Page 4 of The Healer and the Vampire
CHAPTER THREE
Remi could feel eyes on him, boring into him, and when he looked around the expansive lobby, he noticed a man sitting at the coffee shop a few yards away, stealing furtive glances at him. The man looked nervous and awkward, but watchful, very watchful. He glanced away from Remi as soon as their eyes met and pretended to be focused on his coffee.
“Are you familiar with the young man seated at the table there by the pillar. He’s wearing a blue shirt and jeans, and has blonde hair." He asked Koa, who was standing next to him. Koa looked over and shook his head.
“Never seen him before. Why?” Koa turned back to him.
"Not sure." Remi continued to watch the man, curious as to why he was so aware of this man and his behavior. "Seems out of place." Then things started to happen. His attention was drawn to another man who appeared to be in distress, although he was trying to hide it. Remi saw that the young man had noticed the man as well and was hurrying toward him.
Remi and Koa ran to the man as he passed out and hit the floor. The young man breezed by him, touching him briefly, and then he rushed out the door, being careful not to draw attentionto himself, although Remi saw it all. The minute the young man touched him, the man woke up.
Koa and other staff were all over the man in seconds, but he appeared to be okay. "I'm calling an ambulance anyway," Koa stated after the man tried to talk him out of it. Remi watched the young man disappear into the crowd and wondered if he saw what he thought he saw, or was it a trick of the eye, or perhaps a simple coincidence. No, it was real. The young man had healed the stranger.
Remi stood back as the man was checked out and then taken to the hospital. The EMTs seemed concerned, but the man was fighting it until Koa stepped in and asked him to get thoroughly checked out, and the Hotel would cover the cost. Heart attacks were bad for business, apparently.
It wasn’t until about an hour later that Koa came into the security office. Remi was there continuing his review of their security practices and procedures, when he saw Koa standing there looking baffled.
"I think I need to have Sasha check out the Hotel, maybe do a cleanse or a sweep or whatever it is that he does to make sure a place is clean, no magics or shadows hanging about," Koa stated as he took a seat opposite the desk Remi was utilizing.
“What happened?” Remi pushed back in his seat to give Koa his complete attention.
"The report from the hospital came through." He began thoughtfully. "They said that the man had a massive heart attack, a deadly heart attack. They said his heart should not be working, but it is. They said he should not be alive, but he is. They're monitoring him closely, and apparently, his heart is healing itself." Koa gave a look of exasperation. "It's got to be magic."
"Did anyone sense magics in the Hotel?" Remi asked, and Koa shook his head. "There are sensors in place to warn of such energy existing within the hotel and another sensor that gauges the exterior of the Hotel, and neither indicated that magic was present."
"If not magic, then what happened here today with that man, and what is happening to him now. His recovery is miraculous." Koa stressed. Remi called up a video feed from the lobby and rolled it back to the time of the incident.
"Come here and take a look at this." He said, and Koa got up and rounded the desk to stand over his right shoulder. Remi had watched the video several times. He let it play through once and then rewound it and played it slowly with a circle placed around the young man from the coffee shop. He saw the realization flash across Koa's countenance.
“He knew something was going to happen. He followed him after he left the coffee shop.” Koa had him rewind and play it again slowly. “That touch on the man’s chest after he went down.”
“It brought him back.” That statement had Koa staring at him silently for a few seconds as everything processed.
“You think he saved him?” Koa asked. “But he seemed to know there was a problem before it happened.”
"You think he caused it?" Remi, in turn, asked.
"I don't think so. Why would he hurt him just to turn around and save him? Plus, he didn't wait for thanks or recognition, he quickly walked away and blended with the crowd. Also, it was obvious the man was suffering before he actually went down." Koa straightened and walked back to his chair and sat down, still thinking about what had happened and what it meant.
Remi then did a check on the young man in question based on facial recognition and very quickly came up with an interesting background. "His name is Conrad Lowe, age nineteen, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana."
"What's he doing here?" Koa leaned forward, very interested in figuring out this issue before it became a real problem. "Is he paranormal?"
"No, I don't think so. Everything points toward human, and I didn't get the sense that he was anything other than human, did you?" Koa shook his head.
“Although I wasn’t paying him any particular attention.” Koa shook his head.
"Why would he help that man and then just take off unless he's running from someone or hiding?" Remi tossed out his theory.
"If he brought that man back to life and healed his ravaged heart, then we're dealing with someone of considerable power." Koa put it out there clearly.
“We need to know why he is here.” Remi finished the thought for him.
“Exactly.”
"Well, a car registered in his name is currently parked across the street." Remi found his license number and then scanned all parking lots in the city, looking for it, and there it was across the street.
“Let’s go.”
