Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down Read Free Page B

The clothes and jewelry seemed to be Norse in design, and that was about it.  Afte r a while he talked himself out and lapsed into silence, snoring softly. 
    “Told ya,” she grinned, eyes flashing playfully.
    “Next time I’ll listen,” I returned her smile, scooting away from his bed.  “Anyway, the guy down in the morgue freaked out when I woke up, and there was someone there from the coroner’s office I think, they wanted to ask me a bunch of questions, and I sort of…”
    “ Bolted ?”
    “I didn’t mean to.  I know it was the wrong thing to do, but the door was right there, and I was still reeling from waking up like that .  S o , I took off and came here to find you.”
    “What do you think I can do?  I’m not a doctor.”  There was open scorn in her voice, not directed at me ; her opinion of doctors wasn’t high.  I have often questioned why she chose to work in the medical profession with such a bias , but she usually just swore and changed the subject .  It was her way, and I’d long ago stopped taking offense over it. 
    “No, I know you’re not a doctor , for Pete’s sake.  I’m in a hospital .  T here are doctors on every other floor if I wanted one.  I came to you to help me figure out what to do next.  Why, do you think I should see a doctor?”
    “What for?  Aren’t they the ones that put you in the morgue in the first place?” S he seemed skeptical.  “What are you in for?”
    “They said I died from blood loss and tissue damage on the neck.”  My hand automatically rose to touch my neck. 
    Her eyes widened enormously.  “ Shut up , are you kidding me right now? ”
    “No, I’m not kidding, why?” I blinked, not catching what she’d keyed in on.
    “Come here, I wanna see something.”  Dragging m e by the arm, she led me to the bathroom, snapping on the harsh, fluorescent lights.  My other arm rose protectively to shield my eyes from the bright light as she pulled me in front of the sink. 
    “What are you looking for?” I asked when she stared in dismay at our reflections in the mirror.  “ Blecch , I look awful , ” I scowled at myself, taking in the dried blood crusted in the underside of my hair. 
    “I can see you,” she sighed dejectedly .
    “Ye s , and I look awful.”   The artificial light made my skin sallow , and there were dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep. 
    “I guess you’re not a vampire then . ”
    “Was that a concern?” I laughed, more than a little amused at her expression in the mirror.
    “Oh come on, don’t tell me that’s not what you were thinking too.  Blood loss… neck trauma… it’s got vampire attack written all over it.”
    “ Okay, A - I don’t believe in vampires .  B, I’m pretty sure you have to drink their blood to turn into one .  A nd C, it depends on the reality you’re going for, some vampires have a reflection the same as anybody else.”
    “ Yeah , that kind of sounds like you believe in vampires,” she snickered , and I admit, I ha ve read my fair share of vampire novels.  I even had friends who liked to dres s up and play v ampire games once a month on the full moon.  I tried to point out once that the full moon didn’t have any bearing on vampire lore, but they ignored me.  “Maybe you did drink a vampire’s blood and don’t remember it?” She tried to force my mouth open and I slapped her hand away a little harder than I meant to.
    “ Eewh , I’m pretty sure that’s the kind of thing I would remember.”
    “Why?  You didn’t remember playing dress up with a Viking stalker.” She nursed her hand close to her body. 
    Bridget had a point, but it was one I didn’t feel like acknowledging yet , so I changed the subject .  “ Do you think you can get me something to change into?   This dress is making me itch, and I’m probably likely to attract less attention if I’m not dressed like a zombie.” 
    “Yeah, no prob,” she agreed readily enough.  “I’ll