Vampire - The Awakening Part 47

She marched over to him furiously.

"What the h.e.l.l were you doing?"

"Taking care of business," he snapped back at her.

"You stay clear of those two," she warned.

"You mind your own business, woman, and let me tend to mine," Fallon said.

"You steer clear of them!" Susanna persisted.

"I know what I'm about," he told her angrily, and turned on the hose. He didn't spray her, but made it darned obvious that he would, if she got in the way of his watering.

"I'm warning you!" she said, turning to walk away.

"Don't you warn me, woman," he said.

She swore at him then, but she was certain he didn't hear her. The old fool-always determined to have the last word.

The h.e.l.l with him.

She marched back into the house.

Fallon could dig his own grave, if he so chose.

It was a full house.

The dance floor was packed.

Every table in the place was taken.

Costumes had grown more bizarre. A giant spider with twinkling colored lights at the end of each foot roamed the room, every spider leg issuing from the shoulders of the man beneath batting everyone he walked by. Black cats abounded among the women, but then, the black costumes were mostly very good, and very s.e.xy.

There were witches galore. If Morwenna was out in the audience, she was surely about to have apoplexy by now. There were many stereotypical costumes, hag noses, broomsticks, tall pointed hats, striped hose beneath jagged hemmed skirts.

One woman had done an incredible job with face putty, creating huge warts and a nose that dipped to her chin.

There were also fairies, princesses, harem girls, and a number of women in far more beautiful costumes. Wings were plentiful that night, and, like the legs of the spiders, they brushed those in the crowd. A number of wings were bent already.

There were monks, lots of them. Grim reapers, and more-brown capes and cowls worn with masks were easy costumes, and they, too, littered the dance floor.

Theo Martin had kept his word as well. Finn didn't know if Sam Tartan had put some money into it or not, but there were a number of police officers, in uniform, just outside the doors, as well.

At their first break, Megan told him that she was going to take a look around and see if Morwenna and Joseph were there. He set about changing a guitar string, looking out at the crowd as he did so.

There was a grim reaper standing about fifty feet from the stage, talking with a Barbie doll. He didn't know the man, didn't think that he did, at least, and yet something about him was vaguely familiar. A sense of unease filled him, but then, he realized, that didn't mean a d.a.m.n thing because he was always uneasy these days.

Still, there was something. Maybe it was in the way he was standing. He took a longer look at the Barbie doll, but she appeared to be college age, and he was certain that he had never met her.

Tonight, he didn't see anyone he knew-or at least, anyone that he knew that he knew. In all the nights they had been working, he hadn't begun to see so many fantastic costumes.

He gave his attention back to the work at hand.

"Hey, how did it go at the bookshop?"

He looked up. He didn't recognize the girl in front of him. She was dressed as a witch, and she had gone all out. Wickedly pointed hat, green makeup. "Sara?" he said incredulously.

"Yeah. Well?"

He didn't answer. He still just stared at her. Then he asked, "Sara, isn't your costume against your beliefs?"

"I was feeling like a rebel," she said dryly. "Well?"

"It's all going really well, thanks," he told her.

She came closer to him. "Well, I'm glad to hear that, but you've really got to watch out."

"Why is that?"

"Your friends from New Orleans... they may not be your friends."

"Oh?"

"He was in the shop today. Look, Finn, I admit to being afraid of you, right? There's something really off with you. But I can tell you, too, that your friend Lucian... well, there's something really off with him." "And how do you know that? Did you read his palm or his cards?"

She shook her head, then lowered it. "I know because..."

"Yeah?"

She stared at him again. "When he looked at me, I would have gone anywhere with him."

"He's got a wife. He tried to seduce you?"

"No," she admitted. He thought that she was blushing, but it was hard to tell, since she was wearing green makeup. "But," she continued, "he could have made me say anything, do anything. I think he's dangerous, and... tomorrow is Halloween night. He's dangerous, and you're dangerous. I know that you're dangerous, Finn. I don't believe that you mean to be-you just are. You're the chosen, or something."

He watched her, remembering the great hostility he had felt toward her, and the almost ridiculous desire to seize her s.e.xually, a.s.sault her. Right now, she just seemed like an ordinary young woman dressed up for a Halloween party. But she also seemed sincere.

"You should lock yourself up somewhere," she told him.

"Thank you," he said gravely. "I'll give that my deep consideration."

"Finn, I'm serious. You see, I looked at Megan tonight while she was singing, and... she had an aura around her."

"An aura. What does that mean?"

"It means she's going to die," Sara said, and turned and walked away, back into the crowd.

He watched from the shadows.

And just before midnight, it happened.

The door to the ICU room opened and closed. The person in scrubs, cap, and mask entered slowly, bootie-covered feet moving silently across the room.

He waited.

The person moved to stand over the bed, looking down at Andy Markham. Seconds ticked by.

Then the person moved around to the plugs that connected to the monitors and oxygen system.

And bent down.

"No."

Lucian stepped from the shadows and said the single word. The person spun around.

To his amazement, he saw that it was Aunt Martha who had come to do old Andy Markham in.

Finn was watching for her anxiously when Megan returned to the stage."What's the matter?" she asked him.

"Nothing," he told her. "Nothing at all."

"You're lying."

He shook his head. "Are Morwenna and Joseph here?"

"If so, I haven't found them," Megan said. She was certain her cousin and Joseph would show up tonight. She watched Finn curiously, because he seemed to have gained a shade of pale. Still, she decided not to press the point. "It's getting late, but I'm sure Morwenna and Joseph will show up. Unless they're just too tired. Hey, I did see Theo Martin at the bar. He's not on duty tonight, but he told me he's keeping an eye on things anyway; people can get crazier and crazier the closer it comes to Halloween. Even just rowdy, you know? He was telling me that sometimes the local college boys like to pretend to be 'haunts' during some of the tours on these days, and that they can pretend some pretty silly things, that get people hurt-like trying to break into places, wearing sheets, and coming out on balconies. One kid dressed up like a ghost and fell out of a second floor window of one of the historic buildings last year. Luckily, he landed in some bushes and only broke his leg. But thankfully, Theo took our stalker in the parking lot last night very seriously, told Sam he had to hire a few guys and the cops would provide extra on their own. So, there are several extra guys here and around the parking lot tonight."

Finn nodded. "I've seen a few of the uniformed cops."

She smiled. "So why are you so white?"

"We need to get back in the sun for a while, that's why," he said lightly. He glanced at his watch. "Our time is up. Let's do our set."

Megan picked up her mike and looked out at the crowd as Finn announced their next number. There was a grim reaper standing very close to the stage. He had on a cowl that almost completely obscured his face, and still...

She could see his eyes.

She shivered.

It appeared that his eyes glimmered in the dark. Like those of a cat.

Or a wolf.

Martha stood still, staring at Lucian, but not seeming to see him. She wasn't even surprised that he was in the room, a stranger.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

She kept staring at him.

"Martha!" he said, and waved a hand in front of her. She didn't blink. He snapped his fingers, and at last, her lids rose and fell.

She took a look at him. Her eyes widened in sudden terror. She opened her mouth as if she would scream.

"No!" he said again, very softly.

The scream died on her lips, but her distress became very apparent. "Who are you? What am I doing in here? Oh, my G.o.d- Andy!"

"Sh. Andy is all right. The question is, what are you doing here?""I-I don't know!" she said with dismay.

In a few minutes, someone in the hospital would realize that there was a commotion going on in an intensive care room. "Let's get out of here, shall we?" Lucian said.

She stared at him, still trying to figure out who the h.e.l.l he was, but aware as well that she was dressed up and in scrubs and in a room where she shouldn't be, not at that time of night.

He opened the door quietly, ushering her out.

The night nurse, Janice Mayerling, was standing in the hall. Right in front of the room. She was staring into s.p.a.ce. She didn't see them, despite the fact that they walked right in front of her. Lucian motioned to Martha to move down the hall, toward the elevators. He tried the same routine, waving a hand in front of Janice's face, to no avail. He snapped his fingers directly in front of her eyes. She blinked, shaking her head, pretty face knit in a frown of bewilderment, quickly masked. She stared at Lucian. "Sir, who are you? What are you doing here? Visitors are not allowed to roam around in this wing."

"I'm not here," he said quietly. "Get in with your patient; stay with him."

He turned and walked down the hall to join Martha. Though still distressed, she seemed to have stiffened up with solemn Yankee resolve.

"Who are you?"

"Lucian DeVeau. I'm a friend of Finn's."

"Finn," she murmured. Her eyes widened again. "Megan... she's all right?"

"They're both fine at the moment. The question right now is you."

A deeper dismay and confusion filled her eyes. "I went to bed!" she exclaimed, lowering her voice as the elevator arrived and she looked in to make sure that it was empty. "I went to bed; I fell asleep. I woke up here. Oh, my G.o.d! I hope it isn't Alzheimer's!"

"I doubt it," Lucian said.

The elevator came to the ground. "I-I don't understand any of this at all," she said in deep frustration. "I don't remember... I don't remember getting out of bed, coming here... I don't even remember waking up. And I'm in... I'm in scrubs!"

"So that's it-you don't why you're here, you don't remember getting here, driving here, anything?"

She shook her head. "Why would I come here? I saw Andy this afternoon. Oh, this is so frightening. But... you! Why were you in there?" she asked, her confusion turning to suspicion and anger. "I don't know you-and I don't believe you know Andy. How did you get into that hospital room?"

"I don't matter in this," he a.s.sured her.