Taming the Night (Creatures of the Night Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

himself but before he could stop he was falling. Down, down, down, into sweet oblivion. His last thought was of her smell. A phantom woman couldn’t have a smell that would linger. Vanilla and… maybe a hint of lavender.
     

Chapter Two
     
    Jerry came to in stages. First he became aware of the sawing in the next room. Then he felt a jack hammer beneath him. He groaned as he tried to move. He felt like he weighed a solid ton. Why was there construction going on in his house? Didn’t they know he had to work tonight? Plus, why would anyone be jack hammering in his house at all? And why was he so thirsty?
    He tried again to lift his arm and was a little more successful this time. He froze as he realized why his arm weighed so much. It was cast ed. He opened his eyes fully and tried to sit up. There was no hammering or sawing. He was hooked up to some machines that where beeping and whirring and his head was pounding. He groaned again at his failed attempt to sit up.
    “He’s awake. Go get a nurse.” He heard the words and recognized his Uncle Victor’s gruff voice. He tilted his head to see his uncle unfolding from the ridiculously small hospital chair. It looked as if he’d slept there.
    Tonya Mahan, his Uncle’s Secretary, rose from the chair she’d occupied on his left side, and gave his hand a squeeze. There were tears in her eyes. “Thank God you’re all right. We tried to call your mother but I guess she’s still on her cruise. I’ll be right back with a nurse. Do you need anything? How about some juice. Yes. Orange juice will fix you right up. I’ll be right back.”
    All Jerry could do was smile in her wake. Tonia thought that everything could be fixed with juice. Bad day? Have some juice. Sore throat? Have some juice. Nearly bitten by a deranged wolf bear… He closed his eyes with that thought. What the hell had happened out there? He couldn’t say for sure. Vanilla and lavender… had it all been a dream?
    A heavy hand landed on his shoulder and he flinched involuntarily as he opened his eyes. He saw care and concern in his uncle ’s gaze. He had never seen that look in his uncle’s face. “You okay son?”
    Jerry swallowed and realized that his throat was parched. “Nothing a little juice won’t fix.”
    This brought the customary smile back to his uncle’s face and Jerry could see some of the tension visibly lift from his shoulders. “You are okay if you can joke. You gave me the scare of my life. It was a bad crash.”
    Jerry felt as confused as he was sure he looked. “ There was… what happened to the… I… I mean there was a crash but... What about the… the biker. Was there any evidence of the biker fleeing the scene?”
    “Nothing. There were tracks crisscrossing that field. I heard the tape of your pursuit but you didn’t give much of a description of the perp. We have been searching for days and-”
    “Days? ” Jerry asked flabbergasted.
    “You’ve been asleep nearly two days. Sarah will have my head for not getting in contact with her. She’s on one of those damn Alaska n cruises and-”
    “There has b een no information on the biker in days?” Jerry asked in frustration.
    “Nope, even if there was I wouldn’t give him a hard time. I wanted to simply talk to him about the nature of the accident you were in. It looks like you took impact on the passenger ’s side door, but there was no other car at the scene when we got there. Your car flipped six times so there should have been some paint transfer, metal transfer, perhaps even transfer from the other guy going through his windshield and smacking into your unit on impact, but there’s nothing.”
    “Nothin g at all. No blood besides mine?” he asked incredulously. He tried to get a clear image in his mind of what happened but it was all… fuzzy.
    “Boy. This aint CSI. Even if we could pull some blood up besides yours , who’s would we check it against? The biker data pool? The guys who run into police cruisers