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“For being ‘grossly inappropriate’ when I met you at my house, leading you to think that I was a threat to you, when I was supposed to be observing and protecting you.” He said it in a monotone so flat that he could have been reciting a telemarketer’s script.
“What?”
Ophelia said, “Mr. Dodd was supposed to make contact with you, just enough that you would remember his face and not panic if you happened to see him. Instead …”
Awkward silence.
Ophelia kicked his ankle and hissed. “Instead …”
“I came on to you,” he mumbled. “Usually, when I put on the charm, ladies prove quite receptive.” He followed this remark with a sullen little sneer, then resumed looking down at his feet.
“He was watching you on the rare occasions when you ventured into public at night,” Ophelia said. “We knew that Cal couldn’t be with you, and I thought it would be helpful for you to have some protection. I didn’t mean to give you something else to worry about.”
“I’m sorry,” he muttered again.
“That night at the movies!” I exclaimed.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You sent me running home into the arms of a crazy teenage vampire stalker.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“You know, somehow that doesn’t quite cover it,” I shot back.
“Oh, there will be time for groveling,” Ophelia assured me. “Mr. Dodd is in charge of guarding your door here at the hospital. He’ll be waiting outside every minute of every night.”
“I really don’t think that’s necessary,” I protested.
“He will fetch you magazines, chocolates, cuddly stuffed toys. And he will taste-test every meal the staff brings you, to make sure it hasn’t been tampered with.”
“Won’t eating human food make him sick?” I asked.
Ophelia gave Mr. Dodd a nasty grin. “Yes.”
Ah, that would be the point of this exercise in humiliation.
I settled back against the pillows, resigned to having a grumpy, resentful vampire bodyguard. Again, I wondered about Cal, but pride and the desire for continued blissful ignorance kept me from asking Ophelia. I wasn’t going to lose any sleep or time on him, I promised myself. If I never saw his face again, I would survive. If he showed up here, I might be willing to speak to him. But that was about as much consideration as I was willing to give him at that point.
“Wait, so if he was keeping an eye on me, what was up with Mr. Crown? Why was he at the movie theater?”
“Well, I’d just managed to find a copy of the welcome basket delivery schedule, listing Peter as the contact for Cal’s house. Before I could make it to Peter’s house to question him, one of his more loyal humans at the Council office contacted him to warn him that I was coming.”>I wiped at my eyes. “Letting Cal into the house. Forgetting that Mr. Marchand was a vampire just because he happened to look like a cuddly old man. A series of really bad decisions.”
“Never trust a man who looks like Colonel Sanders,” Ben agreed sagely.
I laughed, swiping at my cheeks. Gigi frowned. “What do you mean, letting Cal into the house was a mistake?”
“Well, do you see him here?” I asked angrily. “I mean, the man turns our lives upside down. I’m attacked at his house by the same creep who messed around with your brain to pump you for information. I nearly get killed trying to save his butt. But is he anywhere to be found? No. I’ll bet he lit out of the house as soon as the Council vacuumed up Mr. Marchand with their little Dirt Devils.”
Gigi shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t been back at the house long enough to see if he’s still there.”
“Where have you been staying?” I asked, my eyes narrowed.
“Over at Miss Andrea’s house,” she said, adding quietly, “and at Ben’s.”
Ben added hastily, “Our rooms are on different floors. And my parents said she can stay as long as she wants.” He laughed. “My dad didn’t ever think I’d get a girlfriend. He and Mom are thrilled.”
I tried to calculate which could be more dangerous to my sister’s well-being, staying with her hormonal, adoring boyfriend or being exposed to what Dick Cheney considered appropriate conversation in front of a teenage girl. I pressed the little red button that released my pain meds and wondered how often I was allowed a dose.
