“And it all started when she gifted me with the ability to see in color again.”Rhyne straightened.“Fuck this.I need to get proof positive, one way or another.Either Norris gives me the information I need, or I’m going to have to… I’m going to have to get a taste of Grace’s blood somehow to prove or disprove what I already know is the truth.If by some miracle it’s not her blood… Gah!”He shook his head at all the convoluting thoughts besieging him.“One way or another, I have to do it soon.In two days, Welsh’s vision is going to revert back to black and white, and he’s going to put two and two together and figure out Grace is somehow responsible.Or believe she’s responsible.He’s going to go after her, and I can’t let that happen to her.I can’t.Whether she’s the cause or not, I just can’t allow him to…”
He took a deep, shuddering breath.Norris would be at work in a few short hours.Grace would be gone by five, which meant he could return to the hospital around that time to speak to him.If Norris still didn’t have the info he needed, he’d let the man know exactly what was at stake.
“That ought to light a fire under his butt,” Rhyne muttered, throwing a leg over his bike.
In the meantime, there were a few things he needed to do.He had to prepare and be ready just in case.
The clock was ticking, and there wasn’t much time left.
CHAPTER14
Confirmation
Since it was after hours, Rhyne entered the hospital via the emergency room doors and went directly to the small, partitioned office where a night nurse sat behind a computer.She glanced up at him through the glass.
“Yes, sir?”
“I need to see Norris, please.He works in the lab.”Rhyne mentally cursed himself.After all this time he and the guys had been paying the man to slip them those emptied blood bags, he still didn’t know Norris’s last name.Partly because the lab tech didn’t wear a name tag like Grace did, or a lab coat with his name stitched above the breast pocket.Rhyne spotted the woman’s badge hanging from a lanyard around her neck.He’d never seen Norris with a lanyard, but it would explain why he didn’t know the man’s full name.Luckily, the nurse didn’t find his request unusual.She got on the phone, apparently to call the lab.After exchanging a few words, she hung up and addressed Rhyne.
“He’s on his way.”
“Thank you.”Instead of taking a seat, he went over to the water fountain and got a drink.A casual glance around the waiting room revealed a single woman engrossed in her phone over in the corner.
The rear doors leading into the triage area swung open, and Norris hurried out.Spotting Rhyne, he hurried over to him.
“I thought it might be you.I ran the ID on that blood bag first thing after I got here.You’re not going to believe this.”The man spoke in a low tone, but he couldn’t contain his excitement.
Rhyne figured he’d beat the guy to the punchline.“The donor works here at the hospital.Her name is Grace Lockhart, and she works in the admissions office.”
Norris’s head jerked back as he stared at Rhyne in shock.“How did…”
Taking the guy by the arm, Rhyne led him over to the far end of the waiting room where they could have some privacy.“Listen,” he whispered, not hiding the urgency in his voice.“What I’m going to tell you, nobody else knows.Nobody.Least of all, Grace.”
Norris’s eyebrow lifted, silently questioning why Rhyne would casually use her first name, but he remained mum.
“By sheer chance, one of my roommates met her at the grocery store.He liked the way she smelled, so he hunted her down here.”
“Wait.”Norris held up a hand.“He hunted her down?”
Rhyne ignored the question.“Somehow, he managed to get a taste of her.”He indicated his hand.“He didn’t hurt her, but the taste of her blood…changed him…the same way it changed me.”
Norris’s face paled considerably as his eyes widened in fear.“Changed you h-how?Was it because of her blood in that blood bag?”
Rhyne noticed the man’s gaze focusing on his mouth and shook his head.“Norris, forget about what you’ve seen on TV and in the movies.A lot of that, hell, almost all of what you see is made up crap.It’s all fictitious.”
“Y-you said almost all.”
Nodding, Rhyne pulled a small smile into the corners of his mouth.“We don’t have fangs, we don’t sleep in coffins, and we don’t turn into bats.Yes, we do need blood, but not a whole helluva lot.Well, most of us don’t.We just need enough to keep our metabolism in balance.The same way you take a multi-vitamin every day.That’s why whatever residue is left in those blood bags you give us is enough for our daily requirements.”
“What happens if you don’t get the blood?Or enough blood?”the lab tech whispered.
“We weaken,” Rhyne admitted.“But that’s not what’s at issue right now.One of the things we lose when we’re turned, other than our human aspect, is our color vision.”
“Your color vision?”Norris asked, perplexed.“You mean, you don’t see colors anymore?”
“Nope.”Rhyne lightly shook his head.“Our world turns black and white, like those old-timey movies.”
“What does that have to do with Miss Lockhart?”Norris pressed, getting Rhyne back on track.
