As far as Toni was concerned, Bri was her sister. They'd been best friends for ten years. They spent their holidays and vacations together. God knew their real families didn't want them.
Which was why it was so weird for Bri to leave the hospital with her aunt and uncle. Toni had heard so little about this couple over the years, she couldn't even recall their full names. Joe and Gwen something-or-other who occasionally remembered to send Bri a Christmas card. Why had they suddenly developed an interest in their niece?
Toni located a pink fuzzy address book and thumbed through the pages. It was sad how few names were in the book. Even sadder how many names had been crossed out over the years. Poor Bri. It was so hard for her to find people she could trust.
Toni carried the address book back into the living room and flopped down on the love seat. Vanderkitty jumped onto the back of the love seat to perch by Toni's ear.
"You miss your mama?" Toni interpreted the loud purring as a yes. "Yeah, me, too."
She flipped through the pages of the address book. "Aha!" Under the Ps, she found Dr. Joe Proctor and Gwen, who lived in Westchester. This had to be them, although Toni hadn't known Uncle Joe was a doctor.
She reached over the sofa arm for the cordless phone on the end table and noticed the blinking message light. Four messages. Three were from her, since she'd called three times. Maybe the fourth one was from Bri.
Toni punched the play button and listened to her voice grow increasingly worried with each message. Finally the last message.
"Bri, this is Justin. You gotta forgive me, babe--"
Right. Toni turned the message off. Then she dialed the number for the Proctors. What kind of doctor was he? A proctologist? Her snort was interrupted by a feminine voice with a Hispanic accent.
"Dr. Proctor's residence."
"Hi. Is Sabrina there?" Toni heard muffled voices in the background.
A different voice came on the phone. "Good evening. This is Gwen Proctor."
"I'm Toni, Bri's roommate. I'd like to talk to her."
"I'm afraid that's not possible at the moment. She's sleeping, and we hate to wake her up, the poor dear. She's been through such a terrible ordeal."
Tell me about it. Toni had survived a vampire attack, too. "Is she all right?"
"Yes, of course." A definite chill had crept into Gwen's voice. "Thank you for calling."
"Can you tell her to call me when she wakes up?"
"We don't want to upset her delicate condition."
Was that a no? "Bri will want to talk to me."
"Perhaps, but you're not qualified to talk to her properly.
My husband is an excellent psychiatrist, an expert in the type of severe psychosis that Sabrina is exhibiting right now."
Toni's stomach dropped like she'd swallowed a cement brick. "Bri is not psychotic."
There was a pause where Toni could hear whispering.
"Ms. Davis?" a brusque male voice came on the phone. "This is Dr. Proctor, Sabrina's uncle. I can assure you she's receiving the best care available."
"I just want to talk to her."
"Under the circumstances, I cannot allow that."
Toni's fist squeezed around the receiver. "Look, she's twenty-three years old. You can't decide whom she talks to."
"You would not be a positive influence on her at this time," he answered calmly. "The poor girl believes she was attacked by vampires."
Toni gritted her teeth. "Yes, I know--"
"And she fears they'll return to harm her again. We are providing her a safe environment for her recovery."
"That's great, but I still want to talk to her."
"The last time she talked to you, she asked you to prove that her attackers were actual vampires,"
Dr. Proctor continued. "And you agreed."
"She was lying there injured in a hospital room. How could I say no?"
"I cannot allow her to speak to anyone who will encourage her in these paranoid delusions. You would severely jeopardize the progress we've made."
Toni swallowed hard. "What are you doing to her?"
"Giving her expert care. Good night." He hung up.
"Wait!" Toni glared at the receiver. "You asshole!"
"I hope you're not referring to me."
Startled, Toni jumped in her seat, then turned toward the man climbing through the kitchen window.
"Carlos!" she scolded her next-door neighbor. "How long have you been there, listening?"
"Long enough."
"In that case, I was referring to you." She hung up the phone. Now that she thought about it, she was glad he had eavesdropped. She needed a friend she could confide in, and with Sabrina gone, Carlos was all she had left.
It wasn't the first time he had snuck up on her. The man moved with a quiet, stealthlike grace. She assumed he'd acquired the skill from his trips into the Amazon jungle, where a person was better off not announcing his presence. With his shoulder-length black hair, black sweater, and black leather pants, Carlos was barely visible on the fire escape landing their two apartments shared.
He straddled the windowsill, his white teeth flashing as he grinned. "Come now, girl, you should be nice to me. It sounds like you might need someone with my talents."
She snorted. "Which talent would that be? The one where you dance the samba, wearing a sequined thong?"
He looked affronted. "I wear a lot more than a thong. I have a hot pink satin cape and a headdress with ostrich feathers. It's enormous." He winked. "Like the rest of me."
Toni laughed. Carlos always went back to Brazil for a few days at carnival time. Since he was working on his master's in anthropology at NYU, he claimed the trip was educational. Toni and Bri had certainly learned some new things from the videos he brought back.
He swung his other leg over the windowsill, then straightened his long, lean frame. He was gorgeous, but more likely to dress Toni and Sabrina than date them. Vanderkitty leaped from the love seat, bounced across the kitchen floor, and landed in his arms.
"She never greets me like that," Toni muttered.
"She knows who's the boss around here. Hello, love." He rubbed the cat's head against his smooth, tanned cheek, then set her on the linoleum. "I was coming over to feed her when I heard you getting all huffy on the phone."
"That was Sabrina's aunt and uncle. They've got her at their house, and they won't let me talk to her."
"Humph. Some people are so rude." Carlos opened the cabinet under the sink and removed Van's bag of kibble. "Menina, you said you'd tell me what was going on."
"Yeah, I know." But how could she explain without sounding crazy? "I hardly know where to start."
"Start with the bastards who attacked Sabrina." Carlos poured kibble into Van's bowl. "It was Sunday night, yes?"
"Yes. She went ice skating with Justin in Central Park. They had an argument, and she left on her own."
Carlos put the kibble back under the sink and slammed the cabinet door shut. "Merda. She should have called me."
"Or me," Toni agreed. "Unfortunately, Justin upset her so much, she wasn't thinking properly."
Carlos's amber eyes narrowed. "Did he hurt her?"
"Emotionally, yes. He made a comment about how they should spend the money she's going to inherit."
Carlos winced. "I didn't think he knew about that."
"Me, neither. Anyway, Bri felt totally betrayed, and she took off on her own. Then the bad guys attacked her."
"Poor menina." Carlos strode into the living room and perched on the arm of the easy chair.
"There were three...thugs," Toni explained. "Bri ended up with abrasions and cracked ribs. Some people found her, lying unconscious in the snow, and called 911. The police interviewed her at the hospital, but they thought she was delusional, you know, from all the hypothermia and blood loss. They didn't believe her story."
Carlos made a sound of disgust. "She was obviously attacked. Did they think she injured herself?"
"No, but they thought she was imagining the thugs worse than they really were."
"They beat her up and left her for dead. What could be worse than that?"
Vampires. But no one had believed Bri. Even Toni had thought her friend was conjuring up some imaginary boogey monsters as a response to the trauma she'd endured. "Bri was upset when no one believed her, so she asked me to go to the park and find the guys who attacked her."
Carlos sat back. "Are you crazy, girl? You should have asked me to come with you."
He was right. Carlos was an expert in martial arts. When he had first met Toni and Bri two years ago, he'd insisted they go to classes with him. "I wish I had. But I didn't think anything would happen."
Carlos frowned. "You didn't believe her, either?"
"I believe her now. Monday night, I was alone in the park, and the three...guys showed up. I tried fighting them off, but..." Toni had done well until they'd started moving super fast. That had been her first clue that the attackers weren't normal. Then a blast of cold air had slammed against her head, and they had invaded her mind. The memory caused a shudder to run down her spine.
"Menina." Carlos sat beside her on the love seat. "What are you not telling me?"
"I...can't explain. It's too strange."
He gave her an annoyed look. "I spent part of my childhood in the Amazon jungle. I spent last summer in the jungles of Malaysia. I have seen stranger things than you can imagine."
Toni took a deep breath. She wasn't supposed to tell anyone about vampires, but how could she explain Sabrina's dilemma without revealing their existence? "I need your word you won't repeat this to anyone. I'm serious. I'll be in big trouble if the truth gets out because of me."
"I can keep a secret. Tell me."
"The bad guys bit Sabrina. Me, too."
Carlos stiffened. "They were like animals? They wanted your...flesh?"
"No. They wanted blood. They were...vampires." She watched Carlos's face, half afraid he would laugh at her.
He stared blankly at her for a few seconds, then raised his dark eyebrows. "Are you serious?" "I could show you the bite marks."
"Vampires?"
"Yes. They have nasty, long fangs. They can move super fast, and the worst thing, they can take over your mind."
Carlos dragged a hand through his black hair, pushing it back from his face and revealing a small gold stud in each ear. "My God, menina, how did you ever escape?"
"Then you believe me?"
"Yes. I know you wouldn't make something like this up." He took her hand in his. "Tell me everything."
She closed her eyes briefly. "It was terrifying. They were inside my head, ordering me to do things against my will. My mind was screaming no, but I couldn't stop them."
Carlos squeezed her hand. "It's okay, love."
"Then out of nowhere, this big guy in a kilt showed up, brandishing a sword, and yelling at the vampires to leave me alone."
Carlos's amber eyes lit up. "Oh my, a macho hero."
"That's what I thought. He stabbed one of the vampires with his sword, and it turned to dust. The other ones released me, so they could fight him. And that's when I realized my mind was free. So I joined in on the fight."
"Oh, good for you, girl."
"Then the two bad guys vanished, and--"
"Vanished?"
"Yeah. It's another vampire thing. Then the Scotsman grabbed me, and we vanished, too."
Carlos gasped. "Merda! Where did you go?" His eyes narrowed. "Are you saying the Scotsman is a vampire, too?"
"Yes, but he's a good one. His name is Connor, and he took me to Romatech Industries."
Carlos nodded slowly. "I've heard of that place. It's run by that famous scientist who invented synthetic blood."
"Roman Draganesti. I met him. He's the leader of the good Vamps."
"Good Vamps?"
"Yeah. Roman gave me a blood transfusion. Then Connor offered to erase my memory of the whole ordeal. They really don't want people to know that they exist."
Carlos gave her a wry look. "I can believe that."
"But I couldn't let them erase my memory, 'cause I needed to tell Sabrina that she was right."
"Claro."
"Luckily, there was another option. Connor knew I could fight, so he offered me a job, guarding the Vamps during the day. You see, they're totally helpless then. And they're in desperate need of mortals they can trust."
"So that's where you've been during the day?" Carlos asked. "You're guarding vampires?"
"Yes. Today was my second day. It's a fairly easy job. They're basically dead during the day, so there's not much going on. But I do have to stay there. I'd be in big trouble if I left them unguarded."
Carlos snorted. "If they're dead, how could they know if you left?"
"I have to call in reports to my mortal supervisor, Howard. And he's watching me on monitors.
He's been very understanding. He's taking over for me Friday so I can take my final. And he let me use the answering machine today when every ditzy female in the city was calling for...him."
"Him?"
"I don't want to talk about him. I've got enough problems without...him."