When Darkness Falls(44)

“You’re not getting enough Vitamin C, that’s all. We still need that. As far as I can tell, it’s the only nutrient we need. Fresh Vitamin C. For healing.”

“All I eat are citrus fruits. And I never liked them before.”

“You need it from fresh blood. Your body can’t process fruit as easily. Not anymore.”

Devon looked at her. “Are you saying I’ll die if I don’t drink people’s blood?”

“You might get enough from other sources. Animals maybe. But the passion, the pain, you can’t go without that. It’s an instinct. The way cats chase birds and dogs chase rabbits. They don’t reason it out, or worry about right and wrong, they do it.”

Devon thought about that for a moment. “You can train them not to.”

“You think so? Maybe when you’re around, but loose and wild, they would do it anyway.”

“Human beings aren’t wild.”

“I told you, you’re beyond human,” Lydia said.

The room had warmed, and Lydia opened the front and back doors, staying away from the shafts of sunlight as she did. She turned on the living room ceiling fan. The bamboo blades whirred, their sound drowning out some of the traffic noise from Laurel Canyon Drive.

Shutting his eyes for a moment, Devon concentrated on the warm air across his face, wishing he could block everything else out. He was not a monster, no matter what yesterday’s newspaper article said, no matter what Lydia said. “Sounds like less than human to me.”

“It’s your nature. Like the black widow eats its mate. There’s nothing wrong with it, that’s the way it’s made.”

Devon stood, took Lydia’s hands. Despite everything, she was still his friend, still the one who’d played cards with him in the back of The Underground when they were ten, who’d helped him steal money from his father’s wallet to buy groceries, who’d stayed awake all night with him after his brother’s suicide. Something he’d still never told Haley about.

“Lydia. Please. If you’re making this up, if you’re playing a joke or paying me back for something you think I did, it’s gone too far. I’m begging you. Stop. Tell me what’s really happening. I’m lost. Afraid. And there’s no one else to ask.”

Lydia put her hand on his cheek. Her skin felt cool, and she smelled of red wine and lime from the margarita. “When you say it like that, I almost wish there were some other explanation. But I’m telling you the truth. I wouldn’t play a joke on you or trick you. You’ll be happy about this, eventually. Trust me.”

She touched his arm, but he pulled away. Still, when she spoke again, her voice was soft. “If you send her away, she’ll be safe. If you really haven’t tasted her blood yet. If you didn’t lie to me.”

“And if I did?”

“Then you might as well go after her tonight and do what you need to do, because if you don’t, I will. I can’t take the chance.”

“What chance?” He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “What chance?”

Lydia stared back at him, meeting his eyes, not resisting him, but not responding to his touch either. Or to his anger.

“That you’ll make her like us,” she said.

Devon let go of her. “I don’t know how to do that. You don’t have to worry about that, because I don’t know how to do it.”

“I can’t take the chance. I didn’t go through all this to be part of a threesome with her. You’ve got forty-eight hours. If she’s not gone by then, I’ll find her myself and kill her. You believe me, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

And he did. God help him, he did.

“Good. Now get some rest. You’ll feel better about this after some sleep.”

She brought him a sheet and pillow for the couch.

? ? ?

It was too early to check in, but the desk clerk said they had some open rooms, and he’d try to get one ready for her within the hour. Haley sat in the Best Western’s breakfast room, choking back tears and staring at the concrete and palm tree vista out the window. It’s not that different, she told herself, he wouldn’t go near the sunlight at home, so that’s why he wouldn’t leave with me. It wasn’t because of Lydia. But that wasn’t the whole story. Something had changed. It wasn’t only the sun now. Lydia had some weird hold over Devon. But he did not love Lydia, Haley felt sure of that.

She swallowed her tea and called Jacinda. It was after ten Chicago time, and by now everyone at the office would know she’d taken off. She needed to at least check in.

“I hope this is worth it,” Jacinda said, after Haley assured her she’d arrived in Los Angeles safely.

“What did Dr. Whyle say?”

“He’s not in yet. But Barbara is plenty pissed. When will you be back?”

“I don’t know. As soon as I can.”

Jacinda’s sigh came through clearly despite the choppy cell phone connection. “Is Devon going to be all right?”

“I don’t know that, either.”

“Will you being out there really help?”

Haley pressed her glass of ice water against her forehead. She’d needed to ask for it. In L.A. they didn’t hand out glasses of tap water the way they did in Chicago. “I hope so, but I have no idea right now. I haven’t slept in twenty-four hours. I can’t think straight.”