Vampire - Blood Red Part 26

It was a tease. A taunt. Stephan was sending a message loud and clear to tell Mark that he could get to anyone he wanted to.

And that, in the end, he would have Lauren.

Heidi jerked away from him. "Don't you touch me," she whispered to him. "Don't..." She stared at him, then bit her lip.

"It's not your fault," he said softly. "Give me your cell phone."

"It was just a dream!" she told him.

"No, it was real. Give me your cell phone, I have to call Lauren, and I don't have her cell number."

Heidi's eyes seemed to be glued to his. She fumbled in her purse for her phone, never looking away from him.

The waitress came with their hamburgers just as he found Lauren's number on Heidi's phone and called.

"That's not really rare enough," Heidi said, her attention finally drawn from him.

"They're just fine," Mark said firmly. "We'll take the check, too, please."

Lauren's phone rang and rang until her voicemail came on. She must have turned off her phone in the hospital, he thought.

"Forget dinner. We have to go," Mark said curtly.

"But-"

"Now!"

It was gone. The entire vision was gone in a split second, as if it had never been.

Lauren blinked, staring at the window. There was nothing there. Nothing at all.

Why the h.e.l.l hadn't she thought to draw the drapes the moment she had come in? Shadows could play tricks. She must have seen lights coming from somewhere, the shadow of a cloud across the moon. It could have been anything.

"Deanna," she said, looking back to her friend.

Deanna's eyes were closed. She was sleeping as if she had never awakened.

"Deanna?" Lauren repeated. She even shook her friend gently. But Deanna's eyes didn't open again.

"Hey, what's going on?"

Lauren swung around. Stacey Lacroix and Bobby Munro were there. Bobby was out of uniform, and Stacey was carrying a vase of flowers. She frowned as she stared at Lauren.

Lauren rose. "She was awake for a minute. She spoke."

They both stared at her, their eyes betraying the fact that they believed she had only thought Deanna had opened her eyes because she so badly wanted it to happen.

"Well, good, maybe that means she'll wake up again soon," Bobby said with forced cheer.

Stacey gave him a quick glance, then smiled at Lauren, too. Even standing still, she seemed like a whirlwind of energy and competence. "Where's Mark?" she asked.

"He took Heidi out for some dinner."

"Well, then, it's good that we stopped by," Bobby said.

"Yes." Where the h.e.l.l were you a few minutes ago?Lauren wondered. You could have told me if there were really eyes in the night, or if I'm creating horrors in my mind because there just aren't enough real ones out there.

"Too bad we weren't a little earlier. You could have gone too," Stacey told her. "But we're here now, and we've got some time.

If you want,. You can take a little walk down the hall, stretch, get yourself a soda or some coffee or something," she offered.

Lauren hesitated. She trusted these people. Sean Canady, a police lieutenant, had sent her to Montresse House. So if she couldn't trust Bobby Munro, another policeman, and Stacey Lacroix, the manager of Montresse House-a.s.sistant to a good vampire, she reminded herself dryly-who could she trust?

"You're sure you don't mind?" she asked. They were talking about a few minutes, she knew. Not the amount of time she intended to take.

But it seemed extraordinarily important that she find the fortune-teller. And she was only going to find her by night.

There are vampires out there, she reminded herself.

But she was aware. And armed. And she would be exceedingly careful.

"I really could use a walk, something to drink. In fact, I think I'll run down to the cafeteria and grab a snack, if that's all right," she said.

"Of course," Bobby told her, and smiled. He was thin but wiry, all muscle. He had a lopsided smile and seemed like a good guy, and just right for Stacey.

"You go right ahead," Stacey said. "Bobby and I know the officer on duty in the hall-he's a great guy. And we'd never leave your friend. You can trust us, you know."

I have to trust you, she thought.

"Thanks. I'll be back soon."

"Take your time," Bobby said. She nodded, offered him a weak smile, and tried not to go tearing out of the room.

Luckily, a taxi was available right outside the hospital, and Lauren immediately flagged him over.

The driver had a Southern accent and spoke English perfectly. He a.s.sured her that traffic was quiet, and he gave her a card so she could give him a ring if she needed a ride back later.

He made his way through the traffic easily enough and was able to let her off on Decatur Street, right at Jackson Square.

She walked around.

And around.

Back where they had originally met Susan the fortune-teller, Lauren saw that there was an empty table with tarot cards laid out.

No one was there.

There was no tent set up, either. Maybe Susan hadn't had a chance to replace her crystal ball.

A young artist was seated near the empty table, sketching idly. She had an easel displaying a number of very good caricatures, but when Lauren approached her, she saw that the woman was working on a realistic sketch of a man.

He was a man like any other, except that...he wasn't. He wore stylish jeans and a casual tailored shirt, but even in the sketch, his eyes were...strange, arresting.

And frightening.

She couldn't pinpoint it, but the impression was there. Even in a sketch.

"Excuse me," Lauren said to the artist, who jumped, gasping.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," Lauren said.

The girl flipped her sketchbook closed.

"You saw that man tonight?" Lauren asked.

The girl nodded. It seemed she was trying to collect herself. "Would you like a caricature? I'm really good. Just twenty dollars."

"I'm sorry, I don't have time, but..." Lauren dug in her purse for a twenty. Once she had been just like this girl, just trying to make enough to get through school. "Here.... When did you see that man?"

The girl looked confused. "I..." She laughed suddenly and admitted, "I don't know."

"Think. Please?"

The young woman tried, then shook her head. "I don't know. I honestly don't know."

"Has anything...strange happened here tonight?" Lauren asked.

The girl smiled with real amus.e.m.e.nt then. "Come on, this is New Orleans." "Please. I could really use some help," Lauren told her.

"I don't...I don't know. I've kind of been in a fog all night."

"What about the woman next to you?" Lauren asked.

The artist frowned. "What woman next to me?"

"Over there. That table. It belongs to a fortune-teller named Susan."

"Oh, of course,"

"Please, have you seen her? Do you know where she is?"

"I saw her go into the church earlier. But it's closed now, of course."

"Thank you."

Lauren walked quickly toward the church, which indeed looked closed. But at the entrance to the alley that ran beside the church, she saw a sign. She walked over to it, frowning, scanning the announcements.

Choir practice ! And it was going on right now.

She hurried to the front door. It was locked. She raced down the alley and found a side door, and managed to slip in. She wasn't sure where she was, but quickly wandering along the hall brought her to the side of the main altar. In a small chapel off to the far side, someone was indeed leading choir practice. The sound of the hymn they were singing was beautiful.

She looked toward the rear of the church, searching the pews.

And there was her fortune-teller, just sitting there, staring at the altar.

Lauren made her way down the aisle, then hurried in to take a seat beside Susan.

"What have you done to us?" she demanded in a heated whisper.

Susan turned to her. "This is a house of G.o.d. You will not bring venom in here."

"What have you done?" Lauren repeated.

"Me? You have brought danger and a curse on me, young woman. You shouldn't have come here. And you should have left when I told you to go."

Lauren inhaled, wondering just how absurd she was going to sound. "I know there are vampires here. But it isn't my fault. You knew it, and you didn't warn us."

"I told you to leave," Susan said softly. "But you and your friends refused to believe. You think you are safe in your ignorance, but I will suffer for your stubborness and arrogance. You bring danger to me just by being here."

"Susan, my friend is in a coma. But she came out of it for two minutes and mentioned you. What do you know? Why did she talk about you?"

Susan turned on her, her eyes narrowed. "Perhaps because she realized that you had all put me in danger. I am afraid to work. How will I live? I have become a target. Because of you."

"What are you talking about?"

Susan stared at her. Her face seemed impa.s.sive, but her voice was harsh. "Stephan. Stephan Delanskiy."

Lauren was so taken by surprise that she just stared.

Maybe this was all an elaborate ruse. Susan was in on it with Mark. And apparently the cops were in on it, too.

If she hadn't seen the wings in the sky, the shadows that took form and came after her, fangs bared...

Susan looked toward the altar again. "There will always be evil. There will always be those who combat it. There will always be those, like me, who see it, sense it, are touched by it...but do not have the power to best it." She stared at Lauren again, though she seemed to be talking to herself. "Evil has come before, and it will come again. Such is the way of the world." Her eyes cleared and met Lauren's. "But you have ruined me."

"You're the one who had the crystal ball!"

"And through it, he saw you."

"But he was here already," Lauren argued angrily, afraid.

"Yes. But now he will stay. Until he has you."