It’s a balancing act I understand very wel.
It seems the decision has been made. I do a U-turn and head back the way I came. Trying to track Chael down through a psychic connection wasn’t very successful. What if I try a simple human way?
Once more in the lobby, I shake rain out of my hair and go directly to the registration desk. A pretty Native American girl greets me with a sunny smile. “Can I help you?”
My turn to put on a perky face. “I hope so. Last night at dinner I thought I saw someone I knew from my col ege days at UA. He was a foreign student from the Middle East. I know it’s probably my imagination, but if it was Chael, I’d love to say hel o. It would be such a happy coincidence is we ran into each other here after al those years. Is it possible for you to check and see if he’s registered?”
“Of course. What was the name?”
“Chael. I’m sorry but I don’t remember if that was his first or last name. It’s spel ed C-h-a-e-l.”
“No problem. The computer can check both.”
Her fingers fly over the keyboard with practiced aplomb.
After a few moments, she shakes her head. “I’m sorry. No one on file with that first or last name. Could he be registered with someone else?”
Of course he could. “Try Judith Wiliams from San Diego. I remember they were great friends.”
The fingers do their tap dance once again. This time I’m rewarded with a smile. “Yes, Ms. Wiliams is registered.” She picks up a desk phone. “Would you like me to ring the room?”
“That would ruin the surprise,” I reply. “I’l just hang out in the lobby for a while and watch for them.” I dig in my pocket for some cash and hand her a five. “Thanks so much for your help.”
She accepts the bil. “You are very welcome. If I can do anything else—”
I make my smiling escape, hitting the gift shop first to pick up the Arizona Highways magazine before retreating to a strategic spot where I can keep an eye on both the stairs and the elevator. This damn rain may mean they keep to their room. No need to come to the dining room when you don’t eat like a human.
Two hours of boredom produce nothing but a sore butt. I relinquish my spot on the couch and pace up and down, stretching leg muscles unused to sitting for such a long period. Reminds me of hours of surveil ance with David and that we haven’t had to do it in quite some time. Mainly because our new partner has connections to both police departments and bail bondsmen in the Southern California area. Thanks to Tracey, these days jobs find us.
I wonder if I should check in. I’ve only been gone two days.
If David needed me, I’m sure he’d have cal ed. And with Judith Wiliams here, he’s most likely staying out of trouble.
I’m circling back to resume my perch on the couch when a group of four urban-chic bikers arrive in the lobby and make their way to the elevator. They’re dressed in form-fitting leathers, talk quietly as if conscious not to attract too much attention, and al have scarves tied loosely around their necks. When one of them, a young woman with long blond hair, slips out of her jacket, her scarf fal s to the floor.
She bends to retrieve it.
There are faint bruises just below her right ear, bite marks not quite healed.
I smile as she scrambles to cover them up, looking around to see if anyone noticed.
Oh yeah, chickie.
I noticed.
Chael and Judith sent for takeout.
I toss the magazine onto the stack in the middle of the coffee table and watch them into the elevator. There are only two floors in the lodge. I’m at the stairs and up to the second level before the elevator doors slide open.
The group makes their way down the long hal way. I hang back and watch. They knock at a door near the end. When they’ve been let inside, I walk down myself and check it out.
Room 230.
It’s quiet in the hal way, but too public to risk getting caught with my ear to the door. I move down a few doors and aim vampire hearing into the room. But Chael and Judith are being careful. Nothing comes through. Al I get are the soft murmurs of their hosts’ voices and the vigorous creak of bedsprings as the people next door in 232 engage in energetic sex.
Wel. At least I know where to find Chael. Bursting in now would accomplish nothing except to jeopardize the lives of the hosts.
I glance at my watch. I’ve been here almost four hours.
Would it be safe to return to Sarah’s? How long would the burial ceremony last? I should have thought to ask Kayani. I dig my cel phone out of my jacket. I’l cal Frey. If he’s stil with Sarah’s parents, I’m sure it wil go straight to voice mail.
It does. He’s turned it off. I leave a very brief “cal me when you can” message and end the cal.
A whiff of coppery scent drifts up from beneath the door to 230. Faint but potent as a memory and easily distinguishable to a vampire.
Blood.
It produces a restless surge of adrenaline.
Chael and Judith have started to dine.
CHAPTER 29
THE BLOOD PULL IS TOO STRONG. I MAKE FOR THE stairway and retreat downstairs to the lobby. I’l wait for the hosts to leave before confronting Chael and Judith.
My place on the couch is occupied by a family waiting for the rain to stop before venturing out. I get a cup of coffee from the coffee bar and find another seat — one with a partial y obstructed view of the elevators but one that wil have to do.
What wil I say to Chael? There is no defense he can offer that would justify his senseless kil ing of Sarah and her sister.
Especial y if it was done just to keep me here.
I don’t know what wil happen in the next few days. I suppose it wil depend on what Frey decides is best for his son. He may even choose to stay on the reservation with John-John. After al, this is the only home the boy has ever known. The only thing I’m sure of is that he needs to be with John-John now.
A conclusion I’m sure he’s come to himself.
So where does that leave me?
A sense of weariness and despair darkens my thoughts. If I go back to San Diego alone, I go minus one of the constants in my life. Daniel Frey has been with me since the beginning. Besides Culebra, he is the only supernatural I consider a friend.
Worse, the trip wil have been for nothing. I would have been the cause of two deaths without being given the opportunity to have my questions answered. Perhaps that’s my punishment for coming here with a selfish agenda. I didn’t want merely to ask for mortality back, I wanted the shaman to assure me it was the right decision. To answer the how and why of being chosen.
As if life ever grants assurances.
Coffee cup drained, I toss it in the nearest waste receptacle.
I hate this feeling of hopelessness. It’s not my nature. I’m much more comfortable with anger. Anger leads to action.
Did I always feel that way? I was human much longer than I’ve been vampire, but the memories how I felt as a human grow dimmer every day.
Is that a good thing?
The elevator pings open and the four urban-chic bikers step into the lobby. They’re a little paler, walk a little slower, leaving a scent of blood and sex in their wake. But they have satisfied smiles on their faces.
I glance at my watch. Two hours. A lot of sex. A lot of blood.
Stil they’re luckier than many of Judith Wiliams’ hosts.
She has a tendency to drain her hosts dry, leaving a disposal problem. Chael must have cautioned her to exercise restraint.