But another part, what Mindy would call her softy tendency, had wanted to talk to him, had seen beyond the beast to the man he’d once been. The man who still seemed to reside, at least partially, inside the vampire. She shook her head to try to knock loose her common sense. Why was she having such a hard time remembering he was a killer? Wasn’t he?
She leaned her head back against the wall, wishing she could just go back to the way she’d thought the past two years. That vampires were animals, that nothing of the people they’d been remained. That belief was simpler, with no complications. Maybe it was too much to wish anything was that black-and-white, no matter how much she wanted it to be.
She’d lost track of how long she’d talked to Campbell, but her brain was still whirling with questions. What had his life been like before his turning? She knew he’d been a cop, but what had he done in his spare time? Did he have a family? Had he been married? She squirmed with discomfort over how much the thought of him having a wife out there somewhere bothered her.
She shook her head again, halfway convinced she’d lost her sanity somewhere in the course of the past couple of days. Maybe the shock of a vampire attack had scared her more than she realized. Was this some sort of weird post-traumatic stress? Stockholm syndrome?
In an effort to push away the crazy thought that she could be attracted to a vampire of all things, she shifted her legs off the window seat to the floor. Though she dreaded the thought of another day on her feet, she had no choice. But when she stood, pain shot up her leg. She squeezed her eyes against tears as she realized her ankle hurt worse than the day before. When she lifted her pajama leg, she saw how swollen her ankle was.
“Great,” she muttered, then hobbled toward the shower. Through sheer force of will she managed to get showered, dressed and down the stairs. After retrieving her cell phone from where Campbell had left it outside the front door, she collapsed onto a stool in the kitchen. She was still sitting there recuperating when Mindy arrived.
“What’s wrong?” Mindy asked as she came to stand in front of Olivia.
“My ankle is killing me.” She lifted her pant leg.
“Well, no wonder. It looks like a melon. You need to be off that foot.”
“Not really an option.”
Mindy pulled out her mutinous look.
“You’re going to run the diner all by yourself?” Olivia asked.
“It’s possible.”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “I’ll sit while I’m at the grill, okay?”
“And keep the foot elevated and iced.”
Olivia gave her best friend a crisp salute.
While Mindy prepped an ice pack, Olivia dragged the stool to the grill and started the morning prep. Mindy placed a chair next to the stool for Olivia’s leg and taped the ice pack around Olivia’s ankle.
“Damn, that’s cold,” Olivia said.
“Thus the name ice pack.”
“Smartass.”
“Better than being a dumbass.”
Olivia sighed and started placing strips of bacon on the grill.
“How did you sleep last night?” Mindy asked as she brought eggs, sausage and thick slices of bread to Olivia.
“Surprisingly well. I think my body finally just shut down.” She wasn’t about to tell Mindy about the nightmare or the talk with Campbell. Mindy had enough nightmares of her own when it came to vampires. Even thinking of Campbell in a remotely positive light felt like a betrayal of her friend.
“Good. You pushed yourself too much yesterday.”
“I needed to.” She didn’t have to explain about needing to work to occupy her mind after a traumatic event. Mindy had personal knowledge of that tactic.
Mindy simply nodded and headed to the dining room to unlock the front door.
As Olivia cooked, the phone rang. She flipped omelets while reaching for the receiver on the wall.
“Comfort Food Diner,” she said as she cracked more eggs.
“Olivia?”
She fumbled and dropped an egg on the floor and cursed. That voice. She hadn’t expected to hear that deep, sexy rumble during daylight hours. But she guessed as long as Campbell was underground or safely protected from the sunlight, he could talk freely. It wasn’t as if he was ensconced in a coffin somewhere. Even in this crazy new world, that piece of fiction was too goofy to be believed.
But why was he calling her now? She couldn’t handle this, not so soon. Not with Mindy nearby. Not when her own thoughts about him were as scrambled as the eggs she was dishing up.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes. You...just surprised me.” She wished he’d stop sounding so concerned, so damned human.
Mindy gave her a curious look as she stepped up to the pickup window, but Olivia waved her away, irrationally afraid the fact she was talking to a vampire would be written across her face.
“Listen, do you have a gun?” he asked.
“What?”
“A gun?” he repeated.
“Uh, yeah.” She pictured the Glock in her nightstand. It hadn’t been out since she’d last gone to the shooting range a year ago. “Why?”
“Because my kind are not your only concern now.”
“I feel as if I’m getting more lost by the moment here.” And they might as well start prepping her room in the nearest mental ward.
She listened to what sounded like him pulling out a chair and sitting down.
“Travis intercepted some information that indicates the Nefari is employing humans to do their bidding during the daylight hours.”
“The Nefari?” Did vampires have their own freakish language?
“Basically the vampire equivalent of the Mob.”
Olivia focused on a spot on the grill and took a couple of deep breaths. She didn’t know which part of Campbell’s words surprised her more, that there were humans who would willingly work for vampires or that there was a vampire Mafia. Wasn’t there a band by that name at one time?
“Olivia?”
“Yeah, still here.”
“This means you’re not safe, even in your own home. Even during the daytime at the restaurant.”
She did her best to keep a sudden rush of anxiety at bay. “The world has been a dangerous place for a while now.”
“But it’s never had humans kidnapping other humans for the vampire black market,” he said.
A chill went down her back, but she quickly reined in her fear. She was tired of being afraid. “I’m always careful, but I don’t want to live looking over my shoulder all the time. That’s not living at all.”
“Neither is being chained up in a feeding den.”
There went that chill down her back again, accompanied by some stomach churning thrown in for good measure. She hugged herself against the image his words brought to mind. If he and his team hadn’t arrived when they had, she might be living it right now, chained up as if she were an animal and slowly going insane. She hated the idea that no place, no time of day, was safe from the vampire threat anymore.
“Do you know who these people are? What they look like?”
“Not yet. We’ll get to the bottom of this, though. When I find out who is behind this, you won’t have to worry about them anymore.”
She envisioned him taking the culprit and ripping him apart, and it oddly didn’t bother her. Though she wouldn’t be inviting him in for a nightcap, her gut instinct told her he was a good guy, good vampire, whatever.
“Take every precaution you can,” he said. “And if someone or something looks suspicious and it’s daylight, call the NYPD. If it’s night, call me.”
Despite the gravity of the situation he was describing, she smiled a little at his tone. It was easy to see why he was in charge of his team, but it wasn’t the commanding edge that got to her. It was how he sounded every inch the protector.
Vampire, vampire, vampire. She shouldn’t even be talking to him. But should she be denying the protection he offered as long as he was no threat to her? Yes, her instinct screamed. He’s a vampire!