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  The hurt I saw before returned to his eyes. I sighed. “It is the truth.” I sat on the plush couch, running my hands over the soft ridges of the corduroy.

  “Still with the vampire nonsense.”

  “It’s not nonsense.” I made eye contact, begging him to believe me. I didn’t want to have to provide him with a visual. But, I would.

  He broke eye contact first. “If you aren’t going to tell me the truth, I think you should leave.”

  I stood and approached him. His heartbeat increased. “Look at me,” I commanded. He struggled but ultimately obeyed, his eyes wild. I didn’t like using this ability. Except I needed him to understand. My fangs descended and I bared them at Ryan, who blanched.

  “Ohmigod,” he whispered. “That can’t be.”

  “It is,” I assured him.

  “Vampires don’t exist.”

  “Yes, we do.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “Yes, we do,” I repeated. I couldn’t help but smile at the childlike turn of the conversation. I reached out and he flinched away. My smile dropped. I returned to sitting on the couch. To my surprise, he moved to sit beside me on the couch.

  “Yes, you do,” he said in wonder.

  “Yes, we do.” I put my hand on his knee and this time he didn’t move away.

  “Where is Derek?” he asked again.

  “He’s gone. I staked him. I killed him.” This last statement escaped my mouth before I could stop myself. I felt Ryan’s eyes on me in response. I turned my head to meet his gaze.

  “It’s like the movies? Poof?”

  I smiled sadly and nodded. “Yeah. Poof.”

  “He was a bad person…vampire. Murderer.” His eyes clouded. “Are you?”

  “A vampire? Yes,” I said, wondering about a concussion.

  “A murderer,” he clarified.

  “No,” I answered emphatically. My eyes widened. “Yes. Today.”

  “That was self-defense,” Ryan argued.

  I tilted my head, considering. “Yes.”

  “How do you live?”

  I knew what he was asking. “Bottle service,” I explained with a wry smile.

  He arched an eyebrow. “Have you always…survived…like that?”

  “No, in the past, we had acolytes.”

  “Acolytes?”

  “Humans who willingly provided what we needed.” I winced at the sudden increase in his heartbeat. “They never died by my hand. Or anyone I knew,” I hastened to add.

  Ryan nodded. “You feel bad about killing Derek?”

  I nodded.

  “Why?”

  “He wasn’t just my husband. He was my sire.”

  Ryan’s eyes reflected confusion.

  “He made me. He turned me.”

  Ryan heard the anger in my voice. “You didn’t want him to?”

  And there it was. My opening to finally tell him my story. “You accused me of trying to prove Jim guilty because I knew Derek was guilty and I was protecting him.” Ryan opened his mouth and I put up a hand to stop him. “Please, let me get this out.” He nodded.

  “You were partly right. I did want to prove Jim was guilty. And it was because of Derek.” Ryan’s expression hardened. “Not in the way you think.” I took a deep breath, saw Ryan’s quizzical expression, and laughed. “No, I don’t have to breathe. After 29 years as a human and 92 as a vampire trying to blend in with humans, it’s habit. And, yes, I’m 121 years old.” Ryan looked stunned, so I just continued.

  “I wanted to prove Jim guilty because I have…trust issues,” I started with a shrug. “In my experience, people are not trust-worthy, so when someone appears to have done something bad, well, usually they have.”

  Ryan interrupted. “Hey, I’m divorced because of a cheating spouse. I understand trust issues.”

  I managed a small smile. “True.” I looked away, gathering my thoughts. I had never told anyone this story. Other vampires knew, of course, but not from me. And no human had ever been told. “It’s more than that.

  “Derek and I were in love and to be married. In the weeks leading up to the wedding, he did not appear well. He began to look tired, coughing more and more. Dying, it turned out. The week before our wedding, he coughed into a handkerchief and I saw the blood before he could hide it. He finally admitted to me that he had consumption, what today we would call tuberculosis.

  “If you know your history at all, typically once you showed these symptoms, it was a death sentence. We both knew this. Derek insisted we should still get married. Even though I would likely be a widow shortly thereafter, he wanted to make sure I was taken care of, and he was very well-off.” I paused; Ryan looked shocked.

  “The day of the wedding arrived. On what should have been the happiest day of my life, I was devastated. I knew it was a sham, though I couldn’t deny Derek’s logic. His parents had died of influenza in 1918, and he had no other family to whom to bequeath the money. Women were still second-class citizens. I knew he was right that his money would help me. And I knew he was suggesting it out of love. Still. I was in such emotional pain that day.

  “Given everything, we had decided on a small wedding, at my parents’ home. They had no idea how sick he was and I didn’t have the heart to tell them. That afternoon, though, when I saw Derek standing near the preacher, he was different. He looked even paler than he had, yet somehow healthier. I couldn’t explain it. I walked down the aisle, feeling my trepidation increase with each step and not knowing why.

  “When he took my hand, his fingers were very cool. He had been running fevers off and on since the worsening of the symptoms. I didn’t know what to make of the change. I wondered if this was some final step. That his death was closer than we had thought.”

  “We went through the motions of the ceremony. I stumbled through the reception; just a few neighbors we could feign celebrating with. And then it was my wedding night.” I looked away from Ryan. “I was a virgin. I didn’t know what to expect.” I stared at my interlocked fingers moving restlessly in my lap, lost in the memory.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  I lay on the bed, half under the wool comforter. I rub the goose bumps rising where my mildly risqué white nightgown bared my shoulders and décolletage. Derek appears in the doorway, a predatory smile on his lips. Wait. That can’t be right. I abruptly sit up, wrap my arms protectively across my chest. I suddenly don’t want him to see me and I don’t know why. He practically skips to the bed, jumping in next to me. He takes me in his cool arms.

  “Don’t be alarmed,” he whispers in my ear. “Everything is okay now.”

  I pull away. He doesn’t feel right. This doesn’t feel right. “What’s going on? How do you have so much energy?” All at once I feel hopeful. “Did Dr. Raymond have medicine for you?”

  Derek laughs harshly. “Dr. Raymond was useless. Medicine was useless. I found another solution.” He looks at me so eagerly, I let my guard down.

  “How are you better?”

  Fangs descend from his gums.

  He cuts off my scream by roughly putting his hand over my mouth. He leans in closer to do so. “Shh, shh, it’s okay,” he murmurs into my ear, though his hand does not move off of my mouth. I try to push him away, expecting him to be the feeble, sick man he was only a day ago. It’s like pushing against a rock. I push harder and he laughs. “Kitten, it’s fine. Please stop struggling. I’m better now. Cured.” I cease struggling, manage to move my head slightly under his hand so that we are eye to eye again. “Are you going to scream?” I shake my head and he removes his hand. I intake a long, shuddering breath, staring at the still descended fangs. He reaches up to fondle one of them, a gesture almost obscene. I look away and he laughs again.

  “You’ll get used to them,” he assures me.

  “I don’t understand,” I whisper. I don’t know what else to say to my husband of five hours.

  He unexpectedly leaps out of the bed and spreads h
is arms wide. “I’m a vampire. I’ll never get sick. I’ll never die. I’m immortal.” He jumps back in bed before I can respond. “I want you to stay with me forever.”

  Understanding dawns and I gasp. “You want me to be a vampire too?”

  Hurt flits across his face. “Don’t you want to be with me?”

  I hesitate. I married him because I loved him. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad? “What is it like being a vampire?” I ask, tentatively reaching out to run my fingers over his pale, cool skin, and the oh-so-sharp fangs. His smile widens.

  “It’s wonderful. I have amazing hearing. I can smell everything. I’m incredibly strong.” He wraps his arms around me and lifts me clear off the bed for a moment before setting me back down. That one moment is exhilarating – and I wonder. He must see that look in my eyes, because he leans in, earnest now. “We can be together forever.”

  “But…you can’t go outside during the daylight, right? And nobody can know? And, don’t you have to eat humans to survive?” I rapid fire ask these questions and he laughs again, gently chucking me under my chin.

  “Oh, kitten, it’s not quite like that. No, we mostly can’t go outside during the day. And, no, your family can’t know. But, vampires have evolved. We have human feeders. They don’t die,” he hurries to assure me, after seeing my horrified expression.

  Part of me yearns to be with my love. And there’s something enticing about living forever, I recognize. Never getting sick. Never dying.

  But. Never basking in the sun. Watching my family and friends die and never know the truth. Derek’s gaze hardens as he reads my doubts in my expression.

  He smiles seductively, though the word predator flashes in my mind again. “Lay with me first and then make your decision,” he suggests.

  I am uncertain. But he’s my husband; maybe this will make more sense. After. I nod. He leans down to whisper in my ear.

  “There’s one thing I need to finish,” he says, so low I almost don’t hear him. His fangs descend and bite into the tender flesh of my neck. I feel a pinch. As he drinks my lifeforce, I see his member swell and then he enters me. I lay unmoving on the bed, my eyes closing. I watch now from above the bed.

  He moves against me until he finishes, then notices my eyes remain closed. He shakes me gently and I still don’t move. I realize without emotion, from above the bed, that I am likely dying. He’s too new at this, doesn’t know how to take without killing. He has killed me on my wedding night. I realize this, yet it does not bother me. The scene becomes fuzzy, so I am only vaguely aware of him shaking me harder, calling my name. A slight smile forms on his lips. He tears his own wrist and holds it to my mouth.

  The blood drips down my chin onto my pale skin, but enough enters my mouth. I taste the copper flavor and feel the warmth. My own blood reviving me? I begin to suckle, like a child with her mother, and when the scene regains its focus, I realize that’s not entirely inaccurate. He killed me; and now I am reborn.

  I stopped talking and looked at Ryan. His eyes glistened with unshed tears. He took my hands in his. “He turned you. Against your will,” he said the unsayable.

  I leapt to my feet and strode away from him, to the wall against which I earlier had collided with my now-dead sire. I placed my hands on the plaster, replaying that scene in my mind, trying to chase away the long ago one.

  Ryan walked behind me. “It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t choose this.”

  I spun around, eyes glittering in rage. He withdrew in surprise. “You think I don’t know that? Of course, I know that! I’ve been living this undead life for nearly one hundred years.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know the right thing to say.”

  My anger extinguished with his words and I sighed. “They don’t make Hallmark cards for this sort of thing.”

  He gave me a half-smile in return. “Why do you feel guilty for killing him?” he asked, the smile faltering.

  “Vampires don’t kill their sires,” I answered simply. “It doesn’t matter how or why you were turned. It isn’t done.”

  “What happens next then?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll go to the Family and explain the entire situation.” I shrugged. “On the bright side, there’s no reason to call the police again. After I explain to the Family what happened, they’ll likely pull their strings to get Jim released.”

  “On the bright side,” Ryan echoed. “Thank you for that.”

  “I haven’t done anything yet,” I warned.

  “But you think they’ll take care of it.” He sounded so hopeful and trusting.

  I smiled. “Yeah, I think they will.”

  We stared at each other for a moment and I sensed a change in the room. Ryan broke eye contact and I knew what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth. I let him say it anyway.

  “Thank you for telling me your story,” he began.

  I waited.

  “It’s all too much,” he admitted. “I will forever be grateful if you can get Jim released. But…” He trailed off.

  “Maybe it wouldn’t have happened if my crazy ex-husband hadn’t come to Vegas? And maybe my being a vampire is too much for you to accept?”

  “Something like that,” he conceded. Sadness, desire, and understanding played out across his face.

  “It’s okay,” I told him. I turned to leave. “I understand. Be well.”

  “You too.”

  He remained silent, didn’t call out to me when I opened his front door, walked through, and closed it. I heard his heartbeat and breathing from inside the house, could tell he was hurting.

  Back to the real world. I started my car and drove away from him and everything we’d been through.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  At the stoplight for South Casino Boulevard, I risked the wrath of law enforcement and grabbed my cellphone from the side pocket of my car door.

  Code Black

  No response arrived following my text. I continued driving to my condo and within minutes I was parked and heading up in the elevator.

  A man and a woman stood at attention outside my door when I arrived. They had no heartbeats and were not even pretending to breathe. Maybe it was not a myth that we could turn into bats and fly, I kind of wanted to say to them. Instead, I merely nodded as I approached.

  No words were spoken while they followed behind me into the condo. I headed for my dining room table. “Thank you,” I offered over my shoulder when one of them closed my front door.

  “Tell us what happened,” the female vampire commanded once we were seated around my table.

  “No preamble?” I joked. It was clear they would not provide their names. I ran my fingers over the wood table, wondering at my nervousness. Why? I didn’t do anything wrong. I called them after all. I focused on the woman before me. Surprisingly appeared middle age – we usually got turned younger – with her black hair pulled into a severe bun. Her mouth was pressed into a thin line. Fit the image of a Fixer, I imagined. She did not respond and I told her what happened, starting from the very beginning.

  The male vampire lifted a single eyebrow when I shared the part of the story where I staked Derek, but that was the only response or reaction I’d received so far. He vaguely looked like a skinhead, unfortunately, with his bald head and tattoos. The sharp blue suit took the edge off the look.

  I gazed down at his reaction, so minimal it spoke volumes, but didn’t hesitate in continuing the narrative. When I finished with walking out of Ryan’s house, the male and female shared an indecipherable look.

  “We’ll handle it,” the female stated with finality and rose from her seat. The male and I quickly followed suit.

  “Ryan will be okay, right?” I hesitated to ask this since the Family made the decision, but I’d finally put my finger on why I was nervous.

  “You aren’t going to clean him, are you?” There. I put it out there for all to see.

 
; The two exchanged another glance. “We’re Fixers, not Cleaners,” the male answered. “The human will be fine.”

  The intensity of the relief I felt only mildly surprised me. “Thank you.”

  “This will be over within 24 hours,” the female explained while she walked toward my door.

  “That quickly?” I was genuinely shocked by that turnaround.

  The male smiled, tipped an imaginary hat, and nodded at me. “That’s our job.” I smiled in return. We’d reached the door; the female opened it and they exited. I closed the door behind them and leaned against it. Now what did I do?

  Before I could even consider the question, I heard a rapid succession of light taps on the door. Catherine’s breathing and heartbeat sounded loud, and my smile returned.

  I opened the door, caught her hand still raised and about to knock again. She was breathless but smiled.

  “I thought they’d never leave.”

  I laughed and pushed the door open the rest of the way.

  “Can I get you anything?” I offered when we passed the kitchen. Part of me wanted to grab a glass of blood, except, much like alcohol with humans, it could be a distraction. Catherine declined my offer of food or drink and we collapsed onto my couch.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I assured her. She cocked her head in response, so I didn’t think she fully believed me.

  “What happened?”

  Thus, I found myself explaining for the second time in two hours the events of the past night. At least I didn’t have to start at the beginning with her.

  “Wait,” she interrupted when I got to the part where the Fixers beat me to my own home. “How did they get here so quickly? What is Code Black?”

  “I’m honestly not sure how they got here so fast,” I admitted. “We can move faster than humans, but it’s not like we can fly or shape shift into bats or anything. I don’t think,” I added with a laugh. After we finish chuckling, I explained the Family code system.

  “Code Black is for non-emergencies that still have an important time element. Like in this case, with Jim in jail for something a vampire did. Code Blue is for any kind of medical issue. Turning someone you hadn’t intended to, garlic poisoning, that sort of thing.”