by Dani April
“You won’t get an argument from any of us about that, bro,” Aaron told him.
“If Fair has been a successful businessman all this time, and even owns businesses around here, then why has he never tried to get back with Marty in all of these years?”
“It’s a good question,” Owen said. He was sitting calmly in a chair and watching the sun set outside the window. “I think it would be better if one of us went to him and asked the questions and not Marty. She is too emotionally involved.”
“No, that won’t work,” Barry corrected the doctor. “This guy’s a vampire like Marty is. She speaks his language, and we don’t. She’s got to be the one to confront him. I’ll go with her to his club. I’ll hang around with them in case she needs protecting.”
Derrick gave a sarcastic laugh at the younger man. “You think you would be able to protect Marty from a vampire?” he asked and felt his anger rise again. “This creature is probably stronger than all four of us put together. If we let Marty go to his club, we won’t be able to do a thing to help her should she need it.”
“Relax, man,” Aaron said trying to calm his friend down once more. “We don’t have any reason to think this Thorn character is dangerous. They’re both vampires, after all, and former lovers. Our little vampire is one tough cookie. She’ll be able to handle herself. That’s not what I’m worried about. What worries me is that Marty thinks she still loves this dude, and she thinks he loves her, too. On this issue, Marty isn’t thinking like a creature of the night, but a lovesick woman. She could get her heart broken if she goes up into that disco.”
“I wonder if it wouldn’t just be better to write Thornton a letter,” Owen mused. “If Marty or one of us men goes barging into his club unannounced, we don’t know what kind of trouble it might stir up.”
“No!” Barry said, and now he was raising his voice as well. “Marty has to go confront this guy. She’s lived in the dark too long. She has to learn the ways of the vampire. Thornton Fair is the only person in the world who can teach her. Besides, once we tell her the news, there isn’t a single one of us who’ll be able to stop her going down to that club tonight.”
This silenced the others. They all exchanged looks. “Barry is right,” Derrick finally relented. “We won’t be able to stop Marty from dashing down to Thornton’s disco the minute she hears the news.” Then he slammed his fist down on the end table by the sofa and got all of their attention. “But damn it, I don’t think we should tell her.”
“This brings us back to our original argument,” Owen reminded him. “Derrick, it wouldn’t be right to withhold this information from Marty. I refuse to do so. I have too much respect for her to treat her as a child.”
“But damn it, Owen, when it comes to this vampire maker of hers, she acts like she’s a child. So I say let’s treat her accordingly. No good can come out of this. She could get hurt or even killed if she goes to that disco club. At the very least, she’s likely to get her heart broken. Aaron was right, she thinks she’s in love with this man, but it’s goddamn obvious to me that he doesn’t love her, or he wouldn’t have abandoned her for almost fifty years.”
“Wait a minute, guys.” Aaron held up his hand and sat down on the couch as if a thought had just struck him. From the look on his face, it didn’t seem to be a very positive thought. “Maybe the four of us are the ones acting childish here. What if lover boy down at the disco has a good reason for not coming back for her?”
“Like what?” Owen asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe he got amnesia, too. What I’m trying to say is that maybe Marty is right about him, and we’re the ones who don’t want to face up to it.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.” Derrick scowled angrily at him.
“I think I do,” Barry put in. “He’s trying to say that maybe Thornton Fair is still in love with Marty. We already know she has loved him all of these years. When they meet each other, they might get back together again.”
“They are both the same kind,” Owen said. “Marty is very different from all of us. We can’t deny that.”
“I’m saying that there’s a chance if Marty meets Thornton Fair, our relationship with that sweet little vampire under the floor in the next room may be at an end. She won’t need us anymore, and we can’t stand to think about it. We’re guys, and guys want to be needed by their woman.”
Derrick sat down next to Aaron on the couch. The truth of his words had struck home. His friend always had a way of digging down to the truth even it was an unpleasant one.
“So are you all going to tell me what all the shouting has been about?” Marty stood in the doorway. The sun had just set outside, and she was free for another night. Derrick knew the time had come for them to all make a decision.
* * * *
The four men were all seated in the center of the room. Marty paced about them, wondering which one would be the first to break the silence. She wasn’t angry, just hopeful because she could sense she was on the brink of a major change.
“I’m waiting, guys.”
Still, none of the men spoke. Marty rounded the corner of the couch and looked down at the faces of her lovers. They were all too strong and thickheaded to give in, so she decided to start for them.
“So my maker is now going by the name of Thorn.”
The guys looked up at her. Derrick started to get angry again. He thought she had read his mind. She shook her head.
“I overheard you talking. The floorboards aren’t that thick, you know, and your voices carry. I know you were talking about my maker. You’ve found him, and his name is Thorn.”
Owen handed her a printout he had taken from the library that morning. She took it from him and, at once, recognized the photo of Thorn. That was what he called himself this decade, but when she had known him in the sixties, his name had been Robert. She stood speechless for a moment, her heart racing in her chest as if it was threatening to become human once again.
“Oh my God,” she whispered to herself. “This is finally him, after all these years.”
“Aaron and I went to the university library today and did some research. It led us to that photo and the information contained on that printout.”
Marty was hardly even listening to him, so engrossed was she in looking at the picture of her maker. The date of the article told her it had only been shot last month, and it was in the city, too. Her maker was only about an hour’s drive away. She caressed the photo with fingers that trembled. Her palms became sweaty, and she had to take the printout to the dining room table in the next room and set it down. She also had to take a seat herself because she thought she would fall down if she did not.
The article about Thorn was only a brief one. She quickly read each word. Then, when she was finished, she went back and read it again. She savored this moment. Everything she had suffered for so long now was about to be wiped clean, and her life could finally start again anew.
He was the owner of a chain of dance and party clubs across the country. The one he owned in the city was named Rulers of the Night. In the photograph, he was wearing all black and looked like he could take on the world with his sure smile. His face printed on that eight-and-a-half-by-eleven, white sheet of paper was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. With a still trembling hand, she wiped a tear from her eye. This was the day she had waited for so long to arrive.
She wasn’t even aware that the men had moved into the dining room with her. Owen had gone out to the kitchen and gotten in the refrigerator and was making her a B-plus drink. He came back to the dining room table and sat it down before her.
“Drink this, Marty. You’ve got a big night ahead of you, and you’ll need to keep up your strength.”
“Thank you, Owen.” She drank the bright-red concoction absently and kept reading the page in front of her. She made a face. Recently, the blood concoction hadn’t tasted as good to her. Over time, it appeared to be losing its potency.
“We we
re arguing about whether we should show you that paper or not, Marty,” Aaron explained. “I guess that argument’s over now.”
Derrick set down across the table from her. “Please try and move slowly on this, Marty. You’re going to have your answers, but let’s get them in a way that won’t cause you anymore pain or suffering. All we want to do is protect you.”
Barely a word they said registered in her brain. She looked up hopefully at them. “It says here Thorn’s club is downtown just off the freeway. I can see him tonight.”
Derrick gasped, and she realized he was utilizing great self-control not to explode with anger at her. Finally he just pounded his fist into his open palm and scowled at her, leaving no doubt what he thought about her decision.
“Marty, are you sure you want to go rushing off into the middle of the night to meet a man you haven’t seen in almost fifty years? This is a man who may have abandoned you when you were sick and needed him the most. This man is responsible for your sickness. He left you to live a life of hell.” Owen tried to keep his voice reasoned as he spoke with her.
Marty cast a cold look up at him. Then she turned it on the other three men. They were all thinking the same as Owen.
“You’re wrong about Thorn,” she told them and found it gave her comfort just to be able to speak his name.
“Then why hasn’t he tried even once to get in touch with you all these years, Marty,” Aaron pleaded with her. “You’re still living in the same house. It would have been real easy for him to drop by once in a while and check on you.”
“I don’t know what his reasons have been,” Marty admitted. “Whatever they were, I know they have been good ones. This is the man I love. Thinking about him and meeting him again has been the only thing that has kept me sane over the years.”
Barry put a comforting arm around her shoulder, and she reached up and stroked his hand. “Whatever his reasons have been, you’re about to find out,” he told her. “I’m taking you down there tonight.”
“Thank you, Barry.” Then she looked back at the other men. “I want to thank you all. If it hadn’t been for you, this night would never have come for me.”
“Wait a minute!” Derrick put up his hand. She was afraid he wanted to argue some more. She didn’t want this special time spoiled by his childish behavior.
“You can’t stop me,” she told him firmly. “I won’t let anything stop me.”
“I won’t try and stop you, Marty.” She could tell all of the fight had gone out of him. He was resigned to let the rest of the evening take its course whether he liked it or not. “I don’t agree with your decision, but I respect it. I’m going to drive with you and Barry into the city, and I won’t let anything stop me from protecting you.”
She let him take her in his arms and give her a kiss. She thought he did it more to reassure himself than he did for her. She could read his thoughts, and they were all dark and filled with the dread of unimaginable horrors he feared might befall her that night.
Barry hit Derrick on the shoulder. “I thought you said this vampire could probably take all four of us out if he wanted to. How will you coming along help any if that vampire isn’t in a good mood tonight?”
Derrick smiled, but it wasn’t one of pleasure. “I’m just going for purely selfish reasons. I don’t really think I can do much good tonight, but if something happens to you guys, I want to be right there to let it happen to me as well.”
“Stop being silly. Nothing bad is going to happen to us tonight.” Marty was suddenly happy. She felt she could have run all the way into the city if she had to. She looked down at her watch. In one hour from now, she was finally going to meet her maker.
Chapter Twenty-One
Barry drove his truck down the freeway headed into the city. Derrick rode shotgun. Aaron and Owen had reluctantly agreed to remain behind at the house as backup in case they were needed. Marty was seated between the two men in the middle. Her mind was moving so fast she couldn’t focus on any one coherent thought long enough to absorb it. Derrick tried putting his arm around her, but she wasn’t receptive. Thorn was the only man she could think about now.
Rush hour traffic was just clearing on the freeway, and they had few delays. Barry was able to keep the truck purring down the blacktop at a steady sixty miles per hour. So much had passed in her life since last she had been able to look on that sun. How did vampires deal with the inability to ever see it? Perhaps tonight Thorn would have some answers for her.
Then her mind settled on the one dark topic that could have taken away her smile that night. “The wicked witch!” she exclaimed aloud.
Both men looked at her, Barry taking his eyes off the road for a fraction of a second.
“She told me not to ever do this. She warned me against finding my maker.”
“Did she say why?” Derrick asked.
“No. I thought it was for some selfish, mean-minded purpose only a creature that wicked would know about. But she was the only other vampire I’ve ever met. I guess I’m a little frightened tonight after all. But that’s how that wicked female vampire wanted me to feel. She wanted to intimidate me and scare me so I’d give up on finding Thorn. But I’m not going to let her stop me. No one can stop me.”
“I’m sure Thorn isn’t anything like she was,” Barry said, trying to give her encouragement. “If he had been, you never would have become involved with him.”
She smiled up at him. “Now you’re reading my mind, Barry,” she told him. “Thank you. That’s exactly what I think.”
“When we get there, will you please let Barry and I do all of the talking at first,” Derrick cautioned her.
Marty nodded but hadn’t made up her mind if she would do as he said or not.
“From everything I’ve read about the Rulers of the Night, it is a wild and crazy place. It’s kind of a dive for the rich and famous. Thorn is the owner, so he must be rich. He’s also probably wild and crazy to operate a club like that. As soon as we walk inside, we’re going to be on uncertain ground.”
“I’ve heard about this place,” Barry said. “Isn’t it like ten bucks to get a drink there?”
“Something like that. It’s also in a rough part of town. They’ve had several murders there.”
“Just the kind of a joint I’d expect a vampire to run.” Barry laughed.
“Barry, you take Marty and keep her safe once we get there.” Derrick started thinking ahead. “I’ll scout out ahead of you all and maybe ask some questions of the staff about their boss.” He looked down at Marty. She was barely listening to him. “If things look bad, I’m taking you out of there, Marty. I don’t care if I have to throw you over my back and carry you. I’m not going to let you get hurt tonight.”
“I appreciate your concern, but I’m going to be fine. In fact, I’ve made up my mind.” She put a restraining hand on Derrick’s knee. “I’m going in by myself.”
Both men immediately started to argue with her. Derrick raised his voice again, and she thought Barry was going to pull over to the side of the road. She squeezed Derrick’s knee tighter to quiet him.
“When you think about it, this is the only way it makes sense.”
“How is it going to look for a young attractive woman to go into a dive like Rulers of the Night alone?”
“He’s right, Marty,” Barry said. “I’m used to the streets, and even I don’t think I could handle the scene down there by myself. If you go in there alone, they’re going to think you’re a hooker.”
“First off, and most importantly, I know the owner. He used to be my fiancé. Secondly, have either of you humans stopped to consider that this club has such a wild reputation because it maybe a hangout for people like me. The ones I met in the limo that night were pretty outlandish. They would probably be a good fit at Rulers of the Night from the way you describe it. Thirdly, and also pretty darn important, I would like some time alone to talk with Thorn in private. We haven’t seen each other in almost fifty years. The two of
us are going to have a lot of things to talk about. I want to introduce you guys to him eventually, just not tonight.”
She saw Derrick and Barry exchange a glance. She knew they had not been thinking about the possibility of an all-vampire nightclub. While that thought no doubt scared the men, somehow it thrilled Marty. She only hoped the vampires at this club would be more to her liking than the first group she’d met.
“Oh man, she has a point.” Barry was the first to speak. “I got to admit, as much as I’d like to go in there and see what goes on, she may be right. We humans should probably stay outside.”
Derrick lowered his head into his open palms. She could feel the worry radiating off his large body like it was heat. He was truly scared for her. She wanted to reach out to him and tell him it would be all right and that Thorn would take care of everything, but she knew that wasn’t what he wanted to hear, and he would not have believed her anyway.
Marty held up her phone and presented it to Derrick. “I’ve got my cell. I promise you if anything even remotely bad starts to happen to me, I will give you a call, and you can come and rescue me.” She looked out the windshield and up at the heavens. The orange glow that had been the sun’s last stand was now gone, and the stars, along with a quarter moon, were adorning the sky. “But if things go as I plan, I’ll give you a call and tell you to leave. You can go back to the house, and I’ll see you tomorrow night and tell you all about it then.”
“Marty, you’re still a vampire!” Derrick was shouting at her again in his frustration. “If we leave you trapped in the city with no way to get home tonight, what are you going to do in the morning?”
“I’m sure Thorn will have a place for me to sleep. He’s just like me. He can’t be in the sunlight, either. He’s got to have his own hideaway somewhere. I’m planning on going back to it with him.”
“And what if he doesn’t have one or doesn’t feel like sharing it with you?”