by J.J. Bonds
**********
“Should I bother asking?”
“Asking what?” This is a different approach for Anya. For once I’m not sure what she’s expecting me to say.
“How your week is going? If there’s anything you’d like to talk about? If you’d like a reprieve from our weekly meetings?”
There’s a lot going on. I actually do need someone to talk to, but I’m still not sure what I can really tell Anya. I have to remind myself that Aldo trusts her. That should be good enough for me.
“I hate wasting my time,” she states candidly.
“Did you tell anyone?” I blurt out. “About me?” It’s impossible to keep the panic from creeping into my voice.
“Why would you think that? What’s wrong?” she asks, leaning in closer. Anya reaches across the desk and grabs my hand, reacting protectively to my alarm. I’m startled by the physical contact but also comforted. I lean back and take a deep breath. Anya hasn’t betrayed us.
“It’s Shaye. She… said things. She knows I’m hiding something.”
“Shaye Walker? You two are getting close?” Anya asks. It’s the first she’s hearing of any friendship for me.
“I guess.”
“That’s good. You’re making connections.”
“Didn’t you hear me? She’s suspicious.”
“Shaye has secrets of her own. Like you she chooses a guarded existence. It’s only natural that she’d recognize the behavior in another.”
“How can you be so casual about this?” Her indifference irritates me. I push myself up from the chair and move swiftly to the window. I don’t ask Anya’s permission before sliding it open. The room is stifling. The fireplace roars with life this evening, but I know it’s not really the heat that’s bothering me. It’s this situation that’s smothering me. I lean out the window and take a deep breath. The cool evening breeze is refreshing. The scent of snow is on the air, and I remember that the weather forecast mentioned the possibility of a Nor’easter.
“First of all, Shaye doesn’t know anything,” Anya insists, abandoning her desk and moving to my side at the window. “You need to calm down and think this through. What can she suspect? She can’t possibly know the truth. Secondly, you need more in your life than Aldo and Lissette.”
“You’re wrong,” I tell her, turning to study her as I did on the first day we met. “You don’t understand. Aldo saved me. He brought me back from the edge. I don’t need anyone else. I owe him everything, and I would do anything for him. Anything.” I rub the gold cuffs on my wrists. Today they feel more like shackles attached to an invisible weight that only I can see.
“You need balance, Katia. Shaye could be good for you.”
“Good for me? I’m not so sure of that.” She’s not listening to me. This is pointless.
“Shaye’s condition is delicate. She, too, understands the importance of discretion. She’s not going to say or do anything to jeopardize either of you.”
“What do you know about her?” I challenge.
“Enough to know that she would be a loyal friend to you. Enough to know that she will not pry where you do not wish her to.”
“She’s sick.”
“I know,” she returns quietly. “The faculty is aware of her condition.”
“But she’s so young. I didn’t think it could happen. I thought the blood disease only attacked older vampires?”
“A common belief,” she admits. “It is unfortunate. It’s easier to accept when the victim has had more time to experience the world. But I wouldn’t write Shaye off yet. A lot of research is being done to combat the otrava de sange. A cure may be closer than you think. You probably don’t know this, but two of the largest research and pharmaceutical companies in the world are owned by vampires.”
There are a lot of things I don’t know. Still, the look on my face must convey skepticism because she launches into a more detailed explanation.
“Don’t look so surprised. There’s big money in pharmaceutical research. Curing human diseases is not only beneficial to the survival of the species, it’s also profitable. Not to mention the fact that it provides direct access to fresh blood supplies worldwide.”
She’s right. I probably shouldn’t be surprised. “I’ll keep that in mind. Are we done here?”