Part 18 (1/2)
FYI-vampires don't have to sleep during the day. We could stay awake if we wanted to, but our body usually rebelled. It needed the deep, rejuvenating sleep of the undead as much as it needed fresh blood.
Otherwise ...
The word cranky didn't even touch it.
I killed the light, crawled back into bed and buried my head beneath the pillow to escape the noise outside. The clip-clop of horse hoofs. The steady mooooo of the calves. The clang of tools as Elmer tried to fix the ice machine.
Sleep swallowed me again, sucking me down the way the sand had sucked at Esther.
Her frantic Help! followed me and I knew deep down inside that the striptease hadn't been the only part of the nightmare that had been real.
She was dying.
I knew it. I felt it. And despite several centuries of cultivated optimism, I was starting to think that maybe-just maybe-I might not reach her in time.
Barry was singing again.
I covered my ears and tried to drown out the constant drumming. The rocking voice. The cool mix of synthesizers and- Wait a sec. Forget Barry.
I fought my way through the blackness until recognition dawned and I realized it was Katy Perry. She wailed about hot and cold and yes and no and in and out and-sheesh.
Now, I like Katy as much as the next ultra-trendy, five-hundred-and-holding-year-old vampire, but I was trying to friggin'
sleep here.
”... up then you're down ...”
I groped for the noise. My hand closed over my cell and I forced my eyes open long enough to kill the sound. My gaze snagged on the caller ID. Guilt spiraled through me and my finger paused on the OFF b.u.t.ton. A split second of indecision (and a few He loves me/He loves me nots) and I pressed TALK.
”Yeah?” I mumbled.
”Rise and s.h.i.+ne,” Ty's deep voice echoed in my ear, and my hormones gave a squeal of excitement.
Bad hormones. ”Easy for you to say. You didn't have a stampede outside your window.” Not to mention the all-day attempt to fix the ice machine. The spray of gravel as the pickup trucks and animal trailers moved out.
I pushed to my feet and walked over to peek around the blinds. Sure enough, there wasn't a calf in sight. Back to normal.
Elmer's voice echoed in my head and I realized that the rodeo must have opened their temporary holding pens for the animals.
The last few rays of sun sizzled across one of my fingertips. A wisp of black smoke spiraled up into the air and pain bolted through me. I s.n.a.t.c.hed my hand away. Normal. Sure.
”What are you talking about?” Ty's voice drew me away from the window.
”Nothing.” I sank back down on the bed. ”It's my neighbors,” I heard myself say. ”They must have been having a party.”
”Funny, but I thought you were the one having the party.”
”I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about.” That's what I said. Meanwhile my brain scrambled for a very lengthy and painful death for my not-so-fave brother.
”You're the only one. You could hear the music down the block. Rob is one h.e.l.l of a host.”
Uh-oh.
”He and Nina broke up, so he's at my house mourning the loss.”
”Sugar, he didn't mourn the entire time I was there. He danced a lot. And fell on his a.s.s a few times. And annihilated a few of your lamps. And I even saw him stand on your coffee table and do several AB+ shots. But that was it. No crying. No depression.
Nothing.” He grew silent for a long moment while his news sent me into a complete mental freak-out.
My coffee table?
My lamps?
Oh, no, he didn't. ”Why don't you tell me what's really going on,” Ty finally said.
”I think they're both just really stubborn,” I blurted before I lost it and launched into a description of exactly how big an ungrateful, inconsiderate, clueless a.s.shole my brother really was. ”She loves him even if he is an ungrateful, inconsiderate, clueless a.s.shole.” What? I can't vent? ”But she doesn't realize it and he loves her but he doesn't realize it, and neither one of them will say it.” Not unlike someone else I know, I added silently.
”I'm not talking about Nina and Rob. What's going on with you? Where are you?”
My stomach tied itself into several knots and guilt crept through me. ”Didn't you, um, get my message? I'm in Arizona.”
”See, that's the funny thing. I'm in Arizona and you're nowhere around.”
I contemplated the possibility all of five seconds. ”You're not in Arizona,” I finally told him.
”And neither are you. You lied to me.”
”I did not. I mean, technically, you might call it a lie but I 'm supposed to be escaping from the world. This retreat is really important to me. I want to get the full experience, so I figured it was better if I kept my actual whereabouts a secret. That way I won't have any distractions.”
”This doesn't have to do with Esther, does it?”
”Esther who?”
”I'm serious, Lil. You need to stay out of it. Merlin and his men already have the situation under control.”
”By under control you mean he's sitting around on his a.s.s, waiting for the ax to drop, while Esther suffers.”
”The ritual doesn't call for an ax. It's a knife. An ancient Mayan dagger used to sacrifice victims to the G.o.ds.”
My stomach pitched. ”What ever. The point is, n.o.body cares what happens to her.”
”They've got rules to follow. That's the way it works.”
”That stinks.”
”Lil-”
”I mean, it would stink if I weren't a self-centered, narcissistic vampire who didn't give a s.h.i.+t about anyone or anything except my fantabulous self. But I am, so it's all good. I could care less and there's no way in the world I would take matters into my own hands,” I rushed on, ”and look for Esther on my own. Not this vamp.”
”Merlin and his men will destroy anyone who tries to stop Mordred from making the sacrifice. They want to put him away for good and this is the only way to do it.”