Crimson Debt Read online

“That sounds like a worthy calling and everything but I’m in grad school right now. So—sorry, not interested.”

  “What are you in school for?”

  “English lit. I’m going to teach on the college level if I can ever finish my dissertation.”

  “English lit, huh? Dracula. Now there’s a book you might want to look into.”

  “Sorry, I’m more into Dickinson than Stoker.”

  He looked me in the eye. “‘Because I could not stop for death, he kindly stopped for me.’ Death stopped for your friend just now.”

  “Look,” I said, trying not to feel exasperated. “I’m sorry but I really don’t have time to chat right now. I need to get her home.”

  He looked into Taylor’s big blue eyes. “Yeah, that’s what I meant. She’s been glammed pretty good. You better watch her for the next twenty-four hours.”

  “Is that how long it takes to wear off?” I asked, dismayed.

  “Sometimes it never wears off,” he said darkly. “Depends on how susceptible your friend is to the glamour and how badly the vamp wants her.”

  “Wants her? But why would Celeste want her?”

  “Just look at her.” He gestured to the catatonic Taylor. “Vamps are pretty people and they like other pretty people. You ever seen an ugly vampire?”

  “Well…no,” I admitted. “But I still don’t see—”

  “It’s all about sex,” he said harshly. “Those dead bastards only have two drives left—the drive to feed and the drive to fuck. That’s their entire existence.”

  “So you’re saying they’re all id,” I said. “All desire and appetite and no restraint.”

  “Exactly.” He nodded. “That’s where we come in. They can’t restrain themselves so we restrain them. You heard the saying absolute power corrupts absolutely?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

  “They’re too damn powerful. Anyone strong enough to dead-lift a semi and hypnotize most of the human population can do pretty much whatever he or she wants. We have to keep on top of them or the whole world is screwed. Understand?”

  “I do, yes.” I nodded. “I just, uh, I don’t know that I’m the kind of person who could do that—keep on top of them, I mean.” In fact, it had never occurred to me that vampires needed controlling or watching. They were just tourist attractions or Vegas lounge acts to me. Would you create a special government agency to police Siegfried and Roy or Wayne Newton? Despite my unease at what I’d witnessed just moments before, the whole idea seemed vaguely ridiculous.

  Gerald Holms gave me a hard look, as though he knew what I was thinking. “You’re underestimating the vamps and yourself. You knew something wasn’t right in there and you got your friend away. But just think of all the folks that are still in there, at that she-devil’s mercy.”

  “They signed a waiver,” I pointed out.

  “A waiver.” He made a face like the word left a bad taste in his mouth. “Yeah, the vamps have the damn lawyers in their pockets. Got all of us signing our lives away to those bloodsuckers ‘til there’s not a damn thing we can do about it if somebody gets hurt.”

  I could see what he was getting at but his passionate speech was still falling into the category of not-my-problem. After all, I was just a poor student trying to get through school, and when I was done I was going to teach at a nice, private university somewhere and hopefully earn tenure so I could pay off my student loans. I didn’t see myself as a protector of the innocent or a crusader for justice and I sure as hell didn’t want a career in law enforcement. I loved to read and write and I wanted to share that love with students eager to learn—not spend my nights busting vamps for infractions or barbequing them when they got the death penalty.

  So I smiled at Gerald Holms and thanked him for his offer. “I’ll think about it,” I lied, pulling Taylor toward the lobby exit.

  “You do that. Here.” He produced a card with his name and number on it, then pressed it into my hand. “You’ll see,” he said darkly. “When something happens to someone you love and a vamp’s behind it—you’ll get it then. But then it’ll be too late.”

  “Uh, thanks.” I accepted the card and, with his morbid goodbye ringing in my ears, I hauled Taylor out to the car and drove us both home.

  I wished later I would have listened to his warning. But he was right—by the time I was wishing that, it was too late.

  I spent the night worried about my best friend but she went to sleep naturally enough and the next day she seemed fine. A little subdued, maybe, but nothing really out of the ordinary. I had a job as an adjunct to one of the biology professors—it wasn’t my field but all I really had to do was set up and take down the labs—so I had to leave her alone for a night class.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked her for the hundredth time as I was walking out the door.

  Taylor made a face. “I swear to God, Addison, if you ask me that one more time…”

  “Sorry, sorry. You just had me really freaked out last night. It was like you were some kind of a robot or something.”

  “Well, I’m fine now. So go on and go. You’re going to be late and you know how much Dr. Pincer loves that.”

  “Well…” I had my hand on the knob and Taylor made a shooing motion at me.

  “Go. I’m fine and I’ll see you tonight. We’ll order that pizza we wanted last night and drink a gallon of Margaritas if you want.”

  “Extra salt on the rim.” I pointed a finger at her.

  She laughed. “Like I would forget? You’re talking to the queen of saltoholics here.”

  Hearing her sound so much like her old self put me at ease. I gave her a grin and stepped out the door, intent on getting to the class in time to set up that night’s lab. I told myself that she was fine and that the effects of the vampire’s glamour had worn off.

  How could I know that would be the last time I saw my best friend alive?

  When I came back from my class, Taylor was gone. Just gone. Her car was still in the parking lot and her clothes were in the closet. Her cell phone was lying on her bed—she hadn’t even taken her keys.

  I was frantic. It was clear to me that someone or something had come into the apartment and taken her away because there was no way she would leave without those things. Unfortunately there were no signs of forced entry or a struggle and Taylor was over twenty-one so the police refused to let me file a missing person’s case until twenty-four hours went by. Incidentally, that’s almost exactly how long it takes to turn someone into a vampire but I didn’t find that out until later.

  Of course my thoughts immediately went to Celeste and I was sure she had something to do with my friend’s disappearance. But when I went to the Embassy Suites where the Vampire Bedazzlement had been held, I found nothing. The show had moved on and one of the hotel employees told me it was only held there every other week anyway.

  I was frantic and so were Taylor’s mom and dad. We scoured the city for days, putting up posters while I continued to try and track down Celeste. I visited glam-sex clubs, vamp topless bars and even a vampire-friendly nudist colony, which is something I would so like to be able to forget, but no one would give me more than hints. Then, finally, exactly a month after she’d disappeared, I got a call.

  “I understand you’re trying to find me, little human.” The sultry feminine voice on the other end of the phone couldn’t be mistaken. It was Celeste.

  I took a deep breath. “I am, yes. My friend Taylor was one of your vic…er, volunteers at a show you did about a month ago. And the day after your show, she disappeared—do you know anything about where she might be?”

  I expected her to deny it but Celeste obviously didn’t believe in lying—or else I was so far beneath her notice she didn’t fear any retribution from me. “The beautiful one with long dark hair? Oh yes, I know where she went,” she said at once.

  I felt my breath catch in my throat. “You’ve seen her? Where is she?”

  “She’s here, with me.” Celeste let