Blood Debt

Chapter 6

Sam hadn't asked. He'd been afraid to because he already knew what the answer was. Once a human drank vampire blood, they were turned. He'd read Elkin's journal cover-to-cover and no way had ever been found to return them to human. Sam could only pray that Kate hadn't yet turned Dean.

They'd left the hotel in Atlanta as soon as the sun set that night. Detroit and Lenore rode with Sam in the Impala and Shelly and Eli followed in their Protégé. The first three hours had been straight driving, heading northwest. As they grew nearer to their target, Detroit struggled to find Thompson. They'd long since turned off the highway and they drove back and forth across old country roads, Detroit directing Sam down this road or that, sometimes indicating they needed to back-track, sometimes confirming they were getting closer. Sam could tell Detroit was having a harder and harder time of sensing where Thompson was as the night wore on.

"Sam," Lenore said from the back seat, "pull into that little motel up ahead."

He looked over his shoulder at her. "Is something wrong?" he asked as he slowed the Impala and clicked on the turn signal. He swallowed back his yawn. He'd run out of coffee hours ago and stayed awake by sheer force of will and a desperate hope of finding Dean this very night. He didn't want to think his brother would have to endure yet another day in the clutches of Kate.

She laid a hand on Detroit's shoulder. "Detroit can't keep this up without food. We didn't have a chance to eat before we left for your hotel. There was a farm not too far from here. We can take one of the cows and that should get us by for a few days."

Detroit gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks, Lenore. I am getting hungry, and," he paused and glanced over at Sam, "you're really not helping."

"What?" Sam asked. "What am I doing wrong?" He'd been trying to keep quiet and follow any order Detroit gave him.

Detroit gave a wan smile. "You're human. You smell really, really good right now."

"Would...would it help if you had some human blood, Detroit?" Sam asked as he made the turn into the gravel parking lot and pulled into a spot beside an old Chevy pickup. A soft cloud of white dust kicked up by the tires sparkled in the headlights.

Detroit shook his head firmly. "No. I will not drink human blood ever again. I'll choke on anything else's blood, but never again on a human. I'll die first," he said. "But it doesn't change the fact that you smell like a feast and it's really beginning to distract me."

"He's young," Lenore said and squeezed Detroit's shoulder before letting her hand drop away. "He'd drain you without meaning to, Sam. He barely has control of his bloodlust. Even if he were willing to feed on you, the withdrawals from drinking human blood combined with trying to go back to feeding on animal blood makes it quite an ordeal and to put him through that again so soon after he came over would be cruel."

Sam looked back at Lenore as he put the car in park and shut off the engine. "When you drank my blood..."

She smiled gently. "Yes, Sam. It was a bitch. Eli got me through it because he knew how determined I am for us to keep this way of life."

"But you only took as much as you needed from me. You didn't drink that much, not really."

She solidly met his hazel gaze. "No, Sam. I took far more than I actually needed."

His eyebrows lifted in surprise, and sudden doubt came into his eyes.

She chuckled at his concern. "Be glad I'm in control of my bloodlust or you wouldn't be here now. It's foolish to offer to a vampire permission to feed. If we're well fed, it's easy enough to only take a bit. If we're desperate, we'll kill you, whether we mean to or not. The bloodlust is very hard to control, even for older vampires. It's like asking you not to breathe."