She leaned lower, her fangs closer…
And then heavy hands fell on her shoulders, and she screamed at the agony tearing her apart.
It took Lauren so long to smooth things over between Barry and Heidi that she was ready to scream at them both when Barry at last agreed to speak with Heidi again.
They were on the phone, cooing away to one another, when she finally felt able to leave, Big Jim Dixon accompanying her.
She was glad of his company. Big Jim seemed to take everything in stride, and he didn’t talk much; she was happy just to be with him.
He drove her right up to the front door of the hospital. “Are you coming in?” she asked him.
“I want to get back to the house. I don’t like to leave Stacey alone,” he told her. “Heidi seems just fine,” he said, noticing the way she quickly looked at him. “Honestly,” he added firmly.
“Of course,” Lauren said. “Thank you for driving me here.”
“We watch out for one another here. You go on up and see your friend. She won’t be alone. Bobby will be with her.”
Lauren walked through the halls and down to the elevator. People said hello all along the way, and she greeted them politely in return. New Orleans really was a great place—if you just discounted the vampires.
She reached Deanna’s floor, where there was the usual activity at the nurses’ station. It was a busy place. Doctors, orderlies, nurses, all going about their business.
She walked down the hall.
There was no officer outside the door..
She felt a little leap of fear, then remembered that Bobby was on duty, and he would be in the room with Deanna.
But when she reached the room and walked in, there was no one there.
Just Deanna, sleeping as usual. So beautiful, so peaceful, like the fairytale princess awaiting her lover.
The windows were open, the drapes blowing inward.
There was no sign of Bobby, or even Jonas.
As she stood in the doorway, puzzled, a scream echoed from down the hall.
13
M ark didn’t dare take “Nefertiti” to Montresse House—there was no way he would invite her into the home where Lauren and her friends had found safety. Nor could he take her out to Sean’s house, for the same reason. He would never risk the lieutenant and his fam ily’s safety by bringing such a creature in.
At least she seemed to have decided that he was dangerous to her, and she was quiet and well-behaved, accepting his lead as he moved down the street, trying to find a cafe with a courtyard and plenty of room—and sunlight.
She protested when he chose a place and picked ouut a table. His chair was in shadow. Hers was not.
“Sit,” he commanded.
“I’m sitting.”
“Talk.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“I want to know where you go to sleep.”
“I sleep…different places.”
“Who did this to you?” he asked her.
She waved a hand in the air dismissively. “Who knows? Someone with money.”
He leaned back, shaking his head. “You’re a liar. You never worked in that club until you became a vampire. And you go somewhere in particular at night.”
She stared at him sulkily just as a waitress came to their table and looked enquiringly at Mark. “Order,” he said with a shrug. Nefertiti smiled at the waitress. “He’s so rude. But he’s so good in bed that I don’t care,” she said sweetly.
The waitress, an older woman with graying hair, stared at the two of them as if she’d just been faced with the dregs of society.
“An ice tea, please,” he said.
“I’m hungry,” Nefertiti whined.
“Then eat.”
“He really is so commanding,” she told the waitress. “I’ll have a hamburger.”
“Medium? Medium-well?” the waitress asked.
Nefertiti offered her a sugary smile. “Raw, please.”
“You mean…rare? The health code suggests—”
”Not rare. Raw. No bun, thanks.”
