The Falstaff Vampire Files (27 page)

He stroked my hair.

I sighed. “I love that you do that. It’s something you can’t really ask for, but it’s so very nice.” We kissed a little more, feeling the luxury of a whole night ahead.

“Thank you for coming back to help,” I said between kisses.

“Which time?”

“Every time.”

“I wanted to see you, and I wanted to do this. And this. Also this.”

We went beyond words.

Afterward, dozing in the quiet of intimacy under the covers, I wondered at how much more profound it was with Bram. For the first time I realized that Hal had been performing, while Bram was exploring. For a moment I thought he was asleep, until he asked, “Do you have any kids?”

“No. You said you had a son?”

“I have a son. My wife and I divorced when he was fifteen, and I’ve spent the past ten years getting reacquainted with him.”

I told him a little about taking care of my husband during his long illness.

Lying full length touching each other made the questions a kind of continuation of the lovemaking. “Do you regret not having kids?”

“Some curiosity, but no regret. Do you regret having kids?”

“Only during the years from 15 to 25.”

We both laughed. “My clients are like my kids in a way. Of course, they do get better and go out into the world and never call.”

“And this is different from children—how?”

“So, are you a grandfather?” It seemed to be the thing to ask.

“Not yet.”

With Bram in the bed, I slept peacefully for the first night in a long time. When I awoke, Sly and Ariel were stretched out on either side of us, while Hamlet snored softly draped over most of the loveseat next to the bed.

Chapter 70

Kristin Marlowe’s typed notes

August 29th

By the time we got out of the bedroom
the next morning, Mina had gone off to work. Bram took a cup of coffee and watched in amusement as I walked around feeding cats—outdoor ferals, the three males in the bedroom. The two females in the bathroom stayed pasted up against the back of the closet when I peeked in.

When Bram and I took a shower, I tried leaving the door open a little so the steam would get out, but the three male cats immediately came in to investigate. More growling and hissing followed, so I got out of the shower, waved a towel to chase the males out of the room, and closed the door again.

Bram laughed. “Not one of those sensual morning-after shared showers.”

“More like a turf war in a steam room.”

“You have very complicated domestic arrangements, Kristin Marlowe.”

“This is new to me, too.”

“I know. But you’re resourceful, and sexy, and never boring.”

“And you are wise and open-minded and very inventive.”

“You’re not just saying that because I destroyed that tree yesterday.”

“Not every experiment is going to work, and you did protect us from getting burned with the asbestos vests. The water cannons will be great to put the onion juice in if those things do come back. Though frankly, I’m hoping they never will.”

“Amen to that.”

We went out to breakfast. All the tension had drained away, to be replaced with that hollow, hallowed post-great-sex, infinite-possibilities feeling.

“I think I should stay with you until this is over.”

“It will be crowded, but until we’re out of the woods, I would feel safer with you here.”

Bram went to the hotel to get his things.

While he was gone doing that, I got my first email from a vampire.

Of course. They could send email all night. This one had been sent around 2:00 a.m.

To: Kristin Marlow

From: Dr. Nehemiah Quiller

Subject: Last night’s rout

Dear Ms. Marlowe,

It has come to my attention due to a brief report from Violet Semmelweis that you and your fellow human, Miss Mina, have defeated the entire contingent of forces besieging Violet’s house by employing a spray apparatus filled with onion juice. I need to hear more of this, and request that you present yourself at my laboratory this evening.

Violet can bring you here. I must test her blood to see what effect the onion treatment you gave her has had. Her faculties are much revived or she would not have contacted me describing your encounter. I have never received an email from her before. Indeed, I was not aware that she had my address, so this shows a considerable improvement in her mental functioning over last night. Meanwhile, I have the honor to remain,

Your obedient servant,

Nehemiah Quiller, M.D.

I had to smile—even in his emails, he was an 1800s kinda guy. But was happy to hear that Vi was turning on her computer to write, even if it was just email. So far as I knew, this was the first she had turned it on since becoming a vampire. I longed to talk to her, but of course she would not arise till dusk.

Bram came back with a rolling suitcase and duffel bag of clothes. He worked for a little while on a laptop at my kitchen breakfast nook. Then he went out to talk to colleagues to let them know he would be in town again.

“What are you going to tell Larry?” I asked.

“As little as possible.”

It felt odd, but somehow natural, to send Bram off with a kiss. I sat down with my notes. I was missing some of my clients, and concerned about a few of them. I called Larry, who had sent me an email recap of sessions with my clients during the week I took off.

“You told Luther to get a paid escort?”

“Now Kris, I didn’t specifically recommend that he pay for sex. But I told him that since he intended to stay married, the least he could do was offer lots of goodies, like dining at the finest restaurants, fun day trips to the wine country. In the gay community a man in a similar situation might use code words like ‘generous member of the millionaire club’ or ‘financially secure and enjoys finer things in life.’”

“And you say he took notes?”

“We talked tactics. I think he should be upfront from the beginning and focus on his strong points. I said he could say, ‘friends say I’m distinguished looking,’ because he is. Not bad, really—sort of a silver fox type. I hope I didn’t scare off your client.”

“Hey, you may have solved his problem. Lately his therapy has degenerated into him complaining about how his personal ads aren’t working.”

“Some times the man-to-man thing is useful. It balances out with some of your other clients, like Tammy, who couldn’t wait a week to see you and then came in and wouldn’t even talk to me.”

“She’s a little scared of men.”

“Ya think?”

“I told her she could call me if anything serious came up, and she hasn’t, so this should just give us another thing to consider next session. Thanks, Larry.”

“Glad to help.” He paused. “So, Kris, how are you doing on the hallucination front?”

“No hallucinations at all now. Thanks, Larry, for being there for me the other night.”

When I checked my email again, I was startled to find that my anonymous suitor Mr_Latte had changed his ad. It now read: “Financially secure, married man, wishes to share the finer things in life.”

He had emailed me to say he changed his ad, after getting some advice—and I was pretty sure where he got it. He suggested that if I was interested, once I was recovered sufficiently from my grief we might get together for dinner at one of San Francisco’s finer restaurants, or even consider a fun day trip to the wine country.

Hmmm. I wrote him, saying that my personal life had taken a sudden turn and I was no longer looking for companionship. I wished him luck.

Chapter 71

Mina Murray’s journal

red digital voice recorder August 29th

Weird things never happened
after dawn, so I was beginning to view work as a refuge. I had several voicemail messages from Hal since he left for Washington and I went to stay with Kris. Each time he said he couldn’t get a callback where he was and he’d keep trying until he reached me. Finally he called and I answered.

“Mina, how are you? I keep missing you. I was worried.”

“Are you in DC, Hal?”

“Yes, I’m filling in for some people here. I decided not to take any of the overseas projects. But I’ll be staying here for awhile, cleaning up some loose ends.”

“They followed me home, Hal.”

There was a short silence. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Did those things follow you to DC?”

“No.” His voice suddenly changed. “No, they didn’t. I’m sorry, Mina. You can’t know how sorry. Look, I’ve got to go. I just wanted to see if you were okay. Stay safe. I love you.”

“Hal—” But it was too late. The line went dead.

On impulse I dialed Ned. At first I got his voicemail, but he must have been screening calls, because he picked up the phone. “Mina, how are you? I was worried about you.”

“I just talked to Hal.”

Ned paused. “Oh, what did he say?”

“He’s staying in DC for awhile.”

“Oh.”

“The night before he left, I saw Lucy floating outside the window—with those gray things. Do you know what I’m talking about?”

“Yes.”

“Have you seen them?”

“Yes.” His voice sounded infinitely weary.

“And do you have your own contingent? Did they follow you home, too?”

“Mina, I know Hal wanted to protect you from those.”

“Which is why he left town. You didn’t answer my question, Ned. Do you have the same things around your house as Hal has?”

“Yes.”

“I think I know how to get rid of them.”

“Does Hal know about it?”

“I didn’t have time to tell him. He apologized and hung up and he’s not accepting calls. But I can tell you, if you want to know.”

“You really have a cure for them?”

I told him.

“It can’t be that simple.” He didn’t believe me.

“Fine, then. Live with them.”

“How do you know all this?”

“We discovered it by accident, but so far it makes them go away. One lady that nearly got killed by them seems to be getting better. It might help Lucy if she’s not too far gone.”

Ned’s voice was filled with pain. “She’s too far gone, Mina. I’ve been over to Hal’s place to see her with them, and she looks more and more like them every time. Last night I couldn’t even pick her out. I don’t know if I want to send them away, because I keep hoping one of them will be Lucy. I might even, you know--” he paused. “Let them drain my life out, just to be with her.”

“I’m so sorry, Ned.”

“She never liked me as much as she liked Hal. I think she’s still part of the mob that swarms over his house every night. I try not to go, but I always end up there.”

“Be careful, Ned.”

He didn’t answer for a moment, but I could hear him taking a deep breath at the other end of the line. “Mina, there’s one thing you should know about Hal.”

“What?”

“He’ll use you if he can, and he lies about everything.”

I didn’t say anything for a minute. It hurt too much. “Do you think he lied about those things following him to DC?”

“I don’t know, but if he thought they’d help him, he’d buy them a first class ticket.”

Chapter 72

Kristin Marlowe’s typed notes

August 29th

The moment the sun slipped under
the horizon, my phone rang. It was Dr. Quiller.

“Miss Marlowe, I may not be able to meet with you tonight. After I wrote to you last night, I acted on impulse and went to see Violet for myself. She said you gave her both onion and garlic. I wondered if it might be the antibiotic properties of those.

“The myth of garlic repelling vampires is untrue. So I had no reason to study these things. The vampire venom that gives us eternal life kills all infection, so when the human researchers developed penicillin in the 1940s, I paid very little attention.” He paused, and his voice took on a defensive tone. “I qualified as a doctor in the 1850s, and I became a vampire during the Civil War. My specialty now is vampire burns from exposure to sunlight, water retention from leaky coffins, that kind of thing. But if the Others can be repulsed by onion and garlic, stronger antibiotics might be useful.”

I mentioned the enzyme that combines with water to make sulfuric acid, thinking that as a medical man he should know that,

“Interesting.” His tone was dismissive as if he had made up his mind already. “Some experiments are in order,” he said

I didn’t like the sound of that—experiments on whom or what? “Do these kinds of infestations happen often?”

“They are rare. But, as you have observed, highly disruptive.”

“Um, you know sulfuric acid can be pretty dangerous, maybe even to vampires.”

“Please allow me to be the judge of what is dangerous to vampires.”

He hung up. So much for the Victorian courtesies. He didn’t seem too concerned about dangers to humans. I was just as glad to not be seeing him at his lab.

As soon as I hung up there was a knock at the door and Vi stood there. I was so glad to see her that I impulsively reached out and hugged her. Bad idea. She was cold as ice. She stayed outside the door, at arm’s length.

“I need you to give me a formal invitation before I can come in, Kris—make it specific to me, just to be safe.” She looked around for a second and both of us smiled to see no signs of the Others.

Her face was redder than it had been, and her eyes were clearer.

“Violet Semmelweis, you are welcome to enter.” Even with no visible swarm, I wasn’t about to take any chances. “You want to go into the office and sit down?”

“There’s no time. I need your help.”

“To do what?”

“Come with me to Quiller’s laboratory.”

“Oh, he just called and asked me not to come.”

“That’s why we need to go now, while he’s not there. Please come now. We can talk about it on the way.”

Except that once we got in the car, she didn’t want to talk about it. Her face was grim. I drove.

We parked near Forest Hill Station, and she led me to the same maze of corridors that had brought me to Morford’s office. Vi took a different turn in the underground maze. No marble floors and office doors here, just walls and floors painted battleship gray. I was lost by the time we arrived at a steel door.