“Fine,” his sister said, but the pain in her expression and her rejected posture had him forgetting about Tami for a second and disliking Eric even more.
If the guy stood his sister up, he’d better not show his ugly face back at the cabin before they left tomorrow, because Chase would tell him what he thought. Then he might get Baxter after his butt.
***
They all ordered hot dogs—two for him and one for each of the girls—with extra mustard and one order of nachos. Since his dad had slipped Chase three twenties before getting out of the car, he picked up the bill. He kind of liked paying for Tami. It made it almost feel like a date. Of course, if it were a date, she might be holding his hand and he might be trying to figure out how to sneak a kiss. But not wanting to be disappointed, he tried not to think about it too much.
They sat at an empty picnic table set out for the festival. Tami, who’d borrowed Mindy’s phone because hers had lost juice, was trying to call her parents, but for some reason couldn’t get the call to go through. He studied her under his lashes, noticing little things. Like the shape of her lips or the way she messed with her hair.
“We must have a bad connection here,” she said and set the phone down.
She had chosen to sit beside him and not beside Mindy. Was he over-reading her every move? Or was it possible she had a thing for him, too?
A group of vampires … several of the ones they’d charged past in their search for Eric, sat at the picnic table next to them.
Mindy, as if seeing them for the first time, stared and then shuddered. She leaned down and spoke in a whisper. “They’re freaky, don’t you think?”
Chase looked at the group of teens. They must have lost their werewolf friends, because these were all dressed in black, probably doused with some kind of white powder to make them appear extra pale, and wore fake fangs. One of the guys had a few drops of fake blood running down his chin and one girl had what looked like bite marks on her neck.
“There has to be some costume contest going on,” Chase said. Not that these guys were going to win, Chase thought. “Did you see that zombie with the skin hanging off his face? He almost looked real.”
“They’re still freaky,” Mindy said, and cut her eyes back to the table of vampires.
“You’ve been reading too many novels,” Chase said and took his first bite of hot dog. The spicy mustard filled his taste buds and reminded him how hungry he really was. But even starved, he stopped himself from poking the whole thing in his mouth, the way he might have done if he was just with his guy friends. The last thing he wanted to do was look like a pig in front of the girl of his dreams.
“No,” Mindy said, and scooped up a chip dripping with cheese and sliced jalapeños. “It’s not the books. I’ve been reading too many of Dad’s reports.”
Chase picked up his soda. “Reports?”
“His medical reports,” she said. “I went by his work a couple of weeks ago and he was with a patient so I went and waited for him in his office.” She leaned in and spoke quietly. “There was a file open on his desk and it was about some virus that made people crave blood. Human blood.”
Tami almost choked on a nacho. “So you’re saying that vampires actually exist?”
“No, I didn’t say that,” Mindy said. “I’m saying a virus exists that makes people crazy and they want to drink blood. You can call it anything you want.”
Chase chuckled. “I think you just read it wrong.”
“I didn’t,” Mindy said. “I mean, maybe it was about one of his patients in the loony house, but …”
“Dad’s a nephrologist, meaning a kidney doctor, not a shrink. His patients aren’t in the loony house.”
Mindy took a big sip of her drink and rolled her eyes at Chase’s disbelief. “Hey … I’m just telling you what I read.”
“To be fair,” Tami said, “crazy people could have bad kidneys. I don’t think kidney disease is prejudiced against the mentally unstable.”
Chase chuckled, and studied the girl’s sassy smile. That’s part of what he liked about Tami, she said some of the most unexpected things. “I guess they could,” he admitted.
Tami picked up a chip and Chase realized how great it was just being here. With her. Watching her eat. He bet he could watch her clip her toenails and be happy.
“You know,” Tami said. “I heard once that there are bars that actually cater to people who want to drink blood. Yuk! What kind of person would drink blood?”
“The kind that’s really thirsty,” a dark voice said at the end of the table.
They all turned to the voice. Eric stood there, tall, but not as tall as Chase. And blond.
His sister stared up at him with some kind of love-struck grin. “Anyone ever tell you that you look like Josh Holloway?” his sister asked.
“Yeah, all the time.” Eric grinned. “I’m lost. You wanna find me?”
What? That was so lame! But Mindy smiled. Chase sneaked a peek at Tami. And while she did seem to be admiring the guy, she didn’t look nearly as taken as his sister. Perhaps she preferred dark-haired guys over blonds. He could hope.
“So you made it,” Eric said, his gaze locked on Mindy.
“I told you I would,” his sister said, a goofy smile still plastered on her face. Holy crap, he hoped he didn’t smile at Tami that way.
Eric looked over at the other table and called out a greeting to a couple of the vampires eating pizza. Then he looked back at their table and finally acknowledged Chase and Tami. Chase nodded a hello. Picking up his hot dog, he tried to push away his aversion for the guy. Like it or not, it appeared as if they would be spending the rest of the afternoon with him. But when he looked back and found Eric staring at his sister as if he’d found a present and was ready to unwrap it, Chase wasn’t sure he could push his dislike—or his distrust—of the guy aside.
That was okay, he’d just have to pretend. But one thing was for sure, he wasn’t going to let Eric get his sister alone. Something about this guy just smelled like trouble.
Chase didn’t like trouble.
November 1, 10 a.m.
News Flash
Emergency crews head out hoping to find survivors
Three Search and Rescue (SAR) teams, as well as volunteers with the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) trained in emergency care, started their trek up Mount Jacobs hoping to arrive at the wrecked Cessna 210 carrying Dr. Tallman’s family and family friend, Tami Collins. According to Jake Steins, who has led several similar rescue missions in this area, it is still questionable if they can get to the wreckage in the current weather conditions. If all goes well, they expect to arrive at the crash site in six to eight hours.