by Folsom, Tina
“Shoo!” She didn’t even like animals.
“I think he likes you.”
She sniffed and was about to retort when a whiff of something entirely disagreeable caught in her nostrils. Within a blink of an eye, she swiveled and looked up at the stairs where a woman she’d never seen before stood. “What the hell is a witch doing in Samson’s house?”
* * *
Maya put the Audi in park and switched off the ignition. As she stepped out of the car and into the night, she took in her surroundings.
p. Never before had she been so aware of her senses. At the end of the residential street, a neighbor walked his little white Westie. When she concentrated, she could hear the clutter of dishes in a kitchen nearby.
The news blared from a TV in a house across the street.
She’d never noticed these noises before, and had always thought of Paulette’s neighborhood as eerily quiet. It wasn’t – not anymore anyway. With her enhanced senses she could hear that life was happening inside the little houses dotted along the hill. From her vantage point she could see the ocean, or could have seen it if it weren’t for the fog hanging out at the beach.
Midtown Terrace was a middle class neighborhood, the houses all built in the late 50s, their floor plans all essentially the same with a few variations. Paulette’s house was no different: three bedrooms and one bathroom over a two car garage. A small yard out the back. Maya had spent many an evening here with Paulette and their friend Barbara, drinking, eating, joking, and ultimately bitching about the horrible dates they’d had. Just like all girlfriends did.
Maya hesitated as she approached the front door, stopping at the foot of the terrazzo steps. Would she look any different to Paulette?
When Maya hugged her, would she crush her with her superior strength just like she’d smashed the little night table in Samson’s house? Maybe it was best not to hug her. Safer for Paulette.
She lifted her foot and set it on the first step. There was a chill in the night air, but Maya didn’t feel cold. Her vampire body seemed to protect itself from the cold despite the fact she’d forgotten to don a jacket. And in June in San Francisco you needed a jacket – a thick one.
Clearly, there were some advantages to being a vampire. Maybe one day she’d truly accept that and make the best of it.
Would Paulette freak if she found out what she was now? Would she even believe it? They had always played pranks on each other. It was their way of showing friendship, and so Paulette would think that she was joking. She’d then have to prove what she was. And she’d have to do it without frightening her best friend.
She didn’t want to frighten anybody.
Maya took a deep breath to give herself the courage to walk up the steps and face her friend. Something stung her nostrils. Her stomach flipped. She’d only ever had that same feeling of disgust when she’d tried to drink the bottled human blood. A thought raced through her mind, one she didn’t want to acknowledge.
Her heart raced as she ran up the stairs and reached for the door bell.
But she didn’t ring it. She didn’t have to. The front door was ajar.
Even though the neighborhood was a safe and quiet one, nobody ever left their door open. Nobody. Certainly not Paulette.
She pushed the door fully open. A bout of nausea overwhelmed her as she inhaled.
“Oh God, no,” she whispered to herself.
The scent stinging her nostrils and assaulting her sensitive stomach grew more intense as she stepped into the house. The lights were on in the living room, but it was empty.
Maya’s vocal cords clamped up. She was unable to call out to her friend, because deep down she already knew it wouldn’t make a difference. The house was quiet. There wasn’t a single sound except for the dripping faucet in the bathroom.
Her soft-soled shoes made barely a sound as she slid down the corridor to the bedrooms like a thief. The light drifting into the hallway came from underneath a bedroom door. Paulette’s bedroom.
Maya steeled herself against what she already knew she would find and turned the knob. She pushed the door open, finding it uncharacteristically heavy. It creaked, but she barely heard the sound because the scene in the bedroom made her heart drum so loud it drowned out any sound.
The bed was a pool of blood – dried, but still fresh enough for her stomach to turn. Had she had any contents in it, she would have lost them now, but it appeared vampires couldn’t throw up. Even though she wanted to, needed to, to curb the nausea.
The sheets were tangled as if there’d been a struggle. Paulette hadn’t died easily, but Maya knew she was dead, even though there was no body. She raised her eyes to the wall behind the bed and hugged her arms around her torso.
Scrawled in blood was a message, and it was meant for her.
It’s your fault, Maya.
A sound finally left her throat, but it amounted to nothing more than a helpless gurgle. Her friend had died because of her. He’d done it. She knew it. The man who’d attacked her, he’d killed her friend to cover his tracks.
All because Maya had told Paulette about him, even though she didn’t remember doing so. Paulette had to have known about him for him to attack her. Maybe she’d even known his name and what he looked like. It had cost her her life.
She felt numb all over her body. It was all her fault. She should have taken care of her friend. She should have known he’d come after her.
Why hadn’t she thought about it? Why?
The door fell shut behind her and made her spin around in vampire speed.
A scream left her throat.
Paulette!
She hung there, on the back of the door, her limp body bloodied, her pajamas shredded by claws. No heartbeat – Maya would have heard it from where she stood. But she was gone. Long gone.
Twenty-one
“I couldn’t reach Thomas,” Yvette said as she flipped her cell phone shut and looked at Gabriel, who was driving while dialing a number on his own cell phone.
Gabriel listened to the voice on the other line and cursed. “Zane’s not answering either.”
“We’re almost there,” Yvette tried to calm him.
He gave her a sideways glance. At least now that the air had been cleared between them, Yvette was a hundred percent behind him. And he needed all the help he could get. Maya was out there on her own –
and so was the rogue. The bastard would find her and Gabriel would lose her forever. He couldn’t allow it. He needed to protect her.
“Zane. Maya’s gone. Search for her. This is first priority.” Gabriel flipped the cell shut.
Moments later, he pulled up in front of Maya’s apartment and jumped out of the car. He ran up the stairs, Yvette close behind him.
The door was locked, but Gabriel didn’t care. With barely any effort he kicked against the lock and the wood splintered. He jerked the door open and ran upstairs.
At Maya’s apartment he did the same thing – if she was there, she wouldn’t respond to a polite knock anyway. She was too pissed at him.
For now, he didn’t care. All he needed was to get her back to the house where she would be safe. Then he’d explain things to her.
How could she have possibly thought he was getting head from the witch? Sure, the situation had looked a little odd, but had she only waited, she would have realized that there was nothing sexual about any of it. The witch had merely examined him like a doctor would a patient, and then tried a little herbal concoction on him to test how the damn thing reacted.
Of course, the useless piece of flesh hadn’t reacted to anything at all until – Gabriel stopped in his tracks and let the realization sink in. His additional piece of flesh had stirred the moment Maya had entered the room. And when she’d run out on him, it had faltered again and shrunken back to its original state. The witch had given him an odd look, now that he thought of it, but he’d been too panicked about Maya’s misinterpretation of things to g
ive it much consideration until now. Now he was wondering if –
“Are we going in?” Yvette asked behind him.
Gabriel pushed aside thoughts about his deformity and stepped inside the apartment. He sniffed, trying to ascertain if Maya had been here. His gaze swept through the place. It still looked the way they’d left it only two nights earlier. Nothing had changed. And there was no fresh scent of Maya. She hadn’t been here.
“Where else would she go?” Gabriel asked and ran his hands through his hair.
Yvette opened her mouth, but then her cell phone rang. She picked it up. “Thomas? Did you get my message?”
Gabriel could hear Thomas’ reply. “Yes, the GPS on Samson’s Audi shows me she’s in my area. Wait … She’s moving. Heading north west.”
“Where to?” Gabriel ground out.
Yvette lifted her hand and listened to Thomas. “Where -“
“I heard him. I think she’s going to Parnassus.”
“Parnassus?” Yvette asked.
“The hospital.”
“Meet us there,” Yvette ordered and flipped the phone shut.
“Call Amaury. I’m calling Ricky.” Gabriel rushed out the door and back down to the car. As he jumped in, the call to Ricky connected.
“Maya’s left the house.”
“Shit, what happened?” Ricky’s concerned voice reached his ear.
“She’s on her way to the hospital, probably to see her friends there.
We need to find her and bring her back before the rogue gets her. Meet us there.”
“Will do.” Ricky disconnected the call.
“Amaury’s on his way too,” Yvette reported as she fell into the passenger seat.
Gabriel hit the gas pedal and sped down the street. The limousine Carl normally drove wasn’t as fast as Samson’s Audi, but it had GPS and would help him get to Maya, hopefully before the rogue did.
* * *
Maya’s heart raced as she pulled the Audi to a stop right in front of the hospital’s no-parking zone. For all she cared, they could tow Samson’s car – she didn’t have a second to lose. If her stalker had killed Paulette to silence her, Barbara would be next. If she hadn’t already been … She swallowed hard.
p. How he could possibly know about Paulette and Barbara, she wasn’t sure. Unless, of course, she’d actually introduced her girlfriends to him.
But then, wouldn’t he have merely wiped their memories too?
Something didn’t make sense here.
Was the rogue trying to send her a message? Was this revenge for not giving into his advances? Because she was even more convinced now that he had to be a spurned lover. No one else would spit the kind of hatred that had radiated from the bloody message in Paulette’s bedroom.
It’s your fault, Maya.
The words echoed in her mind like a broken record. Could she have saved Paulette? Had she only thought things through, she would have considered this danger right when Gabriel’s colleague Ricky had shown up and offered to help. Maybe he’d already talked to Paulette—she’d given him her contact info after all. Maybe he’d even led the stalker to her. How could she know?
It didn’t matter. In the end, it was her responsibility to protect her friends. She should have gone with him and warned Paulette. Urged her to go someplace safe. But that night she’d gone into heat and her mind had been clouded. She’d only thought of herself then. And because of her selfishness her friend was dead. It was her fault.
Maya swallowed the lump in her throat and rushed up the stairs to the ward. She knew Barbara was on service all week and would most likely be in the on-call room of her ward. As she reached the double doors that separated the public area of the hospital from the restricted part, she realized to her horror that she didn’t have her access card with her.
She cursed and looked around her, but nobody was in sight. The clock in the corridor showed a few minutes past one o’clock – the regular staff would be long gone, and only the night shift would man the stations. Barbara’s ward wasn’t a critical care area, so staffing was thin and consisted mostly of a couple of nurses and one on-call doctor, Barbara herself. None of them were in sight.
Maya pushed against the doors, but they didn’t budge. Through the glass windows she could see the button that allowed people to leave the area without using their access cards, but there was no way in. If she could get somebody to press the button for her, then she would be in luck, but there was no human around on whom she could try out her mind control skill. Not that it would have worked anyway – despite Thomas’ coaching. All she’d been able to influence was a chair and some glasses and bowls.
She stopped her thoughts in their tracks. That was it! She just needed to move something and push the button with it. Maya spied through the window again and saw a metal chart in one of the holders on the wall. It would do. She concentrated her mind on the metal item and willed it to lift from its pocket on the wall. She watched with bated breath as the item moved and hung suspended in the air as if held by invisible strings.
Maya didn’t dare breathe so she wouldn’t lose her concentration. A few seconds later, she managed to set the chart in motion and moved it toward the button. With her last ounce of will she slammed the metal against the button, before it fell to the ground with a loud clang.
The double doors opened and she slipped through.
Relieved, she ran down the hall to the small room where the on-call physician rested during the night. Barbara should be there unless she’d been called to a hospital bed .
Maya pressed the door handle down and eased open the door, trying not to startle her friend. Soft light from a desk lamp greeted her. The on-call room was sparsely furnished: a desk and chair, a small cabinet, a sink and a single bed. She let out a relieved breath when she saw Barbara in a peaceful slumber. Maya shut the door behind her, and Barbara stirred.
A moment later, she shot up from her prone position and swung her legs out of bed, her eyes still closed. When she opened them and spotted Maya standing only a few feet away from her, Barbara jolted upright.
“Shit, Maya!”
“Sorry – ” But Maya didn’t get any further.
“Everybody’s looking for you. Where the hell have you been? The chief is pissed and so are the other attendings – they all had to pick up the slack for you.”
Maya put her hand on Barbara’s arm. “I can’t explain right now. I need your help.”
Barbara gave her a startled look. “Do you need money? What’s going on?”
A strobe light blinked on the wall, and an instant later a voice came over the loudspeaker. “Code Blue, Code Blue, Room 748 Long, all team members, Code Blue, Code Blue.”
Barbara grabbed Maya’s hand and squeezed it. “That’s me. I have to go. Wait here. I’ll be back shortly. We’ll talk when I’m back.”
“No, I’m coming with you.”
“Just wait. It won’t take long.”
“No, it’s not safe. I’m coming with you.”
Barbara gave her a curious look “Not safe?”
“Please, let me come with you.”
Her friend grabbed a white coat from the hook. “Here, at least put that on, so you won’t look out of place. And then you’d better talk fast.”
Maya slipped into the coat and was right behind Barbara when she opened the door. A second later, she shut it again.
“Shit, the Chief’s right out there. If he sees you, he’ll stop you.”
Maya cursed. “Damn it!” This was just her bad luck.
“I’ll be right back.”
“No, wait!” But before Maya could stop her, she dashed out of the room. Her steps echoed in the corridor. Maya’s skin prickled uncomfortably. She didn’t want Barbara wandering the corridors on her own. Opening the door a tiny slit, she peered outside. The Chief was still standing her. There was no way she would get past him without him seeing her.
Maya shut the door in frust
ration.
She could only hope that Barbara knew about her stalker. Then this nightmare would be over soon. Once Maya knew the name and what he looked like, they could find him. She could tell Thomas and he’d make sure the rogue was taken out. She didn’t want to think of talking to Gabriel. Not right now.
Once the rogue was captured, she would be safe again, and so would Barbara. Then she would tell her friend the truth, and together they’d bury Paulette. Somehow she would get her life back together, as much as she could with the guilt she carried on her shoulders. The guilt of knowing she was responsible for Paulette’s violent death.
Twenty-two
Gabriel turned a corner in the hospital and almost collided with Ricky. “Thank God, you got here really fast,” Gabriel said. Next to him Yvette skidded to a halt as well.
“You were lucky, I was in the neighborhood.”
“Have you seen Thomas?”
“No. Is he supposed to be here?” Ricky asked.
Yvette nodded. “He should have arrived before all of us. He was coming straight from Twin Peaks.”
“Let’s split up,” Gabriel suggested. “Use mind control if you need to. We have to find her.”
Ricky nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, we do. I’ll take the 7th floor.”
“Yvette, take the 5th floor, that’s where one of her friends works –
maybe she went there. I’ll take this one. If you don’t find her on your respective floors, move three floors higher.” Gabriel issued his orders with a calm he didn’t feel. What helped him was his experience – he knew how to track someone in a crisis situation. It’s what he’d done for so long, and done well – Maya’s life depended on it now. There was only one handicap: the corridors of the hospital reeked of bleach. It stung his nostrils and impeded his ability to filter out Maya’s scent. His only consolation was that if the rogue was close, he’d have the same problem – it leveled the playing field.
