Sherry shook her head and covered her own eyes briefly, pressing on them in an effort to blot out the images. She wondered where her nice boring safe life had gone . . . and why she was sitting in a pizzeria like a well-behaved child when she should be calling the police, going back to check on her people and customers, and--
"Here."
Sherry raised her head and sat back abruptly as Stephanie set a soda and a slice of pizza on the table in front of her. Sherry's gaze slid from the two items to the identical items in front of Stephanie as the girl slid into the booth across from her.
"I didn't know what you like so I got you a deluxe slice and Coke," Stephanie explained, picking up her slice of pizza to chomp into the end of it.
Sherry gaped as she watched the girl chew and swallow with relish, and then asked with amazement, "How can you eat?"
"I'm hungry," the girl said simply. "You should eat too."
"I don't eat carbs . . . or drink them. Coke is nothing but syrupy water," Sherry said automatically, and then realizing how stupid those words were under the circumstances, she shook her head. "I don't understand how you can act like this is all just--"
"Sugar is energy," Stephanie interrupted. "And you need to keep up your energy in case we have to run again. So eat," she ordered, sounding remarkably like the adult here.
That fact made Sherry scowl. "We should be calling the police."
"Yeah, 'cause that cop at the mouth of the alley was so useful," Stephanie said with dry disinterest before taking another bite of her pizza.
Unable to argue with that, Sherry frowned and then asked, "Speaking of that, what happened there?"
Stephanie arched an eyebrow, but was silent for a moment as she finished chewing and swallowing. Then she sighed and said, "You obviously couldn't outrun them, and I couldn't leave you behind for them to catch, torture, and kill, so when I spotted the cop at the mouth of the alley, I ran ahead to grab his gun and shoot Leo to buy us some time. Fortunately, it worked."
Sherry didn't point out that she had been there and seen all that, instead she simply asked, "And the co--police officer, just let you take his gun?"
Stephanie shrugged. "I controlled him. He won't remember any of it."
"Which will really confuse him when he realizes his gun has been fired," Sherry muttered, but her mind was on the girl's claim that she'd controlled the cop. She wanted to laugh off the suggestion, but the man had looked as blank-faced as the woman who'd slit her own throat in the store. Stephanie had claimed Leo was controlling that woman too. So Leonius had controlled the woman, Stephanie had controlled the cop . . . How? That particular skill set was just not something Sherry knew humans to have.
"There they are."
Sherry glanced around sharply and spotted the four men moving swiftly past the restaurant's front window. She shrank down in her seat when one of them glanced through the window, but they didn't slow or stop, so she guessed she hadn't been seen. That wasn't a surprise to her, considering they were in the dark back corner. What was surprising was the fact that the leader, Leo, as Stephanie called him, was up and walking around as if nothing had happened.
"Damn," she breathed, staring at the man until the group moved out of sight.
"I told you being shot wouldn't stop him," Stephanie said solemnly.
"I know but . . . how?" she asked with bewilderment.
Stephanie was silent for a moment as she continued to eat her pizza, but after a couple of bites she set it down with resignation and reached for her pop. She took a pull on the drink, and then set that down too, to eye Sherry thoughtfully. After a moment she sighed. "I suppose I'm going to have to explain."
"That would be nice," Sherry said dryly.
Stephanie nodded. "Vampires exist. Although Leonius and his men are no-fangers, they still survive on blood so I suppose they're still vampires. As am I, though I'm an Edentate."
Sherry blinked as the words raced through her mind. No-fangers? Edentate? She had no idea what either of those were, so focused on the word she did recognize.
"Vampires?" she asked, not bothering to hide her disbelief. "Sweetie, I hate to tell you this, but vampires do not exist. Besides, vampires bite people, they don't have them slit their own throats open and bleed into a bowl."
"Uh-huh," Stephanie didn't look upset by her words. "So how do you explain his controlling that woman to make her slit her own throat? Or my controlling the cop?"
Sherry considered the question briefly and then suggested, "Hypnosis?"
Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Come on, you don't seem like a stupid woman. Leo didn't have time to hypnotize her, and I certainly didn't have time to hypnotize the cop." She scowled and then asked, "What's your name?"
"Sherry Carne," she answered. "And fine, maybe this Leo didn't hypnotize the woman in my store, but he did something and it wasn't because he's a vampire. Vampires have fangs and bite people."
"A minute ago you said there were no such things as vampires, now you're saying there are, but they have to have fangs?" Stephanie asked with amusement.
"Well . . ." Sherry frowned. "If you're going with the whole vampire thing to cover the real story, then at least be consistent. Vampires are dead, soulless creatures who crawl out of their coffins and bite people."
"Yeah, that's what I thought too," Stephanie said, sounding weary and much older than her years. Shrugging, she straightened her shoulders and added, "Turns out we're both wrong. Vampires aren't dead and soulless, and while most do have fangs, Leo and his little Leos are an aberrant strain. Like I said, they're called no-fangers. They don't age and they do need blood to survive, but they don't have the fangs to get it, so they cut their victims. They're also usually crazy. But not normal crazy, nutso crazy."
Sherry tilted her head slightly and eyed the girl. There was something about the way she'd passed on the information . . . It had been a lecturing tone, but there was something under the words, some emotion almost like shame, that she didn't understand.
"You don't believe me," Stephanie said with a shrug. "That's okay, but just let me tell you what's going on. You can believe it or not as you like, but just remember it. It might save your life before we get out of this."
Sherry was silent for a minute, considering the girl, but then decided there was no harm in listening. Besides, it gave her a good excuse to just sit there while she tried to find her second wind, so she leaned back in her seat with a nod. "Go ahead."
Stephanie relaxed a little and even managed a small smile. "Right, just so we're clear, I am claiming that vampires exist. There are some with fangs, some without, but both can read and control mortals. Leo and his little Leos--Two, Three, and Four--are one of the variety without fangs."
"Two, Three, and Four?" Sherry asked.
Stephanie shrugged. "They probably aren't Leo Two, Leo Three, and Leo Four, but he names all his sons after himself so they're all Leos number something-or-other, so they just go by their number."
"His sons?" Sherry asked with disbelief. "There is no way those men are his children. They all looked to be the same age."
"Vampire, remember?" Stephanie said pointedly. "Vampires stop aging physically at around twenty-five."
Sherry let her breath out on an exasperated sigh, finding it hard to swallow all of this, but she'd agreed to listen, so waved for her to continue.
"I grew up as normal and ignorant of what's out there as you did, but Leo and some of his other sons kidnapped my sister and me from a grocery store parking lot when I was fourteen," Stephanie announced. Her mouth tightened and then she added, "We were eventually rescued, and Leo's sons were caught and executed by the Rogue Hunters but--"
"Rogue Hunters?" Sherry interrupted.
"Cops for immortals, or vampires, as you would call them. They keep the other immortals in line," she explained. "Anyway, I don't know if it's because of his sons getting killed or what, but for some reason, Leo became sort of obsessed with my sister and me. He wants to add us to his breeding stock."
>
Sherry stared at her, silently processing, and then she cleared her throat and asked, "What do you mean he wants to add you to his breeding stock? Not . . . ?"
Stephanie nodded. "It's how he got all the junior Leos. I doubt many of the mothers were willing."
Sherry shook her head slightly. "You make it sound like he has a lot of them."
"One of the sons who helped him kidnap my sister and I was Leo the 21st. According to him, he was one of the older sons," Stephanie said with a shrug. "He claimed there were fifty or sixty of them, that there have been hundreds over the centuries, but some killed themselves, some were killed, and Leo killed several others when they refused to do what he wanted, or when they otherwise pissed him off."
Sherry didn't say anything. It was crazy, like a vampire soap opera or something. It couldn't be true . . . could it?
"Anyway," Stephanie continued, "like I say, Leo senior took a shine to my sister and me and said he'd come after us, so Dani--my sister," she added, "Dani and I have been hiding out and protected since."
"Until today," Sherry said.
Stephanie grimaced. "I was protected. I was with Drina and Katricia. They're Rogue Hunters."
"Vampire cops," Sherry muttered.
"Immortal cops really, or Enforcers, but vampire cop will do. Just don't use the term vampire in front of the other immortals. They can get testy about that," Stephanie informed her, and then continued. "Drina and Katricia are both getting married so we went wedding dress shopping. I . . ." She sighed and grimaced. "I forgot something in the car and just nipped out quickly to get it, but . . ." Stephanie shook her head. "It was just my luck to pick a moment when Leo and his boys decided to walk down that street."
She paused briefly and frowned before saying, "There haven't been any reported sightings of Leo and his boys in Toronto since Dani and I were rescued. They cleared out and have been hanging south of the border for a long time. They were last spotted somewhere in the southern states. I never would've gone out to the car if I'd known they were in the area. I just . . ." She heaved out a deep sigh and then said, "Anyway, I spotted them before they saw me. I nipped into your store hoping they wouldn't see me, but I guess they did."
When Stephanie took another bite of pizza and began to chew, Sherry was left to wonder if she believed anything the girl had just said. Oddly enough, while Sherry had started out not believing, she found she now did. She had no idea why. It was crazy. Vampires, mind control, reading thoughts, breeding stock . . .
Sherry pushed those thoughts away for now to switch to a subject that had been worrying her since leaving the store. "How long does the control last?"
Stephanie paused to peer at her briefly, and then understanding crossed her face and she assured her, "Not long. I mean, it can continue for a little bit after the vampire leaves their presence if they put a suggestion in their thoughts, but I'm sure Leo and the boys didn't get a chance to do that before chasing after us. The moment they left the building, your employees and customers probably snapped out of it and helped the woman who cut herself."
"If they could help her," Sherry said unhappily, picking up her slice of pizza and shifting it in her hands briefly before taking a bite. It was surprisingly good. Surprising because she wouldn't have expected anything to taste good at that point. She guessed the scare she'd just had, and surviving it, had awakened her taste buds or something. Whatever. It tasted good. Carbs or not.
"They could help her," Stephanie assured her. "She didn't cut deeply enough to hit the jugular. She's probably fine."
Sherry raised her eyebrows. "How do you know she didn't hit the jugular?"
"I gave her a mental nudge to stop her cutting too deep," Stephanie explained, and then grimaced and added, "Which Leo would have recognized right away. That's why we had to make our move when we did. He would have used the people in the store against us, tortured them to make me come out. So I had to make sure he saw me leave and knew I wasn't there. It was the only way to be certain he'd leave them alone."
Sherry wasn't surprised at the claim that she'd given the woman a mental nudge not to cut too deep. After all, the girl had said she'd controlled the cop too. What did surprise her was that the girl had thought of the people in the store at all. Stephanie was a nice kid. There was still a possibility that she was crazy as a loon. Sherry was finding herself almost believing her tale, but it was a lot to swallow. So either Stephanie was a brave, thoughtful kid who had risked getting caught to save the pregnant mother, or she was a nutcase. A nutcase who was a damned good shot, Sherry thought. Stephanie had hit a moving target around her. Nice.
"So where did you learn to shoot like that?" Sherry asked quietly.
"Victor and D.J. take me to a shooting range every other day," she said. The names meant nothing to Sherry, so she was glad when the girl added, "Victor is . . . well he's sort of my adopted dad I guess." She said it quietly, her voice thickening, and then she rushed on, saying, "And D.J. is like the young, pain in the butt uncle who ruffles your hair and embarrasses you in public."
Sherry smiled faintly at the description. "And your real dad?"
"Alive, well, and mortal," Stephanie said casually, too casually, and she was avoiding her gaze. Picking at what was left of her pizza, she added, "He and Mom think I'm dead." Before Sherry could respond, she added, "But Victor and Elvi took me in and look after me. Elvi lost her daughter so I'm a gift, she says, and they're great."
Great, but not her real parents, Sherry translated as the girl turned her head away and dashed quickly at her eyes. Deciding a change of topic might be good, she said, "So, the police can't help us here . . . but what about those Rogue Hunters of yours? We should find a phone and call them so they can hunt down this Leo and his men."
Sherry just couldn't call the man's followers his sons. It seemed impossible that they were his children. They all looked around the same age. Brothers would have been more believable. Realizing that Stephanie wasn't responding to the suggestion of calling in her Rogue Hunters, Sherry raised her eyebrows. "Don't you think?"
"What?" Stephanie asked. Her blank expression as she turned back to face her made it obvious she hadn't been listening.
Knowing the girl's thoughts had probably been with her birth parents, Sherry asked patiently, "Don't you think that we should call your Rogue Hunters?"
Stephanie shook her head and stared down at the pizza crust she'd been unconsciously tearing apart. The slump to her shoulders and defeated air about the girl were a bit alarming. Sherry had no idea what was going on exactly, but she did know this was no time for the girl to fall apart. Sitting back, she deliberately took on an annoyingly knowing air and said, "Oh, I get it."
Stephanie finally really looked at her, her attention caught. Eyebrows rising, she asked with interest, "What do you get?"
"You," Sherry said with a shrug. "I was a teenager once too."
Stephanie snorted. "Please. I don't know how many times I've heard that tired old line. Like you crusty old farts all think just because you were young back in ancient times that you know what life is like for me. You don't. You were young in . . . what? The sixties?"
"I wasn't even born in the sixties, thank you," Sherry said with amusement. "I'm only thirty-two."
"Whatever . . ." Stephanie waved that away. "You haven't got a clue about me."
"Hmmm. How about I tell you what I think and then you can tell me I'm wrong? If I am," Sherry added tauntingly.
Stephanie shrugged. "Whatever."
Sherry tilted her head and eyed her for a moment, and then said, "So, you were wedding dress shopping with this Drina and her friend?"
"Katricia," Stephanie supplied. "She's Drina's cousin, but also a Rogue Hunter. She's getting married too, to Teddy, who is the police chief in Port Henry where I live. We came to Toronto for a girls' weekend and dress shopping."
"Hmmm." Sherry considered that and then said, "And you say they let you go out to get something?"
Stephanie nodded, her gaze sl
iding away toward the front of the store and a frown flickering over her face.
Sherry suspected the girl was wondering where the two women were. She was too. Surely they'd noticed Stephanie was missing by now? And if they were in the area, the gunshots should have drawn them. She let that go for now, though, and simply said, "Well, I'm sure the bit about their letting you go out to get something is a lie."
Stephanie glanced back to her sharply. "What makes you think that?"
"Kiddo, if these girls are Rogue Hunters, or vampire cops, and this Leo is after you, like you say, I'd guess they keep a short leash on you to keep you safe. They would not have let you wander off on your own. So, Drina was probably in a dressing room trying on a wedding dress, and Katricia was in there helping her with all the convoluted nonsense involved in putting one of those things on, or trying on one herself. You were probably sitting in the waiting area outside the dressing room feeling bored and neglected. No doubt you reached for your iPhone to either listen to music or watch a movie while you waited, and realized you'd left it in the car." Tilting her head, she added, "It's probably hooked up to the sound system in the car, which is why you forgot to grab it, so you thought you'd just slip out, get it and be back before they noticed.
"Unfortunately," she added, "you didn't get to the car before you spotted Leonius and his buddies and had to duck into my store for cover."
Stephanie didn't hide her surprise. "How did you know all of that?"
Sherry shrugged and reminded her, "You asked to use my iPhone earlier."
"So?" Stephanie asked.
"So, you don't have yours on you, so couldn't have made it to the car."
"Maybe I don't have one and was getting something else," Stephanie suggested.
Sherry shook her head firmly. "There are few teenagers around who don't have cell phones nowadays. Besides, you specified iPhone rather than just saying cell phone, which suggests that's what you have."
"Okay, so how did you know I left my phone in the car, jacked into the USB?" she asked with interest.
"Because I'm always forgetting mine in the car for that reason," Sherry admitted wryly. "I plug it into the USB so I can listen to music I like and then forget it when I get out."