Greg took her arm, his gaze searching for and finding a clock over the ticket counters. He noted the time with relief. "It's four-fifteen. Can we call your friend now?"
"Yes."
"Neither of us has a cell phone, or change for a pay phone," he pointed out. "Can you put the whammy on someone and make them loan us their cell phone?"
"Yes, but I think I'll ask first," Lissianna murmured, and started across the theatre lobby.
Greg trailed after her, unsure where she was going until Lissianna stopped by a man just disconnecting and putting his cell phone away. He found his shoulders straightening and his chest puffing a bit as he noted the guy could have been a GQ model. He had short blond hair, blue blue eyes, and was built like someone who worked out, but not so much he would become muscle-bound.
He's probably gay, Greg thought to himself, and scowled when the guy smiled with interest at Lissianna as she stopped before him.
Greg was still far enough away that he didn't hear what she said as she asked to use his phone, but he saw the hes-itant look that crossed Mr. GQ's face. Cheap bastard, Greg thought with satisfaction.
"It's a local call and I'll be quick," he heard Lissianna assure Mr. GQ as he drew closer. "I just need to call a friend to pick me up."
"Yeah, okay," Mr. GQ didn't sound too enthusiastic, but he did dig the phone out of his pocket. He even managed a smile as he handed it over.
"Thank you very much." Lissianna took the phone. "I really appreciate this."
"Always happy to help a beautiful lady." the guy said lightly, apparently deciding to make the most of it now that he'd agreed.
Oh please, Greg thought irritably. He paused behind Lissianna and put his hand on her shoulder in a possessive move that even he was surprised at. His shame at this sign of jealousy was replaced by satisfaction when he saw the disappointment on GQ boy's face as he realized Lissianna wasn't alone.
Ignoring the man, Greg turned to peer at Lissianna as she punched in a number and lifted the phone to her ear. She waited. And waited. She then bit her lip, her eyebrows drawing together as she appeared to listen to something on the other end. Greg guessed it was probably the answering machine when she said, "Debbie, if you're there, please pick up."
She waited again, then said, "I guess you aren't there. I'll call back later."
"No luck, huh?" Mr. GQ asked as Lissianna disconnected and handed back the phone.
"No, but thanks," Lissianna murmured.
"Thank you," Greg added, and took Lissianna's arm to lead her out of the theatre. He waited until they'd joined the shoppers on the Path before asking, "Do you think she's still sleeping and has the phone's ringer turned off, or has she gone out?"
"I don't know," Lissianna admitted, she sounded distracted. Her attention was focused on examining the faces in the crowd around them. It reminded him of their earlier near miss with the vampire Valerian. She was obviously concerned about being spotted again.
"We have to come up with somewhere safer to wait until we can reach your friend Debbie," he said.
"Yes."
She sounded tired, and he frowned with worry. Now that they were out of the dim theatre, he could see just how pale she was. She was also starting to appear gaunt, as if the nanos were running low on blood, so had turned to eating away at any fat in her system, and he wondered if they could do that. He forgot all about the question when he took a closer look at her face. She was gritting her teeth, and there were small lines by the corners of her eyes, signs of pain. She was suffering.
"You have to feed," he murmured, moving closer to her as he spoke so that he wouldn't be overheard.
"What do you suggest?" Lissianna's voice was expressionless. She was asking what he was willing for her to do and that was when Greg realized that if he hadn't been with her, she would have fed hours ago. Actually, if it weren't for him, she wouldn't be in this position at all, he acknowledged, but it seemed rather obvious to him now that she had refrained from munching on a passing shopper to keep from upsetting him.
"Feed," Greg said firmly.
She paused to peer up at him uncertainly. "Really?"
Greg nodded as he urged her to the side, out of the way of passersby. "You already told me you don't take more than a little per person. They won't miss it, and you need it, so go to the ladies' room and find a donor... or three," he added thinking she probably needed more like six or seven people, but she would know better herself. "I'll wait in the food court."
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For understanding," she said simply.
He shrugged. "I'm starting to think of it like hemophilia, Lissianna. You just use a different type of intravenous and bypass the blood bank."