Texas Hold 'Em (10 page)

She clung tightly to me after we had stabilized. Her head was buried in my chest and she shook almost imperceptibly. Her cool embrace was strangely comforting, despite the pain its pressure caused to the wounds that littered my body.

“I’m with Bryan on this one, Chance. Do you know what it’s like to have to deal with a pissed off, scared, and slightly panicked vampire? I mean, they’re kind of emo and prone to melodrama during the best of times,” said Lacey.

My gaze found Lacey. She’d at least had the sense to dress in jeans and a t-shirt, with her long blonde hair back in a ponytail. Lacey’s casual style in no way detracted from her California beach-bunny good looks.

Leaning against an auditorium seat, she reached down to examine an old cast-off tub of popcorn for what I sincerely hoped was clues and not any sign of its original contents. With Lacey, you never knew—her slim figure hid a ravenous appetite that she happily quenched at every opportunity.

Without loosening her grip, Megan pulled her head away from my chest long enough to shoot Lacey a look. She had left a pinkish wet spot on my shirt. She had been crying. Apparently vampires didn’t generate enough water to spare for tears, and so cut it with blood.

“I am not emotional,” Megan said before letting out a long sniffle, then burying her head back in my chest.

“Right. Anyway, Chance, not cool taking off like that.” Lacey discarded the tub with a scowl.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have left without telling anyone. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to involve any of you in this. I’m sick of dragging y’all into my messes. I figured I could take care of it on my own.” I stopped, then for good measure added, “It’s not your fight.”

“Not my fight? Dude, she’s my mom, too. Don’t be a douche.” Bryan stood up and gave Sylvia’s corpse a nudge with his shoe.

Lacey chimed in, “Besides, since when have you let anything stop you from dragging other people into your fights? You do it, like, all the time. I thought it was your thing. Like stealing vehicles and losing phones. And, no offense, but you weren’t doing so hot handling this on your own.” Lacey nodded at the discarded chair to hammer home her point.

“Shit. No kidding. If your bro hadn’t shown up to save your ass, those vamps would have slammed you like a keg at a frat party,” Bryan added, despite the dubious contribution his help had been.

“I was doing fine, thank you very much. I had finally lulled them into a false sense of security, and was about to pounce when you all interrupted.”

“Pounce? With one leg? More like hobble. Or maybe fall violently in their general direction.” Lacey was examining another popcorn tub.

“So how did you find me?” I thought I had been good about not leaving a trail.

Lacey answered, “Same way that Powers guy tracked you back in California. I used a spell. Pretty damned good job I did too, despite
some
people complaining the whole time that it was taking too long. Especially considering I was working on no sleep, in a fleabag backwater hotel, and was forced to use a fern as the focus. Nothing says personal connection like a potted plant.”

I waited for Megan’s contribution to the verbal berating, but she kept her head in my chest and held me silently.

That is, until Lacey followed up her last statement with, “Holy crap, Chance—what happened to your leg?”

That was when the state of my health finally registered with Megan. Concern edged out the last remnants of anger when she looked at me, her eyes taking in all of my wounds. When her gaze dropped down to my leg, her gasp told me I hadn’t underestimated the damage. I had been hoping it was one of those “it looks and feels a lot worse than it actually is” cases.

Bryan even stopped badgering Sylvia’s remains to survey the damage. “Wow, someone went to town on your leg, bro. I mean, they
seriously
gnawed on your gam.”

“Gam? Really, Bryan?” asked Lacey.

At Bryan’s blank look, I explained, “That term was only used when referring to women’s legs. Like fifty years ago.” The stuff that came out of my brother’s mouth often amazed and repulsed me.

“Dude, you fight like one, so I figured, you know, if the shoe fits. Get it? Leg? Shoe? Shit, I crack myself up,” he said, as he slowly moved a finger toward the gaping hole in my calf.

“Might I point out that it was two women who just saved your brother?” asked Lacey. She bent down to get a closer look, batting Bryan’s finger out of the way before he could wave it around the empty spot where my muscle should have been. “He’s right, though, Chance. Your leg does look like a half-eaten drumstick.”

“Thanks, I hadn’t noticed,” I said.

“I never knew vampires ate people. I thought that was reserved for ghouls and zombies. Megan, you’ve been holding out on me,” said Lacey.

“I’m pretty sure she spat me out,” I said.

I gasped as Megan hugged me tighter. She was looking up at me again, a red tear running down her cheek over faded pink paths of others that had gone before it. Her icy blue eyes looked into mine and I resisted the inappropriate urge to kiss her.

“Which one did it?” asked Bryan.

“The schoolmarm did most of it.”

“Schoolmarm?” asked Megan, her brows knitting further together.

“Uh, Sylvia.” I pointed to the dead vamp Bryan had been checking out. She had already begun her rapid decomposition, and would be nothing more than flakes in fine clothing in another few minutes.

“Well, if you gotta go, might as well get eaten to death by a hot chick.” Bryan was nothing if not positive.

“So did any of them escape?” I asked, worried that reinforcements might arrive at any moment.

“Depends. How many were there?” asked Lacey.

I hesitated a second before answering, deciding at the last moment to omit the fact that I knew one of them. “Four that I saw, but two of them took off shortly before you guys came in.”

“Well, we got these two. I never saw any others. But I suspect there’s going to be a whole lot more if we hang around. It’s almost dawn and the rest of them might try to come back.”

“What about his leg?” asked Megan, in a tone suggesting Lacey should be doing something about it at that very moment.

“Let’s worry about getting out of here first. I’ll fix it later, when we get a room,” said Lacey.

“Hey, babe, I thought you said it was going to be just me and you getting a room,” said Bryan.

I interrupted before Lacey could reply with something unladylike. “I’ve got one. Place outside of town. We need to check for my mother first; she might be here somewhere.”

“Fix it now.” Megan told Lacey, her tone taking on an edge that I hadn’t often heard.

“Relax, he’ll be fine. You’re cranky because you haven’t eaten yet, and all that blood makes your boy toy smell like a five-course meal.”

“Oh, that’s comforting,” I said.

“Not to worry, I’m sure she’ll wait until after you pass out before she chows down. And with the amount of blood you’ve lost, that should be fairly soon. So let’s make sure your mom’s not here, and then we’ll get you someplace safe so I can save your sorry ass,” said Lacey.

“I can help look.” I knew it was a stupid thing to say even as I said it. Lacey didn’t even honor me with a reply. Instead, she shot Bryan a look. He took my arm.

“Here, bro, I got you. Let the ladies search for Mom while we cruise on out of here.” Megan reluctantly released me once she was sure my brother had a good grip.

With my brother’s support, we made it out a side exit and down an alley that let out onto a deserted street. It didn’t take more than a second to realize this was a questionable neighborhood. Storefronts were barred and tagged. About half of them were vacant. The theater was one of the old ones with a marquee that ran down the side of the building, and the box office in its own little room up front. It had been built almost a century ago, and only had one auditorium. The front was boarded up, and a crooked “for lease” sign hung at an angle from one of the plywood boards that covered the poster display windows.

We crossed the street to a burgundy minivan. I looked at Bryan, who read my mind and shrugged.

“It ain’t cool, but it’s better than the compact piece of crap they tried to foist on us. Megan had a word with the dude and they gave us a free upgrade. Besides, the rear seats fold all the way back. Kind of a bonus when you’re on a road trip with a couple of chicks, you know? And the stereo ain’t bad. We can crank up some tunes once we get you inside.”

“You guys
drove
all the way here?” I wondered how they’d managed the sunlight during a cross-country trip, figuring they had to stop during the day at hotels.

“Oh, hell, no. Megan was so pissed at you, there was no way driving would have been fast enough. We flew out last night, the first flight out after dark.” Bryan helped me into one of the rear captain’s chairs.

“Oh.”

“Flying sucks, dude. They don’t feed you, and the seats are hella small. The stewardesses weren’t even hot. What’s up with that? I was all looking forward to joining the mile-high club. Instead I was sandwiched between some big dude and this old lady that smelled funny.” I realized it had been my brother’s first experience with flying.

Bryan shut the door, then got into the front seat and talked at me from over his shoulder.

“Anyway, we got in late last night. Lacey did one of her magic tricks, but she couldn’t get a lock on you or whatever because you kept moving. I swear your old lady was ready to lose it. She’s got a temper, dude.”

“How the hell did you get the guns here?”

“Overnighted them to the hotel. Had to go buy ammo this morning.”

“And it worked?”

“They made it, so I guess it did. Though Megan was the one that talked with the FedEx dude, so who knows what she made him do.

“Anyway, bro, you finally stopped moving long enough for Lacey to track you down. Lucky for you Megan broke about every traffic law getting down here from Austin, ‘cause it looked like they were about to drain you dry.”

“Nah, I was fine. They said they wanted me alive for Christian.”

“If you say so, bro, but if you ask me, filling up that cup would have killed you. You sure you gonna be okay? Maybe we should get you to a hospital?” He sounded genuinely concerned, which meant I must have looked bad.

“I’ll be fine, Bryan; Lacey will take care of me. That girl can do some amazing stuff.” I thought about what she did to Sylvia.

“Man, I sure hope so! I’m looking forward to some of that.”

“That’s not what I meant, though with a body like that you can’t help but wonder.” Lacey was a looker.

“Don’t let your old lady hear you talk that way. I don’t mind it, ‘cause I know there’s no way she’d do anything with you when she could have me, but that Megan girl is kind of possessive. If she thought you were messing around on her, she might kill you and shit.”

I didn’t think she’d go that far, but my brother had a point. Megan and Toni were both a bit possessive—and, given their nature, lethal. It reminded me I had to deal with the whole situation sometime soon, before it got out of hand.

“Tell you what—I’ll watch what I say, and you can watch Lacey.”

“Watch? Damn, I plan on doing more than watch.”

“I’m sure your time’s coming.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that his needs were probably going to go unfulfilled. Painful reality didn’t have to get in the way of the heavenly fantasy.

“Right now I have to call Jacob and let him know what happened,” I said, fishing in my pockets for my phone.

“Who’s Jacob?” Bryan asked.

“One of Robert’s old buddies. …Shit,” I said, remembering the last time I had seen my phone.

Katy had been holding it in her hand and was threatening to call Toni.

The girls got in the van while I frantically searched the rest of my pockets on the off chance that my phone had miraculously been transported into one of them. It hadn’t.

“Move over.” Lacey poked Bryan in the arm.

“What, you don’t trust my driving?”

“No, and I can’t afford the insurance hit if you crash into anything.”

“Crash? Damn, woman, you should see me at Death Karts. I own.” Despite his claims of video game prowess, he scooted to the passenger seat.

“She wasn’t there?” I asked. It was a rhetorical question; had they found my mom, she would have been with them.

“Sorry, Chance. It wasn’t even a nest; they probably just grabbed the place for the night.” Megan sat in the captain’s chair next to me. She eyed me intently, but in the shadows of the interior I couldn’t tell if she was driven by concern or hunger.

“Where to?” Lacey pulled away before she got a response.

“I have to call Jacob. Can I borrow someone’s phone?”

“What happened to yours? Never mind. You lost it. What’s up with you and phones? You lose them almost more than you do cars.”

Crap. Jacob’s car. I got the feeling that he loved that thing. Suddenly, calling him immediately didn’t seem like such a high priority. Not only did I lose custody of his car, I left it at a crime scene with my prints all over it.

Then it hit me. I rechecked my pockets to be sure, but both sets of keys were gone. Mine and the Caddy’s.

“We have to go back—I think they might have taken Jacob’s car.” At least, I hoped they had. I didn’t want it sitting at Fred’s house when the firefighters and cops showed up.

“Ha! Seriously, Chance? You lost somebody’s car too? I assume you stole it first. Wait a second, what happened to
your
car?” Lacey adjusted the rearview mirror so she could stare at me.

Megan piped in before I could answer. “Forget about Chance’s propensity for losing things and worry about finding us a place to go. We have to get Chance looked at.”

And to get her a place to stay before she combusts, I thought.

“First, we need to grab some chow!” Lacey said. “Ever since your girlfriend figured out you ran away, we’ve been moving at a hundred miles per hour. No one’s had a chance to eat, including Megan, so I hope this room of yours is close and attached to a blood bank. Because it’s almost dawn and we need to get her fed before she goes all black widow on you back there.”