Nathan smirked, but only for a second. Then his sarcastic expression faded, and he just looked sad. “I am sorry, Jessica, but I am afraid I don’t have any good news for your friends. If their men really have been turned by a vampire, then they are cursed, and it is a curse that does not break. At least not easily.”
“It doesn’t have to be easy,” Jessica said. “I know these girls. One of them I don’t really like very much, but still. I can tell she loves her husband. I doubt she’ll give him up without a fight. And Lucy…well, I think she’s a tougher cookie than a lot of people give her credit for, including herself sometimes. Both of these girls will move heaven and earth to save their men, and I’ll help them. Just tell us what to do. Please.”
Nathan pondered her for a moment, his sapphire gaze intensifying as he lowered his eyelids. “Heaven and earth, eh? Even if it means hunting down and killing another vampire? Because that is the only way I know of to turn a nosferatu back into a human. And that is only if you can find the master vampire who turned these men in the first place. Masters do not tend to linger in an area after they have attacked someone, for this very reason. And honestly, I have never heard of a master turning two people so closely together, either geographically, or in time. Normally they keep a low profile. Very low. Which leads me to believe you are mistaken about what’s happened to your friends. Perhaps you have been watching too many movies.” His gaze went to her bookshelf, crammed with paperbacks. “Or reading too many novels.”
Jessica’s heart pounded with hopeful anticipation. Never mind that he was pretending not to believe her. There was a way! A way to help Jason and Aaron! All they had to do was find their maker! And then kill her. Kill her dead! Granted, it didn’t sound like a very pleasant thing to have to do, but…how hard could it be? Especially if Nathan told them how to go about it. But, wait a second.
“So…you really are?” she squeaked.
“I am?” he echoed, tilting his head.
She threw up her hands. “A vampire!”
His nostrils flared, and irritation flickered in his irises. For a second, she didn’t think he was going to answer her, but then he sighed and shifted forward on the sofa, propping one elbow on his knee. He loomed toward her and opened his mouth up really wide. Instinctively, Jessica scooted back half an inch. Before she could ask him just what in the world he thought he was doing, his upper lip peeled back, and she watched, fascinated, as his top canine teeth elongated to two sharpened points. They glinted keenly in the lamplight—and then retracted just as quickly, leaving Jessica to wonder if she’d even actually seen them. His next words erased any doubt, though.
“I am a vampire,” he said, and his eyes filled with gloom. “One who has never been able to destroy the master who turned me. Obviously. As I said, it is not easy.”
“Oh.” Jessica clutched her heart, which was now hammering against her ribcage. “Well…maybe we can help you, too? Lucy, and Dara, and me. If we can find this master we’re looking for and kill her, maybe we can find and kill yours, too. Assuming it’s not the same one, anyway...” She drew in a sharp breath. “Ooh, you don’t think it’s the same one, do you?”
“No,” Nathan said immediately, “it is not.”
“But how can you be—”
“It cannot be her.”
Jessica didn’t appreciate his snappish tone, but she decided to ignore it. “Okay. We can help you find the right one, then,” she reiterated. “We can help you get rid of her. Then you’d be human again, too! Um…if being human again is even something you’d be interested in, that is...”
Oddly enough, this seemed to rile him up even more. His eyes blazed, and his lip curled. “Of course I would be ‘interested,’” he seethed. “Do you think I enjoy being one of these disgusting things?”
Jessica blinked. “Well, I don’t know. There are probably perks to vampirism, aren’t there? Like super-speed and super-strength?” She watched him carefully, wondering if he would mention anything about what’d happened that night with Mr. Hambly and the vending machine and the Ruffles, but he didn’t.
He said, “Yes, and I am also immortal. But at what cost? I must imbibe the blood of living beings in order to maintain myself. I will never again see the light of day, never feel the warmth of the sun against my skin. And do not forget that existing forever also means I am doomed to watch everyone I ever care about grow old and die while I go on without them. Alone. Terribly alone. It is nothing short of torturous, believe me.”
Jessica gave a grave nod. Not that she was surprised, but he was making being undead sound like a real drag.
“I can never be normal,” he continued, his voice a sullen rasp. “I can never do normal things such as…” His melancholy cobalt gaze flickered over her again. “Such as ask a pretty girl out for a cup of coffee. And not only because I cannot drink coffee, but because I would have to worry about what might happen to the pretty girl if she were to become involved with me, an inhuman, unnatural being whose very existence endangers her own.”
Jessica’s ears perked up at that. She grasped a lock of her hair and twirled it around her finger. “Oh, I don’t know, Nathan,” she said. “I say go for it. Ask her out anyway. That girl might be more daring than you’d think. Maybe she’d be down with risking a little danger to be with somebody like you? Hypothetically speaking, of course.”
The vampire shifted Wilhelmina away from him and got up from the couch. “I am sorry, Jessica,” he said, “but I cannot help you.”
“What?” Jessica couldn’t believe her ears. “Wait a second. You mean you’re not going to tell me how to find the master vampire? How to kill her?”
Nathan looked down at her in a superior and pitying way, as if she were dim-witted. “Assuming she exists,” he growled, “you cannot find her. You certainly cannot kill her.”
Jessica stood up, too. “So that’s it?” she cried. “You’re the only person I can possibly talk to about this, and you’re just gonna walk away without even giving me any advice on what to do next?”
He stared at her, his eyes flashing. “Oh, I can give you some advice,” he said. “Stay out of this. If what you have told me is true, then...Leave your friends to their own devices, lest you risk being dragged down into the horror that is inevitably to come right alongside them.”
Jessica was appalled. “You mean I should just abandon them to their fates? Oh, that would be really nice of me, now wouldn’t it?”
He moved in closer to her, lowering his voice as though someone might overhear what he was about to say next. “Listen to me, Jessica. I wish there was something I could do for you, truly I do, but…I am in hiding. Not only for my own sake, but for that of my family. Do you understand?”
Jessica gulped, feeling woozy at his sudden closeness. He was so near to her, she could see the flecks of violet in his deep blue irises, could make out the faint shadow of stubble just emerging along his jawline. “Y-you have a family?”
“The current generation in my line are all young adults. Vulnerable humans with their entire futures ahead of them. But if my master knew where to find them, they would be in terrible danger. I cannot risk doing anything that would call her attention to myself or, by association, them.”
A pang struck Jessica’s heart. “Ohhh,” she said, “I get it. So it’s not that you haven’t been able to find and kill your master, it’s that you haven’t even tried. You don’t want her to know where you are.” Pain flared in Nathan’s eyes, and Jessica shook her head. “Well, never mind then. Forget I asked you for anything and, uh, thanks for coming over.” She waved hastily toward the door.
He followed her hand gesture, disbelief coloring his eyes. “You…wish for me to leave?” he asked. “Just like that?”
“You obviously can’t get involved in this,” she said, wringing her hands. “I wouldn’t want you to get your family killed for our sake. I mean, come on!”
He paused, blinking. “But…what will you do, then, you and your friends?”
> Jessica shrugged, still feeling terrible for having made him come over here in the first place, and putting him at risk of exposure to his evil master. Although how was she supposed to know he was in the vampire version of witness protection? He should’ve said something sooner. “Don’t worry about that. It’s not your problem. We’ll think of something.”
Nathan walked over to the kitchen counter and picked up the pen and notepad Jessica kept there. He scribbled something, ripped off the page, and handed it to her.
“What’s this?” she asked, looking at the phone number he’d jotted down.
“The number of a man I know. He should be able to help you.”
“Who is he?”
“A werewolf.”
Jessica gasped. “Whoa, really?”
“No.” A spark of mischief lit Nathan’s eyes. Jessica squinted, but he ignored her irritated look. “He is simply a human. One who knows far too much for his own good. His name is Kiefer.”
“Kiefer?” Jessica’s eyes lit up again. “Like Kiefer Sutherland? He was in The Lost Boys. That’s a movie about vamp—”
“I know what it is.” Nathan pointed at the paper in her hand. “Call him. He will be able to determine if your friends really have been turned. If so, he can help to ease their transitions.”
Jessica stopped. Transitions? Well, that sounded bleak. And final. As if there truly wasn’t anything that could be done to reverse what had happened to Aaron and Jason. Her face fell. “But…Lucy,” she said. “That’s my friend. She’s in love with Aaron. She’s been hoping they could get together, that she could have a future with him. But if he’s going to be stuck being a vampire, then that probably means…”
Nathan surprised her by briefly settling a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I am sorry,” he said, and seemed to mean it. He went to the door. His fingers were on the knob when he stopped and turned to look back at her. “Jessica, may I ask you a question?”
She nodded, giving him a curious look.
“If you suspected I might be a monster, why did you come to me? How could you be certain I would not harm you?”
The corners of her mouth tugged up. “Well, I know you aren’t evil. I figured you were probably one of those vampires who doesn’t eat people, and who survives by just drinking animal blood.”
“‘One of those’ vampires?” he said, but understanding quickly dawned in his eyes. “You are speaking of fictional characters, yes?”
“Well, yeah, but…” His eyes hardened, and a quiver of doubt trembled through her. “You don’t, do you?” she asked quietly. “Eat people?”
He hesitated, staring at her neck just long enough to make her start sweating. “No,” he finally said softly. “I have never done so, but…why would you possibly assume that?”
“Because of what you did for Mr. Hambly,” she replied. “I saw you save his life, remember? That night in the lounge, when you kept the snack machine from turning him into just another stain on the carpet? I couldn’t imagine a monster doing anything like that. You know...anything so heroic.”
Nathan’s face blanched, and Jessica was unsettled to realize she’d somehow unsettled a vampire.
“What?” she wondered.
“You were not supposed to remember that.”
“I wasn’t?” Jessica’s eyebrows went up. “I don’t see how I was supposed to forget it. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.”
“I waved my hand. I gave you a mesmerizing stare. It was supposed to wipe the memory from your mind.”
“Yeah, I remember you waving at me.” Jessica fluttered her own hand in imitation. “And staring at me all intense.” She squinted her eyes.
“But you did not forget.” He sounded astonished.
Jessica shook her head. And then, seeing how upset he still seemed, she added, “Um. I’m sorry.”
“You never told anyone what you had witnessed,” he marveled. Then, with suspicion, “Or did you-?”
She shook her head again, vigorously. “No. Not until earlier tonight, when I told Lucy and Dara. But don’t worry, they won’t tell anyone else. Who would believe us, anyway?”
Nathan still looked flabbergasted, but he seemed to pull himself together. Raising his chin, he said, “I have heard tell of this before. Supposedly it happens from time to time, that a human is inordinately resistant to vampiric mesmerism. Although it is reckoned to be a rare trait.”
“Oh. No kidding?” Jessica grinned. “Neat. Guess that makes me kind of special, huh?”
He raked a quick glance over her from her head to toe. “Yes....Special.” Something like regret flashed in his eyes, and he offered her a weak smile. He pointed at the paper in her hand again. “Call Kiefer,” he urged. “He will help you. I will make certain of it.”
Chapter Eight
Lucy had been reluctant to leave Aaron alone in the state she’d found him in at the office, so she had taken him home with her that afternoon instead. It had been an ordeal getting him out of the building because he could barely walk in a straight line, but she’d managed to sneak him out a side entrance without anyone stopping them to ask any awkward questions. In her car, he’d curled up on the backseat and buried his head under a blanket she carried back there, because he’d said the sunlight hurt his eyes. She’d stopped by his apartment on the way to hers and helped him gather a few clothes and toiletries into a gym bag. Back at her place, she’d tried feeding him a sandwich, but he wouldn’t eat it, although he did gulp down almost an entire gallon of water while slumping at her kitchen table.
Eventually, she’d talked him into cleaning himself up. She’d been hovering around the bedroom when he’d emerged from the bathroom a while later, clean shaven and wearing a Houston Marathon t-shirt and sweatpants. His eyes were red-rimmed, like he’d been crying in the shower, and weariness dragged at his chiseled features.
“You should lie down,” Lucy said. “Get some rest.”
He cast a questioning glance toward the bed. “In here?”
“Why not?”
“But where will you sleep tonight?”
“In the living room. On the couch.”
Skepticism puckered his mouth. “I should take the couch.”
“No, it’s okay,” she insisted. “I want you to be comfortable. See, I already turned down the sheets for you and everything.”
Aaron looked where she pointed. His gaze seemed distant as it roamed over the bed, almost like he didn’t recognize the piece of furniture or its purpose. When he didn’t move, she went over and took his arm, guiding him toward it. She sat him on the edge of her mattress.
He was quiet for a few beats, his eyes dull as he gazed into her closet. She’d left the door open after getting out a fresh set of sheets for him, and now he stared at her clothes, sorted by length and arranged by color, all the shoes stored neatly in identical clear plastic boxes. He reached out and curled his hand around hers, tugging her down beside him.
“You’re being so nice to me,” he said.
“Well, sure. Aren’t I always nice to you?”
Something glimmered in his eyes, but she couldn’t interpret it. “Yeah,” he stroked one cold fingertip down the side of her neck, “you always are.”
Lucy gulped, feeling the chill bumps rise along her skin at his touch. Before she could respond, he’d leaned into her, locking his arms around her waist and resting his cheek against her heart. “What if this is a bad idea, Lucy?” he asked, his voice ragged. “What if I wake up in the middle of the night and attack you?”
She closed her eyes for a second, feeling her pulse kick up another level at his closeness. She’d always wondered what it would be like to hug him, and now she knew: wonderful. Even if he did still feel frigid as a popsicle. But she also knew he didn’t mean anything romantic by all this touching. He was just scared and seeking comfort. Well, if nothing else, Lucy could at least try to offer him that much. “Well…” she said, and patted his damp hair, “I’m, uh, trusting you not to do that.”
She chuckled, but even she could tell it sounded wary.
“What if I can’t be trusted?” he asked.
“Of course you can. Whatever’s happening to you, Aaron, you’re still you.”
“Am I?” There was a heart-rending note of despair stitched into the question.
The answer, of course, was that Lucy didn’t know. She had no idea how much Aaron was changing, or if he would ever be the same again after this. She knew she couldn’t say anything that disheartening to him, though. Instead, she ran her fingers through his hair and massaged his scalp. She brushed her palm over his shoulder and caressed his spine, curling her fingers to mimic the motion her mother had always used to comfort her when she was sick.
“Mmm,” he moaned, “that feels good.”
So does that, she thought, because now he was unconsciously nuzzling his face against her bosom.
“Yeah?” she said, working to keep her tone upbeat. “Well, how about this: if you go to bed, I’ll keep rubbing your back like that.”
“You will?”
She was gratified to hear an answering note of optimism in his voice. “Mm-hm, I promise.”
He held her for another second before sitting up. A smile plucked at one corner of his mouth. “You’ve got a deal.” He crawled under the bedclothes and flopped onto his side, facing away from her. Lucy kept her word and perched beside him, petting and scratching his back until he drifted off to sleep.
That had been almost forty-eight hours ago. Since then, Aaron had been the least obtrusive houseguest Lucy guessed anyone had ever had. He’d never reawakened, not even to use the bathroom. It was almost as though he was…hibernating. Which, despite her reassurances about trusting him, made Lucy worry about what to expect when he finally did come around again. A grumpy, ravenous bear? No, worse, she thought, a grumpy, ravenous vampire. The thought made her shudder, but, nevertheless, she closed the bedroom blinds tight and nailed blankets up over them to keep out the sun.
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