Texas Hold 'Em (22 page)

“He’s not the one I was referring to.” Kevin took the hint and shut up, at least until the waitress came by to deliver our drinks and take the dinner orders. He didn’t fail to notice that Marie had declined to order food.

Kevin’s next question was naturally directed at Marie. “I don’t suppose you’re a vampire?”

“Why, yes, I am.” She folded her hands in front of her, giving Kevin her undivided attention.

“Can you procreate?”

Lacey’s drink spewed out in an arc, covering both Kevin and me in Coke and whiskey.

“Aw, free love! That’s what I miss most about the 1960s. I think you and I were both born at the wrong time, Kevin. Especially me. I’m digging your offer, but you look a little young. Tell you what—call me once you hit eighteen and we’ll give it a go.”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant. I mean, can you bear a child, or do you reproduce strictly by biting?” Kevin asked as he patted himself, then his computer, dry with his napkin.

“Oh. In that case, then, no. No children for me, I’m afraid, at least not in that sense. It’s kind of a drag. Not that I want one right now, of course. They’re, like, a lot of responsibility. I mean, we could always adopt. But we normally don’t. It’s, like, really, really sad watching your kid grow old and die, you know? So we normally stick to turning someone if we get lonely or find someone we especially care about. That way it’s permanent.”

“Hey, Chance, what do you think? You and Megan, together forever?” asked Lacey, bringing up something that I had doing my best to beat out of my mind on the rare occasions it popped in.

I was going to laugh it off, but I saw Megan’s intent stare. I fumbled for an answer, but thankfully Kevin was insistently curious and had no apparent tact.

“How is it done? Turning someone?” Kevin plowed ahead, pleased he’d found a more receptive interviewee.

“Would you like me to give you a little demonstration?” Marie asked, leaning forward, her ever-present smile widening.

“No thanks, just a description would be fine,” Kevin said, the humor apparently lost on him.

Marie shrugged. “Well, the short answer is a blood transfusion.”

“Both ways?”

“No, one way is all that’s technically required. From the vampire to the human. Though both ways creates this cool bond that has to be experienced to believe.” She paused, and was lost in thought for a moment before continuing. “Like with most things, there’s a right way and a wrong way. If you do too much too quickly, they go into shock and can die. Even if done properly, sometimes they can’t adjust and, unless you’re on hand to help them, they go feral.”

“Like a rabid animal?”

Marie nodded. “Yep. Then they have to be put down. It’s best to do it slow. Most things are better when you do them slowly, don’t you think, Kevin?”

“So you mean one slow transfusion or multiple shorter ones?” Innuendo was lost on the kid.

“A lot of shorter ones.” Marie sighed, giving up.

“Interesting. How many, typically?”

“Depends. If you want to be really safe, no less than three or four. In a pinch, it can be done with less, but that has risks. Sometimes you can drag it out if you want. Like with Bryan here, it should take another five or six times before he turns.”

“What? Hey! Screw that, I did not drink your blood.” He paused, scrunching up his face in concentration. “Did I?”

“Bryan, are you telling me you forgot our time together so quickly?” It was obvious that Marie was trolling him, but Lacey rose to the bait.

“You better not be turning Bryan into the walking dead, or you’re going to be all out of blood to give anyone,” said Lacey, her hackles rising.

“Why not? Oh, wow! Like, I’m sorry, do you have feelings for him? It’s okay if you do. I don’t mind sharing.” Marie grinned at discovering a new button she could push.

“There’s more than enough of me to go around!” said Bryan, forgetting all about being turned into a vampire and instead zeroing in on the chance for a threesome.

“So there’s a connection? Between a new vampire and the one that turned them?” Kevin continued.

“Yes. Like that of a parent and child.”

“Interesting. So do the children have to obey the parent, then?”

Lacey made a sound. “Not if Megan is anything to go by.”

Marie agreed, less judgmentally.

“But could the new vampire harm its maker? Do they have some sort of psychic link or mind control? Telepathic communication?”

“As far as psychic link or telepathy, no. On some occasions, especially if blood was shared both ways, a sort of empathy can exist. Like when one twin can feel the other’s pain or happiness.”

“Oh, poor Donovan!” said Lacey. “He must be an emotional wreck the way you’ve been lately.”

“Donovan and I never shared that type of bond. It doesn’t always work that way,” said Megan.

I hadn’t realized he had been the one to turn Megan. Though it made sense, and explained a lot of her loyalty. I chewed on the information, only half listening now to Kevin and Marie.

Marie continued. “Typically you would never harm your maker. Think of it like a parent to a child. Most children would never harm their parents, but there are always exceptions. When a parent has been particularly evil, or when a child is a sociopath. Same goes with us.”

“Huh.” Kevin settled back, and for a moment it seemed as if his insatiable thirst for knowledge had subsided. But apparently that was only intermission. He leaned forward again and asked, “So can any vampire make another one, or do you have to be a certain age?”

“As with humans, anyone can create spawn, though some probably shouldn’t,” Marie said. “Though the older a vampire gets, the easier it becomes and the higher the success rate.”

“You keep saying success rate. Does it fail sometimes?”

Marie nodded. “It’s a total bummer when it does, especially if it’s someone you really like.”

“So what happens to the human when you fail?” Kevin asked.

This was going to go on all night. “Well, this is all very interesting, yet not remotely related to getting my mom back,” I said. It was high time to figure out a course of action.

“Hey, I can help you on that one! I know where she is,” said Kevin.

“We do, too—she’s in the hotel,” I said.

“But I know which rooms. While I was waiting for you guys to show up, I hacked into the hotel computer.”

“How could you tell which room she’s in?”

“They used your mom’s credit cards for the reservations.”

“Tacky,” said Lacey.

“You said rooms? As in more than one?” I asked.

“Three suites,” Kevin said.

“Any way of knowing which one she’s in?” I asked.

Kevin shook his head. “All three are under your mom’s name.”

“Any of them order room service?” asked Lacey, always thinking with her stomach.

“Oh, hey, that’s a good idea. Let me check. Yup! Only one of them. Ordered it a couple of times in the past few days. In fact, had a dinner delivered about an hour ago. Man, these prices are crazy—your mom’s credit cards are going to be maxed when these guys get through with them.”

“That’s the least of her worries. How long have they been here?”

“Under a week. They have the rooms reserved through tomorrow.”

“They’re either skipping town or they found some-thing more permanent.”

“They’re not going anywhere,” Marie said, com-pletely without enthusiasm.

“Well, now that we know where she is, how do we get in the room? Knocking will ruin the surprise.”

“I can take care of that,” said Megan.

The elevator redefined “taking one’s time” as it made its way to the top of the building where the suites were located. A loud ding punctuated our crawl upwards as we passed each floor.

As was customary, everyone faced the doors—except for Marie, who stood with her back to the doors and faced the rest of us. She was humming “The Girl From Ipanema” as she picked a rust-colored substance that I hoped was dirt out from under her nails. Unlike Megan’s perfect manicure, hers were on the short side and painted with chipped black polish.

I spent the ride mulling over how to deal with Marie. Despite the ample time the journey provided me to ponder my options, the best I could come up with was to wait until she made a move, then stake her.

I admit to briefly toying with the idea of preemptively killing her right then and there in the elevator. Maybe attack her from behind when she turned to exit the elevator. She was old, but I would have the element of surprise. The problem was it might not be enough. Bryan would go ballistic if I tried it, and if she lived through the first attempt, my brother would do something stupid like try to save her. I also knew that Megan would not be thrilled to have me kill a vampire for what she would consider to be no good reason.

Besides, despite my vampire-hunter origins, I found my perspective had shifted. Now, straight-up killing a vampire—at least, one that wasn’t trying to kill me first—felt too much like murder.

My shoulders slumped at the realization that my world was no longer the much-easier-to-deal-with black and white. I was living in shades of gray. Things were a lot less complicated when I thought like Jacob did: all monsters were bad, and you took them out as soon as you came across one.

I glanced at Marie. Still humming, she lifted her gaze from her fingers and winked at me. I looked back down. I knew Marie was going to turn on us; the question was when. At least Kevin wouldn’t be around when the inevitable betrayal came. Jacob would never forgive me if I let his nephew get hurt on my watch.

I couldn’t get Kevin to leave the hotel, but we compromised on having him wait safely for us back down in the restaurant. Even that had taken some negotiation. When the offer to buy him dessert failed, Marie surprised us all by telling Kevin that if he stayed put he could watch her “vamp out” after we were done. I had a feeling he would be sorely disappointed.

A final ding rang out as the elevator lurched to a stop. I glanced at the red number to confirm we were on the right floor, then looked over the top of Marie’s head at the closed doors. A few seconds passed, and I was considering reaching for the emergency phone, when the doors finally parted with a cacophony of squeaks and groans.

We spilled out of the elevator, got our bearings, and headed down the hall in the direction of the room numbers Kevin had given us. The hotel was a circular tower. All of the rooms faced outward, while things like the elevator, the staircase, and the vending machines were on the inside.

We found the three rooms we were looking for. They were all in a row, with the one that had numerous charges to room service sandwiched between the other two. Megan pulled out the key card she had procured earlier.

When Megan said she could take care of getting us in the rooms, I had wondered if she had some sort of mad lock-picking skills that I wasn’t aware of. It turned out she used vampire hypnosis to push a maid into handing over her master key. It was effective, but anticlimactic.

I put a hand out to stop Megan. She paused and watched me lean against the door to try to feel for any supernatural auras. The room seemed clean, but with the interference I was getting from Megan and Marie, who were both leaning in close, it was hard to be sure. I was awash in the cool vibe that is vampire.

“All I hear is the TV. Something with a laugh track,” said Marie. Thinking I was listening for sounds of people, she had placed her own ear to the door.

Lacey filled her in. “Chance is our resident vamp detector. He doesn’t have to hear you guys. He can feel you when you get close.”

“Really?” asked Marie, pushing away from the door to stare at me. “That’s strange. What are you?”

“What do you mean, what am I?”

“Well, are you some kind of psychic? A Faerie? Alien? Escaped secret government experiment?”

“Um…noooo…just human.”

“Huh. Can you only feel vampires, or other things as well?”

I was going to have a talk with Lacey later on about volunteering information about me to strange women.

“I can sense when I’m around any type of supernatural, um, person.”

“Curious. And what do you feel is in this room?”

“With you and Megan insisting on being so close to me, I can’t feel a thing except for you two, so there’s only one way to find out. Let’s open it up and see what’s inside. If we’re lucky, we can get in and out with my mom before anyone notices.”

Megan and Marie looked at each other and then walked down the hallway. As their auras faded, I tried to test what I could feel. Something was there on the periphery. It felt like a vampire, but not in this room. Maybe the one to the left.

“I think this room is clear, but at least one vamp is next door,” I said.

Bryan interrupted. “Man, she’s probably not even here. It’s Saturday night. You know they’re out on the town, tearing it up.” I wasn’t sure if he had intended the play on words.

In whispers, we agreed on a plan. Megan slid the key card in and out of the slot. The door made an electronic-sounding click and the three small LEDs above the card reader flashed green.

Megan opened the door and stepped silently into the room. Less gracefully, Bryan and I followed, drawing our guns as we did. Marie had elected to wait in the hall and keep lookout, because violence “wasn’t her thing.” Lacey hung back to keep an eye on Marie, because Marie wasn’t hers.

The expansive suite could have used a refresh, but despite its out-of- date décor, it was elegant. We walked into a large living room with a small kitchenette in one corner and a bar in the other. An open door led to what was presumably the bedroom. The ceilings were high and the outer wall, like the restaurant below, was made entirely of glass. The view across the river was spectacular.

My mom sat on the couch watching one her favorite TV shows. She looked up in pleasant surprise as we entered. It certainly didn’t look like they had abused her; in fact, she appeared better than she had in a while. I didn’t recognize her clothes, which were new and more expensive than she could have afforded. For once, her makeup was tastefully applied, and there wasn’t even a full ashtray in front of her.