Chapter 31
31
ROBERT
R obert called Olivia’s number once again. It went straight to voicemail, netting the same result as the dozens of other times he’d tried. He made another circle around the chamber, muttering obscenities. It was only a matter of waiting out the clock until the sun was fully down.
The phone rang. Damn it. Not Olivia.
“Carl! Has she shown?” he demanded.
“I’m sorry, she hasn’t, Robert. I haven’t taken my eyes off her apartment since I’ve been here.”
“Please, Carl, stay put. I want you to be there in case Olivia comes out.”
“I won’t move an inch.”
“Thank you, Carl.”
“Robert?”
“Yes.”
“The sun has gone down—”
Click.
Forty-five seconds later, a silver Bentley Flying Spur zoomed onto the highway and reached a velocity far beyond the speed limit. Robert did not slow until he entered Olivia’s neighborhood.
Carl glanced at his watch as Robert approached. “That was fast.” He was crouched down on the porch, picking the lock. The latch clicked and the door popped open.
“Why—”
“I’m afraid Olivia may have left town,” Carl said.
“Are you sure?”
“I spoke with a neighbor of hers. He saw her dragging a suitcase toward a taxi. He said that he was going to offer help, but then he saw that she was crying.”
“When was this?”
“Apparently, a few minutes prior to my arrival. I’ve only just learned this. I’m sorry, Robert.”
“Did he know where she was going?”
“He didn’t. He said was that she looked nervous, that she kept looking over her shoulder. I figured we might as well have a look around while we’re here. Maybe we’ll uncover a clue as to where she’s headed.”
They walked into the apartment.
“A vampire has been here. I can smell it,” Robert said.
“Think it’s who attacked Liz?”
“I can’t say. Maybe.”
The two men walked into Olivia’s bedroom and peered into her closet. They noted her missing clothes and went into the bathroom next, concluding that she was planning on staying gone a while.
In the living room, they looked for clues of Olivia’s whereabouts, finding none. On the kitchen counter, they found a notepad, frowning as they realized it was blank. Robert ran his fingers over the blank page, feeling the indentations of Olivia’s pen. He held the notepad up to the light, struggling to make out the writing.
It was Carl who found the small ball of paper on the floor. He handed it to Robert, then headed to Liz’s room to have a look around. Robert positioned the paper next to the notepad; the indentations matched. This was the last note Olivia had written.
“Carl!” Robert called. “I need you to go home and prepare my travel casket. I’ll also need the jet fueled—”
“We have a more pressing matter to attend to first. If you’ll follow me?”
The vampire perched on the edge of the bed in Liz’s room sat motionless as stone. Her fiery hair hung down in a twisty waterfall of springy waves. Except for the torn plastic sheet that cloaked her, she was naked, covered in splashes of mud up to her knees. She was beautiful, her cherubic face wet with tears and her neck stained with blood.
It wasn’t until she turned her confused, rust-colored eyes on him that Robert recognized her. “Liz,” he whispered. “My God. How?”
“Robert? What’s happening to me?”