Runaway Vampire(83)

Mary knew she’d probably survive getting run over, but there was the possibility that she might get injured badly enough that she couldn’t warn Dante, Russell and Francis. They would no doubt stop and jump out to rush to her, and then Bert and Ernie would just shoot them with their darts . . . maybe. It depended on how willing they were to abduct them all in public.

Maybe she could stop them without leaping out, Mary thought hopefully, and slowly eased one foot back and up behind her butt, trying to find and poke it through the chain now lying between her hands. All she needed to do was get the chain in front of her rather than behind her and she could use it as a weapon.

Fortunately it was a longish chain. It wasn’t huge or anything, but it was long enough that Mary was able to ease first one foot into it and then the other and then draw the chain slowly forward until it was around her knees, and then in front of her.

Mary kept her gaze on the men in the front as she did it, watching to make sure that the small clinks and clanks of the chains didn’t attract attention. But Ernie, she saw, had his window open and the traffic noises appeared to mask any noise she was making. At least he didn’t glance around, and neither did Bert.

“They’re right behind us now,” Ernie announced grimly.

“Good, we’re almost there. One more block,” Bert said, sounding just as grim, and she heard the vehicle accelerate.

Time’s up, Mary thought.

Sending up a quick prayer, she rolled abruptly onto her hands and knees and then pushed upward with both hands and feet to lunge toward the front of the van. Dante had said that the nanos improved speed, but to her it seemed almost like time slowed. She saw Ernie’s head slowly turning, as if the noise she’d made had drawn his attention, but she was behind the driver’s seat, swinging the chain that dangled between her hands over Bert’s head and down to his throat before Ernie had turned his head halfway around.

“Stop the van,” Mary snapped, tugging the chain tight behind Bert’s neck. When he didn’t obey at once, she snapped, “Now!” then glanced quickly toward Ernie as he began to move, reaching for a dart gun that lay on the dashboard.

“I’ll break his neck!” Mary barked in warning.

Ernie froze, his hand halfway to the gun. Turning back to peer at her, he eyed her briefly with calculation, and then pointed out, “We’d crash.”

Eyes narrowing, Mary said calmly, “I’d survive. Would you?”

Ernie started to frown, but before the expression was fully formed he paused and smiled instead. “You’re a nice old grandma. You won’t kill him.”

“Sonny,” Mary growled. “I’m a crotchety old lady in a strong young vampire body and right now you look an awful lot like a walking blood bank to me. Do you really want to test my patience?”

Apparently, he did. Ernie tried for the dart gun, and Mary instinctively shifted to jump at him, intending to stop him. Unfortunately, she forgot about poor old Bert and the chain around his neck. She heard the crunch of what could only be bone breaking as she unintentionally snapped his neck, and then the van swerved wildly.

“Crap,” Mary breathed as she looked out the front windshield and saw the telephone pole they were about to crash into. That’s gonna hurt, she thought just before impact.





Fifteen


Mary turned over sleepily and snuggled into the pillow under her head with a little sigh, then sniffed with interest as the scent of lavender teased her nose. Wondering where it was coming from, she opened her eyes and stared at the alarm clock radio sitting on the bedside table in front of her. It wasn’t her clock radio; that was her first thought, and then she rolled over and glanced around the room she was in, which also wasn’t hers.

Sitting up abruptly, Mary peered around at the pale blue walls, the sitting chairs by the window, the mirrored sliding closet doors, and the two normal doors in the room. This definitely was not her home or the RV. Not a hotel either, though, she thought and then glanced curiously at the contraption next to the bed. An IV stand, she noted, and followed the tubing coming out of it down to the back of her hand. She raised her hand and eyed it curiously, wondering why she’d needed it, then glanced down at herself, eyebrows rising when she saw that she was wearing a pretty white cotton nightgown with spaghetti-string shoulder straps . . . also not hers.

A hospital? She considered the possibility, but hospitals didn’t look this nice; at least none of them that she’d been in had. Besides, they usually smelled of disinfectant, not lavender.

Sighing, Mary pushed the blankets aside and slid her feet off the bed, then paused and glanced around the room again, before deciding to try the door to the right of the bed first. She had to go to the bathroom, and knew that one of the two doors in the room would either lead to a bathroom or a hallway that would lead to a bathroom. Either one would get her closer than just sitting there, so Mary pushed herself to her feet and then paused and grabbed the IV stand to balance herself when the room started a slow spin. It only lasted a minute before the room settled and her equilibrium was restored, but it was kind of startling. Keeping her hold on the IV stand, Mary pulled it along with her just in case the room decided to do another dance move. Much to her relief, however, she made it to the door without anything else happening.