Crossroads

THE BLOOD PULL IS TOO STRONG. I MAKE FOR THE stairway and retreat downstairs to the lobby. I'll wait for the hosts to leave before confronting Chael and Judith.

My place on the couch is occupied by a family waiting for the rain to stop before venturing out. I get a cup of coffee from the coffee bar and find another seat-one with a partially obstructed view of the elevators but one that will have to do.

What will I say to Chael? There is no defense he can offer that would justify his senseless killing of Sarah and her sister. Especially if it was done just to keep me here.

I don't know what will happen in the next few days. I suppose it will depend on what Frey decides is best for his son. He may even choose to stay on the reservation with John-John. After all, this is the only home the boy has ever known. The only thing I'm sure of is that he needs to be with John-John now.

A conclusion I'm sure he's come to himself.

So where does that leave me?

A sense of weariness and despair darkens my thoughts. If I go back to San Diego alone, I go minus one of the constants in my life. Daniel Frey has been with me since the beginning. Besides Culebra, he is the only supernatural I consider a friend.

Worse, the trip will have been for nothing. I would have been the cause of two deaths without being given the opportunity to have my questions answered. Perhaps that's my punishment for coming here with a selfish agenda. I didn't want merely to ask for mortality back, I wanted the shaman to assure me it was the right decision. To answer the how and why of being chosen.

As if life ever grants assurances.

Coffee cup drained, I toss it in the nearest waste receptacle.

I hate this feeling of hopelessness. It's not my nature. I'm much more comfortable with anger. Anger leads to action. Did I always feel that way? I was human much longer than I've been vampire, but the memories how I felt as a human grow dimmer every day.

Is that a good thing?

The elevator pings open and the four urban-chic bikers step into the lobby. They're a little paler, walk a little slower, leaving a scent of blood and sex in their wake. But they have satisfied smiles on their faces.

I glance at my watch. Two hours. A lot of sex. A lot of blood.

Still they're luckier than many of Judith Williams' hosts. She has a tendency to drain her hosts dry, leaving a disposal problem. Chael must have cautioned her to exercise restraint.

Or threatened to kill her if she didn't.

I wait until they've left the lobby to retrace their steps to Room 230. There is a maid at the door, a housekeeping cart parked to the side. The maid knocks, announces herself, uses her passkey to let herself in when there's no answer.

Curious, I wander down to stand beside the door. The maid is stripping the bed.

"Excuse me?" I point to the bed. "Where is the couple who occupied this room?"

The maid eyes me suspiciously. "Why do you want to know?"

"We had a lunch date. They didn't show. I was concerned something might be wrong."

"Can't help you," she replies, approaching the door with an armful of sheets. "All I know is that a few minutes ago, I got a message that the occupants of this room have checked out."

She dumps the sheets into the hamper and pushes the cart into the room, shutting the door behind her with a decisive click. I'm left in the hall staring at a stupid door and wondering how the hell Chael and Williams managed to get by me.

And where they'd go from here.

I can't believe while I was feeling sorry for myself, Chael managed to slip past me. Had he seen me in the lodge? Maybe when I was having coffee with Kayani? Did he watch me leave with him? Think he was safe to take his time with the hosts?

But how then did he manage to get out while I was sitting in the lobby?

The answers are so simple, I want to thump myself in the head for letting him get away with it. Once he spotted me, he may have asked the receptionist if anyone had asked for him. There was no reason for her to lie. He probably had the hosts stay in the room while he and his bitch girlfriend slipped out. Told them to wait before leaving. Then he and Judith took the stairs and made their getaway out the back.

I fell for it.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I don't have a clue where to start looking for them. They've got to be close. Chael would not miss a chance to observe the suffering he's wreaked upon my friend and the consequent pain he's inflicted on me. Otherwise, what would be the point?

I can't think of a single thing to do now but to go back to the house. Frey is more familiar with the area than I am. If there's another lodge or hotel around, he'll know.

On the way back to the Jeep, questions keep popping into my head.

What if Sarah's parents are still there?

I won't go in. At the sight of their car, I'll park where I can keep an eye on the house.

I worry at mlower lip. I wonder if Kayani spoke with George? That one still gives me a bad feeling. The sooner I tell Frey about George's parting shot to me this morning, the better. I don't expect Frey to change his mind about someone he's known longer than me, but he's got to respect my gut instinct.

It's gotten us out of some hairy situations before.

What happened at the burial today? Frey must be a wreck. Not only because of John-John, but because he's surrounded by people who are unlikely to show him much compassion. Even Kayani must be feeling resentment.

The sky has begun to clear-clouds breaking over Monument Valley in a patchwork of bright blue and gray. With the clearing sky, the August heat comes roaring back, turning scattered pools of runoff into steaming cauldrons of bloodred mud. Vapor rises from the ground in streams like the delicate trains of ghostly gowns.

Even I feel the abrupt temperature change-one moment rain-cooled sixties, the next blast-furnace heat sends people scurrying for icy drinks and sun hats. There's a cavalcade of cars leaving the parking lot to resume day trips interrupted by the summer storm.

I fold back the Jeep's top, already dry by the time I get to the parking space, and tuck it into the boot. One of the advantages of a vampire constitution is the ability to tolerate-even enjoy-temperatures most humans find intolerable. Heat, for instance. The illusion that my body is warm comes only when ambient temperatures near 100-or when I'm feeding or having sex.

I close my eyes, tilt my head back, wait for the first rush of cars out of lot.

For a couple of minutes I take what pleasure I can.