The Stairwell Loiterers

Levi and Ryan were loitering in the stairwell of the cardiac wing of the hospital to get better reception for his call to Max. "And you'll never guess what. You can get past hospital security if you steal a white coat out of the storage room and parade around with it and a clipboard."

Ryan grunted. He was the one holding the clipboard, but he had passed on wearing a lab coat.

"Because there isn't any hospital security on this floor," Ryan muttered.

"He says hi," Levi added.

"Who? The guy?" Max asked cryptically on the other end of the line.

"The other guy," Levi replied. "Our friend who is so cheerful." He lowered his voice. "The guy was awake. I went in to ask him what kind of Jell-O he wanted for dinner and then I asked him what he saw in the window. And he told me he saw a monster. Between screams."

Max was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "Got any more details?"

"No. He wasn't big on talking. Mostly screaming, and you know that brings the nurses. Sure, they say they'll be right there when you call for a bedpan, but if you want them to show, you really need to have a breakdown."

"Levi," Max said, sounding a little impatient, the way his father did when he began to ramble.

"Yo," Levi said contritely. "Sorry."

"So how did practice go?" Max asked.

Levi covered the phone. "He can't talk about vamp matters," he reported to Ryan.

"Because he's with her," Ryan said, looking even more dour than usual. Levi had never realized there were so many degrees of the brood until Ryan Harley had come into their lives.

Levi was about to speak again when he heard Miley's voice in the background. "Oh, tell Levi we saw a strange thing," she was saying.

"You guys saw something strange?" Levi repeated carefully, looking over at Ryan.

Ryan did a classic double take. He started to grab for the phone, then stopped himself. Levi knew it was better for all concerned—okay, for Max—if no one knew that he and Ryan were, like, vampire brothers. If Miley heard Max yakking on the phone with Ryan Harley, that would pretty much put the lie to their not being friends.

"There are no serious strange things in Strasbourg," Ryan muttered.

"There are no serious strange things in Strasbourg," Levi repeated. He covered the phone again. "So, are there you-know-whats that look like vampires?" he whispered to Ryan. Of course, he and Max knew the answer to that—a big fat yes—but Ryan didn't need to know that when they had dug up his sister's body—okay, the top half of her body—she had been a vampire. Not a semi-vamp, like the vampire looks they'd seen thus far. A full-on Call of a vampire.

Ryan didn't answer, only glowered at him. Maybe if he gave Ryan a cup of blood—or offer him a bite on the neck—Ryan might cheer up.

"Levi would have to try that someday. But today wasn't looking good for that.

Then, whipsaw fast, Ryan grabbed the phone out of Levi's hand. It happened so quickly that it took Levi a moment to process that he was no longer holding the phone.

'Where are you?' Ryan growled in an undertone.

Levi strained to hear Max's answer, but Ryan had turned his back. Levi didn't have super-enhanced vampire hearing. He tried to read Ryan's body language, but Ryan's shoulders were hunched like always, and his free hand was in the pocket of his jacket, like always, pressing the clipboard against his side as if he might crack it in two. So no help there.

'Then get out of there,' Ryan said between clenched teeth. 'Now.'

He gave the phone back to Levi and started to go down the stairs. Aware that he was about to speak to dead air, Levi followed after Ryan.

'Where are we going?' he asked.

'We aren't going anywhere,' Ryan replied.

'Hey, you have to take me with you,' Max's annoying little sidekick insisted as Ryan stalked out of the hospital. Ryan took a tiny bit of satisfaction in the way the human had to trot along to stay abreast. He was sick to death of taking the weaknesses of humans into account while formulating his plans. He respected power, and few humans had any. The Evelyns did. But what he felt for them was not respect.

He wasn't about to tell Levi about his dream or the real fear he felt when Miley and Max had told Levi about their encounter with a strange thing. There shouldn't have been a thing. Things were happening that Ryan couldn't explain.

'You have to take me with you because I know how to find Max in the forest,' Levi said.

'So do I,' Ryan shot back. 'I'll scent him out.'

'Well, I have an app for that.' Levi waggled his phone. 'On this.'

Ryan ignored him. 'Which we should at least use to explain why we're there. What are you going to do, jog up to Max and Miley and say, "Oh, hi. I was just on my way to grandmother's house with this basket of goodies, and I smelled you?"

Ryan kept walking, but he had to admit that the kid had a point. He slid a glance at him. "Show me how to use the app."

Levi made a point of hugging the phone to his chest. "No way are you taking my phone without me," he said.

"Tell me or I'll rip your throat out," Ryan snarled at him. Threats like that had produced perfect results in the past—at Ryan's command, Levi had almost cut off his poisoned arm rather than suffer his wrath. Luckily, Max had arrived with the antidote—a bullet he had stolen from Avery Evelyn. She had a box of ammo filled with Northern Blue Monkshood—vampsbane. Ryan had used the vampsbane to cure himself. Just another reason to hate Avery with all his soul.

"No," Levi said. "Max's my best friend, and you're not telling me everything."

"I had a nightmare," Ryan thought and huffed to himself. There was no way he was telling Levi that. Vampires didn't share information with humans, ever. Except for him, Ryan Harley. He had shared information with a human. He hadn't meant to. And the results had been disastrous.

"All right," he said. "We'll take your Jeep."

Levi huffed. "Why can't we ever take your car?"