Why are you in such a mood? Because that man stopped you from feeding? You could have fed before you came. Why is it such a big deal to have her blood here tonight?
Because I wanted to do it, and now I have to wait. I was never good at waiting, especially when I’m so bored.
But what did you expect? This is how humans have fun, by dressing up and pretending they are great lords and ladies. They don’t know how it was, that half the time the clothes were too hot or too cold, that with no lawful rights there was the constant threat of being out of favor and having lands and title stripped away, that just the base necessities like enough clean water or unspoilt food were usually not met, that disease was so terrible with no vaccines or modern medicine. They think of the good only. The ugly truth is consigned to history books...and your memories.
I know. I just....I wanted...
What?
“Something different,” I said aloud in the stillness. “Something new and intoxicating, something to make me feel alive.”
Why? Mary Ann is fun, but she’s the same as so many before her. There is nothing new. There is nothing left you haven’t done. There is nothing left, period. Just drinking blood and meetings and sleeping alone and thinking stupid thoughts like these in empty bedrooms.
I had no response to that except melancholy.
Why not end it?
Because then that would be the end, I thought, afraid to give voice to the words. Then there is no hope of anything new. There can never be, because there are no options left.
What do you have to live for?
I felt myself clawing against the sides of a steep decline, sliding further and further into despair. While there is life, there is hope. I have to hold to that. I let that go and it’s over.
There was a sudden bang on the door, as a figure barged in. “What are you doing here?”
I blinked and sat up, shocked to see Nate, his costume that of a pirate complete with a huge hat and a feather. I’d have laughed, if his expression wasn’t so angry and I wasn’t feeling so desolate. “Contemplating suicide,” I said with a false smile. “Care to join me?”
“No,” he said, grabbing my arm and yanking me to my feet. “Get up and stop being a jackass.”
“Why the hell are you here?” I said, latching onto my own anger as I pulled away from him. “Are you haunting my footsteps?”
“I’m the one funding this damned party,” he said angrily. “Where’s Mary Ann? You came with her, didn’t you?” He scented the air. “I smell her scent on your skin.”
Thank goodness for that stupid tour or he would have smelled more than that. “She asked me to come. Her fiancé is history.” I put my jacket, gloves, and hat back on, then studied him. “Did you have something to do with that?”
“No, but I’m glad to hear it,” Nate said as we exited the room. “Now I won’t have to kill him.”
“Why don’t you leave her alone?” I said incredulously. “This ridiculous pursuit is not helping her to love you.”
“That’s my business,” Nate countered. “You’re in my home state, remember? I can do anything I please here, as long as it’s within vampire law.”
“All of America is my territory,” I said dangerously, redness bleeding into my gold eyes. “I don’t answer to you, Nate. You answer to me. Now why are you doing this?”
He expelled a breath in frustration. “Why can’t you just butt out, Dev? This isn’t your concern.”
I took a breath to yell again, then stopped, watching my friend standing there. An odd scent was in the air. “You’re in love with her,” I said taking in a long breath. The scent was unmistakable: lust, hope, happiness, satisfaction, and just a touch of fear.
Nate didn’t answer.
Fury filled me, hot on the heels of knowledge. “Why in the hell would you ask me to seduce a woman you love!” I shouted at him. “You had to know it would come between us!”
“You weren’t supposed to like her!” Nate shouted back at me. “You were supposed to seduce her!”
“And then what?”
“I don’t know,” Nate admitted, rubbing his eyes. “I just didn’t want to feel this way anymore, that there was something I couldn’t have, no matter how much I wanted it. I was tired of being angry and tired of trying and getting nowhere.”
“You didn’t think I’d seduce her,” I said slowly. “You thought I’d fail. That was why you set me those ground rules of not using my voice. You wanted me to fail because you knew I’d be furious if I did.”
Nate didn’t reply.
“What did you want me to do, in my fury?” I purred, circling him and seething with my anger. “To lash out and kill her, to drain her dry? To do myself what I’d forbidden you to do to anyone else?”
“No!” Nate shouted. “I just wanted her!”
“Wanted who?” a female voice inquired.
I looked over slowly, terrified that it would be Mary Ann standing here. But it was instead Colette, Nathan’s sister.
She advanced to me slowly, her slow pace from an old injury she’d sustained at an overseer’s hands before being turned vampire. Her dress was that of a Victorian lady, with plenty of ruffles and almost none of her beautiful dark skin showing. But Nate had always dressed her fancily since the day I’d turned her for him, years ago. He had always sheltered her, too, keeping her far from me and all other vampires except when it was absolutely necessary. Had he been afraid I’d seduce her?
“Colette,” I said happily. “It’s wonderful to see you. You look well—”
“Wanted who?” she repeated, not dissuaded in the least.
“Your brother is in love,” I said lightly, making sure to stand beyond Nate’s reach. “Though he has an odd way of showing that emotion.”
“A human woman?” she said to Nate, clearly surprised. “That one you were watching earlier?”
“Yes,” he admitted. “Her name is Mary Ann—”
Colette shook her head lightly, then turned and went back the way she’d come. Nate followed, and I went after him.
Colette strode down several flights of stairs, then moved through the reception area to the dance floor. Greeting several of her guests, I saw her make a beeline for Mary Ann, who was sitting talking to an older gentleman in a corner of the room. For close to ten minutes they talked. Mary Ann glanced over us at a few times, her expression ranging from angry to curious then back to irritated.
“What are they saying?” Nathan asked me.
“How should I know?” I retorted, as I watched them talk. “There is too much noise in here to hear properly.”
Colette finished talking to Mary Ann, then came back to us. “That is settled,” she announced. She turned to me. “I’d like to dance.”
I offered her my hand. Nathan made to stop us. Colette turned on him. “I am your elder sister, not your younger one,” she said with maliciousness. “And I am tired of your wasting your time on this matter. Now stay here and be silent.”
I moved away with her in my arms, awed by her treatment of him. Nathan was as fearsome as myself, and she had practically emasculated him.
“Cat got your tongue?” she said finally.
“I’m afraid you will,” I teased.
She blushed prettily. “I would not dare such, Lord,” she said demurely. “In fact, I must apologize for this entire situation. Nathan should not have let this get so out of hand.”
“How so?”
“Because it was I who led Mary Ann to meet Nate,” she said with a sigh. “I thought that it was good they knew one another, with my interest in history and patronage of the history program at the college. I never guessed he’d gotten infatuated with her.”
“And now?”
“Mary Ann had no idea he liked her, only that some secret admirer was sending her gifts. She did not feel she could accept them, and so returned them. I also understand there was a human she was seeing at the time that is now no longer part of the equation.”
“So she doe
s she like him, then,” I asked, slightly jealous.
Colette nodded happily. “Look. They are dancing even now.”
To my surprise, Nate did indeed have Mary Ann in his arms. He was positively beaming as he swept her around the dance floor. She didn’t have the worship in her eyes for him that she’d had for me—which pleased me more than slightly—but she was talking to him with an excited expression, clearly happy.
“You may have to do another turning before the year is out,” Colette said with a smile. “My brother is smitten, like I haven’t seen since his mortal days.”
“Would you welcome that,” I asked curiously. “Having Mary Ann as part of the family?”
“Of course,” Colette said evenly, without missing a beat. “I enjoy the girl’s work very much.”
That wasn’t really an answer. But looking into her solemn brown eyes, I could see that was the best I was going to get.
* * * *
At the stroke of midnight, there were many kisses out on the dance floor. Sadly, I did not participate myself. But Nathan and Mary Ann did share a chaste first kiss. After he escorted her to his limousine, as Colette and I followed at a distance.
“You needn’t worry,” she said, offering her hand for a farewell kiss. “I’ll make sure he treats her correctly. Nathan has a great deal to learn about women.” She laughed. “And I have great things in store for Mary Ann. She seems a smart capable woman who knows opportunity when she sees it.”
While I was pleased to know that Mary Ann would not come to some gruesome end, I was still sad to lose her. “Please keep me informed, if you would. I would be happy to turn her, if that is the choice she makes.”
“Good,” Colette smiled broadly. “I’ll also see that my brother honors his side of the bet with you, Dev.”
“How did you know about that?” I asked, staring at her.
A knowing expression I’d never seen graced her lovely features. “Mary Ann heard your talk, that night you came in with Nate to see her sleeping. She knew about the bet, Dev. That’s why she left that morning, because she was upset over what you had done, what she had let you do. She felt used.”
Another hundred years could pass and I probably still would not understand the female sex completely. “Then why did she ask me to come with her here?” Much less have sex in the carriage several times?
“Because she knew Nate was throwing the party,” Colette said. “She knew appearing with you here would make him jealous. She smiled. “She did not show the invitation to you, with his name at the top, did she? She hoped you would come to blows. She felt it served you both right.”
The woman had deceived me. I made a face, Mary Ann’s actions during the carriage ride suddenly attributed not to my sexiness, but her own motives of revenge. “It worked.”
“You should not underestimate women, Dev,” Colette said over her shoulder, as she walked to the limousine. “Most of them want more than a sonata and sex in exchange for their hearts.”
“Then what do they want?” I called back jokingly.
“That is not a secret for any woman to tell you, of all people,” she said with a wink. Then she got into the limousine, disappearing from sight.
As I watched them drive away, I chuckled. At least I know one secret. Next time I have trouble finding my way into a woman’s heart, I’ll ask another woman for advice.
I turned, almost running into another pretty young woman dressed as a peasant behind me. I gave her a smile, then a curious look. Her expression was mournful.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I think it’s terrible what they did to you tonight,” the woman said hesitantly. “That woman helping her brother spirit away your date. I just wanted to say I was sorry.”
“It’s all right,” I said, seeing my limousine pull up the drive. “He really likes her and she likes him. I don’t want to stand in the way of that.”
“You’re very understanding.”
No, I’m not. But I am a realist. I took her hand and kissed it. “What’s your name?”
“Jessica,” she said shyly.
She was beautiful. Better than that, she likely was intelligent and had a better than average chance of knowing some history, with her choice of dress. Odds were she would also accept if I asked her to be a donor. “Do you like music?”
Jessica nodded.
“Then get in, my dear,” I said kissing her hand. “I’m a musician. And I’d love to play you a song or three.”
Night Music
(Previously Published in Midnight Thirsts 2)
Krys walked slowly toward the low stone wall, the roaring of the falls capturing all her attention as she rested her hands on the cold rock slabs. The view was as magnificent as ever; the towering waterfall spanning the wide river, the trails beside it framed with stone and concrete walls more than fifty feet below. The early spring afternoon felt more like late summer, the air balmy and comfortable, even in her T-shirt and jeans.
Letchworth State Park. The place was exactly the same, but everything was different. Her parents were gone, and now her brother was, too. They’d come here as a foursome every summer and stayed for a week, renting a rough built cabin. It had been bare bones, lacking heat, water, or even a private outhouse. But it had always been a good time to her and Bill: fishing, hiking, playing games, and encountering the wildlife. Each summer, her parents always treated Krys and her brother to one special adventure. For Krys, that had been the whitewater rafting outfit that operated below the lower falls. For her brother, Bill, that had been either horseback riding or a ride over the river via hot air balloon.
They’d had such good times here...
Pretending to brush back her hair, Krys brushed away a tear, conscious of the many tourists still snapping pictures of the falls. Why had she come here? What had she hoped to find?
“Excuse me,” an old woman said, tapping her elbow. “But we’d like to get a picture together. Would you take one of us, please?”
Krys nodded, then snapped a few pictures as the couple posed in front of the falls. Handing back the camera, she hurried inside the Glen Iris Inn, calling herself an idiot. Ringing the bell, she waited.
A desk clerk came in quickly. “Can I help you?”
“Krys Markman,” she said. “I’m checking in. I’m staying in Caroline’s Cottage.”
“Please fill this out.” The woman handed her a form. “And I need a credit card to make an imprint.”
Krys handed over her credit card, then took it back a few minutes later, handing in the filled out form.
“Staying with us all week?”
And probably going to rue it, Krys thought miserably. “Yes.”
“Have you stayed with us before?”
“Yes,” Krys said quickly. “I’ll just need one key.”
The woman began reciting the checkout times and other rules, all of which Krys knew by heart. She fidgeted, then grabbed the key, not replying to the startled clerk as she ran outside. A couple jumped back as she nearly banged in to them.
“Hey!” the man said, throwing an arm in front of his wife to shield her. “Watch where you’re going—”
“Sorry,” Krys stammered, flushing.
The couple gave her another dirty look, then walked upstairs hand in hand. Krys sat down in an empty wrought iron chair, rubbing her eyes.
Enough already. This was her vacation, a long break to recoup before embarking on a new chapter in her life. Relaxing was the first step. Walking was out; the lamps scattered around the Glen Iris Inn were coming on. So it would have to be alcohol instead.
* * * *
Krys sipped her wine flight, while looking around at her setting, marveling that so much was still the same, and still so beautiful. She’d been in these same surroundings so many times, yet they were still magical to her, even as their familiarity soothed her...
“Will you want dinner?” her waiter asked delicately. “Or would you like to try one of the wines you sampled?”
&n
bsp; Where had the time gone? Krys had finished all three samples already. While another flight and more reminiscing sounded wonderful, it was better not to tempt fate, not when she had a hell of a climb in the dark to reach her rented house. “Yes.” She chose an entrée at random from the menu, then one of the wines she’d sampled.
As the waiter walked away, Krys noticed a tall man sitting by himself off in the corner. He was writing something by the light of the table candle. What was compelling was he was doing it in longhand in a small paper book instead of via electronic device. The act was so uncommon that she stared at him. Within a few seconds, the man raised his eyes and caught her staring, his dark eyes meeting hers. Krys immediately looked down, flushing. By the time she gathered enough courage to look up again, the man was gone, his seat empty.
The waiter came back, her wine on a tray. “We’re all out of the salmon, Ma’am,” he said apologetically. “Would you like to choose something else?”
The only craving Krys had was to find out who that handsome man had been. Food could wait. “There was a man sitting out here. Do you know who he was?”
The waiter shifted uneasily. “We’re not allowed to give out information on guests, Ma’am. Sorry.”
“So he is staying here?” Krys said hopefully. “Will he be here a few more days?”
The waited leaned down slightly, his expression secretive. “Aren’t you staying for a few days in Caroline’s Cottage?”
“Yes,” she answered conspiratorially.
“Then I’d advise you to get to know your neighbor during your stay,” the waiter said meaningfully.
Krys looked at him in puzzlement. “What?”
The waiter straightened, then set down her glass of wine. “Will you have another entrée, Ma’am?”
Comprehension dawned. “No,” Krys said, hastily grabbing her purse. “Put my drinks on my bill.”
* * * *
The steep climb was long and wearying; mostly from lack of light and that her decade old memory had identified it as being much more fun. Or maybe it was just doing it alone, without sharing the striving and complaining with someone else.
Promise Me Anthology Page 17