“Pretty awesome,” I agreed. “And I bet we can figure out how to dye them. Much more healthy than…” I let that last thought go, recalling how pointless it was.
Nathan wolfed down his food and joined us again. “Georgia, it’s good to see you.”
“Nathan, I was wondering when you were going to notice me.” She scooted along the bench to snuggle to his side and linked her arm with his. “Can you tell I’m different?”
“Hard to miss.” He shifted in his seat, trying to get free of her grasp. I think the idea of what Georgia was bugged him more than anything. To my great relief, she didn’t smell like the ghouls that had attacked us. Perhaps it was a simple matter of personal grooming and not hanging out in graveyards.
“I won’t hurt you,” Georgia informed Nathan. “You don’t have to be afraid of me.”
He growled, and I hid a smirk. “I am not afraid of anyone.”
She started to respond, but then her head jerked hard to the left as if she had a tick. A whimper escaped her, and she began to rock. I zipped to her side. “Georgia, what’s wrong? Something has been bugging you since you arrived.”
She clutched my hand with both hers and swiveled her head back and forth, scanning the bowling alley. “They’re calling.”
I froze, and so did Nathan.
“Who is calling?”
She started boxing her ears, but I caught her hands and pulled them to her sides. Would this work out? Was she going crazy? Over Georgia’s head, Nathan aimed a glare at me that said this was why I shouldn’t have meddled with life and death. At the moment, I had to agree with him.
“I hear the voices,” Georgia said. “I don’t like it. Make it stop, Rue.”
“I’m sorry, honey.” I hugged her shoulders. “I’m not sure I can make it stop.”
Could a simple order give her the peace she needed? Surely, her mind wasn’t so simplistic as to believe she didn’t hear voices because I said so. Then again, it was worth a try. I cleared my throat.
“Georgia, you don’t hear voices.”
Both Nathan and I stared at her. She kept rocking but had added a moan to it.
“That wasn’t exactly a command,” Nathan said. “Not anything she could act on.”
Heads turned our way, and on the opposite side of the building, the fae started toward us. I’d forgotten that other nonhumans would identify what Georgia was right away. Human sympathizers would take exception to her existence. Nathan scented their movement right away and stood. I grasped his arm while trying to wrest my own from Georgia. She refused to let go. As her master, I seemed to provide her a little comfort with my presence.
“Nathan, don’t start anything,” I whispered under my breath.
“I won’t, but I’ll finish anything they do.”
The two fae reminded me a little Orin and Pammie, who I missed. They were both tall, both incredibly beautiful, but they had chosen—I assume—to appear brunette rather than blond unlike Pammie and Orin. The man and woman stopped in front of our area and flared delicate nostrils beneath long, arrogant noses.
“Why haven’t you killed her yet?” the female said.
If I moved around the plastic seating between us, I would have to crane my head back to look up at her. Still, she didn’t intimidate me. “That’s my business. Yours is down there at your own lane.”
I pointed so she wouldn’t mistake my meaning. The fae bristled in her anger, and she started around the chair, but the other fae grabbed her arm to move ahead of her. He snarled at Nathan.
“You should at least be against it,” the man snapped. “You know what her kind have been doing to the humans. Your kind have rules against hurting humans.”
“You’re trying to tell me about myself?” Nathan started to growl, and I sensed the increase in his anger level. The fae did as well, and both of them stumbled back a couple steps.
For a moment, the two beautiful creatures appeared apologetic, but the woman seemed to shake it off. “We can’t let her go. It’s not right.”
Georgia’s humming rose in pitch. She rocked harder. I laid a hand on her shoulder. “Be quiet, Georgia.” Her lips sealed, and all sound stopped. The fae’s shocked gazes zipped from the ghoul to me and back to her again. Comprehension dawned on them, and an idea popped into my head. “She’s a ghoul, yes, but I made her my vassal so she can help me find and fight the others. We’re going to put an end to the killing very soon.”
“That’s an excellent idea!” The man’s entire countenance changed. “I can’t believe…no vampire has ever… Thank you. Some of my close friends are human, and I worried about them. Thank you for your help.”
The praise and thanks went on for several minutes, and then the fae walked back to their lane, chattering with each other. I sank down on the seat beside Georgia. She latched onto me but didn’t make a peep. Nathan’s anger didn’t ease as fast as the fae’s.
“Rue, that situation was resolved, but what about the next time?”
“Don’t start, Nathan. I have to think about how to help Georgia.” I stroked her hair, knocked her wig askew, and then had to fix it. There was probably a better way to make them stay on a bald head. We would have to find out.
Nathan sat and began putting his shoes back on.
“What are you doing? You’re not in the mood to play?”
He glared. “Do you think fae are the only ones that come here? There are more aggressive types, and if I’m going to stay out of trouble until my trainer comes, I can’t get involved.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve ruined our night.”
“You haven’t.”
I knew what he insinuated and felt myself in the middle of a tug ‘o war. Would I have to put Georgia down after all? There must be a solution. I was more determined to look for it than to give up. Perhaps Georgia just needed something to do with herself. Yes, that was it. Maybe she could get a job. I cringed. Not in a restaurant but somewhere to keep her hands busy and her mind occupied as well. In addition, the job would have to be such that she wouldn’t be within the sight of enemies who would want her dead. I fully believed once the ghoul problem was done and the memory of it died down, no one would bother Georgia if she didn’t bother them.
“Okay, you’re right, Nathan.”
I rose, and the three of us left the bowling alley. We ended up back at Nathan’s apartment watching old movies together. Already, spending time with the two of us, Georgia began to find her old cheeriness. She spent the next hour and a half speaking each line of the current movie word for word. That is until I was forced to give her another order. My life had gotten so much more complicated.
Chapter Seventeen
Two deliveries in one day, both books. I opened the first, and the spell was broken within a matter of seconds. The second book resisted. I was about to give it a bit more mental power when my cell phone rang. I leaned across to check the display and found it was Georgia calling. She had phoned me several times before nightfall as well. I had learned Georgia didn’t need to sleep, ever. Therefore, she phoned me at all hours whenever the mood struck her. After my initial orders, I resisted giving her more when another person wasn’t involved. You might say it was my way of atoning for bringing her back. The only person driven bananas would be me.
“Rue,” Georgia sing-songed when I answered.
She made a smacking sound, and I developed a twitch in my right eye. “Georgia, please tell me you’re not snacking now, sweetheart.”
“Oh no, I’m not.” Her tone of voice took on an excited quality. “I’m working.”
“Working where?”
“My old restaurant. They took me back, Rue. Isn’t it wonderful? My boss is a very nice young man. He understood that I was in the hospital sick.”
“You didn’t tell him you had night fever, did you?”
“I did, but he didn’t believe me for some reason.”
I rubbed a hand over my eyes. “Georgia, that’s because it ends in death. Sweetheart, also, you can’t work at a
restaurant.”
“Is that an order?” She sounded hopeful that it wasn’t. “I’m not going to eat anything.”
Again the smacking sound.
“You’re eating now.”
“Oh, Rue. You—” The phone went dead. I ground my teeth thinking she was trying to avoid me giving her an order, but when I checked my cell I found it was dead. Nathan didn’t have a landline, and he wasn’t home at the moment. I would need to go to the restaurant where Georgia worked.
A short while later, I arrived. Several staff members shuffled about as they prepared for guests. This particular restaurant included a night shift where they served nocturnal nonhumans. I should have recalled that fact, but it had been irrelevant to Georgia at the time she first started working here.
I wrapped my cloak about me and entered the restaurant. Only a single head turned my way, but I sensed there were quite a few powerful characters. All should have scented Georgia on the premises, but it seemed these folks couldn’t care less. That meant none of them cared about humans. The knowledge didn’t surprise me.
Kitchen staff moved about as I entered. I sidestepped the scurrying with ease until I reached Georgia’s side. Just as I suspected, she knew I was there as she chirped, “Rue!”
I pressed a finger to my lips, and glanced over my shoulder. The cooks and assistants glared at Georgia and then returned to their tasks. When they were out of earshot, I spoke. “I wondered if you could see me, Georgia.”
“Yes, you but not others.”
“What others?”
She waved her hands, her eyes bright. “When I came to work tonight, there was a man in the alley. I didn’t see him until he just appeared.”
“What did he do after that?” I bent to check inside a pot she was stirring. The thick gravy-like substance bubbled.
“He came inside and got a table,” she explained about the cloaked figure.
“Perhaps his cloak was stronger,” I guessed.
“I don’t think so.” She grabbed a clean spoon and dipped it into the pot. Then the smacking began. I nabbed the spoon and set it on the counter. Georgia continued. “It feels the same as you.”
“Level of power?”
She nodded.
“Then maybe it’s that you can see me because of our connection.”
“That’s it,” she said. “Rue.”
“Yes?”
Worry creased her brow, and she turned off the pot then moved it to a cool burner. “I have something to tell you, but you won’t like it.”
“Out with it. We’ll fix it together. And what is that you’re making?”
“Georgia, stop talking to yourself over there and finish the gravy,” one of the chefs called out. Relief washed over me, although I knew the direction my thoughts had taken wasn’t likely.
“Yes, sir.” Georgia seemed to have forgotten the gravy. Her fingers danced with each other as they had done at the bowling alley the other night. Was she hearing the voices again? If so, the job wasn’t helping her, doing what she loved so much. I was out of options. Perhaps I needed to consult with Bill.
I laid a hand over Georgia’s. “Take your time and talk to me, sweetheart. That’s what I’m here for. I won’t judge you.”
Gratitude filled her eyes, and a tear fell from one. She touched her fingers to it and brought it away to look at. I wondered why until she explained.
“Rue, just between me and you, I can’t drink water.”
I leaned closer to her. “Neither can I, so don’t worry about it.”
“I can’t drink any liquid. I choke.”
“Really?”
She nodded and I straightened, considering it. We all seemed to have our burdens. Who was the crazy person that set up this system with paranormal creatures and their rules? Some of it made no sense whatsoever, and I imagined a couple powerful fellows got together and plotted it all, giggling at the limitations like school kids.
Georgia’s tears reminded me of my blood ones. No one had told me I cried blood, but she must have remembered seeing them on my face when she was dying and was curious about her own.
“Georgia, what’s bothering you?” I asked, realizing we had gotten off course.
She looked like her world was crumbling, and my heart ached almost as much as it did watching her die. “I feel the pull, and I’ve been trying to resist, Rue. Why do they want me anyway?”
“Who? The voices?”
“The ghouls.”
I went still. From the first moment Georgia began talking about hearing voices, I assumed they weren’t real, that she was going crazy. I had even given the impression to the fae that I would use her to help me find the other ghouls. I thought I was listening to her. Now I knew better. Could what she was saying be true?
“Georgia, you can hear the others? You know where they are?”
“I don’t know where exactly, but I can probably find them. They want me to hunt with them.”
Of course. I should have thought of it, but how could I? Ghouls hunted in packs. That was a statement of fact for their kind. Georgia was cut off because she was my vassal. Well, not entirely cut off from the sound of it. Hope rose in me.
I touched her arm. “Georgia, what are they saying?”
She cut her gaze over to the others in the kitchen and then took my hand. “We’ll take a break, and I’ll tell you.” Georgia announced this intention without any preamble. One of the chefs grumbled, but he didn’t approach her. That surprised me. I had learned the chefs could be very arrogant and very controlling, especially at this particular restaurant. Perhaps they were more lenient given the diverse clientele.
Georgia and I stepped into the back alley and moved away from the man leaning negligently against a wall, arms folded, smoking a cigarette. He shut his eyes and tilted his head back. Moonlight glinted on his neck, and I stopped moving for a second. Did the man even know I could attack him while still cloaked, and he wouldn’t know what hit him? Come to think of it, I hadn’t considered such a trick. However, I had an overwhelming urge to try it out.
Georgia tugged my arm, and I shook myself. Temptation was everywhere. When she and I were alone, she scanned the alley and moved closer to me to whisper. I thought the subterfuge was unnecessary, but Georgia hadn’t lost her knack for the dramatic after death.
“I can’t hear words,” she said. “It’s not talking. More like a feeling, and I know what it means. The ghouls…we, I guess…communicate in less complicated ways when speaking with each other.”
“How do you know this, Georgia?”
She tapped her head. “I feel it. All they’re thinking about is eating, and they like to do it together. But, Rue, they won’t stop. They want to eat all the time, and I can’t think straight. I wish they would get out of my head.”
In my eagerness, I dropped my cloak and grasped her arms. “Ask them where they are and who’s been calling the shots.”
When her forehead moved, I noticed for the first time her eyebrows were also gone. She was making a surprised expression, but it didn’t show well. “I told you. It’s not words. I can’t ask them, and I can’t really talk back and forth.”
I let her go and paced, thinking about it. “So maybe it’s like a looped invitation. Come to dinner, come to dinner.”
“Yes!” She clapped her hands. “You’re so clever, dear. I knew you would understand. So, can you make it stop?”
Was I magic? “The only way I can do anything about it is to kill every one of them. Do you have a problem with that, Georgia?”
“No, they’re not like me.”
“Tell me the truth,” I said to be sure, although even if she did have a problem, it wouldn’t stop me from doing what I needed to do.
“They’re dangerous. You helped me not to hurt anyone, and I can think okay if I try really hard.”
That little comment had me wondering. Georgia had said the ghouls were simple in their speech. They could speak and think, but with less complexity. Yet, Georgia seemed the same.
No, as I thought about it, she wasn’t. Her focus had shifted. She was either hungry or wanted to be with me and when she was with me, she tended to think I could fix everything for her.
The experience was a bit unsettling to say the least, and I considered whether with time, she would become more simplistic. Could she hold a job, or would I be responsible for clothing and sheltering her from the moment she could no longer do so on her own? The weight of responsibility became all too real, but I accepted it knowing what I had to do. First things first.
I tugged my phone from my pocket and dialed Nathan. He answered on the third ring panting. “Nathan, what were you doing?”
“A mental exercise. What’s up, baby?”
“Mental exercise wears you out? Never mind. Listen, we have a bead on the ghouls. Can you help?”
“Of course. Who is we?”
“Georgia and me.”
His doubt radiated over the airwaves.
“Trust me. Meet me at—”
“I’ll find you.” He hung up. Nathan never missed an opportunity to show off his nose. I believed him without a doubt. The moment I came back into present time in New Orleans, he was there with me, on that abandoned property.
First, I tracked down the representatives from Meris. Inna and company fought a group of five ghouls. The beasts were insanely strong, but Inna and her friends had been taught well. One of the ghouls swung his arm and knocked Inna on the ground. He leaped on top of her, and she raised both hands to ward him off. I started forward, but one of the others jumped in to help her.
Cheeks pink with humiliation, she balled a gloved fist and punched the ghoul hard. He went flying farther than she had. My thought was she had borrowed someone’s impressive strength. Even training couldn’t make a human girl that powerful. The gloves kept her from accidentally becoming a ghoul, I imagined. What a disaster that would be, and she might never recover from the horror.
Seeing that the humans had a good handle on this outbreak, I looked at Georgia. “Are others near, Georgia? The ones pulling you to hunt?”
She shook her head, but her gaze never left the group. I wondered what she was thinking, but I didn’t want to read her mind. “Not here. There are more, a lot more.”
Night Fever (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 3) Page 13
