Blood Debt

by Heather MacKinnon

  “Out the window,” I corrected.

  He arched a brow but continued. “I’ll be there to stop you from taking too much. After a few feedings, you’ll be able to stop yourself, but young vampires are often too exuberant to stop early. It’s common for a new vampire to drain their first human meal.”

  My face paled and a slight tremor radiated from my chest. “Drain?” I squeaked.

  “I won’t let that happen, Adrienne. Trust me.” And I did. Implicitly. I nodded for him to continue, the tremors subsiding slightly.

  “When you are done feeding, you must close the wound so there’s no evidence of the feeding. Vampire blood has healing properties. You can either bite your tongue and lick the wound, or some prefer to bite their finger and rub the puncture marks. It’s up to you.”

  “What do you do?”

  “I bite my tongue and lick the wounds. I find it faster and more efficient.”

  I stored the knowledge for later.

  The car slowed, and I looked out the window to see a few stores, their doors covered with thick metal gates securing their goods. This part of town had seen better days. There was graffiti on the brick walls and trash littering the streets.

  “I thought it would be easier if your first meal was with an unsavory type. It shouldn’t take us long to find that in this neighborhood,” Nicholas explained.

  I nodded, thankful he’d thought this far in advance. He was right. If I fed on a drug dealer or mugger, I might not feel so guilty.

  Nicholas slid out of the vehicle and offered me his hand. We walked for a few blocks in silence, both of us lost in thought. Passing cracked sidewalks and broken streetlamps, we searched for my first meal.

  This was it. There would be no returning from this. Logically, I knew I had passed the point of no return when I woke up in that basement a few nights ago. But in my heart, I felt like this was the final frontier. Once I drank human blood, I would unequivocally be a vampire for the rest of my long, long life. At that point, I honestly didn’t know how to feel about that.

  Nicholas nudged my side and I looked up from my feet. He pointed to something ahead of us, and I swiveled my head to follow his finger. Up ahead another half a block was a man standing alone on a street corner. He was dressed in what looked to be designer clothes, which seemed out of place for this neighborhood.

  We approached, and he grinned a blindingly white smile at us. His scent reached me on a cool breeze, and I quickened my step as Nicholas fell behind. The man’s smile broadened at my haste to reach him.

  “Hey there, pretty lady. Something I can get for you?” he asked.

  When I was close enough to see directly into his eyes, I stopped and smiled at him. “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “Diego, and what’s yours, li’l mama?” he asked, but I ignored him.

  “Diego,” I said, my voice deep and steady. I mentally threw my net at him and watched his eyes glaze. I slowly made my way toward him, my eyes on where I knew I’d find his pulse. “Show me your neck, Diego.”

  Without hesitation, he leaned his head to the side and bared his throat. His light brown skin glistened in the glow of the streetlamp. Stepping closer, I breathed in his rich scent. My mouth watered, and I swayed on my feet. He smelled so good.

  I stalked closer, finally reaching his side. My hands were shaking as they reached out to grip his shoulders. Leaning closer, I inhaled deeply, already tasting him on my tongue.

  I inched up on my tiptoes to bring my face level with his neck. My mind was consumed with bloodlust as I watched the beating of his pulse. When I couldn’t stand the wait any longer, I struck, my sharp canines easily sinking into his soft flesh. Blood poured from the puncture holes, filling my mouth and dripping down my throat.

  My eyes rolled back in my head and I gasped at the incredible taste. It was like the juiciest piece of steak, the crispiest piece of bacon, and the softest, most gooey chocolate chip cookie all rolled into one. His blood pumped onto my tongue in a steady, hypnotic stream. My fingers dug into his shoulders and I pulled him closer, sucking on the wounds I’d created.

  Nothing else mattered but the thick blood pouring into my mouth. The world could have stopped rotating, the sun could have fallen from the sky, a bomb could have landed on my head, and I wouldn’t have cared. Wouldn’t have noticed.

  Something wrapped around my waist and I was dragged away from my meal. A growl ripped from my throat and I thrashed against the strong grip. I turned to whatever had just interrupted me and looked up into Nicholas’ handsome face. I blinked and snapped out of my bloodlust.

  Shame rolled through my body. I couldn’t believe I’d just growled at him. Covering my face with my hands, I tried to apologize. “Nicholas, I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I just did that.” I felt wretched.

  A slight pressure under my chin had me raising my head from my hands. The humor in his eyes relieved some of my guilt. “You were feeding, and I interrupted you. Any vampire would act the way you did. Think nothing of it.” He removed his fingers from my chin and used one to tap me on the tip of my nose.

  “Now, you must close his wounds. Can you return to his side without feeding again?”

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, quieting the riot inside me. Blowing out the breath, I nodded to Nicholas. Yes, I could and would finish this right.

  Cautiously, I made my way back over to Diego, checking my level of control with each step. Once I returned to his side, I saw the blood trickling from the two holes I’d made, and a shudder rippled through my body. I reached back up to lick the trail of blood left on his skin. Thankfully, it hadn’t made it to his expensive looking clothes yet.

  I winced as I bit down on my tongue, noticing the difference in the taste of my blood and that of my meal’s. Mine was bland and unfulfilling after finally having my first taste of human blood. My tongue flicked out, and I rubbed the bloody tip against his wounds. I gasped as I watched the small holes narrow and close before my eyes.

  “Now give him a new memory,” Nicholas said quietly from behind me. I hadn’t realized he’d come so close.

  Looking into Diego’s eyes, I spoke slow and steady. “Diego, you were out here selling drugs, but you’ve decided that isn’t what you want to do with your life anymore. You’re going to go home, and tomorrow morning, you will enroll in a community college. You’ll get your degree and make an honest living. You never saw me or my friend here,” I added at the end.

  I turned to Nicholas with a satisfied smirk on my face. “How was that?”

  Nicholas shook his head, his lips fighting a smile. “I didn’t mean for you to give him a new direction in life, Adrienne. Just to make him forget he saw us.”

  I frowned. “Should I not have done that?”

  “No, what you did was fine. More than fine. You probably just turned his life around and got a drug dealer off the streets. The police department should give you a medal or a plaque for that.” He was teasing me, but the look in his eyes told me he was proud.

  I lifted my chin in the air. “Well, might as well try to do something nice for him after he fed me.”

  Nicholas threw his head back and laughed, the sound bouncing off the brick walls and metal security gates. His laughter did something funny to me. It was like a load being taken off my shoulders, or a band being removed from around my lungs.

  He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and walked us back the way we’d come. “You did well tonight, Adrienne. I’m proud of you.”

  His compliment had me beaming. “I’m glad you stopped me. There was no end in sight. I would have kept going until I couldn’t go any further.” The thought had the smile fading from my face.

  “Hey.” He stopped walking and turned me to face him. “That’s what young vampires do. You can’t help yourself. My job is to have your back, and that’s what I did. There’s no need to batter yourself up.”

  His mess-up of another idiom had me smiling. “Beat yourself up.”

  Nicholas closed his
eyes and groaned softly making me laugh. He looked up at me. “You think this is funny?”

  I schooled my face. “No. Of course not.” The corner of my lip twitched as I fought off a grin.

  His sigh was that of a martyr. “Laugh all you want, Adrienne. You’ll see how hard it is to keep up with all the slang after a couple hundred years. Then we’ll see who’s laughing.”

  I lost the fight, and a smile split my face. I tried to imagine where we’d be in a couple hundred years. Would we still be living together? Would we be in this city? He talked like he expected to still be in my life and my stomach ached with butterflies. That thought alone was enough to banish my bad mood.

  Stopping short, I asked, “What about you? Don’t you need to feed?”

  “I appreciate your concern, but I’m fine. The older you get, the less often you need to feed. At my age, once a week is plenty.”

  That new bit of information led to my next question: “How often will I need to feed?”

  “Probably every day for a while.”

  “Why was I able to go so many days without, then?”

  “The amount of blood you just drank was only a fraction of what had been left over in your body, so it lasted you much longer.”

  “Does that mean I can fill up on blood and go a few days without hunting?”

  Nicholas hesitated. “You could,” he began, dragging out that last word. “But I wouldn’t recommend it. When you’re young, it’s much more difficult to control yourself. What if you ‘filled up’ and tried to go three days when you should have only gone two? No. Parliament states, and I agree, that a new vampire should drink every day for their first few years at least.”

  “Oh, so this is a rule?”

  “Not so much a rule as a guideline.” Every new piece of information reminded me of how little I knew of this world I was now a part of. What would I have done if Nicholas hadn’t found me that first night?

  I’d probably be dead. I most likely would have passed out close to dawn and burned with the sun. Shivering at the thought, I crossed my arms over my chest.

  As if sensing my need for comfort, Nicholas wrapped his arm around my shoulders again and pulled me close. I breathed him in, his scent causing the butterflies to stir in the pit of my stomach again. I really needed to get a grip around him.

  We walked a few more blocks before the black Suburban came into view. Filing into the SUV, we took our seats before Alexander asked, “Where to now?”

  Nicholas looked over at me. “Parliament headquarters, please.” With his eyes still locked onto mine he asked, “Are you ready to have me be your maker officially?”

  I grinned, the answer coming easily. “Absolutely ready.”

  Chapter 8

  Instead of dropping us off, Alexander found street parking and accompanied us to Parliament headquarters. Manhattan being what it was, we had to walk a few blocks to our destination. I followed Nicholas, and before long, he slowed his pace and swerved into a doorway that had a gold plaque above it that read: New York City Department of Sanitation.

  Nicholas ushered me inside, smirking at the confused look on my face. What could we possibly be doing at a Department of Sanitation office? The inside of the building consisted of a short white hall with one door and a very large man sitting behind a wooden desk.

  The man looked up at all three of our faces, quickly skipping past mine to concentrate on the men behind me. A look of recognition passed over his features and he nodded to Nicholas.

  “Mr. Talbot,” he greeted.

  “Good evening, Benny,” Nicholas responded cordially.

  Benny reached to his left for something I couldn’t see before I heard a buzzing noise from across the hall. Nicholas strode over and pulled open the door once again, pausing for me to enter before him.

  I stepped through the thick metal frame and stopped abruptly in my tracks. This room was so different from the last, I needed a minute to take it all in. Calling it a “room” was a gross understatement.

  The walls and floors were covered in black-veined white marble, the dome ceiling at least three stories tall. There were multiple hallways that led away from the main chamber marked by pairs of Corinthian columns. In the center of the room, opposite where I stood, was a grand staircase that met the ground floor in a dozen or more concentric circles. It looked like a giant flattened wedding cake had been spread out at the base. Hanging from the high ceiling was a chandelier that looked to be roughly the size of Nicholas’ living room.

  I was shocked silent. I never would have thought that this beautiful building was hidden behind a Department of Sanitation office. It was the perfect cover for the Vampire Parliament headquarters. No one would ever wander in here accidentally, and if they did, they’d be denied access. The man in the hallway was most likely a vampire and could glamour anyone who asked too many questions.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Nicholas asked, his voice closer than I thought. I could only nod in agreement.

  Nicholas grasped my upper arm and steered me toward a bank of elevators to the left of us. He pressed the button to go up and stood back to wait for a car to arrive. I kept my back to the elevators, so I could continue to look around the opulent lobby.

  “It was built back in the early 1800s but has been updated many times since then. This place was one of the first buildings to be completely wired for electricity in the city.”

  I heard the elevator doors open, and we filed in. I looked around for Alexander, just now realizing he wasn’t with us anymore.

  “He had business to attend to, he’ll meet up with us later,” Nicholas explained and reached forward to press the button that would take us to the seventh floor.

  When the elevator stopped its ascent, the doors opened to reveal a dark blue sign on the opposite wall that read: Transfers, Fosters, & Orphans.

  Orphan.

  It was a word I was well acquainted with. It wasn’t until then that I realized I’d found myself in that position again. Once more left to fend for myself.

  Upon exiting the elevator, we turned to our right and followed the hallway around a couple bends. There were a few other people that passed us in the hallway, and every one of them stopped to talk to Nicholas. I noticed they all greeted him formally and I wondered why that was. A few of their eyes flickered to me, but they quickly averted their gaze.

  At the end of the hall was a door marked Fosters that Nicholas opened and motioned for me to enter. The room looked much like any other official office. There was a front counter with a few people sitting behind a thick layer of glass, a handful of chairs that were all unoccupied, and a couple of fake plants as decoration.

  Nicholas strode up to the window, a professional smile already in place.

  “Ramón,” he greeted the olive-skinned man behind the glass.

  Ramón looked up from the papers he’d been reading and smiled when he saw who’d called his name. He reached forward and slid the glass panel aside.

  “Nicholas Talbot. What brings you by my neck of the woods?” he asked, still smiling, his teeth straight and white.

  Nicholas handed the manila envelope through the glass windows. Ramón opened the top flap and dumped the papers out on his desktop. He quickly scanned the first page and looked up questioningly, first to Nicholas and then me.

  “You’re fostering a new vampire?” he asked incredulously.

  “Ramón, this is Adrienne. Adrienne, Ramón.” He introduced us with a wave of his hand.

  Ramón still looked confused. “But Nicholas, you never–”

  “Things change,” he interrupted.

  I watched the exchange silently, wondering what it meant. Was fostering a new vampire that rare? Was there something wrong with him fostering me?

  Ramón shook his head and skimmed through the rest of the application. He clucked his tongue and looked up at Nicholas.

  “You didn’t fill out her last name.”

  “Wilkinson,” I answered him.

 
Ramón glanced at me briefly before running his eyes over the rest of the application. When he reached the end, he grabbed a stamp and punched it onto the top page. He then shuffled the papers together before filing them in a cabinet on his left.

  “Congratulations. You’ve got yourself a new vampire,” he said.

  Nicholas smiled, thanked him, and walked me out of the office. On our way back to the elevators I asked, “Why was he so surprised you were fostering me?”

  Nicholas sighed. “I don’t make new vampires and I certainly don’t foster them.”

  “Why not?”

  He sighed again. “I don’t make them because I don’t want to, and I don’t foster because I’ve never felt compelled to. I like my solitary life and its uncomplicated nature. I’ve never wanted to babysit someone else’s mistake.”

  I stopped dead in my tracks. He thought I was a mistake? That I was complicating his life?

  Seeing how his words affected me, Nicholas immediately backtracked. “No, no, no, Adrienne. That came out wrong. In the past I’ve never been compelled to step in and foster a new vampire. It’s different with you.”

  That explained nothing.

  “What’s so different about me? Why make an exception now?”

  Nicholas stilled, his eyes searching my face. He took a cautious step toward me. His hand reached out to touch my face but stopped and dropped to his side before it hit its mark. That same hand ran through his hair.

  “Everything is different about you, Adrienne. I can’t explain it properly. I just feel like I’m meant to be here with you. Since I met you, all I’ve wanted to do is be near you.” His last sentence came out in a whisper. Without my vampire hearing, I’m not sure I would have heard him at all.

  My breath caught in my throat and my palms began to sweat. Before I could respond, the loud click clack of high heels rounded the corner headed straight toward us.