Thirst No. 3 (3 page)

He’s suddenly sad. “Can you help me?”

“I’m not a doctor.”

His whole body trembles as he points to his car. “Alisa, please, drive me to a hospital. My family has money. They’ll pay you. They’ll pay you whatever you want.”

“I already have money. Besides, that’s not what I want.”

He is heartbroken. “No?”

“No. But I’ll help you back to the car and I’ll tell you what I do want.”

He limps weakly as I assist him to his car. He doesn’t protest as I shove him into the passenger side. A part of him still thinks I’m lying, and that in the end I’m going to save him.

I climb in the driver’s side, close the door, and cuff his left wrist to the steering wheel. I do it so fast the deed is done before he realizes it, and his face is suddenly filled with the awe I have been waiting for. Yet his fear is greater.

“You’re not human,” he whispers.

“True. I’m not.”

“Are you an alien?”

I smile. “You know, over the years people have called me all kinds of things, but that’s a first. You should be proud of yourself, Danny Boy.”

He stares down at the knife impaled in his leg. Moving him to the car has caused the blood to flow faster, and his sweats are soaked red. He puts his hand on the hilt of the blade.

“You don’t want to do that,” I say.

“It hurts.”

I stop smiling. “Rape hurts. Did you stop and think of that when you hurt all those women?”

He shakes his head as tears roll over his cheeks. “Please, you’re making a big mistake. You have the wrong guy.”

“Two minutes ago you pointed a gun at me and ordered me to strip. Why would you do that if you weren’t going to rape me?”

He sobs. “All right, I did it, I’m guilty. I’ll tell the police I did it. I swear. Just please take me to the hospital.”

I reach over and stroke his hair. “I’m sorry, you have to stay here with all the women you wanted so badly.”

“No! God, no! I can’t die!”

“Shh. Calm down, you won’t suffer long. And to make sure you don’t, there’s something I’m going to do for you before I say good-bye.”

He gazes at me with sudden hope. “What?”

“Oh, just have a little drink is all.” Before he can react, I reach over and remove the knife and press my mouth to the gushing blood. He must eat a healthy diet—his blood tastes particularly good. Or maybe it’s because I have gone a long time without feasting. Ever since my maker, Yaksha, and my daughter Kalika gave me their powerful blood, I have discovered that I don’t need to feed on humans to survive.

Yet old pleasures die hard. Danny Boy is white as a ghost before I’m through with him, and I can hear how his heart struggles with so little liquid to keep it beating. As an act of
kindness, I slip the knife back in his leg and close off the leaking artery.

“There,” I say. “How do you feel now?”

He gasps for breath. “Scared.”

“I bet your girlfriends felt scared too.”

He stares at me. “Please stop.”

“Stop? But we’re just getting to the fun part. It’s going to be like in the movies. I’m going to start the car and steer it toward the pond and jump out before it hits the water. But I’ll close my door if you want so you don’t get wet.” I pause. “Of course, this car isn’t a hundred percent waterproof. I’m afraid the water—and all those nasty creatures I told you about—will eventually get inside. You might be dead by then, you never know. If you’re not, you’ll get to feel what it’s like to drown.”

“No . . . Please.”

“Come on, show some spirit! I bet you drowned plenty of your girls. It’s only right you should experience everything they did.”

He weeps quietly. “I don’t want to die.”

I lean over and kiss his cheek.

I spare him my favorite farewell remark.

But I keep my promise. Starting the car, I accelerate rapidly and turn in the direction of the pond. At the last moment, I leap out my side and slam the door shut. The car has plenty of momentum and belly flops far from the shore, before it slowly begins to sink.

To my surprise, Danny thrashes vigorously inside, even though I have drained him of all but a couple of pints of blood. As I wipe off my hands and listen to the noise he’s making, and to the hissing and bubbles the car gives off as it sinks below the surface, I think of his last words and consider how often I’ve heard them over the years.

Turning, I race toward the main road. It does not matter how fast I run. Behind me, I still hear him screaming.

A long-distance truck driver gives me a ride back to Truman. He is taking a shortcut through the back country, on the downside of a sixty-hour stretch of road that reaches from LA to Miami. When I climb into his tobacco-rich cabin, he looks plum exhausted but perks up with my vivacious company. He wants to know how a pretty little thing like me got stranded in the middle of nowhere.

“Just ditched a no-good boyfriend,” I say.

The guy slaps his knee. “You don’t sound bitter about it.”

“I’m not.”

“That’s good, real good. Where’d you ditch the bastard?”

I smile. “Where the fishes swim.”

He thinks that’s pretty funny, and we laugh together. I don’t worry he will hear or read about Danny Boy. The man is just passing through and is so tired he hardly knows what state he’s in.

Back at Truman College I have a change of clothes in my car that I keep for such emergencies. My ride didn’t notice, but there’s blood on my shirt and pants, and I know Teri’s much more perceptive than your average truck driver. I’m actually signed up for a few classes and have campus privileges. After a quick shower in the locker room, I slip into fresh black slacks and a white blouse before returning to the stadium.

The track is a beehive of activity, with most of the team present. The coach is smart; he likes to get in the hardest workouts before the heat of the day hits. Teri is running quarter-mile intervals, the coach calling out the time for each lap she completes. Teri would not be able to match Danny Boy’s times, but she is the fastest woman on the team, and once again I’m surprised at the pleasure it gives me to see her doing so well. That Proud Mom feeling, it’s been ages since I experienced it.

I sit in the same place in the stands where I sat when approached by Daniel and wait for Teri to finish her workout. My ears hear everything. The head coach and his two assistants wonder where Daniel is but are not overly concerned. They figure he finished his workout early and is probably at home taking a nap. No one on the field gives me a second look, and that is important. It was always possible someone saw me get into the car with Daniel. But no, he’s gone, gone for good, and his body will never be found.

The women of Truman need fear no longer.

An hour passes, and Teri is finally done with her laps and
is alone and heading for the showers when I approach. To my surprise I feel my heart pound—it’s almost as if I am nervous. I need to talk to her soon, before she disappears back home for the summer. But if everything goes according to plan, she’ll stay in Truman.

Naturally, I worry my appearance might startle her, we look so much alike. But I’ve fixed my makeup to alter the lines on my face. And I have on dark sunglasses, so she can’t see the deep blue of my eyes. I don’t want her feeling like she’s looking in a mirror. Plus I wear a baseball cap, which hides my long blond locks. Later, if I sense my looks still bother her, I can dye my hair.

“Teri Raine?” I say.

She glances over and jumps slightly. My face has startled her, but she recovers quickly. “Yes?” she says.

I offer my hand. “Alisa Perne. I got your name from the job-placement office. They told me you’re looking for a summer job.”

Her grip is firm. “That’s right.”

“Well, I think I have something you might enjoy.”

“What company do you work for?”

“I work for myself. If you took the job, you’d be working for me.”

“What kind of job are we talking about?”

“They told me you’re a premed major.”

“Yeah. But I’ve only been here a year.”

“I know. You’re only nineteen, but with all the advanced courses you’ve taken, you’re technically a junior. They let me peek at your transcript. You’ve already finished a year of organic and inorganic chemistry. You’re done with most of your biology, physics, and calculus. It looks to me like you’ll be in medical school by your twenty-first birthday.”

Teri is guarded, not a bad thing. “I’m surprised they told you so much about me.”

I had put a vampiric spell on the woman in the employment office, but I’m not going to tell Teri that. “I need someone right away, and I’m willing to pay three times what you could get anywhere else in town.”

“Doing what?”

“Research, mostly. I’m a writer, I’m working on a major medical thriller, and there’s a hundred and one facts I don’t have the time or the inclination to look up. It makes sense to just hire someone to do it for me. Interested?”

“Are you a published novelist?”

“I’ve published numerous short stories,” I tell her honestly. “But this will be my first big book.”

“First novels usually don’t pay much. If you manage to sell them.”

“Oh, this will sell. And I’m independently wealthy. I don’t have to worry about the size of the advance.”

“Must be nice.”

“Money is always nice.”

“How many others are interviewing for the job?”

“A few. But on paper you’re my main candidate.”

“Why?”

“Your record shows you’re aggressive. I like that. And your grades are high, so you’re smart, and I like that, too.”

She is unmoved by my compliments. “What kind of salary are we talking about?”

“Thirty bucks an hour. Or a hundred dollars a day even if I only call you in for an hour.”

“With that kind of cash, you could hire a full-fledged medical student.”

“I’d be hiring his ego as well. Look, I don’t want someone who has all the answers. I want someone who doesn’t mind looking for the answers.”

Teri nodded. “It sounds very interesting, Ms. Perne.”

“Alisa, please.”

“I’d like to talk to my boyfriend about it.”

“That’s fine.”

She thinks I don’t approve, tries to explain. “I’m hoping to live with him this summer. So in a way he’s my landlord.”

I tease lightly. “Does he know you want to move in?”

She smiles and her guard drops. “I’m not a hundred percent sure. The last nine months, with my track scholarship, I’ve been sleeping in the dorms. So we’ve had plenty of space between us, which has been good. But moving in together is another thing.”

“But you feel too old to go running back to Mom and Dad just now.”

I know Teri’s mother—I once spoke to her forty years ago, when she was twelve. I bought her a vanilla ice cream cone, and she told me she wanted to be an astronaut when she grew up. But she married young and sort of retired. She doesn’t have Teri’s fire.

“You’re a mind reader. Yeah, I miss them, but I talk to them every week. I mean, I don’t miss them that much. And I hate the idea of leaving Matt right now.” She pauses, shakes her head, embarrassed. “I can’t believe I’m telling you all this stuff. You must be thinking this is no way to interview for a job.”

“You’re being yourself—that’s the best way to make a good impression.” I pause. “Is your boyfriend a student here?”

Her remark about being a mind reader strikes home. I am a telepath, but I have to focus hard on a person to read their thoughts. For that reason, I seldom use the ability, and almost never on people I like. It feels too much like being a peeping Tom to me. Also, to directly implant a suggestion in someone’s mind is exhausting, particularly if they’re strong-willed.

“No. Matt’s, well, it’s hard to say what he is. He’s from Europe—he’s a bit of a drifter. But he’s a brilliant singer-songwriter. Right now he’s got two gigs. He plays the Gator Friday and Saturday nights. And this club in Prudence, the Black Hole, hired him part-time during the week. Are you familiar with these clubs?”

“I know the Gator. It’s in town, isn’t it, off Main Street?”

“Yeah. The place used to be a library, if you can believe that. Now it’s the loudest spot in town. Matt’s playing there tonight. Two shows—one at nine, the other at midnight.”

“I’d love to meet him. If that’s all right with you.”

“Sure. But—”

“I was just thinking he might have questions, if he’s the protective sort. It might be good for the three of us to meet socially, see if we can stand each other.”

For the first time I feel Teri studying me. She’s good—she does so without being too obvious. But she senses I’m coming on strong, and she’s careful. Once again, I don’t mind. In fact, I approve. No one knows as well as I how cold and cruel the world can be.

“I’m sure Matt would be happy to meet you,” she says.

“I’ll swing by tonight.” I offer my hand again. She shakes harder this time.

“I’m seriously interested. Oh, could you bring a few of the stories you’ve written tonight?”

She wants to know if I am for real, or just a hack.

“Sure,” I say.

My house is as far out of town as the spot where I buried Daniel, except it’s in the opposite direction, due west of the campus. I could just as easily have rented a place as bought one, but I prefer to purchase because I’m a privacy fanatic and dislike sleeping
in a place not equipped with high-tech security equipment. I have a past. I have enemies. I cannot be too careful.

My home sits all alone in the center of a spacious grass field that gently slopes down to a large lake. On the other three sides are trees, thick as a jungle, but when I say the field is huge, I’m not exaggerating. There’s a half mile of open space in every direction around the house. With that much land on all sides, I can always see who’s approaching. The property alone cost twenty million—a reasonable amount for someone who started saving five thousand years ago.

I notice a pot has been knocked over on the walkway that leads to my front door. I have a team of gardeners who come once a week and take care of my plants and flowers. But they come on Mondays, and today is Friday. The pot is heavy; the wind could not have disturbed it. Besides, the breeze that wafts off the lake is gentle this time of morning.