Sleight of Hand (21 page)

“Ma’am? Ma’am? Are you all right in there?” Rapping on my car window.

I woke up with a start, unable to think for a moment where I was. I pushed off a coat that had been covering me.
Diana’s coat
. I clutched at my neck. Nothing.
Stupid.
Going to sleep in a car with two vampires.
Athanate
, not vampire. The same thing.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I opened the door and climbed out clumsily, stiff from the awkward sleeping position. The officer was standing back, hand relaxed over his gun. Yeah, crazy woman sleeping in a car, I’d probably have been using my gun to rap on the window.

“I’m okay, officer, I’m fine other than the cramp.”

He came a bit closer and sniffed.

“I haven’t been drinking.” I rubbed my eyes and stretched. “I was working late and I just lay down in the back for a moment. Must have been more tired than I thought.” I got my ID and license out and he glanced at them.

“Amber Farrell?”

“That’s me.”

“The name rings a bell.” He scratched his head.

“I’m a PI, you probably heard something evil about me down at the station.” I smiled. “Tell you what, would you like some coffee? My office is right there.”

It was early and I must have looked less crazy once I was standing up. Officer Robinson agreed to coffee and I led him into the office and started the coffeemaker. I visited the bathroom and checked my teeth in the mirror. They seemed normal still. No sign of bites on my neck. At least my bruises had all disappeared, otherwise I’m sure he’d have been asking about them. I pulled my hair back into some kind of order and went back to finish making the coffee.

We sat and drank and passed a few minutes pleasantly, talking sports. He was a nice guy, even if he was hopelessly mistaken about how the Broncos should convert third downs this season.

“Look,” I said, calling a halt to the chat, “I was working last night and I was on the train. There was a girl who got off at Colorado, about midnight. I couldn’t stop and check she was okay, but it’s been on my mind. You know how it is. She looked so out of it. Could you do me a favor—call in and see if there’s been any reports about her?”

“Sure, no problem. You got the details?”

“Caucasian, maybe twenty, five-six. Long blonde hair, wrapped in braids around her head. Wearing a black leather coat with a big collar and long boots. Heavy goth makeup.”

Robinson called the desk sergeant and gave the basic description. He listened briefly and ended the call.

“Nothing,” he said with a smile. “Quiet night around here, thank God.” He got up and rinsed his mug.

“Well, thanks for checking anyway.”

“My pleasure, Ms. Farrell. Thanks for the coffee and you take a break today, y’hear.”

I smiled at him as he walked out and left me sitting at my desk.

So, maybe the girl was okay. I’d chase that. I hated the idea that she’d been used as a cover by Bian to track me and had been at risk because of it, wandering around in a daze in the middle of the night. Had Bian been playing mind games on her, or was it just dope? Either way, it felt like she was my responsibility and I would have to keep an eye out for her.

I got the test unit out and ran it, fidgeting nervously as it did its thing. It had gone up to 0.45. The highest it had ever been was 0.46. I was going to have to find a way to get Obs to tell me what the readings really signified, without giving them the idea I needed to be back in the isolation cell.

I had to talk to David too, but I was due to see him in a few hours at the charity run in Boulder anyway. We could talk afterwards.

I felt I ought to update the colonel as well, but I was in less of a hurry to do that. I was still frazzled from everything that had happened, and maybe talking it through with David would settle me down.

I went back to the car. On my seat was a folded piece of paper with a cell number and a brief message—
Call when you are ready
. I retrieved my cell from the glove compartment and stored the number under Diana & Bian. I sat in my seat and put it back to where it should be.

I’d started the week feeling like life had gotten complicated when I’d had to call in the police on Carter’s company. It had gone downhill from there.

Not only was Carter suing me, a crime boss was sending hitmen after me. And someone—possibly the same person—was after Jen, whose safety felt like my responsibility.

Meanwhile, the vampires—Athanate—who I was supposed to be spying on for Colonel Laine, now wanted me to work for them.

The strangest thing was, I was eager to work with them. It wasn’t only that I wanted to find out more about what was happening to me. Meeting them and seeing them as people and not faceless monsters had given me some hope that I would still be me, if I changed. Even more than that, I believed what Diana had said about Basilikos Athanate. If the situation was as delicately balanced as Diana had said, then I wanted to be part of making that better. The thought of Basilikos growing unchecked was frightening. The vision of a dystopian world, where people were farmed for their blood to feed an elite, made me sick.

I hadn’t taken everything Skylur and Diana had said as the unvarnished truth, but it felt right, and I would find out more as I went along. At some point there might be a conflict of interest between them and Colonel Laine. I’d have to deal with it.

In the meantime, I guess I had another client, even if they were dubious on the payment front, and irritatingly secretive. And frighteningly powerful.

Still, there was something I could do about at least one small part of that list of concerns.

I bent forward, my arm reaching up behind the dash. My fingers located the back of the GPS system and worked along the edge till they found a small ridge. I pressed it and with a quiet click a tiny SD drive popped into my hand. It’s the sort of thing you use in cameras to record all those pictures. Or a GPS, to record everywhere you’ve been in the car for the last three months. In my case, this went on even if the GPS system looked as if it was turned off. I was going to be very interested to see where I was last night.

Chapter 27

Boulder’s Mountain View 10-Mile Charity Run had been popular this year. I finished in a respectable position, but barely remembered to get my ticket punched before I ran back to my car through the throngs of people. David hadn’t been in sight anywhere on the route.

At the car, I took out the burn phone and dialed his, but only got through to the voicemail. I tried his normal cell and got the same. This was the first time he’d ever missed a run with me. The trickle of worry became dread, but I was stuck in Boulder.

It seemed to take forever to get clear of the people and cars and I alternated between banging on my steering wheel and calling his numbers, until the marshals eventually got the traffic flowing freely.

David had given me his key and he had trusted me to watch his back. I headed for his house in Wash Park as quickly as I could and hoped I hadn’t failed him already.

Washington Park was my favorite area in Denver, if only because it was where we had lived as a family before Dad died. It’s a peaceful area, with tree-lined roads and well-kept yards, neat houses and tended gardens.

I had never been to David’s house before. It was small, set back in a well-cut lawn, bordered with hip-high hedges. The front had a stepped, A-frame roof providing a sunlit porch with cover and space for colorful pot plants. I ran right up and hammered on the white door, calling out his name.

I was about to use the key when he opened the door. My first feeling was a huge rush of relief and I hugged him to me, ignoring his appearance.

“David, I was so worried. I couldn’t get through. Are you all right?” I grabbed his shoulders and took a good look at him. He was pale and unshaven, and wearing a bathrobe as if he had come to the door straight from bed.

He managed a wan smile. “Just peachy,” he said. “A bit late to ask you to come in. Close the door and help me make some coffee.” He turned and walked slowly into an open plan kitchen and breakfast area.

I realized I had launched myself through his door at him. What if he’d had a friend staying? I guess I would have improvised. As it was, I got him to sit down and direct me to the right places for coffee and breakfast things. He sat, looking tired but amused, as I fixed him a very late brunch and quizzed him. I was bursting to tell him about my visit to House Altau, but I held back. I really needed to be reassured he was okay first.

“So what’s up? This isn’t flu or hangover, is it?”

“No. No, just another step on the path.”

“Explain to me! Come on.” I put his coffee in front of him and went back to the pan.

He rubbed his face and scratched his head, sending his curly hair springing up all over the place. “I need to practice using my Ath…my skills for healing myself and replenishment.”

“So much clearer,” I said. “And you can use the word Athanate if you want to.”

He jerked upright, spilling his coffee. “How do you know that?”

“When I understand what’s going on with you, I’ll tell you.” I smiled sweetly at him, waving the spatula. “Sunny side up?”

He looked annoyed, but at least there was some color coming back into his cheeks, and he started to speak, haltingly at first, but more freely as he went on.

By the time he had his food in front of him, I had learned that his main Mentor, an Athanate called Pia, was responsible for this stage of his development. He had to learn to heal himself, and Pia was forcing this by drinking his blood, leaving him weak and shocked. His body healed itself, replenishing his blood far quicker than an ordinary person. But at the moment, that was just in time for her to come around again. So far he was okay, even if I had caught him at a bad time. She’d come around early in the day and there was no way he would have been able to make the run.

All of which led us to a fuller description of replenishment and the second part of the test.

Accompanying Pia on her visits was another girl. Not an Athanate, a girl who was a normal human. The legends of the vampire had at least gotten part of the truth right: Athanate required human blood. The girl was there of her own free will, but bound to Pia in a way that David did not yet understand. She was there to provide blood for David.

David looked down at his food. “I have to make her come to me. It’s not that she’s unwilling,” he added. “But I have to call her to me across the room just using a sort of mesmerism that I’m supposed to have.”

I sat back and thought about it. I guess I had been aware of the need to drink blood, but actually thinking it through with David’s need to drink from some girl’s neck, that was plain icky. The mesmerism I assumed was some form of what Skylur had done to me.
Bastard,
I said to myself, but without much heat any more. He hadn’t made me offer my neck to him, but on the other hand, I hadn’t been in any state to stop him if he’d pushed the point.

“
Supposed
to have?” I asked, picking up on what he’d said.

David looked uncomfortable. “I did some tests before and they said I was developing okay. But it’s not working.”

I stole some ham off the side of his plate and chewed it for a second. “Tell me a couple of things—what happens if an Athanate can’t get human blood at all, and what happens to you if you can’t manage this mesmerism?”

David looked somber. “An Athanate without human blood will go into a coma after about a week and eventually die. For me, they won’t let me die, but I’d be a cripple, I guess you would say.”

“They being House Altau?” I said casually.

“Amber! What the hell?” His eyes were huge.

I went around and gave him a hug, laughing all the while, as he teetered on his stool. “Sorry, couldn’t resist teasing you a little. I had an invitation I couldn’t refuse this time.”

“What happened? You’re okay? You weren’t bitten? Tell me. Please?” His words stumbled over each other to get out, making me laugh again.

He was looking much better after the food and I hauled him off his stool and into his living room to take him through the night’s events while we drank the coffee. As it wasn’t strictly governed by my no-tell agreement with the army, I also gave him a rundown on prions.

David was quiet and thoughtful at the end.

“Refill?” I offered, picking up the cups, and he nodded.

“I know the names of the people you’re talking about—Skylur, of course, and Diana, but I haven’t met anyone except my Mentors.” He laughed. “I get exactly the same blindfold treatment as you, so I have no idea where we go. It’s just a room with no windows. I assume it’s the same place you went, but I’ve never heard of or seen the dungeon part of the house.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him that I knew where House Altau was, but I left it for another time.

I handed him his fresh coffee and sat back down.

Taking a steadying breath, I said, “Okay, David. Homework.”

He looked around, his eyebrows raised.

“Practice on me, little bro. Call me on your headphone.” I waggled my fingers next to my head. “Beam your commands to me.” I wanted this like I wanted root canal treatment at the dentist, but David needed to be able to do it.

He cleared his throat. “I don’t think we should. It could be dangerous, Amber. That’s why we learn with an experienced Mentor. It can get out of hand.”

“You are
so
not going to be able to bite my neck while I’m kicking your ass around the house.”

“Did I mention, you’re
so
arrogant?”

I laughed. “Well, teach me a lesson.” I reached out and touched his arm. “I trust you, David.” I had a feeling he wasn’t able to focus because he didn’t know Pia’s friend. There was a shyness about David. It told me a lot that he hadn’t even found out her name.

“Okay. I’ll try.” He smiled nervously and sat back, looking at me, a little frown mark appearing. I felt something, but I wasn’t even sure whether it was my imagination or not. Certainly, there was nothing like the claustrophobic attack that Skylur had been able to do, not that I’d expected that.