Page 64 of Starved Until Sunset

“Who?” the woman said. “You’re Daniel?”

Cody switched tactics, grasping the name she recognized. “Do you know Daniel?” He took a cautious step toward her. When she nodded, he smiled. “That’s me. Can I get you back inside the building? It’s dark outside now—time for you to be in bed.”

“I saw Daniel,” she said, looking away from him and out into the deeper darkness of the copse of trees. “He asked me to meet him here.”

“You know what? He told me he wasn’t going to make it tonight. Let me help you back inside.”

Sending out a prayer to whatever guardian angel he’d working overtime the last few years, Cody stepped off the hard surface of the parking lot onto the soft layer of old pine needles. A pine cone crunched under his boot, the sound like breaking bone. He licked his lips and swallowed the little spit he had left in his mouth as he approached her. The woman stood in place, one hand on the trunk of a tree and her eyes wide as she watched him approach.

When he was close enough, Cody looked around. Nothing else moved within the trees. He checked behind him, squinting a bit in the shine of the headlights. Only cars and trucks in the parking lot. Turning back to the woman, he jumped slightly when he found her standing right in front of him.

“Oh, shit!”

He took a couple of steps back, but stopped when he realized she had been reaching for him to steady her. Correcting his course, he grabbed her arm a moment before she would have fallen forward.

“Have you got me?” she asked in a wobbly voice.

“Yeah, I’ve got you. You’re okay.” Cody began leading her back to the parking lot. “You’re not going to bite me, are you?”

“I wouldn’t think so.” Her voice shook, and he could feel her arm trembling in his grip.

“That’s a relief.”

It took a long time for him to help her shuffle across the parking lot to the doors. Inside, the nurse was just returning to her desk, and she looked up in surprise.

“Roberta! Where did you go?” the nurse said, hurrying out from behind the desk.

“I was looking for Daniel. He told me to meet him outside.”

“Oh my goodness.” The nurse took her arm from Cody and gave him a tight smile. “Thank you.”

“Is Daniel her husband?” Cody asked.

“No, another resident. But they were kind of sweet on each other. He passed last week, unfortunately. Oh, what’s this?” The nurse gently turned Roberta’s arm and pushed up her sleeve. Two small wounds had scabbed over on her bony wrist. “Roberta, what happened?”

“I don’t know,” Roberta said, looking at them both with watery eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Cody gently touched her shoulder. “It’s all right. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Except go outside at night, which you know better about. Come on, let’s get this looked at and then get you into bed.” The nurse smiled at Cody. “Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome.” He gestured toward the doors. “Any way to lock that?”

“Lock it? Oh, no. It’s against fire code. But the sensor outside stops working at nine. Any visitors after that have to buzz to be let in.”

“Okay, that’s good. Maybe be extra vigilant tonight. That wound on her wrist looks like a bite mark. I think someone is hanging out around the building and biting people.”

“Biting people?” The nurse made a face. “Like a vampire?”

“Hey, weirder things have happened here,” Cody said.

She paled slightly. Apparently she’d heard the stories about old man Kelmer who had been a werewolf. “That’s a good point. I’ll tell the other nurses, too.”

“Please do. And my grandmother is Felicia Bower. I found her down by that side entrance about to let a stranger into the building. I didn’t get a good look at him, but you should definitely be alert.”

“I will. Thank you.”

“I’m tired,” Roberta said.