Blood Song

“Look, Vicki’s death hasn’t been made public yet, but it probably wil be soon. Can you cal Dawna,

Emma, your dad, and the others?”

He sighed. “It’d be better if Dawna heard it from you. But I’l tel Emma and Dad.”

I barely heard him and couldn’t seem to stop talking. “I’d do it myself”—I took a shaky breath—“but I

need to tel Alex. I real y don’t want to, but I don’t know who else would—”

There was a stunned silence. “Oh fuck. Alex.”

“Yeah.”

“I’l make the cal s.” I could hear his hair brush across the speaker as he undoubtedly shook his head.

“But Celia, you need to get somewhere … less public. And sooner rather than later.”

“Thanks. I know. And I wil . I promise.” I’d do it, too. It was too late to hunt my sire tonight, and I was in

no condition to do it. And while I have a lot of faith in myself, I’m real y not reckless or stupid. So tonight

I’d go to the estate and lock myself in tight, with lots of weapons to protect me. Tomorrow … wel , I’d

deal with tomorrow when it got here. “Look, there are things we need to discuss that we shouldn’t talk

about over the phone. If you’re not going out to the desert, can you meet me at my place in two hours?”

“Two hours? I think this needs to be dealt with a lot quicker than that.”

I had the distinct feeling we were talking about different things. I wasn’t sure what his “this” was, but I

was betting it wasn’t the same as my “this.” “Look, I have to stop by the pharmacy to pick up the stuff

the doctor ordered. Besides, you need to get some dinner. You haven’t eaten, have you?” I changed

the subject as graceful y as I could, putting the bal squarely in his court. Yes, I was going to go to the

pharmacy. But that would only take a few minutes. I wanted the extra time to be alone.

But first I needed to cal Alex.

Just thinking about it made my eyes fil and my throat tighten. God, how was I going to tel her? She

loves … loved Vicki so damned much. This was going to just kil her. But it would be worse, much

worse, if she found out on the news, or from some jerk of a reporter. No. I had to do this. Had to.

Alex wasn’t at work. I was glad about that. Nobody wants to get that kind of news at the office. She

didn’t answer at home at first, let the cal go to her old-fashioned answering machine. Only after I’d

started talking, giving my name and asking her to cal me, did she pick up.

She sounded like hel . It was obvious she’d been crying. Her voice was raw and had that odd thick

quality that comes when your nose is stuffed from crying.

“You’re cal ing to tel me, aren’t you?”

“You already know.” It wasn’t a question.

“She came to me in the car on my way home from work. I barely managed to pul over without getting

in a wreck.”

I wasn’t surprised, after al , wasn’t that exactly what Vicki had done with me? And while she loved me

like a friend, Alex was her lover, the woman she might eventual y have married, now that the law

al owed it.

“I’m so sorry, Al. I know you loved each other very much.”

“Yeah.” The word was choked and rough, barely audible.

“Are you going to be okay?” I could barely say the words and tears were streaming down my face,

dripping off my nose.

“No.”

“Me either.”

I hung up and the tears overcame me—as though a dam had burst. Deep, wracking sobs of grief and

loss shook my body. I’d just start to get a grip on myself when another memory would hit, setting off

another wave of grief. I cried until there were no more tears, my head ached, and my throat was raw.

For a long time after that I just sat there, numb and too exhausted to move. Eventual y, I pul ed myself

together and started the engine with a roar. With a squeal of tires that was visceral y satisfying I took

off into the night.

I could’ve turned right onto the expressway, taking the artificial y bright, straight four-lane highway

directly through town. Traffic would be light at this time of night. But I chose to turn left, back onto

Ocean View. I didn’t know how much time I’d wasted crying, and I didn’t care. If I was late, Kevin would

just have to wait. Too much had happened in the past twenty-four hours. I needed a few more minutes

of peace and solitude to get a grip.

So I put the top down and sped along the winding road. The sky was perfectly clear, the moon riding

high in the sky, bathing the ocean in silver light that fractured in ripples as the waves broke onto the

shore. The salt-laden wind blew my hair back. I tuned the radio to the classical station, turning the

volume up loud enough that I could hear it over the wind. Al too soon I was back on the outskirts of

civilization, where street lamps cast swaths of artificial daylight that only made the shadows seem that

much darker and more menacing. Because make no mistake, the predators were out there. Say what

they wil about “taking back the night,” most humans prefer to stay home, behind their thresholds.

Those who do venture out do so mostly to attend big events where the police and the warrior priests

are out in force to provide protection.

I switched off the radio as it started playing yet another commercial advertising job openings for “true

believers” to work the graveyard shift. Sad to say, even with absolute proof of monsters and demons,

true believers were stil hard to come by. Hard enough that the convenience stores real y couldn’t

afford to pay them what they were worth—any more than the stores could afford more lawsuits over

slaughtered cashiers.

On that particularly cheery note I pul ed into the driveway of my twenty-four-hour pharmacy. I felt the

tingle of power as I passed the magical boundaries, but it wasn’t painful. Not even close to the barriers

they’d erected at the library or clinic. Then again, this was a chain store. They only put in enough

money to do the minimum necessary to salve their consciences and mitigate any damages should

there be a lawsuit.

A bel sounded as I pul ed under the awning. A teenage boy with crooked teeth and a bright silver

cross on a black leather choker around his neck slid back the window to greet me. “Welcome to

PharMart. How can I help you?”

“I’m Celia Graves. Dr. Scott’s office was supposed to have cal ed ahead—”

“Oh wow.” He stared at me, looking startled and afraid. “That’s you? I’m sorry, but—”

“Look, I’ve been bit, but I’m only partial y changed. You’re in no danger from me.”

“Yeah. Right.” He wasn’t being sarcastic, but he was stil afraid. “The order’s too big to fit through the

window. You’l have to come inside.”

Wel , crap. If it was too big for the window I was probably going to have a hard time fitting it in the car.

Damn it anyway. “Are you sure it’s going to be okay? People tend to freak when they get a good look at

me.”

“I can see why.” He swal owed hard. “Look, park the car and give me a couple minutes to