They Come by Night (56 page)

Matthew followed it, surprised when it turned into the parking lot of Pritchert Foods. He parked a few spaces down and strode purposefully to the supermarket. He already had most of what he needed, but this was serendipitous.

He went to the produce department and picked up a bunch of bananas.

“It looks like they’ve got a good bunch, don’t you think?”

Matthew turned to see the monster standing not two feet from him, and for a second, it was as if he stood before his father. His grip on the bananas almost crushed them. He was afraid if he made himself smile, it would be more a grimace. “Yes.”

“I have to pick up a couple myself. I make chocolate banana shakes, but I ran out last night and had to use strawberries instead. It was pretty good, but banana is—Is something wrong?”

He’d been staring at the monster. “You look a good deal like my father.”

“Really?”

“Yes. His name was Benjamin Small.”

The monster’s jaw dropped. “Seriously? That’s my dad’s name!”

“Are you….” He had to force the name from his lips. “Are you Tyrell?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Matthew. I’m your oldest brother.” He almost choked on the words.

“Oh, my God, talk about a small world!” It burst into laughter. “I’m sorry. I was laughing at the pun. It’s a small world, and we’re Smalls.” Its laughter faded.

Matthew wanted to knock it down, but instead he forced a smile. “You’re right.”

“I’m sorry,” it said again. “I’m being silly. It’s just that it’s wonderful to meet you!”

“Yes.” Matthew made himself hold out his hand.

“I’m sorry.” Why did the damned monster keep apologizing? “I… I can’t touch people.”

Of course you can’t
, Matthew thought snidely. He had no doubt it was
him
the monster couldn’t touch.

“I’d love to talk more with you, but I’m expecting company. I’ll be at Dad’s later today, though. Could you come by?” It took the paper it was holding, turned it over, and scribbled an address on the back.

“Thanks. I have to go.” He couldn’t meet its eyes, so like his father’s. “My… my wife is pregnant, and she asked for bananas.”

“She is? I’m going to be an uncle? Awesomesauce! Please bring her with you!”

Jesus, how could one little lie erupt into a volcano of them? “If she’s feeling up to it.” As if he’d let this monster near a child of his!

“Okay. Well, please tell her I said hi. I’ll… I’ll see you later, Matthew?” It sounded shy and almost hopeful. What an actor it was!

“Yes.” Oh, it would see him sooner than that!

“Cool beans! Bye now.” It selected a couple of bananas, put them in its cart, and walked toward the dairy aisle.

Matthew looked down at the paper in his hand. The handwriting was surprisingly tidy. On one side was Benjamin Small’s address, while on the other was listed bananas, orange juice, bacon, eggs, bread. How could it be so… ordinary?

He turned on his heel and headed toward the front of the store.

At this hour, only one checkout lane was open, but it didn’t matter—no one stood on line. Matthew gave the cashier the bananas, and she weighed them and rang them up. He handed her a ten-dollar bill, and when she’d completed the transaction, he stuffed the change in his pocket.

“Paper or plastic?” she asked him.

“Uh… neither. I’m going to eat them right now. In the car.”

She looked at the bunch he was holding and shrugged. “Okay. Come back and see us soon.”

“Yeah.” He rushed through the door. This end of the parking lot was fairly empty. As casually as he could, he glanced around to make sure no one was watching him. When he got to the rear of the monster’s car, he dropped the bananas. “Shit, that was clumsy of me,” he said, just in case anyone
was
watching. He crouched down and quickly stuffed the bananas in the twin tailpipes. Then he went to his own car and waited.

About ten minutes later, the monster came out, pushing a cart that held three plastic bags. It took out a key, aimed it at the car, and the trunk lid slowly lifted up.

With the bags loaded in the trunk, the monster slammed down the lid and walked the cart to the corral. Matthew gnashed his teeth. Why did it have to do that? People just left the carts any which way in the parking lot.

It looked at its watch. “Whoa! I’d better hurry!” It opened the car door and got in.

The engine turned over, and the monster put the car in gear. The car went forward about a half dozen feet, and then began to jerk and shudder. Within seconds it had stalled out.

Perfect.

Matthew held his breath, poured some chloroform on a washcloth, and tucked the cloth into his back pocket. He strolled casually to the driver’s side and tapped on the window.

“Having a problem?” he asked when the window rolled down.

“Matthew! I guess so. I never had any trouble with Lucy before—”

“Lucy?”

It chuckled. “My car. I call her Lucretia MacEvil.”

“Nice name.” He thought he was going to throw up. “Suppose I take a look under the hood?”

“Would you? I hate to confess I’m not much of a car person.”

“Why should you be?” He motioned for it to pull the hood latch.

“Well, all my friends can pretty much service their cars. Me? I know the gas goes in one end and the oil and water the other end, and I need to plug it in to charge it, but that’s about it.”

“Ha-ha.” He went to the front of the car, raised the hood, and propped it so it wouldn’t fall on his head. He wasn’t a car person either, and he had no idea what he was looking at, but he probed this and pushed that.

The monster came to stand beside him. “What’s wrong?” Thank God it kept some distance between them.

“I’d say the problem is the hut sut on the rillerah. It’s clogged.” He took the cloth from his pocket and pretended to wipe grease from his hands. A quick glance showed the lot and the surrounding area empty.

“What’s that sm—”

Matthew grabbed it and shoved the cloth over its mouth and nose. Of course there was panic in its eyes—it knew it was going to pay for being what it was: a monster.

It was surprisingly strong, but he was stronger. In a matter of seconds, its struggles ceased, and he caught it as its legs folded under it and it collapsed.

Somehow he managed to get the monster to his car and onto the backseat without vomiting. He turned it onto its belly—chloroform had soaked its collar and should keep it unconscious until he got it to de Vivar’s cesspit.

And if a cop stopped him, he’d say his brother wasn’t feeling well.

Matthew eased behind the wheel, sternly battling down his unease when he realized the moment of truth had arrived. How was he going to find his way back to the boarded-up hovel? But then, as Benito had promised, it was as if a GPS began whispering directions in his head. He put the key in the ignition and turned it on. He wanted to get there while it was still daylight. There were more windows whose boards he needed to loosen, and once that was done, he’d go home, leaving the monster to meet its fate.

III

E
KATERINA CLIMBED the steps of the porch, raising an eyebrow at the barking coming from within the house. She pressed the doorbell and smiled when she heard the overture from
The Phantom of the Opera
. Behind her, William, Henry, and Thomas chuckled, finding Ty’s choice of music for his doorbell as amusing as she did.

She stopped smiling when no one came to answer the door.

“Could he still be asleep?” William asked.

“No. He knew we would be here.”

“Could he be in the bathroom?”

“I suppose….” She worried her lower lip, then pressed the bell again, harder. This time the barking seemed almost frantic, and she exchanged glances with her brother and the other two day watchers. “I don’t like this.”

“Can you get us inside?” William knew the big French vampyr had taught her many things.

“I don’t know.” She rested her left palm on the strike plate, jerked the door toward her and turned the knob at the same time. There was a faint
snick
as the lock disengaged, and she pushed the door open, barely managing to catch the
Înger Păzitor
as she attempted to dart past her. “Mina, what’s wrong?”

The dog didn’t struggle, just seemed to grow heavier and heavier.

“I’m going to search the house,” William said.

“Be careful. There are two vampyrs here, and you don’t want to expose them to sunlight.”

He gave a curt nod and strode off toward the rear of the little bungalow.

“Henry, would you check the garage? See if Ty’s car is there. The code to get in is ten thirty-one. Thomas, search the property.”

They hurried to do her bidding without a word, and she closed the door behind them so the
Înger Păzitor
wouldn’t get out.

Mina still vibrated with anxiety. Ekaterina put her down and rubbed her ears. “Where is your master, little one?”

She whined and seized the leg of Ekaterina’s jeans and tugged her toward the door.

“He’s not here, is he?”

Mina pulled harder, and Ekaterina picked her up again.

“Soon, little mistress. We have to be certain we don’t go off half-cocked.”

“He’s not here, Kat. Raymond and Raul are in the bedroom, and their sleep is… restless.”

A sure sign something was going on with the sabor. She handed the dog to her brother and took out her cell phone. Ty’s cell number was logged in it, and she pulled it up and hit Dial.

She felt herself turn pale and met her brother’s gaze, but before she could say anything, the front door opened and Thomas and Henry entered.

“The car’s gone,” Henry informed her, “and he’s nowhere on the property.”

“And my call to his phone went directly to voice mail. It didn’t even ring.”

“How are we going to find him?”

She raised Mina’s head. “Do you know where he is?”

The dog woofed.

“Okay.” She looked at the other day watchers. “Wait in the car. I’ll leave a note for Raymond.”

They nodded and left the house.

Ekaterina knew Ty kept a notepad in his desk in the living room. She went to it, tore off a sheet, and took a pen from the chestburster mug that contained pens, pencils, highlighters, and Magic Markers.

Raymond—Tyrell is missing. We’re taking his
Înger Păzitor
, in the event she’ll be able to track him down. I hope we’ll find him and be back before sundown, but if not, this should help you find us.

She didn’t sign it just then, simply took the page into the kitchen and found a paring knife. Normally she would use her own knife for this part of the message, but using one of Ty’s would make the connection stronger. She made a slice across her left palm. After the blood welled up, she let it drip across the bottom of the paper.

With that done, she pressed her thumb into the blood on her palm and rolled the pad of it beneath what she’d written, effectively signing it.

She fastened the message to the refrigerator door, where Raymond would spot it as soon as he went to take out a bag of blood. The magnet that kept it in place read
Here There be Dragons
, and she blinked, then shook her head. A coincidence, plain and simple.

One final thing now. She went to the sink, held her hand under the faucet, and let the water wash away the blood. It stung for a moment; when it stopped, she turned off the water and dried her hand with some paper towels.

The cut in her palm was already healing. Soon it would be nothing more than a faint pink line.

The house phone rang, and she stared at it thoughtfully, then decided to let the machine pick up.

“You have reached the home of Ty Small.” She couldn’t help smiling at the sound of cheers that greeted this announcement, and Ty’s apparent response to them. “Oh, you’re too kind. I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave a message after the beep and I’ll get back to you.”

She was at the door when she heard, “This is the Pritchert Police Department. We have a car at the Pritchert Food parking lot that appears to be abandoned. It’s registered to a Tyrell Small, and—”

Ekaterina dove for the phone and scooped up the receiver. “I’m a friend of Ty’s. Is he there?”

“No, ma’am. The way the car’s been left…. Well, I don’t want to alarm you. Can you come down here and answer a few questions?”

“Of course. I’m not familiar with the area, however. Would you give me directions?”

“Sure thing. Where are you?”

She told him.

“Okay. Take the service road south to Pritchert. From there….”

She made a mental note of where she’d have to turn, then said, “Thank you. We’ll be there as soon as possible.” She hung up and scrawled the additional information on the message. Maybe this would help Mina track him down.

She strode out the door, pulled it shut behind her, and crossed to the curb. She walked around to the driver’s side and got into the car.

“Kat?”

“The police called. Ty’s car is in the parking lot of a supermarket.” She turned to gaze into her brother’s eyes. “When we get there, let Mina out and stay with her. Thomas, Henry, scout the area and see what you can discover.” She knew Adam could learn Ty’s whereabouts through the connection they had, but Adam wouldn’t be able to get here for almost ten hours. Who knew what could happen to Ty in that time? She buckled up and put the key in the ignition. “Please Lilitu we’ll learn which way to go to find him.”

E
KATERINA DROVE into the parking lot. She had no trouble spotting Ty’s car. It was in the middle of a lane, the hood up and the driver’s-side door open. Two police cars flanked the hybrid, and a tow truck was positioned in front of it.

She parked to the left of one of the police cruisers. “You know what to do,” she said.

William opened his door, and Mina leaped down to the blacktop and dashed to the abandoned car.

Ekaterina went to the cops. They were stooping to make friends with the dog.

Thank Lilitu she wasn’t in full guardian mode.

Mina ignored the cops and circled the car, her nose to the ground, and growls beginning to spill from her throat.