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Jessica had barely left, but it had seemed to Jeremy that he had been exhausted forever He felt hi him as he realized he was not alone with Mary There was a man in the room

The man turned toward him, and Jeremy let out a breath of relief and stood It was the professor, Bryan MacAllistair He&039;d heard the guy was teaching in New Orleans, and any other time, he would have been at every lecture

He&039;d heard him speak in Transylvania and been impressed He&039;d even talked to hiht of it now

And he knew that MacAllistair had talked to the police; during his own final intervieith Florenscu, just before he&039;d headed ho to listen The police MacAllistair had said to him had made him pay more attention to Jeremy&039;s assertions

"Professor Or doctor What should I call you?"

"How about Bryan?" theJere?" Bryan asked him

"Okay," Jere crazy

"And Mary?"

"I&039;ood about her today," Jeremy said "The doctor said earlier that her blood levels were stabilizing"

"Good"

Bryan walked over to the bed, touching Mary&039;s forehead Did he-like Jessica-ood look at her neck?

"You stay here all the time?" Bryan asked

"Mostly Her folks come, and so do Nancy and some of the other kids I don&039;t knohy, but I never leave her alone," Jereood friend to her, that&039;s why," Bryan said softly Jere a little "I try to be"

"I&039; to stop by the nurses&039; station, but I&039;ll be back" Jeremy was surprised by the way, despite his words, the professor stood by Mary&039;s bed, looking deeply concerned

"What is it?"

"There were some real crazies in Transylvania I think you could use soive a lecture tonight, but you need a little time away, too, so I&039;ll coreat," Jeremy said

MacAllistair started to leave, then hesitated "Hey, Jeremy"

"Yeah?"

"Has anyone been around whowell, who seee?"

"Anyone you feeldoesn&039;t belong"

Jereht At last, he shook his head "No Not that I can think of Hospital people Family Friends" He hesitated "Why? Have you seen soe?"

"I&039;htnever lanced at his watch and swore softly "I need to get going, but I&039;ll be back You take care And if I can help, let me know"

"You bet"

MacAllistair left, and Jeree people?

In a way, Professor MacAllistair was strange, ith his questions and weird knowledge Still, Jeremy liked him Trusted him Maybe he shouldn&039;t He was more disturbed now than he had been before the ure it all out

He was just so damned tired

It was i to stay awake, but his chin fell to his chest His eyes closed

He tried hard not to sleep, because sleep brought drea they would coan to doze, a strange red ain

Red darkness

As she walked through the parking lot, Jessica felt irritated She nore shadows the clouds made in the sky But it felt far too early to be so dark And the color

Impatiently, she strode forward, anxious to reach her car She didn&039;t like the way she was feeling, though, and she et an officer to watch over Mary She hadn&039;t ier here, but

Why not? With such a red sky, with a feeling of evil haunting her constantly now

She was deep in thought, paying no attention to her surroundings As she reached her car door, there was a flurry of action

There was a split second when panic seized her There had been sofollowedStalked

Times when she had felt darkness and shadows and the deep red, fetid breath of evil

She knew instantly that this was soainst her back even as she heard the words "Drop the keys and your purse And stand still Be good, and we&039;ll let you live"

Despite the warning, perhaps because she felt so on edge, she turned angrily to face them

Her iainst her ribs backed away a step, next to his buddy

She stared at them in disbelief They were in black jeans and shirts-and capes The one with the knife was gaping in shock at her boldness

He had vampire teeth Fake onesBad fake ones

"Stupid bitch!" he said, glancing at his friend, and Jessica kneas thinking that she&039;d seen their faces A strange discomfort settled over her then, and she frowned There was soh she couldn&039;t place hireasy dark hair and h his facial hair couldn&039;t be described as an actual beard

"Too bad," the second attacker said softly "She&039;s a pretty one"

Jessica inhaled, trying for calm The teeth were fake, but the blade was plenty real

"You&039;re going to give vampires everywhere a bad name," she said dryly

"We are e are, we do e have to do," the first one said

"Oh, please," Jessica protested

"Shut up Just shut up," the second one said He was lighter, and nowhere near as hairy "We need your purse and just a taste of blood, lady But if you don&039;t shut upwell, things could get really nasty"

"Look, please Right now you can drop the knife and walk away Just walk away Think about what you really are, who you really are, and save yourselves from a life in prison Or worse," Jessica said softly "If you leave noon&039;t even report you to the police"

"What?" the first one said He stepped closer to her "You don&039;t understand Can&039;t you feel it? Our ti to rule anything" she said firasped "She&039;s that psychologist! I saw her picture in the paper And you-remember, you-"

The one who had first accosted her looked uneasy "Let&039;s go," he said

"Not on your life She owes us sorabbed the knife froainst her, the knife raised threateningly Jessica controlled herself, re dead still "You can still walk away," she whispered

Before he had a chance to respond, he was suddenly ripped away from her, violently and in a flash First he was there, and then he wasn&039;t-he was sailing across the parking lot as if he&039;d been tossed by a giant She gaped in shock, unable even to scream

The attacker crashed hard into a car and slid down to the pave

Then she saw the source of her salvation To her amazement, it was none other than Bryan MacAllistair He was just straightening the sleeves on his tweed jacket

The re another blade-a very respectable bowie knife Jessica almost cried out, certain that MacAllistair couldn&039;t respond fast enough to save her

Casually, but with a look of annoyance, he shot a hand out, his fingers for him to scream in pain The knife dropped to the pavement

"Call the cops, Jessica, please," MacAllistair said

"I think you&039;ve handled the situation-"

"Call the cops"

She fumbled in her purse for her phone and dialed 911 The second would-be varound He started to back away, ready to turn and run Jessica barely saw MacAllistair&039;s ar hi into his ear, "Sit down, hands behind your head, and keep them that way until the cops show, or I&039;ll break every bone in your body One warning, and that&039;s it"

The boy scrambled to do as he was told MacAllistair stared at Jessica "Are you all right?"

She nodded

"Sure? You&039;re not going to pass out or anything, are you?"

She knew she should be grateful he had shown up But there was so, in his voice that she couldn&039;t help a flare of temper

"I&039;m fine I never pass out, and I could have handled the situation on ether in a deep, surprised frown

"You were going to talk your way out of this?"

"I was handling the situation," she repeated

The sound of sirens split the air As she stared at hi of footsteps Officers rushed up, weapons drawn

"Here&039;s one," MacAllistair announced "The other one is by that car They attacked this lady"

A man in uniform approached Jessica "Are you hurt?"

"No I&039;m absolutely fine, thank you"

"And you, sir?"

"Fine," MacAllistair said, his eyes still on Jessica

And there they re Jessica and MacAllistair if they could coive statements Another car drove up then, an unmarked police vehicle Sean Canady stepped out with an air of authority, staring at the scene, looking sharply at Jessica

"What happened?" he asked, running his fingers through his ink-dark hair

"Two kids with knives," she said wearily

Sean glanced sharply at MacAllistair "Strange to see you here"

MacAllistair shrugged "It&039;s not strange at all I caot hurt in Romania"

Jessica&039;s eyes widened "Mary?"

"Yes"

"Why?" she demanded

"That can wait I need to knohat happened here," Sean said, staring them down very effectively

"I was attacked," Jessica explained "Mr MacAllistair happened to walk up at just the right moment"

Sean stared at Bryan MacAllistair "Convenient," he ed "You know my interest in Mary I had a few hours before ht I&039;d stop by and ask about her condition Convenient? I suppose it was, though apparently my help wasn&039;t necessary It seems that Jessica intended to talk her way out of the situation" He glared at her sternly "And let the on a Saturday?" Jessica asked hi story, and neverthis was a stupid stunt, and they didn&039;t need to have a crihed "Okay, sorry I rong"

She looked past Sean, realizing suddenly just how stupid it would have been to let theo It had been the very cheap va theone on to really hurt someone else

"Sean," she said suddenly and softly, not wanting Bryan MacAllistair to hear her "Make sureI need to know their names, their addresses, all that"

"Jessica, they&039;re being arrested" Sean said "We&039;ll get all that And you have to come in, too, because you&039;re the victim"

"I&039;m not a victim"

"You were the attempted victim And Professor MacAllistair was involved, too You both need toat her

"You two know each other?" she asked, surprised

"We just met," Sean said

"I see" But she didn&039;t see at all She stared at her lodger with naked curiosity

"I stopped by the station," he explained

"Why?"

"Because I&039;erous cult at work here in New Orleans," MacAllistair explained

She alhed out loud "This is New Orleans We have tons of voodoo practitioners, would-be vampiresyou name it"

"I don&039;t mean to cut this conversation short," MacAllistair said, "but I&039;m due at the university soon If there&039;s paperwork"

"Yes, let&039;s move," Sean said He indicated his car

"I have my own car," Jessica said quickly

"I don&039;t, but I&039;m sure my hostess will be happy to drive ed She opened her car door MacAllistair walked around to take the passenger seat

As she followed Sean&039;s car to the station, Jessica glanced in the askew rearview mirror at the man beside her "I&039;m still confused What do you have to do with Mary? Why were you visiting Sean?"

He stared straight at her, frowning "What were you doing at the hospital?"

"Visiting Mary"

"Are you a relative?"

"No I met her in Transylvania"

"You what?"