Night of the Living Dandelion (26 page)

The bedroom was large for an apartment, and had a high vaulted ceiling and a palladium window that was covered by a pleated room-darkening shade. Against the wall opposite the bed was an enormous armoire made out of the same dark wood. Tucked in one corner was a cozy armchair and ottoman, with an arc lamp behind the chair, making the perfect reading corner.

“Abs,” Jillian said, making an effort to raise her head. “You came! You
do
care.”

“Of course I care, silly. But you shouldn’t have bothered Vlad.”

“I was compelled to,” she said, then let her head fall back onto the pillow.

“She was seeking her own kind,” Vlad said with a hint of humor. “You know how we vampires like to stick together.” He moved past me to sit on the side of the bed. “Jillian, I brought you more herbal tea. Would you like to sit up and drink it?”

She nodded.

I watched in astonishment as Vlad put his arm behind her and raised her far enough to sip the tea. “Is it my oregano tea?” she asked.

“Yes. Drink it all. You’re still dehydrated.”

She did as she was told, draining the cup. Then she sighed. “That tasted good.”

Vlad propped the pillows behind her so she could sit up. “Now you can visit with your cousin while I brew more.” On his way out, he whispered in my ear, “You didn’t happen to bring her medicine along, did you?”

I reached into my purse, found the small cylinder, and slipped it to him.

“I’ll be back with more tea,” Vlad promised her.

As soon as he was gone, I sat down on the bed and took Jillian’s hand. It felt cool and as dry as paper, not the soft, moist hand of a young woman. “We’ve been worried about you, Jillian. Claymore, your parents, my parents—we’ve been searching all over town for you.”

She motioned for me to come closer. I leaned in and she whispered, “Tell me you’re not really wearing yellow rain boots.”

“You’re hallucinating.”

“Thank God,” she said with a sigh, and closed her eyes.

She couldn’t be that sick if she was worried about my boots. I dug deep into my purse and pulled out my cell phone.
Sure. Now I find it.
“We need to let Claymore know you’re here so he can pass the word along to your parents.”

“No!” she cried, and grabbed the phone from me, clutching it to her chest. “Claymore wants to kill me.”

“Jillian, stop it. Claymore loves you!”

“He brainwashed you, Abs. Can’t you see that?” Her eyelids fluttered closed. “Whatever happens, I forgive you for trying to poison me.”

Then she fell silent. Alarmed, I felt her wrist for a pulse and found it beating healthily. I watched her for a moment, but she seemed to have slipped into a deep sleep, so I tiptoed out of the room and started down the hallway only to see Vlad coming toward me carrying one of the boxes.

“I’ve got tea brewing. It should be ready in ten minutes.”

“Vlad, we need to let Claymore know Jillian is safe. He’s frantic with worry.”

“If you want to, that’s your choice, but I promised Jillian I wouldn’t call him until she gave me the okay, and I don’t break promises.”

He opened the door to a room that glowed with an eerie blue light. “Come in.”

Said the spider to the fly.

T
he room that I entered was filled with exotic plants lit only by the blue-white glow of overhead plant lights. All around me were stands holding species I’d seen only in catalogs. Fascinated, I circled the room, admiring the strange but beautiful blossoms, while Vlad unloaded his new plants, placing each one in a carefully chosen spot. Oddly, what I didn’t see was dandelions. Not a single weed. He’d told me his supply was low, but still, what had he done with them?

He brushed off his hands and rose. “These are great additions, Abby.”

I noticed that the flats I’d brought were not in the room. “What about your new dandelions?”

“Well . . . they’re for a different project.”

“What kind of project?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.” He smiled. Were his teeth actually glowing or was that the blue light?

“What kind of violet is this?” I asked, pointing to a specimen that was a deep rose color at the center blending to burgundy on the edges. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“It’s called Vampire’s Kiss
.
The petals in the center resemble fangs. Appropriate, right?”

I didn’t know what to say.

“The African violets are my favorites,” Vlad said. “I developed a fondness for them while I was with the Rangers. We trained in some pretty exotic locations.”

“That must be where Marco got his love for them,” I said.

“You know about that? He made me swear not to tell anyone. Marco must trust you deeply.” Vlad glanced down, as though embarrassed. “Well, of course he does. You’re going to be married. Shame on me for suggesting otherwise.”

“He told you about our engagement?”

Vlad studied me for a long moment, as though wondering why I needed to ask. “Marco trusts me, too.”

I felt my face get hot. “I know he trusts you, Vlad. Shame on me.”

“I wish you trusted me.” He held up his hand before I could reply. “It’s okay. I know I’m different. It’s hard to trust people who are different.”

“It’s not that I want to mistrust you. I just don’t know you well enough to have the confidence in you that Marco has.”

“Then I suppose you have to decide whether you can trust Marco’s judgment.”

When he put it that way, how could I argue?

“I should get Jillian’s tea now.” Vlad started out of the room, calling over his shoulder, “I made it from the oregano and basil leaves she brought with her. I was surprised she had knowledge of such a remedy.”

“Me, too.” I followed him across the hall into his kitchen, where he turned on a light, although again, not a bright one. The kitchen had black appliances, black granite counters, medium oak cabinets, and tan walls—a beautiful look, if a bit dark.

“My assistant Lottie told me her grandmother used herbal tea to treat infections,” I said.

“That does work, but not fast enough for people nowadays. My parents use folk remedies all the time. They’re in their sixties, have perfect health, and still take daily hikes in the mountains.”

“Do they dress like you?” As soon as I said it, I pressed my lips together, cursing that missing tact gene.

Vlad smiled. “You mean in black clothing? As far as I know, only for funerals.”

“Forgive me for asking, but why do you wear black clothes? You know it feeds the rumor mill.”

Vlad crossed his arms over his chest. “Marco was right. You are nosy.”

“I’m sorry. Sometimes my curiosity gets the better of me.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re brave. I admire that. I wear black because I like it, because I don’t have to think about what to wear, and because it sets me apart from other men. Except for one time when I was in the military, it hasn’t been a problem—that is, until recently.”

“You could start wearing regular guy clothes. You’d fit in better.”

“I could.” His eyes crinkled at the corners. “If I wanted to fit in.”

“You like being thought a vampire, don’t you?”

Vlad poured tea into the black mug from a ceramic pot, then gave me a smile. “Let’s go poison our patient.”

He was joking, right?

When we returned to the bedroom, Jillian immediately raised herself on her elbows, already showing improvement, no doubt from being rehydrated.

“Here you go,” Vlad said, sitting beside her.

Jillian drank thirstily, stopping for air after every few gulps. Then she sighed contentedly and leaned back against the pillow. Vlad met my gaze with a look that said,
Success!

I was beginning to like the guy.

Jillian handed me my phone. “You can have it back now. I texted Claymore to let him know I was safe and not to worry.”

“Did you tell him where you were?”

“No, I just told him you’d give him all the details later. Happy now?”

“You told Claymore
I’d
give him the details? Then he knows where you are, Jillian.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“Yes, he does. Claymore brought me here.”

As if on cue, there was a hard pounding on the front door. Jillian’s eyes grew as round as golf balls; then she pulled the blankets over her head.

“That’ll be Claymore,” I told Vlad.

He strode out of the room, so I followed, hoping to intercede on his behalf in case Claymore tried to avenge his wife’s honor. Up ahead, I saw Vlad open the door, then be thrown back as Claymore pushed it open and barged inside. Two paramedics followed, carrying their medical bags. One of them was Kyle, who gave me a nod. A collapsible gurney waited just outside.

“Where is my wife?” Claymore demanded, his slender fists clenched as though ready to punch.

“Claymore, calm down,” I said, putting myself between him and Vlad. “Jillian is fine. She’s resting in the bedroom.”

“She’s in
his
bedroom?” Claymore said, nearly choking on his words.

“I’ll show you the way,” Vlad said to the two paramedics, and started toward the bedroom. They followed, taking the gurney with them.

I grabbed Claymore’s sleeve before he could go after them. “Listen to me. You owe Vlad a big thank-you. Jillian showed up here in the night and collapsed in the hallway outside. Vlad took her in and was able to get liquids in her, which probably saved her life. And just now he got her to take her antibiotics.”

Claymore was breathing hard, but as my words sank in, he began to calm down.

“Jillian didn’t think she could trust any of us, Clay. She trusted Vlad precisely because she thinks he’s a vampire. She made him swear he wouldn’t tell where she was, and he kept his word. That’s why we didn’t know. It was just good luck that I dropped those plants off and found her.”

A loud screeching sent us both scurrying toward the bedroom. I turned the corner and found Jillian engaged in a blanket tug-of-war with the EMTs. “I won’t go! You can’t make me!”

“We just want to take you to a nice quiet room at the hospital,” Kyle said. “No one will bother you there, and you’ll be able to say who can visit you and who can’t. How does that sound?”

Jillian didn’t have the strength to keep fighting, so she reached out to Vlad. “Help me.”

Vlad took her hand and sat on the bedside. “Jillian, do you trust me?”

She nodded.

“Then go with these medics to the hospital to be checked out. I will send your herbal tea mix with you so you can continue to get your strength back. Okay?”

She nodded again.

Vlad placed her hand on the bed. “I’ll put the tea in a cardboard take-out cup. Let these men help you onto the cart.”

Jillian watched the medics roll the gurney to the opposite side of the massive bed. Vlad left the room to get her tea, so Claymore moved up to his spot. “Jillian?” he said softly.

She glanced at him, then turned her head away. He stared at her, crushed, then left.

I followed him into the hallway.

“Clay, give her time,” I said “Once her meds have fully taken effect, she’ll be her old self again.”

“I hope you’re right.” He glanced toward the kitchen. “Before I leave, I suppose I should apologize to Vlad for my rudeness.”

“That would be a good idea. But don’t leave without me. I’ll need a ride back to Bloomers.” I patted his arm, then watched as he headed down the hallway. I went back into the bedroom and found Jillian lying docilely on the gurney while the medics tucked the sheet in around her and prepared her for the trip to the hospital.

As they rolled her out of the room, Kyle said to his partner, “Go on ahead. I’ll be right there.”

He stepped back into the room, took an envelope from inside his jacket, and handed it to me. “That’s the info Marco wanted.”

“Thanks.” I stared at the envelope for a few moments, tempted to open it, then stuck it in the side pocket of my coat. There’d be time for that later. I didn’t want to miss my ride.

I started down the hallway and realized that the throbbing in my ankle had stopped. In fact, I couldn’t feel the lower part of my leg at all.

With a feeling of dread, I lifted my leg and saw what appeared to be a big skin-colored balloon inside the rubber boot—the balloon being my ankle. I probed the swelling and set off a cascade of pain that started in my toes and ran up to my thigh. I knew then that I wasn’t going anywhere without my crutches.

I glanced up and saw Claymore step outside the apartment with Vlad. “Hey!” I called. “Wait!” I hopped toward him, using the wall for balance, dislodging my purse on my shoulder in the process. It fell to the floor, but I had no time to stop.

“Hey,” I called again. “A little help here, please.”

Vlad turned to look first, his gaze instantly traveling to my ankle. He reached me in two strides and swept me effortlessly into his arms. “I was afraid of this.”