by Jenny Allen
Lilith struggled not to let the anger to the surface. The fear deep in the pit of her stomach was more than enough to deal with. She nodded solemnly. There was no way he was going to let Chance go until she talked to him about Duncan. She wasn’t going to be sharing stories with the “good” Detective, so Chance would sit in that room or a holding cell for the next twenty-one hours or so.
Maybe she could give Alvarez a call and get him to pull some strings, but for right now, she just needed out of the tiny, dark observation room. “Can I go then?”
Detective Cohen stepped reluctantly to the side, giving her an open path to the door. As she walked past him, he held out his card. “If you change your mind and want an ally, call me. I apologize again if I frightened you. There is a killer out there, and you need my help.”
Lilith stuffed the card in the breast pocket of her dark green shirt as she reached for the door knob. His last sentence hung in the air like a thick fog, chilling her right to the bone. She was so focused on getting out of that room, away from Detective Cohen, that she almost ran into Whitmore.
His deeply wrinkled and sun-worn face crinkled in a frown. “I wouldn’t suggest leaving that apartment.” His voice was a gruff, deep growl of a southern drawl and his thick greying moustache wiggled as he talked. He was a few inches shorter but he was intimidating enough to make up for it.
She just nodded and hurried around him, almost running for the police station doors. When she finally made it outside, she stood in the early fall sun, letting it warm away all the chills. She took a few deep breaths and slowly realized that she had no way to get back to the apartment. In fact, Chance had the keys. Her kit, which held her lock pick gun, was locked in the rental car, which Chance also had the keys to. She stared at the police station doors completely torn. There was no way she wanted to go back in there, but where was she supposed to go? She couldn’t just wait on the stairs until Chance was released and she couldn’t run all over the city, exposed and vulnerable.
Lilith sank down on a park bench outside the station. She didn’t think Cohen would dare approach her right outside the station. She had no idea what or who he really was, but he definitely wasn’t the simple, young detective he appeared to be. At the very least, he knew more than he should. At worst, well, the thought just chilled her right to the bone. She had no choice but to leave Chance in there with him and a bigot cop that thought he was a murderous monster.
She dug her phone out of her pocket and the blinking message light caught her attention, knocking her out of the heavy melancholy. With one press of the unlock button, the bright screen showed five missed calls and one voicemail, all from the same number. It was a Knoxville number, but not one she recognized. She jabbed the voicemail symbol and a nasally, thin voice rattled through the speaker.
“Miss Adams, this is Dr. Nichols at Goditha Labs. I need you to call or come by as soon as you get this!” There was an unrestrained excitement that made his voice annoyingly bright. It was the complete opposite of her mood, but the thought that there might be something, any sort of lead, reluctantly lifted some of the weight from her shoulders.
Not only was the message bizarrely interesting, it also gave her something to do in relative safety. If Richard Coffee was on duty, she wouldn’t have to worry about anything bothering her. That man could pass as Andre the Giants’ bodyguard. There wasn’t a safer place in the whole city. Not to mention that it actually wouldn’t be weird for her to take a cab there during the day.
Lilith dug in her pocket and found a twenty plus the change from breakfast that morning. Good thing she’d tucked money into her jeans since her wallet was in her forensics case, locked in the rental car. It was a tiny ray of light in her dark day. She was hoping that maybe, just maybe it would turn the tables. Right now she felt like she was trying to build a puzzle, blindfolded, with half the pieces missing or maybe the pieces were from five different puzzles.
Chapter 12
After dialing a cab, she leaned back against the bench, completely lost in her thoughts. They were all whirling around so fast in her head that she couldn’t seem to grab one long enough to focus on it. She just let her mind go and watched her surroundings. The birds were chirping in the warm, sunny day. Cars were cruising by at an easy pace, probably due to the police station more than anything else. People were laughing and strolling down the street with friends, family and loved ones, enjoying the Indian summer. Halloween was in a couple weeks and store fronts were already making room for Christmas decorations.
They were all so oblivious to the world and, right now, she envied them. What would it be like to just walk down the quaint, downtown streets without looking over your shoulder? No thoughts of corpses, blood evidence, relatives being slaughtered, just enjoying the warm sunshine on your skin and nothing else. What would it be like not having to worry about people finding out who and what you are? Not having to worry about blood supplements or overhearing conversations you aren’t meant to hear? What would it be like to be blissfully ignorant and normal? What she would give right now to just be concerned with finding a costume for some party and completing a long Christmas list.
Even before this trip, life wasn’t like that for her. She examined dead bodies every day and spent most of her time dealing with the darkest emotions of humanity, all the while, existing with the paranoia that her and her family would be found out. If their existence came to light in the wrong way, everyone she was close to would end up dead or worse. She knew why Gregor wanted to carefully engineer their exposure to humans. It wouldn’t be easy, of course. The first decade or so would be very rough, even with the best set of circumstances. Eventually, it would bring a sense of peace to her people that they have never known. No hiding, no paranoia, just living. She couldn’t even imagine that.
Sure there were plenty of TV shows and books that painted a picture of Vampires being out of the closet, but those were Hollywood vampires. Lilith and her kind were nowhere near as threatening as those mythical creatures, but humanity tended to turn against the unknown. There were plenty of ignorant people and religious fanatics that wouldn’t stop to understand the facts. They would just call them the spawn of Satan and demand blood. Vampires were so prevalent in popular culture that people would have a hard time adjusting to the extreme differences. It wouldn’t matter what was true and what was pure myth.
Lilith noticed a couple walking hand in hand past the multicolored trees lining the street. They’d share shy smiles, and every so often he would tug her back to crash into him. The girl giggled and squealed with such a shining smile of bliss. It was the exact opposite of how her insides felt, isolated, terrified, cold, and desperate. With a sigh she wondered if Chance felt the same way right now. He may have been sent to protect her, but right now all she wanted to do was protect him. He was safe for the most part, but he hated confining spaces almost as much as he hated redneck, asshole cops. Just this once she didn’t disagree with him. She could only hope that Detective Cohen, whoever he was, would keep his word and release Chance once he spoke with Alvarez and Gregor.
A thought nagged at her again, Richard Coffee calling Gregor with no answer last night. Why? There were perfectly plausible reasons why he might not have answered. The same reasons why anyone wouldn’t answer a phone, but it still knotted her stomach. Malachi was tortured and killed in New York City. What if the same monster got to Gregor? With a sudden little bubble of panic she tried Gregor’s cell phone. It went straight to voicemail. The cab pulled up just as she punched the number for Alvarez’s precinct, hoping he was working today. If Alvarez was at home, she’d have to call his home number since his cell phone considered his house the black hole of cellular reception. That meant talking to Gloria, which seemed like a bad idea right now. Gloria would hear everything in her voice and wouldn’t politely ignore it like Alvarez would.
She slid into the back seat of the cab and gave the driver the address as the phone rang. Someone finally answered as the car pulled away from the cu
rb and sped away from the police station.
“13th Precinct Police Department. How can I direct your call?”
“Homicide, please.”
A few clicks and some crackly elevator music later, she was talking to Detective Boyd. He was one of the younger Homicide Detectives, but thankfully, one of the few that not only knew her but actually appreciated her work. “Lilith Adams.” She could hear the smile in his smooth voice. “I thought you were on vacation?”
“Oh I am. I’m actually looking for Alvarez, is he there?”
“No. Actually he turned in some personal days last night. Said he’s having some trouble at home that needs to be dealt with.”
The timing was just impossibly weird. She didn’t believe in coincidences for a damn good reason. Ignoring the facts can get you killed. “Okay. If you hear from him will you tell him that I really need his advice on something down here?”
“Helping out some local cops, huh? I had a call from one not long ago in Knoxville. He was rooting around about you, asking all kinds of questions.” Then there was a notable pause, perhaps for dramatic effect. “You aren’t in trouble are you?”
“No but a friend of mine might be.” Her nerves were about as frayed as her patience. Normally she loved chit chatting with Boyd, but today just wasn’t the day. She knew her voice was clipped and irritated, but she couldn’t help it.
“Well, I hope it works out. I’ll pass on the message if I hear from him.” His voice did sound a little wounded, but she didn’t have time to deal with bruised egos. She’d feel bad about hurting his feelings later. Now wasn’t the time. Her chest was tightening more and more as she dialed the home phone.
Gloria’s brightly accented voice almost made her smile. Her Spanish accent was thick but absolutely beautiful. It reminded her of home, a bright spot in her inner darkness. “Hello, Bonita.”
“Gloria. I’m trying to get a hold of your husband and the Precinct said he was at home on personal leave?”
“No, I’m afraid not, Bonita. He was all out of vacation days, so he had to take personal days. Philippe had to go out of town.”
A cold, heavy weight landed in the pit of her stomach. She just wanted to scream ‘what the hell next?’ and punch something. “Do you know where he went or why?”
“Well... He said he couldn’t be specific, for our own safety.” She could just hear Gloria rolling her eyes. “I swear if he’s after some bonita punta…” She dissolved completely into Spanish for a few minutes and it managed to pull a smile to Lilith’s lips. Gloria seemed too distracted by her husband’s mystery trip to notice the haunted sound in Lilith’s voice. “So no, he didn’t say. Sorry, Lily.”
“It’s all right Gloria. I’ll track him down and make sure he gets home safe and sound.”
Gloria’s bubble of laughter was infectious.
“What about you? How is your vacation? Philippe mentioned that you have a travel partner, a tall, handsome travel partner.” Lilith could hear the hopeful smile in Gloria’s voice. She wanted to tell Gloria everything despite the horrible timing, but there were more pressing matters and this would be a long conversation.
“He’s quite charismatic, but then I’ve known him since I was 15. He works for my father. I promise I’ll fill you in later though.” They shared a few laughs over Alvarez’s cheesy ‘don Juan’ lines and Gloria made her promise to eat some real food. As soon as she hung up, the car pulled up to the lab. Just talking to Gloria about normal, everyday things made her feel better, more connected.
That was the worst part of this life, feeling cut off, alone. You can’t get too close to people because it’s dangerous, so no one really truly knows you. No one really knew her except her father, Alvarez, Gloria, and to some degree now, Chance. Even they didn’t know all of her, just facets. Living this guarded life, it made it hard to let down your walls to anyone. You get used to having them there, you get used to the comfort of being anonymous. If Gregor was successful in bringing them out to the public, how would the older vampires react? Hell, how would she react?
When she really thought about it, she didn’t want people to know everything about her. She didn’t want people to know she was different. She may only be 27 years old, but she’d never learned how to just be. Life was all about figuring out which facet of her personality to display to which people. It was an endless line of masks. Hell, maybe there wasn’t anything cohesive behind them at all.
She blindly handed the cabbie a twenty and scrambled out of the back seat. The cab squealed out of the parking lot and she jogged for the front entrance, still mulling over her internal battles. Finally, she managed to shove all of it to the background and focus on the building in front of her. There’d be plenty of time for self-realization and brooding later. Lilith wrinkled her nose and sighed. Dammit. Her inner monologue was quickly starting to resemble those damn whiny vampires in the movies. Poor me. Nobody really knows me. Blah, blah, blah. She shook her head and reminded herself to kick her own ass later. Next thing you know, she’d be sparkling in the sunlight like some anorexic disco ball.
Five missed calls seemed to indicate that there was at least one doctor here. When she reached the call box she jammed the button for Sector 2, which she recalled being Blood Analysis.
The voice that sounded so excited on her voicemail droned out his rehearsed lines impatiently across the crackly speaker. “Goditha Labs. We are closed to the general public without an appointment.”
“Dr. Nichols? This is Lilith Adams. Could you buzz me in?”
The high pitched buzz of the door sounded without a word. She snatched the handle and slipped inside as fast as she could. As soon as the door clicked closed, she felt an immense amount of relief, even safety. She briskly walked down the empty hallway, straight to Mr. Coffee’s security desk. The huge mountain of a man looked up as she approached, and his wide mouth cracked into a smile. Her smile of relief was automatic.
“Ms. Adams. A pleasure to see you again.” His voice was like the roll of thunder, impossibly low. Richard’s dark eyes searched the hall behind her for a moment. “And Mr. Deveraux?” He certainly had an excellent memory. Of course, now that she thought about it, she didn’t suspect they got that many visitors.
“Detained. We’ve hit a few complications.” It sounded positively boring compared to ‘He’s been thrown in jail cause the dumbass cops think he hit me and butchered my cousin’. It sounded like an extreme episode of Jerry Springer. For that, of course, they’d have to throw in some sex and incest. Apparently, murder wasn’t shocking enough on its own. She almost laughed to herself, but not quite.
Mr. Coffee was just pushing away from the desk, rising to his enormous seven feet of dark muscle when the door to Section 2 burst open. Lilith recognized the frazzled man running down the hallway from last night. He was one of the scientists she’d talked to about the blood samples she needed testing on. He definitely looked worse for wear now. His blondish brown hair was a messy mop on his head like he’d been trying to pull it all out over the last thirteen hours. His slate grey eyes were completely bloodshot and the dark circles definitely didn’t help. Now that she was really looking, she noticed his nose was a little too thin and pointy, like a small beak on his face, and his lips were pressed together in a line so thin you could barely see them.
His rail thin body came to a sliding stop at the security desk and he leaned against it gulping in large breaths. Richard stood a good two feet taller than him and about four times as wide. It was almost comical to see them standing next to each other. Coffee just stared down at him like someone would look at their pet poodle that did something amusing. Finally, the good doctor smoothed out his rumpled lab coat and flashed a smile of crooked teeth that made her cringe just a tiny bit. Not everyone’s smile is pretty, or friendly, for that matter, even when they mean it to be.
“Ms. Adams… I’ve been trying to reach you… for hours.” He was still panting pretty heavy. Obviously he wasn’t used to the cardinal rule of cardio.
He’d definitely be the first to go in a zombie apocalypse. Of course, if she spent all day in a lab protected by a giant linebacker on radioactive steroids, she probably wouldn’t spare much time for cardio workouts either. “You have got to see this!” He snatched her hand and started pulling her down the hall. Social etiquette was completely lost in the wake of his excitement. He couldn’t have really pulled her down the hall if she hadn’t wanted to go. The doctor was about as muscular as a newborn puppy, but she was eager to see what he’d found, so she went along with it.
They burst into the lab and Dr. Nichols tugged her over to a high work space and an enormous microscope. He flopped down onto a stool, grey eyes holding a manic shine of enthusiasm that bordered on terrifying. “Where did you get it?” He almost sounded like some high school girl begging to know where she bought her shoes. The high pitched tone was definitely right. God it was almost a squeal that left her ears ringing a little. “I have to know!”
Lilith frowned and sank down on another of the black padded stools. “It was stashed in a safe place. Why? What’s so special about it?”
“What’s so special?” The doctor’s thin mouth hung open like a wide mouth bass. His eyes were just creepy now, like staring at a mad scientist right on the edge of snapping. Lilith shifted back on the stool, suddenly not wanting to be too close. Bad things happened when brilliant minds snapped. It was pretty much the basis of every monster movie in the 50’s. “There are two strands of DNA in that blood!” He surged to his feet, over-emphazing his statement.
“Well that’s not that uncommon if a vampire’s recently fed.” She crossed her arms over her chest, frowning at the mad doctor. “Blood from the donor sometimes mixes with the vampire and it takes time for it to acclimate to its new host.”
