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“…the fourth such suicide in five months,” the announcer said, and she jerked her head around. “Officials maintain that the deaths were self-inflicted, but the parents of the girls, particularly the latest victim, are not so sure.”
Cut to a bereaved father, his eyes rimmed in red, wearing a yellow shirt that was jarringly bright for the circumstances. “Shawna would never have done something like that,” he said hoarsely. “She was so happy. She was staring at the U of M next month. Friends…she had friends. She was popular, really popular. And…and she even had a new boyfriend. She never would have killed herself.”
Cut back to the news announcer, who had been so heavily BOTOXed it was difficult for her to maintain the expression of vague sympathy. “Regardless, tonight in Babbitt, Minnesota, a town mourns.”
Sophie set her empty glass down so hard, it broke on the table. Liam jumped, and Gladiator woke up. “I have to go,” she said abruptly. “Thank you for the juice. I must…” She fumbled in her bag for her cell phone, and quickly punched in Dr. Hayward’s number.
“What’s the matter?” Liam asked, staring at the broken glass. “Are you okay?”
“I’m—yes, Matt? It’s Sophie. I’m sorry to bother you this late, but I must leave…yes, right now. Tonight…yes. It’s a…family matter…don’t laugh, I’m quite serious. Yes…yes, if you please…no, I have no idea. I beg your pardon…yes, I appreciate that, Matt. Good night.”
She punched the OFF button and dropped it in her purse, and turned to go. To her surprise, Liam’s hand closed over her arm, just above the elbow. “What’s going on?”
Despite her alarm, she was surprised; she couldn’t recall him ever touching her. She gestured vaguely toward the television. “It’s something I must look into. And…I have to find someone. It’s nothing for you to—”
“Is it a vampire thing?”
She nearly fell down. It was one thing to instinctively understand the townspeople knew what she was and tolerated it. And another thing to discuss it obliquely with a child, such as Tommy. But for someone to come right out and ask her…she was so surprised she answered him. “Yes, it’s a vampire thing. In fact, I believe a vampire is killing those girls.”
“So, you’re gonna stop it?”
“Well, I’m going to try. And really, I must go. I—”
“Well…” he said, letting go of her arm and walking over to a kitchen chair and picking up his denim jacket—even though it was August, it was quite chilly in the evenings. “I’ll go with you.”
“Really, Liam, you—”
“I guess I should be more, you know, specific,” he said slowly, in his careful way. “I guess that sounded like a question. Like, can I go with you? But it wasn’t. I’m going with you. Besides,” he added reasonably, “you’re gonna need someone who can look after you during the daytime.”
She was so amazed by this turn of events, she let him escort her out to the truck.
4
THEY had each agreed to pack a bag and meet back at Liam’s farm in half an hour. Sophie raced to her houseboat, packed quickly but carefully; she would, in all probability, be meeting her sovereign the next evening and must be dressed appropriately. Then she called Tommy to make sure he would feed her parakeets and clean the cage while she was gone. Finally, she hurried back to Liam’s place…and skidded to a stop on the gravel driveway, amazed.
He had put a brand-new topper on the back of his red truck and was just now finishing spray-painting the windows black. She stepped around to the back and, careful not to get wet paint on her fingers, pulled the window up. There was a fully inflated air mattress lying the length of the truck bed, piled high with comfortable quilts and pillows.
She heard Liam coming around the side and turned just as he reached her. He jumped a little—most people were surprised at how good her hearing was—and said, “In case we need to move during the day. I can drive and you can sleep.”
She chewed on that one for a minute, and finally said, “You seem…well-prepared.”
“Well,” he said shyly, “I’d always hoped I’d get to drive you around sometime. I just wanted to be ready.”
He was so big, and his voice was so soft, it was hard to process the change. Weirdly, he looked more cheerful than she had ever seen him. All because he was driving into the dark unknown…with her? She wrinkled her forehead as she tried to process this, and he laughed. “I’m confused,” she admitted.
“Aw, but you sure look cute when you’re trying to figure somethin’ out.” He tossed the now-empty paint can into the garbage, then walked around to the front door. “Let’s go, Sophie. You can tell me what’s going on during the drive.”
“What if I don’t tell you anything?” she countered, clambering up into the passenger’s seat—dratted thing needed a step ladder! “What if I keep it all a deep dark secret?”
He shrugged and started the truck. “Then we’ll have a nice drive.”
“Touché,” she muttered.
“SO…you know I’m a vampire.”
“Yup.”
“You’ve always known.”
“Mm—hmm.”
“You and everybody else.”
He looked over at her, surprised. “Well, I can’t vouch for what everybody knows and doesn’t know. I remember my daddy telling me you were good with animals and we should be nice to you so you didn’t leave. That was when I was just a kid m’self.” He chuckled. “Boy, you were the prettiest thing I ever saw.”
She blushed. Tried to, anyway. Blood didn’t rush anywhere in her body anymore. “That’s very sweet.”
“My point is, nobody ever out and out said, ‘Dr. Sophie’s a vampire.’ But nobody ever got out the cross and pitchforks, either.”
“Thank goodness! She turned, putting her arm across the back of the seat, the better to face his profile. “Weren’t you afraid?”
“Heck, no!” He looked surprised. “Just afraid you’d leave. We all knew you didn’t…I mean, that you hadn’t come from Embarrass. Or even Minnesota. Or even America. We were afraid you’d go back. To where you came from, you know? In…how many years? In all that time, you never once griped about late nights or house calls. Didn’t mind working holidays. Truth was, we were scared to let you go.”
“That’s so…sweet.” So they liked her for her work ethic, eh? Well, what did she expect?
“Bunch of outsiders came to build a Catholic church up here,” he mused. “Course, Reverend Reed put a stop to that right quick. We didn’t know if you could stay, if—”
“So you are telling me, in this entire town, no one, no one at all, had a problem with the resident veterinarian being a vampire?” Too good to be true! There had to be a…what was the colloquialism? A trap? No. A catch.
“Well, sure.” He glanced at her, then back at the road. “The ones who had a problem moved away.”
“Oh.” She sat back, feeling foolish. Of course, several families had moved away in the last forty years. But when no one came down to her houseboat with a teapot full of holy water, she had put it out of her mind. And her dear friend Ed had always kept his ear to the ground. He would have warned her if the town’s mood had turned ugly. “Yes, I can see that.”
“So, there you go,” he said comfortably.
“There I go,” she parroted. “Do you know where we’re going?”
“I expect we’re heading down to Tyler Falls.”
She blinked. “Yes. That’s right. I must know. How did—”
“That news story, the one that got your panties in a bunch. Gal who killed herself was from Tyler Falls.”
“They aren’t killing themselves,” she snapped.
“All right, keep your shirt on. What, you guess another vampire is doing it?”
“Liam, has anyone ever told you, you’re extremely astute?”
He shrugged.
“Well, you’re right. It’s not the girls. What I think is, a vampire is making them fall in love, then he no doubt breaks up with them in some brutal fashion, then enjoys their torment and their eventual deaths. Remember, how the girl’s father told the news she had a new boyfriend? I’m willing to bet they all had new boyfriends. Bastard,” she added in a mutter.
