Famine's Feast (The Templar Book 4)

by Debra Dunbar

  Chapter 9

  A Chinese man stood at my door at the ungodly hour of eight a.m., a duffle bag in hand. He didn’t look like a sheriff’s deputy here to toss me to the curb, or one of the neighbors to borrow a cup of sugar. I just stood in the open door and stared at him, willing him to talk. It was pre-coffee. I’d had a sum total of two hours sleep and it was beyond my ability to vocalize even the most basic of greetings. He, on the other hand, looked chipper and ready to converse. Or at the very least tell me what he wanted.

  “I’m Dr. Lee.” He gave an exaggerated sniff and pointed the duffle bag at my door frame. “Can you take down these wards so I can enter? And take your pants off. I need to be in my office by nine, so let’s hurry up here.”

  Grumpy guy. Not as grumpy as I was, though. Obviously Dario didn’t trust me to go to the doctor as I’d promised, and judging from the text on my cell phone from a woman named Celeste, he didn’t trust me to find a new place to live either.

  I ushered Dr. Lee into my apartment, shoving my pajama pants down low on my hips. Good thing I’d managed to put on some random clothing from the laundry pile before answering the door. Otherwise the guy would have gotten as much of a peep show I’d given Dario last night.

  “It’s just a bruise,” I complained. “This is ridiculous. I’ve had far worse injuries than this. In fact, I’ve had worse injuries in the last couple of weeks.”

  “I can see that.” Dr. Lee set down his bag and examined the huge, swollen bruise on my hip. It still hurt. I’d probably have to wear a dress again today to my coffee shop shift, and do some laundry if it still hurt after that. I only had so many dresses in my closet. The doctor shoved my pajamas down farther to a level bordering close to stripper-on-a-pole. His fingers gently traced the bruise, then he pushed up my tank top checking out the myriad other bruises and scars.

  “Hey. Keep it to the hip buddy.” I didn’t have a bra on and was starting to feel uncomfortable. He was completely professional, but there was something about a doctor in my apartment as opposed to a doctor in an exam room that felt wrong.

  “The boss sent me to look at your hip, which is indeed just a big bruise, but I might as well check everything. He said some Boo Hag cut you up last week?”

  My hand went to the still pink scar on my neck, my eyes to the cuts on my arms that were now a raised white. “They’re healing. Honestly I’m fine. Message Dario and tell him I passed your test, that I’m not dying and he can rest easy.”

  Dr. Lee nodded. “Anemia? When’s the last time he fed from you? I don’t see an ownership mark on your neck, so I’m assuming he’s one of those inner-thigh vampires.”

  An image of Dario with his head between my legs, biting my thigh as well as doing other intimate things surfaced in my mind. Suddenly I really wanted Dr. Lee to leave so I could go back to my bed and explore this fantasy further.

  “He doesn’t…we haven’t… Trust me, there is no anemia. And I’m not letting you see anything below the hip.”

  Gah. Once again I had no underwear on and him looking at my inner thigh would mean a view only a boyfriend or a gynecologist should see.

  He gave me the exasperated look of a doctor who doesn’t believe his patient. “Make sure you’re taking your iron and vitamins. The boss is pretty careful, but when it comes to blood-slaves they’re all greedy. A sip sometimes turns into more than a sip. As for this, watch the contusion for any excess swelling, or hard spots. If that happens, we might need to drain fluids. Otherwise tape some gauze to it to keep from re-bruising and we’ll see how it looks in a week.”

  A week. It suddenly hit me how inconvenient this bruise was. Curse Zac and his stupid tourney. This was supposed to be a fun show for charity, not me being beaten by an overly muscled guy with a sadistic streak. It wouldn’t be that big of a deal for me to do the ritual to remove the demon mark while wearing a dress, but it would be tough running through the city chasing bad guys, or guarding at Leonora’s party while commando in a skirt.

  I needed that money. So I either needed to heal faster or figure out how to tape enough gauze to my hip that I could comfortably wear pants—and swing a sword while in those pants. What I was wearing now wasn’t that painful. I wondered how Leonora would feel if her Templar guard showed up to her party in Hello Kitty pajamas?

  Dr. Lee left me with extra bandages, tape, and a little bottle of pills. He also slapped a card beside my new pharmacy stash, telling me to call him day or night if I needed anything. He didn’t sound particularly sincere, but I got the idea he’d drop everything and race right over if I called. I wondered what the vampires had on him. Pay for protection? Did he owe them money? Was this one of those instances where he worked for them “or else”?

  Or did he possibly have a bite mark on his inner thigh? Ewww. The image of Dario going down on me was replaced by one of a faceless vampire doing the same to Dr. Lee. It had the identical effect as a cold shower.

  I turned to the little fox figurine once the doctor had left, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. My hip felt better than it had last night. Hopefully in a few days I could ditch the gauze.

  “What do you think?” I asked Raven.

  The words appeared on the white board. Fifty bucks says that vampire will be in your bed within forty-eight hours.

  Pffft. Forty-eight? More like twelve. Although technically I was hoping to be in his bed tonight, not mine.

  “What would you do with fifty dollars?” I teased. I didn’t bother trying to deny it. She was right. I really wanted this. All my prior hesitation had worn away and I was excited to face a future with Dario, no matter how rocky it might be, no matter how badly things might end. We might crash and burn, but it would be so worth the ride.

  You gonna call that Celeste woman back?

  “Might as well. She says she’s got six places to show me, although I’ve got no idea if those six are in my price range or not.”

  Either way it would be good to have something lined up by the end of the day. I could use the vampire money for my security deposit and some of the first month’s rent, then all I’d need to worry about was finding a friend with access to a pickup truck to help me move in.

  “I’m meeting Janice for breakfast, then hopefully I can run out to see this Celeste woman and look at some apartments before my shift today. Can you research spells that I might be able to throw together and use at Leonora’s party?”

  One night isn’t a lot of time to charge amulets and gather spell ingredients. I could almost hear Raven’s irritated tone in the words. Plus trying to find something that doesn’t require a specific moon or rising sign to cast—

  She’d run out of space on the white board. It didn’t matter because I knew what she meant. Mages in my Anderon game could cast any spell they’d memorized regardless of astrological or meteorological conditions, but the real world didn’t work that way.

  “Okay, how about something to heal bruises so I can wear pants?”

  The white board cleared, new letters forming. Arnica? Or how about ice, Preparation-H, and the nifty bottle of pills the doctor left?

  Very funny. “Please? I need this money otherwise I won’t have enough for a new place and we’ll wind up sleeping on Brandi’s couch.”

  Or Dario’s. Although I doubt you’d be on his couch.

  I ignored her and went into the bathroom for a quick brush of the teeth and an attempt at taming the mess that was my hair. By the time I came out, she’d replaced the words on the white board with a series of stick figures in positions that came straight out of the Kama Sutra. One of them had fangs. And one of those positions looked like something I really wanted to try.

  I gave the fox figure the finger and left to meet Janice. I loved having Raven as a roommate, even if she was only a spirit in a resin figurine. If only she wasn’t dead. If only there was a spell somewhere in all those books that could bring her back.

  Chapter 10

  “Know any cheap apartments for rent?” I asked Janice as I stirred a teas
poon of sugar in my coffee. “I’ve got two weeks until they put my stuff on the curb.”

  The reporter made a face. “Nope, but if you need a place until you find something, you’re welcome to stay at my house.”

  It was good to have friends. “Thanks, but I’m meeting with someone in a few hours. She’s got six rentals she says are in my price range. Fingers crossed. How are you doing?”

  Janice’s expression fell. “Okay I guess. I’m working a lot, trying to keep busy. We got a tip that there’s an antibiotic-resistant bacterial strain going around the hospitals. I’m trying to get to the bottom of that, but of course no hospitals want to admit that they’ve got a potential epidemic brewing.”

  She hadn’t taken the news of Sean’s non-human status well. I felt horrible. It was all my fault. I’d designed the attraction amulet, taken her to the Walters that day. How was I to know she’d fall for a Boo Hag, or that he’d fall for her? I was sure Sean was just as miserable over their breakup as she was. He’d clearly been sincere in his affections.

  “You sure you won’t give him a chance, Janice?”

  Her mouth twisted, and I thought for an awful moment that she was going to cry. “No. I just can’t, Aria. The thought of what he is, of what he does every night. I just can’t.”

  Under his borrowed human flesh, Sean looked like a skinned human. Boo Hag were horrific in appearance, which is why they took a human’s skin and assumed their identity, living a normal human life until the skin aged to the point that they needed to take another. And if that wasn’t bad enough, each night the Boo Hag shed his skin, sneaking through cracks in doors and windows to stand over sleeping humans and steal the life force from their breath. Outside of the skins they took, Boo Hag didn’t kill their victims, but the idea of a creepy skinless guy hovering over a sleeping person was unnerving.

  “Remember that vampire I told you about? Well, I think we might…you know. Last night, we kinda…not all the way, but might as well have been.”

  Her eyes bulged. Coffee almost came out her nose. “You let him bite you?”

  “No, not that. The other…thing.” Was it warm in here? Sheesh, my face was on fire. I was twenty-six, not thirteen. Why was I flustered and blushing over this?

  “You’re going to have sex with him? What did you do last night? Oral? Give him a hand job?”

  I was dying. I wanted to sink right through my chair. My only hope was that none of the others had heard Janice. Nope, they were trying to look like they were sipping their coffee, all the while giving me the side-eye.

  “Hush. Yes. No. Not oral. He…used his fingers.” Oh God, shoot me now. Why was I having this conversation in a public place? Why was I having this conversation at all?

  “Seriously? Was it good? Sometimes that’s better than sex. Sean and I once…” her voice trailed off, hitching on the last word.

  I didn’t really want to get into details, but I also didn’t want her reminded of what she and Sean had done in private, or not private, and how badly that had all ended. “Yes it was good. I’m hoping sex is even better. I’m hoping it’s tonight. He’s got an issue with some vampires in his Balaj, though, so it might have to wait a day or two.”

  “You’re seriously going to have sex with someone you know is a vampire?” Janice shook her head in disbelief. “Honestly Aria, where do you see this going? He’s a vampire. You’ll fall in love with him and he’ll break your heart or worse. Stick with Zac. Or that Detective Tremelay. Now that’s a good looking guy. And he’s human. At least I think he’s human?”

  “Yes, he’s human,” I confirmed. “Both Zac and Tremelay. And I know it’s a bad idea, but…well, when you meet Dario, you’ll understand.”

  She sighed. “Good luck to you, girl. I wish you the best, but I’m sticking with human guys. Figures that the first one I’ve fallen for since my divorce three years ago wasn’t.”

  I felt terrible for her. And I really needed to reach out to Sean and see how he was doing. He was a great guy, and I’m sure he was hurting just as badly as Janice.

  “So, anything going on that I need to know about? Werewolves? Dragons? Trolls in the Harbor Tunnel?”

  I snorted. Now that would be funny. Terrible, but funny. “Nothing but a bad bout of food poisoning at the tourney yesterday. Like I said, the vampires had a bit of an issue last night but Dario took care of it.”

  Covered it up. I felt guilty for not telling Janice the whole truth but I didn’t want any more attention on two murders in a back alley than usual. I shouldn’t have worried. The vampire problem wasn’t what grabbed my friend’s attention.

  “Food poisoning? Potential liability? Department of health stuff?”

  “It was a charity thing. SPCA or something to benefit homeless dogs and cats. I’m not sure I want the public going crazy over poor food preparation techniques at a fundraiser.” Which reminded me that I should call Zac to check on him. Food poisoning should have run its course by now leaving him tired and dehydrated, but hopefully up and on his feet. He had work. We had an Anderon game next week. And besides, I needed my queen. Zac and I might no longer be dating, but he was still my friend.

  “I swear everyone is sick in the last twenty-four hours,” Janice complained. “This antibiotic-resistant bacteria, three in the newsroom with mono, now this food poisoning. I heard on the wire last night that Mercy Medical was code black. They’ve got a case of leprosy there too.”

  My blood ran cold. Code black? Was that like a national medical emergency? Did they call in the CDC?

  Janice must have seen the horror on my face. “Code black. It means the emergency room is overloaded and that any EMS or paramedic calls need to divert patients to another hospital. It was crazy. Intestinal viruses, some weird spores in a downtown building’s drinking water. That kind of stuff.”

  Oh. That wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d thought. “It’s late October, people are starting to get colds and other viruses. It’s the time of year for this sort of thing.”

  The reporter shook her head. “Not this early. January, yes. October, no. And there’s a group of patients at Hopkins who are starving with malnutrition even though they look fine and have been eating regularly. Weird stuff.”

  It did seem like an early start for the flu season, but these things happen. Better start taking my vitamins as Dr. Lee had suggested, maybe splurge on some orange juice. “Anything else? Beyond mono and food poisoning stuff? Any potential supernatural stuff I need to know about?” I asked the reporter.

  Janice shook her head. “Not right now. Enjoy your Halloween. Go to a few parties. Maybe meet a guy who’s human.”

  More like “get rid of a demon mark, perform security at a vampire party, and fall even more in love with a vampire.”

  Chapter 11

  “It’s not the Taj Mahal.”

  No, it wasn’t. Celeste and I were parked outside of a corner row house. The steps were sturdy gray cement with solid brick sides. The house itself was brick with sloppy patches of stucco. Pale yellow paint peeled from the sides. Holes where bricks had dislodged over the years gave the house a polka-dot effect. It had intact windows and it had an intact door, which was more than I could say for half the houses on this block.

  I hesitated. Fells Point hadn’t been suburban splendor, but this…this was two steps from a slum. We’d looked at five other places today. Three of them were at the high end of my price range—which would have left me with not enough money to eat, pay the electric bill, and provide for basic cable and internet. The two others were so far outside the city that I’d need to drive to work and pay the exorbitant parking fees in the Inner Harbor. Even if I could afford the extra expense I didn’t want to be that distance from the city, and giving up my coffee shop job was out of the question. So that left me with this…this run down, narrow row house in a decidedly bad neighborhood.

  “Let’s go inside.” I stepped out of the agent’s car and shut the door with a confident slam. I was two weeks from eviction and couldn’t affor
d to be picky about my choice of living quarters. If I wanted to stay in Baltimore, I needed to find something within my budget and learn to live with it. Otherwise I’d be in my Toyota on the way back to Middleburg and my parents.

  Or at Dario’s. Which, although an appealing idea, wasn’t something I was ready for.

  Celeste hopped out of the driver’s side of the Acura, her heels clicking as she trotted across the pavement to the yellow corner house. “It may not look like much, but it’s huge and the rent is really low, even for this neighborhood. It won’t stay vacant long. Three bedrooms, although one is really small and would probably make a better home office or nursery. Kitchen and dining area are separate from the living room. You could get a roommate to easily cover the rent costs.”

  No way on the roommate. Before meeting Celeste I’d contacted those two people off Craigslist and realized they were looking for what amounted to a roommate with benefits. There were more questions about what size bra I wore and if I owned any crotchless underwear than where I worked or if I had pets. I wasn’t sure if actual sex was expected, but judging from the questions, I’d say yes. And they still wanted me to pay the rent and my share of the utilities too. Yeah. That was not happening.

  Besides, I didn’t want to think about sharing my space with someone else. I had my buddy Raven. That was all the roommate I wanted to deal with right now.

  Two slim windows flanked the doorway, black iron flower boxes with nests of moldy twigs halfway up the glass. Celeste typed in the numbers for the lock box and it popped open. She snatched the keys with a jingle and unlocked the two dead bolts and handle lock. The door squeaked as it swung open. I followed her in, then stopped to get a feel for the place.

  The layout is what I’d learned was called shotgun, with sequential rooms one right after each other in a line from the front of the house to the back. It was well named. Without any hallways, someone could literally stand in the front doorway and fire a bullet all the way through to the back of the house.