The Vampire Obsession

Chapter 8

Evelyn

“You were lucky,” the nurse said with the needle inside me, finishing suturing the wound on my arm. “That stab could have made you lose movement in your right hand temporarily, or even forever. Lucky for you it was only a superficial cut and didn’t penetrate any joint.”

She gave me a reassuring smile, as if that were information that was supposed to comfort me.

It would have calmed anyone else, I was sure.

However, it only made me feel even more unstable and suspicious.

If the Ripper wounded me a few centimeters from a lethal injury, it was because he knew exactly what he was doing. That man was the most wanted killer in the country and had a long list of deaths in his record.

There were no coincidences or slips in the way he operated.

That was his method of letting me know what he could have done to me that night. Although he chose to spare me, for some insane reason. Maybe it was part of the bloody game he had started with me.

Our chase did not end in that clearing. It had only just begun.

“Lucky me.” I forced my lips to curve upward.

I didn’t need a mirror to know the smile didn’t reach my eyes.

The nurse had just covered my stitches with gauze when the emergency room door burst open.

Alan stormed into the room with hard steps like a lion. His eyes wandered desperately over the beds until he found me, then his shoulders dropped in relief.

“You’re going to be the death of me, girl.”

“Good to see you too, Alan.” This time, my smile was genuine.

The nurse looked between us, unsure of what she should do. He nodded firmly, pointing to the badge on his chest, even though he was in casual clothes and not his police uniform.

“I’ll leave you alone.” She hurried to stand up, but before leaving she looked at me. “You’re already discharged, Evelyn Cross.”

I nodded in thanks.

As soon as she left, Alan pulled the curtain beside my bed, isolating us from the rest of the room.

“What the hell were you doing facing him alone in the forest, damn it?”

“I had to go.”

I shifted into a sitting position on the bed, doing my best not to move my injured arm too abruptly. I hoped my stitches would heal fast. It was damn lucky that my right arm had been hit and not the left. If I needed to go back into the field, at least I wouldn’t be completely useless with a gun.

Except there was no luck in any of this.

He knew what he was doing, I repeated to myself.

“I had to go,” I reinforced, standing up and grabbing my jacket tossed over the bed. Alan came to my side, helping me put it on. “The bastard got my cell phone number and called me late at night saying that if I didn’t show up there, he would kill the officer. I had no choice. By the way, I need you to track the call. Notify the IT team immediately. And keep an eye out for any patient who might show up at a city emergency room with a stab wound to the flank. I wasn’t the only one who walked out of that forest injured.” I turned to him, looking into his eyes. “What’s the officer’s condition?”

“He’s better than you,” he said, walking with me as we left the room behind and entered the hospital’s saturated white corridor.

The fluorescent lights made it impossible to stay in that environment any longer. I needed to get the hell out of that place as soon as possible.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“Then stop analyzing me like a bloodhound.”

He snorted, turning his face away in disgust.

“Despite some bruises where the ropes were tied around him, the officer doesn’t have any injuries.”

“How…” I shook my head, skeptical.

“I’m starting to suspect that the Ripper might have knocked him out with hypnosis, like some damn Cirque du Soleil magician. It’s the only plausible explanation, since the toxicology results didn’t reveal any substance in his system.”

That made no sense.

“There’s something very wrong, he doesn’t act like that.”

“I know, but you’ve made him unpredictable. His methods can’t be predicted from now on.” Suddenly, he stopped walking, forcing me to stop too. The soles of my combat boots let out a sharp squeak against the polished hospital floor. Alan stared at me with a grave expression. “What really happened tonight? Tell me the truth.”

“He just wanted to provoke and humiliate me.” I shuddered, remembering everything that happened in that clearing. “And when I went at him…” A stab to his flank. Another to my arm. Him tasting my blood. A promise. I will find you again, Evelyn. “He’s insane, Alan.”

“He didn’t kill you.”

“He stabbed me, for f**k’s sake. One more centimeter and I’d have lost movement in my right arm forever.”

“But he didn’t kill you, Evelyn. It’s the second time you’ve met him and he lets you escape. It’s almost like he enjoys playing with you.”

They might think we’re in love.

I shook my head to myself, pushing away any memory of his rough voice whispering atrocities in my ear.

“Where are you going with that unfortunate observation?”

“If you were anyone else under my command, I’d use that opening to our advantage in the operation. But I watched you grow up, Michael was my best friend. I can’t treat you like just another pawn. That’s why I’m asking you to pack all your things and get out of this city tonight.”

Again with that bullshit.

I rolled my eyes and turned my back on him, walking toward the exit. The cool air of dawn welcomed me as soon as I pushed the heavy metal doors and stepped into the parking lot.

“You want me to quit right now? Are you going to open a witness protection case in my name?” I let out a laugh without a trace of humor. “I thought we already had this conversation.”

“That was before tonight,” he continued, following me. “I can’t protect you from him. I need to send you away, it’s for your own safety!”

“I already said I don’t need your protection. I wasn’t the only one who got hurt in that fight, Alan.” I shot him a sharp look over my shoulder. “We fought on equal terms. I stabbed him too, I know I can end him.”

“You could have died tonight.”

“I can die at any moment, it’s the risk I run just by being alive. You’re not taking me off this operation now that I’m closer than ever to catching him. I’m not leaving Grimwood until I reach the end of this chase.”

“Are you sure you’re not hiding anything from me, Evelyn?”

I turned my face forward, determined to ignore him until he gave up trying to pry an answer out of me.

Alan fired curses behind me.

“If you want to stay in the operation, at least promise me one thing.”

“What?”

Alan took his wallet from his back pocket and opened it in front of me.

“Are you trying to bribe me with money? Depending on the amount, it might even work,” I said ironically, but seriously considering the option as I remembered my miserable salary as a researcher.

However, instead of a dozen bills, what he offered me was a paper card.

With a mix of distrust and curiosity, I took it in my hands.

“Dr. Rayson?” I frowned when I saw the name on the card.

“He’s my psychologist and the one for other officers in the department. The best in the city. Stay in the investigation with us, but at least have some follow-up while you do it. Someone to talk to about your troubled past. I know you’re closed off, you’d rather suffer alone than show vulnerability to anyone. But you enter the minds of psychopaths for a living, you should know better than I do how much you need therapy.”

I shrank internally. Entering the minds of killers was infinitely easier than having my own mind analyzed by someone else. I believed in therapy, but not for someone with my mental baggage.

“I’ll think about it,” I murmured with my head down, getting into my car and slamming the door.

He remained outside the vehicle even when I turned the key in the ignition. I had no choice but to lower the window and look back at him.

Alan had his arms crossed over his chest and stared into the interior of my car as if searching for something.

“Where’s your gun, Evelyn?”

“The Ripper took it,” I admitted against my will. The words left the taste of my failure on my tongue, as if I needed one more reminder besides what was already marked on my skin.

Alan nodded stiffly, then pulled his own gun from his holster and handed it to me.

I held it with a loose grip, waiting for him to laugh in my face, say it was all a joke and take it back.

But that didn’t happen.