And seeing Sebastian, this tall, gorgeous, vampire god standing in my bathroom is utterly absurd.
"I’ll need to check all your exits and entrances," he says. "We don’t want him getting in without us knowing."
I nod and show him around. It’s a small place. One bedroom, one bathroom, a cozy living room, and open kitchen with a two-person dining table. It’s usually only me, and sometimes Molly or the occasional short-term boyfriend I might bring home for dinner and a movie. Netflix and chill, I think the kids call it.
There are a few windows, a backdoor and a front door. He locks everything and comes to stand in my living room, looking entirely out of place.
"Now what?" I ask. "Do you leave so I look like I’m alone?"
He shuffles on his feet. "That’s the plan. But I don’t like it."
"I know. But this isn’t going to end the way it did last time for you. Trust me. I got this." I don’t really have this, but it seems to be something he needs to hear. And I’ll definitely give it the old college try, as they say. I feel reasonably optimistic of my odds of survival. That’s something. "I’m getting stronger and stronger." I flex my arm like that would prove anything.
He reluctantly grins at that. "Very well. I’ll take my leave. But . . . well, when this is over, we need to talk."
I nod, afraid that if I speak, the raw emotions in my voice will betray me. I know what he needs to talk about, and I won’t make it harder for him. But, in my heart, I worry that saying goodbye to Sebastian Kingston might be harder to survive than being eaten alive by evil vampires.
The house feels intolerably lonely once Sebastian leaves. In the quiet of the night, as I wait for a psychopathic vampire to try to kill me, I consider my life choices that have led me to this moment. If you’d asked me a few days ago if I regretted anything in my life, I would have said no. I’ve done all the things I set out to do by this point. I got my degrees. Traveled widely. Landed my dream job. What more could I ask for? But, as I look around, I realize I have kept everyone at a distance. And the only person I let close was a murderer. What does that say about me?
I head to the kitchen to make a pot of tea, hoping that will help pass the time as I continue to think through things. I may be losing Sebastian when this is over, but I can’t let this be the end of love, of adventure, of romance. Something in me agreed to marry him that night. Something in me wanted more than a solitary existence defined primarily by my job as a librarian.
When the teakettle whistles, I pour the hot liquid and let the tea steep for a few minutes before bring the cup to my lips. The smell of hibiscus sends me back into my memories of that night so sharply that the cup falls from my hand and shatters on the ground.
I am with him. With Sebastian. We are dancing and seem high on life. "Is this how it always is?" I ask him.
"How what always is?" His eyes are alight with a joy that matches how I feel inside.
"When you turn someone."
He laughs. "So the stories say. To turn someone, you have to drain them completely of blood, infecting them with a poison in our teeth, and then give them your blood to reanimate them. The process apparently creates a high in both people. But you’re the only person I’ve turned, so this is all new to me."
I’m surprised to hear that. "Why me?" I ask as the music turns to a slow song and he pulls me tighter into his arms. I feel at home against his chest, as if all the pieces of my life have finally snapped together.
"I don’t know," he says. "I saw something in you I couldn’t let die."
"I’m glad. That you didn’t let me die. I want to live." And I realize it’s true. I want to live. I want to do all things. Love and be loved and travel with someone, sharing those memories of our adventures together. My parents died my first year of college. I have no siblings. No aunts or uncles. No grandparents. So, when they died, a part of my past died with them. They were the only ones who had known me as a child. And since then, I haven’t let anyone else close enough to know me as an adult. Not even Molly, not really. Not until tonight.
And so I tell Sebastian everything. I share my whole life with him. And he shares with me. He tells me of the man who turned him. He, too, was on his death bed. A plague that had wiped out his village. But one man came to him and offered him a way to live forever, but at a cost. "He was a prince on another world," Sebastian says. "An inventor who was always looking for ways to help people and often came to this world for ideas. He said his name was Ace, and that he could help me. I agreed. Though, I was so close to death I’m sure I didn’t know what I was saying. When he brought me to life, I understood. He taught me everything about being a vampire. We were close for many years. I spent some time in his world, and he came to mine. We haven’t been in touch for years, but I think you would like him. I know he’d love you."
Somewhere in all that, in our bonding, we made it to the altar.
Of course, now I know that he needed to do that to protect us from the council, but at the time it seemed spontaneous. It made sense. And in my heart, it still does. It’s ridiculous to say I’ll never find a love like him again. We’ve only known each other since yesterday, after all. But I cannot change the reality of what I feel. Of what I know to be true. I will never love anyone like I love him. But I will learn to live without that love, and find joy elsewhere.
I’m ripped out of my thoughts by a voice in my kitchen. "So here’s the bitch who stole my brother from me."
Fear surges through my veins as I open my eyes and see the spitting image of the man who nearly sucked me dry and left me for dead. The Rendali brothers are twins. And this one hates me with a deep passion.
He will make me suffer. I can see it in his eyes. How did he get in? What happened to Sebastian?
As if reading my mind, he laughs. "Wondering where your rescue squad is? My boys ate them. But I saved my appetite for you. I’m going to enjoy draining the life from you."
I take a breath to slow my heart and look around for anything I can use as a weapon. I’m faster and stronger than I was before. I don’t have to be a victim. My eyes land on a rooster shish kabob skewer I had pulled out for dinner the other night. It’s vintage and was a gag gift at the library Christmas party two years ago, but I’ve grown fond of it. I’ll have to be fast to make this work.
From lore, you kill a vampire by stabbing them in the heart with a wooden stake, which I’m lacking, through sun exposure, which I’m also lacking, or through beheading.
So . . . I guess I’m going with beheading.
Doing my best Xena Warrior Princess impersonation, I grab the skewer and rush toward Steven. His eyes widen in shock as I stab the skewer through his neck. Repeatedly.
I am covered in blood, screaming like a wild banshee, as I use the sharp end of my cocky skewer to attempt to separate what remains of his neck from his body.
This is how Sebastian finds me when he blows my door off its hinges with the force of his might. And it only takes him one twist of his strong hands to finish the job, pulling the man’s head from his neck.
It’s a gruesome, violent, and bloody scene, and I’m quite positive I’ll have to burn the house to the ground to get out the bloodstains, but it’s over. The monster is dead. Future women are safe. I’ve gotten my revenge.
I stand over the body, staring at my husband who is also covered in blood, and where I should feel relief, there is only trepidation.
This is it.
This is when it all ends.
Except before I can say the speech I had planned, he pulls me into his arms and kisses me so deeply he steals all of my words. His hands dig into my flesh, his lips probe mine, and I feel his need growing. This is just adrenaline, I tell myself as he carries me to my bathroom and turns on the shower. As we both step in, more memories from that night resurface.