As Twilight Falls

A short time later, Micah pulled up in front of a Baskin-Robbins where Shirley ordered a hot fudge sundae with extra whipped cream and extra fudge.

“It doesn’t bother you, watching me eat?” she asked when they were seated at one of the tables.

“A little. I haven’t been a vampire very long. I can still remember what food tasted like.”

“What do you miss the most?”

“Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” he said, grinning. “And beer.”

“Did you have a family, before?”

“Well, sure. Mom, dad, sisters, brothers.”

“Do they know what you are?”

“No. I haven’t seen them since I was turned. As far as they know, I’m working in Cody.”

How awful, she thought, to have been turned against your will. “Are you going to tell them?”

“I don’t know. Probably not. My dad’s not in the best of health. Something like this could kill him.”

“Did you have a sweetheart?”

“Several,” he admitted.

She wasn’t surprised. With his dimples, sexy smile, and beautiful dark brown eyes, he had probably charmed every girl he met.

“What about you?” he asked. “Were you married?”

“No.”

“Why didn’t you leave with the others?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I didn’t really have anything to go back to.” She took several bites of ice cream. “Have you . . . Never mind.”

“You can ask me anything,” Micah said.

“No, it was nothing.”

“You wanted to know if I’ve killed anyone,” he said quietly.

“It’s none of my business.”

“I have,” he said, not meeting her eyes. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t want to, but . . .” He shook his head. “I couldn’t stop.” He’d never forget how it had felt, draining the life out of that old derelict. He’d probably saved the man from a slow, lingering death on the streets, but that didn’t ease his guilt.

“I don’t know a lot about vampires,” Shirley said, “but I know it takes time to control the hunger.” She took a last bite of her sundae. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah.” He was subdued on the ride back to Morgan Creek.

Shirley found herself watching him surreptitiously as he drove, admiring his profile, the confident way he handled the Corvette.

She was sorry when he pulled up in front of her house thirty minutes later. She hadn’t expected him to walk her to her door. Or to take her in his arms on the porch.

Flustered, she murmured, “Thank you, Micah. It was fun.”

“Maybe we can do it again.”

“Maybe.”

She stared up at him. He was going to kiss her. The thought filled her with excitement and trepidation. It had been years since anyone kissed her.

He lowered his head toward hers, then paused. “You okay with this?”

Shirley nodded, unable to speak, as his arm slid around her waist. When his mouth covered hers, she felt like she was sixteen again.

Chapter 36

Opening all his preternatural senses, Saintcrow circled the hospital. Overlying all the other odors was the scent of blood, some from the living, some from the dead. The sharp stink of antiseptic and urine overshadowed the smell of death and fear. Kadie was not there, though he caught her father’s scent. Where was Kadie?

Dissolving into mist, he entered the hospital. The first hunter was in the lobby, hiding behind a newspaper. The second was near the elevators, ostensibly waiting for the next car.

Saintcrow drifted up to the third floor. A pair of hunters stood at the far end of the corridor, trying to look inconspicuous and failing miserably.

He paused at the entrance to Room 305. It was a private room. Through the open door, he saw Kadie’s father standing beside the bed. A short, rotund man in a white coat and black shoes stood on the other side, his head bent over a chart.

A girl lay on the bed covered by a thin blanket. Her face was pale, her cheeks gaunt. Her heartbeat was slow and uneven.

After moving into the room, Saintcrow willed the door closed, then assumed his own form. “What’s going on? Where’s Kadie?”

The hunter dressed like a doctor whirled around, one hand slipping into the pocket of his lab coat.

Ralph Andrews lifted his arm, the gun in his hand aimed at Saintcrow’s heart. “She’s not here.”

“I can see that. Where is she?”

“Safe from you.”

“So, this was all a ruse to get me here?”

“No. My daughter is dying,” Andrews said. “I may lose her, but I won’t lose Kadie to a monster.”

Saintcrow shook his head. “Andrews, you’re a damn fool. Put that gun away. I can break both your necks before you can pull the trigger.”

Scowling, Andrews shoved the pistol into the waistband of his trousers.

Saintcrow was about to turn away when he felt a sharp stabbing pain in the middle of his back. He started to turn, only to collapse as the world went black.

He woke slowly, his senses sluggish. Where the hell was he? Unable to move, he glanced from left to right. He was in a dark room, lying on a gurney, his arms and legs strapped down. A heaviness unlike anything he had ever experienced burned inside of him, searing his veins. Fire itself had not caused him such agony.

What the hell had happened?

A door opened somewhere behind him. The sound of footsteps, and Ralph Andrews appeared beside him, a needle in one hand, a tray in the other. Removing several vials from the tray, he placed them on the end of the gurney.

Andrews jabbed the needle into Saintcrow’s arm, filling one container and then another with blood so dark it was almost black.

“Is that for your daughter?”

Andrews nodded. “It occurred to me that the reason the effects from the blood of the other vampires lasted such a short time was because they were all relatively young. I decided I needed someone far older. Someone like you. Blood as old as yours should heal Kathy completely.”

“What the hell did you use to knock me out?”

Andrews shrugged. “I’m not sure. I told a Nobel prize—winning research scientist everything I know about vampires and asked if it was possible to find something to render them powerless. I wasn’t even sure it would bring you down, but Kathy’s time is running out, and it was a risk I was willing to take.”

Andrews drew a deep breath, let it out in a long slow sigh. “If it works, I’ll drain the rest of your blood. I have several young patients at death’s door. I’ll need to do it quickly. Although vampire blood heals remarkably well, it’s viable outside the body for only a day or two.”