54. Goodbyes
Chapter 54
Goodbyes
Mordida Hospice Center—Later that night
A few hours later, Rolf invited them back into the room. Cerissa took the bedside chair, holding her friend’s hand, not saying anything. She’d already said everything she had to say, and just being there was enough.
Two hours before dawn, Henry said goodbye to Karen, kissing her forehead, and motioned to Cerissa to join him. “Rolf should be alone with her until he and I have to leave.”
She squeezed Karen’s hand. “We’ll be right outside if you need us.”
As they walked out, Rolf lowered the bed rail and curled next to Karen. It was all Cerissa could do to keep from crying before she reached the hallway. Henry took her in his arms and held her as she sobbed again.
Grieving was the hardest thing she’d ever done.
Her husband wasn’t much better off. Henry took out a handkerchief and wiped his eyes. This was going to be a hard night for both of them, but at least they had each other.
At the end of the night, who would Rolf have? His soul mate would be gone.
With an hour left until the sun rose, Rolf exited the hospice bedroom and walked down the hall, away from where Cerissa sat with Henry.
“I should catch up with him.” Henry gave her a quick kiss and then he was gone, following Rolf.
Cerissa returned to Karen’s bedside. “Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?”
Karen looked at her. There was a peacefulness on her face that was hard to fathom. Even though Karen had said she would be the master of her own death, she’d still struggled with the reality as the end approached. But the expression in her eyes had changed—as if she’d finally resigned herself to her fate.
“Yes, there is one thing.”
“Tell me and I’ll do it.”
Karen’s brown eyes glowed with an inner light. “I want you to turn me vampire.”
Cerissa’s head swam, her knees gave out, and she plopped onto the bedside chair. “What?”
“You can take vampire form.” Karen’s voice cracked. She took an ice chip from the cup a nurse had brought in and sucked on it. “You—you are the only one I want as my maker.”
It took a few attempts for Cerissa to get her jaw to move. “Why me?”
“You’re…you’re the most powerful vampire I know.”
“Karen, what are you talking about?”
“Remember when you mesmerized me? On the cruise ship? I never felt such raw power before.”
Cerissa ran a hand over her eyelids. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Just because I put you under doesn’t mean I can turn you.”
“Why not?”
“I can take the form, but I don’t know if my blood will have the same strength Henry’s would.”
“What do I have to lose?” Karen’s eyes closed, and she faded out for a moment, then slowly blinked as she rallied. “Play the hunch. Take the long shot. I trust you, bestie.”
Cerissa’s jaw hung open. Now that the real vampires had left, if she delayed until the next nightfall, refused to turn Karen and waited for Henry to return, he might arrive too late. Karen might die during the day. If the deed was going to happen, it had to be now. “But what about the council? You didn’t get permission.”
Karen quirked a weak smile. “We’re technically outside their jurisdiction, and you aren’t a treaty vampire.”
So simple, the answer was brilliant.
Cerissa fingered the bracelet Henry gave her when they first became mates. Was this one of those moments where she had to decide whether the courageous thing was to let go or to act?
“Eternal youth.” Karen shrugged. “Twenty-nine isn’t a bad age.” A coughing fit overtook her, and Cerissa fed her some more ice chips.
“Are you sure you want to do this? The attempt will kill you if I’m unsuccessful.”
“I’m not afraid of dying. I…I want this.” Karen squeezed Cerissa’s hand. “I want you as my maker.”
A giant weight lifted from Cerissa’s shoulders.
Hope . This is what hope feels like, isn’t it?
“Will you do it?”
Would she? They’d have to face a ton of hurdles with the Hill if the process worked—too many to think about now—but they’d only face them if Karen lived. If she survived, they could figure out all the other problems together.
A smile curled Cerissa’s lips to match Karen’s. This wasn’t something Agathe had banned her from doing. “We’re BFFs. That means forever. It’s right in the title. Of course I’ll try.”
And forever was about to get a whole lot more literal. Cerissa took out her phone and tapped Ari’s name.
“What’s up, sweet cheeks?”
“I need your help.”
“At your service, Ciss. Got someone you need killed?”
“Well, sort of.” She smiled for the first time in many days and explained to Ari what the plan was. “So I want to do a little minor sculpting surgery before turning her. Can you hide the signature of the regeneration wand?”
“Piece of cake, Ciss. But turning her—it’s not something you should try alone. I’ll—”
“Ari, I can do this on my own.”
“Ciss, sometimes you are just a dunce. She’s on morphine. You don’t want to accidentally get knocked out. Haven’t you learned anything from living with Henry? Plus, you have no idea what will happen to you when you try this stunt. You’re going to want me at your back. I’ll stand lookout to keep the nurses away, and if you get in trouble, I’ll be there. I assume you’re calling from her room?”
Cerissa glanced at Karen, who’d been listening to Ari on speaker. He made good sense, but the choice wasn’t Cerissa’s. Karen met her gaze and nodded.
“Yes. I’m standing next to Karen and she agrees. Bring a disposition form with you. I’m going to have Karen appoint me with the power to dispose of her body, to convince the hospice center that I’m in charge so they don’t embalm her. Okay?”
“Done. I’ll be there with the paperwork in a flash. I’ve got a grid set up around the hospital; you should be able to do minor regeneration without the signature leaking to the Protectors. But don’t operate on her cancer—the field won’t mask that kind of major surgery.”
“Understood. That’s not the plan, anyway. I’m just going to make her look like her old self before we attempt the turn. So get off the phone and let me work.”
“Okay. Don’t forget to shut off your lenses. I’m on my way. Bye.”
Ari had a point. No reason to mask the signal if she recorded the minor operation with her lenses, so she blinked twice, shutting them off.
Removing the hypo and regeneration tool from her med kit, she dialed in a local anesthetic. She didn’t think the process would hurt, but there would be burning and itching sensations from the fast repair of Karen’s face, smoothing out the lines and filling in the dark circles under her eyes.
The hypo made a light hiss as the medicine went into Karen’s cheek.
When Cerissa finished the facial re-sculpting, she pressed the jet injector against Karen’s stomach, giving her another dose. The cancer surgery and chemo had left her abdomen scarred, swollen and misshapen. The least she could do for her friend was to give her back her shapely body.
Minutes later, after the last pass of the regeneration wand, Cerissa packed everything away. “Now where is Ari?”
As if on cue, he popped into the room, briefcase in hand. He was even wearing a suit and tie.
Cerissa laughed. “You always know how to dress for the occasion. I just can’t tell whether you’re an undertaker or a lawyer. Then again, I’m not sure there’s much difference.”
“Hilarious, Ciss. Just remember, you need my help right now.”
“Too true. Let me see the paperwork.”
Ari handed over two forms. They would supersede the ones Karen had given Rolf. “But why a power of attorney? If she’s dead, it’s no good.”
“Thinking ahead. Trust me.”
“Of course,” Cerissa said with a laugh. “Aren’t you going to lecture me again about trying to save everyone?”
“Why should I? This time, you’re doing it at Karen’s request.”
“And that makes a difference?”
“I think it does. It puts her in control of what happens to her. Autonomy, ya know?”
Maybe he was right. Cerissa gently shook Karen’s shoulder. She’d dozed off again. “Karen, dear, wake up. You have to sign these.”
Karen roused, and Cerissa had to hold her shaking hand steady to sign the documents. It was the last grace she could grant her mortal friend. If this worked, she’d have a vampire bestie instead.
Ari grinned cockily at Karen. “You minx. You planned this all along, didn’t you?”
Karen gave a half shrug. “I wasn’t sure I’d go through with the plan. But it’s why I didn’t want to die on the Hill.”
Ari squeezed her shoulder. “You go, girl.”
“But what made you think to ask me?” Cerissa shook her head, still not believing what Karen wanted to try.
“I heard what Agathe told you. About the Lux mating with vampires. This might not be what Agathe had in mind—”
Cerissa tilted her head. “But it might lead to the answer. I can justify it as research. Thank you, bestie.” Cerissa checked her watch. “And I should get the process started. Sunrise is soon.”
Ari pulled the window drapes shut, overlapping them to ensure no light came through. “You need to phone Henry first.”
“Huh?”
He shook a finger at her. “You’re married now. This is a big deal. Call him. You don’t have to do what he says, but you have to tell him.”
“You’re right.” She reached Henry’s voicemail. “Crap. He must already be underground. Or on the phone.” She left a message. For better or worse, they were in this together. “Henry, it’s Cerissa. Karen has asked me to do something for her. It may change the course of our lives, including hers. I wanted to speak with you first, but you’re not answering. And if I’m going to do this, it has to be now. She won’t last the day.”
Cerissa hung up, and a short time later, her phone buzzed with a text message from Henry:
I trust you. Do what you must.
She read the words out loud to them. “That’s the only green light he can give if he’s going to have plausible deniability when the council finds out.”
Ari tsked . “We’ll figure out how to deal with the bureaucrats later. You better start, kid.” He slipped out between the privacy curtains, closing them most of the way. “I’ll check in on you in a few minutes. Whatever you do, don’t pass out.”
Yeah, right . Cerissa turned on her lenses to record the historic event. They could decide later whether to share the video with Agathe. She lowered the bed rail on Karen’s left side, where her arm was free from needles and tubes. She morphed, used the jet injector on herself to administer a Lux stabilizer to maintain her vampire form. Then she gripped Karen’s wrist. Her stomach rumbled. The smell of mortal blood revved her hunger, and her fangs tingled as they extended.
She sucked in a deep breath. This time, she wasn’t pretending. This time, she’d be testing her true vampire powers.
At least she was over two hundred years old. She could control her hunger, and Karen had a decent chance of coming out of the turn okay, assuming Cerissa’s fang serum and blood held the same necessary elements as a real vampire’s—something that had never occurred to Cerissa to test in the lab.
Nothing like experimenting on a friend.
She raised Karen’s wrist. Pressing the tips of her fangs gently into a vein, she began sucking, her lips sealed to Karen’s cold skin, and lost herself in the rich taste, like a fine burgundy, the tang of fang serum flavoring the drink, taking swallow after swallow.
Karen’s heart fought against the next pull. The resistance brought Cerissa out of her feeding frenzy, except her head swam.
The morphine .
Cerissa released Karen’s wrist, grabbing the arm rail to steady herself and hoping she’d drunk enough. Using her fangs, she created a wound on her own wrist, then held the dripping marks to the lips of her friend. She closed her eyes, swaying in place, refusing to cleanse the morphine from her system. She feared that changing forms even a tiny bit might derail the process.
Goddess, please let this work.
“Enjoy the high while you can, Ciss.”
Cerissa jumped, startled. Opening her eyes, she saw Ari peeking around the curtain, a grin on his face. “What?”
“One last drunken hurrah before you’ve got a baby vamp on your hands.” Ari chuckled as she swayed again.
She returned her wrist to Karen’s mouth. “Shut up, Ari.”
Karen lapped lightly at first, and then sucked more greedily, clamping on to Cerissa’s arm with both hands. Would she survive the transformation? Not every person came through the turn. Karen wasn’t in great shape. And Cerissa wasn’t really a vampire—she was Lux.
Doubt rippled through her. This might be all for naught.
She shook herself free of the thought. No. She had to stay positive. She had to believe.
Karen’s sucking grew weak, and her arms fell to her sides as her eyelids drooped. Her breathing slowed and finally stopped. The hospice heart rate monitor made a horrible racket.
Cerissa used the regeneration tool to close the wound on Karen’s arm, and then morphed back to her human form, wiping the morphine from her own blood.
Ari pulled back the curtain on its U-shaped track.
A nurse eased into the space by the medical gear, pressing a button to stop the horrendous sound, and pronounced Karen dead at twenty-one minutes before sunrise.
It didn’t leave them much time. Cerissa had to get her buried right away.
She laid a hand on Karen’s shoulder. See you tonight, my friend.
She packed Karen’s suitcase as the orderlies gently, respectfully, and somberly bagged Karen’s body and moved her onto a wheeled gurney. Cerissa showed the nurse the freshly inked disposition authorization, then followed the gurney, rolling the suitcase behind her.
Hooking Ari’s arm with hers, she leaned in and asked for two more favors. He nodded and took off at a trot.
By the time the red tape was wrapped and Cerissa escorted Karen’s body to the hospice’s morgue, Ari arrived at the back door, driving an ancient hearse right out of an old horror flick. He backed into the loading zone, and the hospice attendants smoothly loaded the body and the suitcase. Once they secured the rear doors, Cerissa eased into the passenger seat.
“Buckle up!” Ari put the hearse in gear, pulled out onto the street tires squealing, and raced to the Hill.
She did, then glanced around, taking in the details of the interior, and saw dials rather than digital controls for the air conditioner, a cassette player, and an analog speedometer—little hash marks denoting the speed. The vehicle had to be ancient. “How the hell did you get a hearse on such short notice?” Using her fingers, she swept the dust off the armrest. “I thought you’d show up in a van.”
“Old cars are easy to hot-wire. This one was sitting behind a mortuary, and I figured, why not?”
Cerissa smirked. So that explained the black hoodie he’d pulled over his suit coat, with the hood covering most of his face. He was dressed to steal. “Did you intercept the electronic death record?”
“Boy, you’re demanding.”
“Ari?”
“Yeah, I did. But I went one step further. I altered the entry to show she’d checked out against medical advice. Really covered our tracks.”
Cerissa sighed and noticed the dashboard clock. “Is that time right?” Her gaze went to her watch. “We’ll never make it before sunrise.”
“I know,” Ari said as they sped along the road. “We need to ditch the hearse. Let’s drop it at the winery and flash to your house.”
Cerissa bit back her frustration—she’d had no time to plan, to minimize the risk. “Yes, fine. Just hurry.”
Ari drove to Henry’s winery parking lot and threw the car into park. “I’ll come back for the hearse and return it later.” He got out of the driver’s seat and headed to the rear, still wearing the hoodie. When he opened the double doors, Cerissa reached for the gurney. Ari stopped her. “Let me carry Karen. You look worn out.”
“Okay. I’ll take the suitcase. It has Karen’s phone in it. She’ll probably want it.”
“Works for me.”
They flashed to the side yard of Cerissa’s home near Henry’s vineyard. Ari laid the body bag on the grass and gripped the center zipper.
“No!” She grabbed his arm. “The sun is rising. Leave her covered. The bag will give her some protection for now. She’ll need to climb out of the dirt on her own.”
“You’re the expert.” He gave a half shrug. “But what about the moon?” He pointed at where it hovered in the early dawn sky. “Why doesn’t she rise right away?”
“Don’t ask me. All I learned with Christine’s turn is that the moon doesn’t control when a new vampire will rise. Only the sun’s setting will trigger that.”
“Oh.”
She dropped exhaustedly onto the garden bench. “The shovel is in the garage.” She gave him the code for the door. “Would you please bring the tools? We need to get her buried—now.”
“Yes, boss. I’m on it.”
Cerissa tugged the sweater tighter around her chest. She hadn’t planned on being outside, and the frosty December morning sent a chill through her as she sat there staring at the sun tipping over the eastern mountains, beautiful lemon and rose colors swirling together.
Even with the benefit of Lux technology, Karen would never again feel the sun’s rays warm her skin as daylight broke. The Lux daylight bracelet would allow her to see the sight, but it’d prevent the sun from ever reaching her. But with any luck, she’d survive the turn and have years—centuries of them—to live under the starlight.
Half a glass was better than none.