Night of the Vampires (17 page)

Evil personified.

She kept shouting to Cole, telling him that it was
coming, that he had to turn around, that he had to quit watching
her
and see the truth. She wasn't the evil—the thing coming for him was the true monster, and he wouldn't see it….

The cloud descended closer and closer….

“Megan, Megan!”

She awoke with a start, ready to scream, leap from her seat and look for the danger.

She was ready to die for him,
she realized.

“Megan! It's all right,” he warned her quickly, his hands on her shoulders, guiding her back into her seat. His eyes were troubled; he looked past her, making sure that no one else had noted her panic. “It's all right,” he said again. “We've just stopped. We're in Frederick, Maryland. We're stopping, that's all.”

“Oh,” she murmured, and still she looked around, trying to tell herself that it had only been a dream.

He smiled and stroked her cheek gently, a strange light in the deep blue of his eyes. “But, thank you,” he said.

“For what?”

“Being ready to leap in front of fire—for me.”

She feared being so vulnerable, and for feeling such a deep fascination and attraction to Cole. There could be nothing good about it, and yet…

“It's—it's just what I do.”

And he laughed. “Really?” he queried in a husky whisper. “Well, may I say, I am ready to leap in front of fire for you.”

“It's what you do, too,” she said gravely. And he smiled, about to say more, but the train suddenly jerked and she fell forward, almost into his arms.

“We'll see, won't we?” he said and sat back. Because the soldiers across the aisle were rising, and Sergeant Newcomb was coming toward them.

S
ERGEANT NEWCOMB WAS
a man who struck Megan as the type of father she would have dearly loved to have had. She reminded herself that she'd been raised by a wonderful stepfather, and she should just be grateful for that fact. But Newcomb was endearing to her nonetheless.

He limped down the aisle to them. “I believe we'll be here for about an hour or so. They're adding more supplies and taking on a few more passengers.”

“Thank you,” Cole said. “We'll detrain for the time? Maybe find a restaurant where we can get something to eat.”

“There is a place in the St. James Hotel, just up the street,” Newcomb told them.

“Will you join us, Sergeant?” Megan asked him.

Newcomb shook his head. “We'll remain here, miss, to watch the provisions. You go and have a nice meal, some proper sustenance.”

Cole grinned. He whispered in her ear, “Maybe we can find a very rare steak.”

She forced a smile. “I certainly hope so. You always do smell good enough to eat,” she replied covertly.

To her surprise, he laughed. “All right, I deserved that one! Come on, then, let's hurry. An hour isn't that long.”

“I hope not. I think we might have gotten there much more quickly on our own,” she said, chaffing.

“In the best of conditions, it's a day on horseback. And given the terrain—and what might be found on such a journey—the train is our best bet,” Cole assured her. “Besides, with what we might be facing, we have to be supplied, and rested.”

“All right. Let's find a rare steak, then,” she said.

They walked through the station to the street, where they were directed to the hotel. There were many men in uniform about, and there were many men who must have been in uniform at one time or another, their shirt-sleeves clipped at the elbow, where their arms ended, or moving awkwardly on crutches, lower limbs missing. Women moved along raised sidewalks, and here, too, though some sights showed clearly that a war was in progress, people went about their daily lives. At the hotel restaurant they were ushered to a table, and an elderly waiter took their order. There was no beef to be had, so they settled on chicken.

“I'm sorry,” Cole told Megan.

“I'll be fine. I have my…basket that Cody and Alex prepared.”

Their plates had just arrived when she saw Cole suddenly stiffen, looking toward the doorway.

“What is it?” Megan asked.

“Trudy,” he said, frowning. “Alone.”

Megan tried to discern who this Trudy was that had seized his attention. She felt a fluttering of jealousy, no matter how she warned herself that she was certainly
not
the object of any real affection from Cole.

She was startled to realize that he was looking at a small, mousy little woman. She was tiny, extremely thin,
and seemed to be slightly bent over. She wore gold-wired glasses, and wore her hair in an unflattering bun.

“Trudy?” she persisted.

“She's Lisette's assistant,” Cole explained, rising. “Excuse me.”

He walked across to the entry, startling the woman as he greeted her. She offered him a shy, meek smile, and then followed him across the room.

“Trudy Malcolm, this is Megan Fox. Megan, Miss Trudy Malcolm,” Cole said, politely introducing the two.

“How do you do,” Megan said politely.

Even at that, the young woman blushed. “I'm fine, thank you. I didn't mean to disturb your lunch.”

“You're not disturbing us. Please. Sit down,” Cole urged her.

“Oh, no, really, I…”

“Please, Miss Malcolm, we would very much enjoy for you to join us. Were you about to have a late lunch?” Megan asked.

“Yes, but—”

“I'll have our waiter bring another chair,” Cole said firmly, and insisted that Trudy take his seat while he arranged another for himself.

The woman sat, looking so miserable that Megan wondered if they shouldn't have just let her be.

“So, where is Miss Annalise?” Megan asked, not wishing to let the young woman sit there in painfully awkward silence.

“Oh, well, Lisette went on into Harpers Ferry on the late-afternoon train that left last evening. I'm to board the train in about an hour.”

“The train we're on?” Megan said. She forced a smile,
but her mind was working. So, Lisette Annalise was already at Harpers Ferry.

And men had been savagely killed overnight.

But the attack on the children had been last night, too. Of course, they knew that there were a number of the creatures at work in D.C. still and at Harpers Ferry.

But she had dreamed that
Lisette
was a vicious blood-sucker. After Cole!

“Well, you'll be on our train, then,” Megan said cheerfully.

Cole had garnered another chair and he pulled it up to the side of the table. Their elderly waiter was a bit slow in adding another setting to the table, but they all waited patiently. Eventually, Cole told him, “We have to be back at the train, my good sir, if you'd be good enough to bring us a plate as quickly as possible for this young lady?”

The waiter nodded.

“Thank you,” Trudy murmured.

“I must admit, I'm surprised to see you alone,” Cole said. “I thought it was your job to follow along with Lisette.”

“Oh, it is!” she said quickly. “But we came here quite late, and Lisette ordered me to just rest for the night. I believe she thought that I was a bit of a hindrance, that I wasn't moving quickly enough for her. She can be very impatient.” She seemed disturbed. “It's my job, of course, to see to such mundane things as accommodations, and I should have gone ahead of Lisette, but…well, events move quickly. I do my best to be of service.”

“I'm sure you do,” Cole told her.

Megan noted that he was kind to the shy, unattractive woman, and she liked him all the more for his careful courtesy. Still, she couldn't help but wonder what his
relationship with Lisette Annalise had been. The woman was certainly a powerhouse. She went after what she wanted, and she had evidently wanted Cole.

And? Had she had him? She'd implied that they'd been close. Intimately close.

Megan told herself that she seriously needed to remember the business at hand—and to stop indulging in this growing fascination over Cole and his life. He was a Texan, for God's sake. A sheriff. A human who knew all about vampires. A man who considered her to be…
a monster, still, no matter what his words or his apparent trust.

Trust…she had earned.

Fine, so she was jealous. That didn't entirely preclude rational thought. And Lisette had been in Harpers Ferry, and more people had been killed. Lisette had been in Washington, D.C., when other horrible things had happened there, though, apparently, not when the children had been attacked. And, if she was to be honest with herself, the figure last night had been in a long coat and a broad hat. The figure had appeared to be that of a man, before it became a whirling shadow shooting into the sky.

“Lisette is, of course, brilliant,” Trudy said, defending the woman.

“She is an excellent actress,” Cole agreed.

Megan found herself clinging to those words. He hadn't said that Lisette was beautiful, or that she was a wonderful person. He had just stated that she was quite the actress.

“And she is energetic, and dedicated,” Trudy said loyally.

“Very dedicated,” Cole agreed.

The waiter brought Trudy's chicken. As he did so, a woman let out a cry from a table near them. Cole and Megan were both instantly on their feet, seeking out the problem.

“Joshua, my boy, my poor child…!”

She was just two tables down from them, and she was on her knees next to a boy of about eight or nine who had collapsed at the table.

Cole was at her side in two steps, inspecting the boy's eyes and face closely. “Is there somewhere I can take the child?” he asked.

The elderly waiter could move when necessary. “There are downstairs guest rooms—right this way, sir!” he told Cole.

Cole gently cradled the collapsed child in his arms and followed the man. The woman was right behind him, Megan behind her.

They came to a nicely appointed guest room and Cole laid the boy out on the bed. He turned to the hovering older woman. “Has he been ill?”

“Just…just this morning. He said that he was feeling weak, and I thought that I should I take him for a good meal and that would make him feel better. His father is far away fighting, and his mother died a few months ago, and…he's all that gives us hope!” She was hysterical, her hands grasping at each other desperately.

“I'll ask after a doctor,” the waiter said.

“There's no time,” Cole said briskly. “I need medical tubing and two surgical needles. The soldiers will have the supplies on the train.”

He stared at Megan.

You're not a doctor! Cody is,
she mouthed to him.

“I need the supplies!” was his only reply.

As she turned to head out and run for the train, she nearly tripped over Trudy Malcolm, who had silently followed her. Megan couldn't waste time being gentle. She moved the young woman out of the way, tore out of the hotel and ran back down the street to the train. Sergeant Newcomb saw her coming and raced toward her, moving very quickly for a man with a limp.

“Cole needs a medical supply bag. I didn't know that we—”

“I'll get it.”

She nodded as he turned and ran. She waited—for too long, it felt!—but the bag wasn't packed anywhere at the rear of the train, and upon his return Newcomb yelled that he had to look among their things in the passenger car. Megan thanked him, and she hurried back up to the hotel.

“You could kill the boy!” Trudy was saying as Megan burst back into the room, her meek voice filled with horror.

“Mrs. Osterly, is it? Ma'am, I honestly believe this is the only chance the boy has to survive,” Cole said, looking intently at the nervous woman.

Megan glanced at the boy. He was almost parchment-white. “He's right,” she said.

“Oh, I don't know. Joshua…” The older woman spoke in a whisper, still wringing her hands.

Megan went up to the boy and touching his cheek. Upon his throat she saw the telltale marks.

Sometimes, vampires struck in a wild frenzy, hungry, and in a swift killing mode.

Sometimes, they were subtle, taking enough to slowly drain the life from a victim.

This boy was near death from total blood loss.

“This gentleman is right,” she said, her voice strong with conviction. “The child will die without a transfusion. They've been done by several doctors on both sides of the conflict, and I've been involved, as has Mr. Granger. I will stake my life that we can save the boy.”

Mrs. Osterly smoothed back a stray strand of graying hair and looked at Megan.

She nodded. “Yes. Give him a chance!” she managed.

“Height,” Cole said. “Megan?”

She nodded, and quickly added cushions and pillows to one side of the bed. She lay down and bared her arm. Cole went through the medical bag and found the needles and tubes that were necessary. He tied a tourniquet around her arm.

“Have you done this before?” she asked him in a whisper.

“Not alone,” he whispered back. “Do you trust me?”

She met his steady gaze. She nodded.

She closed her eyes and felt the pinch of the needle. She'd given blood so recently she thought she might black out. It seemed she could feel it flowing from her veins. She closed her eyes and tried to think of daylight, of beautiful days in rich green meadows with the sun shining overhead. She tried to think of the sound of a brook rushing over rocks….

She saw the beautiful meadow, the dazzling water…. And then shadow. The dark shadow that came to ruin the brilliance of the day.

She opened her eyes.

She was still in the guest room at the St. James Hotel,
and Cole was still leaning over her. She had blacked out. She had frightened herself back to consciousness.

Cole was looking at her with concern creating dark storms in his eyes. Tension knitted his brow and tightened his features. “Are you all right?” he asked anxiously.

She nodded. “Joshua?” she asked weakly.

Cole nodded gravely.

She tried to offer him a weak smile. “I guess you're not a bad doctor.”

He shook his head. “I shouldn't have used you. I shouldn't have used your blood.”

She started to rise, feeling just a little dizzy. “I do have the best blood.”

“Easy,” he said.

She looked around. They were alone in the room.

“Where is everyone?” she asked.

“I'm here!” Trudy said, waving a hand from the doorway, then, apparently, feeling that she had intruded, she stepped back.

“Well, thank you,” Megan said, trying to make her feel welcome, yet hoping that she and Cole hadn't said anything that they wouldn't have wanted the young woman overhearing.

Trudy got up the courage to step into the room again. “I—I took the liberty of having the waiter prepare bundles of food for you, too.”

“That was very thoughtful,” Megan told her.

“Yes, and, if you can, we need to move. They've delayed the train, but can't do so for long,” Cole said.

“No, no, I'm fine. Just so long as the boy…” Her voice trailed as she tried to rise and nearly fell back. Cole caught her, steadying her.

“You're not all right,” he said.

“I will be…if we can just get to the train.”

“Lean on me,” he said.

“I seem to be doing that a lot lately,” she murmured.

“Ah, but that's because we keep using you,” he teased in a whisper, for her ears only.

She likely would have flushed, had she enough blood left to rush anywhere.

“Come on, now,” Cole said.