“Sam.” My voice was unrecognizably timid.
As she turned, her eyes glowed briefly, but were doused by the realization of what stood before her. Rising to greet me, her hug was less than enthusiastic. No doubt, any hug was more than I deserved. I savored the sensation of her warm body, pressed against mine. “Please sit,” she said, quickly breaking contact while gazing to the floor.
“Sam …”
“Brian!”
Interrupting what was sure to be another in the long series of babbling speeches I had become suddenly famous for, she abruptly looked up, boring deep into my eyes like never before. I did not know what to make of the intensity before me. If not already doomed, cursed, and dead, it might have even frightened me.
“I know everything. And I do mean everything. So you need to keep your mouth shut and listen to what I have to say.”
“But …”
“Shhh. You need to prove you know how to follow instructions, right now.”
“Sam …” I tried again.
Fearless in the face of the creature I had become, Sam pointed a sharp finger at me. “Don’t! You will know when I want you to talk.” Raising her hand to her lip, she twisted her index finger and thumb. The lock it command had been issued. “Understand?”
No woman, not even Aunt Rena, had ever put me in my place the way Samantha had. I had to look away.
“Oh no you don’t, Brian Denman.” She reached across the table and aimed my chin, redirecting my eyes to hers. “I only asked one thing of you when I left. Do you remember?”
I nodded silently.
“Considering your current circumstances, would you agree that you failed miserably to keep your promise?”
Again I nodded my head.
“You said you were going to kill vampires, but you failed to mention that would involve having sex with them.”
“It was only one,” I began to explain.
“Aht! Do not say a word. I did not ask for your commentary yet. Dee told me every detail. And, considering all of the circumstances, the fact you were under some kind of spell, you did still manage to kill this woman, with your bare hands no less, which makes me feel a little better since she fucked you …” Sam paused, attempting to recollect her composure. “I won’t say I am not royally pissed at you for having sex with her, but I am trying to get past that.”
Sam sat back and sighed, her expression softened.
“Before I left, I knew what I wanted. I was willing to stay here and do whatever I could to help, even if it meant dying beside you.” Again Samantha’s expression strained as she leaned in. “Dee told me your plan, once the others are dead. I will not allow that. I still love you. I just don’t know how to do this, but I do know we belong together. You are just going to have to figure out how to make it work.”
Preparing to fire off a long list of damned good reasons, once again, Sam squashed the bug.
“Look at the mess that you got us into. You listen to me now. I have been thinking … all day and I know there are going to be some challenges, like sleeping arrangements, meals, vacationing, and diets, but we can make it up as we go, until the day comes that it doesn’t work. And I don’t see that ever happening, as long as you quit having sex with other vampires … and making my sister take her clothes off.”
Sam turned her head, obviously finding some humor in Dee’s plight; Sam tried to conceal a brief smile.
“And don’t think you can use that mind control stuff on me later tonight, or any other time for that matter. I am way too pissed off right now for any of that nonsense. You have no clue how much I was looking forward to our first night back together. And you had better pray you have not contracted any nasty vampire ho disease.”
I looked at her, expressing permission to speak. “Are you done?”
“Probably not, I’m sure I haven’t covered everything,” Sam vented, with a long sigh.
“Is it okay for me to talk?”
“That would depend on what you have to say.” Sam swallowed the remainder of her half-filled wine glass hard. She reached for the bottle of Merlot and filled the glass to the top.
I looked down at the table before beginning. Even though she had found a way to make light of certain aspects of our predicament, my shame would not afford my eyes the honesty, and perhaps forgiveness, I knew her eyes would offer. Timorously, I raised my mine to hers.
“For three days, I could never sort out where to begin, how to tell you. I am grateful you made it look so easy, even though I know it was anything but. Most importantly, I do love you. I will love you forever. From there, I do not have a clue where to go next. I am afraid. I just don’t know what I am capable of, or how to make us work.”
I reached out and took Sam’s hands. “I don’t think I can ever sleep in a regular bed again, I have an unnatural appetite for liquid cuisine, and any plans for a big church wedding …”
“Did you just say wedding?” Sam was flabbergasted.
“Before you left for New York, yes. The thought might have crossed my mind several times.”
“So church or beach weddings are both off the list?”
“Maybe a moonlit beach wedding.” I smiled for the first time in a week.
Sam gazed in my eyes, the glare of persecution gone, replaced by a gleaming compassion. “You are such an ass,” she said softly. “Why did this happen?”
“Do you believe in destiny?” I figured now was as good a time as any to test her level of tolerance.
“Yes.” She released one hand and reached for her glass. “You’re cold.”
“Occupational hazard. No more sweaty sex.”
“That could be a deal breaker.” Her face lightened, acknowledging with my pledged love in her hands, she was ready for anything.
“I’ll buy you a sauna.” The burden was lifted, at least temporarily, as once again the woman I believed could move mountains, had returned to me. “Anyhow, you know how old I am?”
Sam nodded yes.
“Well I met a woman in New Orleans who claims to be over two hundred. Yet she looks about the same age as me. A journal from the Old Ursuline Convent was given to me. Some of the stuff written leads me to believe that this woman might not be as delusional as I first believed. There’s a possibility that she is the child of a vampire woman and a mortal man, making her immortal, and yet not a vampire. So I began to consider, maybe she and I shared some kind of hereditary immortality.”
Sam’s forehead wrinkled with incertitude. “Hereditary immortality? What is that supposed to mean?”
“If we believe her story, she’s old, but looks about the same age as me. I’m sixtyish, and until this week, survived all kinds of shit that would have killed most men. Neither one of us knows our parents, although mine are from Romania …”
“Brian, I know where you are headed with this and that’s just crazy. You keep yourself in great shape and have a disgusting case of baby face. You are not the only man to enjoy these youthful attributes. You are sixtyish; she claims to be over one hundred. She is from New Orleans, you are from New York. You were not immortal before that disgusting act with Monique.”
“I am not so sure, Sam. When I arrived here, I had frequent premonitions about this place. And let’s not forget, how many guys do you know who took a bullet to the brain, and lived?”
“A man in Brazil took a steel rod through his skull last year and lived. I saw the pictures on the Internet. So, both of you had a destiny to live, not immortality. Proof that you have a purpose beyond the life you were leading.”
“Maybe so, but I just don’t know. That is why I am flying to New York tomorrow night to see my Aunt. She is the only one who knows about my family history.”
“You are leaving tomorrow night? And, what about the rest of the vampires?”
“They are gone, and until I can find them, I need some concrete answers.”
“When will you be back?”
“I do not know. Mitch, along with Chuck and Jimmy, will continu
e to search for clues about the locations of the vampires. If they find them, they will let me know where they are. But until then, I want you to come to New York and stay at my home. You definitely have to meet my Aunt Rena.”
“Are you sure?”
“All of my life, not always patiently mind you, my Aunt has waited for me to fall in love. I do not want the opportunity to make her happy pass me by.”
“Then I would love to come with you,” Sam said with a gleam, as she squeezed my hand a little tighter.
I rolled my eyes up at the ceiling.
“What is it Brian?” Sam asked.
“After all that we have been through, I need to ask for your understanding, one last time.”
“At this point, I do not know what you could possibly say that requires more understanding.”
“Well, when I left the CIA, I feared they would not let me live long. I knew too many secrets. Guys in my specialized line of work usually did not live more than five years. I was the only one, to the best of my knowledge, to actually retire. After two quiet years, I thought I was in the clear. That is when the bitch capped me in the head. Initially, I thought it was a retaliation hit from my Colombian buddies.
“I woke up alone, in the hospital, in the middle of the night. I did not know who to trust. I called in Rob who helped me stage my death, and then I went dark. I developed a multitude of identities, just like the one you witnessed several nights ago. Nobody was looking for me any longer, so it was rather easy to stay dead to the world.”
Sam looked eager to hear more. “And?”
“Nicholas Gabriel. That is my real name. Phillip does not even know it.”
“Nicholas?”
“Or just Nick.”
“Bri—Nicholas … I have had all of the surprises I can handle on an empty stomach. Can we join Dee and Phillip for dinner now?” Sam took two great gulps of wine to finish her glass.
With a slightly embarrassed, awkward smile, Sam leaned across the table and kissed me on the lips. “Nicholas, I like that. A much more appropriate name for a sexy vampire than Brian, don’t you think?”
“What in the hell have you guys been doing?” Dee crowed, Phillip propped against her, his mouth hanging open. “I was about to eat the candles.”
“How is he?” I smiled, having personally experienced the misery of the peyote cocktail.
“In and out, still trying to sleep it off, Dee giggled.
“Apparently I will not be the only one sleeping with the dead tonight,” Sam taunted. “Mom warned you about playing with strangers. Now look what’s happened to poor Phillip.”
“We will take a bottle of this,” Dee said pointing to her wine glass to the waiter behind me, “and an assortment of appetizers. Pick your favorite three, and bring them as quickly as possible, please.” Dee shrugged unapologetically. “I have not eaten since lunch yesterday.”
Dee leaned in to the table, “Did he show you the fangs?”
“Dee!” Sam gasped.
“Did he do the mind control thing?”
“No, and he won’t be doing that … ever!”
“Easy sis, it’s not every day my little sister decides to hook up with a vampire. What will Mother say?”
I smiled politely as the sisters sparred as if I weren’t there.
“Brian and I are planning to go to New York tomorrow, preferably on Phillip’s jet. Do you think Phillip will mind?”
Dee looked to Phillip, whose head was back against the wall, mouth agape like a Venus flytrap awaiting prey. Dee grabbed the top of Phillip’s head and nodded it up and down. “Phillip says it’s a company jet, and since he owns the company, he is fine with that, but please don’t leave it on empty.”
As we shared a laugh, Phillip’s eyes popped open. “Brian,” he said with a groggy smile. His eyes rolled back and he slumped back to Peyoteville once again.
“They must have really juiced our boy up. I was not nearly this bad.” I decided it was best to just join the girls’ lackadaisical attitudes and forget about my problems for the evening. They were not just my problems, but Sam’s and Dee’s as well. So if they could put it behind them, at least for the present moment, then so should I.
The food, which only nights ago created such a wondrous festival of flavor, had lost its magnificent appeal. As the night wore on, Sam and Dee began to show signs of fatigue, I suggested we call it a night.
“Are we just supposed to leave you, so you can roam the streets?” Dee asked.
“Got nowhere else to be. Seems suddenly I have become quite the night owl.”
“You could ask Sam to keep you company tonight, to make sure you behave.” Dee gave us both a mischievous wink.
“I do not believe that is a great idea, at least not quite this soon,” I snapped back.
“Oooo,” Dee toyed, as Sam pouted. “If he’s refusing your company, then we should insist he show you his fangs.”
Sam whipped her head around to me, expecting me to oblige. Not ready to concede to the freak show exposé, I smiled politely. “Alright, have it your way ladies … Sam can come. But don’t blame me if the vampire population increases by one tonight.” I looked over at Phillip. “How in the world did you get him in here?”
“Believe it or not, he kind of walked.” Dee laughed. “Sam and I will meet you out front,” Dee said as she grabbed Sam by the elbow and led her away.
“You know buddy, in the old days I could have just left your ass here. Now look where all of this girlfriend trouble has gotten the both of us.” I tossed Phillip over my shoulder and departed with stares, finger pointing, and laughs as we passed through to the street.
Renaldo, ever vigilant of his duties, immediately greeted our arrival with a hearty laugh. “Oh my Mister Denman, this is becoming a nightly ritual, seeing you tote somebody through the lobby. It’s going to get pretty boring once you check out.”
“Why on earth would I ever want to check out, Renaldo?” I asked smiling.
After dropping Phillip and Dee off at their room, I took Sam’s hand and led her to our room. “We don’t have to do this you know.”
“I know.” A nervous flutter in Sam’s voice announced her reservations. “Back in the ladies room, Dee and I were talking about the night you killed Monique. You know, after you had sex with her?”
“You still remember that trivial ancient history?”
“Yes, I do.” Sam’s wrinkled smile displayed conflicting emotions. “Well in the process, you lost your cross.”
Having never crossed my mind, the sudden realization vexed me.
“Well, O’Reilly found it where you … did it, removed the evidence and gave it to Renaldo, who gave it to me.” Sam was fidgeting with her hands, struggling with her words. “I gave it to Dee back at the restaurant. I told her I wouldn’t be needing it again.”
I had begun to slide my key card into the lock, but stopped as suddenly the fear of uncertainty gripped me. “Sam …”
“Shhh,” she ordered, as she guided my hand toward the lock. “Brian,” she began and paused with a sigh, “Nick … I am scared as hell, but whatever happens, as long as we’re together …”
“Shhh,” I said, “One step at a time.”
As I closed the door slowly, the soft solitary click of the lock sealed in the night and whatever ends it might bring.
CHAPTER SEVEN
SAM WAS DOING her best to prove even though I was a fearsome vampire, I still needed her. During the day while I rested in the bathtub, which at this point was becoming a matter of indignity, she took care of several matters. Phillip had finally returned to the world of the living so Sam had arranged to have the plane ready. Eagerly, she packed all my belongings and had everything ready by the door. As the sun was preparing to set, she waited quietly beside the tub for my awakening. As I pulled the covers off, my first sight in the dimly lit bathroom was most welcome.
“Thank you for not staking me,” I said softly. “That means a lot.”
“Thank you for not
biting me; that meant more.”
“I could get used to this.”
“You had better get used to it, because I want every night to be as amazing as last night. For the rest of our unnatural lives,” Sam said passionately, as she reached down and caressed my face.
“Sam,” I said, almost pleading for her to refrain from the enticement.
“Shhh,” she said, “One step at a time.” Her smile was confident; her decision concerning our future was complete. “Phillip and Dee will be waiting at the airport. They’re going back with us.”
“In that case, we had better get moving.” I needed to stop by the safe house first, and get a few pints to go. I was growing more confident in my ability to suppress the sudden urges to consume from the first flesh bag to cross my path. But knowing it would be at least six hours before I hit the streets of New York I needed an emergency supply, just in case …
Phillip and Dee were already on the plane, cozied up, and enjoying a glass of wine when we arrived. Phillip’s eyes lit up as we boarded.
“Brian,” he said, his smile cautiously enthusiastic.
I saw in his eyes a hundred questions and an endless barrage of apologies. I was not in the mood for either. “Don’t get up. We can talk later. Just pretend we are not even here.”
Moving toward the rear of the jet, Sam in tow, Dee called out with noticeable concern, “Sam?”
Letting go of my hand, Sam made makeshift fangs with her fingers and shook her head no.
We settled into the custom memory foam velour seats which were more like a love couch than a cramped airplane seat. Phillip’s party bus; money well spent. Sam cuddled tightly, resting her head on my shoulder. “I’m sure that went over like a ton of bricks,” she said as she turned her head and kissed my neck.
We had barely settled in when an escalating ruckus startled us. “No, I won’t,” Dee snarled before heading in our direction.
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