Well, that was something.
“He’s not going to…stay here, is he?” Dr. Bob asked nervously. He looked around his makeshift office. “I mean, yeah, it’s the middle of the night now, that’s why no one came running when shots were fired. But people will be here tomorrow. I can’t have some vamp sprawled out in my exam room—”
“I’ll move him by dawn,” Jane promised. She’d find a place to contain him. There had to be a place nearby…Vivian would know of a place.
Aidan would know.
Oh, God. I have to tell Aidan. But…
“Do the blood tests.” Jane nodded briskly. “He shouldn’t have changed. Find out what the hell happened.”
“I will,” Dr. Bob promised. “But you need to talk to someone who understands vamps one hell of a lot more than we do.”
Yes, she did. The problem was that vamps weren’t exactly cooperative. Not friendly at all. Not…
“You know who to contact,” Annette said. She bent and dipped her little doll—not a doll really, more a figure that seemed to be made from sticks—into Paris’s blood. “The vamp who brought you over.” She looked up at Jane, her lips twisting. “Vincent Connor. The vamp that Aidan hates most is the one you need now.” Annette’s eyes had taken on a hazy, distant look. One that was creepy. She usually looked that way when she was peering into her black mirror.
Jane cleared her throat. Her shoulder throbbed where Paris had taken a chunk out of her. “Vincent Connor cut out of town. The guy said he’d guide me, then he split.” Talk about deserting her in her time of need. “Not like he’s going to help me—”
Annette rose. Her fingers brushed over Paris’s hair. “Who told you he left?”
“Uh, Aidan and—”
“Every paranormal in the city knows that Aidan told him to stay the hell away from you…or else Vincent was going to lose his head.”
Jane’s lips parted.
“Well, I guess every paranormal but you knew,” Annette added.
Great.
Annette inclined her head as she continued, “Vincent has been giving you some…space. But he hasn’t left town. He’s still here. He’s been waiting on you.”
Waiting on you. Goosebumps rose on Jane’s arms. “How do you know that?”
Annette’s fingers slid down Paris’s ravaged face. “He told me.”
“You know where he is?”
“I know how to reach him.”
“Then do it. Get him here.” They needed his help. Aidan could be pissed. He’d get over it if Vincent could help Paris.
“I’ll call him,” Annette said softly.
“Yeah, yeah, you do that.” Jane started to pace. Then she looked down at herself…her clothes were singed. Bloody and…
I look like the walking freaking undead.
But wasn’t that exactly what she was? What Paris had somehow turned into?
“Run the blood tests,” Jane ordered Dr. Bob once more. “And let’s see what Vincent has to say.”
***
An hour later, Jane was pacing in the corridor just outside of Dr. Bob’s lab. This building was definitely not as nice as the place they’d been in before. But, since his previous lab and the building that housed it had been destroyed, she knew the city hadn’t exactly been plush with other options. So Dr. Bob had gotten bounced to the little building on the corner, a building that smelled of mildew and fresh paint. Smaller, tighter, but it was still a place for the dead to go.
Only some aren’t staying dead.
What had happened with Paris? She hadn’t bit him. She definitely hadn’t given him her blood. So how in the hell had he become a vamp?
Jane shook her head and kept pacing. Vincent needed to hurry his ass up and get there. She’d borrowed the scrubs that Dr. Bob’s assistant had left in her locker and taken a quick shower to wash the blood away from her body. They’d secured Paris to an exam table, strapping him down as tightly as possible. He hadn’t stirred, not yet.
But she was afraid that he would, soon.
Where in the hell is the vampire? She hadn’t seen Vincent Connor in days. And she’d been glad. The guy scared her. Mostly because…
He broke my neck.
And…
He’s like me. Vincent was born, not made into a vampire. And he’s old. Like Viking-freaking old. With age…came power? If the two of them had to tangle, Jane was very much afraid that Vincent would kick her ass. And she knew that Aidan pretty much hated the bastard so she’d hoped to keep those two away from each other.
The last thing she wanted was for Aidan to fight the vampire.
She heard the click of a door opening. Jane spun around. Footsteps were approaching her as someone stalked down that long, lonely hallway. Her nostrils flared, her body tensed and— Aidan’s familiar scent seemed to wrap around her.