"Speak to Alyssa first. Get her to confirm what I've said. Williams can wait."
"What if he tries it again with someone else?"
"I don't think one night will make much difference. I put him out of commission, don't you worry. One broken rib takes a few hours to heal, and he's got a lot more than that to worry about.
He's not going anywhere."
"What did you do with him?" That's one detail Adam still hasn't surrendered, and I don't know whether the thought of Williams lying outdoors, burning as the sun rises, fills me with horror or happiness.
"Dumped him on a local doorstep and rang the bell. Hid round the corner to make sure someone answered, legged it. Any more questions?"
"I..." I want to tell him there's no need for me to check out his story with Alyssa, but there's a part of me that can't stop being just the tiniest bit wary of things Adam says. Force of habit rather than genuine suspicion.
"You know you want to."
"I don't know. Visiting hours will be over soon, and Alyssa might not be awake yet."
"You'd better hurry up, then, hadn't you? Go on, go on." Adam makes a sweeping gesture with one hand, urging me out of the room. "I'll wait here. Till this knits itself back together." As if he needs to, he prods himself in the chest, wincing slightly less than he has before. Already it must be getting better, but it's clearly still painful. "Get a taxi to the hospital; it'll take less time. But take your time coming back; you'll need to compose a suitably grovelling apology."
Chapter 15
ALYSSA'S MOTHER ISN'T BY her bedside when I arrive; despite the fact that I'm a vampire and capable of striking fear into the hearts of many, there's something about an over-protective mother that sends a shiver up my spine. Ironic, as Alyssa's always complaining that I worry too much about her.
Thankfully, Alyssa herself is awake. Barely.
When I hove into view, she fights to keep her eyes open, and I pull up a chair.
"Alyssa. How are you feeling?"
Her lips move, attempting speech for some time before she croaks out a quiet, "Tired," barely audible above the sounds of nurses bustling here and there, other visitors packing up and readying to leave, patients yapping, a radio playing somewhere in the background.
"In a lot of pain?"
She shakes her head, winces. Being brave.
It's got to hurt. I know it did with me, but then again, my injuries were a lot worse. And Alyssa has the advantage of still being alive. I'm informed there were no vampiric fluids of any sort in the wound, and she wasn't close enough to her heart stopping for there to be any danger of death or transformation.
I'm going to have to look after her all over again; before it was illness, this time it's injury. I don't mind. It's just that I'd rather not see her in this state at all. But at least I know who's responsible.
Guilt and shame twist in my gut as I look down at her, so pale against the pillow, her dark hair now pulled back and left curled over one shoulder. Illness leads to pallor, as does blood loss. Put the two together, and one could almost believe Alyssa is a ghost.
I know who's responsible; partly me for letting her go out alone, but mostly John Williams of course. And that little interlude when I believed it was Adam? I could cringe with the shame of it, and do.
"What the hell are you doing here? Again?"
And now the cringing is down to that woman hovering over me like an evil shadow.
"Honestly...I go to the bathroom for five minutes, and you show up; there must be something supernatural about your timing, as well."
"Don't you mean unnatural?" I ask, quirking a sarcastic eyebrow at her, glaring as she sits in the other chair on the opposite side of the bed.
"You said it. I want you out of here."
I want to ask her and where's Saint George? but manage to resist. Only just. "Do you want me to leave, or would you prefer to find out who's responsible for Alyssa being in here?"
"One of your lot, I know that much---"
"Don't think that just because we're of the same species that we have anything to do with each other. After all, that would be as silly as calling you Peter Sutcliffe's new best friend just because you're both human, wouldn't it?" Okay, I don't accuse her of being a dragon---yet---but I can't resist some snark. "Alyssa." I turn back to her daughter; even when she's not quite so ill, quite so quiet, she's much easier to deal with than the piece of work who birthed her. "I'm going to show you a photo of someone. Don't ask where I got it." At this, I glare at the termagant across the bed before continuing. "And I want you to tell me if this is the man who attacked you." That damn cringing won't stop; first because of my guilt over Alyssa's attack, then because of the presence of her mother, and now because I sound like a bad audition for a Sunday night cop show. "You understand?"
Alyssa nods, a few strands of her hair making scritch scratch sounds against the rough cotton of the pillowcase.
"Where did you get that?" Mrs. Palmer asks as I lift the plastic ID card and cover out of my coat pocket.
"I told her not to ask. That applies to you too."
"If you know something, you should---"
"Mrs. Palmer, for once in your life, will you shut the hell up?" I don't raise my voice, but a passing nurse raises her head at my tone, and a visitor at a nearby bedside glances over. "You want something done about this? Let me take care
