Page 27 of Big Enough to Bite
Once we’re parked, I come around to open the door for Mari.
She covers her face with her veil even though clouds cover the sun. The hotel is small and located a bit outside of town. It’s on the highway at the exit for Harmony Glen. Without stopping at the front desk, Mari takes the stairs up to the fourth floor. Her eyes are narrowed and her focus absolute.
I take up the width of the corridor, and my head almost scrapes the ceiling.
At the end of the hallway, she stops in front of room 442. “She’s here.”
“And Pierre?”
Shaking her head, she says, “Not yet.”
The door swings open. “Why are you here? Why didn’t you run?” Tilda Schwan’s eyes are watery blue, and her skin is fair. Her light-blonde hair is unbound and hangs past her waist. Behind her, the room is dimly lit. She looks down the hallway as if she thinks we might be setting a trap. “He’ll be here in four hours. You should have run yesterday.”
“May we come in?” Mari keeps her voice gentle. “Maybe we can help you.”
She stares at me and takes half a step back. “Why would you do that? I am the reason he found you, Mari.”
“Iamyou, Tilda. How long has he kept you?” Mari’s voice trembles, and she looks as if she’s seen a ghost.
Backing into the room, Tilda leaves the door open. “You can come inside, though only because he’s on an airplane and won’tbe here for hours. He’ll know you were here and know I can’t be lured away. It could be good for me.”
Mari crosses the threshold and studies the sparse room. A small desk lamp is the only light. No personal items anywhere, just a standard hotel room with two neatly made queen beds. “How long?”
It’s a tight squeeze, but I manage to get through the door and almost hit my head on a sprinkler head.
At the curtained windows, Tilda peeks through the gap. The rain has gotten heavier. “Seven years, two months, and four days. I could give you hours and minutes, but you’d think me mad.”
“No. I wouldn’t. And he tracks you with something under your skin?” Mari is as direct as ever, but her voice is soft and kind.
Touching a spot behind her left ear, Tilda nods. Her shoulders slump.
There’s something not quite vampire about the woman. I can’t quite put my finger on it. “Were you human before?”
“I was, part of the time.” She wraps her arms around her waist and drags in an unsteady breath.
Interesting. A shifter? Whatever she was, she’s that and a vampire now.
Turning to Mari, she pleads, “Run. I don’t want to be responsible for what he’ll do to you. He’s obsessed with you.”
“Only because I managed to get away from him.”
“All these years, he’s searched. You might have stayed clear of him if you hadn’t gone to a monster-friendly town. He sent me to America six months ago. I’d been to thirty towns before I found you in Harmony Glen. I knew it was you the moment I saw you. He has a painting done in 1890. He keeps it in the parlor.”
“Why didn’t you call him right away?” Mari asks.
Facing us, Tilda sits on the corner of the bed. “Once I called, my little taste of freedom would be over. I ran out of lies to tell him. It was clear he was getting suspicious. He threatened to come and show me how a search is conducted. That was a week ago. I left town for a while to keep him off the track. If I’d stayed in Harmony Glen for a month, he would know.” She touches the spot where the tracker was implanted in her neck. “I’m sorry. I know you’ve found something good here. I wish…”
Mari rushes over to her and wraps her arms around her. “You are not to blame. I don’t know how, but it will be alright. This is not your fault, Tilda. Let us help you. After all, we’re sisters in a way.”
“No one can help me. I’m an abomination. You don’t know, but I am.” She pushes out of Mari’s arms. “Get out. You could still get a few hours away.”
“He’d follow my scent now that I’ve been here.” Mari lets out a long sigh. “I can’t run. I have a life here and love.” She reaches for me, and I take her hand.
My heart feels as if it’s going to explode out of my chest.
Looking from me to Mari, Tilda’s eyes fill, and tears roll down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”
There has to be a way to save this woman. “Can you sell the story that we came to convince you to betray Pierre, but you would never leave him?”
