Halfway to the Grave
Page 39

Don didn't smile now. His expression was granite. "I've examined many strange bodies over the course of my career. Bodies that were dated to be anywhere from a hundred years old to a thousand, and yet were dressed in modern clothes. Now, that could be explained away, but their pathology can't. Their DNA contained a mutation never before documented in human or animal history. Every so often, we'd run across one of these unusual corpses, and the mystery behind them deepened. That house last night was littered with those abnormal bodies, and so was the governor's. It was the largest cache of such bodies we've ever come across, but do you know what our greatest find was? You."
Don's tone lowered. "I've spent the last six hours reading every scrap of material I could find about you. Your mother reported a date rape a little more than twenty-two years ago and told of an implausible attacker who drank her blood. She was considered to be overwrought and the details were ignored. Then you were born five months later. And they never caught the perpetrator of that crime."
"What of it? My mother was hysterical from the trauma of being raped."
"I disagree. Your mother told the exact truth, except no one would ever believe her. Certain details she described were too specific. The sudden glowing of eyes to green, fangs protruding, incredible strength and speed, things she never could have heard anywhere else. Where her story differs from all others is that she gave birth to you. You, who according to Pathology have the same strain of mutation in your blood as our mysterious corpses. Less potency but no difference in the genetic structure. You see, Catherine, I'm honored to meet you because I've been looking for someone like you my entire career. You're one of them and yet not one of them, the offspring of a human and a vampire. That makes you the most valuable find in centuries."
Motherfucker. I should have run for it at the governor's house, bullets be damned.
"That's quite a story, but many people have rare blood types and psychotic mothers. I assure you, I am no different than any other girl my age. Furthermore, there is no such thing as vampires."
Even my voice sounded steady. Bones would be so proud.
"Is that so?" Don stood and nodded to Tate Bradley. "Sergeant, I'm about to give you a direct order. Carry it out at once. Shoot Miss Crawfield in the head, right between the eyes."
Whoa. I sprang off the bed and tore the metal bed rail from its welded perch, swinging it at the hand that raised the gun at me. There was a crack of broken bones. In the same smooth motion, I kneecapped Don while ripping the gun out of Bradley's hand and holding it firmly to his head.
"I am so sick of being shot, and someone should tell you guys to have a little more respect for hospitals!"
Don, face first on the floor, pushed slowly over to look up at me. The expression on his face was pure satisfaction.
"You're just a normal girl and there's no such thing as vampires, right? That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. You were only a blur. Tate didn't even have time to aim."
Tate Bradley's heart pumped at an accelerated rhythm and the beginnings of fear leaked out of his pores. Somehow I knew being afraid wasn't a normal condition for him.
"What do you want, Don?" So this was his little test, and I'd passed with flying colors.
"Will you please release Tate? You can keep the gun, not that you need it. Clearly you're stronger without it than he was with it. Consider it a sign of goodwill."
"What's to stop me from making my own sign of goodwill through his brains?" Maliciously. "Or yours?"
"Because I have an offer you'll want to hear. If I'm dead, it's harder for me to talk."
Well, score one for him for keeping calm in a crisis. Abruptly I released Bradley and shoved him across the room. He slipped and slid on the floor next to Don.
There was a knock at the door. "Sir, is everything all right in there?" The guard sounded worried, but he didn't peer inside.
"Just fine. Keep your post, no visitors. Don't open that door until you're told." Don's voice was confident and strong, belying the flash of pain in his eyes from his knees.
"What if you'd been wrong? If GI Joe here had plugged a hole in my head? That would've been hard to explain."
Don gave me an appraising look. "It was worth the risk. Ever believe in something enough to kill for it?"
It would be hypocritical for me to say no. "What's your offer?"
Don sat up, wincing at his bent knees. "We want you, of course. You just ripped off a welded metal bar and disarmed a highly trained soldier while handcuffed to a bed, all in about a second. There's no one alive who has that kind of speed, but there are many dead things that do. After seeing your work, it seems to me you aren't averse to killing those things. Lots of them, in fact, but more will be looking for you now. Your anonymity is ruined. I can fix that. Oh, I knew Oliver was dirty, a lot of people did, but we couldn't prove anything because every agent we sent to check him out never came back. You're different. We'd be sending these creatures someone their own size to pick on, and all of these charges won't matter because Catherine Crawfield will die, and you'll be reborn into your new life. Given backing and troops. You'll become one of the most prized weapons the U. S. government has to protect its citizens against dangers they can't even imagine. Isn't that what you were meant to do? Haven't you always known it?"
Wow, he was good, and if Timmie were here, he'd feel absolutely vindicated. There really were men in black, and I'd just been offered a chance to join their ranks. I thought of the opportunity and the advantages, the exhilaration of starting a new life without fear of police or burying bodies or hiding my nature from those around me. Just six months ago, I would have tripped over myself to accept it.
"No."
The single word hung in the room. Don blinked.
"Would you like to see your mother?"
He'd taken my refusal too easy. Something was up. Slowly, I nodded. "She's here?"
"Yes, but we'll bring her to you. They'll never let you walk the hall swinging that bedrail. Tate, instruct the guard to have Ms. Crawfield wheeled down here. And ask for another wheelchair as well. My arthritis seems to be acting up." With a glance of pained amusement, he looked down at his knees.
A slight twinge of guilt shot through me.
"You deserved it."
"It was worth it, Catherine, to be proven right. Some things are worth the cost of their consequences."
Thinking of Bones, I couldn't agree more.
The look on the guard's face was priceless when he opened the door and saw Tate Bradley holding his broken arm at an odd angle and Don sprawled on the floor. My bed rail was held in place by my hand and I lay innocently on the bed.
"I tripped and my companion tried to help me up and fell on me," Don offered when it was obvious something had occurred. The guard gulped and nodded smartly. Don was helped out and soon my mother was wheeled in. For a second, I thought of smashing through the window again and making a run for it with her, but then one look at her face told me it wouldn't work.
"How could you?" she demanded as soon as the door closed, staring at me with a look of heartrending betrayal.
"Are you all right, Mom? I'm so sorry about Grandpa and Grandma. I loved them both." Tears trapped inside me burst forth at last and I sat up and reached for her hand.
She jerked back as if I were foul.
"How can you say you're sorry? How can you say any of that when I saw you with that vampire?"
Her voice rose to a shout and I looked nervously at the door. The guard would probably faint. Suddenly there was pleading in her face.
"Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me they lied to me, those animals that killed my parents and took me with them. Tell me that you are not f**king a vampire!"
She had never used that word with me before, and it fell with ugliness from her lips. All of my worst fears were realized when I saw her expression. Just as I'd dreaded, she despised me for what I'd done.
"Mom, I was going to tell you about him. He's not like the others. He's the one that's really been helping me kill them, not Timmie. He'd been after Hennessey and his group for years."
"For money?" Her words were whips. "Oh, I heard a good deal about that while they had me. They kept talking about the vampire that killed for money. And they laughed when they talked about you, said it was always women when it came to him. Is that what you've become, Catherine, a whore for the undead?"
A sob escaped me. How profane she made my relationship sound.
"You're wrong about him. He risked his life going to that house to save you!"
"How could he risk his life when he is dead? Dead, and he brought death with him! It's because of him those murderers came to our home, and it's your fault for involving yourself with him! If you wouldn't have been sleeping with a vampire, my parents would still be alive!"
Out of everything she'd said, this hurt the most. I might not be able to defend my part in their deaths, but she wasn't getting away with blaming Bones.
"Don't you dare, Mom. Don't you dare! You knew what I've been doing since I was sixteen, going out all the time to search for vampires. And you knew how dangerous that was. You of all people knew, because of what happened with my father, and yet you encouraged me to do it, so that's your fault! And I did it, and kept doing it, refusing to stop even though Bones warned me over and over to, so that's my fault! If I had never met Bones, if I had never slept with a vampire in my life, Grandma and Grandpa could still have been killed for what both of us participated in without him, even before him. If anyone's got Grandma and Grandpa's blood on their hands, it's you and me. Not him. We both knew one day it could lead back home, and in that regard, we're more responsible for Grandma and Grandpa's deaths than he could ever be."
Her face went white and her voice, when it came, was low but resonating. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I am also responsible for my parents being murdered, and I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life. But I don't have to live with a vampire in it. Catherine, I love you, but if you continue to have a relationship with that creature, I never want to see you again."
Those words struck me harder than the bullets had. I thought I'd been prepared to hear them, but they hurt more than I ever knew they could.
"Don't do this to me, Mom. You're the only family I have left!"
She sat back and straightened in her chair as much as her aching ribs would allow. "I know what's happened to you. You've been corrupted. That creature warped your conscience and brought out the darkness in you, like I've always been afraid would happen. I only wish those other animals had killed me before I found out I was a failure as a mother."
Every word was a knife slicing into me. Being kidnapped and seeing her parents murdered had ruined any chance of reasoning with her about vampires not being automatically evil. She was drowning in her rage, and I had no way to save her.
"I hope those men catch that monster and kill him once and for all," she went on. "Then you won't be tormented by his control anymore."
My head snapped up. "Who? What are you talking about?"
She stared at me with defiance. "I told them the truth, the men who just left here. Told them you'd been led astray by one of those creatures, and that he'd run away from the house last night. The older man knew about vampires. They're looking for him. I hope they slaughter him. Then you'll be free."
"Don! Get in here!"
Now I jumped off the bed and flung open the door. The guard made as if to pull his gun at seeing me unrestrained, but Don quickly blocked him in his straight-legged wheelchair, with Tate following close behind.
"It's okay, Jones. We have it under control."
"But she...she..." Jones gaped at the bed rail dangling from my right handcuff, mouth opening and closing.
"Just watch the door," Bradley snapped, and pushed past him with his good arm.
"Did you ladies have a nice chat?" Don inquired.
"You smug son of a bitch. What game do you think you are playing?"
Don looked as unruffled as if he were sipping tea at a luncheon. "Ms. Crawfield, would you excuse us and let us have a few moments alone with your daughter? The guard will see you back to your room."
She didn't say goodbye and neither did I. Both of us were furious and felt deceived. Unlike her, however, I knew I could never stop loving her. She was my mother, no matter what occurred. I could forgive her even this.
"So, your mother told you she informed us about your...relationship with a vampire? She thinks he put some kind of spell on you. Is that true? Are you under his thrall?"
"Only if you count sex," I countered without batting an eye. Let them think it was merely physical.
Bradley gave me a look of thinly veiled disgust. I'd had enough of that.
"Oh, shove it up your ass, if you can fit anything in that tight GI shit-shoot!" My mother's judgment I had to take, but I didn't have to put up with his.
His face actually colored with indignation. Don hid a smile behind a cough.
"Be that as it may, I find it notable you didn't bring up your close association with a vampire earlier. Perhaps you lean more towards their side than appearances dictate?"
"Look, Don, who I choose to f**k is not anyone's business but my own. He and I had similarities in our goals. Did my mother tell you he killed vampires as well? She probably left that out in her haste to see him dispatched. We had a commonality of purpose and it led to some extra attention. It's not like it was serious, he was just passing through."