And now ... now he'd been close to Poppy. He'd touched her mind, and had found that she was even braver and more gallant than he'd thought; even more compassionate-and more vulnerable.
He wanted to be that close to Poppy again. He cared about her in a way that made his throat ache. He belonged with Poppy.
He also r ealized that tha t might not be enough.
Sharing blood forged a powerful bond between two people. It would be wrong of him to take advantage of that bond-or of Poppy's gratitude to him. Until he was sure that Poppy's mind was clear and her decisions were her o wn, he shou ld keep a little distance. It was the only honorable thing to do.
"The last thing I want to do is hurt her," he repeated. "Why can't you believe that?" He made a half-hearted attempt to capture Phil's gaze as he said it . It fa iled, just as it had in the hospital. Phillip seemed to be one of those rare humans who couldn't be influenced by mind co ntrol.
"Why can't I believe it? Because I know you. You and your-girlfriends." Phil managed to make the word so und like a curse. "You go through six or seven a year-and when you're through with them, you dump them like trash."
James was distracted briefly by amusem ent, because Phil was dead on. He needed six girlfriends a year. After two months the bond between them became dangerously strong.
"Poppy's not my girlfriend and I'm not going to dump her," he said, pleased at his own cleverness. He'd avoided an outright lie-Poppy wasn't his girlfriend in any normal sense. They'd merged their souls, that was all-they hadn't talked about dating or anything.
"So you are telling me you're not gonna try to put the moves on her. Is that it? Because you'd better be sure." As he spoke, Phil did what was probably the most dangerous thing he'd ever done in his life. He grabbed James by the front of the shirt.
You stupid human, James thought. He briefly considered breaking every bone in Phil's hand. Or picking Phil up and throwing him across the garage into somebody's windshield.
Or ...
"You're Poppy's brother," he said through his teeth. "So I'm going to give you a chance to let go."
Phil stared into his face a moment, then let go, looking slightly shaken. But not shaken enough to keep quiet.
"You have to leave her alone," he said . "You don't understand.
This disease she's got it's serious. She doesn't need anything messing up her life right now. She just needs . . ." He stopped and swallowed.
Suddenly James felt very tired. He couldn't blame Phil for being upset-Phil's mind was full of crystalclear pictures of Poppy dying. Usually James got only general images about what humans were thinking, but Phillip was broadcasting so loud it nearly deafened him.
Half-truths and evasions hadn't worked. It was time for Outright Lies. Anything to satisfy Phil and get James away from this.
"I know that what Poppy has is serious," he said. "I found an article about it on the Net. That's why I was here, okay? I feel sorry for her. I'm not interested in Poppy except as a friend, but it makes her feel better if I pretend that I like her."
Phillip hesitated, looking at him hard and suspiciously. Then he shook his head slowly. "Being friends is one thing, but it's wrong to mix her up. In the end, pretending isn't going to do her any good. I don't even think it makes her feel better now-she looked pretty bad in there."
"Bad?"
"Pale and shaky. You know Poppy; you know how she gets overexcited about things. You shouldn't be fooling arou nd with her emotions." He narrowed his eyes and said, "So maybe you'd better stay away from her for a while. Just to make sure sh e hasn't go t the wrong idea."
"Whatever," James said. He wasn't really listening.
"Okay," Phillip said. "We have a deal. But I'm warning you, if you break it, you're in trouble."
James wasn't listening to that, either. Which was a mistake.
In the darkened hospital room Poppy lay and listened to her mother's breathing.
You're not asleep, she thought, and I'm not asleep. And you know I'm not, and I know you're not....
But they couldn't talk. Poppy wanted desperately to let her mother know that everything was going to be all right-but how? She couldn't betray James's secret. And even if she could, her mother wouldn't believe her.
I have to find a way, Poppy thought. I have to. And then a great wave of drowsiness overtook her. It had been the longest day in her life, and she was full of alien blood already working its strange magic in her. She couldn't ... she just couldn't ...
keep her eyes open.
Several times during the night a nurse came in to take her vital signs, but Poppy never really woke up. For the first time in weeks, no pain interrupted her dreams.
She opened her eyes the next morning feeling confused and weak. Black dots swarmed through her vision when she sat up.
"Hungry?" her mother asked. "They left this breakfast tray for you."
The smell of hospital eggs made Poppy feel nauseated. But because her mother was watching her anxiously, she played with the food on the tray before she went to was h up. In the bathroom mirror she examined the side of her neck. Amazing-there was no trace of a mark.
When she came out of the bathroom, her mother was crying.
Not floods of tears, not sobbing. Just dabbing her eyes on a Kleenex. But Poppy couldn't stand it.
"Mom, if you're worried about telling me ... I know."
The whole sentence was out before Poppy could even think about it.
Her mother's head jerked up in horror. She stared at Poppy with more tears spilling. "Sweetheart-you know ... ?"
"I know what I've got and I know how bad it is," Poppy said.
If this was the wrong strategy, it was too late now. "I listened when you and Cliff were talking to the doctors."
"Oh, my Lord."
What can I say? Poppy wond ered. It's okay, Mom, because I'm not going to die; I'm going to become a vampire. I hope. I can't be sure, because sometimes you don't make it through the transformation. But with any luck, I should be sucking blood in a few weeks.
Come to think of it, she hadn't asked James exactly how long it would take to change her.
Her mother was taking deep, calming breaths. "Poppy, I want you to know how much I love you. Cliff and I will do anything-anything-we can to help you. Right now he's looking into some clinical protocols-those are experimental studies where they test new ways of treating people. If we can just .. .