Always the Vampire

I heard the phone later. Saber answered on the first ring, and I heard his voice but not the words. Only an emergency would get me out of bed at this hour, so when Saber didn’t come to the bedroom, I drifted off again.

I startled awake from a dream of being on a flat rooftop. Saber had lain bleeding a dozen paces away, but I couldn’t reach him. My black knee boots stuck fast to the roof, and I couldn’t get them off my feet. I’d screamed and cried to no avail. Saber hadn’t stirred, and no one came to help.

As the dream faded, my panicked breathing eased enough to wonder at the spate of bad dreams Saber and I were having. Did I chalk it all up to stress, or was something more at work? Saber’s nightmare had been based in fact, and I’d never had many prophetic dreams. Maybe it was extreme stress.

One thing was sure, the dream had left my teeth feeling like they’d grown moss. I needed a toothbrush and a wake up shower.

In fifteen minutes, I had my hair in its standard ponytail, a smidge of makeup on, and was dressed in hot pink shorts, a pale pink bra-top camisole, and white sandals. I didn’t see Snowball when I went to the kitchen for my daily slug of Starbloods, but I sure heard her yowl when the perimeter alarm blared a second later.

I jumped and spewed Starbloods in the kitchen sink, which splashed back onto my fresh clothes. Damn.

I quickly rinsed my mouth then whirled to go shut off the siren just as Saber stepped into the house carrying a lumpy plastic drug store bag. He quickly dealt with the blaring alarm then gave me a once over glance.

“You have Starbloods on your blouse.”

“I have punctured eardrums, too.” I pointed at the bag. “Did you go to the store without me?”

“No, Lynn’s foster mother gave me greenhouse tomatoes.”

“You saw Lynn’s mom?” I nearly danced a jig. “What cover story did you give her? What did she say? Tell me all while I treat these stains.”

I dashed to the laundry room to dab stain remover on my cami. Saber put the sack of tomatoes on the counter then joined me.

“I told her part of the truth. That I was an investigator tracking down Lynn for a distant relative. Mr. Tidwell is deceased, and Kate Tidwell isn’t in the best of health, but she said they had cared for Lynn since she was four. They had no other children, and since Lynn responded so well to them, they were allowed to keep her. They even tried to adopt Lynn several times, but the proceedings were blocked. And not by the state.”

“Isn’t that unusual?”

“From what little I know about adoption, yeah. Anyway, Kate Tidwell said Lynn was a good girl who made good grades, and everything was fine until she was in her mid-teens. Then they caught her lying about spending the night with girlfriends and sneaking in early in the morning.”

I capped the stain-buster stick. “Which is roughly when she would’ve started shifting.”

“Right. Kate even said the incidents only happened about once a month. The telling point is that she has a good bit of background on Lynn. It doesn’t match what you told me of Triton’s history exactly, but it’s close. Abandoned at about age three, taken by the state, placed with a first family, then with the Tidwells. Lynn’s conception might have been from a magical source, but nothing I uncovered indicates that she’s being manipulated.”

“Plus it would be a ridiculously long-term plan to create a mate for Triton twenty years ago. Is Lynn still in touch with Kate?”

“At least once a week. Kate confirmed Lynn attends community college part time and lives with roommates in a duplex. They just moved in, so Kate didn’t have Lynn’s address or directions to the new place.”

“No phone number, either?”

“A cell. I got the address through a contact and checked it out.”

“No wonder you’re looking so pleased with yourself. Was she home?”

He shook his head. “I struck out there. I can stake out her place, but I’d rather arrange a more casual meeting.”

“Casual like running into her on the sidewalk or inviting her for coffee?”

“If we can persuade Triton, I was thinking a double date. Would it bother you to go out with them?”

I tried to imagine dining with the silent young woman I’d met and came up blank. “Not if she has more conversation than she did last time we met. Have you heard how Triton’s doing?”

“Got a report from Cosmil this morning. He didn’t give me details about whatever mojo he and Lia did last night, but said Triton was resting and healing, and would be until tomorrow. He and Lia are keeping watch over him, and training is suspended until tomorrow night after your ghost tour.”

“Which means we should make our shopping run tonight before some new crisis crops up.”

“I’m game. Oh, and Lia passed on another message.”

“What?”

He crowded me against the washer. “That you and I are to keep practicing our energy exercises.”

“Now I wonder,” I said, looping my arms around his neck, “which kind of exercise she means.”