Fallen Blood (16 page)

"What did you say?" Brian asked, then turned around and looked behind him.

"It's Chuck. Wait here." Heather stood up and went running for the door.

"Who did she say?" Bobby asked as he popped the last of the roll into his mouth.

"She said Chuck."

"Who the hell's that?" The trucker asked, and turned around and watched her run outside and suddenly stop. Brian wasn't sure what she was doing, but as he watched, she held out her hand and leaned forward, pretending to hug someone who wasn't there. Her mouth was moving as if she were talking to someone.

"What in tarnation does that girl think she's doing?" Bobby stood up and took more of an interest in what she was doing.

"I'd say she was talking to someone." Brian began, "but I don't see no one there."

"No shit, dumb ass, ya think I can't see that for myself? The darned girl's lost her mind. Too much fast food can do that to you. I heard on the radio one time."

"Yeah?" Brian stood up and started to head for the door. "What station?"

"I don't know! Some talk show that was on late one night when I was long hauling."

Brian nodded as if he understood what he was saying. "I'm going to go check on her."

"Well, you better hurry, looks like she's about to leave with her imaginary friend."

Brian realized he was right, she was acting like she was walking arm in arm and starting to head away from the McDonald's. Running out the door, but taking extra care not to run faster than normal, Brian shouted and waved for her to stop. The girl of his dreams paused and turned in his direction, then turned back as if she were arguing with someone. The pause was all the time he needed to catch up to her.

"Heather, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like, Brian? I'm leaving with my boyfriend." She pointed to the nonexistent person hanging on her left arm.

"Heather," Brian stepped up to her then waved his hand quickly, making sure no one was really standing where she indicated. "You see? There's no one there."

She looked at him stupidly. "Brian why did you just slap him? Can't you see he's hurt?"

"
Hurt
?" Brian laughed for a second. "There's no one here, Heather, you're hallucinating." How she could be this far gone into a full-blown hallucination was beyond him, but if she wasn't, then she had him fooled.

"Brian, Chuck's standing right here." She pointed at the missing person again.

"No, Heather. He's not. Something is playing with your mind."

"What in Sam hill is going on here?" Bobby said announcing his arrival.

"Bobby you see Chuck, don't you?" she looked at Bobby almost pleadingly.

"I'm sorry darling, I don't. I only see you and Brian here."

She turned and stared at the nonexistent person. "But he's right here, how can you not see him?"

Brian took that chance to step right where the supposed Chuck was and grab Heather by the shoulders. "Look at me." He had to shake her to get her attention. "Heather,
look
."

Her eyes turned to his. "Heather, could I be standing where he is if he were here?"

"I don't understand!" she started to cry, tears welling up in her eyes. "He says he's hurt and he needs me." She put her hand over her mouth and gasped. "Oh my God, he's bleeding! Why didn't I see that before...?"

"Because it's
not real,
Heather! Stop!" Brian tried to block her view of the invisible Chuck. "Look at me, Heather. Someone's doing this to you."

"Brian, he's dying." Her legs collapsed under her, and Brian found himself the only thing holding her up.

"Heather..."

"Make it stop!" She placed her hands over her ears and started to sob. The entire scene was playing out way too fast to react. Brian had no idea what was going on with her. No one was there, as far as he could see, and no one had taken the time to suggest her.

"Heather,
look at me
. Look at me, and I'll make it stop."

"He's screaming Brian, they're hurting him!”

"
Look at me
." He shook her again and her face snapped back toward him. For a second they locked eyes again, only this time he had her. "Chuck is not here. You do not see or hear him. It was a hallucination. Do you understand?"

Heather stopped thrashing and looked away. She wiped her eyes as she stood up under her own strength. Then looked around at the parking lot.

"Brian."

"Are you okay?” Brian asked, his voice almost cracking from the panic that was starting to rise in him.

"Where...did that come from?" she asked, fully composed as she wiped the rest of the tears from her eyes.

The panic passed almost as quickly as it came. He couldn't remember the last time that had happened to him. The fear of somehow actually losing Heather was almost too much for him. It was the first time he ever felt so helpless, and incapable of solving a problem.

"I don't know, Heather." He took her fully in his arms and squeezed her. At first she didn't respond, then he felt her arms wrap around him and tighten as she began to cry again. He listened to the sound of her as she did. The choking gasps as her body shook under her sobs. He held her there and smelled the fragrance of her hair as he shielded her from everyone and everything around her until she stopped. When she finally pulled away, he found her lips against his. Soft and moist, as he'd always imagined. The taste of her lips were only surpassed by the taste of her tongue as it darted into his mouth rolling and caressing his. He could feel her breath on his face, as his body began to come alive at the touch of her body pressed against his, and the smell that was uniquely hers filled his nose.

Bobby coughed. “Get a room, you two."

Heather pulled back from their embrace, but still held on to him, her crystal blue eyes searching his.

"Well, are we going to go?" Bobby asked and waved his hands back to his truck.

"You've saved me again." Heather smiled. "And all I do is treat you badly."

"No, Heather, you don't."

She placed a finger over his mouth silencing him. "You need to learn to let a girl apologize when she wants to." She smiled and took her finger away. Brian smiled, too.

"Oh come on, are we ready yet?"

"Bobby." She turned and said to him. "I think we're going to take your advice."

"What advice?" He took his baseball cap off, and scratched his head with the same hand.

"The room. Do you know of one nearby?" She answered him

"Heather, I don't know if that's a good idea." Brian said, but she then put a finger on his lips again

"I just want you to hold me is all. I need you to hold me and never let me go."

"I can't wait for you two, you know."

Brian spoke up. "We know Bobby, and we thank you for putting up with us.”

"Well...hell." Bobby put his hat back on. "Look, I'm only a couple of hours away from my drop." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "I'll take you to a little joint near here where you two can bunk down for the night, at least until I get back."

Brian nodded to him.

"You call me you hear? I don't care what it is, if you need something, you call me."

"How are we going to do that if we have your phone?" Brian asked as he started to walk arm in arm with Heather as they headed for the truck.

"That's my spare. My number is in there under Bobby."

"You call yourself much?” Brian asked, smiling.

"No one likes a smart ass, kid." Bobby said, bringing laughs from both Brian and Heather.

"I say something
funny
?"

"No, no..." Brian smiled and exchanged looks with Heather.

Twenty minutes later, they watched from their new motel room as Bobby pulled away, promising to return by tomorrow. Brian didn't even have to suggest the clerk, as Bobby insisted on paying for their stay. Two days, in fact, as he said he was going to need to get some sleep when he got back.

Until then, he and Heather were on their own

True to her word, Heather did just as she said. Oh, there was some kisses exchanged here and there, but really all they did was hold each other for hours. Several times he thought he felt her shivering, but when he asked she shook her head, with her face buried in his side. It was possible he thought, that she had been crying, but he couldn't come up with a reason why. When she did talk to him and show her face, it was usually just to talk about the past, and the trip. Not the weird parts of it, only the good parts. The motels, the waitresses back at the cafe. She even commented that she had wished she had finished her egg Mcmuffin. Brian offered to go out and find her something to eat, but she had clung to him tighter, and told him that she would be fine.

At the moment, she was sleeping very quietly next to him, her arm hanging over him possessively. The room itself looked almost exactly like the last room they had been in, except that the bathroom was now on the opposite wall of the last one. really there was nothing peculiar about the place, and that made it extremely boring to be laying on the bed wide awake looking at nothing. He had intended to take a trip home while she slept, a plan he had shared with her. He would just pop out for a short minute and be right back, refreshed and stronger than ever. However she had refused to let him go, saying she didn't want to be left alone for even a minute. When he pushed to go so he could keep his strength up and quench his ever-growing hunger, she had begged him to go tomorrow. Easy for her to say after eating at least one and a half egg Mcmuffins.

In the end, he had agreed to stay and keep her happy. He had to admit, that the last time he had left her for similar reasons, she had somehow found a way to have herself captured. Which was something he kept forgetting to ask her about.

Well,
he thought,
the least she could have done was to allow me to turn the TV on for a bit.
That would have definitely given him something to do while she slept. He considered entering her dreams, but he decided against that for two reasons. One being he wouldn't be on guard duty then, and thus he would be unable to protect her, and two...

Well, two was because that part of their relationship was past. Something he used to do before they were really together. He didn't doubt that later, when they were closer, he would reveal the ability to do that to her. Then they would both go on adventures together without ever leaving their home. That idea brought him a lot of pleasure for some reason. Of course, it would be a long time off before he told her about that. She already had way too many things to get used to with him around. He didn't need to complicate things more right now.

A dark shadow crossed over the closed curtain, completely blocking out the evening parking lot lights. It seemed strange to Brian that anyone could be so huge as to generate that large of a shadow. He almost yelled out at the top of his voice to lay off the hamburgers, but he thought better to not wake Heather. Besides, he didn't need one of the other motel residents complaining to the front desk about his rudeness. That wouldn't do at all, even if he could suggest the clerk to take his side. It was just that he was really bored doing nothing. Maybe he could travel after the big guy and just see what he was doing? It wasn't like he was really leaving Heather. He would be right outside the door. Practically.
Why am I arguing with myself? I know what I'm doing. Besides, I can't take this any more. I've been here for an entire afternoon, she really can't really expect me to lay here all night, too.
Nope, he was going to do it. It wouldn't hurt anything, and he really was curious about how big someone had to be to have such a large shadow. If he hurried, he should be able to catch up quickly.

It wasn't hard for Brian to shut his mind down. After all, he had been practicing most of the evening just to keep himself somewhat occupied. He had been itching for a reason to just step out, if only just for a few seconds and now he had an excuse. After all what if the guy was really an agent or something? A huge agent. He had to patrol the perimeter at least once in a while, just in case. He heard a familiar pop, and he found himself standing by the bed. That was somewhat surprising, he expected to travel straight to the guy with the big shadow. He supposed, since he didn't actually see the guy, or know where he was, that it might make it harder to just zoom in on him.