“But—”
He leaned over to open the cab door and practically pushed me out onto the sidewalk.
“Get out.”
I struggled to keep my balance, and by the time I was ready to say something else, the door slammed shut behind me and the cab drove away. If only I’d never tried to find out about the cure. Opening that can had let out too many worms. And I hated worms. I didn’t know where to turn. I didn’t know where to go. I thought briefly about just going up to my condo and crawling back into bed, but that didn’t seem like something I should do. A sign. I was lost and didn’t know what to do next— I needed a sign to show me the way. Looking up, I saw a billboard for the Toronto stage production of Mamma Mia!, surrounded by glowing reviews from a bunch of newspapers. I frowned. I meant a different sign. Not that one.
Somebody bumped my shoulder as they walked briskly past me.
“Hey!” I yelled after him. “Watch where you’re going, jerk.”
The man turned to glance at me and my breath caught in my chest. It was Eugene, looking nervous and jittery, but he was alive and well.
“Eugene!”
Fear crossed his expression when he saw me. “Leave me alone,” he said in a quavering voice. “Don’t hurt me.”
I ran to catch up with him and grabbed his shoulder. He backed up against the wall and held his hands up to protect his face.
“I’m not going to hurt you. What are you doing here? Did they let you go last night?”
“Y-y-yes,” he stammered. “They released me when they finally decided I was telling the truth.”
“They just let you go? Just like that? Even now that you know where the club is?”
“The dark-haired man, the scary one, he let me go. The others didn’t want to.”
The dark-haired, scary one had to be Thierry. Everything I expected to happen last night, all of my crazy imaginings of what Thierry would do—letting Eugene go was not one of them.
I cocked my head to one side and tried to look mean. “And you aren’t going to say anything about where you were?”
“Nothing! Not a word. I promised him. Scout’s honor!”
“What about the other hunters?”
“I don’t know any other hunters. This was all Melanie’s idea. She wanted some kind of revenge on her old boyfriend. I didn’t want to hurt anybody. I’m leaving town, so I won’t be speaking with anyone. I’m leaving the country and going back to Wisconsin.”
I let him go. “Good. You do that. And, uh, have a nice trip.”
He scurried away up the street like a scared mouse who’d just escaped from a hungry cobra. It was highly strange to have someone look at me like they were afraid I might hurt them.
Thierry hadn’t ordered Eugene’s death. He’d let him go. I let it sink in. Then I took a streetcar to Lakeside Drive. I didn’t have enough money for a cab, so public transit would have to suffice. It was three o’clock. The club wouldn’t be open yet, but I tried the front door, anyhow. Surprisingly, it wasn’t locked and swung inward at my touch.
I walked into the tanning salon just before I was attacked. Well, “attacked” might be too strong a word. It was more like a fierce hug that seemed to come from nowhere. I pushed away from whoever it was and looked at them, my eyes wide. But it was only
Amy, smiling bright and shiny back at me.
“Hello, sunshine!” she said. “How are you on this fine day?”
“Amy.” I tried to compose myself, then realized it was impossible. “What the hell?”
“I have had such a great day, you would not believe it. And last night? In-freaking-credible.”
Oh, yeah. Amy and Barry’s little romance from hell. Spare me the details.
She frowned at me. “You don’t look so good.”
“I don’t?” I said with mock surprise. “That’s funny, ‘cause I feel like a million bucks. That reminds me, you wouldn’t happen to have a million bucks I can borrow, would you?”
“Sorry, no. Oh, dear, I guess I shouldn’t be acting all happy in front of you then, if you’re having a lousy day.”
“Try lousy decade.”
She laughed then and flicked her light blond hair off her face. I spotted something odd on her neck. It couldn’t be what it looked like, could it? I grabbed her and pulled her hair off to the side to inspect the fading fang marks, like two tiny hickeys over her jugular vein.
She clasped a hand over her neck and smiled sheepishly at me. “I didn’t want you to see that.”
I waited, not saying anything.
“I have news,” she said.
I raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t a happy eyebrow by any means.
She held up her left hand. She was wearing a ring with a tiny diamond in it.
“I’m engaged.”
I still didn’t say anything. Her smile faltered.
“Aren’t you happy for me?”
I felt the headache/potential brain tumor arrive right on schedule. “Amy, don’t you think you’re taking things a little too quickly? I don’t want you to get hurt. He’s probably just doing this so he can feed off you. Disgusting, but true.”
She looked shocked. “Feed off me? How dare you say something so horrible about my Barry. He didn’t just feed off me…” She paused and then met my eyes directly. “He made me into a vampire just like you!”
She said it with such enthusiasm, such pure joy, I almost felt happy for her. She made it sound as though she’d just won an all-expenses-paid trip around the world. But she wasn’t going anywhere. Except to hell in a handbasket, that is.
Her smile slowly faded when I didn’t jump up and down with excitement about her “wonderful” news.
“I’m so sorry, Amy.” I felt tears rising in my eyes. “I dragged you into this. This never would have happened if I hadn’t let you come here last night. It’s all my fault.”
She frowned at me. “What are you talking about? This is the best thing to ever happen to me.”
I shook my head. “You’re delusional. I can’t believe you, Amy. Wake the hell up! Being a vampire is horrible. If the hunters don’t kill you, you’re in constant pain if you don’t have blood regularly. You grow fangs and lose your reflection. It’s not normal, and it’s definitely not fun. Why would you want this for yourself?”
Her expression turned cold. “You’re just jealous.”