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"Delilah's right," Camille said. "Tim knows the risks. Tell Roz to get the hell back here with him."
By their expressions, I realized they both knew exactly what we were risking. I'd made the choice, accepted the challenge, now we all had to cope with the ramifications and not let Erin down. The last thing I wanted to do was to have to stake my own daughter.
I hurried back to the steps and punched the talk button. "Get back here with Tim. Hurry it up—we don't have long before she rises."
"We're on the way," he said, then hung up before I could ask him just how he planned on getting both of them over here in time. With a look around to make sure we were still alone, I returned to Erin's side.
"They're on the way. Let's hope that Roz can fly," I said as I knelt beside Erin. She was cold, colder than death. I held her hand and closed my eyes, remembering.
"What's it like?" Camille asked, squatting next to me. "What's it like where she's at right now?"
"After you realize you're still tied to your body, you're pulled back in. You saw my memories—the ice tunnel… then crimson veins spreading through the silver cord that connects the body to spirit—like arteries filled with fire. Everything smelled like blood and my stomach began to ache. I was so hungry, so thirsty."
"The bloodlust," Delilah said, sitting on my other side.
"Yeah… the bloodlust. It's like… everything vanishes except the thirst. An itch on an open wound. All I could think about was finding someone to rip into, to satiate my thirst." I hung my head. I seldom talked about my passions and the drive to drink. It wasn't a subject my sisters could easily understand. Or so I thought.
But Camille nodded. "Like me and the Hunt. During the full moon, I have to run with the magic or the Moon Mother will drive me mad. Unless I can make it into the woods, I'll lose my sanity. And when I'm caught up in the chase… there's no force on earth that can stop me except for death."
"Exactly," I said, startled that she hit it right on the nose.
"Or like when I have to shift on the full moon. There's nothing in the world that can prevent me from transforming. If something tried, I think I'd die," Delilah said. More softly, she said, "It's harder when my Death Maiden aspect emerges. The Autumn Lord controls my panther form, and if he wants her to come out and play, I have no warning."
I stared at Erin's body. They did understand, in their own ways. I hadn't ever thought to correlate the forces that drove my sisters' natures with the bloodlust, but it was true. We each answered to our true form, we each waged war for control with aspects of ourselves that were beyond our abilities to curb.
"Maybe I've been too hesitant to talk about things," I said. "I never stopped to think that you might both face your own inner demons, that you both answer to forces greater than yourselves. I knew, but not on that gut level that really rings home."
I glanced up. Chase and Morio were playing dumb, but it was obvious they'd been listening to us. "What about you? Chase, is there something you can't control, that you answer to besides your conscience?"
Looking startled at being included in the conversation, he frowned. "I'm not sure. Humans like to think we control our world, but truthfully, we can't direct even a fraction of it. I don't think I have anything that quite compares to what you're talking about, but there are some people who seem driven by forces beyond understanding—religious fanatics, criminal psychotics… a number of things."
Delilah looked at him curiously. "Do you believe in the gods?"
Chase shrugged. "I won't say there aren't higher forces at work, but do I pray to any of them? No. I learned the hard way that nobody looks out for me but myself. My father was a dope fiend who disappeared when I was a kid. My mother's a fruitcake. We lived on welfare most of my childhood because she couldn't hold a job." He glanced up at Delilah and their eyes locked. I had the feeling they'd been down this road before.
"Who took care of you?" I asked.
"Me. By the time I was a teenager, I was managing to stay in school while working at McDonald's in the afternoons, running a paper route before school in the mornings, and late night I delivered takeout for Hunan's Dragon Palace. Somehow I scraped up rent every month. My jobs at Mickey D's and Hunan's fed me."
"And your mother didn't do anything to help?" I could hear the resentment in his voice. No wonder he avoided talking to her as much as possible. Delilah had told me Chase was constantly getting hounded by his mother for not calling. This was probably the reason.
"She was too busy trying to find Mr. Right to care much about me. Her boyfriends bruised me up now and then because I'd mouth off to them. They gave her money for food—for her. She collected AFDC, but wasted the money on clothes and booze. I spent all my spare time working. It was either that or join a gang. And I'm not gang material."
"AFDC?" Camille asked.
"Aid to Families with Dependent Children," Chase said.
"Oh, did your father ever come back?" Camille frowned.
He shook his head. "No. Haven't seen him since I was a little kid. My mother finally got married, but by then I was in the police academy." He shrugged. "Water under the bridge, now."
A sudden noise put a stop to our conversation. Erin was starting to stir. We had, at best, five minutes. "Fuck. Oh fuck, where are Roz and Tim?"
"Right here," a voice said from the hall. Roz and Tim pushed their way into the room. Tim looked pale, as if he'd been yanked through a wringer. Or maybe Roz had dragged him here on a magic carpet. Either way, they were here and that's all that mattered.
"Tim, listen to me. There's no time to explain. Erin's going to wake up and she's going to be hungry. If you still want to go through with it, I'll be here for you. She'll need to drink enough to keep from passing into a coma, which means you're going to be giving her enough blood so that you'll feel woozy. You don't have any problems like anemia or anything that could compromise your health, do you? Viruses, infections won't affect her, but blood loss might hurt you."
He shook his head, eyes glazed over as he stared at Erin's wan form. "Will I become a vampire?"
