Thanks to everyone who has submitted reviews. I really appreciate the feedback. -Laurelin

Chapter 10

Four days later, 8 p.m., one hour west of Seattle

After two other greenhouses had turned Beth away with only advice to seek psychiatric help, she was starting to get a little discouraged. That is, until one of the employees at the last place she visited let drop the name of another business near Seattle that specialized in rare and unusual orchids. The young man had obviously been trying to help her and try to get her phone number at the same time, but his boss was not so pleasant and had threatened to call the police if she didn't leave.

So, an eighteen hour drive later and she had finally found this isolated little orchid haven with five minutes to spare until she was to meet with the owner. Why anyone would set up greenhouses here near Seattle with all the clouds and rain was beyond her, but then again, she wasn't the one doing a tidy business in selling potted plants for hundreds or thousands of dollars each. Uncommon Blossom was a rather average-looking set of greenhouses arranged around a central building that looked as if it were a hybrid of a residence and a utilitarian office space. Two dogs came around from the back of the house when she got out of her car on the gravel driveway, but they were friendly enough and walked by her side while she looked for the owner. Beth didn't see anyone around the front of the place, so she rang the doorbell of the residence half.

The two dogs sat quietly next to her and waited. Several minutes went by and Beth was starting to get worried, but finally a plain-looking woman in her late thirties opened the door and began rubbing the dirt off her hands with an equally dirty rag at her belt. Beth expected the dogs to run into the house as soon as the door opened, but instead they loped out into the yard again as soon as the woman shooed them off the step.

"Good evening. You must be Miss Myles. Very nice to meet you, I'm Camille." The voice was pleasant enough, but Beth couldn't help thinking this woman looked out of place here in the middle of proverbial nowhere. Something about the way she carried herself said "Jane Austen novel" and not "Starbucks".

"Please, call me Liz," Beth said.

"Do come in." Camille smiled and motioned for Beth to follow her as she walked into a living room furnished with an eclectic combination of antique and modern pieces, all of which in some way featured an image of an orchid. A room only a botanist could love. A stack of boxes, each completely covered in stickers saying "live plant" and "fragile" were set neatly in the doorway to the foyer. Several small plants without blooms were sitting in the windows, which she noticed from inside were hooked to a very advanced looking security system.

After Beth sat down in the offered plush chair, Camille brought out two large photo albums and set them on the table between them. "Thank you for meeting me so late in the evening," Camille began, "my days are usually quite busy tending the orchids and seeing to the business. Normally my sales are transacted only at shows, but it is my understanding that you are looking for a particularly rare variety?" Every so often Beth was able to catch a hint of an accent in Camille's speech, but nothing she could place definitively.

"Yes. It's called 'Night's Blood'. Have you heard of it? I willing to pay quite well for it." Beth said.

Camille flinched and sat back, her demeanor becoming instantly defensive. Bingo. "No, I can't say that I have. I'm sorry I can't help you, but if there's anything else you'd be interested in, feel free to look through the albums here."

Beth tried her best to look meek and apologetic. "I'm really sorry… I probably shouldn't have come. I admit that I know next to nothing about orchids, but it would mean the world to a friend of mine who had a terrible accident… and now she's in a kind of coma." She let Camille see some tears well up in her eyes. "She had wanted to find one of these orchids for months, and I hoped that if I could give her one it might help her wake up again, give her something to live for…"

"I'm sorry about your friend, but," Camille stood and tried to interrupt her, but Beth played the part of the distraught friend and let the whole story spill out before Camille could get a word in.

"She and her fiancé had both been drinking one night, well, he started the drinking and she tried it for the first time a little later, and I don't know what happened, but she passed out and didn't wake up," Beth continued. "Now, her fiancé is much older than she is and should have known better, but he was under some strange impression that it wasn't safe for him to take her to a hospital. She has to have blood transfusions all the time because she's so sick, they're the only thing keeping her from dying, and her fiancé blames himself because now they can't really be together forever if she's in a coma, and, and…" Now into full blown hysterics, Beth was grateful for her experience as president of the drama club in high school. The best lies are always closest to the truth.

Camille came over to where she was sitting with several tissues in hand, and just as Beth took them from her Camille pulled aside Beth's turtleneck and took a good look at the bite mark on the side of her neck. Then she stepped back, muttering something under her breath in French, but all Beth could pick out was "merde" several times. Finally, Camille looked at her and said in a heavier French accent that she had used originally, "you tell Lance or whichever member of his little 'family' you are working for, since that is not his mark on your neck, that I cannot and will not help him in this. Do you understand?" Out with the meek gardener and in with the really pissed off vampire.

Trying to reassure her, Beth said, "I'm not working for Lance, I swear to you. His sister Coraline was trying to re-create the orchid and make the compound for..."

In a flash Camille was in front of her, grabbing Beth by the throat with a hand that was stronger than any human hand ought to be, her eyes flickering to light blue almost like a flame. OK, you're a vampire, I get it. The grip wasn't tight enough to cut off her breathing, but there was no way she was moving from that spot either. Beth consciously tried to give in and avoid fighting back physically, as doing so might be the only way to convince Camille she wasn't the first sign of a larger threat. "Coraline is a liar and a thief, if it is her bidding that you do, then I pity you. Before I decide whether or not to kill you, you will answer a few questions for me, understand?"

Unconcerned about the threat, Beth slipped easily back into the part of her mind that was still and calm, the place where she could feel death waiting for her. There was a certain freedom in knowing she was going to die either way, with only the manner and timing up for discussion. "I understand," was her curt answer but it held no malice, and no fear.

Camille suddenly seemed to really see Beth for the first time and her voice gentled slightly. "What have you seen that you are not afraid? What have my kind done to you that I may close my hand around your throat and you remain indifferent?"

"Nothing," was all Beth could manage to say. Anything more was simply too complicated. Though she hated to admit it to herself, Mick had been kind to her, as a child and since she had been re-introduced to him that fateful night she saw him lurking in the shadows of a murder scene. Their last evening together had gone much differently than she expected, but with a week's distance from that night, Beth understood that Mick's intention was to avoid hurting her in any way, even though the outcome was the opposite.

Camille looked puzzled but released her hold. "Why are you here? Do you even know what you are asking of me?"

"Yes, I do," Beth replied. "and what I told you was true. My… master, tried to turn the woman he loved, but she never woke up. For over fifty years he has cared for her as she slept, hoping to bring her back at any cost. The compound made from the orchid might make her human again, and give him time to fix what went wrong, and if not he would welcome the chance for her live out her mortal life with him. I swear to you that I do not work for Lance, or Coraline, but I learned of the compound through Coraline's husband. Please, I need your help. I can pay."

Camille held out her hand to Beth while the blue fire danced in her eyes. "Give me your wrist."

Placing her wrist into Camille's hand, Beth offered up her blood. This is becoming too much of a habit. Doesn't anyone take cash anymore?

A fraction of a second later Camille was latched on to her wrist, and Beth had to consciously suppress the urge to pull away. The bite was sharp and stinging, not at all like the pleasure of Josef's bite, but not so painful after the initial breaking of the skin. Camille seemed to savor the few mouthfuls that she took, holding the blood in her mouth each time as Beth had seen done by aficionados of fine wine. The she pulled her mouth away slowly and licked the wounds several times, but she did not wait until the bleeding had stopped, nor did she release Beth's arm.

Remaining motionless seemed like best option given the circumstances. "Listen carefully to me, Beth Turner of Los Angeles. Your blood tells me all I need to know of you and your master, and both of those you would aid with the Night's Blood. But realize it is a deadly poison to those of us who have known what it is to be a creature of the night, for we may never again fully accept the limitations mortal life brings. The woman, however, she may be able to live out her human life with your master since she has known no other existence. As for you, the gift of immortality would cheat Death though he draws ever closer now, but he is patient and he will wait. Night's Blood would swiftly clear his path to you if you choose to deny him now." She bent down and licked off the trickles of blood that had run down to her fingertips and onto the floor before stepping back and releasing Beth's arm. Who else has been peeking into my mind while enjoying their meal?

Camille was distracted for a moment, as if listening to something Beth could not hear. "I will help you but you must do exactly as I say." Beth could only nod her agreement, just as the dogs outside began barking frantically. "If you have gotten this far, you must know that your blood and more will be needed to make the final mixture, but the secret of that was never entrusted to me."

A car door slammed just as Camille placed a new address label on one of the medium sized boxes by the door and thrust it into Beth's hands before gently pushing her through the now-open door. "Good night, my little one. See that your delivery arrives in good condition by noon tomorrow I might decide to keep you."

Beth tried to look casual and even happy as she walked to her car, passing the two men walking up the sidewalk without meeting their eyes. The chill that went through her as she walked past them made her wish she had met with Camille during the day. Beth didn't need supernatural senses to know they were both powerful vamps; she could feel their eyes on her as she walked past.

"Lance, and your little flunky too," Camille provided the distraction so Beth could get to her car without further scrutiny. "We had an agreement, or had you forgotten?" The dogs continued to growl at the two new arrivals but kept their distance.

Lance was suddenly at the doorway with Camille, but his companion kept his eyes on Beth as if waiting for a signal. "Always a pleasure to see you too, Joséphine." Lance's voice sent shivers down Beth's spine. "I have decided to alter our agreement."

The man sounded too sure of himself for Beth's comfort, and after all the driving she had done, she was never as grateful as she was now to be getting into her car. After the door was closed she could no longer hear the conversation, but a quick glance told her it wasn't getting any friendlier between the vampires. The second man watched Beth as she pulled out of the driveway, and she knew she'd have to get rid of her car at the next available opportunity. Personal attention from Lance his silent friend was not something Beth ever wanted to experience first hand, of that she was certain. For a moment she worried about Camille, or Joséphine, being left alone with those two, and then about how she would secure enough of the Night's Blood to provide a mortal lifetime of compound if something happened to the woman. Beth knew she wouldn't have enough time left to find a second source, if there even was such a thing.

The sound of gunshots rang out into the night just as the car reached the main road, headed for I-82 and Salt Lake City.

Beth knew she could no longer afford the luxury of looking back.