The Meridian Gamble

by Garcia, Daniel

  “Meridian, it kills me to say this, but Roland is the only one who can save you. We need him, and we can use his arrogance against him. He doesn’t think we’re meant to be together, he thinks you’re destined to be with him. He would change you, just to get the chance to prove it. He would let us be together, thinking you would run back to him eventually.”

  “This is crazy! How would this even work? Would I have to pretend to break up with you? Would I have to pretend to fall in love with Roland, so he could transform me? It’s ridiculous, Marion would see right through it. She would never allow that to happen.”

  “We could make it work. We could put our feelings aside for a while, if it meant your survival. You did it for me, once. You stepped aside, and gave me to Marion, so that she could change me. I would do the same for you in an instant.”

  And I shake my head, overwhelmed by it all.

  “Why do we even have to talk about this? I haven’t even decided that I would want to be a vampire, even if I had the chance. Why can’t we just enjoy our time together, while we finally have it?”

  “You’re right. We don’t have to think about this right now. But we will have to make a decision. And very soon.”

  But, I don’t want to make a decision. I don’t want to think about the possibility of my transformation. And besides, there’s something more important to me right now, more important than anything in the world. My desire for Adam.

  I pull him toward me, and wrap my arms around him, holding him tightly. And I want to keep him that way, so that nothing can take him away from me, not the vampires or the Luminos or any questions about my unresolved fate. I realize that I really do love Adam, and it’s not a dream or a fantasy, or some fractured memory from the past. I love him in a way I never have before, and I can’t let him slip away from me again. I can’t let anything break us apart.

  I lean back, and I look up into his beautiful eyes, the ones I could get lost in forever.

  “Angel said she wants to taste pizza again, before she’s transformed, in case it changes for her,” I say. “But if I’m going to change, you’re what I want to taste to see if it’s different.”

  “It’s not going to be different, it’s going to be better. But not because of the transformation. It will be better because we’ll finally have our forever. I promise you that.”

  He smiles, and I pull his face toward me, pressing his full lips against mine. I kick off my shoes, and he pulls the little jacket off of me, and deftly unbuttons my jeans in a few smooth moves. Adam lifts me, and carries me to the bed. And I know in a few moments, I’ll be in paradise. He’ll be inside me, we’ll be naked together under the covers. And I’ll feel a kind of joy that will be worth coming back to Earth for, lifetime after lifetime.

  The kind I would do anything to have forever.

  I wake up the next morning with a strange sound in my ear. It’s a tiny beep that’s low, and goes off in long intervals. I instinctively look for my cell phone, thinking it’s telling me something, but when I find it, the little device is silent. I don’t even have any messages. I start to look around Adam’s bedroom for an alarm clock, but I realize there are voices in the room.

  They’re speaking softly, by the door. Adam is already dressed, talking with Marion and another vampire I’ve never seen before. And there’s a light that flashes in the hallways, to the timing of the beep.

  And I realize it’s an alarm.

  Marion looks to me every once in a while, and when she sees I’m awake, she lowers her voice even more. It’s creepy, the way she can regulate it so perfectly, so that I can’t quite hear her words. But at least they aren’t speaking psychically, which is even more bizarre.

  As I slowly become more alert, I start to realize the significance of the alarm. Even though they seem calm, I can tell the vampires are panicked. And if something scares them, it must be very frightening, indeed.

  Finally, Marion and her flunky leave, and Adam closes the door. He comes to me, sitting at the corner of the bed. And I sit up, wrapping the sheet around me.

  “What is it? What’s going on?” I say, in concern.

  “We’re on lockdown. It’s the Florida tower. It’s been breached.”

  “Breached? As in entered?”

  “At least an attempt. It’s just happened, so we don’t know for sure the extent of the damage, though it seems that whatever they tried failed.”

  “An attempt? Are we talking a couple of kids breaking a window, or …”

  “No, Meridian. If it was a couple of kids we could deal with them easily. We’re talking about the Luminos. It was an attack. And what makes it all the more disconcerting is that they haven’t challenged us in years. They must be up to something. But I won’t know for sure until I’ve investigated.”

  He comes to my side, and puts a hand on my shoulder.

  “Listen to me, I need you to remain in the room, at least for a day or two. I need to go to Florida and investigate.”

  “Wait, you want me to stay here? But if the Florida tower was attacked they might try to hit this one.”

  “They won’t, it’s safe. The defense on this tower is 10 times what it is in Florida. They wouldn’t dare,” he says. “All of the companions have been called in to remain in closed quarters, all the vampires in the area are to return here until we have investigated, and moved the Florida tower to safety. It’s very dangerous for you to be on the outside.”

  “You have to close it down, just for a failed attempt?”

  “There is a reason we live for thousands of years, and it’s because we are very cautious. Come here …”

  Adam pulls me from the bed and has me sit in his desk chair, in front of the computer. He clicks the space bar to rouse it from sleep, and hits another icon at the bottom of the screen. It looks like a little camera, but it’s clearly something custom made, because I have a Mac of my own and I’ve never seen a symbol like this one in their set of standard programs.

  An image of the hallway outside comes onto the screen, and it must be from a security camera. But the view is crystal clear and in color, not like the typical grainy, black and white image you might see. And as he presses a button on the computer keyboard, different views begin to toggle through the screen.

  “This allows you to see outside, what’s going on in the corridor. Do not open the door to anyone. There are clothes for you in the top drawer of the dresser, and food in the refrigerator. If you need anything, if you want to order something else, dial zero on the phone and ask for it from one of the assistants. But watch the monitor, and make sure they have left the tray and gone. Make sure the hallway outside is empty before you bring it inside.”

  The Adam who speaks to me now isn’t the same sweet Adam I know, the one who is filled with affection. He’s a Luminos general, a vampire bigwig, all business and full of grim concern. And I find it just a bit upsetting.

  “Adam, you are really freaking me out. I don’t want to be trapped in here.”

  “You have to trust me. It’s not safe, none of us are safe until I know what’s going on. I’ll call you later to check in on you.”

  “I …”

  But he kisses me, and suddenly he’s off, leaving me sitting there naked beneath a sheet, feeling ridiculous. And I slowly realize that I’m about to have another vacation day from work, whether I like it or not.

  Roy Thompson is annoyed when I call. I can tell he’s mad, since I was already out the day before, after being disoriented from my memories of Saga. And I don’t have my supernatural boyfriend to calm his mind. But what can I do? Adam hasn’t given me much assurance of when I can leave, so I pretend that I’m sick, that my illness has returned. And I suspect Roy is peeved because it’s the most work he will have done since my week-long vacation last year.

  And it feels strange, to have a man disrupt my life in this way, on what feels like a whim, though I know it’s something more. I’ve been the only one in control of my life for so long, but now I have someone else in
it. And I know that Adam is something more than just another guy. But I begin to feel worried over how much more of a disruption he will cause in my life.

  I begin to wonder if I will ever be going back to the agency again. I wonder if I will be returning to my old life as a human being, or another type of creature.

  It feels strange to be trapped in Adam’s room, alone and without all my stuff. But I begin to realize there is so much I can do, and what a relief it is to not have to work. I go to the bathroom, and take a long, luxurious bath in the tub, filling it with salts and a delicious oil that smells like roses. I shudder to think of the expense. I know it’s not the cheap, fake stuff, and rose oil is one of the most costly essential oils. But this is one bit of decadence I’ll gladly embrace.

  After the bath I’m wrinkled, like a prune. I put on some clothes from the dresser, jeans and a T-shirt, underwear that’s perfectly my size. I try to keep myself from rummaging through his things, but I can’t resist completely. In another drawer, I find a sweater that is filled with Adam’s scent, and I put it on. Just brushing it against my face fills me with an erotic warmth that makes me wish he was here with me, right now.

  I go to the refrigerator by the door, and grab myself a snack of an apple and yogurt. There is more food there, bread and cheeses, more fruit, and I wonder if Adam has stocked it all just for me, or if he actually nibbles on this stuff, sometimes.

  I go to the computer and click on some of Adam’s files, just out of curiosity. But they’re all unnamed and have security passwords, so I don’t bother. Instead, I screw around on the web for a while. And eventually, I become hungry again. Since I’m trapped here, I might as well have some fun, so I pick up the phone and dial zero. After a few rings, a young woman’s voice comes on the other end of the line.

  “May I help you?” she says, sweetly.

  “I’d like to order some food. I’m just not sure what’s on the menu.”

  “I’m fairly certain we can accommodate anything you’d like. Would you care for some suggestions?”

  “Actually, I wouldn’t mind some breakfast food, if that isn’t too inconvenient. Like maybe a waffle and two eggs, sunny side up, with some bacon and potatoes. Oh, and coffee. Lots of coffee.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Will there be anything else?”

  I try to think of some extravagant treat I can throw at them, but nothing comes to mind. I’m already being greedy enough as it is, and have probably ordered more food that I can eat.

  “No, that’s it,” I say. “Thank you.”

  The woman hangs up without even asking me what room I’m in. But the phone system probably signaled the information to her. I imagine she has already been briefed as to who I am.

  About 20 minutes later, a knock sounds at the door.

  “Thank you, I’ll be there in a moment,” I call out.

  It feels rude not to answer right away, and instead, I go to the computer, as Adam has shown me. I click on the camera feed that gives me a view outside the door. A man dressed in white leaves a service cart, and walks away. He’s wears the same outfit that all the “assistants” have on, and I’m fairly certain he’s not Roland in disguise, since he’s shorter and has black hair. But when the hallway is clear, I run to the door, and quickly roll the tray inside.

  And once again, I marvel at the pleasures of the vampire tower. It’s like a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah, though perhaps a bit less raunchy.

  When I lift the silver dome, I see a gorgeous waffle, sprinkled with powdered sugar and berries. There are pates of real butter and warm maple syrup that’s infused with something, an herb, maybe thyme. And there’s bacon, not just a few pieces, but a small mound on its own plate, enough to give me a heart attack.

  There is nothing I like more than a yummy breakfast full of carbohydrates, even if I’m eating it for lunch, and the meal the vampires have provided is as close to being perfect as I could ask for. Now I can see why people covet a life with them, even it if means risking being drained of your lifeblood in the end. I seriously consider for a moment talking with Adam about moving in with him full-time, if only so that I never have to go grocery shopping again.

  When I’m finished gorging myself, I check the security camera on the computer, and make sure the hallway is empty. I quietly walk to the door, and look back to the monitor, to make sure the coast is clear. And I push the food service trolley back out again, shutting the door again with relief when no one attacks.

  I go to the sofa and watch movies for a while on his TV set, enjoying the plethora of cable channels. I consider calling the office, to touch base with Staci, but that life seems as though it’s millions of miles away. Plus, I don’t want to have to go through my routine of being sick again, even though I know she wouldn’t tell Roy Thompson I was faking.

  When I grow bored with the television, I take a nap on the huge sofa that rests in the center of the room. An hour or so later, I wake and tell myself I should write, but I don’t have any of my journals, and I don’t want to ask the vampire servants to break into my apartment to fetch them for me. So I watch more television, instead.

  Adam doesn’t call, as he promised, which worries me. And I feel ridiculous, just sitting here watching television, full of frustration. So when it gets closer to the dinner hour, even though I’m not hungry, I decide to get creative. I go to the phone, and dial the vampire room service again.

  The same young woman’s voice comes on the line. I can’t help but wonder if she ever takes a rest.

  “May I help you?”

  “This is Meridian, in Adam’s room.”

  “Yes, of course, Ms. Gutierrez,” she says, politely. “How may I help you?”

  “Um, I’m feeling a bit peckish again. I thought I would ask for more food.”

  “Do you know what you would like?”

  And I begin to order, my favorite meal from Tom E. Wongs, just to see if they can handle it.

  “I’d like Chinese chicken salad with pork fried rice and barbecue pork, and a side of fried won tons. Actually, it’s my order from a Chinese restaurant near my home. You can just pick up the food from there if you like, or have them deliver.”

  “I think we can replicate their menu fairly easily. If it’s not to your liking, just let us know, and we’ll have the restaurant deliver.”

  “I’m sure it will be much better,” I say, trying not to sound like an ungrateful bitch. “Thank you.”

  And suddenly, I feel excited by my new toy, again. I’m curious to see what the vampire’s come up with, if they can improve upon Tom E. Wong’s.

  And it doesn’t take long, all things considered. After about 30 minutes or so, another knock comes at the door.

  “Thank you,” I call out.

  I run to the computer, and watch what happens. This time, the server doesn’t leave a cart, but instead, sets a tray at the door, with a silver dome over the food. I watch as the man walks down the hallway, and I run to the door with excitement, silently hoping my meal will be delicious. But if the food I have eaten in the vampires’ lair in the past is any indication, I’m sure it will be a gourmet meal.

  I listen for a moment, for any sound on the other side of the door, and look back to Adam’s desk. But the monitor is clear. I open it, and pull the tray inside.

  But as I close the door, it stops, and I think for a moment it’s stuck. But then I realize my mistake. It’s too late, a hand is blocking me from closing it. And he pushes open the door.

  It’s Roland.

  I don’t even try to fight it. I step back in horror, realizing there’s no way I can stop him. And he follows me inside, slowly and deliberately, with an even pace.

  Roland shuts the door and locks it behind him.

  “How did you do that so quickly?”

  He smirks at me, as if I’m an idiot.

  “I think you know how I did it.”

  “Oh, right. Ancient vampire,” I say. “Does this mean I’m not going to get to enjoy my Chinese food?”

 
; “Well, one of us is going to eat,” he says, with a wicked smile.

  It’s almost absurd. Roland is wearing a more casual outfit, black jeans and a polo shirt, and he looks handsome. I know I should feel frightened, but a part of me is almost happy to have him alone, because there’s so much I have to tell him, so many things I want to ask. But unless I think fast, I’ll never get the chance.

  “I’m Saga,” I say. “Saga, who later became Caroline. I’ve only just started to remember. I’m sorry I had to hide it from you before.”

  It feels good to blurt it all out, to not have to deceive him. And Adam said it was all right, that we would have to do it, eventually. But a part of me wanted to keep it hidden a bit longer, to enjoy my newfound bliss, uninterrupted. I’m hoping Roland believes me, but he only looks to me with sad eyes filled with doubt.

  “What? Do you think I’m lying, to protect myself?”

  “No. I think you honestly believe you’re Saga.”

  “How could I not be? Remember, my mind is impenetrable?”

  “Yes, your defenses are quite strong. But no one is completely impervious to control,” he says. “You realize you’re not the first woman who believed she was Caroline, don’t you?”

  I begin to feel unsteady on my feet.

  “Yes, he told me. It was Adam’s way to protect me.”

  “It was his way to protect her. And the game has always been the same. A strong mind that’s difficult to read, but Adam finds his way in and implants the memories. Tell me, don’t you find it odd that you’ve begun to recall the past so late in life?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it late. I’m not even 30,” I say. “And I’ve always written stories about the past, ones that turned out to be Saga and Caroline’s lives.”

  “You believe you’ve written stories about them. But, you’re not exactly a published author, are you?”

  I shake my head.

  “No, I have written them. You can’t fake that. And besides, isn’t mine is a special case? I’ve only lived a few past lives. I’ve been told it becomes easier to remember the more you come back.”