Crave

by Karen E. Taylor

  “Then Larry must be drugging these people. What sort of tolerance do you have for drugs?”

  “Drugs? About the same as alcohol, I think. I haven’t experimented that much with illegal drugs. Once, when I was attending night school at Berkeley I did drop some acid. It was a disappointment. I was hoping it would be an escape.”

  “And?”

  I shook my head and gave a half smile. “Nothing. It had no effect other than the amusement I got from watching the antics of the other people. Marijuana is the same.”

  “How about prescription drugs?”

  “What would I need prescription drugs for? I’m never sick.”

  “I would assume the same is true of over-the-counter items: aspirin, ibuprofen, cold medicines?”

  “I don’t need them so I’ve never taken them.”

  He leaned forward on the couch eagerly. “What’s it like?”

  “What’s what like?” His question confused me. “I told you I don’t take any of those, so I wouldn’t know.”

  “No, what’s it like to never be sick, to never have a headache, to never have a cold?”

  I thought for a second. “I can’t answer that one either, Sam. Because I don’t remember feeling any differently.”

  “But you must have been sick sometime before you became a vampire.”

  I laughed at his choice of words.

  “Was that funny?” He seemed offended.

  “No,” I lied and he raised an eyebrow. “Well, yes. It was the way you said ‘became a vampire.’ Like it was an occupational choice I’d made somewhere along the line or I woke up one day and said ‘I think I’d like to become a vampire now.’ ”

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “I know. Having a full stomach makes me giddy, I suppose. To answer your question, yes, I must have been sick before, but I don’t have memories of it. Other than my pregnancy. I do remember that.”

  “Pregnancy cannot really be considered a sickness.”

  I laughed again, this time harder. “Spoken like a true man.”

  He blushed and I reached across to where he sat and patted his hand gently. “I was only teasing you. And yes, you’re right about that one, too. But I remember that particular health occurrence very clearly. Is this leading somewhere?”

  “I’m only trying to get some sort of feel for a vampire’s makeup. If Larry is drugging his victims, it might help to determine what kind of drug he’s using. For no other reason than that there might be an antidote. If he can’t kill, he becomes less of a threat.”

  “That’s true, Sam. I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

  “What if we were to try a little experiment?”

  I looked at him and smiled. “Another experiment? I would have thought that you’d have had enough research tonight.”

  “Funny lady. But I’m serious. Not tonight, though, since I have to be at work soon. But during the day, maybe. I could block off the room we were in today, administer different drugs to you and we could monitor their effects.”

  “How long would this take? It sounds like a long-term deal to me. Remember, I have only nine days left. And there are others who have even less.”

  “I have a theory that would probably cut back on the time actually needed. Whatever Larry’s using, it would make sense that it’s a drug that he’s had firsthand experience with. I could get his records from his other institutional stays and see what he’d been prescribed over the years.”

  “Well, I don’t know. It seems like a long shot to me.”

  “Yeah, I agree, it is a long shot. But what have you got to lose?”

  I studied his face for a minute. “I lose nothing if we succeed. But if we fail, I’ll have spent the last nine days of my life in a futile endeavor.” I got up from the couch. “I’ll mention it to Mitch and the rest of the Cadre. If they decide it’s worth the risk, I’ll consider it.”

  “That’s all I can ask. Thank you.”

  “What do you get out of it, Sam?”

  “Me?” He got up from the couch and put his suit coat back on. “I get to experiment on a real live vampire. It’s the medical opportunity of my lifetime.”

  “But you won’t be able to publish the results.”

  “Knowledge for its own sake is still a valuable thing. Come on, lady,” he put his arm around my shoulder in a friendly gesture, “I’ll give you a ride home.”

  Mitch was waiting for me at the back door to the Imperial. Sam pulled over and got out. “Told you I’d have her back safe and sound. And right on time.”

  “Thanks, Sam,” Mitch called. I stepped out of the car and right into Mitch’s arms. He kissed me like I’d been away for years and I returned the kisses gladly. I had missed him, and hadn’t realized how much until I saw him again.

  He held me out at arm’s length and looked down at me. “You look great. Less frazzled than when you left and definitely better rested. So what happened? Sam told me on the phone that he thought he’d found out something that might help us. Something about how you were tuned in to Jean when she died?”

  “Give me a minute to catch my breath, love. Oh, God, how I missed you.”

  He laughed down at me. “I missed you, too. But I didn’t worry about you; somehow I knew you were okay.” He kissed the tip of my nose and hugged me to him again. “But what on earth do you have in your pocket?”

  “Oh, I almost forgot.” I reached in and pulled out the mini tape recorder. “Sam recorded what I saw this morning. It’s a very convincing session.”

  He took it from me and smiled. “Wonderful. I’m sure it will come in handy. Thanks.” He kissed me one more time, then put an arm around my waist and we went inside.

  When we got back to our room I noticed several things missing. I looked at Mitch. “Where are the flowers? And the coffins? I was just getting used to those.”

  “I had the coffins put into storage. Quite honestly every time I looked at them I got the shakes. This has been a bad enough nightmare without having to look at a constant reminder of impending mortality every day and night.”

  “Yes, that’s how I felt, too. Thank you. But what about the flowers?”

  “I had them moved into the council room. Some of the leaders didn’t believe my story of how a rose would disappear with each death. They’re each going to take turns sitting with them, ‘just to see what happens.’ ” He barked out a laugh. “Damn bloody fools, they’ll sit around debating what to do until they’re all just heaps of ashes. And it would serve them right.”

  “I take it you’ve been having a difficult time convincing them of the dangers.”

  “Difficult doesn’t even come close to describing it, Deirdre. But I want you to tell me everything that happened while you were gone. And what has Sam discovered?”

  I stretched out on top of the bed. “Why don’t we start at the most important thing first? Larry has discovered some sort of drug that can paralyze a vampire.”

  “A drug? But how is that possible? I thought we were immune to the effects of drugs and alcohol.”

  “Apparently so did everyone else, except for Larry. Sam thinks, or hopes, that he is using a drug that he’d once been prescribed during one of his many institutional stays. Something that he might have had already and discovered its effect on himself by accident.”

  Mitch thought for a minute. “That makes a lot of sense, but how will Sam know what drug it is? I’ve seen Martin’s record, he’s been in and out of those places since his middle-teens. The list of drugs he’s taken over the years has got to be fairly impressive. How does he plan on narrowing it down?”

  I sat up and scrunched back into the headboard, bending my knees and hugging them to my chest. “He hopes to experiment on a willing guinea pig.”

  “No,” Mitch said emphatically. “I won’t allow him to experiment on you.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Excuse me? You won’t allow it? I see that being appointed the leader of the Cadre, even temporarily, has gone to your head
. I will most certainly consider your opinion in this, but in the end the final decision will be mine. I trust Sam not to hurt me.”

  He had the good sense to hang his head just a bit. “I didn’t mean to come across so authoritative, Deirdre. But the thought of you putting yourself into danger for this organization really bothers me. These are the same people who would have willingly locked you away . . .”

  “Yes, Mitch, we’ve been through all of that over and over again. And I have to admit that I feel the same way at times. My fondest dream right now is to get this all taken care of and move far beyond the reach of the Cadre forever.”

  He chuckled a bit and walked over to sit next to me. “I like that dream.”

  “I thought you might. But we can’t do that now; like it or not we have made a commitment here. And I intend to stand behind my promises, whether or not those who extracted those promises are worthy. Sam said something today that really hit home.” I tried to paraphrase his many questions into one. “He wondered why, with all of our eternal life and our powers, we don’t try to make a bigger impact for good on the world around us.”

  “To be honest, Deirdre, I have wondered the same thing.”

  I gave him a rueful smile. “I would have expected no less from you, my love. You are still very new at this.”

  He shot me an angry look. “Now that’s hardly fair . . .”

  “I don’t mean that to sound patronizing, Mitch,” I interrupted. “With only a little more than two months under your belt, you have made great strides. You are an excellent example of what can be done.” I reached over and squeezed his arm. “Especially when you start with prime material. But your thinking is closer to Sam’s at this point than mine is. His question took me completely by surprise. And made me take a hard look at my priorities.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with your priorities.”

  “Yes, there is. I’ve been fending for myself for so long that I sometimes forget that the world out there is not just for my taking. I can’t make a difference to the problems of disease and war and famine. But I can make sure that I live up to my promises.” I made a face at him. “You can probably wave the flag now, if you want. That was an incredibly maudlin speech.”

  “Not maudlin at all, Deirdre. It’s just unlike you to take the big view. Not that I didn’t think you cared about those things, but that you had distanced yourself from them.”

  “Distanced is a good word. We are a very insular breed, so totally convinced of our superiority. I suspect that we need to have a Larry Martin come along every so often and shake us up. Living forever can make us entirely too complacent.”

  “And danger can make us reckless. Do you really intend to have Sam run his little experiments on you? What if something goes wrong?”

  “If something goes wrong, then I die. I don’t want to die, Mitch, and I don’t intend to die. But if it happens at this point, no one can say that it wasn’t long overdue.” I leaned my head up against his arm. “I don’t mean that to sound cruel, Mitch, I don’t want to leave you. I love you. But you must see that, if I don’t take this chance, it’s possible Larry Martin will find a way to kill all of us. And I would be just as dead either way.”

  Chapter 25

  Mitch looked at me, his eyes glowing with passion and pride. “You’re right, Deirdre. I’m sorry that I was being so obstinate with you. If you feel this is something you have to do, then do it. I’ll support you one hundred percent of the way.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I’m probably just jealous anyway. You seem to have accomplished more in your time away than I have. All I’ve managed to do is make a large number of the house leaders angry and upset. And believe me, you don’t want to make these people angry.” He ran his hand over his face. “I haven’t shaved since you left, haven’t showered either. These people can run you into the ground with their pettiness and their disputes.”

  I took a long look at him. Despite his complaints, he was smiling and seemed relaxed and fit. “And you’re loving every minute of it all.”

  “No, I’m not.” His voice held a touch of laughter.

  “Tell the truth, Mitch. You’ve been having a good time.”

  “Well, at least I feel like I’m accomplishing something more than balancing the bar tab every night. I got them to agree to post a guard at all the possible entrances to this place. I got them to agree that they would not go out except in pairs. And I got them to accept this as a sort of martial law period.” He laughed out loud this time. “Now that was an accomplishment.”

  “Martial law? What exactly does that mean?”

  “Basically, that anyone who steps out of line has to deal with me. No questions, no complaints. My decision is law. That’s probably why I came down on you so hard about this experiment thing.”

  “It’s perfectly all right, Mitch, I understand. I didn’t really mean that remark about how being leader has gone to your head. You’re not like that. I don’t think you ever will be.”

  He kissed me and jumped up from the bed. “And now for the surprise.” He started to remove his clothing, a self-satisfied smile on his face. “In the midst of everything else, I learned one other thing. I guess I should say that I’m ashamed to admit that this is what I’m most proud of. But,” and he stepped out of his pants and his briefs, “that would be a lie.”

  I started to laugh. “You learned to take your clothes off? I could have taught you that. So who’s your teacher?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He gave me a mock glare and I laughed again. He looked so wonderfully ridiculous, standing there, stark naked, his hands on his hips that I couldn’t help myself. I laughed until tears started to stream down my face.

  “Shut up, woman,” he was trying hard to control his own laughter. “This is no time for levity. Now watch.”

  He closed his eyes for a minute to concentrate. When he opened them again, they were unfocused, staring off into the distance, as if he were seeing into another world. Then I saw the outlines of his body blur, change and I realized he was in another world. He moaned and fell to the floor on his hands and knees. A shiver began to run up his back, his skin texture changed and silver, wiry hair began to cover him, starting from the middle of his back and spreading all directions. He lifted his head and gave a wordless cry that turned into a howl as his face changed shape, and animal features quickly superimposed themselves over his familiar ones. He shuddered once and howled again and the transformation was complete.

  What had once been Mitch was now a very large, very frightening silver-coated timber wolf. I shrank back just a little on the bed and he turned his head to stare at me, a wild and feral look in his eyes.

  “Mitch?” I saw recognition begin to grow in his eyes. He padded over to me and sniffed at my outspread hand. Then he jumped up onto the bed and lay down next to me. I stroked his head lightly and closed my eyes. I could feel the essence of his soul within the body of the animal and I relaxed totally. He lifted his head to my face, his tongue out slightly, panting, exposing a set of truly dangerous-looking teeth. But the eyes were the eyes of the man I loved and I felt no fear. I hugged him around the neck and whispered into his pointed ear.

  “Very nice, my love. You make a superb wolf. But can you change back now? I want you to teach me that clothes trick.”

  The wolf shook his head ever so slightly and sat up, giving my face a sloppy lick. Then he closed his eyes again. This time the outlines of the wolf faded into nothingness, curling into a mist that slowly wound its way to the center of the room. And coming out from within the mist, as if he were walking through a tunnel, was Mitch. Then the mist was gone, as quickly as the wolf had disappeared and he stood in front of me again, in all his naked glory.

  “So what did you think?”

  I knew he was very pleased with himself. And I was very happy in his pleasure. That he could learn to do this so quickly, so effortlessly was amazing. I held my arms out to him. “I think I love you, Mitchell Greer.”<
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  “Aw, shucks, ma’am, I’ll bet you say that to all the wolves.” He approached me with a wide grin spread across his face; I could plainly see the wolf buried deep within him. And what had once appeared to me to be a denial of our human nature now seemed normal and natural.

  “So are you going to teach me the clothes trick or not?”

  “My pleasure, Mrs. Greer.”

  “And mine, my love.” I lay back on the bed and he removed my clothing slowly, one piece at a time. When I was finally naked, he covered me with his body, pinioning my arms with his hands, and my legs with his. I put up a mock struggle and he growled at me.

  “So, now that you are the prisoner of Mitch, the grand-exalted Pooh-Bah of the Cadre, wolf and mist extraordinaire, what will you do? Try to escape?”

  I put my mouth up to his ear and bit gently on the lobe. “Never,” I whispered, “but you must be careful at all times that I don’t turn the tables on you. Then you’ll be my prisoner.”

  The phone rang and we both jumped. “Damn.” He rolled off of me and reached for the phone. “Yeah? Okay, I’ll be right there.” He slammed the receiver down.

  “Bad news?”

  “Another rose has disappeared from the vase. Right under the nose of the guard, who saw nothing. Now the leaders are willing to listen. Sorry.”

  “It’s fine, Mitch, I understand. I think I should come with you this time, don’t you? Because if they’re willing to listen, I have things to say they need to hear.”

  The Cadre’s council room was amazingly normal in its furnishings. I suppose after my exposure to the judgment center I was expecting trappings and ostentatiousness. Instead, this room was a typical conference room. No different from the one at Griffin Designs or many other places I had been. It held a long chrome and glass table, surrounded by chairs with chrome frames and black leather seats and backs. In one corner was a credenza that held a pitcher of ice water, some glasses and a telephone. And of course the vase of roses.