de Sang: Embrace Your Blood Lust (18 page)

Chapter Seventeen

When Kate woke again, her head felt clear and the exhaustion had eased from her body. She was lying in a hospital bed, an IV dangling from her arm and a dozen gauze bandages dotting her skin. A woman reading a book was sitting in the corner.

"Hello?" Kate's voice was raspy. She needed a drink of water. Luckily, there was a bottle on the tray next to the bed.

With quite a bit of effort, she reached over and grabbed it. Cracking the seal, she took a sip. The water felt so good it hurt as it chilled her raw throat.

"Glad to see you're awake, Kate," the woman said, setting her book aside and rising from the chair. A warm, inviting smile on her pretty face, she approached the bed. With her perfectly smooth hair, light tan, and features that were neither ordinary nor extraordinary, she looked like a grown up version of the high school girl who fit in everywhere. She could have been one of Kate's sister's cheerleader friends, a girl in band, the valedictorian or the science geek. Kate wasn't sure what to think of her. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay. How long have I been out?"

"A little over twenty-four hours." Kate groaned. "Don't be too disappointed," the woman said. "Your body needed the rest. The good news is the doctor said they should be able to discharge you this evening."

Kate rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and then turned sharply to the woman. "Who are you?"

"I'm Julia. A friend of Slade's."

Maybe it was an irrational reaction, but the statement sent a jab of jealously through Kate. After all, she had no idea who this woman was to Slade. She swallowed against it. "How is he?"

Julia's face scrunched up briefly before she smoothed away the grimace with a smile.

Kate felt her heart stop. "Oh my God..."

"No!" Julia held up her hands. "No, he's alive. He's just not doing…as well as we'd like."

It stammered, but Kate's heart resumed some semblance of steady pumping. "What about Melanie?"

Julia sat gingerly on the bed, barely using the corner of one butt cheek to balance herself. "Your friend is…okay." Julia's eyes drifted to the wall. "The doctors think she'll probably recover, but it's been rough. She had a lot of drugs in her system."

Kate didn't like the way Julia said
probably
.

Fresh guilt washed over her. She knew Melanie's demons and she'd not only thrown her friend to the wolves, she'd thrown her to the biggest wolf of all. She stared at her hands, suddenly ashamed to look the other woman in the eye.

"Can I see them?" Kate asked weakly.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Specifically Slade." Kate's eyes snapped up. "Like I said earlier, he's not doing as well as we'd like. In fact, he's not doing well at all. He's just…not healing like he should. Or at all." Julia's brown gaze leveled on her. "He needs blood."

Kate wasn't sure why Julia was watching her so carefully. "Can't they find a match?"

"Um, that's not quite it." Julia chewed on the inside of her cheek. "I don't know how to ask this…"

"Just ask," Kate replied impatiently.

Julia raked fingers through her long brown hair as she appeared to consider her words. "Okay." She flopped her hands into her lap. "How well do you know Slade?"

"Well enough," Kate snapped.

The bite in Kate's tone made Julia flinch. She gave Kate a calming smile. "I'm just asking because the situation is a little…different."

"If this is about the Human Vampire stuff, I know about that." The realization hit Kate firmly in the gut. "Oh!
That
kind of blood."

"He's refusing it," Julia said.

"Why?"

"We don't know. But he won't take it from anyone. Me, I understand..."

"Aren't you his Donor?"

"What? No. Oh! God, no. I mean, I'd be happy to help if he needed it, but no, it wouldn't…I'm just..." She paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "My husband owns
Luxure
," she said. It was all the explanation Kate needed.

"Oh." The word came out like a sigh.

Julia gave her an understanding smile. "He won't take it from Nikki, his Donor, either. But he's been saying your name. A lot. We thought..."

Kate jerked into a sitting position. "Of course. I'll go right now." The abrupt change in direction made her head swoon and she closed her eyes to fight it before tossing the blankets off her legs. The amount of gauze covering them was disturbing. A memory of Lohr's mouth on her flesh entered her mind and she pushed it far, far away.

Placing a hand on her arm, Julia stopped her. "Doc, Dr. Anderson, wants you to wait," she glanced at the clock, "another hour. He's…
Family
, but not everyone here is accepting. In an hour, visiting hours will be over and night shift will be on, plus you need to eat dinner, make sure your strength is up." Julia rose, sliding the bedside tray closer to Kate.

She wasn't sure she could wait an hour to see him. But at the mention of food, her stomach grumbled angrily. She hadn't noticed before, but the tray where she'd gotten the water was filled with miscellaneous edibles. Julia watched her until she grudgingly picked up an apple and took a bite.

As Julia returned to her chair, Kate devoured the fruit and then some chocolate pudding. A very bland and slightly stale sandwich was next. Taking a bite, Kate leaned back against the inclined bed.

"If you don't mind me saying so, you don't quite look like a woman whose husband owns a blood bar."

Julia smiled. "And you don't look like a woman who's sleeping with a Human Vampire."

Kate immediately liked her. She took another bite of the sandwich. "Well, I guess that makes us both judgmental bitches."

Julia laughed. "Apparently."

Kate didn't have a chance to lament about the length of an hour. As she was washing down the last of the dry sandwich with some orange juice, a knock sounded on the door and a nurse peeked around the corner.

"Miss Miller? How are you feeling?"

"All right."

"There's a detective here to see you. Are you up to speaking with him?"

"No." She knew she'd have to relieve the hours she spent strapped to Lohr's bed at some point, she just wasn't ready for that point to be now. There were too many other important things to dwell on, like Slade needing blood and Melanie's recovery. She'd barely given the memories a passing thought and she really didn't want to give them any more of her brainwaves than that.

The nurse smiled at her like she was joking and opened the door. The man who stepped through it looked like he'd walked off the set for a TV police show and into her hospital room. He was tall and lean, with short but shaggy brown hair, a five o'clock shadow, cleft chin, piercing blue eyes and possibly hadn't slept for days.

He glanced at Julia as he passed her. "You want to give us a minute?"

She nodded. "Of course. Kate, I'll be right in the hall if you need me."

It seemed like a strange thing for a virtual stranger to offer, but Kate smiled her thanks anyway.

"Miss Miller, I'm Detective McCoy." He offered her a forced smile. "I'll only take a minute of your time."

"Probably more than a minute, Detective. Did you arrest Lohr Varius?"

"He is in custody, yes, and I believe we have enough evidence to hold him. However, your statement will help immensely."

She nodded grimly. "Anything to keep that asshole in jail."

The detective pulled up a chair and a pad of paper from his pocket. His hands trembled slightly and she wondered if he looked so tired because he hit the bottle a little too often. "Good." He clicked on his pen. "Whenever you're ready. Start from the beginning."

Kate did just that. She wasn't about to leave out an ounce of information, fearful omitting the tiniest detail might allow Lohr to go free. She started with the gallery and Lohr's invitation to Forever Dark, moving quickly to the night there. Detective McCoy stopped her when she got to the blood orgy.

"How did you know to find him in this…blood orgy room?"

"Angel took us."

"Angel…" He flipped through his notes. "Ah yes, Angela Hopkins." His sharp eyes narrowed. "How do you know Ms. Hopkins?"

"I met her the night before, at
La Luxure
."

"The bar on St. Philip?"

"Yes."

"Ah." He scribbled something, or several somethings, in his notepad. "Go on," he prompted.

She had a difficult time with the next part, because she had to admit she abandoned Melanie to Lohr and his orgy to have sex with Slade. The revelation dumped a conflict of emotions at her feet. The guilt she felt about leaving Mel, and even bringing her to
La Luxure
in the first place, was at odds with the happiness being with Slade brought her.

"How did...
Slade
know to find you at Lohr's warehouse?" Detective McCoy obviously didn't care for the pseudonyms.

"I don't know."

"You didn't tell him you were going to pick up Melanie?" She shook her head. He wrote something down. "Interesting..." He lifted his eyes to her. "Please
continue."

If she thought talking about the Forever Dark Vampire Ball was difficult, reliving the moment Lohr shot the woman from
La Luxure
was even harder. Her memories weren't especially clear but she described as much detail as she could. The detective did not press her when she was forced to pause to collect herself and remained silent until her story was finished.

After jotting down a few more notes, he rose. "Can I count on your testimony against Mr. Varius should we need it?"

As much as she loathed the idea of reliving this nightmare again, she would happily do it to give Lohr everything he deserved. "Absolutely."

"Wonderful. I'll let you rest now, Miss Miller. If I need anything else, may I contact you?" She nodded. His smile was much more genuine this time, although his eyes looked even wearier. The circles under them were pronounced and she hadn't appreciated how thoroughly exhausted he looked before. If someone told her he had a terminal disease she wouldn't be surprised. "And Miss Miller, you have my word I will do everything possible to make sure everyone involved in this atrocity is punished."

She wasn't sure what to say, so she just nodded again.

As Detective McCoy left the room, she saw him give someone a long once over before disappearing from view. Julia replaced him in the doorway, followed by a tall man with shoulder length hair and bright hazel eyes. Kate knew immediately he was the owner of
La Luxure
. It wasn't merely the familiar way he stood beside Julia but his presence was unmistakable. If there was ever a man who perfectly embodied the romantic vampire archetype, it was this man.

He smiled graciously at her. "Kate, it my pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Armand."

"Pleasure's mine. Can we go see Slade now?"

"Are you feeling well enough?"

"Never better." Not only had the food made a huge difference in her energy level but after reliving the last several days, Kate was extremely anxious to see Slade, and then Melanie. Kicking her legs over the side of the bed, she started to rise and then realized there was an IV stuck in her arm. From the shit she'd seen in the blood room at
La Luxure
, she was pretty sure Armand was capable of removing it. She glanced at the needle. "Do you think?" She left the invitation open.

He glanced at her arm. The look in his hazel eyes told her it was old hat to him but he wasn't putting it on. "I'll call Doc." Maybe there was some sort of legal ramification.

Armand disappeared for a couple minutes before returning with an
everyman
. There might not have been anything extraordinary about the doctor, but he looked at Kate like she was some sort of goddess.

"What?" she asked as he slid the IV needle from her arm. The word snapped from her mouth. She didn't mean for it to but he was staring at her like she had the cure for cancer swimming in her veins.

He just shook his head. "Don't doubt that he, Slade, needs this. Please. Not for a second. He's not healing like he should be and he's developed an infection that isn't responding to treatment. There's no other explanation for it except he hasn't..." Dr. Anderson swallowed against the end of his sentence. "Even if there isn't an ounce of evidence in the medical journals to prove it, you must believe me when I say there is no doubt in my mind it is a real, physical need."

This cryptic bullshit was driving her crazy. "Look," she said. "I don't doubt anything when it comes to Slade. Y'all need to relax." She didn't mean for the Texan in her to come out with fists raised but if she didn't get to Slade soon, she was going to claw someone's eyes out. "I'm fully aware of his
needs
, and if you don't mind,
I'd
like to tend to them."

It was Armand who laughed. He offered her his hand and she took it, letting him pull her upright. "I cannot imagine anyone more perfect for the task," he told her.

She didn't know why Armand's approval should matter, but somehow it did.