by Maria Arnt
She combed and arranged her hair, which took less time than usual, so she pinned some of it back with a jeweled clip.
Tanya glanced at the clock, she had another three minutes until she had to fulfill Seth’s mandate. So she sat and watched them tick by, trying not to think about what she was about to do. Finally, the questions crowding around in her head became too much to handle, so she slipped on her shoes and wobbled out the door.
By the time she had made it to the ground floor, she had the hang of walking in heels again. Seth came out of his room, sporting a closely-tailored gray suit that seemed to shimmer when it caught the light just right. He looked damn good, and surprised to see her.
“Tatiana...” he breathed, looking her up and down blatantly. “You look astonishing.”
She tried really hard not to feel flattered, and asked the first question instead. “Why can’t we just go to the blood bank?”
He sighed. “I had hoped we would make it to the car, at least, before this line of questioning began.” He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and gestured towards the kitchen. “I shall explain on the way.”
From the kitchen, they took a back door that led to a small hallway, with nothing in it except another door. She frowned.
“I use this entrance during the day,” he explained, “so there is no possibility of sunlight following me in.”
“Are you going to answer my question?” she responded.
“Yes,” he said. “You see, it is not actually the blood which we need to survive, but the energy, the chi, that feeds us. This energy dissipates as the victim bleeds, so feeding must be done directly from the source.”
She followed him out the second door and into a garage that held several vehicles. She didn’t know as much about cars as her dad would have liked, but she knew enough to recognize that these were seriously expensive. Nothing flashy, like a Ferrari or Lamborghini, but she spotted a Rolls-Royce and an actual vintage Aston Martin among the half dozen cars. Who does he think he is, James Bond?
The smell of the cars, the oil and lingering exhaust, was not as overpowering as it had been the one time she had been offered her freedom. She still wasn’t looking forward to going out into the world, but here in the quiet garage, it wasn’t so bad, comforting in its familiarity.
Seth made his way towards a relatively tame silver BMW, which was still classier than any car anyone in her family had ever owned. The windows were darkly tinted, and, as he grabbed the passenger handle and waited a moment, she realized it was locked to his palm print.
“This is the point where I ask what the salary of a museum consultant is,” she murmured.
He laughed as he opened the door. “Negligible. I have a considerable collection of artifacts and antiques, which I sell occasionally, and then invest the money wisely.”
“Right.” She sat in the seat he gestured towards, distracted by the feel of the pale leather against her bare back.
He made his way around to the driver’s side and then sat before the wheel. “Seatbelt, please,” he said casually, securing his own.
“Seriously?” She rolled her eyes. “We’re freaking immortal, Seth.”
“We are merely extremely durable,” he countered. “A severe enough crash, especially one which ejected you from the car at high speed, would potentially be enough to kill you. In addition, we are still subject to the law, and I wish to avoid the hassle of being pulled over.”
“Whatever.” She buckled the belt, and he started the car with a push button, before opening the overhead door with a remote.
“So,” she said, as he prepared to pull out. “If it’s the energy we need, couldn’t we just draw that out with the tai chi stuff?” She moved her hands in one of the patterns he had taught her. She didn’t really feel anything when she did it, although in training she had been able to get a weird sense of static electricity after countless repetitions.
“Yes,” he agreed. “But I have only known one vampire to do so successfully without killing the victim, and he studied nearly a thousand years before he mastered it.”
“Oh.” Well, so much for that idea.
Seth pulled out into traffic, and while she had originally intended to try and figure out where the warehouse they lived in was located, it was hard to focus on anything but the flashing lights and the strange sensation of the car moving around. It took her a full ten minutes to think straight again, and by then she was hopelessly lost.
They made their way down the freeway, Seth carefully moving at the same speed as all the other cars, about five or ten miles over the speed limit. City drivers, she thought irritatedly. She tried to bring her thoughts back under control, to find a way out before they reached—she couldn’t even bring herself to think about where they were going, what they were going to do there.
“So, animals,” she managed to get out.
He glanced at her, keeping most of his attention on the road. She noticed his hands were exactly at ten and two o’clock on the wheel. She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes—clearly, he had a thing for rules. “Animals?” he led on, bringing her back into focus.
“Why can’t we drink their blood instead of humans’?” She asked.
“Again, it has to do with the chi. The energy found in humans, the specific form we need, called jing, is not found in as high a concentration in animals. There’s more of it in raw vegetables,” he laughed. “But even more dangerous is the ka. When you take a life force while feeding, it becomes part of you. The ka of an animal is very different from that of a human or a vampire. It is... simpler, more primal. In an emergency, an animal might save you from starving, but even one would temporarily affect your higher reasoning. Done often enough, it would turn you into an animal yourself.”
Once more there was something about the way he spoke, some sorrow behind his words, that made her think it wasn’t just a hypothetical theory. She glanced over at him and could see a surprising depth of sadness in his expression. For the first time, she wondered what kind of life he had led. She didn’t think it had probably been a very happy one.
Then he glanced at her and smiled, a mask falling in place. “Any more alternatives?” he teased.
Tanya made a face at him and then turned away, looking out the window.
“It’s not what you think, Tatiana,” he said softly, although she could hear him easily over the sound of the engine and the cars around them, and the road passing under the wheels. She wondered how much sound-proofing the car had. “It’s not like when your friend Jake died.”
She whipped her head around to glare at him but found only pity in his expression.
“It doesn’t have to be like that if a vampire is properly trained. It’s the difference between an infant smearing his face and a child who is taught to use a knife and fork properly,” he explained.
The image of the vampires who had attacked her and Jake came to her mind. They didn’t exactly look like someone had been teaching them how to care for themselves.
She swallowed thickly, her throat feeling raw and prickly. There was one last thing she needed to know. “Seth... I...” she took a deep breath, the smell of the leather calming her. “How can you feed so cleanly?” she asked at last. “I saw one of your victims, Izzy, at the club. You don’t have fangs, no vampire I’ve ever seen has fangs. Not even like in the movies, where they get longer when it’s time to eat.”
He nodded, understanding. “People underestimate how easy it is to break the skin,” he remarked. “Actually, the vampire who attacked you managed a better job of it.” He glanced at her arm, and she covered the scar reflexively. “That must mean a great deal to you for it to have survived the change,” he mused. “You must consider it to be an essential part of yourself.”
She rubbed her thumb over it. “It’s a reminder,” she murmured, not sure why she was telling him. “Of what I must do, why I have to do it.”
“I see,” he said softly. “Well, in answer to your question, I know a little trick, to
give back some of what I took, and heal the skin, although there is sometimes a temporary mark left.”
“Like a hickey?” She couldn’t help but smile.
He smiled in turn. “I believe that is likely what it is often interpreted as.”
“Can you teach it to me?” she asked.
“Eventually. For now, you will need to keep all the energy you take, but I will take care of it for you for the time being,” he promised.
“So, what, we’re going to share?” She felt weird, talking about it so casually. She had to keep herself from freaking out somehow.
He gave her a sidelong glance, the longest he had taken his attention away from the road. He licked his lips, and then seemed to hesitate, before giving a small sigh. “Not tonight. I’ve already fed, while you were sleeping. However...” He hesitated again. “I should tell you, Tatiana, that sharing a victim is a very... intimate gesture, among vampires. It’s difficult to do without draining the victim, too, and when the ka is taken it... It goes to both vampires... connecting them.”
“Oh,” she said simply. “So it’s like a kind of kinky vampire sex?”
He pressed his lips together to hide a smile. “You could call it that,” he agreed.
Silently, Tanya added that to the long list of things she was never, ever going to do.
Nothing was said for a long time, as Seth turned off the freeway, took a few corners, and pulled into a parking garage. Once he had turned off the car, he undid his seatbelt and turned to face her.
“Well, we’re here,” he said hopefully.
That’s what she was afraid of.
“Now,” Seth said softly. “You will need these,” he reached over to open the glove compartment, and the back of his hand just barely brushed against her bare knee. He pulled out a package of foam, flesh-colored earplugs.
“The music where we are going is very loud, and you’re not ready for that kind of stimulation.”
She nodded and took the package.
“So...” She searched for words, on the edge of panic. “How do I... what do we...” She swallowed and ran a shaking hand over her face.
“Tatiana,” he crooned, and took her hand, holding it steady. “Everything will be alright, trust me. I will select someone, do you prefer a male or female?”
She shrugged in an attempt to look casual.
“All right, we’ll choose a female then, it’s generally easier to get their attention. Your instinct will be to go for the neck, elbow, or wrist, where the veins are just under the surface. Don’t. It’s very easy to drain a victim quickly that way. Choose a spot on the shoulder, forearm, or the pad of the thumb,” he demonstrated the points on her. “There’s still plenty of blood vessels, but the flow will be slower.”
“Okay,” she said quietly.
“I assure you, this fear you feel now is much worse than the process itself,” he gave her hand a squeeze. She pulled away.
“Let’s get it over with, then,” she said, and she pushed the bits of foam into her ears, opened the car door, and got out.
They had parked towards the top of the parking garage, and Tanya wasn’t feeling up to going down five flights of stairs in stilettos, so she hit the button for the elevator. Seth came to stand beside her, fidgeting awkwardly. He seemed excited, although it was obvious he was trying to hide it. It still irritated her.
Once they were inside the elevator, it was even worse. The small box reeked of sweat and mildew. “Too bad you don’t have another pair of these for my nose,” she grumbled, pointing to her ear plugs.
He pressed his lips together and then covered his mouth with his hand, trying not to laugh.
She felt the corner of her mouth twitch. “It was supposed to be funny,” she admitted.
Although his voice was muffled from the earplugs, she still heard him murmur, “Oh good.” He bounced on the balls of his feet a little.
God, he’s like a kid at Christmas. At least his enthusiasm is distracting. Once they got out on the street, she recognized where they were. She glanced up at the sky, but either it was cloudy or the street lights had washed out all the stars.
“Do you enjoy stargazing?” Seth asked her as we walked.
She shrugged. “Been awhile since I saw the sky,” she said pointedly. Surprisingly, this seemed to concern him. He glanced down at his shoes, frowning, and said nothing until they reached the club.
As they got closer, Tanya could feel, more than hear, the pounding bass of the music inside. There was a long line of people waiting to get in, and the sight of them nearly stopped her in her tracks. They seemed to burn brightly, some more than others, and she felt her mouth water, although in hunger or nausea she wasn’t sure. She could feel them, somehow, and distantly she noticed that the music had more than one beat, some of it not all on the same tempo. With a shock of realization, she recognized the extra beats as belonging to the humans before her.
Fortunately, Seth chose this moment to place his hand on the small of her back possessively, guiding her past the line and towards the large man guarding the entrance to the club. She was distracted by the feel of it, warm against her skin. He said something to the bouncer, and they were let in without having to wait.
She had forgotten that he had something of a reputation here.
When the door opened, she nearly lost the ability to think. The music was so loud, even with the earplugs she could hear it clearly. As Seth guided her inside, she felt the heat of the place wash over her, as well as the smell of over a hundred human bodies. She struggled to breathe, swallowing repeatedly.
Seth wrapped an arm around her, protectively, and squeezed. “Stay calm,” he said close to her ear, just loud enough for her to hear through the earplugs. “You can do this.” She recognized the heavy feel of a command and felt herself relax.
“Thanks,” she gasped.
His face lit up. “You’re welcome,” he said graciously. He let go of her, and waded into the crowd. She managed to follow him to the bar, which was a few steps higher than the dance floor.
“Hey!” the bartender called out. “How’s it going, Casanova?”
He smiled and nodded. “Very well thank you. I’ll take a gin and tonic, and a Bloody Mary for my friend,” he gestured to Tanya.
“Hey, I know you,” she frowned, thinking. “Weren’t you...looking for someone?” she asked Tanya, glancing at Seth meaningfully.
She scrambled for an answer, but Seth smoothed it over easily. “Yes, she was investigating me. But that’s all been resolved, thanks in part to you and Izzy,” he glanced around the crowded room. “Is she here tonight?”
The bartender grinned. “Somewhere. She’d be happy to see you again,” she teased, and handed him the drinks.
Seth thanked her, and turned away, handing her the red drink. “Don’t drink it,” he leaned forward to remind her.
“No shit, Sherlock.” She glanced down at the bad joke of a drink. She had hated these things even when she could drink them.
“Now...” he looked across the dance floor with a predator’s eye, casually sipping from his drink.
Tanya turned to look as well, but the writhing mass of bodies was too much to take in all at once. Instead, she focused on stirring the thick drink in her hands with the celery stalk. She tried to focus on getting used to the music, the thrum of it drowning out all the heartbeats in the room. No matter how hard she tried, though, it grated against her nerves, only Seth’s command keeping her from another panic attack.
“Yes...” she somehow managed to hear Seth murmur, something in the sound of it catching her attention. She glanced up to see his face held a look of malicious glee.
Following his line of sight, she saw a girl, maybe twenty, dancing on her own with her eyes closed in the middle of the floor. How she knew this was the one he was looking at, she had no idea, but she knew. She was beautiful, with wavy light-brown hair and full lips. She seemed to sense their combined gaze and turned towards them, opening her eyes.
“Let’s go dance,” he said, taking Tanya’s drink and setting it on the bar with his empty glass, hardly breaking eye contact with the girl. He took her hand and led her through the press of bodies, which seemed to part for him without even noticing it.
Out here the music was much louder, and the smell of blood and the heat was nearly suffocating. Seth squeezed her hand, and she felt a little more detached, the strength of his control increasing. He reached the girl and introduced them, she guessed. She couldn’t actually hear him anymore and wasn’t really capable of listening.
He leaned over to say something in the girl’s ear, and she gave Tanya a long, amused, assessing look. When he pulled back, she seemed to laugh, and then nodded.
Tanya was too distracted to wonder what they were talking about. The girl wore a one-shouldered top, and on the bare side she could see every vein and artery running under her skin. She couldn’t hear anything but the music, but the blood within them sang to her, calling out with a siren’s allure.
The next thing she knew they were leaving the dance floor, the girl following Seth, and Tanya trailing helplessly after. They went down a narrow hallway already crowded with couples making out, and then out a back exit.
Behind the building was a surprisingly pleasant walled-in courtyard. It was paved in brick with a couple stone benches, each sporting an ashtray at the end. There was even a little tree, its yellowed leaves looking like gold under the weak light on the wall. Presumably, this was where employees took their smoking breaks.
When the door closed again, Tanya breathed a sigh of relief. She could still hear the music clearly, but she could also hear herself think.
“Much better,” Seth murmured, and the girl giggled as if to agree. “I’m afraid I didn’t catch your name in all that noise.”
“It’s Rowena. So,” she said, turning to face Tanya. “Your boyfriend tells me you’re curious.” She had a clear, soprano voice that could have easily sounded ditzy if she didn’t enunciate so carefully. Her silver, tip-tilted eyes also carried a fascinating intelligence to them. She reached out to touch Tanya’s arm lightly, and didn’t flinch away. Her fingertips were surprisingly cool; Tanya had expected her to be flame-hot she burned so brightly.