Second Life

by Emily Reese

  Once again I found myself full of envy for the only other female vampire in our compound: Seraphina.

  Last night, when I couldn’t stand the sound of my thoughts any longer, I’d found her holding court in our common room. Immediately she welcomed me to her side and introduced me to her admirers.

  “Claire!” she said, beaming at me and extended her hand. “I can’t believe they’ve kept us apart so long!” When I reached for her hesitantly, she yanked me down beside her and linked our arms. “We’re going to get along famously; I just know it.”

  “O-Okay,” I stuttered. “But I don’t know what you mean by keeping us apart.”

  “I’ve been telling Ben for ages to send you for a visit.” Looking me up and down, she winked conspiratorially. “I guess I can finally see why he was so adamant to keep you all to himself.”

  “Oh.” I shifted uncomfortably under her appraising stare. “That was more me than him.” I played with the hem of my shirt, all my regrets piling up in my lap.

  “Gentlemen,” Seraphina said to the other vampires surrounding us, “excuse us please.” With only gracious smiles the half a dozen vampires stood and left the room, with only a human woman remaining behind.

  “This is Gina, my girlfriend,” my fellow female vampire told me. The human was tall and lithe with short cropped blonde hair and intelligent brown eyes. She was covered in tattoos and piercings, yet each one seemed to compliment her attractiveness, rather than distract from it. “You as well please, Cariño. We’ll be just a moment.”

  Gina opened her mouth to object, closing it when Seraphina gave her an imperceptible head shake.

  “Forgive my Gina,” her lover said as she flounced away. “She’s been with me so long, she no longer sees the differences between us. Now,” she said and turned to face me, “what has you moping around like the living dead? You know that’s just a saying right?”

  “Yeah,” I chuckled despite my somber mood. How much to tell her? “I don’t know. Everything’s seemed to go to shit lately.”

  “Relationships are hard at the best of times, Mija.”

  Does everyone know about me and Ben?

  “And while maintaining an immortal one might seem daunting, it also gives you plenty of time to work out the kinks. Don’t worry. If the last four-hundred years have taught me anything, it’s that things have a way of working themselves out. Now,” she said patting my hand, “let’s introduce you to some of our boys. Jack! Liam! Come meet Claire!”

  I smiled as I recalled the two vampires she’d called over, as well as many others. Before long even I was laughing at their outrageous tales, each trying to top the other to garner more of Sera’s smiles.

  Why does she rub Ben the wrong way so often?

  His name woke me from my hazy thoughts; I found myself stopped at his office door, staring at his abandoned cell phone, the empty desk...

  Quit being morose. You’re the one about to die, not him.

  The thought sent me running back to my own room, managing to get the door shut just as I started hyperventilating.

  I am going to die.

  With no word from his brother Amir, Elliot was gone for the foreseeable future. My only ally against the Council — departed. The charges levied against me would no doubt be upheld, my life to be taken in recompense for Collin’s. The injustice was damn near comical. Surely I’m worth more than that. Maybe they’d take into consideration what a piece of filth Collin was and...

  I knew I was fooling myself. The only facts the Council would see were one vampire killing another over a human. We never placed the life of a food source over our own.

  My gaze wandered over my formerly neat bedroom. Evidence of my desperation littered everything, all the information I’d found on Collin in cluttered piles. As if they were connected by fishing line, they all related to each other... only I couldn’t see how.

  A sharp pain tugged in my chest and I thought of Mike. His apartment looked just like this the night I told him the truth of it all. Now... I doubted I’d see him before I was gone. An email, even a phone call didn’t seem enough now. So much time, wasted.

  I kicked my shoes off, no longer caring where they landed. What’s the point? Vaguely I wondered if I should start storing my blood away, for after. Khale would need another female, once...

  My phone chirped and I had to scrub at my eyes before I could read the number clearly. It was not one I recognized.

  Oh, God, it’s them. It’s the call. Again the tiny thing called for my attention. Not yet... please not yet.

  “Hello?”

  “Claire?” The deep voice sounded completely foreign to me, with just the hint of an accent.

  “Yes.” Apparently one word answers were all I could manage.

  “Oh, thank God. It’s me, Marcus – I mean Elliot. Or I used to be. Dammit, I’m sorry. It’s always so hard in the beginning.”

  “Elliot!” Again I teared up. “Wait… Marcus? But then that means… oh God. You died!”

  “It was only a body,” he said gently, repeating the words he told me while he bled to death.

  “I’m so sorry,” I sobbed.

  “It’s done, Claire. I moved on, you need to as well.”

  “Elliot, are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I told you I would be. And it’s um, Marcus now... if you can... whatever, how are you? Are you alright? I could barely see when they took me away.”

  “Nothing permanent,” I smiled and settled back against my pillows. How rare they seemed, these moments that I had occasion to actually be happy.

  “Good. That’s good. Listen, I’m in town... can I see you? Maybe meet you somewhere for coffee?” He followed the suggestion with a hissed curse. “I mean, I’d get coffee, and you could...”

  “Yes, Marcus.” I couldn’t contain a tiny snort of laughter at his awkwardness. “Let’s meet for coffee.” Definitely different from Elliot.

  “Thank you,” he sighed ruefully, and I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d agreed to meet him, or saved him from floundering. “Cafe Luna, off Nashville?”

  “I’m on my way.” Hanging up, I dressed quickly and wrote a note to slip under Khale’s door, asking him to call me immediately when he heard from Ben.

  Elliot can fix this. I mean, Marcus can. Regardless of the man’s name, knowing he was here, that we were getting together, gave me the first spark of hope I’d had since this whole nightmare started.

  “What is taking so long?” I punched the elevator button again, just in case it was unaware of my impatience. When it refused to obey my command, I threw up my hands and headed for the passage to the stairway. It was longer, with way more security, but I was tired of waiting.

  With a silent curse, I put my hand up to the security panel, debating whether or not the stairs would make me late enough that I should call Marcus and let him know. Grasping the door handle, I paused when a strange feeling washed over me. It was as if a bell had rung somewhere close by, a huge deep resonance I felt in my chest. Looking back down the hall, I expected heads to be popping out of doorways, and yet... nothing.

  Again, I felt the deep thrumming sound.

  Drawn by inexplicable curiosity, I walked slowly back the way I came, towards the elevator and the direction of the sound.

  Another toll, this time louder. A couple of footsteps closer, and the sound boomed, as if there was a string located just inside the elevator, attached to the clapper of something like the Liberty Bell.

  The elevator chimed to a halt when I was about three feet away. Stopping, I held my breath and waited for the doors to part.

  “Yeah, I just got here,” a familiar voice said. “Okay, I will. Promise.” His voice was a quiet smile when added, “Bye.” Shutting the phone, he looked up and froze.

  Seeing him was akin to a punch in the gut, my words coming out in a hoarse choke. “Mike?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  “Oh, thank God!” He said
it all in a rush and wrapped me in a bear hug. The prayers continued as he lifted me off my feet, whispered in my hair.

  “I take it this means you don’t hate me?” I asked nervously and rubbed his back, surprised at the intensity of his reaction.

  “Never.” Mike put me down and held me at arm’s length, checking me all over. “Jesus, are you okay? What happened?”

  “I’m... I’m fine.” All things considered. “Enough!” I griped, batting his hands away. “What are you even talking about?”

  “Are you sure? When Ben called me —,”

  “Wait. Ben called you? When?”

  “Last night.” Mike kept rubbing my arms up and down, as if he needed to touch me to reassure himself I was fine. “He said it was an emergency, that I had to come home right away. He said... he said you needed me.”

  “Come with me.” I took his hand and drug him towards Khale’s office. Something is very, very wrong.

  “Claire? What’s going on?”

  Instead of answering, I knocked once and entered Khale’s office without an invitation. My Elder’s head popped up at the interruption, and I decided to start talking before I ended up in trouble.

  “Khale, something’s wrong. You haven’t heard from Ben yet, have you?”

  “No. But it’s only been a single day. He’s gone off on his own before, and —” Khale paused, just now noticing I’d drug a six-foot vampire in behind me. “Michael. What are you doing here? I was told you’d decided to stay in Las Vegas with the other fledglings.”

  “Tell him,” I prodded when Mike failed to answer.

  “So, yeah, Ben called me last night.” While he spoke, he messed his hair up a gesture I recognized, manifesting whenever he felt uncomfortable. “He told me there was an emergency, and I had to get back right away.” Looking at me quickly, he added, “He told me Claire needed me.”

  The silence that followed made me twitchy. My phone beeped in the quiet, but I ignored it. Finally, Khale spoke.

  “When did he make the call?”

  “Um, pretty early... like before midnight? I don’t understand. Where’s Ben?”

  “Missing,” I told him without meeting his eyes. I couldn’t bear to see Mike’s face. Too many missing... too many for any one life.

  “How long?” To my surprise, Mike’s voice changed from hesitant to business-like.

  “Yesterday evening,” Khale answered, coming out from behind his desk.

  “What time?” When they looked at me, I floundered for an answer.

  “I’m... I’m not sure.” My phone beeped and I cursed, pressing a button to shut the thing up.

  “The last to see him?”

  Again, we had no answers, only empty shrugs. Mike sighed in frustration and pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “Get me all his devices, phones, computers, everything,” he instructed. “Have everyone meet in the common room in a half an hour.”

  “Some of our people are out,” Khale began; when Mike spoke over him, I almost threw him behind me. Interrupting Elders was always a bad idea.

  “Then get them back. We’ve wasted enough time already.” Without further explanation, Mike turned and left.

  “Wow,” I said, shocked. “You’re not going to fry him for that, are you?” I asked our Elder.

  “No,” he replied after a deep pause. “The fledgling is correct. If Ben is in fact missing, time is of the essence.”

  “I thought you said he’d gone off before.”

  “He has. The call to Michael however, concerns me.”

  Suddenly, I couldn’t get moving fast enough. “I’ll get Ben’s stuff and take them to Mike.”

  “I’ll get our people back.” Khale went back to his desk and started making calls while I left for Ben’s room.

  Ben’s phone still waited is his office, but a quick search told me the computer was elsewhere. Remembering our night together, I swallowed hard and kicked the baseboard, opening the secret passage to Ben’s room.

  For a moment, I could only close my eyes. His smell permeated the room. Home, and pine trees, his aftershave... and, as I neared the bed, a little of me. I dug the heels of my hands into my eyes in an effort to push back the panic. He’s going to turn up. There’s too much that needs to be fixed.

  Spying Ben’s laptop on an end table, I snatched it and bolted from the room.

  Without ever having seen it, I knew exactly which room was Mike’s. The deep thrumming I’d felt when he came down the elevator hadn’t lessened; it seemed no matter where he was in the compound, an invisible string tied the two of us together.

  “Come in,” he said before I had a chance to knock. Inside, Mike’s bag lay discarded in a corner. He hunched over his laptop, typing furiously. Without a word, he held his hand out for Ben’s possessions. I handed them over and waited, unsure of what to make of this new, super sleuth, take-charge Mike Monroe.

  “What’s your birthday?” He asked finally.

  “March eighteenth. Why?” Mike’s fingers punched in some numbers on Ben’s phone and he smiled.

  “Of course it is.”

  “Is what?”

  “Ben’s passcode on his phone. Laptop’s going to be harder though.” Mike scrolled through the tiny device, all but ignoring me.

  “Dammit!” I hissed when my phone chirped again, then immediately felt like a terrible person. The text messages were all from Marcus, each one growing more concerned. “I’ve got to take this,” I told Mike on the way out. The only response was a raised eyebrow, which reminded me more of Ben than I cared to admit.

  They’ve been hanging out too much. Oh, wait. Whose fault would that be, Claire?

  Marcus picked up on the first ring.

  “You’re not bailing on me, are you?”

  “Yes... well, it’s just that...” I swallowed, uncomfortable sharing our business with an outsider. “Do you still work for the Council?”

  “I’m on leave,” he replied. “It’s standard procedure when we transcend. Is this about the charges? Because I want you to know, I’m still going to give my report to them. You will be cleared.”

  “Thank you.” The knots in my chest eased up just a little, knowing that my Elliot still looked out for me. “But no, that’s not...” Looking down, I noticed my fingertips rubbing together again. I couldn’t manage to stop.

  “You can trust me, Claire. No matter what it is, I’ll do whatever it takes to help you.”

  “Why...” I looked up and down the hall, suddenly wanting this conversation to be as private as you could get in a hotel full of vampires. “Why would you do that?”

  “You defended my life with your own. It’s not something my kind takes lightly.” Closing my eyes, I remembered his brother Amir saying something similar to me.

  “Meet me in front of my hotel.” Inwardly I prayed this was the right move. “And El — Marcus?” I asked, remembering Ben’s laptop.

  “Yeah?”

  “Can you still get in touch with that kid, Cody, from Florida? I could really use him right now.”

  “Hell’s bells, woman,” Marcus’s sounded grim. “What did you get yourself into?”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  She came back in the room, tucking her phone away in her back pocket. As familiar as the actions were, running through the all-too-familiar checklist for when someone went missing, his attention refused to stay focused on the search.

  “Who’s Marcus?” Mike asked, and prayed it came out as casual as he intended.

  “He’s a friend of mine.” Her awkward pause made him debate the truthfulness of that statement. “He’s going to get us into the laptop, maybe help us find Ben.”

  “Good deal.” Mike kept working, scouring recent news stories for accidents from the previous night, anything mentioning something off about the victim. Definitely that and not trying to ignore her.

  “So… you seem different.”

  “How so?” he asked, refusing to lo
ok up.

  “I don’t know. You just kind of got all take charge back there.”

  “Missing people is sort of my thing.” God, he hated how clipped and irritable his words sounded. Ever since he woke up that first night, he’d thought about how he wanted their reunion to go. This wasn’t it. Shutting his computer with a frustrated breath, he turned and threw his legs over the side of the bed, facing her. Her vulnerability damn near killed him.

  “Oh, Mike, I’m so sorry!” She reached for him then pulled back, as if he wouldn’t allow her to touch him. Before she could retreat, Mike grabbed her hand and pulled her over to sit beside on the bed.

  “Tell me. All of it.” He kept hold of her hand, fearful she’d run.

  “When Collin took you, I... I was frantic. The only reason I let you come with me is because I thought you’d be safer with me than without me. Looking back… it’s so… so arrogant. So stupid!”

  “You had no way of knowing he’d be there.”

  “But I should have. I got carried away in that warehouse, because I enjoyed not being afraid. I wasn’t afraid for the first time in this life.” She shook her head, ashamed.

  “Why not?”

  “Because, well… I was angry. Angry at you for running off without me, and angry at those guys for threatening us. Angry because that asshole called me Sweetheart the way Collin used to. I was angry about all of that at once, and I knew I could make them bleed for it. Anyway, when I got to the car, you weren’t there. He’d only left a small smear of your blood on the seat

  “How could you tell it belonged to me?”

  “Have you fed from a live person before?”

  Mike paused for a moment before he answered, “No.”

  “I guess the best way to describe it is when you drink directly from the source, you can taste them, taste the way they smell, the way they are to you.”

  “Really?”

  “Alcohol or drugs, like we use, tend to dull the effects, and blood from bags is so processed all traces of the donor are gone. You’ll have to ask Khale about the specifics. I’m just figuring all this out myself.