| |
––––––––
DISBELIEF AND ANXIETY churn in Myah’s gut. This guy shows up at the store in the middle a rapidly unfolding disaster and turns it all sideways. He says, Come with me, and against her better judgment she does. And now she finds out he doesn’t have a clue about what to do next. He has no idea what kind of mess he’s stepped in. Whatever is coming next she really worries about his ability to handle it. He’s going to get them both killed. She’s sure of it. Fear gets the best of her and she lashes out.
* * *
DAX WATCHES A FLURRY of expressions cross Myah’s face. Anger appears to win. “So what? You thought we’d just stay here. And what? Set up house?”
He steps back. It’s a reasonable question, but somehow he feels like he’s been slapped. A moment ago he felt like a hero. He got her away from whoever was breaking in through the roof, out of sight from the police. He took her to his safe haven. The one no one else knows about. He can’t help feeling hurt that his grand gesture has been taken so lightly.
“No,” he admits. “I came to the store to find out what it was I’d accidentally gotten myself into. When those people started breaking in upstairs, I just wanted to get you to safety. This was the only place I could think of. I thought it would give us a while to catch our breath and figure things out.”
Myah holds up a hand. “I’m sorry. I have a habit of running my mouth. Sometimes it doesn’t serve me well.”
“No, you’re right. We can’t stay here. We do need a plan. This is all just happening a bit fast.”
“I know.” There’s a gentleness in her tone this time. “Honestly though, you’re going to have to get up to speed pretty fast. Or we’re both going to be dead.”
He draws in a deep breath. “Noted.”
“I didn’t mean to be harsh.”
“And I didn’t mean to get you out of the frying pan and into the fire.” That saying makes him sound like he’s a hundred years old, which of course he is. More than one hundred. He winces inwardly. By the quizzical expression on her face, she’s not catching the reference, so he blunders on. “Like you, I’d prefer not to be dead. Question is, where do we go now?”
“I wish I knew.”
A broad smile crosses his face, he tries to stop it and almost succeeds. “So, you don’t have a plan, either?”
He bites back a laugh at the play of emotions across her face. “No. My only instinct was to run as far and as fast as I could.” She raises her hands and shrugs. “I—”
He can’t let her flounder like this, even if she did wound him a little with her outburst. “Is there anywhere else you know of where we can hide?”
“You’d come with me?”
Here is his chance. His way out. He’s pretty certain someone has seen his face by now, but he can’t be entirely sure. A million excuses spring to mind. If they haven’t tracked them to his hideaway, then perhaps no one knows of it yet. They could part ways and take their chances. He could go home, carry on as usual. Go to tonight’s rehearsal. Pretend he was only an innocent passerby who interrupted a robbery. It might work.
He likely won’t have another chance to get out of this mess. He should take this opportunity. For a moment he considers it.
Myah’s looking up at him, probably guessing what’s going on in his mind. He’s been silent a moment too long. He gazes down at her, taking in her slight stature. It seems unfair that so much has been placed on someone so young and so...small. He can’t walk away from her now. Who else will help her if he doesn’t?
He has to admit his dream of going back to his regular life is gone. It vanished the moment he threw himself into the middle of that robbery. The moment he picked the wrong prey. Someone—if not this Jeremy monster—then the police will track them down no matter where they hide. Together they have to find another way out of this thing.
“I’m coming with you,” he says finally. “We’re in this together now. For better or worse.”
* * *
IT SOUNDS SINCERE ENOUGH, almost like a marriage vow. Myah wants to believe him. He’s not like any of the other vampires she’s known. He seems in control of himself. He has a life, a job. In theater. She couldn’t have imagined a more unlikely partner in this mess. He’s proved he can handle himself in a fight. He’s proved to be resourceful. But what they’re likely to experience out there goes far beyond a regular conflict. She might do better on her own with no one else to worry about. No one to slow her down. But the truth is, she really doesn’t have anywhere else to go. She adopted this new life so thoroughly she’d come to believe it herself. She thought her cover was good enough. And that was a mistake.
Dax is looking at her so earnestly it breaks her heart. What’s left of it. He wants to help, but then there’s the problem of moving through the daylight with a vampire. That problem won’t go away when night falls. There’ll be the day after that and the day after that until they part ways.
“We are in this together.” She tries to match his sincere tone. “But we might be better apart.”
“No—”
She holds up a hand to stop his protests. “It’s only me they want.”
“They’ll want me too now. If only to find out what I know. And by now I probably know enough that things won’t go well for me.”
He has a point. Knowing Jeremy he’d torture Dax in retribution for his interference. “But if we separate we could lead them in two different directions.”
Dax seems to consider this for a moment. Then he shakes his head. “No, I don’t like it. In the first place, we don’t have two different places to hide. We don’t even have one. They know who we are. They’ll find us. At least with two of us that means two sets of eyes. Someone to keep watch in the day while I sleep and someone to look out for you at night.”
He makes a good case. She wants to believe him. For the first time in her life she doesn’t want to be in this thing alone. She hates to admit it even to herself, but she craves that friend, that guardian. And that kind of thinking is doubly dangerous. Enough people have deceived her. Enough people have hurt her. The next one might kill her. She wants to explain all of this to him, but there isn’t time. And the fewer people who know what’s truly in her heart, the better. So she settles for, “I don’t need a lot of rest.”
“Nor do I, but even vampires need to sleep eventually.”
He isn’t making this easy.
“Do you know of anywhere out of the country where we could go?”
“Out of the—” He’s lost his mind. “How are we going to get out of the country?”
“I run a theater company. We ship props all over the world.”
“You want to ship me in a box?”
He gives her a sharp look. “No. I want you to ship me in a box.”
This idea is getting more ludicrous all the time. “And what about me?”
“Trust me, I have good makeup people. By the time they’re finished with you, no one will recognize you.”
For a moment she allows herself to hope. “And how would you accomplish all of this transporting of boxes for a play that doesn’t exist?”
Clearly he’s seized on this idea, because now he’s pacing across the floor, chin cupped in his hand.
“I’m supposed to be a rehearsal tonight. But I could call in and say the troupe might have a new opportunity overseas and I need to go check it out. That way no one would think anything of it.”
“And dozens of other people would know what you’re planning.”
Dax stops mid-stride. His shoulders fall. “True.” Pacing resumes in earnest. “I could notify them after everything is shipped.”
“Still way too many people knowing what we’re up to.”
“I could feign an emergency.”
Feign? Did he really use that word? “And how are you going to get in touch without a phone?”
He stops again and holds out his hands. “I admit, this is difficult.”
“Bit of an understatement there.”
He lets go a long theatrical sigh. “I agree, that idea is probably not going to work.”
He’s really trying. She feels bad dismissing his plan like that. “It wasn’t a half-bad idea, really.”
“It had its merits.” He offers her a rueful smile. “Now we just need another plan. One that doesn’t involve anyone else but us.”
“Right,” she says. Dozens of half-formed ideas flit through her mind only to be quickly dismissed. Truth is they have no resources. No resources except Dax’s theater. And perhaps his access to funds. By now her bank accounts have probably been frozen. Being ex-military, Jeremy would have found a way to do that. It’s likely not even safe to return home to pick up a change of clothes. They’ll be watching her place. She’s on the run with only the clothes on her back and a vampire for company. That’s it. Maybe she shouldn’t have dismissed his idea so quickly.
Dax has resumed pacing again. It’s driving her crazy. She wishes he’d just stay still for a moment so she can think. She comes to stand before him, halting his progress across the already worn out rug. “Is there any way that we could arrange to ship ourselves from your theater without involving anyone else?”
He looks down at her his ice-blue eyes gleaming in the dim light. “Possibly. There isn’t anyone at the theater until early afternoon. If we were quick enough, we might accomplish it.”
“And are there costumes and makeup?”
“Sure.” There’s caution in his tone, as if he thinks he knows where she’s going with this.
“How good are you with a makeup brush?”
He hesitates. “Adequate.”
Myah holds up a hand. “Okay, here’s your plan, revision two. We go to the theater. You fix us up so we don’t look anything like ourselves. Makeup, different clothes. We arrange to have a couple of boxes shipped out of the country.
“What if they’re already watching the theater?”
“Is there a hidden entrance, like this place has?”
“There is an old shipping entrance out back. It doesn’t get used much, except for deliveries of materials for large props.”
“Is it hidden?”
“Not very well, but it does open onto a lane way.”
“Then that’s our plan. We just need a way to disguise ourselves in case anyone is watching.”
Dax strides across the living room to a wardrobe rack. “I keep a change of clothes here, just in case.”
Myah hasn’t really taken much notice of the clothes rack until now. It only seems to hold a couple of shirts and a pair of trousers. “I doubt your clothes will fit me.”
Dax pulls an old woolen hat out of a box at its base. “No, but this would cover your hair and maybe we could tuck in a shirt—”
“Or use it as a dress.”
“Anything to make you look less like you.”
She tries on the hat, pulling it down low over her forehead and tucking most of her hair up into it. She has no mirror to see the results, but Dax seems to think it was working. He pulls a thick plaid shirt off the rack.
It reaches almost to her knees. Does she look more like someone who might work for a theater company? She can’t tell. Dax shrugs out of the clothes he’s wearing and pulls others from the rack. “Well?”
“Do you have anything else here?”
A shake of head.
“Then I guess this is it then.”
Dax extinguishes the candles and heads for the door. When he holds it open for her light leaks in, impossibly bright after the candlelight. He doesn’t shrink away from the brilliance, but she can tell it’s bothering him by the tension in his jaw and the lines around his eyes as he squints.
“Is there a way to get there through the alleys in the shadows?”
“Most of the way,” he says tightly.
“Good luck.” She doesn’t know what else to say.
“Let’s pray this works.”
“We’re screwed if it doesn’t.”
Dax lets the comment fall into the silence between them as he locks the door. They hug the shadows as they make their way back down the alley toward where it branches into another laneway. The shadows are feeble now, light and insubstantial, barely a foot wide.
After a couple more turns, Dax raises his head as if scenting the air. “It’s not far now.”
Myah scans the space around them. The alley is quiet, but she can hear voices from the crowded main street nearby.
“Do you think it’s safe?”
“As far as I can tell there are only humans on the street, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re safe.” He peers out into the alley, eyes nearly shut against the sun’s glare. It has to be agony for him, but he doesn’t complain. She follows the line of his gaze and sees an older building that can only be the theater. She can’t see any lights on. The place appears deserted. A bright ribbon of sunlight stands between them and the dark maw of the loading dock.
Dax shades his eyes against the brilliance. Even the hand he’s using as a visor is turning red and it’s not even entirely in the sun. She’s feeling less sure of this venture with every passing second.
She almost asks Dax to turn around and head back to the abandoned building, but before she can form the words, he presses something cold and metal into her hand.
“Here, take the key and get the door open for me.”
The only entrance Myah can see is the giant metal door.
“There’s a small door beside the loading dock. Open that one and I’ll be right there.”
He doesn’t sound so sure of that. Not only does the sun burn, it seems to be sapping his strength.
She doesn’t have time to think about it. They’re standing out in the alley completely exposed and Dax is weakening. They need to get inside. Now.
She leaps from the shadows. The light is searingly bright as she races through the narrow band of sunlight to the cool shadows beyond. Only a few stairs stand between her and the door. She races up them and jams the key into the lock. It turns easily and the door springs open. It’s dark inside and she sincerely hope there isn’t anyone lurking within. But there’s no time to investigate because Dax is withering away in the alley. She waves him on.
He runs across the strip of sunlight, faltering only when he reaches the stairs. Gripping the railing, he hauls himself up the last couple of steps and throws himself through the door. She shuts it behind him, hoping they haven’t just locked themselves in the darkness with someone or something waiting for them.
In that moment all she hears are Dax’s labored breaths.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” More panting. “Just a little singed.”
“Will you be okay?”
“If I get some blood, I’ll be fine.”
She doesn’t know what to say to that. “Do you...you know, keep any here?”
“Of course not. I run a theater group full of human actors. That would be hard to explain.”
“They don’t know?”
He shakes his head in the darkness. “No. I’m sure a few of them suspect, but it’s never actually come up.”
“Because...”
“Because if they knew then they’d have to worry about it. It’s easier not to know.” He shoots a glance at her in the darkness. “Do you tell people what you are?”
“So far you’re the first.”
Dax gives her a little bow. “I’m honored.” He reaches past her. “There’s a light switch behind you. Just let me—” She can feel his body tense. He senses something. Myah senses something as well.
Someone lurks in the darkness. No, several someones. Her heightened awareness reveals a vampire and someone else who seems like a vampire, but is somehow different. Dax’s hand falls to her shoulder in warning. He flicks on the light switch.
