Vampire, Hunter. Maria Arnt
voice came over the phone.
"Okay, Mom. Do you have the directions to the hotel?" she asked.
"Yes..." she didn't sound very happy about it. "I was thinking, how about I just find a parking space at the edge of town and take the L to where you're staying?" Her mom absolutely hated driving in busy places. She always made someone else drive when they went to St. Louis, so Tanya couldn't imagine how intimidating Chicago would be to her.
"It's an idea," she said reluctantly. "It'll probably be expensive to park your car there, and we'll have to drag the stuff we buy all over town, though."
"Well that will just keep us from buying too much!" her mother laughed.
"All right." Tanya chuckled too. "I'll come meet you at the station." She gave her the name of the stop where she should get off. After she hung up, she sighed and leaned her head back into the car seat.
What had she been thinking, agreeing to let her mom come visit her in Chicago? Tanya had put her off for as long as she could, but then yesterday her mom had called to say that her friend Anne was covering her shift on Friday so she could come up. How was she supposed to say no to that?
Sure, this wasn't exactly the most dangerous mission she'd ever been on, but then again, maybe it was. If this Seth guy really was a vampire, then he was a damn powerful one. What if he figured out she was trailing him, asking questions?
It's just for the weekend, she reminded herself, and started the car.
"Mom, over here!" Tanya shouted, recognizing her mother's distinctive platinum blonde hair in the crowd. Julie dyed it now, but her hairdresser did a good job, and it was the same shade Tanya remembered from her childhood.
"Tanya!" Julie made her way through the crowd so she could hug her daughter, her overnight bag bumping into Tanya’s hip.
"How was the drive?" Tanya asked.
"Ugh," her mother shook her head. "Long. I'm stiff all over. Let's go drop off my stuff and then get walking somewhere!"
"Sure, where should we go first?" Tanya asked, taking her mom's bag and putting it on her own shoulder. The hotel she'd checked into the night before was only a couple blocks away.
"Well, actually, I was wondering if we could go look at that museum you were telling us about?" Julie said hopefully. "Before we get all bogged down with shopping bags, you know."
Tanya stared at her, and nearly tripped over a street musician. "What?"
"I was talking to Sherry," Julie explained. Her friend Sharon was a psych nurse, and often doled out advice to the other nurses when they got lunch or coffee together. "She said that maybe I should try to understand your work a little better. I think she's right, I don't give you enough credit for all the effort you put into it," she patted her daughter's arm affectionately.
Great, Tanya groaned inwardly. Of course Mom would pick the perfect time to decide to bond and be interested in my 'work.' She glanced at the clock on a nearby marquee, 6:12 PM. "The museum closed at five," she said, sighing with relief.
"Oh," her mom looked disappointed. "Is it open on Saturdays?"
"Yeah," Tanya smiled. Her target was strictly a Monday through Friday kind of guy, choosing to hole up in his apartment on weekends. Saturday would be a great time to go scope out the museum without risking it too much. "Let's go tomorrow morning, before the crowds," she suggested.
"Sounds like a plan!" her mother wrapped her arm around Tanya, giving her a half-hug as they walked.
Maybe this won't be so bad after all.
As they entered the Ancient Egypt exhibit, her mother looked around with trepidation. "This is what you're researching?" she asked.
"Yep," Tanya replied, looking around at the displays. She thought it was pretty cool, complete with 23 mummies, a fully decked-out embalmer's shop, and even a replica of an old market.
Julie gave Tanya a skeptical look. "Mummies?" when her daughter just nodded, her expression turned concerned. "Honey, this isn't like…" She made a helpless gesture, not wanting to finish the sentence.
"No, Mom." They did not talk about the attack, period. She was surprised her mother would even hint at it.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Julie held up her hands. "What is it then?"
It took a few moments for Tanya to calm down enough to remember the cover story she had thought up while shopping last night. She sighed and gestured for her mom to follow her over to one of the mummies on display. They got as close as they could, and then she said, "Mom, this is a person."
"What?" her mother frowned.
"I mean, technically it's a dead and preserved body, but at one point, a long time ago, it was a person," Tanya elaborated.
Her mother looked at the mummy with newfound respect. "Okay, I understand."
"It's an Egyptian person. And the people in Egypt want him back because nobody asked permission when they dug him up, they just took him," Tanya went on.
"Ohh," Julie said softly. "I didn't know that."
"Most people don't. There are mummies all over the world, almost all of them stolen. And nobody wants to give them back, and they're fighting over them like they're just things, but they're people, Mom. How would you like it if a thousand years from now, somebody dug up Nana and took her off to some museum halfway around the world, and did all kinds of tests on her body? Even if nobody in the family was still alive, it would still be wrong."
Julie stared at the display for a long moment and then turned to face her daughter. "I'm impressed," she admitted. "This really means something to you, doesn't it?"
Tanya laughed and shrugged, breaking the tense mood. "It's a good story Mom, that's all. People like controversy. In all honesty, with the crap that's going on in Egypt, they're probably better off here, safe." It was the same argument Dr. Walker had made in an article she had found online while researching, but it made sense.
Her mom gasped but then smiled. "You're terrible."
"Let's check it out," Tanya said, and led the way.
They made their way through the exhibit, and for a while Tanya let herself relax. She had already scoped out the way into the private parts of the museum basement earlier and had a good idea of how she could make her way in early Monday morning. For now, she could just have some fun with her mom.
"Who is that supposed to be?" her mother asked Tanya, pointing up at a sideways-facing lady painted on the wall of the embalmer's shop.
Tanya looked up and shrugged. "I dunno, Isis?" she guessed. She turned her head to the side, looking at the weird hat she wore.
"That would be Nephthys, goddess of death," said a man behind them.
Tanya spun on one heel to find the last person she wanted to see, dressed neatly in a dark gray suit that bore a plastic name tag. S. Walker, Ph.D. Egyptology. He stepped forward out of a poorly-lit corner and smiled.
In that moment, she knew he was a vampire. The buzz was there, and the unnatural grace in the way he moved. But then he laughed, and suddenly she wasn't so sure. It seemed such a helpless, awkward laugh. "I'm sorry, ladies, I didn't mean to sneak up on you!" His voice had a posh British accent. He wore glasses and looked over 40. Most vampires looked like they were in their early thirties at most. It made her frown.
"That's all right," her mother chirped. "But I thought Anubis was the god of death."
Oh god, she thought helplessly. My mom is arguing with a vampire. Or not. Tanya was confused.
"Anubis, who is the son of Nephthys, is the god of the dead, yes, but the process itself is her purview. Also childbirth." There was something familiar and relaxing about his voice, like something from a History Channel special.
Her mom nodded. "That makes sense, didn't something like one in five women die in