Necromancing Nim (30 page)

Jerry nodded. “Yep. We’ll make it into Willard at about four a.m. You guys should have plenty of time to settle in before sunrise.”

“I took the liberty of arranging for a rental car,” Gwen put in.

“Thank you,” said Colin. “I appreciate that.”

“Of course you do.” She turned back to me. “Did you bring Rufus?”

“No. Got a pet-sitter.”

“At this hour?”

“Yep.” I didn’t want to go into details. If I told her Rufus was with Eric, I’d spend the whole flight explaining.

I knew Gwen wanted to grill me, but her professional demeanor saved me for the moment. She stepped into position next to the portable stairs. “All right, then. Shall we board?”

In the case of a pressure loss within the cabin, oxygen masks will deploy. Please help those who need assistance, such as small children, before putting on your own mask. If you are a vampire and do not require oxygen, please assist any humans in your row, particularly if they are also assisting others.
—United Airlines safety procedure card.

Chapter Nineteen

Colin glared at Gwen throughout the safety lecture. I was certain she made twice as long specifically because he was glaring at her. Sebastian and I exchanged a look during the extended explanation of how to buckle the seat belts, and just that glance made it damn near impossible not to burst into gales of laughter, so I quickly redirected my attention to my hands, folded primly in my lap. Sebastian made a choking noise, quickly changed into a sneeze. Colin glared at him, and Gwen told us all once again how to lift the latch on the seat belt in case we had to get up to pee.

Finally, Gwen decided she’d tortured Colin enough and took her own seat at the front of the small plane, insufferably pleased with herself. A few minutes later, we were airborne.

A few minutes after that, Sebastian passed out.

We didn’t notice at first; he was strapped into his seat behind Colin like a good vampire airline passenger. I had pulled out my maps and research materials, making sure I had things in order well before we arrived at our destination. It wasn’t until Colin turned around to address him directly that we noticed Sebastian was slumped in his seat, eyes closed.

“Sebastian?” Colin wedged an arm between the seats and shoved at the other vampire’s shoulder. “Bastian, what the fuck? Wake up.”

He sounded more pissed off than worried, but I could tell worry was foremost in spite of his tone. Sebastian kept having such odd issues, I was getting pretty concerned about him, myself. Though I was less worried than I was plain afraid for him. He should have recovered more substantially by now, regardless of the severity of his sun exposure.

Colin got out of his seat to go to Sebastian and shake him gently. Gwen, responding to the commotion, came to join us.

“Is he okay?”

“Don’t know,” Colin replied curtly. I swiveled around to watch, well aware I couldn’t help but concerned. “Bastian,” Colin said again, shaking the other vampire a little harder.

Sebastian stirred finally and opened his eyes. He blinked twice, then made a face. “Shit.”

“What?” Colin said, as worried as I’d ever seen him.

“I think I’m airsick,” Sebastian mumbled and bent over to put his head between his knees.

“Oh holy God,” said Colin. I tried not to laugh.

“At least he’s not puking,” I said.

“Matter of time,” muttered Sebastian from his awkward position in his seat.

Gwen came to her feet, brisk and officious. “Let’s get you taken care of. There’s a foldout bed in the back—you can lie down.”

Sebastian followed her and let her get him situated, not protesting at all at her motherly manner. I exchanged a glance with Colin; I could tell he was genuinely worried.

“He’s all right,” I reassured him, awkwardly touching his shoulder. “Just a little airsickness.”

“Yeah.” Colin ground his teeth so hard I could hear his molars grating together; then he relaxed his jaw. “For now.”

I started to ask him what he meant by that, then decided I didn’t want to know.

The rest of the flight proved uneventful. Though it took longer than a commercial flight would have due to the speed and altitude limitations of the Cessna, we still arrived well before sunrise.

In spite of my sister’s choice of career, I’ve never been much of a flyer, and the Champaign/Urbana airport took me aback with its smallness. It was like a toy airport where Barbies might catch a luxury action-figure plane.

We made our way down the portable stairs, Colin hovering over Sebastian like an annoying hovering thing, Sebastian pasty and pale even for a vampire. Gwen followed us down, still obviously amused at the both of them. I caught up with her as we headed into the terminal.

“Be nice,” I hissed at her, not quite sotto voce. As I drew even with her, she handed me the small bag containing my pepper spray and holy water; my licenses allow me to carry them during authorized travel, but only if I hand them over to airline personnel. Gwen believes in following rules, so I hadn’t fussed with her about it.

“Oh please.” She wasn’t so careful with her vocal volume. “Vampires getting airsick? Tell me that’s not funny.”

Of course it was, but I had so many other concerns about Sebastian’s health that the humor potential of an airsick vampire wasn’t registering as strongly as it might have under other circumstances.

“He’s been having a rough time,” I told her. “We’re all worried about him.”

Gwen sobered a little but not much. “Still. Vampire. Airsick. Funny.” Her gaze flicked sideling at me. “C’mon. Something about this has to be funny. Otherwise it’s just too…”

I nodded at her vague hand wave. She had a point. “Where do we go to get the rental car?”

“The rental car counter. You can’t miss it—this airport has like three counters total.”

She wasn’t joking. By the time I caught up with the others, Jerry was doing whatever private pilots did to log their flights or whatever, and Colin and Sebastian were at the Enterprise counter taking care of the car.

“May I see your cards?” the clerk said.

“Good grief,” Colin muttered.

Sebastian started to pull out his own card, but I poked my nose in before he could hand it over. “Shouldn’t I do the renting?”

Colin blinked at me. “Why?” You’d think he thought I didn’t know how to drive, by his tone.

“I can drive during the day and at night. More efficient if it’s in my name.”

“Fine.” He stuffed his card back in his wallet, and I handed over my driver’s license.

The clerk took it, still eyeing the vampires narrowly. He was about fifty and wore round glasses and a bow tie. I shit you not. A bow tie. “I’ll still need to see your cards.”

“Why?” Colin snipped.

“Regulations. We have to follow the rules.”

Colin shook his head, muttering under his breath, and pulled his card back out. Sebastian handed his over silently, still green around the gills. I hoped he didn’t barf. It would probably be really gross.

“This card is expired,” said the clerk. “You need to apply for a new one.”

“Whatever,” Colin muttered.

“You know there’s a fine,” the clerk continued.

“I’ll get it taken care of.”

The clerk’s mouth pinched shut. “I’ll let it go for now, but regulations—”

“How about if I bite you?” Colin offered, making the clerk blink.

The clerk opened his mouth, undoubtedly about to offer to call the police or the Vampire Regulatory Office of Champaign County, but I spoke first.

“Shut the fuck up, Colin,” I said and pushed him bodily away from the counter. “Go sit down and I’ll take care of this.”

Colin glared at me. I glared back. He flashed fang.

“Oh, give me a break,” I snapped. I’d had about as much as I could take of his posturing. “Go put your ass in a chair.”

Finally, muttering, he relented and headed for a small bank of chairs not far away. I turned to Sebastian. “You too. You look like you’re about to pass out.”

Sebastian didn’t protest but followed Colin, still wobbly. I grabbed a pen and started signing the papers for the rental car.

The clerk was glaring at Colin. “Stop looking at him,” I told him. “It’ll just make it worse.”

“Boyfriend?” he asked with a distasteful curl of his lip.

“Boss,” I shot back.

”Wow.” Apparently disrespecting the boss impressed this guy. “You’re not worried he’ll fire you for talking to him like that?”

“I might be if I gave a shit.” I handed him the signed papers. “Here you go. Do you need anything else?”

He glanced over the papers. “No, I think everything’s in order.” He handed over the keys. “Enjoy your stay.”

I cast a glance back at Colin, who continued to pout and mutter. “Oh, I’m sure it’s gonna be just peachy.”

Leaving Gwen and Jerry at the airport to make arrangements for their own transportation elsewhere, the two vampires and I made our way to the rental car. Colin was still fuming, unsurprisingly, since grumbly annoyance was his default setting.

“I haven’t run into so much prejudicial bullshit since the last time I went to Ohio. God, I hate the Midwest.”

“And I’m sure the Midwest hates you,” I offered. “Get in the car.”

As instructed by Roland, we’d made reservations at the Illini Union Hotel. They only had two vampire-safe suites, but they’d taken our reservation without question. Most vampires don’t trust hotels and stay with other vamps when they travel. In our case, the Union made the most sense, with its on-campus location and easy access to vampire-specific underground walkways.

Dawn was still a few hours away when we arrived. We were waved into the covered eastside entrance, where a small parking area provided room for us to unload. A couple of student-age folks scurried out to help. In the dark, I couldn’t tell if they were human or vampire, but they obviously knew how to sling luggage.

“You’re here for Roland?” one asked. He had close-cropped hair and a tattoo on his scalp that I couldn’t quite make out. I decided he was definitely a vamp, though I wasn’t sure what made me think that.

“Yes,” said Sebastian, grabbing his laptop case.

The young vamp nodded. “We’ll get you settled; then I’ll take you there.”

“Great.”

Colin eyed them all with typical suspicion as they led us to the small check-in counter then upstairs to a suite with blacked-out windows, two separate bedrooms, a big couch, two desks and a flat-screen TV. Classy.

“Nice,” said Colin reluctantly. He indicated the girl—apparently human, as best I could tell now we were in the light—should put his bags in one of the bedrooms, while the dude with the scalp tat put Sebastian’s in the other. I sighed, wondering if I was going to end up on the couch.

There wasn’t time to negotiate it, though, because as soon as the suitcases hit the floor, our escorts waved us on. “We should go,” said the young man—the girl hadn’t said a word. “It’ll be daylight soon.”

Not that soon, I noted but didn’t say anything. Instead, I kept my thoughts to myself as we were led down to the Union’s lower levels.

The place smelled like college. It’s a hard smell to describe, but it has a lot to do with books, greasy fast food and sleep deprivation. It made me feel nostalgic for no really good reason. Maybe I was just tired.

Past the bowling alley and through the food court—I had to wonder if vampires ever went bowling—we passed through a door into a tunnel that led straight south, underneath the quad. The lighting was, as always, half-assed. I eased a little closer to Sebastian as we navigated past vampire students jogging to classes or to the library or wherever the hell they were going.

The tunnel was nicely made, with a continuous abstract mural covering one wall and cushy indoor-outdoor carpeting. I was actually a bit surprised it didn’t have a moving walkway in it—it seemed like the kind of thing vampire college students might lobby for.

Moving walkway or no, we made good time. I’d expected the walk to be longer, but it was only a matter of minutes before we reached another door and a short stairway up to a small landing. Our guides steered us to the right.

“Undergrad is that way,” Tat Boy said. “The vamp archives are in the main library.”

That meant little to me, but Sebastian nodded. Colin had remained remarkably non-complainy throughout the walk. I wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or worried.

“Do we need student IDs or anything?” I asked. It would be just our luck to get thrown out on our ears over something lame like that.

“Just to check out books,” said Tat Boy.

We headed to the right, into the hallway leading toward the lower, still partially underground levels of the main library. Shortly, we reached another intersection. To the left, another tunnel led toward the undergraduate library, while to the right a door led into the graduate library. A sign on the door proclaimed official hours. They were open all night on weekdays during school terms, it said, but during the summer kept more reasonable library hours of ten a.m. to five p.m. “Vampires will be carded,” it said along the bottom, and Colin made a disgruntled noise.