Kismet Knight, Vampire Psychologist 3 - Dark Harvest (25 page)

“All right. I’m ready. You can continue now.”

Something was wrong. He was even more pleased with himself than usual. I studied his face, trying to figure out what kind of trap he intended to spring, but his wide smile told me nothing. I turned my gaze back to Maxie, who stood silent, empty.

Had he already drained her and somehow animated her corpse to fool me into thinking she was still alive?

I reached out and touched her arm. Immediately, her face blurred. As I watched, her features shifted, melting like wax. The pale skin, dead eyes, and dark circles morphed into her usual flawless skin, bright blue gaze, and silly grin.

She laughed. “Good ta see ya, Doc.”

Without thinking, I jerked back.

What the hell just happened to her face?

“Maxie? Are you okay?”

Am I hallucinating?

She slid her gaze to Hallow.

He strolled over and threw his arm around my shoulders. “I don’t believe you’ve been properly introduced to my current
lýtle.”

My brain spun, my mouth went dry, and I stopped breathing. His words struck me like a verbal punch to the gut. All I could do was stare at the smiling woman in front of me. It seemed to take forever before I could speak, but it was probably only seconds.

“Your
lýtle?
Maxie?”

Hallow cocked his head and made a
tsk
noise, faking sympathy. He patted my shoulder. “Oh, dear. I can’t even begin to imagine how betrayed and disappointed you must feel. Allowing yourself to make a new friend, only to discover she’s been spying on you all along—using you, taking advantage of your good nature. What an evil creature she must be.”

A tear rolled down my cheek before I even realized I was crying, but once the weeping began, I was overcome. Sobbing, I didn’t even try to hold back—to pretend to have a professional image to worry about or anyone to impress. What was the point? I wiped my nose on the sleeve of my sweater.

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It was clear that from the moment Hallow had entered my life, he’d been in control. Nothing Devereux or anyone else did—especially me—had any effect on the lunatic’s sick agenda. I would’ve laughed at my own stupidity if his machinations weren’t so horrifying.

Being set up and sucked dry by an insane vampire wasn’t where I expected to be at this point in my life.

My heart ached as I thought about Victoria and Tom and what the fiend would probably do to them.

Hopeless, I cried for Devereux’s good intentions and the pain he would experience after I was gone. For all the possibilities that would die along with us. And for Maxie’s deception. Even though I’d only known her a short time, I’d allowed myself to trust. Some judge of character I was.

My knees gave out and I sank to the filthy ground.

My mind refused to accept this huge, ugly truth. Even now, with the proof grinning down at me, I still couldn’t make myself believe she’d meant to hurt me. That our connection had been a complete lie. How could I have been so taken in? Had I been under Hallow’s control longer than I knew?

Were there signs I’d missed? Inconsistencies I refused to acknowledge?

Of course there were. And as I figured them out, they’d haunt me for as long as I remained able to have independent thought.

“Hey, Doc. You’re doing that weird staring thing again.”

I gazed up at her through my tears, unable to speak. Did she think I’d respond to her familiar statement?

That I’d play this hideous game with her?

Suddenly there was a loud, building-rattling crash. It was so extreme, it even startled Hallow. Were we having an earthquake in addition to everything else?

Several more explosions thundered around us in all directions.

Hallow laughed. “I take it, your hero and his vampire cavalry have arrived.” He danced around the candle holders, clapping his hands after every new assault. A demented child. “It will be entertaining listening to them take the building apart, only to discover they’ll be stopped in their tracks when they hit the impenetrable layer created by Devereux’s very own sorceress!” He turned to Maxie, a malevolent grin on his face. “I simply must go and watch. Witnessing their frustration is just too big a temptation to pass up. You stay here and guard your replacement.”

“Master!” Maxie groaned and threw her arms around his neck. “Don’t say things like that. You’d never replace me. You love me. You promised I’d be with you forever.”

Hallow shoved her away so violently she fell, her head hitting the hard ground with a sharp crack. She landed next to me and he leaned over both of us, snarling, his long fangs glistening in the candlelight. His silver eyes narrowed. “You
will
be with me forever.” The sound of his laughter resonated after his body disappeared.

Maxie was as addicted as Luna. I didn’t know whether to feel disgusted, sad, or one of the myriad of other emotions wrestling in my brain. I chose horrified. Was I getting a glimpse of my own future?

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But why was I less willing to be compassionate about Maxie’s addiction than Luna’s? Maybe it was because I’d let my defenses down with the alleged reporter, where I hadn’t with Devereux’s bristling assistant.

Maxie sat up, rubbing her head, yelling to be heard over the demolition sounds. “I’ll be glad when all my humanity is gone. It’s irritating to still be so breakable.” She scooted close and stared at me. “It wasn’t personal, you know. I really did like you.”

I sniffled a couple of times to clear my clogged nose. “With friends like you, I apparently didn’t need any enemies.”

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “I can’t blame you for being pissed off. But here’s your chance to ask all your questions. Once Hallow returns, there won’t be a lot of time to talk.”

She said the last in such an ominous tone, my stomach clenched. “What do you mean? What’s going to happen?”

She leaned back on her elbows. “He’ll take some of your blood, give you some more of his, and begin the process of making you one of us.”

“Wait. Some more of his blood? What are you talking about? I never drank any of that psychopath’s blood.”

“I’m not surprised you don’t remember.” She shrugged again. “He didn’t give me any details. But one time I know about for sure.” She raised her eyebrows, as if she were waiting for me to ask what she meant, so I did.

“Well?” I asked impatiently. “Are you going to tell me?”

“I just wanted to see if there were any traces left of the feisty doc I know and love.”

I frowned and pressed my lips together. She was making it easy for me to hate her.

“Okay, okay. I guess I am being an asshole. It’s hard for me, too, ya know. I didn’t expect to like hanging out with you. No matter what you think, I’m not totally heartless. Anyway, do you remember when I gave you some brandy at the amusement park?”

“Brandy?” Our trip to the deserted fun house seemed so long ago, I had to mentally re-create the evening step by step, starting with crawling under the fence. It only took me a few seconds to remember Maxie’s insistence that I drink some brandy after my encounter with an invisible hand. And the strange aftertaste that made me assume it had been in her car for a long time.

“The light bulb over your head just lit up.” She smiled. “Yeah. There was a little of Hallow’s blood in the flask.”

The idea of my drinking Hallow’s blood was so disgusting, I couldn’t sit still. I scrambled to my feet, pacing back and forth.

Maxie rose from the floor behind me and I faced her.

“Why put blood in the brandy?” I inched backward. “Was it just another way to prove you were in
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control?”

“Well, yeah.” She shoved her hands into her jeans pockets. “There was that. But in order to save time during the big transformation ritual—and to keep you from overdosing and becoming worthless to him—you needed to acclimate by drinking small amounts of his blood. Putting it into terms you can relate to, Doc, you’re connected to him now at levels much deeper than body or mind. We’re in the realm of metaphysics or even quantum physics, here. He has begun the process of joining his aura with yours.

Soon, you’ll be an extension of him.” A huge smile curved her lips. “Like me.”

Another crash sounded overhead. My solar plexus tightened and my breath caught. The notion that I already had some part of Hallow inside me was frightening. Even if Devereux did somehow manage to break through the magic and free us from Hallow, I’d still be under the lunatic’s control. All I could hope was that Devereux got to Victoria and Tom before they were killed.

Knowing that Devereux was near should have been reassuring, but since nothing about Hallow had proved to be rational, I was afraid to hope there might be a way out of this nightmare. Talking to Maxie was probably another dead end, but she had more information than I did. I was willing to repress my true feelings and appear interested in case she said anything I could use to help my friends.

I pointed at her head. “So, Hallow’s the reason your hair is white? He’s the thing that happened to transform you?”

“Yeah.” She gathered the avalanche of white into a tail. “The hair is a side effect of becoming Hallow’s
lýtle.
The progression is different for every woman. You probably figured out that his twin over there”—she pointed at Luna—“only resembles him because they didn’t get very far along in the transformation process. Devereux interfered. If they’d continued, her hair probably would’ve gone white, too.”

“What about your face changing?”

She laughed. “I wondered if you were going to mention that. The transformation gives each of us special abilities. I can alter the appearance of my face and body. Every person who looks at me sees what he or she wants to see. It’s great for going undercover to get a story.”

Did she expect me to believe she really worked for that tabloid? She answered before I could ask the question.

“Yeah, I really do work there. Although, I’ve only been in the Denver office for a few months. Being Hallow’s slave isn’t a 24-7 kind of gig. A girl needs other interests. And, just in case you’re remembering what I told you about visiting the amusement park when I was a kid, I actually did live in Denver earlier. I wasn’t lying about that. At least not totally.”

I’m so relieved she didn’t totally lie. Yeah, right.

“So, who was it Hallow came to
harvest
if it wasn’t Luna?”

She appeared confused for a couple of seconds before bursting into laughter. “Oh, yeah. The
harvest
thing. Well turns out Hallow’s a pretty creative liar. Much better than me. It was you he came for all along.” She nodded in appreciation. “He really got into the game, here. He littered the ground with bloodless bodies, just to tantalize the vampire community and to keep them out of his way. Brilliant, actually.”

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Well, that explains Mr. Roth’s dead vampires.

Hallow’s statement about me being Maxie’s replacement came to mind. Her reaction made it pretty clear she either didn’t believe him or was in denial. Devereux said the monster had a harem of women. I hadn’t seen evidence of that. Maybe I’d regret raising the issue, but I wanted to know.

“I thought Hallow had a lot of female slaves. Where are all the rest?”

Her good humor vanished. “I don’t know about how it used to be.” She raised her chin in the air. “Since he’s had me, he hasn’t needed anyone else.”

“Until now?” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“I’m not sure why he wants you.” She frowned. “I tried to convince him that three’s a crowd.”

Ah, the seeds of discontent.

“But it wouldn’t be three. He said I’m your replacement.”

Her eyes narrowed and her hands fisted at her sides. She stood rigid. “Shut up! You don’t know anything. He won’t replace me. You couldn’t possibly be enough for him. He’s just fucking with my head.”

She didn’t appear to believe what she said any more than I did, but addicts could be masterful at self-delusion.

How far can I push her?

“Maybe he’s tired of you. Or maybe he’s just a lying bastard who manipulated you the same way he did me. You probably don’t mean any more to him than his other women.” I laughed. “I’ll bet you thought you were special.”

I must be suicidal.

Her lips curled into a malevolent smile and she took a step toward me. I only had a few seconds to cringe away from the anger radiating off of her when an entire portion of the wall collapsed behind us.

Bricks and cement tumbled into the room like a chunky mudslide.

My gaze shot to the huge hole. A sea of pale faces appeared inside. Devereux had brought reinforcements, and they were all trapped behind the unseen magical boundary.

“Kismet!” Devereux roared. He threw himself against the invisible force field, repeating words in the strange language he often used. After a few seconds, he slammed his fist against the barrier in obvious frustration and shouted, “I must know which spell Victoria cast so I can dismantle it. Revive her!”

I took a step toward Devereux, wanting to ask him
how
to revive Victoria, since Hallow had knocked her out with his vampiric gaze. Maxie grabbed my arm, holding me in place with unexpected strength.

“Nope. Sorry, Doc. No conjugal visits today.”

“That’s right,” a low voice rumbled directly behind me.

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Maxie and I turned toward Hallow.

“At least not with your knight in shining armor.” He swept Maxie’s hand away from my arm and spoke to her in a brusque tone. “Sit with the witch. Be prepared to do whatever I ask.”

She sank to the ground.

He lifted me into his arms and smiled. “Now that the audience is in place, let the show begin!”

Devereux raged on the other side of the barrier. “You will pay for this, demon!”

Hallow threw back his head and laughed before turning toward Devereux. “I almost wish I had time to finish you off before I claim my prize. Killing one such as you would bring me great pleasure. But, if I have learned anything after all these millennia, it’s that a juicy human in hand is worth two—or multitudes of—vampires in the wall.”

His body shook with mirth.

I struggled to free myself from the steel bands his arms had become, but my efforts only made him press me closer. “Hallow! Why are you doing this? You already have Maxie. You don’t need me. What’s the point of this?”

He stared at me. “You honestly don’t know, do you?”

What the hell was he talking about? “Know what?”

He licked his lips, exposing the tips of his descended fangs. “You have strong abilities. I’ll be gorging myself at the smorgasbord of your talents for, well, for as long as you last.”