"Well," the officer who had been pinned to the wall said as his partner disappeared upstairs with Pudge. He turned to survey Rachel and Etienne, then his attention focused on Rachel. "I gather this is where you disappeared to from work a week ago?"
Rachel glanced at Etienne as she felt him standing tense beside her. She knew what he wanted her to say. He and his whole family wanted her to claim that Pudge had brought her here that night over a week ago. It wasn't true, though, and she was a lousy liar. She hesitated briefly, considering her options. The man had kidnapped her. She certainly hadn't come here from Etienne's place willingly. On the other hand, she couldn't explain where she had been for the past week without there being questions that would be difficult to answer. Rachel decided to be honest but cagey.
"Pudge kidnapped me, brought me here, and held me against my will," she admitted solemnly, and felt Etienne relax beside her. She almost turned to ask him why he was relaxing; they weren't out of the woods yet. But she caught herself as the officer nodded.
"How did he get you here, ma'am?"
Rachel hesitated, then said, "He came into the morgue wearing a trench coat over fatigues. He had a rifle and ax under the coat and was shouting something about vampires and such and..." She hesitated and glanced at Etienne again. He seemed to be holding his breath. Swallowing, she turned back and said, "I'm afraid my memory gets rather blurry after that. The next thing I can tell you is that I woke up here today chained to that wall. He was still rambling on about vampires and geeks, and he seemed fixated on Etienne's game."
"Game?" The policeman glanced between them in confusion.
"Etienne is the designer of Blood Lust," Rachel explained. "It's a vampire video game."
"Oh," the man said, but still appeared lost. "Okay, he was fixated on your game," he said to Etienne, then turned his gaze back to Rachel. "But if that's the case, why did he kidnap you and not him?"
"Because she's my girlfriend," Etienne said calmly.
Rachel added, "It was really quite confusing. Half the time he thought I was a vampire and Etienne was one too, then he thought he was one or wanted to be one. The fellow seems quite insane."
"Yeah. It would seem so," the blonde said dryly and shook his head. Then he told her, "Every cop in the city's been looking for you, ma'am. And him." He gestured toward the now empty stairs. "The girl who was supposed to replace your assistant arrived as this guy stormed into the hospital morgue. She went to find security, but they were dealing with another issue at the time and slow getting to your offices. The room was empty when they got there, and it was assumed the fellow had taken you." He shook his head. "She did a pretty good job of describing him too. They did a police sketch and put it on all the news shows. I don't know why no one picked up on it being this guy. He's a dead ringer for his picture."
Rachel nodded but remained silent, afraid to draw any more questions from the man. Fortunately, he turned his attention to Etienne to ask, "How did you end up here today, sir? The next-door neighbor said you came in and set her free, but she didn't seem to know who you were."
Etienne hesitated, then said, "I've been quite concerned about Rachel since she disappeared. I spotted Pu--this guy while I was waiting at a streetlight. He was driving a van. I recognized him from the pictures on the news and followed him here," he lied blandly.
Etienne was very good at lying, Rachel noted with interest. She supposed it shouldn't surprise her. He'd had over three hundred years to perfect his technique.
"You should have called the police at once," the officer said with disapproval.
"I intended to," Etienne assured him solemnly. "But I wanted a closer look at the guy. I didn't want to raise a false alarm. By the time I parked, he was out of his van and had entered the house. I peeked in a couple of windows, hoping to get a better look at him, but he must have gone straight downstairs. I came around the back of the house and found that window--"
Rachel followed his gesture and noted with some surprise that there were indeed windows in the basement. She hadn't noticed them before, but they hadn't been unblocked to allow sunlight in earlier. She supposed one of the buttons Pudge had pushed had uncovered the windows as well as turning on the sunlamps. She wondered what Pudge had made of the fact that they hadn't burst into flames the moment the sunlamps and sunlight hit them as he had no doubt expected.
"When I looked in and saw Rachel chained up down here, all I could think of was getting in to her. I forgot all about calling you. I could see the coffin, and the old lady. Not to mention the fellow dancing around in a cape and fake teeth." Etienne shook his head. "It was obvious he was crazy and I was afraid to leave the women alone. So when the back door turned out to be unlocked, I slid inside and crept down here to free them."
"Well, I guess I can understand your concern, but you really should have called us," the officer grumbled. "The old lady said she was tied up, but that Ms. Garrett was chained and you couldn't free her. How--?"
The question died midsentence and the officer appeared confused for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice sounded almost robotlike. "Well, that's enough questions for now, I suppose. You've been through enough. We should get you out of here."
Rachel arched an amused eyebrow at Etienne. It was pretty handy to be able to control people's minds. She really had to learn that skill, she decided.
"After you." Etienne's grin was unrepentant as he gestured for her to lead the way upstairs. He obviously felt no shame at using his skills so shamelessly. And frankly, she couldn't blame him. She was exhausted and starving. The sunlamps, on top of her original hunger, were making her body cramp with need. Getting back to his place and partaking of blood was the only thing on her mind right then.
Rachel managed the stairs on her own, but it was slow and wearying. By the time they left the house she was swaying slightly on her feet, and Etienne put out his hand to steady her as they crossed the lawn.
"We'll have to call an ambulance to take you to the hospital, Ms Garrett. You look in pretty bad shape." the officer said, taking in her weakness and pallor. "Has he fed you at all since taking you?"
"No," Rachel answered, grateful she was able to be honest.
"I'll see her to the hospital," Etienne announced and the hypnotic tone of his voice told Rachel he was digging inside the officer's mind again. He was probably planting the suggestion that his seeing her there was the better option, she thought.
"That will be fine, sir," the officer agreed. "My partner should have already called for backup to come and collect our friend there." He gestured toward the vehicle where Pudge stood, still vehemently trying to convince the dark-haired officer that Etienne and Rachel were the bad guys, while he was trying to save the world from their soulless selves.
"We'll meet you at the hospital. If the doctor says you're okay, you might have to come to the station while we type up your statements."
"That'll be fine," Etienne agreed, as if he had some say in the matter. Which, she supposed, he did. He could probably wipe the memory of their presence from their thoughts had he wished, but then, this all worked to his benefit. Pudge was no longer going to be a threat to him or any of his clan.
Including herself. The thought ran through Rachel's mind, and she recognized at once that it wasn't her own. Her gaze slid to the van parked on the street as Etienne finished talking to the officer and took her arm to lead her toward the vehicle. She recognized his brothers sitting in the front seat but was sure neither of them had been the voice in her head. It had been a woman's thought placed there. Rachel wasn't terribly surprised when Etienne slid the side door open to reveal Marguerite seated on the bench seat.