much as he hated paras? Crazy.”

Dan smirked. “I’ve always said that the
louder someone protests against something, the more likely you’ll
find that particular skeleton in his closet.”

I repeated his observation to Gerald. The big
guy nodded. His expression had that morose look again.

It was understandable. After all, Gerald’s
brand of para got shafted more often than the rest. And he was so
right in that with the exception of Tattingail, the killers got
away with murder.

Looking for anything I could spin in a
positive way I said, “We were able to bury the dead. Trust me when
I say that means something. The families have closure. They aren’t
waiting and wondering anymore.”

We’d seen to it that the bodies were
discovered, far away from the country club as part of the agreement
with the hunters to keep their lips zipped, Ryan free from prison,
and ‘Patricia’ out of the executioner’s incinerator. We’d gotten
some measure of justice by leaving the corpses on a parcel of land
owned by Tattingail and phoning in an anonymous tip. More
posthumous scandal for the man who would have been a leader of Ford
County.

Gerald sighed. “We got that. I suppose it
will have to be enough. Like we all say, we take care of our
own.”

Dan nodded, his tone adamant. “Yes, we
do.”

With every ounce of the vampire heart that
sat quiet in my chest, I added, “Always.”

On the heels of affirming our loyalty, my
assistant walked in. I grinned at Wendy. With Tristan on the brink
of leaving and her staying behind to be near her family, my former
flying coach had taken the assignment of handling my needs. Now
that I no longer freak her out, we’re on great terms. I think we
might even end up as friends some fine day.

She played the part of professional right now
though. Her answering smile slipped into that of the conscientious
employee. “Ms. Keith, you have an unscheduled visitor. Ashley
Warner?”

A thrill went up my spine. What was she doing
here? I looked around to make sure no stray bottles of BP9 were
about. “Oh. Yeah. Sure, bring her in.”

Wendy gave me a wink as if to reassure me it
would be okay. As she left and Ashley entered the office, Gerald
stood and smiled. “Mrs. Warner, it’s good to see you again.”

“Ashley, please,” my sister insisted. “I’m
glad to run into you too, Gerald. I hope I’m not interrupting?”

He pulled out a chair for her in front of my
desk, the one Dan quickly got out of. “Not at all. My business with
Ms. Keith is done for the moment. Can I get you something? Tea,
coffee, wine, water?”

Ashley took the seat and beamed up at him.
“No thank you. I just wanted to drop in and thank Ms. Keith. And
you too. I know you work closely with her and must have had
something to do with getting my husband out of the trouble he was
in.”

Gerald patted her shoulder. “He’s one of us.
If anyone in your family ever needs anything, you can feel free to
contact me.”

“Thank you.” She poured all her gratitude in
her smile.

Gerald left with Dan right behind him. Yeah,
this needed to be private. I felt awkward to be faced with my twin
after everything. I didn’t need too many people to witness it.

Ashley regarded me for several seconds, her
gaze searching my face. At a loss as to what to say, I managed a
weak, “You look well.”

“I am, thanks to you and your staff.” A tiny
line appeared between her brows. “I’m still not clear on all that’s
happened. Ryan wants me to know as little as possible for my
safety. He’s not in danger still, is he?”

I shook my head. “Everything is fine now, but
it is true you’re better left in the dark about certain events. I
will tell you that your husband conducted himself with better
restraint than – than others.” I squirmed a little, thinking how
out of control I’d gotten that night. How close I’d come to killing
several people.

Ashley’s shoulders relaxed. “Ryan is almost
like his old self again. I don’t suppose he’ll ever be the man he
was before the Zoo Flu – I mean, who could be?”

I nodded in full agreement with her
assessment. “I don’t know of anyone who survived the virus that
wasn’t changed fundamentally.”

“Still, he’s the person I fell in love with.
Thank you for giving him back to me.”

I swallowed a sudden lump in my throat.
Sentimental me. “Any help I was able to give, I’m glad. I’m
delighted to hear your lives are back to normal.”

Ashley laughed. “The new normal. My parents
have told me they will not accept Ryan in their lives. So I told
them I was cutting them out of mine.”

My mouth dropped open in shock. Little Miss
Perfect had stood up to our parents? The girl who had always done
what she was told? Holy smokes, that was huge.

I tried to sound casual as I said, “That’s
brave.”

“It would have been braver if I’d done it
much earlier ... Brandilynn.”

The universe froze. I stared at Ashley,
trying to convince myself I hadn’t heard her call me by my name.
Yet it rang in my ears, still reverberated in the air.

I opened my mouth to deny my identity.
However Ashley’s knowing smile and tear-bright blue eyes told me
she’d never buy it.

Instead I asked, “How did you figure it
out?”

She ran a finger beneath one eye to catch the
moisture before it could smear her mascara. “You were the only
person in all the world who ever called me ‘champ’. You called me
that three times as Patricia Keith.”

“I did?” I couldn’t remember doing that.

“Oh my gosh, if you knew how many times over
the years that I picked up the phone, ready to call you and invite
you over ... and then you were dead and it was too late.”

She broke down. I sat there, staring in
stunned inaction as she grabbed a tissue and blotted her streaming
eyes. She’d wanted to call me? She’d wanted us to get together
again even after I’d quit college and become an escort?

I thought perhaps I should get up. That I
should go to my sister. Hug her. Tell her I’d never stopped caring
even though I’d wanted to. I couldn’t feel my legs though, so I
stayed put.

My dumb mouth moved, saying nonsensical
stuff. “I saw you at my funeral. I couldn’t believe you defied our
parents to come.”

Ashley regained control over herself. She
sniffled and wadded her tissue in one fist. “I’ve been a coward. I
didn’t find my spine until Ryan caught Zoo Flu and our family was
threatened. How can you ever forgive me? Don’t answer that; you
can’t. And then you got Ryan out of whatever mess Tattingail got
him into! Brandilynn, I just—” Overcome again, she stopped talking
and waved her hands helplessly.

I had nothing intelligent to say. All I could
come up with was, “It’s okay. Ash, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. It’s not okay, not by a long
shot, but I can’t give us back those lost years. And I can’t repay
you. You gave my son his father back.”

I shook my head. One thing I was not ready to
be was a hero. “You’re giving me a lot more credit than I deserve.
Seriously. Half the time I make more trouble than I fix.”

“Is that how you ended up in Patricia Keith’s
body?” She stared into my eyes again, as if trying to see her
almost-identical twin within the skin I wore.

I barked hard laughter. “That is my biggest,
most incredible mess of all. All else pales in comparison.”

Ashley knew I hated pity, and she did her
best to hide it. It still came out in her voice. “Is it hard? Being
a vampire?”

My stock answer of ‘I’m not a vampire’ rose
to my lips. It died without being uttered. Who was I kidding? I
drank blood. I flew. I did everything vampires do.

If nothing else, the fact that this body
bypassed Gerald and a ready meal to get to my soul let me know
under no uncertain terms what I was. It was no longer Patricia
Keith’s body. It was mine. I owned it, and it was time to accept
the fact that I was indeed a vampire.

I smiled at my sister. “It’s no harder than
being a shifter. In fact, I think weres have it worse.”

Ashley nodded, her caring gaze as gentle as a
caress. I saw love in that look. Love for me that had been set
aside but never truly lost. After all this time I knew that someone
from my days among the living still loved me.

She asked me, “Can we build something? I know
we can’t have what we did before you left college. But I’d like to
have my sister back, in any capacity I can get her.”

I swallowed hard. When I finally found the
courage to speak, my voice came out weak and shaky ... but hopeful.
“I’d like that too, champ.”

We made plans to get together later in the
week. After Ashley left, I sat a long time in silence, mulling
things over.

Sometimes I think life is nothing more than
reaching for the next moment of hope. Like a string of pearls, I
keep moving to the next pretty bauble that makes going on
worthwhile. I’d been getting through each night as a vampire
because I knew Dan waited when the sun broke over the horizon. I’d
struggled through each flying lesson in the hope of making it
happen this time. If I couldn’t fly, I hung onto the hope of not
having sex with a man other than Dan, the love of my afterlife.

Now I was able to fly. I was now capable of
remaining true to Dan. I had come to accept that half my existence
was that of a blood drinking predator. With that acceptance came a
sense of serenity.

Now I’d been given a new hope. I looked
forward to the next encounter with my twin, to solidify the promise
of reconciliation. Time would crawl by until that happened. And
when it did ... something else would appear on the horizon,
something else to reach for.

Dan came in, interrupting my musings.
“Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Ashley knew it was me.”

Dan gave me an appropriately startled look.
“And?”

“And I think we’re going to be okay.”

He smiled. “You’ve got family.”

I grinned and nodded. “Even better, I’ve got
you.”

“You’d better believe it.” His smile faded
and he set his shoulders, as if bracing for something. “Tristan’s
here. He called everyone into Para Central. He wants you there as
Patricia. That’s what I came to tell you.”

I waited to feel the old hurt. There was a
twinge ... but only a slight one. I stood. “Time for the big
goodbye.”