Toni punched the play button and listened to her voice grow increasingly worried with each message. Finally the last message.
"Bri, this is Justin. You gotta forgive me, babe—"
Right. Toni turned the message off. Then she dialed the number for the Proctors. What kind of doctor was he? A proctologist? Her snort was interrupted by a feminine voice with a Hispanic accent.
"Dr. Proctor's residence."
"Hi. Is Sabrina there?" Toni heard muffled voices in the background.
A different voice came on the phone. "Good evening. This is Gwen Proctor."
"I'm Toni, Bri's roommate. I'd like to talk to her."
"I'm afraid that's not possible at the moment. She's sleeping, and we hate to wake her up, the poor dear. She's been through such a terrible ordeal."
Tell me about it. Toni had survived a vampire attack, too. "Is she all right?"
"Yes, of course." A definite chill had crept into Gwen's voice. "Thank you for calling."
"Can you tell her to call me when she wakes up?"
"We don't want to upset her delicate condition."
Was that a no? "Bri will want to talk to me."
"Perhaps, but you're not qualified to talk to her properly.
My husband is an excellent psychiatrist, an expert in the type of severe psychosis that Sabrina is exhibiting right now."
Toni's stomach dropped like she'd swallowed a cement brick. "Bri is not psychotic."
There was a pause where Toni could hear whispering.
"Ms. Davis?" a brusque male voice came on the phone. "This is Dr. Proctor, Sabrina's uncle. I can assure you she's receiving the best care available."
"I just want to talk to her."
"Under the circumstances, I cannot allow that."
Toni's fist squeezed around the receiver. "Look, she's twenty-three years old. You can't decide whom she talks to."
"You would not be a positive influence on her at this time," he answered calmly. "The poor girl believes she was attacked by vampires."
Toni gritted her teeth. "Yes, I know—"
"And she fears they'll return to harm her again. We are providing her a safe environment for her recovery."
"That's great, but I still want to talk to her."
"The last time she talked to you, she asked you to prove that her attackers were actual vampires," Dr. Proctor continued. "And you agreed."
"She was lying there injured in a hospital room. How could I say no?"
"I cannot allow her to speak to anyone who will encourage her in these paranoid delusions. You would severely jeopardize the progress we've made."
Toni swallowed hard. "What are you doing to her?"
"Giving her expert care. Good night." He hung up.
"Wait!" Toni glared at the receiver. "You asshole!"
"I hope you're not referring to me."
Startled, Toni jumped in her seat, then turned toward the man climbing through the kitchen window.
"Carlos!" she scolded her next-door neighbor. "How long have you been there, listening?"
"Long enough."
"In that case, I was referring to you." She hung up the phone. Now that she thought about it, she was glad he had eavesdropped. She needed a friend she could confide in, and with Sabrina gone, Carlos was all she had left.
It wasn't the first time he had snuck up on her. The man moved with a quiet, stealthlike grace. She assumed he'd acquired the skill from his trips into the Amazon jungle, where a person was better off not announcing his presence. With his shoulder-length black hair, black sweater, and black leather pants, Carlos was barely visible on the fire escape landing their two apartments shared.
He straddled the windowsill, his white teeth flashing as he grinned. "Come now, girl, you should be nice to me. It sounds like you might need someone with my talents."
She snorted. "Which talent would that be? The one where you dance the samba, wearing a sequined thong?"
He looked affronted. "I wear a lot more than a thong. I have a hot pink satin cape and a headdress with ostrich feathers. It's enormous." He winked. "Like the rest of me."
Toni laughed. Carlos always went back to Brazil for a few days at carnival time. Since he was working on his master's in anthropology at NYU, he claimed the trip was educational. Toni and Bri had certainly learned some new things from the videos he brought back.
He swung his other leg over the windowsill, then straightened his long, lean frame. He was gorgeous, but more likely to dress Toni and Sabrina than date them. Vanderkitty leaped from the love seat, bounced across the kitchen floor, and landed in his arms.