The Source (21 page)

“You are not the least bit interested in me, are you?”
he asks.

I look at him, my heart sinking. Regardless of the
circumstances, I hate hurting someone. Even if that someone is a potential
bat-shit crazy stalker. I try to be as nice as possible with crushing his ego.
Maybe a little fluff would soften the blow.

“Tucker, you seem really nice. The type of nice that I
would want to be friends with...but that’s it.”

He smiles although he is pursing his lips, twisting
his face into a morbid mockery of joy. “So, was it the stuff from before? Me
finding your phone number then saying those hateful things when you got upset
about it?”

I stop, not feeling comfortable enough to walk any
farther. Taking a deep breath that I hope gives me strength, I counter, “No,
it’s not that. I do not feel that connection with you.”

He turns to me, a look of mixed hurt and anger in his
eyes. I take a step back just as an evening walker passes us, bumping into
Tucker, causing him to lose his balance.

“Hey! Why don’t you watch where the hell you are
going?”

The walker, a rather tall man with short curly blond
hair, turns around and walks back up to us. “I would say I’m sorry, but you are
the one stopped right in the middle of the walking path. You know, the path
used for
walking
? If someone runs into you because of your own rudeness,
don’t get mad at me, asshole.”

Tucker walks up to the guy and pushes him. I jump out
of the way, suddenly too aware that Tucker may not be the safest person if he
gets crazy-angry-violent so easily.

The walker swings at Tucker, his fist connecting with
the center of Tucker’s face. Tucker falls flat on his back on the ground, not
moving. I look at the blond-haired man as he straightens his back. He looks at
me for a couple of beats then turns and walks away.

I don’t know whether to get out of there or try to
help Tucker. I hesitantly walk over to his still body, seeing blood all over
his face. I stand beside him, trying not to get too close.

“Tucker? Are you alright?”

His eyes snap open. “I bet you find this very amusing,”
he accuses.

“What?” I ask.

“The guy that dare like you enough to find your phone
number to try to talk to you just got his, didn’t he? You probably see this as
a sort of justice for bothering you. I try to get to know you and a stranger
pummels me.” Wiping the blood from his face he continues, “I hope you’re happy,
bitch.”

I take a few steps back, mouth slightly open in shock.
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised considering how he had acted before.

Raising my head, I close my mouth then look down at
him. He sits up, staring at me. “Thank you.”

He snarls, “For what? The entertainment?”

“For proving that I was right in not wanting to get
close to you. I just wish I hadn’t wasted my time trying to be nice.”

He laughs before spitting blood everywhere. “And I
wish I hadn’t wasted my time thinking that a fat-ass like you would actually be
grateful that a guy would be interested. I guess food really is the only thing
you care about.”

I smile at him, willing myself not to tear up. “How
very original of you. I haven’t heard
that
before, so I give you points
for creativity. Too bad you lose them all in being completely socially and
romantically inept with the emotional quotient of a dishrag.”

He starts to get up and I quickly back away toward my
car. I refuse to take my eyes off of him, not trusting that he won’t attack me
in broad daylight. He starts walking slowly toward me, but I make it to my car,
get in and lock the doors. I frantically dig in my pocket for my keys. Finding
them, I turn the ignition while watching him to see what he will do. I quickly
back out of my parking space and drive away. The good news is that I will
arrive at the research facility early and can go ahead and start working. The
bad news is that Tucker will be there, and every night after tonight. I will
never know when I’ll run into him again or what he’ll do when that happens.

I work with creatures of the night but am most
threatened by a man walking in the sun. Makes it hard to know who the real
monsters are because people like Tucker are capable of anything. At least with
a vampire, you know what to expect. Well, for the most part. Like Rick said,
you know they are predators. Humans? You can’t tell the difference between
predators and good Samaritans. And to make it even more interesting, the good Samaritan
who helps you when your car breaks down…is the predator that beats his wife.

I stop the car in front of the research facility and
rest my head against the steering wheel. I keep my eyes closed and just listen
to the silence. Charity and compassion are circumstantial. People have a
different face depending on who is around. And just like the guy running in the
park, people will save you without meaning to, not really caring how it could
have been different. I look up, shaking my head. When did I become so jaded? Or
am I finally accepting that my fantasies of a life where people genuinely care
about one another are just that, fantasies?

And it’s not just humans. Vampires are not immune to
the charade we play with one another. At times Rick seems flirtatious, almost
expressing an attraction to me. Other times he’s like an over-protective older
brother. And still other times he’s an angry force of nature, like the high
winds close to the eye of a tornado - not yet destructive but the possibility
is always there, always close. Which face is the real one?

I guess it’s time to go in and show my professional,
confident and determined face. You know, the one that got me this job. When in
actuality I’m scared as hell. Of Tucker. Of the tingling feeling that I get
around Rick. Of being completely out of my league with these other researchers.
Especially after last night and Bree’s failed demonstration of ideas that were
similar to what I have been working on with our project. Can’t show any of
that. Professionally they would eat me alive and I would be out of a job. Nope.
I’m an adult with serious bills to pay, which means I have to pretend to be
whatever it is they want me to be and call it “success.” So I’ll go inside,
smile prettily and pretend that Tucker hadn’t just shown me
his
real
face.

I walk to the front door, then down the hall to our
research suite. I hear voices inside and assume that Ms. Montgomery is joining
us this evening. I’m surprised to find that it will be more awkward, yet entertaining,
than that.

“Well, Emma Jean, there you are!” my mom exclaims.

My mom and Rick are sitting at the table having
coffee. “Mom, what are you doing here? How did you get through security?”

She slaps the idea away with her hand, “Ah, hell, Emma
Jean. Like they were goin’ to keep me from seein’ my daughter. Where’ve you
been?”

I look at Rick then back at my mom. “I was at my
apartment, now I’m here. Why did you come all the way from Huntington? Is
something wrong?” While talking I say a silent prayer that Rick hasn’t told her
about Tucker and my plans to meet him. The last thing I need is to get
anti-stalker advice from my mom.

“I thought there was somethin’ wrong with you!” she
fumes. “You hadn’t called, nothin’. What am I supposed to think?”

I sigh in relief, “I’m sorry.” I motion to Rick,
“We’ve just been really busy with the project. I guess I forgot.”

“Forgot?” she replies indignantly. “I
forget
to
put my teeth in. I don’t forget that I have a mother.”

“Mom, grandma is dead.”

“And I might as well be, too, hadn’t I? You’ve already
forgot me.” She looks at Rick. “Don’t let her fool you. She doesn’t have the
sense God gave her.”

“MOM!”

“What, Emma Jean? It’s the truth. Educated idiot.
That’s what you are. All that book learnin’ and don’t have sense enough to come
in outta the rain. Forgot your mother. I’m surprised you can remember where
this place out in the boonies is. What do y’all do here, anyway?”

I glance at Rick who was doing his best to suppress
the bubbling laughter that is no doubt rising in the back of his throat. I lay
my purse and coat down and smile at mom. “Mom, here. Take my apartment key.
It’s all yours. You’re here now, it will be completely dark soon, so no use in
you driving back to Huntington now.”

She looks at the key, “What good is that gonna do me?
I don’t know where the hell you’re livin’ these days.”

I glance again at Rick as he quickly turns his head
away, his neck reddening at the restraint he is showing. I smile at my mom
again. “I put a GPS application on your phone. I’ll put the address in and it
will tell you how to get to my apartment.”

“I didn’t bring my phone,” she responds.

“You drove all of this way and didn’t bring your
phone? What if you had broken down on the side of the road?”

She huffs, “I woulda walked to the closest fillin’
station and got help. You know, folks did used to have break-downs before
cellular phones, and we got by just fine.”

I take a deep breath. “Fine. I’ll drive back to my
apartment and you can follow me.”

I pick up my purse and coat. Mom follows me to the
door. I turn back to Rick who is still sitting at the table. “I’ll be back in
fifteen minutes.”

He smiles, “Take your time...Emma Jean.”

Scowling I say, “If you breathe a word, I swear...”.

He laughs, “I guess it’s a good thing I don’t breathe.”

I clench my teeth and lead my mom out of the facility.

When I return, Rick is still in our suite. He’s busy
going through his notes, standing against the center island when I walk through
the door.

He looks up at me and smiles, “Hello, Emma Jean.”

I momentarily close my eyes. Shaking my head I
continue to the closet to hang up my coat and purse. I walk to the center
island and begin going through my own notes, successfully ignoring him and his
blatant attempt to goad me.

He says, “I enjoyed meeting your mom.”

Keeping my head down. “I’m sure you did. And how did
you get to the facility so early with the sun still shining?” I ask

“Oh, I sometimes sleep at the facility in one of the
rooms set up for the vampires working here.” He continues, “Your mom, she’s an
interesting story-teller.”

I slowly raise my head, my lips part as I look at him.
He gazes at me, a mischievous grin broadening his face.

I grimace. “Yes, yes she is. And for the record, I
don’t want to know anything she told you. Please save me from the embarrassment
and allow me to embrace my ignorance.” I motion to his notes. “Have you made
any progress on recovering from our complete failure?”

He drops everything he is holding and leans toward me.
“It was not a complete failure. And it wasn’t even ours. We weren’t the ones
behind the podium.”

I lift one shoulder. “It might as well have been. Our
projects were going in the same direction. All that time wasted. Now we have to
start all over again.”

“Well, that’s how research goes. When your experiment
doesn’t give the expected results, you either just accept it or try something
else. I suggest that we try something else.”

I rustle my papers and tilt my head up toward the
ceiling, looking at nothing in particular. “Should we?”

“Should we what?” he asks.

“Should we try something else? I mean we know that
vampires die in direct sunlight. So dehydration is not the effect that is
fatal. It’s something else, another effect of the sun that’s the source of
vampire mortality.”

Rick crosses his arms and slowly rubs his chin with
one hand. “True, but what if it’s something that we can’t synthesize?
Dehydration was a relatively easy approach that could be replicated. That may
not be the case with the other elements of the sun’s impact.”

“And that’s a good reason not to try because....” I
say as I look at him.

“Oh, I didn’t say that we shouldn’t try. I just think
that with this slight break in the project, maybe we should take a step back
and reconsider all possibilities instead of chasing down the same rabbit hole
to nowhere.”

“So what other ideas do you have?” I ask as I settle
my papers on the countertop and put my hands in my pockets. I really don’t like
the implication that I was getting ahead of myself and jumping in without
looking where I am going.

Rick rubs his chin some more, then walks around the
island to stand beside me. “Well, we know that cutting off a vampire’s head
works just as well as it does with a human. What if we urged Congress to pass a
law to make it mandatory for everyone to be trained in handling a samurai
sword?”

I give him a blank stare. He leans toward me, “Relax,
Emma. I’m not questioning your direction. I just don’t think that taking Bree’s
slip-up so personally will allow you to think clearly about all possibilities.
I want to win this thing as much as you do, but I don’t want to force the sun
issue just so we can say that all of the work we’ve done so far
hasn’t
been a waste of time. Because even if it is the wrong direction, well, knowing
it’s wrong is a success in and of itself.
Especially
since it wasn’t us
behind the podium.” And with that last comment he winks at me.