Rachel Caine & Kristin Cast & Claudia Gray & Nancy Holder & Tanith Lee & Richelle Mead & Cynthia Leitich Smith & P. C. Cast (16 page)

“You are. Lakemont.”

“No way. I can't be gone for four hours. I'll lose my job.”

“Get another one.”

He scoffed. “Oh, great. That's so typical of you vamps. ‘Get another one.' Like it's that easy.”

“That money I gave you is more than you make in a week,” I snapped. “Probably even a month.”

“Yeah, but what about after that?”

“Look,” I said. “You don't have a choice here. Either take me to Lakemont, or go ahead and
try
to drop me off somewhere. As soon as you stop the car, I'm going to rip your throat out.”

It was an empty threat. I didn't need to feed, nor did I have any intention to when there were so many other things to worry about right now. Still, I hoped I sounded scary and convincing.

Nathan didn't answer. He also didn't stop the car. After several minutes of quiet driving, he said, “We'll never get through the checkpoints.”

“You have a purple badge.” It was the reason I'd forced him to help me, after all. “You must commute in and out of the city.”

“I do.
I
can get through. You could too—technically. But something tells me you don't actually want the patrols to see you.”

My stomach sank. I hadn't thought of that. “Maybe I can hide in the trunk.”

He laughed, though there was a hint of bitterness in it. Weirdly, something about the sound of his laughter still sent a pleasant tingle down my spine. Too bad I was the one he was laughing at. “You've never had to be stopped and searched at the checkpoints, have you?”

“They'll search the trunk?”

“Sometimes. They do random checks a lot. And if they think there's something suspicious going on, then they'll definitely check.”

I turned away and leaned my cheek against the window. The glass was cool against my skin. Hot tears welled up in my eyes, and I blinked rapidly to send them away. No way was I going to cry in front of him.

“Why are you running away?”

“It doesn't matter,” I said. Bad enough vampires knew. I couldn't risk letting a human find out.

“Okay, whatever.”

“You don't even care. You're just doing this for the money anyway.”

“I'm doing it because you threatened to rip my throat out.”

“
And
for the money.”

He gave a half-shrug, his eyes fixed on the road ahead. “If you're in big enough trouble, maybe I'd get more for turning you in.”

I actually had a feeling he would, so I again tried my best to sound fierce. I'd never actually had to force humans to do things for me before. They'd always just kind of . . . done
them. “These people after me are vampires. Not humans. If you think I'm dangerous, wait'll you see them. And if they think you helped me escape—and they will—getting paid is going to be the last thing on your mind.”

More silence fell between us, and I realized we were already on the freeway. Maybe I was better at this than I thought.

“You got more money?” he asked.

“Why? Are you raising your rates?”

“Answer the question if you actually want to leave the city.”

“Yeah. I have more.”

“A lot more?”

“Yes. A lot more. How much do you need?”

His answer was to get off at the next exit and start heading back in the direction we'd come from.

“What are you doing?” I exclaimed.

“Getting you out of the city.”

He took us to a part of town I'd rarely been in. Mostly humans lived there, but naturally, vampires ran it. It was dirty and rundown and not a place I'd feel safe walking around if I were a human.

Nathan pulled the car up in front of a shop with a window that said TATTOOS in neon letters.

“Okay. Let's see the rest of your money.”

I dug into my purse and handed over my cash. He raised an eyebrow.

“Wow. You weren't kidding.” He counted out half of it and then, to my surprise, gave me back the rest. “Hang on to this.”

Puzzled but intrigued, I followed him into the tattoo parlor. Loud rock music blared at us. Through an open doorway, I caught a glimpse of a bald man wielding what I assumed were tattooist's needles in a backroom. At the counter, a man with a Mohawk laughed with a heavily pierced girl over some joke. They glanced up at us.

“Nate, you bastard,” said the man, still laughing. “Long time no—” His smile faded as he took a good look at me and saw my eyes. The girl visibly paled. Both of them straightened up. The man grabbed a remote control and hastily shut off the loud music, so that the only sound came from a small TV sitting behind them. “Hello, miss. Is there something we can help you with?”

Nathan laughed and—to my complete and utter surprise—threw an arm around me. The smell of his skin and sweat washed over me—and it was delicious. “Relax with the yes-sir-no-sir stuff, Pete. She's with me—doing a little human slumming this weekend.”

Some of the tension went out of them, but they were still eyeing me nervously. “Well, good for you, Nate,” said Pete, not entirely sounding like he meant it.

“Think you can make her human?” Nathan asked.

Pete smiled and nudged the girl. “Oh, into that, huh? Sure, Donna can do that. Contacts and everything?”

“The works.” Nathan's entire posture was relaxed, his smile easy and natural. He was a completely different person than the one who'd been in the car. Of course, I'd threatened to rip his throat out in the car, so the difference was understandable. Meanwhile, I was trying not to think about
how good he smelled. “Something else. . . .” Nathan touched the badge on his belt. “I don't suppose you could make a purple?”

Pete's tension returned. “Whoa, that's a bit out of the norm.”

“We can pay.”

Pete glanced between the two of us. “It's for
her
? Why does she need it? How far are you taking the role-playing?”

“Nothing like that. I just want to take her home with me—but we can't let anyone know. She's got a jealous boyfriend.”

“Sounds like a lot of trouble and money. Easier to just stay in the city.”

“Can you do it or not?”

“Yeah . . . take me about an hour or so, and you know it's never as exact as the real thing. You get caught—”

“—and I won't say where I got it,” finished Nathan. “I know the drill.”

Pete went to the backroom to make our counterfeit badge and told Donna to give me the works. She beckoned me over but I turned back toward Nathan and gripped his shirt, pulling him slightly toward me.

“What's going on?” I hissed. “You guys make it sound like a common thing, vampires dressing up like humans.”

“Wow, you really are an innocent, aren't you?” He seemed genuinely amused. “Don't you know any vamps who do it?”

I frowned. “No. Why would they? Like . . . for costume parties?”

“No. Because it's a turn-on for them.”

“Ew.”

“People are into weird things.” He pointed toward Donna. “Go.”

Donna was a little older than me—maybe in her twenties—and had obviously bleached-blond hair and too much eye shadow. As she worked, it was clear she was afraid of me. Conversation eventually dropped, except for when Nathan made the occasional remark on our progress.

“What color do you want?” she asked at one point.

“Color what?”

“Contacts. Your eyes.”

I didn't know what to say. It was something I'd never even thought about, changing my eye color. My eyes were silver, just like every other vampire's. For a moment, I considered Nathan's beautiful green, but that didn't seem right. Those were
his
eyes.

“How about blue?” said Donna impatiently. “You seem like you could do blue.”

“Blue,” I repeated weakly.

She retrieved a pack of contacts and spent the next half-hour trying to help me get them into my eyes. I couldn't use a mirror, and I liked neither my own fingers nor hers poking me. Once the contacts were in, she applied a bit more makeup and finished just as Pete returned. He took my picture with a digital camera and then disappeared with Donna into the back to finish the badge.

Nathan walked over and checked me out. “Not bad. You make a cute human. Just don't smile and show your fangs.”

“I don't look like Donna, do I? Her makeup's horrible.” I realized how that sounded. “Oh, sorry. She's not a friend of yours, is she?”

“Your makeup's fine. And no, I've never met her. Pete's always got a different girlfriend.”

“Is he your friend?”

“Kind of. We used to work together at a restaurant when I was in high school. Then he got some money and opened up this place.”

“Are you in college now?”

“I should be.” I immediately regretted asking him because that easy humor he'd shown since we'd come in disappeared. Bitterness replaced it. “No money. Besides, I spent so much time working in high school that my grades sucked. I'm not good enough to get an academic scholarship and not connected enough to get a vamp endorsement.”

I was about to say that I could talk to my father, that he could probably get Nathan an endorsement. It was something vampires did if they wanted favored humans to be trained or educated for a certain position. These humans breezed through the college admissions process and had all their expenses paid for.

I swallowed off the comment, suddenly remembering everything that had happened. I could hardly talk to my father about that. In fact, it was unlikely I'd ever talk to him again. Instead, I told Nathan, “I'm sorry.”

“Unbelievable. I've never heard a vampire apologize in my life. And now I've heard you do it twice since we've been—”

The words dropped off as his eyes focused on something behind me. Confused, I turned around . . .

. . . and looked into my own face on the TV.

Seeing my image was always a little surreal. Since vampires cast no reflections, we'd had no way of seeing our own appearances for eons. With the advent of technology like video and photographs, we'd finally gotten a way to see what we looked like.

They'd picked a horrible photo of me. I had dark circles under my eyes that made my skin look whiter than usual. Even on film, the clear silvery-gray of my vampiric eyes showed through. My hair—plain, boring brown—looked like it hadn't been brushed that day. Where
had
they found that picture?

“Ugh,” I said. Underneath the image, a perky blond reporter delivered news of my disappearance.

“Today, authorities are looking for Lucy Wade, daughter of Chicago philanthropist and business owner Douglas Wade. Lucy disappeared earlier this evening after a fight with her parents. She is described as a troubled teen, one with a history of drug abuse and stints of running away.”

“What?” I exclaimed. “I've never touched drugs in my life!”

“She was last seen on St. Jane Avenue, entering Club Fathom. If anyone has information to offer about Ms. Wade, they should contact the police. Her family says they're anxious to get Lucy the help she needs and are offering a reward for any assistance.”

Nathan turned on me. “What the hell? You're Lucy
Wade
?” He spoke low enough so the others wouldn't hear, but the anger came through loud and clear.

There was no avoiding it. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

He threw up his hands and began pacing the room. “Oh my God. Oh my
God
. I helped hide Douglas Wade's fugitive daughter. Douglas Wade! He owns Fathom. He's like, my boss's boss's boss.”

“I know.”

“He owns this town!”

“I know!”

“You made it sound like you were some wronged victim, and really, your parents just want to put you back in rehab!”

“No,” I said. “That's not true. All of that stuff she just said is a lie.”

Nathan spun around, face still angry. “I knew I shouldn't have trusted a vamp. What are you, part of some conspiracy, and they're trying to keep you quiet?”

“You'd be surprised.”

“Tell me then.”

“I . . . can't. I can't tell anyone. I know something I'm not supposed to, and they want to kill me for it. They
will
kill me, Nathan. My own family.”

It was like I hadn't spoken. “Jesus Christ. I'm helping the junkie daughter of one of the most powerful vamps in town. I should just walk away now. If you do kill me, it's no worse than what they're going to do when they find me.”

I jumped off my chair and ran up to him. “No. Please. Don't. Look, you don't even have to take me to Lakemont. Just drop me off as soon as we cross the border.”

He looked down at me, his eyes like green flames. There was so much rage there, so much frustration. I had the uneasy feeling that when he looked at me, he was seeing years of vampire abuse. A lifetime's worth, really. My kind had come out of hiding and started their occupation of the human world before he was born. Before today, I'd never really thought what it must be like to live under another race's rule—a race that you had almost no hope of defeating. We were stronger, faster, and could only be killed by a stake through the heart—which humans could almost never get close enough for. I had no clue what Nathan had been through.

“Please,” I whispered. “You can have all the rest of the money.”

He stared at me for several more heavy moments, and as he did, something shifted in that angry expression. I couldn't explain it, but I suddenly knew he'd had that same weird feeling I'd had in the alley. Like there was a connection between us, some longtime familiarity. He sighed. Turning away, he flipped off the TV. “Last thing I need is for Pete to see that. Hopefully, I can get rid of you before anyone realizes I was anywhere near you. He should be just about done.”