They Come by Night Page 21

“You’ll keep that monster from eating me, won’t you?”

  “What are you talking about? Mina’s a sweetheart.”

  “Well, that sweetheart sounds like the hound of the Baskervilles!”

  “Uh…. That has to be a neighbor’s dog.”

  “I dunno, Ty. It sounded like it was coming from your house.”

  I forced a grin, hoping he wouldn’t realize how uneasy I was, and crossed the lawn to get to my car. Even if any of my neighbors had a dog, they were too far away for us to hear them.

  Once my car was in the garage and I’d gathered my messenger bag and the bag from Ben & Jerry’s, I rejoined him. Although the barking had stopped, he was looking doubtfully at the front door.

  “Come on in.”

  I unlocked the door and Mina stood there, bristling. Her coat was fluffed up, and she looked almost twice her normal size, which made her about a whole ten inches at the shoulder.

  “Mina, this is my best friend, Jimmy. He’s convinced you’re a dangerous animal. Show him you’re not!”

  Mina sniffed cautiously and then relaxed.

  “What a pretty little lady you are!” Jimmy crooned as he crouched down and held out his hand. She sidled up to him coquettishly and licked his fingers. “What can I tell you?” He laughed up at me. “The ladies love me!”

  “Yeah, right. Do me a favor and put the ice cream in the freezer. It’s just in there.” I shoved the bag into his hands and waved in the direction of the kitchen. “I’m gonna get my jacket.”

  “Ben & Jerry’s?”

  I turned around to see him staring into the bag. “Of course!”

  “Oh, dude, I am so staying for dinner!”

  “Fine by me.” I zipped up my warm-up jacket. “Come on, Min.” She stood still while I put the little red and white sweater on her. It had been her Valentine’s Day gift from me… and Adam.

  Well, he would have joined in giving it to her if he’d been here.

  I snapped on her leash.

  “You come too, Jimmy. There isn’t much to see right now, but I’ll show you around the property.”

  “And after we’re done with the decorations, I’ll want a tour of the house.”

  “Sure.” Although how I was going to explain the furnishings and all the neat toys I had…. I’d just have to tell him I’d almost maxed out my credit cards.

  I opened the door, and we walked out onto the porch. Mina’s muzzle wrinkled and she growled. Jimmy glanced at me curiously, but I just shrugged. I didn’t have a cute story to tell him about that.

  I’d have thought after all this time she’d be better, but every time she passed a certain spot on the porch, she did it again.

  Well, at least it was better than the first few days after she’d come home from the vet’s, when she’d actually pissed on the spot.

  Satisfied she’d intimidated the hell out of whatever was supposed to be lingering on the porch, she looked up at me expectantly.

  “All set?” She gave a little woof. “Okay, then. Let’s go.”

  “She’s got you wrapped around her little paw, doesn’t she?”

  “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

  “You always were a sucker for animals.”

  I grinned at him. “Come on. Time’s a-wastin’!”

  “YOUR DAD is going to be so impressed!” Jimmy took the last slice of the sausage and meatball pizza. Knowing him, I’d ordered three pies. Also knowing him, I knew there wouldn’t be much in the way of leftovers.

  “Yeah, we did a good job.” We’d put up a trellis twined with greenery and spring flowers, and covered the lawn with an assortment of bunnies, chicks, and humongous plastic and ceramic eggs. The eggs were decorated with stars and swirls and zigzags in pale yellows, greens, pinks, and blues. Jimmy had even found a couple of eggs that had baby dragons breaking the shell. “I’ll invite him over for Easter dinner. Can you come too?”

  “Thanks. I’d like that. I… uh… I was hoping you’d ask. The ’rents will be out of town.”

  “Leaving their littlest chick home alone?” I gave him the big eyes.

  “Smartass. They’re going up to Boston for Dad’s job next week, and it turns out Easter falls in the middle of their time away.”

  “Listen, Jimmy. You’re like a brother to me, and you’re always welcome here.”

  “No bullshit?”

  I hooked my ankle around his chair and tugged, almost tipping him off his chair.

  “Hey!”

  “Seriously, thank you. I was feeling really down, and you’ve helped me cheer up.”

  “Then my job is done!” he answered cockily, but I could see he was touched.

  “And as a way to show my undying gratitude….” I went to the freezer, took out the two cartons of Ben & Jerry’s, and brought them to the table. “I’ll get a couple of bowls for the ice cream.” I’d popped the lactase supplement before we sat down to eat, and I knew I was covered.

  “Why get bowls? We can eat right from the carton.”

  “Yeah. Good idea.” I opened the drawer to the right of the sink and got a couple of spoons.

  “Mmm!” Jimmy accepted a spoon. “Chunky Monkey, food of the gods!”

  “Y’know, I was thinking the same thing.”

  We did the faux fist-bump thing, and Jimmy dug the spoon into the ice cream. “So. How’s college life treating you?”

  “Good.” I shrugged.

  “You meet any cute guys?”

  “There are some.” I thought of the guy in the bookstore. I’d seen him around campus from time to time, but he’d had another guy with him. “I don’t have time to date, though.”

  “Ty, you can’t let this guy screw up your life. You’ve got to get out there, get back on the horse!”

  “Okay.” I wasn’t going to argue with him about it. “How are you doing?”

  “Fine.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Would I lie to you?”

  “How did midterms go?”

  “Eh. They could have been better.” He licked the banana ice cream off his spoon. “I think my Anat and Phys professor still has it in for me.”

  “Why?”

  “We had to dissect a cat.”

  “Bummer.” I didn’t want to rub it in that he had it easy. Next spring I’d be cutting into a human cadaver.

  “My professor is a real pain in the ass. I must have turned a little green, and she said, ‘Surely you’re not squeamish, Mr. Black? After all, your generation seems to be so fond of those slasher flicks.’ The witch!”

  “You didn’t call her that to her face, I hope?”

  “Geez, Ty, you should know me better!”

  “Okay, so what happened then?”

  “I said, ‘Yeah, but a cat—’ And she didn’t even let me finish. She said, ‘You know the shelters are filled to overflowing with strays.’ She said it in a real snide tone, too.”

  “The witch!”

  “Yeah. I mean, they were someone’s pet at one time. So, okay, these were from feral colonies.”

  “Oh, and that was supposed to make you feel better?”

  “I’m telling you, buddy. The thought of cutting into Sylvester the Cat made my stomach tie into knots.”

  “So how’d the dissecting go?”

  “Not good. We had to skin it first. I made the cut from one side of the throat to the other and down the belly, and….” He swallowed heavily.

  “And?”

  “And then I threw up on my shoes.”

  I couldn’t help it. I started laughing.

  “I knew you were going to laugh.”

  “I’m sorry, Jimmy. I….”

  “No, don’t apologize. You always laugh when I throw up.”

  “Hey!” I protested, although I tried hard to swallow my laughter. “When was the last time I did that to you?”

  “At the graduation party last June. And don’t tell me it was my own fault and I shouldn’t have been drinking.”

  “Well, you shouldn’t have. I’m s
orry dissecting the cat made you sick to your stomach, though.”

  “No sorrier than I am. I had to let my lab partner do the cutting for the whole rest of the time.”

  “Did he give you a hard time over it?”

  “She, Ty, and no, she didn’t. But she’s so little! I mean, I’m six feet two inches, and she barely comes up to my collarbone!”

  “Yeah? What does she look like?”

  “She’s got this wavy brown hair, really light, and you know how you always expect brunettes to have brown eyes?” He didn’t wait for me to respond. “Well, hers are blue. And she’s got a really good sense of humor. Oh, and a nice rack.”

  “No kidding.” Maybe he wasn’t pining for Sheila as much as I’d thought. “So, what’s her name?”

  “Trish. It’s actually Judith, but….”

  “Nice. Have you asked her out yet?”

  “How can I?”

  “Open your mouth and—”

  “No. I mean after upchucking like that.”

  “Give it a shot.”

  “You think it’s worth it?”

  “Sure.”

  “I’ll—” The doorbell rang, and he jumped, and then started laughing. “Dude! The Phantom?”

  “You know I love that music.”

  “The music of the night?” He snickered.

  “Very funny.” But I was nervous—Adam would just come in—and I had a strong suspicion it was another vampyr. “Eat your ice cream. I’ll be right back.”

  “Take your time.” He was looking into my carton of ice cream.

  I left the room, my stomach trying to tie itself into knots. I needed to feed a vampyr, but how could I do that with my friend in the house with us?

  Mina was on her feet, bristling. She tried to keep me from going to the door.

  “You know I have to answer it, pup.” I picked her up, more to have something to hold than to keep her from blocking my way.

  I flipped on the porch light and looked through the peephole. Sure enough, a vampyr stood there, this time another female vampyr.

  This was my destiny, I reminded myself. I opened the door.

  The woman—girl, really; as I looked closer, I realized she couldn’t be more than sixteen—was beautiful, with long, tousled blonde hair that spilled over her shoulders and down her back and very blue eyes that tilted up at the corners. She wore a white miniskirt that barely covered the essentials, fuzzy white leg warmers, and a jacket I hoped was made of faux fur, although I wouldn’t have bet on it. A white top left her midriff bare. She was every teenage boy’s wet dream.

  Not mine, of course, since all my wet dreams centered around one very male vampyr, but….

  “Good evening, Tyrell Small.”

  “G-good evening, miss.”

  “‘Miss’?” she trilled. “Oh, you’re so sweet! I haven’t been called ‘miss’ in ages! Please, call me Rhiannon.” Her voice was warm, and her smile was tempting. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

  “Of course. But… I have a friend visiting.”

  “Another sabor? Splendid!”

  “No. He’s a normal.”

  “Even better!” She fluttered her lashes. “We can have a threesome.”

  “You know I can’t have sex with you!”

  “Oh, no, nothing like that. I can straddle his lap, you can kneel before me, and while he’s fucking me, I can drink from you.”

  Kneel before her? Adam never made me kneel. Even the rege hadn’t.

  “Your friend will love it!” She sighed voluptuously and ran her hands up to cup her breasts. “I haven’t had sex with a normal in at least a decade!” She cast a cautious glance at my dog. “Lock that beast away and invite me in.”

  Mina suddenly felt so heavy in my arms I was afraid I was going to drop her. She’d been growling all the while, but now her growls were deeper, more threatening, and she struggled as if wanting to get at the vampyr.

  I took a step back from the door.

  “Invite me in!” the vampyr cajoled again.

  “Hey, Small! You coming anytime soon? That Cherry Garcia is calling my name!” Jimmy must have finished his Chunky Monkey. He’d be here any second—my house was too small for it to take him any longer than that to get from the dining room to the front foyer. Thank God the distance between the two made it impossible for him to see around the half wall.

  “You can have it.”

  “Dude….”

  “I’m done, Jimmy. I’d just have to chuck it out.”

  “Okay, don’t have to tell me twice!”

  I hadn’t taken my eyes from the vampyr. She didn’t strike me as beautiful anymore. Her eyes were red, and her smile, allowing me to see her fangs, was hungry. I took another step back.

  “Go away,” I ordered, keeping my voice low. “I will not invite you into my home! You are not welcome here!”

  I shut the door and threw the bolt. The vampyr shrieked, and then she shrieked again.

  “The fuck, man?” Jimmy abruptly appeared beside me, and I jumped. “What was that?”

  “What was what?” My heart was pounding so hard it actually hurt. Mina had quieted, and when I put her down, she gave the door a final, disdainful woof and then seemed to lose all interest in it and what was on the other side.

  “That scream!”

  “That… that was just the wind in the tree branches.”

  “You’re shitting me.”

  “No-uh….” I struggled to keep my voice from shaking. “…nope.” Casual, Small. Unconcerned. “That’s all it was.”

  “Okay.” He frowned. “Who was that, Ty?”

  “Who?”

  “At the door?”

  “Uh… Jehovah’s Witness.”

  “At this time of night?”

  “Go figure, right?” I laughed weakly. “Listen, it’s getting late. Why don’t you stay the night?” I knew the vampyr was outside somewhere, waiting, and if she couldn’t have me, she’d have him, and I wasn’t sure if he’d survive her attack. “You know how easy it is for you to lose your way. You got lost the last time, and that was in broad daylight. At night… and the streetlights here suck….”

  “Thanks for the invite.” He looked at me like my choo-choo had jumped the tracks. “But I have to get home.”

  “The love seat opens into a comfortable bed. I know it’s comfortable—I slept on it when my dad came for Thanksgiving. You can call your parents and tell them you’re staying.” I was babbling, and he was going to call me on it any second.

  “Ty, I’m not kidding. I’ve got class tomorrow morning, and my mom needs her van back. I have to—”

  The sound of glass breaking, metal whining, and heavy pounding interrupted him.

  I moved aside the curtains in the living room. “Oh shit.” Something was beating the hell out of the minivan.

  “What the fuck?” Jimmy went toward the front door.

  “No!” I blocked his way. Mina sat there looking from one to the other of us.

  “Ty, are you out of your mind? Get the fuck out of my way!”

  “No!”

  “Get out of my way, Small.” Jimmy’s voice had gone flat.

  What scared me even more was the blank look in his eyes.

  Mina was abruptly on her feet and growling. But she was growling at Jimmy.

  “Jimmy, you’re my best friend, and I love you like a brother, but if you take one more step toward the door, I’m going to clock you!”

  He laughed, and I shivered. My friend never laughed like that. Something was wrong with him.

  “Get out of my way,” he repeated, “or I will go through you.”

  “No!” I couldn’t let him open the door. This was my house and not his, and I didn’t know if he could invite the vampyr in. Either way, I wasn’t going to let him go out into the night, not with what was out there.

  He bunched his fist, but before I realized what he was going to do, he hit me. My feet flew out from under me and I landed hard on the floor, my head whipping back
to crack against the door.

  “Jesus, Jimmy!” I cupped my eye. It was wet, and for a minute I was afraid I was bleeding, but it was just tears.

  He took a step toward me, that scary look still in his eyes, and when Mina launched herself at him, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

  To my surprise, Jimmy shied away from her with a cry, tripped over his own feet and landed on his back, and I took that opportunity to fumble for my cell phone and press one on the speed dial.

  “Please be there,” I begged. “Please….” Don’t be with another sabor. “…pick up!”

  “Tyrell! What’s wrong?”

  “Adam!” I almost gasped in relief. “Please come to me! I need you—” The line went dead, and I could have wept. “—here!”

  Jimmy lay on the floor, Mina standing on him, her fur ruffled, a paw on his chin and deep growls spilling from her.

  Through it all came the sounds of Jimmy’s mom’s van being destroyed.

  It felt like forever, but it couldn’t have been.

  All of a sudden the night became silent. Seconds dragged past. The slow, heavy beat of my heart hurt my chest; when I tried to swallow, I had no spit.

  Then there were footfalls across my porch, and I couldn’t breathe. I stared at the door, more scared than ever before in my life as I watched the doorknob turn….

  It stopped, and there was a subdued knock.

  “Go….” I cleared my throat. “Go away! You’re not welcome here!”

  “Tyrell.”

  “Adam!” I staggered to my feet, unlocked the door, and yanked it open. “Oh, thank God you’re here!” He hesitated on the doorstep, and I grabbed him and pulled him in.

  “Ty, what’s—Are you hugging that guy?”

  I looked over my shoulder to see Jimmy sitting up. Mina was next to him, her head up, tail wagging, staring intently at Adam.

  “Are you all right?” I let Adam go and knelt beside my friend.

  “Of course I’m all right. Why wouldn’t I be? Except for the mother of all headaches.” He rubbed the back of his head and glanced around. “What am I doing on the floor? Ty, I’ve got to get home.”

  “We’ll take you home,” Adam said.

  “We will?” How? I’d spotted Jimmy’s van over his shoulder, and it was trashed.

  “It’s a long ride, James. May I suggest you visit the bathroom before we leave?”