Vampire in Crisis (17 page)

“Now no more showers. Rest. Your body has been through a lot of trauma. It needs time to heal.”

“What trauma?” she asked curiously.

“Drugs, of course.” The nurse smiled. “What else could it be?” Her clear gaze suddenly intensified, as if thinking Jewel had hidden some kind of injury from her.

Not likely and certainly not after being found in the shower. A little hard to hide much that way.

“Now I’ll just be outside. You eat and rest.”

And the woman walked out.

Jewel looked at the blood slushies the nurse had left for her. She was so very hungry. Was it safe? Or were there more drugs hidden in her drink?

The door closed behind the nurse, leaving Jewel alone with her thoughts – and her dinner.

T
essa watched Bart
disappear around yet another corner. For a chubby guy, he could sure move. If he was upset about the concept of drugging the whole hospital, did that mean he was on their side? At least maybe he wasn’t on the bad guys’ side. He had to have some conscience in there.

She opened her vision to study the figure in front of her. His energy was fast, energized, and definitely not black.

In fact, she couldn’t see anything like that on him. So he’d not been taking or been given any of the blood farm drugs as far as she could see. Feeling better, she quickly shared her findings with Cody.

“Do you trust him?” Cody asked.

“To try and disappear as soon as he can? To find a way to stay out of trouble? To avoid getting into trouble? Yes to all three.” She picked up the speed as he raced ahead.
How is he going so fast?
That’s not like anything she’d seen before…except Hortran.
Nah, Bart is as far from being a Ghost as I am.

Why? It’s not like we’ve seen more than one Ghost to be able to make assumptions about them all.

I think he’d have said something or been something special if he were a Ghost.

He is special. Just not the way you might think.
The snigger in Cody’s voice made her laugh.

It felt good to be back on track with him. In spite of Bart’s presence, or maybe because of it, she felt better. More normal.

Anything that helped her feel more grounded in this energy vortex she was living in was a good thing.

Bart slowed to a halt then took one half step forward, his head tilted to the side as if listening for something.

She tuned in her hearing, feeling more energy pulses there than she’d ever felt before. She toned it down and then tweaked the colors playing around beside her. Instantly, her hearing sharpened and the voices sounded clear as a bell in her ears.

Only she didn’t understand a word they were saying.

She turned to Cody, who’d snuck up beside her. “I can hear them, but I don’t understand the language.”

He looked at her oddly. “Doesn’t Deanna know it?”

Tessa shook her head. She’d have to wonder that later. “No. I’m not getting any indication that she did.”

Cody nodded then nudged her shoulder. “Looks like Bart might.”

Bart spun back to look at her; he mouthed something but she didn’t understand. She sidled closer, not wanting to alert the others to their presence. When she was beside him, she asked him to repeat what he’d said.

“They are looking for me. They can’t get the second canister connected.”

“They have two?” Shit.

“Go join them as if someone sent you to help them out,” she whispered. “And we’ll come around and take them from behind.”

He glared at her. “No way. I brought you here. That’s all I’m going to do.” He gave a silent snort. “You’re the one with the death wish, not me.”

“But if you stay here in the hospital, that death wish is going to be yours, remember? That gas will fill the whole building and no one will be safe.”

“Precisely why I’m not sticking around.”

“Going to run away again, Bart?” Cody asked. “How is it you can run so fast?” He watched Bart’s face turn belligerent, his puffy jowls filling up in a huff.

“Good question,” Tessa interjected smoothly. “I’ve only ever seen a Ghost move like that.”

At the word ghost, Bart spun around to look behind her. “Ghost? Did you say you saw a Ghost?”

Only there was no fear in his voice. More surprise. Puzzlement maybe, as if he didn’t think there was such a thing. At least not any longer.

“Yes, a Ghost.” Cody went to brush past Bart and look around the corner when Tessa added, “Hortran.”

Bart grabbed Cody’s arm. “As in Deanna and Hortran?” Now his voice vibrated with some unnamed emotion, but it sounded suspiciously like fear…mixed with a big dose of rage.

Tessa nodded. “Did you know Deanna?”

“Everyone knows Deanna,” Bart said harshly. “She’s a mean old bitch and can’t be trusted.”

Tessa winced. “She
was
a mean old bitch. She’s dead now.”

He gazed at her in shock. Then his head shook like a wet dog. “No. You are mistaken. She can’t be dead.”

“Why?” Awareness kicked in. What did Bart know that Tessa didn’t? She narrowed her gaze, waiting for him to answer.

“If she’d dead, there’s been a major shift in power. She’d not have died easily either.”

“She died here,” Cody said, his voice harsh. “At the hospital.”

Bart continued to shake his head in that lumbering bear way of his. “It can’t be. It can’t be.”

He looked so stricken that Tessa wanted to reach out and pat him on the shoulder, offer comfort even though it wasn’t going to be wanted.

“Why not? Was she special to you?”

Instead of answering, Bart turned back to where the men stood talking, his shoulders slumped as if he didn’t quite understand how his world had changed.

She could sympathize, but she still wanted to know how he knew Deanna and what their connection had been. He wasn’t anywhere near as old as Deanna had been and there hadn’t been any type of similarity in their features, so she wasn’t sure just what kind of question to ask, but she knew she needed to know what was going on. It might be personal, but the time for privacy issues to rear their ugly head was long past.

As she listened to the men’s voices getting louder and louder, she grabbed Bart’s shoulder, forcing him to pay attention to her. “Bart. Tell me. What was Deanna to you?”

He shrugged off her hand. “Not going to tell you.”

She frowned. She could make him, maybe. But was it worth the effort? Maybe not considering that the bad guys were almost upon them.

Tessa? What are you doing?

Yeah, I know, but I really want to know why he’s so stricken at Deanna’s death.

It’s his business.

So? Since when does that matter now?
she said crossly.
This concerns Deanna, and I need to know.

There was a funny silence in her mind. Trying to pay attention to the men coming around the corner, she turned to glare at Cody.
What?

If it’s about Deanna,
Cody asked gently,
why don’t you check your – her – memory banks to see what the relationship was and how their last meeting took place?

Just then the men caught sight of Bart. “There you are. We need you to fix the hatch on pipe seven. The new canister won’t seal properly.”

Tessa wanted to laugh at that. It
might
be a design flaw or the higher ups’ way of getting rid of those men who were doing the gassing. This way, dead men could tell no lies.

If the gas was just going to knock the people in the hospital unconscious, then she didn’t know what these men’s role would end up being. And maybe she didn’t want to know.

She sighed and stepped out from behind Bart.

It was a testament to his size that it took them a moment to register her presence.

“Hey, who are you?”

She smiled. “I’m Tessa. Bart’s buddy.”

Bart stiffened beside her. He shot her a resentful look but stepped forward to help the men. “Show me,” he said. “I’ll have to check the coupling on it. Maybe it just needs tightening.”

“I hope so,” the first man said, worry etched on his face. “We came a little early to make sure this worked, but now that cushion is narrowing and we’re going to be in trouble if we don’t have this up and running soon.”

“I’ll get it going.” He walked ahead slowly in that shambling way of his when Tessa caught sight of his hand and fingers pointing to the man on the left. What the hell did that mean? Go in that direction or take out the guy that was in that direction? Or was that guy important?

Then Bart stabbed the finger impatiently at the man closest to Tessa. Fine. Whatever.

She reached out and grabbed the stranger in the sweet spot on the neck, slapping her other hand over his mouth so no one could hear his cry. As it was, the other two men were deep in conversation with Bart over the pathway this heating vent travelled.

Bart wasn’t giving them too much information. According to him, he didn’t know anything about the vent system in place as he hadn’t spent much time here. He hated hospitals. The others laughed.

One said, “Me too. Especially after tonight. I’ll probably never come back to the place.”

Tessa barely heard his words, but as they filtered through her consciousness she heard an
oomph
as if the man had taken a light punch to the gut. She frowned but couldn’t see as she was attempting to maneuver the unconscious vamp off to the side when she suddenly tossed the man casually into a corner. Surprised by the easy strength of her actions, she studied the crumpled position and wondered. She’d meant to only drag him like she’d normally have done, but apparently she’d used more force than she’d understood. The man was dead.

Weird.

She turned her attention back to Cody, who held out his hand for her.
Come on,
he urged.
We don’t want them getting
too far ahead
.

They caught up to the others as one man collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain. Leaving Cody back a few steps, she raced forward to see what was wrong. The man gave one, two hard jolts then went still.

She dropped to her knees onto the floor. “What happened to him?” she cried.

“Me,” Bart said, and the second man dropped to the ground. “Leave them alone and pass me the canister. I’ll get it out of here.”

She looked up to find Bart pointing out a dark gray metal tin that was the size of a good-sized backpack. Cody snagged it up, his own arms dropping with the weight. “Are you sure this is it?”

Bart sent him a disgusted look and grabbed it easily in one meaty paw. “Of course. We were trying to attach it earlier.”

“What are you going to do if anyone comes looking for these two men?” Tessa asked.

“No problem. I’ll make sure they disappear, then I’ll disappear after them.” His smile was something to see. Cold and feral, it sent chills down her spine. This was no longer the unkempt Bart. In his place was this tubby ninja. She wanted to laugh but figured it would not be a good idea.

“And the second canister?” she asked quietly. “What about that one?”

“The system needs both shafts closed off for the system to be operational. So they can’t use the other canister anyway. Now,” he wagged a finger at her. “Go. Kill yourself off if you feel the need, but don’t involve me in your plans.”

“I won’t,” Tessa said cheerfully. “At least I know where to find you.”

“No. You
knew
where to find me. After this, you won’t find me again.”

There was no give in that glare of his, but she didn’t think he was as big a hard ass as he wanted her to believe. She’d met hard asses. Generally they didn’t look or act like Bart. “Before you go, why won’t you tell me what Deanna meant to you?”

He laughed, but there was nothing humorous about it. “Why do you care? The bitch is gone and who and what she was, the things she’s done, well… they’ll die with her.”

“Not necessarily,” Tessa said. “Did you have a grievance with her?”

He glared at her. “With what she’d done. The poison she set into action…that was no grievance. That was Deanna being Deanna all over again. She saw. She liked. She took. No matter what it was or who had it.”

Tessa hated hearing such things but knew there was likely a lot more to come. Deanna hadn’t lived an innocent life, and as much as Tessa wanted her to be the big purist she’d thought her to be, Deanna had done many things over her long life that hurt a lot of people. And those she didn’t hurt, she pissed off. But should she tell Bart about the parts of Deanna she carried? How much did he hate her? Would he see Tessa as a surrogate target?

His venom rolled over her.

“I’ve spent years hating that witch. I’d have done anything to see her turn to ash, preferably by my hand,” he snapped. “That I didn’t get a chance to kill her is sad, but that is life. As long as someone did the job, then I’m good. If there is proof of her demise – so there can be no doubt – then I’m even better.” He grinned for the first time, his cartoon-like features twisting with glee. But then Tessa heard his words, and his funny face ceased to matter.

Uh oh.
“You wanted what? Revenge?”

“Exactly.”

“And again, I have to ask you – why? What did she ever do to you?”