by Jana Denardo
Nearly thirty minutes later, Luc came out of the shower, wrapped in a thick towel, his skin even more red and angry, but clean. He seemed much more aware of his surroundings even though he had apparently missed seeing the robe. Arrigo flipped him a tube of burn salve from the medicine cabinet.
“It’ll help some, but you have to keep out of the sun.”
“No shit, couillon!” Luc rolled his eyes. He made use of the salve as he sat on Arrigo’s bed.
“When did Eleni leave you?”
Luc made a face as he rubbed the burn cream into his face. “So it was her. I wondered afterward. Said her name was Julia, and she was wearing a blue wig, and I think I had a concussion and wasn’t thinking straight. She wasn’t there when I woke up. I don’t remember much. When the sun came up, something told me to hide. That burning sensation was a good hint.” He spat that last bit out like a piece of turned lunchmeat.
“It’ll do that.” Arrigo tried to smile to defuse some of the tension, but his heart wasn’t in it. “How did Eleni get hold of you?”
“Da got mad at me about….” Luc looked away, a flush going up his face. He offered no explanation for what he seemed embarrassed about. Arrigo assumed Henri had called his father after seeing Luc fighting with him on Fremont. He figured it would piss off their father. “He hit me with a beer bottle. I know he broke my cheek, but it doesn’t hurt now. Why doesn’t it hurt?” Luc brought his gaze back to Arrigo’s as he rubbed his cheek.
“Vampires heal fast.”
Luc nodded as if that made perfect sense. “She offered to help me. I wanted to go home, but she took me to her place and sat me down on her bed. By that time I wanted out of there. I asked her to take me to the ER because I was pretty sure I was hurt worse than I realized. Instead… she jumped me, I think. I remember that. I think there was a man in the house, but I don’t remember much. I fought, tried to, at least, but then I simply couldn’t do anything but what she wanted.” He started shaking again and flinched when Arrigo took a step closer to try to comfort him.
“We have the ability to strip away willpower and make people forget.” Arrigo sighed. “Obviously you didn’t want to be a vampire.”
“I didn’t believe in such a thing. Why didn’t you warn me?” Luc punched the mattress.
“I did! What else could I tell you other than to stay away from her?” Arrigo fought to keep his voice even. He had failed Luc so badly. “I certainly couldn’t tell you a vampiress was after you.”
Luc stared at his burned hands. “Yeah, I know. I’m just scared. What am I really? Am I dead?”
“You’re a vampire, and no, you aren’t dead. You will be, though, if you go out in the light. Fire can kill you, as can anything severely damaging, like decapitation or major organ damage.”
“I saw my reflection in the mirror, and I’m wearing my cross without trouble.” Luc fingered his crucifix.
“Myths. You still have a soul. Even if you didn’t, you’d still reflect in a mirror. That’s just nonsense. Vampires are much older than Christianity. Crosses make no difference, nor would a Star of David for that matter. Garlic doesn’t bother us. Neither does running water. We can’t turn into bats, mists, or wolves. We can, however, perform a powerful form of hypnosis with little effort. That’s how I kept the young lady quiet for you,” Arrigo replied, sitting on the trunk at the foot of his bed. “She’ll have a hickey tomorrow, and be a bit tired, but she’ll probably blame the alcohol. We can make you forget the bloodletting, the memory never even forms. Sadly we can’t go around changing people’s minds on a more permanent level, like me making your family be less of a dick to you.”
“Pity. Pourquoi? Why did she do it, Arrigo? Why did she make me into this?” Luc took Arrigo’s hand, holding on like Arrigo was a lifeline.
“Because of me. Eleni and I have been fighting since we first met each other. She and her lover were rogues, killers. Being a vampire doesn’t make you inherently evil. You are what you were when you were mortal, unless you allow your new powers to warp you. Eleni has always been heartless and power hungry. It was harder to be an ambitious woman back when she was born; no feminine freedom. Maybe it’s why she turned so cruel and destructive. She thought a good way to cause me grief would be to change and abandon you,” Arrigo said, as he pulled his hair free of its tail with his free hand. He rubbed his scalp. He wanted to hold Luc, but Luc’s body language said it would be the wrong move.
“Dieu….” Luc whispered. He dropped his hold on Arrigo, putting his hand to his neck in revulsion.
“I’m sorry, Luc. This is all my fault. She saw us before I realized she was in town.”
“It’s her fault, no one else’s!” Luc balled his fist up.
“Even so, Siobhan’ll take care of you from now on. She volunteered to be your mentor,” Arrigo promised, his expression gentle.
Luc wet his lips, not quite meeting Arrigo’s eyes. “Quoi faire?”
Arrigo realized Luc was sliding further into his Cajun speech patterns, comfort in the familiar things, no doubt. “A fledgling vampire usually can’t survive without guidance. We have to teach you to be a vampire, if you want to live.”
“And if I don’t?”
Arrigo looked away. This was why he almost never made a fledgling. The life was harder than people thought it would be. So many didn’t make it. “I don’t want to talk about that.”
Luc frowned. “I do.”
“Go get a suntan. It’ll take a fledgling like you out in minutes.” Arrigo scowled, not wanting to think about that option for Luc. “Sorry. That was harsh.”
“No, it’s honest. So young vampires die in the sun, but not an old one like you, neh, le vieux?” Luc called him an old man as if he was shooting for a joke, to lighten the mood, but missed by a country mile.
Arrigo smiled back. “No, I can bear the sun exposure, but even I can burn.” He held up his reddened hand. “It took me what feels like forever to get this far.”
“Does it get lonely?” Luc asked softly, as if considering the possibilities.
“Very. Sometimes that’s why we make fledglings, to keep us company. Not every vampire makes it. Some do go greet the sun.”
“Have you ever been in love, Arrigo? I mean, is it possible to have a relationship? Are you even capable of feeling anything for me, or am I just someone to play with?”
“We can love like we always have. I do care about you, Luc. Our relationship went a little fast, yes, but it wasn’t just about having a fuck buddy. With a Normal, it’s hard. But I’ve been in love.” Arrigo put a hand on Luc’s arm.
He squirmed away. “So when you tire of me, I’m out?”
“It’s not like that. Usually we go our own ways after a time. Many of us come back together again time after time. Like Siobhan, though we’re not together at the moment. I usually concentrate on one lover at a time. You getting tired of me hopefully won’t be anytime soon. You have a lot to learn.” Arrigo tried to sound optimistic. “And I hope you’ll like Siobhan’s mentoring.”
“What about my family?” The worry in Luc’s voice shocked Arrigo. “I can’t go home like this.”
Arrigo didn’t even know why Luc would want to go back to those people, but all he said was, “No, you can’t. You’ll stay here for now.”
“My da may have called the police. I’ve been gone for more than a day.”
“He didn’t. I’ve spoken to him. Do you need to get anything from your home? We could go while he’s at work, then talk to him later. It might be best for all involved that way. Tell him you’re moving out. You’re an adult. You don’t have to live with him.”
“But I have no money,” Luc protested, his eyes wide.
“Siobhan and I have a fortune accumulated. We’ll take care of you. Once you’re more acclimated to what’s happened to you, we’ll worry about what you can do about making money.” Arrigo shot him a sheepish look. “I’m sorry about all of this. I’m the reason you’re in this mess.”
“A little, yeah
.” Luc obviously wasn’t going to let him off the hook.
“It’s possible Eleni had you in her sights before we were actually together. It’s why I was trying to redirect her. That’s what you saw me and Siobhan trying to do on Fremont,” Arrigo said, hunching his shoulders.
“Wait, you’re telling me you hung Siobhan out as bait?”
“Not exactly. She put herself out as bait. Keep in mind we’ve known each other a very long time. It’s well known we’re lovers. We were trying to protect you by making Eleni think you and I weren’t dating. She already knew I was hanging around you so she assumed at the very least you were my friend. I knew she wouldn’t try to attack Siobhan outright because Siobhan is older and stronger.”
“Maybe that’s why she still came for me. I wish you would have tried to warn me. I dunno, tell me you were setting Siobhan up as bait. I wouldn’t have liked you doing that, but at least I wouldn’t have been so mad. You really hurt me.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.”
“Can’t do nothing ’bout it now.” Luc scowled. “I have to let Da know I’m all right, so to speak. He’s no good, a real crotte. I hate him, I really do, but I don’t want him to wonder what became of me.”
“I don’t blame you. He is your father, after all. Retrieving your belongings and talking to your family can wait another day. Luc, why didn’t you leave that house once night fell?” Arrigo asked the question he should have at first.
Luc shuddered at the memory. “I didn’t know I could, and my cell is dead. I knew something was wrong with me, and I didn’t know what to do.”
Arrigo nodded. “You’re exhausted. You should go to bed early, and tomorrow after you eat, we’ll get your things and see your father.”
“Where am I to sleep? I couldn’t handle a coffin.” Luc shuddered.
“In here,” Arrigo said, going through the bathroom and into the spare room he had fixed up.
Luc followed. “I can sleep in the bed?”
“Yes. I’ve boarded up the windows. You don’t fall into a coma when the sun rises. You can, if the room is darkened, move about all day if you want to. If I couldn’t darken the room, I’d have put you in the tub or a closet or something. That’s not comfortable, but it’s safe. Besides, I don’t usually have a coffin lying about.” Arrigo smirked.
“I wouldn’t want a coffin or a closet! I woke up in a tub.”
“I don’t blame you. You can get from the spare bedroom to the bathroom without crossing any windows, as you just saw. There’s a curtain you can pull between the bathroom and this room. Otherwise you can see right through the bathroom into my bedroom. It’s a weird, kinda-creepy layout. Don’t go into the rest of the apartment yet. I haven’t had a chance to lightproof the whole place. You’ll probably sleep the whole day anyhow. Siobhan’ll start teaching you to hunt when the night falls.”
Gaius poked his way into the room and eyed Luc.
“You keep saying that. Why her and not you?”
Arrigo fought a wince at Luc’s plaintive tone. “She’s a better mentor than I am. I’m impatient, and I can be short-tempered.”
Luc snorted. “As if I haven’t lived with men like that all my life.”
“It’s time for something new. I’m not really a good mentor. Siobhan is.”
“I know you.”
Arrigo pinched his lips tight. “I’ll consider it, and we can talk later. You need rest. There’s a TV over there and a radio. It’s set for a jazz station. Tune into whatever you’d like.” Arrigo turned the radio on. Nat King Cole’s “When I Grow Too Old To Dream” came out soft and sweet.
Luc sprawled on the bed, then looked up at Arrigo plaintively. Gaius hopped onto the bed, but Luc didn’t seem to notice. “I’ll never grow too old to dream, will I?”
Arrigo said nothing. Luc rolled over to the nightstand and turned the radio to a rock station; then he buried his face in his pillow and wept.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
LUC HAD fallen into a dreamless sleep, so exhausted from the last few days, he hadn’t had time to be curious about his new surroundings. He had even been afraid to go to the shared bathroom—when he briefly woke near noon—even though Arrigo had said Luc would be safe there. It didn’t matter. He’d been asleep most of the day. Arrigo had popped in a few minutes before to tell him it was finally safe to leave his room, and Luc made a beeline for the bathroom.
Afterward, he slowly wandered out, ready to explore. He only made it as far as the entrance to the penthouse living room before stopping dead. One wall held a giant bookcase and several pieces of art on it, some of which looked like it would be more at home in Caesar’s Palace. The living-room bookcase wall impressed him, but not as much as the wall that was nothing more than windows. The view overwhelmed him. Luc had never been this high before. Vegas glittered like a queen’s jewels down below. They called En Ville, New Orleans, the Queen of the South, so Vegas had to be the Queen of the Desert, or at least the queen’s trashy sister.
When he tore his eyes off the lights and the orange glow they gave the desert hills in the distance, Luc realized Arrigo and Siobhan watched him from the couch. Oh, fuck him, the couch was a pristine white with black pillows. The walls were white too, cold and crystalline like those rich homes he’d seen on TV. How did a couch stay white? He couldn’t sit down, not in the filthy clothes he wore, and they were the only ones he had. There had been folded clothes on the edge of the dresser, but he wasn’t sure if they were for him.
“Are you okay, Luc?” Arrigo asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t even know how I am. I… don’t belong here. It’s too fine.”
Siobhan laughed. “It’s not so much the place is fine, Luc. It’s that Arrigo is a ginormous fusspot.”
Arrigo tossed a black pillow at her before standing. “Luc, it’s not too fine. It’s my home, and you are welcome here. Unless you don’t want to stay. You and Siobhan can find somewhere else to live.”
“No… I… I’m sorry. I just need a bit, you know? And I thought you said you’d think about being my mentor, not Siobhan.” He held up his hands. “You explained stuff last night, but I’m not sure it all sunk in.”
“It takes time, and we’ll talk about your mentorship.” Siobhan came over to him and wrapped her arms around him tight.
Luc wanted to relax into her touch. It had been so long since he had anyone simply hold him, but he knew how dirty-dirty his clothes were. He tried to squirm away.
“We’ll take care of you and explain everything as many times as you need, including what you saw at the bar that night. You know what I mean,” Siobhan added.
Boy did he ever. If he hadn’t seen Arrigo and Siobhan going at it, he wouldn’t have had his face broken by his da, and he wouldn’t have gone home with Eleni.
“Yeah.” He waved a hand at the sofa. “I don’t want to sit on the couch like this. These clothes are a mess.”
“We know.” Siobhan went to the dining area and picked up some sweatpants and a T-shirt off a table, which looked like that arena thing in Rome, Colisomething or other. They were different than the clothes left in his room. “Here, you can wear these. We left others in the bedroom, in case you didn’t see them.”
Luc glanced over at Arrigo. “You’re bigger and broader than me.”
“Actually I’m barely taller, but those are Siobhan’s.” Arrigo favored him with a lopsided smile, shrugging those broad shoulders of his.
Luc huffed, too tired to be embarrassed about having to wear Siobhan’s clothes. “Merci, I think.”
“They’ll do until we go out. We’ll deal with feeding you first, and then we can get your stuff from your house.”
“What day is this? I mean is it a Monday or what?”
“It’s Thursday,” Arrigo replied.
Luc frowned, his throat feeling tight. “No, I don’t want to go over there tonight. Da and Henri don’t work on Thursdays. They do on Friday. We can go then if Siobhan doesn’t mind me wearing her stuff till then. I�
�d rather not have to deal with Da.”
“You won’t be alone,” Arrigo reminded him.
Luc touched his once-wounded cheek. His face and hands still felt burned but better than they had before Arrigo had found him. He didn’t want to subject Arrigo to his da even though now he knew Arrigo could probably kill Da in an instant. How tempting.
“I know, but it’ll be easier to do when the house is empty. We can go by the bar after and tell him I’m not dead like he’s probably hoping.”
“Fair enough. After dinner we can go shopping and get you some new clothes anyhow,” Arrigo said.
Luc flushed. “You don’t have to.”
“I want to.”
Luc pictured all the ways this couldn’t work. There was no way of saying it without hurting Arrigo’s feelings. “Okay, but let’s go to Walmart or Sears or something.”
Arrigo looked like he wanted to protest. Instead he sat down, giving Luc some space. “Luc, I don’t mind getting you good clothes.”
“I do!” Luc threw up his hands, then tried to get his temper controlled. Easy enough, he’d been doing it all his life. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t be comfortable in expensive stuff. I’m a jeans and T-shirt kind of guy. Get it?”
Arrigo traded looks with Siobhan, then nodded. “Point taken.”
“Merci.” Luc sighed. “For everything, seriously. Thanks, but before we do anything, I want to shower. I know I showered last night, but I still feel gross.”
“By all means.” Arrigo gestured back toward the bathroom.
Luc fled. He needed a moment to recover himself. It was all too much. So was Arrigo’s bathroom for that matter. Tan tile floor—or was it marble?—huge tub and a separate shower with glass walls, and with a view of the floor-to-ceiling windows. Oh God, could the neighbors look in? Who paid this kind of money to give the neighbors a show? Luc spotted the blinds and lowered them with a sigh of relief. He set his borrowed clothing on the vanity, and then pulled the curtains on either end of the open bathroom. Luc felt oddly shy about Arrigo accidentally catching a peek, ridiculous given his dick had been in the man’s mouth on two separate occasions. Worse, what if Siobhan strolled by? Luc shucked out of his dirty clothes. He stayed in the shower longer than necessary. The hot water beating off his skin felt great. Luc could have stayed forever, but he could only put it off for so long. Besides, he was hungry, a deep ravenous hunger making his heart race and his body shake.