She nodded and sat up, smoothing the black pants she still wore. Sleeping in her clothes was becoming common being around him. She asked for the time.
“It’s after ten,” he told her. “Guess you’ll be going home?”
“Yeah, I guess,” she stood up and began leaving the bedroom.
He followed her. “Would you like to grab some coffee? Remember, I can go around in this.”
“No, I’ll be fine.” She put on her coat, which she’d left on the couch. Turning to face him, she asked, “Are you going to take me home?”
Looking pleased, he said, “How about I take you to the ferry? Is that good?”
She nodded. There was a pause before he walked over and put his arms around her, lowering her head onto his shoulder. “I know none of this is easy. But I hope you realize this is for the best. Not just for everyone around you, but for us. I mean, there was no other way for us to go forward.”
When Claire nodded, he pulled back and examined her face. Seeing no expression, he simply tucked some hair behind her ear and kissed her.
During the cab ride to the ferry terminal, they held hands but didn’t look at each other. Claire could feel her stomach turn from emptiness, but she felt no will to put something in it.
Arriving at the terminal, they kissed good-bye and Daniel told her to meet with him after class the next night. “I’ll make plans for our trip to Paris today, kay? Don’t worry, I’ll cover all the costs.”
“Sounds good,” she replied and got out of the cab.
The ferry ride home was the longest Claire ever took. She stared out the window, not looking at anything, not noticing the man sitting across from her, talking loudly into his phone. If she was holding her breath, she didn’t know it. If she was pinching herself, she didn’t know that either. One thing she did know, she was fighting back tears.
She got back at the apartment at about noon. Walking up the pathway to the door, she mentally told herself to remain calm and put on a big smile. If she believed everything was all right, then her friends would too.
She found her keys, unlocked the front door and walked in. At the kitchen table in front of her laptop was Samantha. Sitting on the couch watching TV was Monica. Both had big question marks on their faces.
Taking a deep breath and putting on a smile, Claire announced all was well with her and Daniel. “We’re going to move in together, later this week.”
Her roommates stared at her. Samantha looked flabbergasted as she stood up while Monica put the TV on mute.
“What the…?” Samantha said. “So soon?! Are you sure you want to do this?”
Claire nodded. “I know this isn’t easy to take, but it would be best to do it then.”
“Best? How?” Monica frowned.
Claire told them about the trip to Paris the coming weekend, and how he was paying for everything.
“Okay, sounds romantic,” Samantha said, not sounding convinced. She studied Claire’s face closely. “You look exhausted. Did you get any sleep last night?”
“Not much. We were out most of the night. In fact, I’m going to take a nap soon.”
“Where did you two go?” Monica asked.
The memory of Daniel sucking at the waitress’s leg flashed in Claire’s mind and she nearly lost her composure. Fortunately, her back was turned as she placed her coat on the hook near the door. Turning around, she brightened her eyes and told them about dinner and dancing at a club.
“Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to lay down for a while. See ya!” With that she went into her room and closed the door.
Resting against the door, she let go of her façade and allowed the tears to well up again. Putting on a show like that was so stressful, not to mention the agony of what she had done late last night. As her face became moist with tears, Claire began to head for her bed, but the sound of her friends talking made her press her ear to the door.
“Something’s off about all this,” Samantha was saying. “I hope she’s not staying with him because she feels like she has to.”
“I still don’t remember him treating her badly,” Monica responded. “But I do know we kind of pressured her to pursue him in the beginning.”
“That’s what I mean. She shouldn’t be staying with him for our sake or because he helped her with her freelancing. She’s never been the strongest person: that’s why she has us. But hey, we can’t tell her to leave him. She’s going to move in with him and that’s that.”
Never been the strongest person. That both rattled Claire and infuriated her. She knew when it came to guys, she tolerated too much, though never abuse. But she was faced with a life or death situation, and her choice depended on those in her life. She made the decision because she felt it was best. There was no way out of her situation. She somehow fell in love with a man who turned out to be a murderous vampire with a plan she could not have foreseen. If she only let her suspicions over his paleness and odd behavior rule her heart. If only she had heeded Nancy’s warnings.
Looking at her bedroom walls, Claire choked a bit on her tears. There were a few photo collages of sunsets, something she had always enjoyed. Would she ever enjoy those again? He’d told her it would take centuries. Could she tolerate not seeing the beautiful skies as the sun came and went for that long? By then, what would she be like? Would she so used to the night that daytime wouldn’t interest her anymore?
Feeling dizzy, she went over to collapse on her bed. She closed her eyes, knowing that was her only escape from her hell.
“I can’t believe it,” her brother spat out. “You know Mom and Dad are going to hit the roof over this.”
“Zachary,” Claire rolled her eyes. “It’s no big deal. It’s just another stage of our relationship.”
Shaking his head and looking at Kristina sitting next to him, he looked back at the computer screen. “Seriously, do you think Christmas is going to be all fun this year?”
“Oh come on!” Claire sat up at her desk. It was late in the afternoon and she had woken up from her nap an hour earlier. She decided to break it to her brother about her moving in with Daniel.
“You come on!” he retorted. “You know how conservative they are. Dad is going to hate Daniel and Mom wouldn’t want to talk to you. It would be like the time I snuck my girlfriend into the house back in high school.”
“Yeah, but that was high school,” Claire said. “You and I are both full-grown adults now. They’ll have to accept our decisions.”
“I guess they’ll really think New York City corrupted you,” Kristina giggled good-naturedly.
Claire shrugged and looked at Ava, who was sitting on Kristina’s lap. Her niece was chewing on a teething ring, nonchalant about what was going on around her like any other baby. “How many teeth does she have again?”
“Two are coming in,” Zachary answered. “Now admit it, Claire. You know Mom and Dad were not crazy about you dating an older man, and now you’re moving in with him?”
She sighed. “Like I keep telling you, Zach, they’ll have to accept it. They can’t disown me for moving in my boyfriend.”
“She’s right,” Kristina said.
Zachary seemed to be at a lost for words before saying, “Fine, do what you have to do. But don’t expect Christmas this year to be all happy and fun. Oh, and don’t forget to tell them before I come get you. That would really screw up everything.” He paused. “Claire?”
She blinked a few times before coming back to her senses. She was watching Ava drop her teething ring and whining about it.
“I’ll tell them now. How about that?”
“Do what you like. But remember what I told you.”
They logged off of their video messaging program, and Claire placed her head in her hands. She spoke to her brother not just to tell him of her plans, but also to get a glimpse of Ava. Watching that precious girl made her wonder if she was making the right move.
Yes, Daniel had a point: there was no way she could go on knowing that vampires w
ere causing so much death in the world. She would have been locked away with the Brothers, being a slave to them. As the first vampires, they probably didn’t have any remorse to hurting humans. But for Daniel to tell her that everyone around her would die if she said no sounded like a game to her.
Game or not, it was possible he could - or could have someone else - murder those very close to her. Her roommates. Her family. How funny he told her they would be allowed to live, yet he would keep her away from them.
Claire sighed heavily. Was there any way out of this, any hope? No one would believe her if she said Daniel was a vampire. They would think she was insane.
Unless…
Claire went online and searched for those websites that discussed how vampires were actually real. She found the same ones she had seen over Thanksgiving weekend, including the blog that discussed the death of Henry, the wayward vampire. She read more of the blog and discovered that the blogger, who called himself NYCHunter and was a policeman assigned to lower Manhattan, was watching Daniel, Hilde, and Michel. He said the neighbors claimed that those three only seemed to leave at night and were almost never seen during the day. But he never approached Daniel or the others because it was not part of his job to do so; that was for detectives specially assigned to tracking down vampires. But he had been keeping an eye on those three for a few years. He also mentioned The Black Roses, though he said he was not sure what part of the city they came from.
Claire searched for that blogger’s email address, copied it and opened her email to begin composing a message to him.
She had typed the salutation when she heard Monica calling her.
That jolted her into reality. Daniel had erased Monica’s mind that night, making her forget everything negative about him. He could also read anyone’s mind. If he could detect what she was thinking right now, he would know she was contacting someone for help.
Should she take the chance?
She thought of Ava, how he threatened to kill her last night. She couldn’t risk putting her dear niece’s life on the line.
But what if this was a way of not ever seeing her again? Of not becoming a murderous vampire herself?
“Claire! Time to make dinner!” Monica called again.
“Yeah, I’ll be there!” she called back, and quickly typed a short message,
Hi NYCHunter,
I found your blog online and I really need your help. Daniel Bertrand is a vampire. I know because he told me and he wants to make me one too. You’ve probably seen me around him during these last few months. Please help me.
Claire
Without looking over her email, she hit the Send button and went to help out in the kitchen.
Monday night came, and there was no answer from that policeman. Maybe it would take time. Maybe he had to investigate further to make sure he wasn’t being trapped. Either way, Claire did not lose hope that she would somehow be rescued from the hellish mess she was in.
She managed to complete one of her assignments during the day and emailed it in just before going to Richmond to meet with Daniel. There was another one due at the end of the week, and she was halfway done with it. There was still time to work on it.
Walking onto the campus and heading towards the building where he taught, Claire fought to clear her mind. She was hoping to catch someone following her in case NYCHunter got her message and was investigating further. But she knew Daniel was not too far away; she couldn’t give away what she was doing.
It was another cold night, so she sat indoors again, playing her phone games. It didn’t take long for the students to start leaving. She could hear them complain about their final essays due at the end of the week. She knew which ones were Daniel’s students; they complained the most.
After the crowds thinned, she headed for his classroom, but he was halfway down the hall. A smile came to his face and he rubbed her arm upon meeting with her. “You’re giving your notice tomorrow, right? There won’t be any need for you to come all this way from TriBeCa once everything is squared away.”
“Yeah, true,” she said, a sad pang falling over her at his words.
They took the express bus to the city, with him paying for her again. Daniel wanted to spend a few hours at his place before they went for a movie, so they went there. The traveling was like all the others before, no tension or painful silences. He gave her his full attention and Claire was more than willing to place her head on his shoulder.
They arrived at his apartment, and Claire went straight to the MP3 player and put on music from a favorite singer of theirs. He took out his paperwork from class, telling her about how his students were complaining about their final essay assignment. He had assigned a five page paper last week and it was due by the coming Friday. “It sounds brutal to them,” he said. “But I tell them that’s college life and they better get used to it.”
Claire was about to open her mouth to respond when there was a knock at the door. Frowning, Daniel open the door to find Hilde and Michel standing there.
“Hello Dan, hello Claire,” Hilde said as she walked right in.
“Hello to you both. What brings you here unannounced?” Daniel asked, closing the door.
“We got him,” Michel said.
“Got who?”
Claire felt her heart plummet. Hilde gave her a cold stare and said, “That guy who is always following us. Better known as NYCHunter.”
Claire would have let out a shriek but had enough willpower to stop it. Besides, Hilde’s icy eyes were frightening her.
Even worse, Daniel dropped his confused expression and looked at her with eyes just as cold. He knew what was going on the whole time; his calmness was just a façade.
The vampires looked at Claire, waiting for something from her. She just stood there in front of the media wall unit, not knowing what to say or do.
Hilde took the initiative. “Well?” she snapped. “What say you?”
Claire let out a stutter before Michel rolled his eyes and sat on the couch. “She’s trouble; she’s as bad as Henry. We should’ve known. I think its time we taught her a lesson.”
“Yes, I agree,” Daniel said slowly.
She shook her head violently. “No, you don’t have to. You really don’t! I get it, I get it now!”
“No you don’t!” Hilde sped over and threw her arms around Claire, literally lifting her off the floor. With her supernatural strength, she began squeezing her body. Claire could have sworn her bones were beginning to crack. She tried to scream, but Hilde covered her mouth, and to Daniel, she said, “You know what you have to do.”
He gave her a deep nod and glanced at Claire for a brief second before opening the door and heading out, leaving Claire screaming his name through Hilde’s hand. Once the door slammed, Hilde let go.
“Oh God, no! Daniel! Where did he go? What’s he doing?” she gasped.
“Teaching you a lesson,” the vampire snapped, sticking her face right into Claire’s. “That’s what you get for turning against your vow to join us.”
“But - but how did you know?” she said.
“Simple,” Michel said. “That cop had been following us for weeks. Our heightened senses pick him up even when he was blocks away. Last night, he followed us in the subway, taking notes on us. Using our mind reading, we heard him mention that email you sent to him.” He shook his head slowly at her. “Did you really think you would succeed in this? That you would actually win?”
She sunk to her knees and hands, and put her head down to prevent herself from fainting. She wasn’t really sure why she did that, since she would welcome any kind of escape - death even - to get out of this situation.
Hilde scoffed at her and sat next to Michel. “She’s disgusting. What does Daniel see in her?”
Michel rolled his eyes. “It happens all the time; she’s not the first one to act like this. I just think Daniel is making the mistake of drawing this out. He should’ve changed her the moment she said yes.”
“
Well, there’s a chance it might happen tonight,” Hilde kept her eyes on Claire, watching her reign in her panic. “No sense in letting her loose with everything she knows.”
Michel nodded in agreement, and the two watched as Claire took a couple of deep breaths and sat up. She wiped a piece of hair out of her face and turned to the vampires. Gulping, she asked, “Who is he getting?”
“That’s not for you to know,” Hilde said. “At least not now.”
“He can’t be…” her voice trailed off.
“Ava? That niece of yours?” Michel threw his hands up. “He may get her; it’s possible. He has an idea of where she lives and with his vampiric speed, he could be back in less than hour.”
“And your poor baby niece would be all gone,” Hilde taunted.
Claire felt her teeth grit. “You were once like me. You were both once human too! How could you laugh at me, think my feelings are nothing?”
The two vampires glanced at each other, smirks on their faces. They did not answer her.
Standing up, Claire raised her voice. “Don’t you remember being human? Or did you forget all about that?”
Hilde spoke. “Claire, my dear. Once you become like us, you won’t want to go back. You wouldn’t want to feel the pain and fear of being human. There won’t be any weaknesses, no vulnerabilities.”
“Once you see the world with your vampire eyes, you won’t want to go back to being human,” added Michel.
Claire wanted to argue with them, but it was no use. They had existed as vampires for nearly one thousand years. How could they remember being human? They were set in their ways.
For the next hour, Claire sat on the floor, against the wall, underneath one of the old paintings Daniel owned. It was that of a naked woman reaching for the shining heavens while devils grabbed and pulled her toward hell. Claire felt like that woman. She was naked in her emotions in front of two devilish creatures who were forcing her into darkness.
She didn’t say anymore to Hilde and Michel; she just stared straight ahead, speaking in her heart to her niece. She told Ava she was sorry she caused her death, that she foolishly thought she could outwit a group of demons, and she only did what she thought was best to save her and herself. Somehow, there had to be a way for Ava to hear her aunt’s voice, wherever she was.
The Dark Proposal (The Claire McCormick Trilogy) Page 15