They Come by Night

by Tinnean

  “Why have the bananas all gone black?” They weren’t only black—they were soft and mushy as well. I wrinkled my nose at them.

  “Tyrell…. The weekend is over. It’s Monday evening.”

  “Excuse me? It’s Friday.” He shook his head, and for a second I felt like Rip Van Winkle, only somehow I’d managed to lose a few days instead of twenty years. “How is that even possible?”

  “After that attack on your dreams, Adam had to put you into a deep sleep.”

  “Yeah?” I thought about it. “Okay.”

  “That’s all you have to say?”

  “I thought it was going to be something weird, like time displacement. I can deal with sleeping away a few days. But darn, I was looking forward to that chocolate banana shake. Oh, well.” I ran the bananas down the disposal, then went back to the freezer, took out a bag of strawberries, and dropped a handful into the blender. After returning the strawberries to the freezer, I put the lid on the blender and turned it on. “I’ll visit Pritchert Foods tomorrow and buy a couple of bananas.” I stopped the blender, removed the lid, and peered inside. Hmm. A bit more. I replaced the lid and turned it back on. “I’ve got to drive over to the university first, though. I’m changing my major, and I have to see my academic advisor. I hope she’ll be available.”

  “I thought you wanted to be a mortician.”

  “I did. I do. But I want to be a geneticist more.”

  He was too polite to press for why I was making the change.

  The front door opened and shut. Only four vampyrs could enter my home so freely—the enforcers and Mac Lochlainn had never been given specific permission to come in—and since Rául was beside me, it could only be Adam, the rege, or Raymond.

  “It’s Raymond,” Rául informed me.

  Once again, I didn’t ask how he knew. “I thought he was busy at the citadel.”

  “I was.” The big French vampyr stalked into the kitchen, not a happy camper at all. “Something is going on. His Grace sent us out to continue the search for de Vivar’s newest bolt-hole.”

  “No luck?” I didn’t ask who “us” were—they would be the enforcers. I took a bag of blood from the fridge and held it up. When he nodded, I put it in the microwave.

  “We found the nest of de Vivar’s adepţi and wiped it clean. As for the Spaniard….” He ground his teeth and shook his head.

  “How much longer, do you think?” Although I knew the answer before he opened his mouth.

  “As long as it takes.”

  I sighed. “I’m going to Dad’s on Thursday to pick up my tux. The bachelor party is Friday, and the wedding is Sunday.” The microwave dinged, and I brought him the bag.

  “So you’ll be spending the weekend with your friends.”

  “Yeah.” I could see he wasn’t happy about it, but what could he do? He’d be sleeping during the day and searching for de Vivar by night. He punctured the plastic bag with such violence blood spurted out—over his face, his clothes, and the floor.

  “Geez, Ray.” I tore off a handful of paper towels, gave some to him, and used the rest to mop up the mess.

  “Sorry. We must end this.”

  “You won’t get an argument from me.” I tossed out the paper towels and heated another bag of blood for him.

  “Rául, you’ll stay with him.” Raymond’s words were more order than request.

  “I will.”

  “Good.” The microwave dinged again—it was getting a workout tonight—and Raymond took out the bag. “Starting tomorrow, I’ll have the day watchers keep watch over him while you’re sleeping.”

  “Ekaterina?” The blender finished blending, and I poured the shake into the mug Rául had declined to use.

  “Yes, and her brother William. Henry and Thomas will also assist.”

  “How will they get there?” I assumed they were the day watchers who had been at the beach last week. “I mean, if they need a ride, I’m more than willing to pick them up, and I can take them with me to Dad’s also.”

  “They have their own transportation. It’s kind of you to offer—”

  “Hey, they’re keeping an eye on my butt. I plan to leave for the university about ten tomorrow, so if they get here early enough, I’ll feed them.”

  “That’s—”

  “I know, kind of me to offer. No biggie.”

  “It might be a good idea if you go to your father tomorrow. No one will expect that of you. And the day watchers will accompany you.”

  “Okay. If they trust me not to poison them, I’ll make them breakfast before we leave.”

  Raymond nodded, dropped fang, and punctured the bag, doing a neater job of it this time.

  The fridge was on the bare side, so I’d have to make a breakfast run in the morning: juice, more milk, bacon, eggs, and the bananas. I thought about meeting my advisor. Shoot. I’d put it off. There was no real rush anyway, since at least two of the summer classes I’d be taking should work as prerequisites for the genetics degree. “Rául, you’ll meet us at Dad’s tomorrow night?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  I checked the clock on the wall. Dad would still be awake. “I’d better call Dad and let him know he’s having company.” A lot of company.

  I slurped down about a quarter of the shake—I didn’t want to get brain freeze—then picked up my cell phone. No bars on the battery icon, which didn’t make any kind of sense; it had been partially recharged before Adam took me to the citadel. Maybe it was just a crap battery. I’d let it charge overnight and see what happened in the morning. I plugged it into the charger, then reached for the house phone, opened the address book, and pressed One.

  How was I going to tell Dad what was going on? He had to know. Things were getting too hinky to keep it from him any longer.

  “Hi, Dad,” I said when he answered the phone.

  “Ty. Thank you for returning my call.”

  “Huh? Is everything all right?”

  “I was about to ask you the same thing. I’ve been trying to reach you since Friday.”

  I checked the answering machine, and sure enough, it was blinking. There were eight messages. “What’s going on? Kenny and Chrissie haven’t canceled the wedding, have they?”

  “No, no, nothing like that. Your brother and sisters were here.”

  My heart started pounding. To find a cousin was awesome, but then to have my brother and sisters turn up…. “They found you? That’s great!”

  “Yes, but they wanted to meet you and were disappointed when you didn’t answer your phone.”

  Oh. Not so great. “I’m sorry, Dad. I just got home. Have I missed them completely?”

  “I told them you were coming to Clewiston for the wedding, and they asked if they could meet you on Thursday.”

  “We’re picking up our tuxes then and going for dinner afterward, and Friday is Kenny’s bachelor party. Uh… I can drive down tomorrow, maybe meet them on Wednesday?”

  “You don’t have to disrupt your plans like this.” He continued before I could tell him no plans were being disrupted. “Let me call Luke and see how they want to work this out.”

  “It must have been pretty wonderful to see them again after all these years.”

  “Yes. I pictured them still as children, but they’re adults now—Luke is so handsome, the girls are so pretty.” His voice quavered, and he drew a breath. “Luke works for the Mifflin police department, and Bethany has a master’s in psychology. Sarah runs a day care and keeps house for them.”

  “Mifflin’s a pretty far drive.” But I had other things on my mind.

  “No farther than Pritchert.”

  “No.” I drew a deep breath. I’d go in the shallow end. “Uh… Dad, I’ve got some friends who are coming with me. And… uh… a vampyr will be spending the days.”

  “Ty, you know I don’t feel comfortable having one of them in my house.”

  “Not to feed, Dad. For protection.”

  He was quiet for a beat, then said, “I’d like an
explanation.”

  “And I’ll give it to you, I promise. I have some things I have to do in the morning, but I’ll be at your door before dinner tomorrow. I’ll bring you up to speed then.”

  “Tyrell.” Uh-oh. It looked like I’d be bringing him up to speed right then.

  I sighed. “Okay, Dad.”

  Rául frantically shook his head, and Raymond stopped drinking long enough to scowl at me. I scowled back at them. Did they think I didn’t know how to deal with my own father?

  Raymond curled his lip and resumed sucking the blood from the bag.

  I turned my back on him and spoke into the phone. “This is what’s going on.” I gave Dad the bare bones of the situation: the rege intended to keep me safe from a vampyr who wanted more than his fair share. “If you ever met the rege, you’d understand how protective he is.”

  “Your grandfather met him, and from what he told me, I can believe that.”

  “Okay, then….” I didn’t reveal that Dad, Mrs. Wilder, and all my friends were being guarded because there was a strong possibility they were in danger also.

  “This still doesn’t sound logical. I wish I could see your eyes, Tyrell. Then I’d know if you were telling me the truth or not.”

  “It is the truth, Dad.” Just not all of it.

  “All right. How many friends are coming with you? And where will we store the vampyr during the day?”

  “Four, Dad.” He was the best dad! “Three guys and a girl, and Rául can sleep down in the closet in the basement.” I grinned at Rául. “He won’t mind.”

  Rául extended his arms in front of him, brought his hands together, and then made a twisting motion, as if he were wringing my neck.

  “We’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t sweat it, okay, Dad? Everything will be fine.” I hoped. We chatted a bit more, and Dad told me how stunned he’d been when he’d received the phone call from Luke.

  “You know I love you, Ty, but having my children taken from me was like tearing out a piece of my heart. And now, having them back….”

  “I’m glad, and I’m looking forward to meeting them.” A yawn escaped me. “Sorry, Dad. It’s been a long weekend.”

  “Then get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you, son.”

  “Love you too, Dad. Bye.” We hung up, and I turned to the two vampyrs. “Well, that went well.”

  “Do you think?”

  “Yep.” My shake had warmed up enough by this point that I didn’t have to worry about brain freeze, and I chugged down the rest of it.

  “Do you know what I find unbelievable?” Rául asked out of a clear blue sky. He answered before either Raymond or I could respond. “There are two vampyrs standing here with you, and you’re not in love with either of us.”

  “Some of us aren’t meant to feed from the rege’s premier sabor.” Raymond finished draining the bag. It sounded like slurping up the last drops through a straw.

  “That’s not fair!” A lot of time hadn’t really passed since we’d met, but a lot had gone down, and I considered him a friend. I’d feed him before I fed a vampyr I didn’t know.

  He just shrugged and disposed of the bag.

  Well, I’d talk to Adam about it. If he said it was okay, in a couple of months I’d let Raymond feed from me.

  I yawned again. “Shoot. I’m exhausted. Unless you want me to tell Dad what’s actually going on when I see him, you two can think up a story for me to tell him. I’m going to bed.”

  WHEN I woke up the next morning, it was to find Rául in bed beside me and Raymond stretched out on the floor. They’d be out for the rest of the day.

  A glance at the bedside clock told me I’d better get moving if I wanted to get to the supermarket and have breakfast started by the time the day watchers arrived.

  The jeans and T-shirt I planned to wear for the day were already in the bathroom. “Come on, Min.” I spoke softly, even though I didn’t have to. Rául and Raymond wouldn’t wake until almost eight thirty, when the sun set.

  Once I was dressed, I fed Mina and started a pot of coffee. Then I put on a pair of sweat socks and Nikes and took Mina for her morning walk.

  “Oh, crap!” The temperature had dipped from the evening before, or maybe it was just that Adam wasn’t with me. I shivered. “Hurry up, Min!”

  She took care of business, and we hurried back into the house. I had a spare sweatshirt in the closet—it had Keep Calm on the front, while on the back it said and Throw a Blanket Over It—and I pulled it on over my head.

  “Okay, I’m going to the supermarket, pup.” I ruffled Mina’s ears, and she made herself comfortable on the love seat in the living room. “I’ll be back in about an hour.” Not that she could tell time, but I liked to keep her current with my activities.

  I thought for a second about leaving a note and taping it to the door, but traffic wasn’t bad on Tuesday mornings. I’d be home before Ekaterina and her brother and the other day watchers arrived.

  After making sure I had my wallet, cell phone—which was fully charged for a change—and keys, I headed out the door.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

  COME MONDAY

  I

  BENITO ARRIVED at the abandoned cemetery to find the mausoleum overrun by vampyrs he didn’t know. He disappeared into the night before any of them realized he was there.

  Fortunately, Miguel had made sure there was a safe place they could retreat to.

  When he got there, it was to find Miguel lying on a sofa, a drained normal cast aside at the foot of it. Benito rushed to his side. “¡Mi amigo!”

  “Benito?” Miguel’s voice wasn’t as faint as Benito feared it might be, given his friend’s injuries, but he still had to lean close to hear him. “José is useless. The normal he found for el duque was of poor quality and barely survived feeding us both. I need you to….” His nose twitched. “Who have you been drinking from?”

  “No one. I had the young vampyr’s blood on my hands, and I licked it off.”

  “I must speak to el duque about that.”

  “Did I do wrong?”

  “No, but it’s altered your scent.” He shook his head. “No es importante. I need you to find….” He reached for Benito, pulled him even closer, and whispered a name and a location. “I know it is close to daylight, but I need you to do this for me.”

  He squeezed Miguel’s hand. “I won’t fail you, amigo.”

  II

  AS FAR as Matthew was concerned, it was the monster’s fault this had happened to him…. Well, the monster’s and Tommy Finnegan’s.

  Tommy Finnegan had passed away a couple of days ago. Donnelly closed down his pub at 3:00 a.m., but everyone stayed to have a wake for Finnegan, and Matthew saw no reason why he should leave, even if he hadn’t known the deceased.

  He was doing a little celebrating himself: he’d discovered where the monster lived, and the next day he intended to pay a little call on it. He gazed into space, picturing it and feeling better than he had since Grandfather had passed.

  A sudden burst of laughter roused him out of his pleasant thoughts, and he frowned as Donnelly staggered to his feet, put his hand over his heart, and began to sing about another Finnegan’s wake.

  FINALLY AT around six, or maybe a quarter of, someone said something about it being a workday, and it began to break up.

  Matthew was on his way home—walking, even though he wasn’t drunk. After the last time that fucking do-gooder Donnelly had taken his keys, he’d made a point of leaving his car garaged at his apartment complex—when something swooped out of the darkness, as melodramatic as that sounded, and grabbed him. He tried to struggle, but he might as well have been a baby.

  And then the thing growled in his ear, “Cease, or I’ll forget el duque needs to feed from you, and I’ll snap your neck!”

  The threat only made him struggle all the harder. He’d rather be dead than a source of nourishment for one of those things.

  The thing that held him snarled and shook him so hard he was ce
rtain his brain rattled around in his head. When the dizziness passed, Matthew regretted he was still alive.

  He could see he’d been taken to an old, boarded-up mansion beyond the outskirts of Mifflin.

  Somehow they were within, in a room that must have been a root cellar at one time.

  “Mi señor, I have brought you one.”

  “Just one, Benito?” The voice, hoarse and raspy, came from the darkest corner. There was something in the accented words that teased at Matthew’s memory. “I’ll destroy your talisman! I told you—”

  “Perdóname, mi señor. But his scent is familiar.”

  My scent? Is he saying I stink? Offended, Matthew tried to yank free, but Benito tightened his hold and shook him again.

  “¡Basta!” he snapped.

  “Didn’t Miguel inform you I needed more than one normal? Explain yourself!”

  “Miguel told me to fetch this one. I don’t believe he is a normal. However, if I am wrong, you will at least have some sustenance.” He shoved Matthew toward the darkness.

  “Ah. We meet again, my young friend.”

  “De Vivar?” He remembered meeting the Spaniard last autumn, on the same day he’d buried Grandfather. “What are you doing here? What are you?” In spite of the lack of light, he saw the flash of white teeth.

  “I’m flattered you remember me.” But actually, he sounded more disgruntled. “We’ll talk more, but later. Right now… Benito.”

  The other thing moved so quickly, Matthew didn’t even see it coming. A hand turned and tilted his head, and he was held motionless as something sharp sank into his throat. Then… oh, then there was the obscene slurping sound that made his stomach heave.

  Matthew bit back a moan. He wouldn’t give this thing the satisfaction of knowing how much that hurt and how scared he was.

  This was something else to blame on the monster Benjamin Small had sired, and when Matthew freed himself… revenge would definitely be his.

  HE KNEW time had passed. He’d scratched lines into the rotting molding above the floorboards, and now there were more than two months’ worth.