Six Times Deadly: A Lawson Vampire Story Collection (The Lawson Vampire Series) (13 page)

A yawn made its way out of me and I realized I was sleepier than I'd thought I was.
 
Of course, having the IV tube in my arm just made it all the more enjoyable getting into bed.
 
I maneuvered around until I'd dragged the covers halfway up, but then I caught the sheet on the IV needle and felt the twinge as it flexed back and bit into my arm in an odd way.

Needles.

I sighed and let my eyes close.
 
I tucked the pistol under my pillow and kept a hand on it.
 
Then I took a final breath.

Sleep came fast.

Too fast.

*
*
*

When I woke up, someone was in the room with me.
 
I kept my eyes closed and let the sounds tell me what was going on.
 
Whoever was in the room with me was being especially quiet.
 
But that didn't necessarily make them an enemy.
 
I had to remind myself that I was in a hospital and in the guise of a patient.
 
They made rounds late at night checking vitals on patients.

In other words, me jumping out of bed with the pistol cocked and ready to fire probably wasn't the best idea.

Yet.

I'd long ago mastered the art of appearing to be sleeping when, in fact, my muscles were all priming themselves for combat.
 
It was one of the skills they'd hammered into us back at the Academy.
 
But they'd made us practice in a theater, pretending to be asleep and then coming awake and seeing how natural it appeared.
 
Faking sleep is tougher than it looks.

I felt the stir of the air in the room, most likely due to the person there breathing.
 
The draft tickled the hairs along the back of my head and down my exposed arm.
 
I sensed the person moving around the room and risked cracking one eye.

"Are you awake?"

I knew the voice.
 
Debbie.

"I am now."

"I need your vitals."

I sat myself up.
 
"I'm certain you'll find my heart rate speeding up now that I know you're here."

"Oh hush, would you?
 
It's been a long night.
 
I don't need to fight off a handsome man now to make it complete."

"Compliment taken.
 
Thank you."

Debbie came over to my right side and slid the blood pressure cuff on.
 
I watched her press the button on the machine and felt the cuff swell.
 
In the darkness of the room, she was just a silhouette.
 

"How's the IV?"

"I hate needles."

"Doctor says it stays until tomorrow and then we'll switch you to oral."

"Oral?"

Debbie sighed.
 
"Antibiotics, Lawson.
 
My god, you're relentless."

"I'm driven.
 
There's a difference."

"Obsessive to a fault, more likely."
 
Debbie slid the BP cuff off and then looked at my IV bag.
 
"You should be good to go until morning."

"What time does your shift end?"

"Seven.
 
Why?"

"How about breakfast?"

Debbie shook her head.
 
"You're in the hospital, Lawson.
 
You can't just go around asking for dates."

"I didn't see that on any of the medical release forms I filled out."

Debbie got behind her cart.
 
"Get some sleep.
 
It sounds like you need it."

The door closed behind her and I slumped back down.
 

Damn.

I was about to Monday morning quarterback my performance when I became aware of the slight breeze that seemed out of time with the rest of my environment.

Someone was still in my room.

*
*
*

Resisting the urge to jump out of bed was doubly tough now that I knew this was probably the bad guy lurking in my room.
 
But I forced my body to remain as still as possible and I lengthened my breathing to give the impression that I was falling back asleep.

I sensed movement and then felt as if a shadow had fallen over me.
 
I could feel the humid heat of breath on the air.

It was coming.

As the humidity drew closer, I shifted and then brought the pistol out from under my pillow.

"Don't move."

My voice was quiet but harsh in the darkness.
 
I could see the form of someone, but they were draped in black clothing.

They froze.

I sat up, still leveling the gun on them.
 
"Take off that mask."

The shadowy figure stayed still a moment longer and then slowly peeled the mask off and I found myself facing Dr. Yuen.
 
The shock on my face must have been evident, because she only smiled at me.
 

"This is a surprise."

She shrugged.
 
"I do not care what you think."

I frowned.
 
"You should.
 
The Council sent me to deal with this situation.
 
You know what that means, don't you?"

Dr. Yuen sniffed.
 
"What the Council does is of no concern to me."

"Why are you bleeding patients up here?
 
We have blood subsidies for this type of thing."

Dr. Yuen looked like she'd swallowed paint thinner.
 
"It's never as fresh as it could be.
 
I prefer the old ways."

"Then you should have found an underground club where you could indulge yourself.
 
You know we have a list of place you could have gone."

"And risk seeing my name added to a watch list?
 
I don't think so."

I'd heard that some of our people thought that preferring to hunt in the old way would mean that the Council would consider them a possible hazard and keep them under surveillance.
 
But as far as I knew, it was nothing but a rumor.

Clearly Dr. Yuen believed it was true.

"There's no such list, sweetheart.
 
You broke the law for nothing.
 
And now you've got to take your punishment."

Dr. Yuen smiled.
 
"You'll have to catch me first."
 
And even as she said it, she flicked her right leg and shot it into my IV tower.
 
The entire assembly toppled and jerked the IV tube out of my arm.

I winced and bent my arm to try to stop the bleeding.
 
When I looked up, Dr. Yuen was gone, vanished through the door of my room.

I went after her.

*
*
*

The corridor was deserted.

I kept the pistol up and ready as I scanned the area.
 
I padded down the hallway until I approached the nurses' station.

Heard a noise.

And then came around the desk hard, already starting to squeeze the trigger.

"What the hell!"

All the air fell out of me.
 
Debbie stood in front of me with a clipboard and a look of extreme surprise.
 
"Lawson, what the hell is going on?
 
Why are you out of bed and what are you doing with a gun?"

I held up one hand.
 
"It's okay, it's okay.
 
I'm a federal agent.
 
I'm here undercover.
 
Dr. Yuen is a criminal and I was about to arrest her when she escaped."

Debbie started to reach for the phone.
 
"I'll call security."

"Don't do that.
 
I've got backup on the way and they can interface with security when they get here.
 
Right now, I've got to find Dr. Yuen.
 
Did she come this way a moment or so ago?"

Debbie frowned.
 
"She went running past her about two minutes ago.
 
I thought I heard the elevator ding."

I nodded.
 
"All right.
 
I'm going after her.
 
My people will be here soon.
 
Just sit tight, okay?"

"This is really against hospital procedures, Lawson."

"I know.
 
Just bear with me.
 
If we throw the whole place into alarm, it will just help her get away."

Debbie frowned.
 
"All right."

The elevator bank was down around the corner and I found it just as one of the car stopped up on the twelfth floor.
 
I called back to Debbie.
 
"What's on twelve?"

"The roof access."

Would Dr. Yuen go to the roof?
 
I frowned.
 
Maybe because it seemed like the least likely place to me, she'd chosen that route.
 
I pushed the button and waited for the car to open.
 
When it did, I stepped on and pushed twelve.

The doors slid shut.

It dawned on me then that I really didn't have any backup coming.
 
Nor did Niles have any clue as to what I was up to or the identity of the bleeder.

It was just me out on a limb by my lonesome.

As usual.

The car shook as it rattled to a stop and the doors parted.
 
I had the barrel of the gun up and stepped out carefully into the corridor.
 
This floor was far different than the other had been.
 
There were no patients up here and the entire place looked unused.
 
Only a few lights flickered overhead, casting only a smidgen of light into the shadowy atmosphere.

I wondered if it was possible that Dr. Yuen had a gun.
 
It didn't seem likely, but I couldn't assume she was unarmed.
 
She didn't seem like a complete fool to me.

The corridor stretched in two directions, but down at the end of one, I saw a door reading roof access.
 
I headed for it.
 
A flight of stairs ran up above me.
 
I took them quickly before coming up against another door.

As I approached, I could see it had been alarmed, but the smashed metal box where the alarm wiring was housed told me that someone -presumably Dr. Yuen - had rendered it inoperable.

The door slid open easily and a stiff breeze blasted me in the face, making me squint from the dust and gravel swirling around out here.
 
The night was cold and I took a quick breath, trying to flush oxygen into my system.
 
The rooftop bit into my stocking feet but I ignored the discomfort.

Somewhere out here, Dr. Yuen had to be hiding.

I surveyed the area from the door and spotted several HVAC boxes rising out of the roof.
 
Any one of them would provide significant cover.
 
I might be walking into an ambush.

I edged my way along the roof door housing and paused by the edge.
 
A few lights from neighboring buildings cast light onto the roof, but they also shadowed other areas.
 
It was entirely possible that Dr. Yuen had already jumped to a nearby roof and made her way down from there.

Or maybe she was waiting for me.

I took a step further and made the decision to head for the nearby air conditioning unit.
 
As I did so, I spotted movement to my left and pivoted, squeezing off a single shot.

It ricocheted into the night and the movement vanished into the shadows.

So, there was someone here with me.

I wasn't particularly worried about the gunshot being heard.
 
The wind was howling and covered much of the noise of the shot.
 
Of course, that worked against me as well.
 
I wouldn't necessarily hear anyone coming up from behind me.

I'd just have to make sure I didn't get myself ambushed.

Another stiff breeze smacked me sideways and it reminded me of the times I'd been with Jack and he'd been conjuring the spirits of deceased vampires.
 
We'd only recently gone through a nasty jaunt and it made me miss him all the more.
 
But he was back at the Invoker school in the Canadian Rockies and I was here, on some forlorn rooftop in Boston in just a T-shirt and loose-fitting hospital pants.

I would have preferred the Rockies at that moment.

Something tickled my subconscious and caused me to turn.
 
I saw the door to the roof open.
 
And then I heard the voice.

"Lawson?"

Shit.

I hurried back as Debbie stepped out on to the roof.
 
"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you."

I glanced around.
 
"This isn't safe right now.
 
I think Dr. Yuen is out here somewhere.
 
She could be armed."

"You're armed, too."

I nodded.
 
"Debbie, just do me a favor and go back inside, okay?
 
Let me handle this."

But then I saw the flash of movement out of the corner of my left eye and was already pushing Debbie down to the gravel rooftop as something zipped past my head and bounced off the corrugated metal housing.
 
Debbie and I crashed into the gravel and I rolled, came up and tried to get a bead on Dr. Yuen.

But she was gone.

I glanced to the right and saw the small projectile that had been shot at me.
 
It was
 
a wooden dart.
 
But I hadn't heard a gunshot.
 
Only silence.

I frowned.
 
What the hell had fired this?

Debbie got to her feet brushing herself off.
 
At least she'd had the sense to grab her coat before coming outside.
 
I was freezing.