Taken by the Others (6 page)

Unfortunately, the police were going to be keeping an eye on me for the next few days. They’d probably have a tail on me, at least during the night, in case Peter took another stab at snatching me. Since they knew I had ties to Royce, they’d take the duty very seriously, too. I cringed as I realized they’d probably stick around even longer once they pulled up my records and found out I was contractually bound to the vamp. That was guaranteed to pique their interest further.

I could contact one of my friends at the station, Officer Lerian, and ask him to get his buddies to lay off. Of course, he’d want to know why I needed the protection in the first place and would probably cheerfully proceed to tell me all the reasons I needed the NYPD to baby-sit me for the next couple of months. And he’d grill me about why Sara wasn’t returning his calls, which was definitely not a can of worms I wanted to open.

Then another possibility occurred. Arnold was acquainted with Jack and he’d be back in town with Sara on Sunday afternoon. It was technically Saturday morning now. I could tough out one more night home alone. Chaz blowing me off suddenly didn’t seem like such a crime. Inviting him to make up for missing tonight by offering to spend the night tomorrow seemed like a grand idea. I could also call Arnold once he got home and ask him to get in touch with Jack for me. Arnold could ask him to call me and I could take it from there.

Feeling a bit better for having a plan, I pushed off the door to get my cell phone from where I’d tossed it. Without going into what happened, I texted Chaz that coming by tomorrow was fine and I looked forward to seeing him. As much as I wanted to sob on somebody’s shoulder right now, I didn’t look forward to telling Chaz what I’d done. He’d be royally pissed I’d let Royce in past the shields on my door. Hell, I was royally pissed at myself for letting Royce in. That had been a spectacularly stupid move on my part. I’d trusted the vamp to be civil rather than remembering who I was dealing with–one of the most dangerous of the Others.

That wasn’t a mistake I’d be making again anytime soon.

Though I was exhausted, my stomach growled and I wondered whatever happened to my Chinese food. Poor delivery guy probably saw Peter or Royce or the cops and went running in the other direction.

I went to the kitchen to fix myself something to eat, putting the gun on the counter in easy reach. Distantly I noted that my hands were shaking. I grabbed some leftover pasta from the fridge and tossed the container in the microwave. While I pulled out some dishes and silverware for myself, I mulled Royce’s offer.

I’d never hurt you. You could stay young and beautiful and strong forever. With me. Think about it.

Creepy asshole.

Chapter 7

I spent the rest of the night huddled in bed, gun in my lap, and every light in the apartment burning. I couldn’t fall asleep until after the sun came up. By then, I was completely exhausted.

I woke up after eleven, not feeling at all rested and still jumpy as anything. Showering helped, but I was still bleary-eyed when I headed down to my car so I could pick up some groceries. There was a black-and-white parked conspicuously in front of the building when I nudged my SUV out of the gated garage. One of the officers sat up straighter and I noticed they pulled out behind me when I merged into traffic. I sighed, wishing for the patience and fortitude to make it through my errands going exactly the speed limit for the rest of the day.

At first I was nervous, but after a while I stopped paying attention to the police cruiser riding my ass. Until I got to the grocery store, where they followed me into the parking lot and parked next to me, stepping out when I did.

“Good morning,” I said, attempting civility. “Or good afternoon, whatever it is.”

One of the two officers, a young kid, looked fresh out of the academy. The other was a grizzled old bear of a man who looked like he’d been there, done that, didn’t like any of it, and didn’t get the T-shirt. The kid kept a serious face until I greeted him, then cracked a goofy-looking grin that made me take about five years off his age. Were they recruiting fresh out of high school or something? “Good morning, Ms. Waynest. I’m Officer O’Donnell, and this here is Officer Grady. We’re assigned to you until six tonight. Doing your groceries?”

He hooked a thumb at the store, and I nodded, feeling more tired than ever. “Yeah. You guys aren’t following me in there, too, are you?”

“No, but we’ll hang around by the exits until you come out.”

Biting my tongue to avoid saying something caustic, I nodded again, hefted my purse strap up to my shoulder, and headed to the store. It was entirely too weird having people stare at me as I was flanked by a couple of uniforms. At least they were going to wait outside.

Since I’d be staying in tonight, I thought I should pick up dinner for Chaz and myself. I pulled out my phone to call him. Forcing the rickety shopping cart to stay on something resembling a straight line, I tilted my head to hold the phone to my ear as I perused the aisles in search of something promising for a romantic dinner for two.

“Hey, love, sorry about last night. What’s up?”

It was a relief to hear his voice, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling despite all the worries plaguing me. “Hey, I wanted to check and see what you’d like for dinner tonight. Going to stay home and cook something since I can’t go out right now.”

“What? Why’s that?”

“Err, I’ll tell you about it when you come by. Just make it before dark, please.”

A low, ominous growl rumbled in his throat. “Vampires bothering you?”

“Something like that. Listen, don’t get all upset about it right now, I’ve got it under control. Come over tonight and let’s relax, and take advantage of the time to ourselves, okay? I’ll put out some candles, make some pasta, pour the Chianti, and make with the cheesy Italian love songs. It’ll be just us, promise.”

“Okay,” he grudgingly agreed after a long we’ll-be-talking-more-about-this-later pause. “Try not to get into any more trouble today, all right?”

“All right,” I promised. “Love you.”

“Love you, too. See you later.”

Feeling much better, I called Arnold. When he picked up, I jumped right in. “Hey, it’s Shia. I’ve got a favor to ask.”

“What’s up?”

I cringed, knowing what his response was going to be. “When you get back in town tomorrow, can you get in touch with Jack and ask him to call me?”

“Jack?” He didn’t sound like he knew the name, then recognition dawned. “Oh, shit! You’re not talking about the guy at the weapons dealership, are you? That guy is bad news, you should stay away from him.”

“I know, but this is important. I’m not going to go into it, but I have to get in touch with him. There are cops following me everywhere I go, so I can’t meet him in person.”

“Why are there cops following you?” I could dimly hear Sara’s voice in the background. What the hell is going on?

“Look, I’m okay. Your shields work perfectly, so you don’t have to worry. There are cops following me around keeping me totally safe and completely paranoid about my driving skills. I just need to get in touch with him to see if I can sic some White Hats on this new vamp in town.”

A woman across the aisle looked up at me sharply. I ignored her and kept going until I got to the canned soups. Hmm, chicken noodle or beef stew for lunch tomorrow?

Arnold laughed incredulously, and I could hear Sara demanding to know what was happening. “You are crazy, Shia. Absolutely, completely nuts. I’ll see what I can do for you. Hold on, Sara’s going to tear my arm out of the socket if I don’t hand her the phone.”

I grinned at that, waiting for her imperious voice to come on the line.

“What the hell are you doing over there? Do you need us?”

“No, no, no. I didn’t call to spoil your vacation, enjoy what’s left of it. I just needed help getting in touch with someone Arnold knows.”

Sara harrumphed. “Oh yeah? So what’s this about the cops following you around?”

“I’ll tell you all the dirty details when you get into town. The short story is, someone’s sent a vampire after me, and I called the cops when the vamp kept trying to get past the barrier Arnold put on the door. I’m fine.”

Dead silence. Then, “I’m coming home. Right now.”

“No, you’re not! For God’s sake, enjoy the rest of your trip and help me deal with it tomorrow. It’s daytime, no vampire is going to assault me right now, and I’ll be back behind the shields long before any of them are up and about.” I maneuvered around a guy’s shopping cart. He’d stopped in the middle of the aisle to stare at me open-mouthed. I growled a curse under my breath and reminded myself to talk more softly in public when mentioning the Others. “Don’t worry about me, Chaz is coming by before dark. Everything will be fine.”

“You better be right about that. If something happens to you before I get back, I will beat you myself.”

I laughed. “Trust me, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Besides, I’d whip you in a fight and you know it.”

Her own laughter sounded a bit less strained, and I was relieved she wasn’t going to go ballistic and come charging back to town to “save” me or something. “Okay, okay. It does sound like you’ve got things under control. Seriously, though, call me if you need me. Don’t wait until you’re in up to your neck to ask for help, all right?”

“I won’t. That’s why I invited Chaz over, remember? He’ll keep me safe.”

“Yeah, I got it. What’s the name of the vamp?” she asked. “I’ll stop by the office and run a background check.”

“Max Carlyle. I did a brief search, didn’t come up with anything solid. If you want to dig deeper, you’re welcome to–tomorrow.”

“I plan on it. I’m coming over as soon as I get back.”

“Okay, sounds good,” I said, making a mental note to pick up more snacks if I was going to have everyone camp out at my place all day tomorrow. Hmm, maybe some movies, too. “See you then.”

“Later,” she said.

The call went over better than I’d expected, mostly because I hadn’t told her I’d let Royce into my home. Oh well, I’d tell her when I saw her tomorrow.

I continued stuffing my shopping cart, then got in line at the check stand. A couple waiting two stands down kept looking in my direction and whispering to each other. Had they overheard me talking about White Hats and vampires in the tea and coffee aisle?

Shrugging it off, I glanced at the headlines of the magazines and silly news rags. A special edition newspaper caught my eye. One of the headlines made my jaw drop, and explained why so many people had been staring at me–completely aside from my tendency to talk too loudly on my cell phone.

Right there, under yet another story about a crooked politician, was: VAMPIRE ROYCE SAVES DAMSEL IN DISTRESS! There was a ridiculous, obviously computer-altered picture of a vampire that looked vaguely like Peter looming in a doorway. Royce stood nearby with his arms around … was that me? I snatched the thing up, trying to figure out how in the hell the newshounds could’ve heard about it, let alone gotten close enough to snap pictures.

IS NEW YORK’S NEWEST HERO A VAMPIRE?
by Jim Pradiz

TERRACE HEIGHTS (Sept. 21)–Calls made to the police requesting assistance in a vampire attack last night were answered by Alec Royce. Royce chased away the vampire who assaulted local private investigator Shiarra Waynest shortly before police arrived on the scene at her apartment.

Sgt. Daniel Vega, the officer in charge of the investigation, made a statement regarding the attempted assault on a human and Alec Royce’s involvement. “Right now, this attack is under intense scrutiny. We will find the Other responsible and bring him to justice. Vampires are not exempt from the law. That girl was very lucky that Alec Royce was there to save her.”

Waynest fell into the vampire’s arms after the timely rescue (see photos next page). Neighbors and friends say that Royce and Waynest have known each other for a long time, but some sources stated that Waynest was seeing someone else.

There is speculation that, despite any other men in her life, she will be accompanying Royce to the joint NYPD/NYFD Charity Ball to be held next month at the Metropolitan Opera House. Alec Royce was named New York’s most eligible unliving bachelor earlier this year after ending a tumultuous long-term relationship with runway model and environmental activist Dawn Hartley.

Per public records, Waynest was contractually bound to Royce on March 13 of this year. It is not known if they are officially dating or if Royce has plans to turn her into a vampire. Messages left for comment with Royce’s publicist and H&W Investigations have not been returned.

The story was almost as ridiculous, and parts of it as obviously fabricated, as the doctored picture. I cringed at the photo spread inside featuring the very real, very unaltered, shot of me pinned in Royce’s arms as he leaned down to bite my neck. Even worse were the implications that we were dating and that I was being a ho-bag. The writer, Jim Pradiz, had managed to dig up the information on who I was and that Royce and I were contracted. But who the hell had said we were dating? The speculation that I was going to be Royce’s honey for the next millennium or so gave me the dry heaves.

The photographer must have been following Royce. The picture of my attacker looked like someone had taken a badly cut photo from a cheesy eighties B-movie, blurred it to make the face indistinct, then inserted the vamp in the appropriate spot in what was supposed to be my living room. They’d used another of me from when I’d given statements to the press after an incident at the Embassy Suites, and what I thought might be a stock headshot of Royce. But the pic of Royce about to bite me was genuine.