Page 70 of Immortal By Morning
“Wow, you really don’t have a clue,” Abril said with amazement, and then told her, “Crosses won’t do a thing to you, Mrs. Foley.”
The woman glanced at her sharply. “How do you know my name? You are human. You couldn’t possibly read my thoughts like they can.”
“I don’t know your name,” Abril said with a shrug. “At least not all of it. What is your first name?”
Her mouth tightened, and she remained silent. It was Lucian who said, “Diane Elizabeth Foley,” as he returned to join them, having apparently finished his phone call.
Abril removed her hand from his chair as he settled in it again, her gaze returning to Diane Foley as she wondered what the woman thought she was if she had no idea about nanos.
“She thinks she is a vampire, of course,” Lucian said, answering her unspoken question.
Abril glanced at him with a start. “But she was out in daylight with Kim the other day. Surely she must realize—”
“She does not,” Lucian assured her, not even bothering to let her finish the thought. “She found out sunlight would not kill her when one of her victims escaped and ran outside. Mrs. Foley instinctively gave chase. It was only once she had recaptured her victim and was dragging her back to the house that she realized she was outside in full sunlight and not bursting into flames. The only explanation she could come up with for it was that she was a young vampire. She thought perhaps only the ancient ones burst into flames in daylight and she would be safe for a while. Still, she was cautious every time she went outside during the daytime and avoided it as much as possible. However, there are times when she cannot avoid it, like when she accompanied your neighbor Kim over here so that she could put a halt to the excavation taking place.”
Abril turned on him sharply. “The excavator—?”
“Is not broken,” he finished, interrupting her. “She simply controlled the operator of the excavator to make him turn it off and believe it was broken, and then controlled the site supervisor to make him think they would have to halt work for the rest of the day and bring a repairman in the next morning. She intended to remove the skeletons both inside and out that night. She knew the deaths would be traced back to herself and her husband if the bodies were found and wanted to protect both of their families from the scandal that would erupt with the discovery.”
“Of course, Lilith put paid to her plans by digging up those bones in the afternoon, and you calling thepolice. Once they showed up, her plan changed. She would not bother with the immortal’s remains and was only interested in removing her husband. She knew she could no longer save their families from the scandal, but she wanted her husband with her.”
Abril had noted the brief confusion that flickered on Diane’s face when Lucian said the word immortal, and supposed she shouldn’t be surprised the woman had no idea what she was. There had been no one to tell her. Or train her. It was almost enough to make her feel sorry for the woman, except that Diane had apparently killed a butt load of people over the years, and hadn’t stopped even when she’d figured out she didn’t need to drink her victims dry, and that taking in that amount of blood was bad for her. She’d apparently simply kept them as cows for her to milk of blood as she wished. But she hadn’t had the basic decency of a farmer who kept their cows healthy and well. Instead, she’d kept them chained in her basement, probably terrified, underfed if fed at all, and miserable.
“Tell her the rest, Crispin. I cannot be bothered,” Lucian said, sounding as disgusted as she felt.
Twenty-Nine
Crispin turned to focus his concentration on Diane Elizabeth Foley. Her mind was an open book, easily read. He almost wished that wasn’t the case as he sorted through her memories. Her being easily read meant she wasn’t insane. She was just a coldhearted nasty bitch if he were to judge by her memories and feelings. She hadn’t always been. Prior to the tragic accident that had taken her son’s life and left her body broken, she had been a kind and loving wife and mother. But her losses had twisted her up inside. Not mentally, but emotionally. She was bitter and angry and had decided the world owed her. To her mind, she should be able to do whatever the hell she wanted, no matter who it hurt or killed, and didn’t even feel a twinge of conscience about it. Her son had been taken from her, she had been paralyzed, and then had lost her husband too and she wanted to burn the world down for it.
Mouth setting, he sorted through the house of horrors that was her memory and began to speak. “As Lois Jamison said, Diane and her husband were in a car accident. They were hit by a drunk driver. Her husband got away with mere scrapes and bruises, but their five-year-old son died and Diane was paralyzed. She also took a lot of internal damage. Not only could she not walk, but she would never be able to have another child and could not even indulge in sexual activity with her husband. Shortly after the accident, he started going out and having one-night stands to—”
“It wasn’t shortly after!” Diane snapped. “It was a full year later. A year during which I repeatedly begged him to go satisfy the needs I couldn’t take care of anymore.” Her mouth compressed, but then she added, “John was my husband. I loved him. I didn’t want him to have to go outside our marriage, but I couldn’t satisfy him that way and I wanted him happy. I was actually relieved when he finally started going out to bars and picking up women. Relieved!” she insisted furiously after the briefest pause, and then a short, bitter laugh huffed out of her. “I did it to keep from losing him and lost him anyway.”
She glowered at them all. “My husband loved me and was a good man. A truly good man. That’s why it took so long to convince him to go out and have flings. Any other man would have jumped at the chance to bang barmaids with his wife’s permission. But not my John. I even had to blackmail him into it.”
“Blackmail?” Abril echoed with surprise and the other woman nodded.
“I threatened to kill myself so that he would be free to have a true wife if he wouldn’t go out and findwomen to take care of his needs,” Diane said cooly and at Abril’s shocked expression, her lips twisted slightly. “I would not have done it, but he didn’t know that.”
“But why make him do something he didn’t want to do?” Abril asked, sounding truly mystified.
“Because I am not a fool,” Diane said as if she thought Abril was. “He did love me, but no man can do without sex for long. And this way I could control it. Had I not convinced him to go out and have one-night stands, he eventually would have ended up having an affair with someone, someone he might come to love and leave me for. I wasn’t going to lose my husband too. He was all I had left.”
Scowling, she shrugged her emotions away and continued. “So, he finally agreed to do it. But there were rules we both agreed on. He was to go out and pick up women from bars on the weekend only. The weeknights were ours. And there was to be no emotional attachment. He was to sleep only once with any of the women he encountered.”
When she paused again, Crispin explained, “Picking up women at the bars is how John came across the immortal presently buried in the indoor garden. She frequented the same bar he did. He’d noticed her and found her attractive, but suspected she was out of his league so had not approached her. One night, though, he was engaging in intimate activity in his car with one of the string of women that he used for sex and saw her come out—”
“In his car?” Abril interrupted with a grimace. “He could have at least brought her here or taken her to a cheap motel or something. Sex in cars is uncomfortable and—”
“Of course, in the car,” Diane growled. “John had too much respect for me to bring any of these tramps to our home, and certainly wouldn’t have wasted our money on a motel. He either went to their home, or—if they didn’t live alone—made do with the car in the bar parking lot.”
She glared at Abril for daring to sound critical of her husband for this choice, and then fell silent.
Crispin met Abril’s gaze and went on, “One night he and a woman were engaged in intimate activity in his car in the bar parking lot when he saw the immortal come out with a man following her. John apparently thought they were together and going to indulge in the same thing he and his companion were doing. But she was not with the man. He had followed her out with the intent to attack her. When he did so as she was unlocking her vehicle, she revealed her immortal strength in her effort to defend herself. She left her attacker unconscious and bleeding on the ground when she drove off, but she had also captured John’s interest.
“After that, he began to watch for her anytime he went to the bars. He noticed that she had a routine. She’d enter, look around, seem to settle on a man—usually one who was on his own—take his hand and lead him to the washrooms. Curious, John followed one time. She led the man she’d chosen into the men’s room. They were in one of the stalls by the time he got into the room, and he watched them through the crack between the stall door and wall. He quickly realized she did not want these men for sex when he saw her bring out her fangs, bite her ‘date,’ and take in his blood. John slipped away before he was noticed—”
“—Only to rush to the bar,” Diane interrupted defensively. “He was going to have the bartender call the police or send the bouncers in to save the guy, but then realized he couldn’t start squawking about vampires or they’d just think he was either crazy or drunk. He was trying to decide what story to use to get help when the couple came back out of the bathroom. The man seemed perfectly fine. He was even smiling and the woman kissed him, then settled him at the bar where she’d found him and left.”
