Dead Rising (35 page)

“You done this before?” I asked the man as I handed him a glass of wine. Was it okay to drink wine with a line of coke? I assumed so since the guy practically downed the contents of the glass in one gulp. If he died tonight, I wasn’t sure whether to blame Bella or his careless disregard when it came to mixing chemical substances.

“Screwed some handicapped woman? Yeah. I mean, they got needs and I need the money. No different than anyone else, except it’s usually wrapped up in under an hour.”

I held back from a massive eye roll. This guy was an arrogant asshole, but even a cocky gigolo didn’t deserve to walk into a situation like this blindly. “You know she can get a little over excited?”

Mario snorted. I wasn’t sure if he was laughing or it was from the drugs. “Yeah, sure. Guy did her last night. She weighs all of ninety pounds, and is a real looker. A little rough stuff doesn’t bother me, especially with what they pay. Plus there’s a woman that watches and makes sure nothing gets out of hand. They pay extra for the audience, ya know?”

Oh God. What an idiot. “She bites.”

This time he did laugh. “I’ve been tied up, spanked, got it in the backdoor with all sorts of stuff. Trust me, some hot young thing’s love bites are nothing compared to deep-throating an eighty-year-old guy in the back of a minivan.”

He had a point.

“True. Just making sure you know.”

Mario tilted his head, taking another drink of wine. “What, you her sister or something? I promise I’ll show her a good time. I’ve got a reputation to protect, you know. Plus with this kind of money, I’d like to make sure they call me back.”

In six weeks, once he was medically cleared to donate another pint of blood. This was all on the up-and-up, just as Dario had said, just as Sarge had said. Mario got what he wanted. Bella got what she needed. And someone stood by to make sure nothing got out of hand. The fact that it was kind of icky for a vampire trapped in a fourteen-year-old body to be getting nightly services from a male prostitute bothered me. So did the fact that Bella mentally was far younger than fourteen with the brain damage that had occurred between her death and rebirth. Whatever. Her body had needs, and Mario seemed happy to provide for the compensation offered.

“She should be up soon.” I eyed the fading light outside the window. The sun was down, the sky a million shades of grey in that twilight space between day and night.

“Cool.” Mario did another line and poured himself a second glass of wine, popping a pill with the beverage. Good grief, that guy was going to be freaking comatose by the time the vampire was awake—unless that little blue pill was for something else.

A woman walked into the room, starting in surprise as she saw me. “Aria? What are you doing here? Is Sarge with you?”

“No.” I smiled, trying to look relaxed in this very awkward situation. “I texted Dario to let him know I was coming, so he’ll probably be here soon. I need to speak to Bella as soon as she’s finished…ummm, with Mario here.”

The man in question grinned, puffing his chest out. “My girl ready?”

“Should I just hang here?” I asked. Not that they were expecting me to watch. Although I’m sure Mario wouldn’t mind tacking on extra for the viewing.

But should I watch? It would be a rare opportunity for me to see a vampire feed, especially one who had very little control. Would there be a risk to me? Would I be able to watch the process objectively? And more to the point, was there actual sex involved, as Mario seemed to think there was? I know vampire victims always got an orgasmic rush from the process of giving blood. I’d assumed that for many vampires, sexual intercourse was part of the feeding ritual. Watching Bella take blood would be instructional, watching her hump a male prostitute was beyond what I wanted to experience.

Actually it was all beyond what I wanted to experience. Nope. Sitting this one out.

Mario left and I was grateful for either the silence of the participants or the excellent sound proofing of the house. I assume it was the latter. I was just finishing up my glass of wine when Dario slammed through the door

“No. Just no. I won’t have you endanger her, or upset her that way.”

I’d prepared for this conversation. “I’ll be there to protect her, as will you. And you don’t know that she’ll be upset. She might not even recognize him. She might not remember anything about her human life. Actually if she does, it would help. Did you ever think that she might be glad to see someone she recognizes from her past? She’s been surrounded by vampires for the last forty years.”

“Then what about him? It’s going to rub salt in the wound to see his older sister like this. It was Jean Marc’s taking her as a blood slave that started the whole feud.”

That was a strong possibility, but this was my last chance to try and get Russell onto a better path. “If so, then we’ll have no other choice but to kill him. I’m hoping he’ll see that you’re not all like Jean Marc and Aubin. You tried to save his sister the only way you knew how. Your family has lovingly cared for her all these decades. That’s got to make you humane in his eyes. If he can see just one of you as redeemable, then we might be able to salvage this situation without further bloodshed.”

Dario rubbed a hand over his face. “He’ll see her as a monster like the rest of us. He’ll think we made his sister into a monster. Bringing her to meet him will be the same in his mind as Jean Marc killing her right in front of her father.”

He might be right, but this was my chance to change Russell’s mind. I glanced out the window. “We don’t have time to argue. How long does it take Bella to feed?”

“Another ten maybe. It depends on if she wants to play first. She’s hungry, but she’s not always focused on getting the job done.”

Great. I didn’t need that visual. And I was worried about the vampires back at Leonora’s house. “Did everyone vacate Leonora’s house?”

He nodded. “Not because Leonora is evacuating the place, but because they’re off to hunt down your necromancer.”

I caught my breath, wondering if everything I was doing tonight was for nothing. If the vampires had tracked down Russell, he could be dead before Bella finished her dinner. “Have they…do they know where he is?”

Dario shrugged, his eyes cold as they met mine. “Our humans interrogated the gang connections until we discovered where he worked and lived. Then we worked those angles. He might be dead, he might not. If he isn’t, he soon will be.”

Interrogated. I knew what that meant, knew very well that there had been a message sent about the price of betrayal. The vampires had cleaned house when they’d caught the blood donor/thief, but now that vampires had died…

“Please tell me you didn’t kill the coworkers or neighbors.”

Dario turned away from me. “Helpful and cooperative humans don’t need to be killed.”

I didn’t like that answer, but I didn’t have time to question the vampire further as Mario staggered through the room, pupils dilated and a smile fixed on his face. I could barely see the tiny marks on his arms and neck. It was time to go—and to pray that we’d get to Russell before Leonora did.

Bella’s caregiver, a vampire I was finally introduced to as Suzette, sat with her in the back seat of Dario’s SUV. The young vampire was fascinated by the car ride, making soft noises and pointing out the window as we passed buildings and parks. Her interest and animation gave me hope that this might actually work.

When we drove up to the block where the Robertsons had lived, she grew quiet, her hand touching the glass of the window. Dario pulled around to a side street and parked, and we made our way through the weed-choked back yards to the back entrance. Bella walked slowly, silently taking it all in. She went to a large oak, its mid-section rotted where a storm must have torn the tree in two. Looking up into the dead, bare branches, she made a rocking motion with her hand.

Swing? If she could remember her human life then maybe she could make a connection with Russell. She wouldn’t be a monster to him if he saw that something remained in her of his sister, Shay.

We went inside and waited. Bella seemed disturbed by the presence of the vampires even though she knew them. She kept shooing them with her hands.

“Do you remember it here, Bella?” Suzette soothed the girl, rubbing her hands. “Did you eat breakfast at the kitchen table? Braid your doll’s hair?”

Again the girl flicked her hands at the other vampire, scowling a bit. The two vampires obliged and watched Bella explore the room. She touched the shreds of wallpaper, moving room to room and making surprised noises as she ran her hands over everything. Her hands and clothing were filthy with dust by the time she plopped down on the kitchen floor. Hair falling forward over her shoulders, she dumped a handful of crayons from her pockets, wiped the dirt clear from the chipped linoleum and began to draw.

Suzette let out a breath. “She seems okay so far. Excited, maybe a little anxious, but okay.”

Dario folded his arms across his chest. “I still don’t like it.”

I knew he was worried about Bella’s emotional and physical wellbeing. Crossing my fingers, I sent up a quick prayer that all would be well.

And then a voice came out of the darkness. “Where is she?” I felt the creep of necromantic magic, sweet with the smell of rot. “Where is my sister? Give her to me and I will leave you in peace. You have my word.”

Janice had come through. She’d told Russell that she’d found Shay, that all these years a gang had been holding her hostage, but that she was still alive. The hope and fear in the necromancer’s voice gave me faith that this would all work out. He’d do anything to have a member of his family back, even give up his revenge. That was the first positive step toward compromise that he’d ever made.

“We can’t give her back,” Dario spoke up. “Her home is here. It’s all she’s known for the last forty years. She’s happy here with those who love her and can take care of her special needs.”

“Special needs?” Russell snarled. He still wasn’t anywhere close enough for us to see, or close enough to see his sister who sat drawing on the floor. “She’s an addict. Get her away from you vampires so she can detox and she’ll be just fine.”

“She’s no longer a blood slave.” I called out. “Russell, come meet your sister. I vow on the Order of the Templar Knights that this is a neutral space. No one will attack you.”

There was a curl of smoke that rose into a wall of fog. The necromancer stepped from it and I blinked, amazed at how skilled he truly was.

“Shay?” His voice trembled, his eyes desperate as they looked down at the girl.

The young vampire continued to draw on the floor as if she didn’t even hear him.

“Bella,” Suzette said softly. “Bella, someone is here to see you. Someone from long ago.”

The girl looked up at the vampire, then her gaze slid around the room, halting on Russell. She tilted her head, wrinkling her brow in confusion.

“Shay,” the necromancer choked out. “What have they done to you? You look the same as you did forty years ago. And your hair…”

I guess Shay hadn’t worn her hair in long tangled ringlets. The girl reached up a hand to pat her hair and smiled.

Smiled. With vampire fangs fully exposed.

I didn’t wait for Russell to react. “
Argelap’akel Satani dzerrk’y
.” At my words a shimmering wall rose between him and the vampires, just in time to deflect a surge of flame and heat. Broken bits of cabinets caught fire, raining sparks onto the dry floor as they burned.

Bella screamed, scooting backward away from the fire, her eyes wild. Suzette knelt to comfort her, Dario snarled and stepped forward. Russell shot again. Fire bounced off my barrier, lighting up exposed bits of flooring. I gritted my teeth trying to hold my protective wall. Of course the wall wouldn’t do us any good if the house burned down on top of us.

“Shay,” Russell thundered. “You bastards turned her. You made her a monster.”

I’ll give Dario credit, he didn’t even give me a side-eye I-told-you-so look. The vampire moved quickly to Bella’s side. The girl rose, side-stepping Dario and flinging out a hand at her brother.

“No, Daddy. I love him.”

We all froze. A chill ran up my arms. Her voice was husky and rough from disuse, but there was no mistaking her words.

“It’s okay, Bella.” Dario’s voice was full of affection, love even. “No one is going to hurt you. And no one will take you away.”

“Where is Jean Marc?” The young vampire swung her head from side to side, looking for the long dead vampire. “He loves me. Where is he?”

Did she not remember that he’d murdered her in front of her father? He hadn’t loved her at all.

Dario shot me a look full of warning and shook his head. “He’ll be here soon, Bella. I’ll take care of you until he comes.”

Shay turned to Dario, wrapping her arms around his waist before facing Russell once more. Tears filled her eyes, and began to spill down her cheeks. “I love him, Daddy. I’m waiting for him. He’s going to come for me.”

A forty-eight-year-old Russell probably did look a lot like his father had back when Bella had been Shay, a young girl sneaking out at night to meet a much older vampire lover.

She had loved Jean Marc. It was the foolish love of a fourteen-year-old girl for a man who would eventually kill her and toss her aside. The real tragedy wasn’t Russell, it was Shay who had paid dearly for a mistake so many teenage girls make.

The fire died and I saw Russell staring, not at the girl, but at the picture she’d drawn in the dust. A family of six, all holding hands. On the outskirts stood a teenager with braids, removed from the rest of her family. The crudely drawn girl had a pair of fangs.

“Shay, it’s me, Russell. I’ve grown up, but it’s me.”

She smiled, mouth full of sharp teeth, and pointed a foot at two identical little boys in her drawing. “Russy and Hector. Linc and Kendy. Mommy and Daddy.” She pointed to the girl outside the group and added sadly, “And Shay.”

She knew. Bella might not remember everything, might have a terribly reduced mental capacity, but she
knew
she was different from the human she’d been. And that difference made her no longer part of her family—a family she thought lived on without her.