I nodded.
Yup, gibberish
. His eyes kind of glowed again which looked pretty, like a blue night light. “Okay, so what does Madam Zulu have to do with you?”
“She was a—how much do you know about vampires?”
Snorting, I covered my face briefly. “They don’t exist. Mythology created after Vlad the Impaler, a bloodthirsty man from Transylvania, started mounting his enemies heads on pikes outside his fortress. A man later wrote a book, required reading for high school nowadays, which said they hated crosses, garlic, stakes to the heart and long walks on the beach on sunny days. That and stakes to the heart kill ‘em. I mean you.”
He shook his head. “You get a guy drunk, take him at a few hands of cards and he writes one stupid book you never live it down.”
“Huh?”
“Stoker. I knew him once. He wrote Dracula. He thought it was terribly funny.”
I nodded.
Mhhmm’Kay, that made about as much sense as the rest of the evening.
“He was right on about the sunlight and stakes. And the blood drinking. Can’t really get around that one, but you get used to it.”
Turning the key, I put the car in reverse.
“Where we going?” Vance re-fastened his seatbelt.
“I need food before you explain anything else then you are leaving, and I am sleeping.”
“Okay.” He slouched into the seat and looked awfully comfortable for a walking dead man. Fifteen minutes later, I had a block of cream cheese, a bag of shredded cheddar cheese, a can of chili (no beans) and a bag of tortilla chips, all bought with my crotch money from Julia.
This late night meal is brought to you by the letter S for stripper and L for lapdances. Thanks, Julia.
I plodded up the stairs to Mia’s apartment, fighting off exaustion mostly with sheer stubbornness. Peeking in on Vickie, I was greeted by snores, yet again. I tried one last time to make a grab for the iPod and again got a grumble in response. Soon the sun would rise, so I gave up in hopes of sleeping some before she woke for the day. Back to the kitchen, vampire in tow, I began to make food. Since I wasn’t talking, Vance didn’t either. Plopping the block of cream cheese in a plastic dish, I gooped it around a little to spread it then dumped the chili on the bed of white. Finally, I topped off my mess with a hefty handful of shredded cheddar.
Tossing the dish in the microwave for two minutes, I snagged a bottle of water. Impatient, I tapped the door until the timer beeped then retrieved my melty gooey mess and headed for the living room. Dropping onto the sectional Sven abandoned at some point in my absence, I opened the chips and water before dipping a chip in my goo.
Ohhh, it is so, so good.
Vance gazed with some doubt at my meal, so I offered him the bowl. “Want some?”
He took a chip and dipped carefully.
“Make sure to get some Philly on it.” Loading another tortilla chip for myself, I crunched happily. He ate his gingerly.
Vampires eat. Who knew?
“It’s not bad.” He shrugged. “Can’t be good for you, though.”
“Nope.”
“How did you come up with it?”
“I didn’t.” I continued to munch as I spoke so my words came out in a garble. “Found it on the cream cheese box.”
“Hmm,” the sound rumbled from him and seemed to caress my skin.
“You talk, I eat.”
“So, I was at Madam Zulu, right?” He adjusted his sleeves in a gesture that I was beginning to recognize as characteristic. I nodded, and slurped down some water.
“She was a blood buddy of mine.”
“Define ‘blood buddy’?” I asked before digging in the chips with fervor.
“Blood buddy is like…she shares her blood with me and we are friends, but we’re not involved in any relationship.”
“Oh, like a f—”
“Yeah, but without any F.”
I nodded.
Got it.
“She was staked. Since she was a psychic and therefore a mortal creature this, of course, killed her.”
I nodded again. I was beginning to feel like a bobblehead Janie, but I was too hungry to care. When my mouth was empty, I put in, “So, she was psychic and didn’t see that coming?”
He frowned at me, and his pupils shrunk a little. “I did mention that she was my friend?”
“Yeah, sorry.” I returned to the chips. I actually seemed to be handling the conversation better when I ate and bobbled my head.
“And now Marcus is dead.” His voice held a ring of finality. He sounded genuinely sad over the loss of his friend.
“My condolences. And Marcus was…?”
“Another blood buddy of mine. That was why you were buying him iron. To donate on a regular basis, you have to keep your iron up.”
Iron carried oxygen in the blood. Made sense—donating blood to a vampire would make you anemic. “Two of your food stuffs staked. How many more do you have?”
He shifted, obviously uncomfortable with my question. “Mia.”
“You are involved with Mia?” That surprised me. For one, he wasn’t her type. She liked quiet guys, or at least she did when I knew her well. Then again, we hadn’t been as close lately. Maybe her tastes changed? On the other hand, why had he kissed me, knowing I was her friend, if he was involved with
her
?
I gave him a very dirty look.
Douchecanoe.
“It is a good thing I can read your mind.”
I frowned, not satisfied.
“Blood buddies rarely exchange blood. The connection is personal and emotional and no one human can supply enough to keep one of us alive. Modern technology made the exchange easier and removed the physical from the act of sponsoring blood, avoiding an overly personal connection via the blood bond. Where do you think the bags in the fridge came from?”
“A hospital.” My voice was frigid.
“Try
here
. You buy the bags online, shipped in two days for free. Also needles and rubber strips and—”
“You’re saying you never actually took blood from Mia, she just donated it in a clinical way to a bag which you later ate?”
“Yup.”
Still seemed personal—eating another person and all—but better than biting her neck or something, I guessed. Then I wondered why I cared. It wasn’t like
I
was considering becoming involved with him. I shifted uncomfortably.
When I saw his smirk, I decided it was time for a topic change. “So, why would someone be out to get you, vampboy?”
His turn to look uncomfortable again and he stared at the TV for a minute as if collecting his thoughts. “Well, I’m not popular with drug dealers.”
“Neither am I, but none of them are stealing my refrigerator.” Which, based on his description, seemed an equivalent comparison to blood buddies.
He chuckled. “Vampires deal in blood. To live, we must have it. I am…we’ll call it leader amongst the local vampire population.”
My scalp felt nasty, so I scratched at it absently as I considered him. Wearing eau de dried vampire blood and undertones of incense and sage, I’d topped off my scent ensemble with a fresh coating of grave slime. Oh, and let’s not forget the dead body funk from my not-zombie boyfriend earlier, like icing on a horrible stink cake. Through all of it, Vance still looked crisp in his pretty white girl-shirt. I wasn’t sure if I hated him or wriggled in envy. “So…” I prompted.
“Well…” He relaxed and began to inspect his fingers as if they were of interest. I think he was fidgeting, vampire style. “Drugs ruin the blood. They take all nutritional value from it, since they lower oxygen levels. The oxygen is what keeps us alive. People who do drugs are usually the same people I…recommend as food for my people.”
“You tell your underling vampires to prey on the weak, the lowlifes of society?”
“Yes.”
“And they listen to you?”
He smirked. “They haven’t got a choice, not really. They either do it my way or leave…or they can deal with me.”
Again I considered his effeminate braided hair and white frilly shirt, which admittedly didn’t make him look terribly girly, but still... “And you are some big, bad, bossy vampire?”
“I never used quite those words to describe myself, but accurate nonetheless.”
“So, do the drug dealers know about all that?” I leaned toward him.
“They know that they die if they come on too heavy in this area, however it is unlikely they suspect vampiric intervention.”
“What about meth? I mean, this county has a huge meth problem. People are making it in their garages. Apartments and hotel rooms are blowing up because of quickie labs…how do you monitor or regulate that?”
“That has proved problematic.”
“Ah-ha.”
“Recently, someone has been on my lands and funded them. I have begun to suspect it is one of my own kind.” He leaned back on the couch and looked up at me.
“So, some bigger, badder, bossier vampire is paying drug dealers to make the drugs. Why? Doesn’t he need the food, too?” It was odd to refer to people as food.
“If he brings his own people in, yes. But to get me and my people out, no.”
“Why couldn’t it be a she?”
He smiled. “It is cute how surly women get over men in power. Do we have a female president in this country?”
“No,” I snapped.
“Well if your ultra-modern culture has yet to embrace female leadership, what makes you think mine, which is older by far, would have?”
“So, all the big, bad, uglies are ruled by men?”
“I hardly think ‘uglies’ fits my kind.” He sounded offended.
I shrugged and plopped back on the couch. He leaned up and over me, his face within inches of my own. Our breath mingled. I tried to decide how I felt about that. Either I was too tired to care, or I was attracted to him. I wasn’t sure which, or if I cared—a dangerous thought. Alone with a hot vampire on a couch wasn’t a choice time to not be sure whether or not you cared. I tried to remind myself I didn’t like men and all the newly-divorced spiel. With him so close, the sound of my hormones revving almost drowned out my fears, insecurities and indecision entirely.
“Not all societies are ruled by men. Actually, even the vampires were once ruled by mostly women.” He traced one long finger along my jaw and I shivered.
“Yeah?” My heartbeat sped, like some dusty motorcycle coming to life after years left in a garage. “When was that?
He smiled, licking his sinfully elegant lips slowly. “Once upon a time, women ruled us. They…weren’t like us, though.”
“Uh, huh.” I closed my eyes and breathed in the steak-goodness of his scent on one long gust. Not seeing him move closer, I startled when his lips bumped mine with electric intensity. Opening them back up, I saw his eyes glowed brightly.
“Not vampires at all, they were sirens.”
“Yes.” I wasn’t really listening to him, focused instead on hoping he’d kiss me again—on reveling in the way my muscles melted, liquid-hot, while my skin tingled to sensitive awareness. I hadn’t felt like this in
so
long.
“But the sirens decided to get rid of us and used their ability to call us to our deaths in the sun.” His lips brushed mine again, a feather-light touch. “So we killed them all.” Then he kissed me.
But he was a moment too late. Being doused with bucket of ice cold well water would have chilled me slower than his words. Did he just say,
we killed them all?
Like killed a whole society,
killed them all
? Like the vampires killed off the sirens?
Sirens?
I knew all about sirens. Beings who lived on or near water, they called sailors to their deaths on the rocks in mythology. Supposedly a matriarchal society, sirens could call anything. Cold creatures, almost reptilian even if history recorded them to be fish-like, their voices compelled anyone within the reach of sound to obey.
Even if
obey
meant
die
.
I pushed him back and bent my head over my knees, breathing hard. Digging my knuckles into my eyes, I swallowed hard to keep my cream cheese from making a reappearance. Either I ate too many chips or I heard him correctly.
But no, he is
wrong
… “What did you just say?” I found my voice and looked at him askance.
“Which part? Having a hard time downshifting here.” His voice
was
a little strained.
“About sirens.”
“We killed them all a while ago. They lured vampires to their deaths. It was them or us, we didn’t have a lot of choices. They were cold…cold as the seas they came from. They ruled us, and we had no choice but to obey.”
He tugged a hand through his hair. “When they were in charge, it was heaven and hell all in one glittering package. We did as they commanded, but had no choice in the matter. They stole free will with their songs. When some vampires began to rebel, to demand fair treatment, they responded by calling us to the sun. It was a gruesome time for our people.”
“Uh, huh.”
Probably pretty gruesome time for the sirens, too, being slaughtered by vampires and all.
“What? Did I say something wrong?”
Uh, huh
. I frantically worked at
not
thinking. I thought about desert dust blowing in the sunlight. I thought about Vickie’s first smile, about the sound of her laugh. Anything, but sirens. He looked at me as if I was from outer space. “I gotta get a shower and hit the sack. I need to get up early, in a few hours actually.”
“Okay.” He watched me, waiting.
“Are you gonna be okay tonight?” I waved an arm, trying to change the topic.
“Yeah, I have a few other places to lay low. I will return at sunset.”
I nodded and picked up the chips. I thought hard about what I had to get done in the morning. He caught my wrist and turned me.
His lips covered mine, not asking, but taking. Any choice on my part was taken. His hand supported my back and bowed it to afford him better access. His lips were liquid silk and I slid into them willingly. I hadn’t really wanted a choice anyway. His fingers dug into my back and bowed me onto the couch. I moved with him, my fingers grasping his silken hair, his shoulder. A gasp escaped my lips.