Читать книгу The Vampire's Fall - Michele Hauf - Страница 8
ОглавлениеShe was the prettiest woman in Tangle Lake. Demons wanted her. And she had amnesia.
Blade had discreetly followed Zenia to the Blue Bass, a dive bar nestled at the edge of town. So the tail hadn’t been as discreet as he’d hoped. Not easy to be covert in a small town with only two main streets. It was nearing eight in the evening and he suspected she had tried to give him the slip, but again, one of the hazards of a small town was lack of privacy.
Normally, he was not a curious man. That was his brother Trouble’s mien. But it wasn’t every day he watched a sexy woman tread about in a dirt field, and then had to slay demons to keep them from going after her.
He wanted to know where the demons had come from and why. And if she thought to use an amnesia defense to cover her knowledge then she’d better think again. She had to be hiding something. If a person had amnesia, shouldn’t they not operate a motor vehicle, avoid drinking in a bar and most likely be lying in the hospital?
Yeah, she was definitely pulling something over on him. Yet if there was a slight chance she was on the up and up, he sensed she wasn’t safe.
He entered the bar, and stood by the door to take in the yawn of an establishment paneled in rough-cut timbers and decorated with fishing rods, neon beer signs and the mascot stuffed bass with the milky white eyes. At the bar, Zenia ordered a beer. She didn’t fit in this redneck outpost. She looked more like a wine kind of gal.
Currently, she held her own against Brock Olafson, the town asshole. The guy had been divorced twice, owned a tanning bed—which explained his weird orange leathery skin—and never slowed his Hummer for a stop sign unless he sighted a black-and-white nearby.
Asshole was trying to pick up the pretty woman. Blade’s fingers had curled into fists the moment Brock sat down next to her. He held his jaw soft, not tense. Years of practice had allowed him to remain calm while holding within the roiling need to attack. It was never wise to attack. At least, not with human witnesses.
On the other hand, if a man opened the door of a house and was greeted by three demons, by all means, attack.
Brock slid his hand up the back of Zenia’s T-shirt. She slapped at him and shifted over to the next bar stool. Blade could hear her politely say, “Leave me alone. I just want to finish this drink in peace.”
“I’ll buy you another,” Brock said, shoving thick fingers over his short blond crew cut.
Before the asshole could slide onto the vacant bar stool, Blade pushed his palm onto the bar between the two of them. The bartender nodded at Blade and poured him a shot of Krupnik, a honey-sweet vodka the owner kept in stock for him.
Brock stepped away from the bar, muttering something about weirdos under his breath, but Blade kept an awareness of the man’s location in his peripheral vision as he tilted back the shot.
“Despite his rudeness, he did pin you correctly,” Zenia said and sipped her beer.
“How’s that?”
“You’re a weirdo. And I’ll ask you to leave me alone just like I did the other guy.”
“Sorry,” he said, and pushed the shot glass forward. “Did I interrupt something promising?”
She snickered and when she looked at him, he was momentarily fixed to her green eyes. She was so exotic and colorful, this memory-less woman who didn’t seem to belong, no matter the setting. And she smelled like the long grass and flowers he’d followed her through but an hour earlier. Blade lost track of Brock.
“Thanks,” she said. “But you can leave now.”
He sat on a bar stool and propped his elbows before him. “I’m not a weirdo,” he offered.
“You accused me, a person you don’t even know, of being a demon. Your hair is blue. You look like a goth. And you followed me here like some kind of serial—er, stalker. In my book that’s considered weird.”
The bartender poured another shot for Blade. He swallowed the vodka with a wince. Good stuff. He had a difficult time getting drunk. Blame it on his genetics. Being vampire and faery did come in handy when he wanted to hold his liquor. The only time he got drunk was when drinking from someone who had consumed whiskey. Whiskey-spiked blood always went straight to his head.
“It’s black,” he offered regarding his hair. “The neon light from that sign over the bar makes it blue.”
“If that’s your story. But I did see it in the sunlight. It’s blue.”
It wasn’t. Well, it sort of was. It was the faery in him. It sheened his black hair blue. It was a damned sight better than the pink that donned his sister, Daisy Blu’s, head.
“And yours is copper,” he offered. “Like a precious metal that someone steals to hock for as much cash as they can manage. It suits you. Looks great with your skin tone. Sorry.” He shoved the empty shot glass toward the bartender. “I don’t say things like that to women—”
“You mean compliment them? Are you flirting with me? Trying to pick up a demon?”
She was going to work that one until he surrendered. So he would. But only because she was pretty.
“Listen, can we start over? I’m Blade.” He offered his hand to her and she stared at it. “I live about ten miles out of town near the Darkwood.”
“That sounds...dark.” She smirked and he wondered if she might be a little tipsy. But when she took his hand and shook it, he felt a good firm clasp warm his fingers. “Zenia. No last name. At least, not that I recall. I live nowhere, or probably somewhere. But you know, Amnesia Chick.”
“So, Zenia, who is only recently Zenia, what’s up with that? Did you used to be Martha or Gertrude?”
This time she laughed out loud. Blade heard Brock’s huff on the other side of the pool table. The asshole tossed a dart at the board nailed on the wall—and missed.
When Zenia looked at him now he decided she was assessing him. A better risk than Brock? He should hope so. And then, he knew he was not.
“For all I know, I probably could have been Gertrude,” she said.
“You don’t look like a Gertie. The hair is all wrong. Gertrude likes curls and something shorter. Maybe even a blue rinse.”
“You could be right. Okay, so weirdness aside, I like you, Blade.” Her long dark lashes fluttered with a look over his face. “I’ll reserve judgment on your weirdness quotient until I get to know you better.”
He was about to say that she would be better off not liking him, but instead he simply smiled. A rare thing for him. Just ask any of his brothers or sister. The dark silent one put people off with his stoic expression. And for good reason.
He’d learned that keeping his head down was best for all. And yet, his surprising curiosity for this woman demanded satisfaction.
“No memory?” he asked. “How did that happen? Or do you know?”
“I think I only lost personal stuff. I know things. It’s as if I know crazy stuff like Russia’s population is almost one hundred and fifty million. The main ingredient in miso soup is dashi. And it would take the average person about eighteen months to traverse the wall of China. But I don’t know my name, who I am or where I came from. That’s why I’m here in Tangle Lake. I was hit by a bus in front of that old woman’s house.”
Blade was about to order another shot when he paused. “Seriously? Hit by a bus?”
“Yes. I was walking out of a yard—probably that old woman’s yard—and onto the street, and—bam! No memory of my life after that.”
“So you woke up in the hospital? They must have taken you to Unity. Closest hospital from here.”
“No. I, uh, stood up and walked away.” She offered a sheepish shrug. “Never saw a doctor.”
Blade put up two fingers when the bartender tilted the vodka bottle over his glass. This information was worthy of a double shot.
“It’s been a week,” she said. “I thought about going to the police, but—I don’t know, something inside me said they wouldn’t be able to help. So I hitched a ride into the Twin Cities and have been staying at homeless shelters, trying to make some cash to survive. A girl’s gotta eat, you know?”
“They have homes to stay in for people who have amnesia. Maybe.” What did he know? “If they don’t exist, they should. You should see a doctor.”
“I’m fine.” She bent her head and brushed aside her hair with a curl of delicate fingers over her ear. “I know it sounds weird, but I think the bus sort of...nudged me to pursue a different life. When it hit me, I was flung against the street pole and banged my head. Had a bruise right here.” She tapped her temple. “But that faded within a few hours.”
A hit that could take away one’s memory had to have left a big bruise. Blade had a hard time believing it had faded so quickly. There wasn’t a mar on her skin. Another reason to doubt her story. And she could be allied with demons. What game was she playing?
“So here I am.” She narrowed her gaze on him. “Do you know me?”
He had to chuckle at that hopeful question. “Never seen you before.”
“I had to ask. I’m not sure if I’m from Tangle Lake. Everywhere I’ve been no one seems to recognize me. Friendliest person so far has been that asshole behind us tossing the darts.”
“Name’s Brock Olafson, and you should stay away from him if you value your safety.”
“Thanks. I got that ‘stay away’ feeling from him.” She sipped the beer and wiped off the foam moustache. “I thought visiting the scene of the accident would make something click in my brain, you know?”
“Well, if you want me to hit you upside the head...?”
“Does that work? The knowledge I have on that is it’s mainly been used in children’s cartoons and tear-jerker love stories.”
“I was kidding. So were you hoping asshole would pay your tab?”
“I, er...” She shrugged and focused on her drink.
Blade tugged out his wallet and laid enough cash on the bar to cover his and her tab. “On me,” he said. “If you don’t have memory, you must not have a job.”
“Nope. Not that I know of. There could be a cubicle that’s empty right now. Is the whole office wondering where I am? Do I have a big project due any day now?”
She didn’t look like a cubicle drone, but Blade couldn’t decide what kind of work she might have done. Her exotic coloring and flowing clothes hinted at a bohemian nature. And those sorts were usually musicians and artists. Maybe?
Why not go to the police? Her story just didn’t jibe.
“If I can ask, how do you survive?”
“I spent a couple days hawking raspberries at a farm stand just off Highway 35 and earned enough to eat on. And I have the truck.”
“You remembered you own a truck?”
“Uh, no. It was running and no one was using it, so...” She winced and tilted back another swallow of beer.
She’d stolen a truck. Blade was impressed. Pretty and devious. The woman had survival skills, that was for sure.
But she’d been hit by a bus and had stood up and walked away? Was she something beyond human? If her story was the truth, she had to be. He didn’t scent his own species on her. He could also scent when werewolves or demons were around. Faeries were a challenge.
He got nothing from her. Just plain human. A human who had attracted a shifter demon who had claimed she was their own.
“You’re not afraid the cops will remind you that you don’t own a truck?”
“I’m not sure what fear is, actually.” She offered her hand again to shake. “I should get going. I’m tired. It was nice to talk to a kind person for a while. Blade Saint-Pierre, right? Maybe we’ll run into each other again?”
“I’m in town a lot.” He almost offered his services if she needed anything, but...he’d learned his lesson with pretty women. They were nice to look at, touch and make love to. But getting to know them and caring about them? Wrong, just wrong. “See you, Zenia.”
She strolled out of the bar with a wave to him. And Blade remained to keep an eye on Brock.
* * *
A knock on the truck window woke Zenia from the first tendrils of sleep. She sat up on the front seat, knocked her foot on the steering wheel, swore and spied the dark-haired man peering in at her.
“Blade.”
After talking with him in the Blue Bass she’d assessed that he was a nice guy who had the compassion to worry about a complete stranger. But here he was again. And her heartbeats picked up pace. What made her believe she had any skill at reading another person’s intent? As she’d once suspected, had she gained a stalker?
She sat up to open the door, but paused. It was close to midnight. She had parked in an empty parking lot beneath a streetlight. A city park paralleled the lot, but no residential houses or businesses were nearby. It had seemed a quiet place to sleep through the night, but now her caution rose.
He hadn’t tried to touch her, as had the other creep in the bar. But something about this man was dark. Mysterious. And now the hairs on her arms prickled.
She turned the key backward to the accessories position, then lowered the window down two inches. “Yes?”
“You sleeping in your truck?”
She nodded. Wished she had an iron pipe, or even a wood bat.
“This is going to sound strange,” he said. “It might even put up your weirdo alarms again.”
“I haven’t completely lowered them, so give it a shot.”
“You’re welcome to park on my land tonight. Uh, it might be safer. Unless you don’t mind taking your chances with Brock.” He turned and cast his gaze across the parking lot.
Zenia followed his gaze and there, across the street from the lot, idled a big yellow Hummer rimmed in chrome. She couldn’t see inside the cab, save for the glimmer of burning cigarette embers.
“Is that the guy from the bar?”
Blade nodded. “I’ve been watching him watching you for about an hour.”
Zenia clutched her arms over her chest. “You’ve been watching me a lot today.”
“Sorry. Seems as though you need it. This is not what I normally do. I mean—”
“Stalk women?”
He nodded and shrugged. It was a sheepish kind of move that settled her worries. She wanted to trust him. She would allow herself to trust him.
“Where do you live?” she asked.
“Ten miles north of Tangle Lake. It’s secluded. Brock won’t follow you there because he’s afraid of me. We had...an altercation a few months back. But then, if you follow me, you do risk leaving the safety of town.”
Yikes. When he put it that way. And yet, as strange as Blade was, Zenia sensed the other option would see her struggling with the man across the street not long after Blade left.
“Maybe,” she said.
“I’m heading back to my truck. You can follow me if you want to. The drive is down a long forested road, just so you know. You can park in my driveway. Lock your doors. I won’t bother you. You have my word.”
“I don’t know if your word is good.”
“That you don’t.”
Was it fair or even rational to give him points for honesty?
“So you think you need to protect me from demons or something?”
“Beyond the very human Brock?” He shrugged. “You never know.” Blade shoved his hands into his front pockets. “Your choice, Zen.”
And he strode off toward the truck that Zenia now saw was parked down the street. A bowlegged stride moved him swiftly, as if a shadow in the night.
Zenia scrambled into the driver’s seat and turned on the ignition. When Blade’s headlights blinked on and slowly drove past the other man’s truck, she made a snap decision and shifted the truck into gear.
