Part 6 (2/2)
Her blood ma.s.saged her from the inside, racing through her as it delivered its magical power through every microscopic capillary.
Cameron appeared across the table, leaning in to say something to Neil, who immediately stood up. A coppery smell overpowered everything else in the air as Cameron came around to Alexander. Neil and Alexander nodded to each other. Alexander cursed and took off his jacket, handing it to Cameron, who covered up with it as they all got up and moved out the back door.
The door latched behind them. Shapes moved in the darker corners of the alley, materializing into several standing figures. Alexander took Sara's hand and ran. They turned a corner and then quickly turned again into a narrow alley. Only one of the figures followed them, but Sara couldn't run fast enough in her heels. She tried to kick off her shoes.
An arm appeared around her throat. The blood vessels in her neck pinched shut. Her a.s.sailant's raspy breath seemed louder in her ears. The arm around her neck was unnaturally hot - more than feverish - and it was pulling her backwards. She tried to pull it away but she didn't have the strength. She wriggled and kicked. The alley spun.
Alexander was suddenly in front of her. He raised a gun, pulling the trigger. The gun popped and jerked. She snapped her head to the side, gasping as her face burned, painted with hot gas from the gun and the warm contents of what had been her attacker's skull. The arm reluctantly released her as the mostly-headless body collapsed to the concrete.
Alexander was saying something, but his words just floated past without registering. He sc.r.a.ped some of the stuff off her face and neck with his fingers and flung it to the ground. He took her hand and pulled her away.
Sara clenched her teeth, half gagging, half exhaling. The mammoth black car was snarling down some thoroughfare she didn't know. Her arms were tight, crossed over her rigid chest and stomach. The blood she'd wiped from her face was drying between her fingers, making them itch as it cemented them to her coat sleeves.
Alexander reached for a cigarette as he changed lanes, pus.h.i.+ng in the lighter.
”Don't,” she said, choking around the word, her chin still on her chest. ”If you fill this car with smoke, I'm gonna fill it with puke, I swear to G.o.d.”
He took the cigarette from his lips, placing it behind his ear. The lighter popped but he left it alone, reaching instead to turn on the radio. Echoing, electronic sounds poured from the speakers.
She switched it off, leaving the k.n.o.b smeared and sticky. ”How about you tell me what the f.u.c.k just happened back in the alley?”
He shook his head, watching the road. ”Neil p.i.s.sed off those guys a while ago. You know how he is. And then he just kept makin' it worse ... But I thought it was all over by now.”
Trying to shake her head made her dizzy. ”So ... It wasn't over, and you shot that guy in the face? That's not a good enough explanation.”
His head pivoted toward her. The car didn't slow. ”I shot him in the face because he would've killed you if I didn't. Is that good enough?” His eyes, too steely for emeralds now, locked on hers.
She snapped her face away to look out the winds.h.i.+eld, shuddering and tightening her arms around herself. Something spongy rolled under her fingertips.
She worked the window crank, getting it most of the way open before her stomach emptied itself of what was probably fifty dollars' worth of the club's booze. She stayed like that, clutching the top of the window, her head in the frigid wind, until they turned onto a Lincoln Park street she recognized.
She pulled her head in and rolled up the window, resisting the urge to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand. ”So were those the same guys who chased us in the car before?”
”Yeah.” He parked in a garage next to her building. ”I'll help you up to your place.”
Sara kept her face down as they moved through the lobby, but a few people stared anyway. He put his arm around her. Her matted hair had dried, leaving it hard and crackly as she leaned against his chest and pushed the elevator b.u.t.ton.
”Don't worry about it,” he said. ”You're all right.” She put her arm around his waist, squeezing him tighter.
”Besides,” he said, cracking his tiny smile as the elevator doors closed, ”you look good in red.”
She glanced at her face in the elevator mirror, smeared with clotted red and brown streaks, and the thin sh.e.l.l of decorum she'd managed was shattered. She pushed him away as the elevator started up. ”How can you joke like that? Look at me! I can't even see myself because of all the blood! This isn't some ... some game. That guy's really ...” Her stomach tightened again. ”You killed him.”
Her mouth wouldn't close. She choked down the first few sobs but more pushed through. She retched but nothing came up. The elevator doors opened. He helped her out. They stood on the landing as the doors closed, Sara staring at his smooth, expressionless face.
”I never said it was a game,” he said. ”And you're not dead. It's not your blood.”
She turned from him, taking a few quick steps. He followed.
Her tears mixed with the slime on her face, sliding down onto her neck. She stopped, turning back.
”How am I supposed to get through tonight,” she said. ”How can I sit here all alone after this?”
He stared back, silent.
”But this is you,” she said. ”You're in the middle of it. I see that. And you said it yourself. 'Evil has to be invited in, at least at first.'”
She lowered her chin. Pink tears fell to the hallway's light blue carpet.
”Now I'm supposed to shut myself back in here tonight ... make my same safe little prison. Right? And maybe go crazy. Maybe never come out again- ” She sobbed again.
”I can stay, if you want,” he said. ”It's up to you.”
She blinked the tears away and turned, moving quickly down the hall to her door. He followed, staying a few feet back as she worked the lock.
The hollow click echoed through the hall. She retrieved her key and stood there, frozen, her head as empty as that of her attacker, staring into her dark apartment.
She let her eyes lose focus and leaned on the door frame, its metal cool against her cheek. Her voice, barely more than a breathy whisper, sounded foreign in her ears, as if someone else was speaking.
”Won't you come in?”
CHAPTER 4.
Education and the Undead ”SARA- Margaret and I would like to see you. I haven't heard about school in a while but I'm sure you're doing well. I look forward to hearing about all your recent victories soon.
I bought a new car. Margaret thought you'd like the old one, so I'm enclosing the t.i.tle and keys. I left it parked at the hospital lot; the security people are keeping an eye on it for me. Give me a call and let me know when you want to come pick it up.
Daddy * *
Sara struggled to put together a dish of a.s.sorted cheeses and a salad of baby artichokes with smoked salmon. Alexander was somewhere over by the stove; she only saw him out of her peripheral vision when he occasionally danced up with completed dishes.
”Let's go, Sara.” Terry's eyes appeared over the top of her workstation. ”We've already got people waiting out there and you're still the slowest one in my kitchen.” She nodded. Terry disappeared. It was still quiet enough to hear the radio: ”...Police in California are investigating what appears to be the latest victim of the so-called 'Baby Doll Killer,” a serial killer whose signature act is handcuffing young women and leaving them with baby dolls after bleeding them to death ...”
Killer. It made her shudder. She folded her arms, expecting them to feel slippery with blood, but that was all gone now. No witness had come forward about the shooting. No cop had shown up. Alexander had never mentioned it again and had stared blankly at her whenever she'd tried to bring it up.
”Um, sorry ... where do I put this?” A bespectacled waiter who looked a little like Elvis Costello was trying to leave his order but she was running out of s.p.a.ce for them. She took it and placed it on the pickup counter under the others, using a clean plate as a paperweight.
Alexander appeared next to her, taking a few of the tickets and a.s.sembling what he could. She blinked at him. He gave her his little half smile.
”What can I do to help you?”
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