Blood Work (13 page)

“I’ll tell you
later.” I held my arms up. “Just carry me out of here, you big
lug.”

Roberts
swatted my hands away. “I’ll get a wheelchair. And your clothes.
Where are they?”

“Well, see,
that’s a problem.”

He glared at
me. “Why?”

“My doctor
thinks I should stay here for a while. Upstairs, in a bed they’re
making up for me right now. He’s a bit stern, young Nolan. I think
he might like to handcuff me to the bed.”

“I might do
the same thing, in a purely platonic, you’re insane kind of way. If
you’re that bad off, you probably should stay.”

“Well, I don’t
want to.”

“Want don’t
often get a look in. You need to stay.”

I think the
drugs were starting to wear off. I wasn’t so happy any more. “No,
you don’t get it. I’m not staying, no matter what you or Nolan
thinks. I’ll walk out of here on my own if you won’t help me.”

He waved at my
knee, bound up in thick bandages. “Go ahead. I’d like to see you
try.”

Right. I
unstuck the tape on the needle of the drip and pulled the needle
out. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and gosh, it hurt. I
nearly stopped being so pig-headed stubborn right then and there.
But then I got a little angry. I wasn’t going to be knocked on my
arse like this. Those vampires didn’t deserve to have even that
victory over me. I stood up. Admittedly, I took all my weight on my
right leg, and the blood rushing through my torn up knee was nearly
crippling, but I did it.

“Fuck it,
okay.” Roberts grabbed my arm and helped hold me up. “You really
should stay in hospital. Just so you know my opinion on the
matter.”

Some darling
nurse had packed up all my gear in a plastic bag. Some of the
sharper edges threatened to tear through, but Roberts picked it up
gently, so it all stayed on the inside.

“Duly noted,”
I ground out between clenched teeth. “Besides, I can’t leave Mercy
alone for long.”

“I’ll take
care of her.”

“Like you took
care of her last night?”

It was said
casually, but it bit deep. Roberts flinched and nearly dropped me.
He’d seen the look in my eyes when I’d come out of Mercy’s room
this morning. Neither of us had mentioned it and I shouldn’t have
said anything now. But it was said and now we had to deal with
it.

“I said I was
sorry. I didn’t know she needed feeding.”

“You were
moaning about how hungry you were all the way home. And she did all
the fighting.”

He sighed.
“Yeah, I should have thought about it, but I don’t deal with her
like that. You know that. I don’t understand that side of her.”

“And that’s
why I need to go home.”

“Will you stay
off your feet?”

“As much as
possible.”

Roberts pulled
in a deep breath and took more of my weight. “Right, let’s get this
kidnapping on the road.”

“Before we go,
I have to ask you something.”

He looked at
me sceptically. “Yeah?”

“Does this
hospital gown make my arse look bare?”

He laughed and
we were all good.

Getting out
proved easier than I had imagined. There had been a shift change
and a convenient influx of folks suffering a particularly smelly
type of food poisoning. No one noticed us leaving. Good thing too.
I was wearing stolen property.

Roberts had
parked a lot closer than I had, smart fellow, and his girl had the
back door open for me by the time I got there. I was feeling a
little light headed as I crawled into the back seat. Roberts drove
a Prado—all the better to carry all the promo gear around in, my
precious—and I could stretch my leg out along the seat.

“My God,” the
woman said. “What happened to him?”

“Jumped by Ice
freaks.”

She peered at
me. Pretty with blonde curls, big brown eyes and luscious red lips.
“I don’t think he should be out of hospital.”

Roberts handed
me the bag of stuff and I dug around inside it. “Hey, toots. Got a
licence?”

Jaw on her
chest, she stared between me and Roberts. “Did he just call me
toots?”

“Well, Roberts
hasn’t seen fit to make any introductions, so what else do I call
you?”

“Shut up,”
Roberts snapped at me. He grabbed the car keys I’d found. “You
don’t deserve to know her name. She can drive your car home, and
hopefully scratch the hell out of it.” He turned to her, handed
over the keys. “He’s whacked out on painkillers. He’s not usually
this Clan of the Cave Bearish.”

“I should hope
so. You don’t need friends like that. Where’s the car?”

“Front car
park, far corner,” I announced.

Roberts’
eyebrows almost crawled into his hairline. “You got jumped in a
hospital car park?”

“Yeah.”

“Fucking
luck.”

Roberts drove
out to my car, let the woman out and then led her home. I kept
peering over the back seat to make sure she didn’t mess up the
paintwork.

“She’s nice.
Are you really not going to tell me her name?”

“Yup.”

“That’s okay.
I can guess. Mabel.”

“No.”

“Myrtle.”

“No.”

“Ulva.”

Roberts
snorted. “No and is that even a name?”

“Finnish, I
think. Um… Gertrude.”

And so went
the drive home. Which wasn’t long. I hadn’t even exhausted my list
of girl names.

Esme (so she
was to me, at least) didn’t do a spot of damage to my car and I
couldn’t get her name out of either of them. Roberts insisted on
putting me to bed. He set Esme to making me a nice cup of tea while
he checked on Mercy, who was fine but concerned. The bag of O pos
had restored her to full capacity, so she was civil.

“Let her
out.”

He frowned.
“With Gale in the house?”

“Hah! Gale.
Thank you, and yes. It’ll be fine. She was okay Tuesday night at
Surf Wars.”

Roberts umed
and ahed and then went to let Mercy out. She came racing into the
bedroom and threw herself half across me.

“Matt, are you
okay? How badly did they hurt you?”

I patted her
hair. “I’m all right. It’s not too bad.”

She lifted a
tear streaked face to stare at me, black hair all tangled around
her little face. “I can smell all the blood on you.”

Roberts
winced. I waved him back.

“It’s okay,” I
said to them both.

“No, it’s not.
Six Reds and I wasn’t there to help you. You could have died.”

Mercy buried
her head in my chest and shook. Over her head, I mouthed ‘you told
her?’ to Roberts. He shook his head. She’d sensed the attack. I
deliberately didn’t think about what that meant.

Gale came in
with the tea. “It’s black because there’s no milk. And why couldn’t
she go get him from the hospital?”

Mercy snapped
around to face her, on her feet in a blur. Gale jerked back, tea
sloshing over her hand. Roberts threw himself between them. And
because I could do little else, I hit Mercy through the link. She
flinched and backed down, sinking to the floor by the bed, blindly
reaching for my hand, seeking reassurance. I took her hand and held
it tightly. Her fingers curled through mine.

“Sorry,” Mercy
said before I could prompt her. “I got startled.”

Gale shook out
her hand, a little pale. “It’s okay. I put some cold water in it
because there wasn’t any milk.”

Roberts put an
arm around her shoulders. “You sure you’re okay?”

She nodded and
smiled at him. Then she looked at Mercy. “Hi. I’m Gale.”

“Mercy.”

“Oh, you’re
French? You’re welcome.”

I grinned.
“Mercy is her name.”

“Oh.
Sorry.”

“I don’t have
a drivers licence,” Mercy said softly.

Gale nodded
and put the tea on the bedside table. “Do you want anything else?”
she asked me.

“No. Thank
you, Gale. I appreciate this.”

She sighed.
“It’s not every day I help kidnap a guy from a hospital. It’s been
a pleasure, I suppose. Rob, I’ll wait in the living room.”

“Well,”
Roberts said when she’d gone, “that could have gone worse.”

Mercy looked
between us. “I did okay?”

“You were a
champ, kiddo.” Roberts patted her head. “Do you need us to stick
around?” he asked me.

“Nah, we’re
all good here.”

“What about
your leg? Got any decent painkillers?”

I deliberately
didn’t look at Mercy, who was studying the tea with determined
interest. “Yeah.”

“Okay. Call if
you need anything. Just not so early next time.”

“Well,
vampires don’t get around during the day much, but I’ll see what I
can arrange.”

“Speaking of
which, sunrise in about half an hour, missy,” he said to Mercy.
“Get back in bed before then.”

She gave him a
pained look. “I know.”

“Getting a
smart mouth on her,” he said to me. “Right. Be good, the pair of
you.”

I listened to
him and Gale talking softly as they left. I couldn’t hear
everything but Mercy did.

“She didn’t
really like us.” Mercy frowned. “And you called her toots.”

“I’m a
charmer.”

Mercy sat
cross legged on the bed by my legs. She looked over the bandages.
“You’re in great pain.”

“I know. Can
you help?”

She chewed her
lower lip gently, a feat and a half considering she had a pair of
great big fangs in there. “What if I hurt you more?”

We’d tried
this in the past. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.
Sometimes, I ended up in more trouble than I started in. In truth,
I shouldn’t have been able to do half the things I did with my knee
the way it was, but Mercy had this ability to do something to the
pain that just made it go bye bye. Still, there was the chance it
could go wrong and I’d be begging to go back to Nolan and his happy
juice.

“I think we
need to try.”

She looked at
me. “What’s going on?”

I sighed.
Keeping secrets from her was pointless. “I don’t know yet, but I
think we both have to be running on all cylinders. There’s a chance
it could get hairy.”

Mercy didn’t
say anything. She just nodded and put her hands over my knee. After
a moment, the air between us got very warm. Mercy began to sing as
she worked. A full bodied Hey Jude. Sweet. I zoned out.

Erin was late to the office in the
morning. She was still sipping her latte when she walked in. Ivan
stood in front of his desk, arms crossed, foot tapping, lips
pursed.

“Well, what do
you have to say for yourself?” he demanded.

“That you’re
more gay than usual this morning.”

He tried to
keep a stern face, but it crumpled into a big grin. “I have news.
You’re late and I had keep it to myself all this time.”

She had to
laugh. “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the news?”

Ivan spent a
moment composing himself. “I got a phone number for Jessica
Harrington.”

“And that’s
fantastic news?”

He deflated a
bit. “Well, yes. I rang her this morning to set up an appointment
for you and she said she couldn’t get away from work, but that you
could meet her there. And that your assistant could come as well.”
A hopeful smile struggled back onto his face.

Erin was
careful to act serious. “And close the office while we’re both
out?” She wondered where Harrington could work that would get Ivan
so excited.

Ivan produced
an Open/Closed sign. “Just pretend Mrs Veilchen is coming.”

Erin put down
her coffee before she could spill it. She laughed so hard tears
came to her eyes. When she could stop, she was out of breath. Ivan
still held the sign hopefully.

“Where does
she work?” she asked him on her way into her office.

“The Albert
Tarrant Agency.”

“Oh, I see.”
Tarrant was one of the biggest agents in Australia, representing
some of the hottest faces on current TV shows. “So, you want me to
take you somewhere that might lead to you quitting this job.”

His face fell.
“Erin, I’m sorry, but… This would mean the absolute world to me. I
won’t forget you when I’m famous.”

She made him
suffer for a couple of hours. The appointment was for eleven and in
that time, Ivan offered to do so much for her, including but not
limited to a foot rub, a back rub and roses and chocolate once a
week for a whole year. She eventually said yes just to get him out
of her office.

They made a
ceremony about putting up the sign then walked over to Tarrant’s
building. He owned the whole thing, taking the top five floors for
himself. The girl on the reception desk claimed to know nothing
about their appointment and Ivan nearly ripped her headset off in
frustration. Thankfully, the commotion brought Jessica Harrington
to the desk.

“I’m so sorry
about the mix up,” she said, leading them down a long corridor to
her workroom. “Belinda’s new and still doesn’t know
everything.”

Ivan’s ears
physically perked up. “Really?”

Erin smacked
him discretely. He just shrugged.

Jessica was a
makeup artist, jazzing up Tarrant’s clients for photo shoots, TV
appearances and red carpet events. Her workroom was very bright and
white and reflective. Ivan loved it. He and Jessica chatted
unintelligibly about all the bottles and pots lined up in front of
the mirrors. Erin let them run for a while. A relaxed person was
someone more willing to talk. Bringing Ivan had been a stroke of
genius. Erin knew enough to slap on some mascara and lip gloss and
that was it.

“So, what did
you want to talk to me about?” Jessica asked as she rubbed
moisturiser into Ivan’s hand.

Erin studied
her, trying to assimilate this young professional with the bubbly
headed girl in the video. Jessica was very pretty, wide blue eyes,
flawless skin, pale lips that had a very natural fullness and
lovely shape. She either wore a lot of makeup so expertly applied
it didn’t show, or she was just very lucky. Erin thought the only
thing keeping her from being on Tarrant’s talent list instead of
his employee list was the size fourteen figure.