Survivor

chapter 8

I stretched out on the blanket and gazed up at the big branches of the oak above us. The leaves swayed in the breeze and wispy white clouds occasionally drifted across my field of view. Peter had brought some work with him and he leaned against the tree trunk and leafed through a thick pile of papers. I tilted my head back, smiling at the sight of him. He looked exactly like a legal professional- young and handsome but in that bookish sort of way (though he was a bit too fit to be a true nerd). All he needed was a pair of glasses and a few pens in his pocket to complete the image of intelligent competence. No one would imagine that he had superhuman strength and a penchant for drinking blood. That all sounded too edgy for the composed, serious man studying the papers in front of him as if they held some golden nugget of truth.

“How did you end up being a vampire?”

He glanced up at me in surprise, losing that serious look and becoming my Peter again- an enigmatic combination of bookworm and seducer. Setting the paperwork aside, he moved closer and I scooted over to rest my head in his lap.

“A long time ago, about the turn of the century-ah, the previous one- I was a banker.” His voice fell into a comfortable cadence as he reached back and became a storyteller.

I rolled my eyes. “Of course you were.” It sounded suitably nerdy.

He gave me an affronted look. “Banker was a perfectly respectable occupation. In fact, it was a family legacy. I had worked my way up to managing one of the banks my uncle owned.” He sighed wistfully. “I think one day I would have been his heir.” He pulled his pocket watch out, running his thumb over it, as he did when he was deep in thought.

I arched my eyebrows. “But then, one dark and stormy night you were attacked by a vampire in the alley outside the bank.”

He snorted. “You read too much. I was very good at what I did. I gained a reputation for handling my clients’ affairs with skill and tact.” He shrugged depreciatingly. “I started attracting very wealthy people who at times wanted their transactions to be…quiet. Nothing illegal,” he rushed to explain, “but just not wanting to draw attention to themselves.

I nodded and he continued. “I had a client, John William Thomas- at the time I was sure the name was an alias. Anyway, he came to me several times over the years. He often had me complete large purchases or sales on his behalf. Things like buying a ship, selling a piece of ancestral hunting land. Very large endeavors. He never wanted to deal with large companies or well-established, wealthy families in person. I thought he was just eccentric. I assumed he was an old recluse, holed up in a mansion somewhere.”

I absorbed that, wondering what it would be like to be able to buy a ship, or own ancestral hunting land. I couldn’t even imagine.

“Finally, one day I met him. He had come to ask if I would travel with him to purchase a large amount of land from some English nobility. Since it was overseas, he wanted me there to speed up the process so he wouldn’t have to send documents and things like that. I was stunned- and immensely flattered- by his request, but it made sense from a business standpoint, especially knowing as I did how reclusive he was.”

I looked back at him, wide-eyed. “You ended up like Renfield,” I said, thinking Dracula: Dead and Loving it.

He gave me an exasperated look. “Do you want to hear this, or would you rather make up your own story?” I made a zipping motion over my mouth, and he shook his head.

“I was shocked when I met John. He was a little blonde thing, pretty as a girl, and even younger than I was. When he first walked into my office, I almost asked where his father was.” He grinned. “But the man was hard as nails. I guess he had to be, looking like that.” He shrugged. “So I went to England with him. He bought the land for a terrible price. It was just bits and pieces of land scattered all over the U.S. I thought he was insane, but I did my job. When we got back to the States, he had me sell most of those little bits and buy up areas around the remaining plots of land, so that he had fewer, larger pieces. Somewhere along the way, he clued me in to what he was doing- and what he was. He found my professionalism and my tact to be invaluable when he was dealing with others, vampires and humans alike.”

He paused to tuck my hair behind my ear. “What was he really doing then? With all that land?”

Peter gave me a Cheshire-cat grin. “He was consolidating so he could build a coven. The little pieces he bought were other coven territories. He basically owned the smaller covens by controlling their land. When one of those areas was without a leader, he finally took over and started his own coven. The coven house now sits on about four hundred acres.”

I sat up and stared at him. “Four hundred acres?” That would mean the coven probably owned most of the town.

Peter nodded, grinning. “It was the smallest of the territories he owned, but he wanted to be here. He never did tell me why.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “So this was your old master?”

He nodded. “I worked with the vampires as a human for a long time. Somewhere along the way, I picked up a passenger. When I realized what it was, I knew I couldn’t keep working. If anyone knew I had TB- or consumption, as we called it at the time- they would send me to a sanitarium.” He shrugged. “I figured at least I couldn’t infect the vampires. So, I started working for them full time. I was trying not to let consumption stop me from living. John and I were good friends by that time, and I felt reasonably secure with them, since I was already dying. It’s not like I had to worry about my life being in danger.”

I bit my lip. He talked about dying as if it was nothing. No big deal. But he had been secretly suffering through a pretty nasty disease. What’s more, he hadn’t went to his friend and asked to be cured. He simply asked for a job, and kept on trying.

“John kept you when you died.” I could see it now. Not some dramatic attack or a love affair with an undead seductress. Just a very good friendship built on a professional relationship. It sounded dull, but I was touched.

“None of us knew at the time, but John was building up the coven, getting us ready to go on without him. Looking back on it now, it was obvious. He brought in certain types of people, not only personality, but those with particular skill sets. I have always managed the finances and legal planning for the coven, among my other talents. Leah can soothe anyone and bend them to her will. We have a handful of varied military experts, government officials, and people with good connections, medical experts, anything we could possibly need. Our coven is small, but we never need to rely on the larger covens for anything.”

There was a deep sadness in his leaf green eyes, and I reached out and hesitantly took his hand, eliciting a brief smile. “What do you mean, getting you ready? What happened to John?”

Peter gazed out at the sunny countryside. “He faded.” He said softly. “Sometimes it happens. We are said to be immortal, but living requires some kind of vital spark. After hundreds- hell maybe even thousands- of years, it fades.”

I squeezed his hand. “What happens then?” I didn’t want to ask, but I had to know.

He gave me a soft smile. “Then, I expect that spark moves on. Our souls were never meant to be tethered here forever. They have other places to go.”

*****

I picked out a new pair of dark jeans and a white bohemian style top, nice, but casual. Mom and Chelsea had taken me shopping last weekend and I actually chose real clothes- something other than sweats or comfort clothes. I even bought a pair of earrings, big dangly things with wooden disks and shiny wire coils. It took me forever to get them in my ears, but when I finally managed to get them in, I shook my head experimentally, liking the weight. I felt feminine, something I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Peter glanced at me as I emerged from my bedroom, and his eyes lingered. For a moment, his face was blank, but then he blessed me with that glorious smile. “You’re beautiful as always,” he said seriously. I would have wondered how to take that- I mean I was usually pretty frumpy looking- but his eyes had just a hint of silver in them and his voice was just a smidge lower than usual. He liked my new clothes.

I was very nervous about meeting Peter’s friends. He had woven his way into my life with ease. He visited me at work, he stayed at my place on occasion, and he had met my rather unusual friends. He had even managed to survive an evening with my family. But I knew almost nothing about his life. I always had a very real sense of him, but those other details were missing. I had never been to his house and I hadn’t met his friends. In fact, I kind of assumed he didn’t have any friends among his kind since he was apparently breaking some big rule of theirs. Tonight wasn’t just us hanging out with his friends. It was me finally being invited into his life, his world.

I gave Taz a farewell pat, struggling to keep the beast from climbing onto my lap. He wasn’t used to being left alone at night. Peter seemed thoughtful as we made our way out to his car.

“Are we going to your house?” I tried not to sound too hopeful and pathetic. I doubt I was successful. I tried to cut him some slack, since a vampire’s home is his sanctuary and therefore never seen by humans, but it was hard.

Peter just shook his head, distracted by his own thoughts. He stowed my things then came around and slipped behind the wheel. He looked good there. But then again, he looked good anywhere. “The coven house is a sort of communal gathering place. It’s a house that belongs to the coven as a whole.”

I pursed my lips. The idea of belonging to a coven was foreign to me. It sounded like a cult. “You all share this house?”

He nodded as he merged into traffic. “Our master owns it, and all of the coven’s property, but we are allowed free use of anything the master owns.” He sighed, “My master is not pleased with me right now, but when Leah is the one having the party, everyone is expected to attend.”

I frowned at him, “What is it you are doing that makes everyone so angry?” He always seemed to skirt the issue. I was tired of the secrecy. Peter didn’t look happy. He didn’t want to tell me, but he wouldn’t lie to me when I asked him a direct question.

“I passed my one hundred year mark about five years ago,” he said slowly. I’d guessed his age, but I never had the guts to ask. I mean that seems like something you don’t really tell a human- even if you are sleeping with her. I tried not to think about the things I had done with a man who should have died a good twenty or thirty years ago.

“So what does that have to do with it?” He sighed and glanced at me, swerving around a pothole and breaking at a red light without even looking at the road. Creepy.

“Vampires can’t have children- not in the usual way.” He returned his gaze to the road. “We have to turn a human to continue our line, so to speak.” He shrugged uncomfortably. “It’s kind of an unwritten rule that we turn a human every hundred years- no more, and no less. “He gripped the steering wheel tighter and I was afraid it might snap. “I refuse to do it.”

I considered that for a minute. “I guess that makes sense.” I imagined having to drink blood for the rest of my life and thought I might throw up.

We drove on in silence for some time. I’m sure Peter was stewing over the demands of his peers. I was thinking about what it would be like to be a vampire. “If you made me like you, would I be healed?” Obvious question. He had to have seen it coming.

He shrugged, slowing as we crossed a small bridge over a little offshoot of the river. We were heading out into the country and the lights and signs of civilization were thinning. “It might.” His voice was flat. I started to speak, but he cut me off. “Of course there is also a very good chance you would be just the way you are, only immortal.” He tapped his head. “There have been some instances where the turn went wrong. Usually when the human had a mental disorder.”

I frowned at him, and he hurried to cut me off. “I am not saying you have a mental disorder. It’s just that the human brain is a mystery. My blood could heal broken bones easily, but there is no way to tell what effect it would have on your mind, and even your physical difficulties are mostly due to your brain injury.”

I thought about that for a minute. Exactly as I was. Never changing, never aging, never dying and moving on. I would always be just as I was. The disabled vampire. Well that was pretty much the worst fate I could think of.

We pulled up to a big white house with a lake in the backyard. It looked like someone’s summer home. There were several shiny cars parked out front, and the windows of the house were all lit up in the dark. I sighed. I would never be a vampire. So much for the quick solution. “Are you sure your friends will be okay with you bringing a human?”

He slipped out of the car and got my chair from the back. “Bringing a human with me won’t be considered unusual,” he said with an uncomfortable shrug. Okay.

He was pushing me up the driveway toward the door when another car pulled up. A bunch of people piled out of the pick-up. A couple of guys were riding in the bed. I noticed the big, brown haired one almost immediately, and my eyes found Cynthia in the group as they walked by. Someone tossed a muffled, “Hey Pete,” in greeting and then they were gone. I let out my breath, not realizing I had been holding it.

“They won’t do anything here,” Peter said softly. “Like I said before, they are just pulling pranks to make life difficult for me, they aren’t bad people.”

I didn’t reply. I really doubted that burly guy was good people. One of the group had lagged behind, and she joined us silently, startling me when she spoke. “Hello Peter,” she said in a rich, even alto. “I’m glad you could join us tonight.”

Peter didn’t pause or seem surprised. He had known she was there. “Good evening Leah,” he said politely. “I wouldn’t miss your party for anything.” We made it to the soft glow of the porch light and I shifted so I could see the woman that walked with us.

“Hello,” she said, extending her hand. “You must be Melody. I’m Peter’s good friend Leah.” I shook her hand firmly and gave a tentative smile. She was beautiful, in a sort of earthy way, with long, wheat colored hair and chocolate brown eyes. Except for her flawless skin, she looked like someone who spent a lot of time outdoors. She was wearing faded jeans and a white tank top. My eyes lingered on the pretty bracelet that glinted in the light as I shook her hand. It was made of shiny silver, but it fit her down-to-earth vibe- two snakes linked in a circle with their noses touching and their tales entwined.

Seeing my eyes on it, she smiled “It’s beautiful isn’t it? It was my present from Peter.” She gestured up at the old house and winked at me. “Today is my birthday.”

I smiled back, wondering just what this woman was to Peter. “Happy birthday,” I said genuinely. She was different than the other vampires I’d met- not that I’d met that many. She was so soft and mellow. She didn’t have that buzz of nervous energy the others seemed to have.

She frowned, looking up at the house. “I’m afraid there isn’t a ramp,” she said apologetically. “This place is old, I suppose, but I love it.”

I nodded agreement. You could feel the space around you, even in the dark, the wind through trees and crickets chirping in the long grass. “It’s wonderful.”

She glanced down at me. “May I take her inside, Peter?” I noticed that Peter had been awfully quiet throughout this exchange. It was a little odd that she was asking his permission, and not mine.

“She is mine,” he said quietly. I glanced back at him. What? Leah’s gaze flicked over my neck and I blushed. Oh, his human. My snack, not yours. There was an odd tension between them, and it was making me uncomfortable.

“Good,” she said, still smiling kindly. “Let me take her in.” She scooped me up without warning and I instinctively wrapped my arms around her neck, expecting her to drop me. But she was a vampire, not the slender human she appeared to be. She carried me as if I was a baby.

I should have been alarmed after that last little exchange, but I wasn’t. Everything about her was very soothing and peaceful. She wouldn’t hurt me. Behind us, Peter snapped my chair shut with a click. He didn’t protest as Leah carried me up the stairs and into the house.

There weren’t many people here, but they all looked at us when we came in the door. Peter followed with my chair, and Leah set me in it like a doll. “Hi everyone.” She waved to the room at large. “This is my guest, Melody. Please treat her well.”

Peter cleared his throat uncomfortably behind us and Leah laughed. “And don’t be too hard on Peter tonight, it’s my birthday and I don’t want to talk about politics.” She glided away to take a drink from the brown-haired guy, giving him a meaningful look before she snatched his beer and headed off into the biggest group of people. I shook my head. Vampires.

Peter seemed to relax as he took me around and introduced me to his friends. He was right; I wasn’t the only human there. I noticed several people I thought must be humans. I wanted to talk to them, but they were always glued to their respective vampires. As the night wore on, I saw why. They were here more for food than for companionship. I tried not to stare after I saw the first vampire feeding right in front of me. The people seemed to be enjoying it, so who was I to interfere.

Peter took my hand, probably sensing my elevated pulse. “You’re safe here,” he whispered in my ear. “Leah made sure of that when she brought you in.” And Peter had made sure when he said I was his. No sharing. Good grief.

I was surprised when I found myself actually enjoying the evening. Peter’s vampire friends were a lot like him. They were mostly kind and easygoing. I suppose that’s not so much of a surprise. If they were sharing everything, and living closely together as they seemed to do, then a coven would be made up of people who got along well. I hid a smile, thinking that it was like a big family. I had to remind myself that the people around me weren’t really people- they were predators. It was just so hard to remember that when they were joking, and laughing, and eating bright pink birthday cake.

About halfway through the night, Peter’s cell phone chirped insistently. He glanced at the screen and sighed. “It’s my boss,” he said apologetically. “The firm is working on a really sensitive case. I need to take this.”

I smiled to let him know it was okay, and he made his way out to the porch where it was quiet. I sipped my little glass of champagne, feeling like a teenager. Technically, I wasn’t supposed to drink, but I really doubted one glass was going to kill me. I started guiltily when Leah sidled up beside me. She slid onto a bench next to me, two little paper plates with cake on them balanced in her hands. She handed me one and I set my drink aside to take the proffered treat.

“Did Peter abandon you?” She asked playfully, taking a bite of her cake.

I shrugged. “He had to take a phone call.”

Leah nodded. “Work?” She guessed.

I took a bite of my cake, letting the sugary frosting melt in my mouth. “Yeah. He seems like a really loyal employee.” Though I was guessing it wasn’t human business at this hour.

She considered this for a moment, running the plastic fork over her teeth with a clicking sound. I didn’t know whether to laugh or call for help at the casual display of fangs. “Peter is really devoted to everything he does, when he chooses to be,” she said at last. “He always seems serious and straight laced, but….”

I nodded. “But he’s not,” I finished for her.

She sighed. “It’s all a front. In actuality, he’s a rebel.” She grinned and whispered in a conspiring tone. “He’s a hippie.” She shook her fist dramatically. “Down with the man!”

I laughed aloud, and a couple of people across the way shot a surprised glance at me. Leah chuckled. “You know what I mean,” she said, waving a hand dismissively. “He doesn’t like to follow the rules, he only does so because he has to- and then only so far as absolutely necessary.” She sighed. “His biggest fear is responsibility.”

I frowned, not agreeing at all. “He’s the most responsible person I know,” I said truthfully. “He’s a hard worker, he always keeps his promises, and he does everything he can to help others.”

The pretty blonde regarded me skeptically. “Mmm…” she said, noncommittal. “But he shirks he responsibilities to the coven- to his race.” I got the sense that she was fishing to see how much Peter had told me, or how well I knew him.

I bristled at her words, rising to the bait. “Of course someone wouldn’t want to be forced to do something like that.” Sure, I didn’t get why he didn’t just do it and get everyone off his back, but it was still his decision.

I expected her to be upset that I was disagreeing with her, but Leah just shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong,” she said lightly. “I understand his hesitation. But this is about more than contributing to the population.” She gave me a direct blue look. “He is selling himself short. His fear and lack of confidence will keep him from growing and developing.” She sighed wistfully. “He will make a wonderful master someday.”

On that note, she stood and gracefully made her way to a group that was chatting by the refreshment table. I rubbed my forehead, wondering just what the heck was going on. She had such a calming presence, but something in the way she had looked at me just now set off little alarm bells in the back of my head. I glanced her way again. A tall man in the group handed her a champagne flute, and my eyes widened. I recognized the silver-haired guy from the coffee shop. His eyes met mine from across the room and he inclined his head to me before turning back to chat with Leah. I knew was a vampire the minute I saw him. No human had any business being so oddly perfect. It made me think about the random strangers I passed on the street every day. I wondered if all the models in the world were vampires. Picking up my glass, I took a big gulp of the sparkly stuff. The thought echoed through my mind that you never knew who was watching you.

After Leah left, I found myself watching the others more closely. I noticed the brown-haired guy, Viktor, glancing at me throughout the night, but other than that, everyone behaved themselves. Apparently, they all really respected Leah, not that I blamed them. Something about her just inspired loyalty. When we left for the night, she drifted by again. “Thank you for coming to my birthday party Melody,” she said in that rich alto. “I hope you will join our circle of friends from again very soon.”

I smiled back. “I’d like that,” I said sincerely. She didn’t seem to look at me as disabled. In fact, I hadn’t noticed one person here treating me like I was different. Maybe because to them all humans were disabled.

Peter stepped in front of my chair, cutting off my interaction with Leah. “Leah,” he said with a hint of vampire in his voice. She just looked at him. With just that one look, his entire demeanor changed, the tension melting away like a puppet with its strings cut. It was frightening.

“I’m going to go outside for a bit,” I said, gesturing toward the old porch. Peter nodded, but neither one of them spoke until I was out of hearing. The screen door banged closed behind me and I paused just outside the door to take in a deep lungful of night air. I glanced over my shoulder at the party behind me and a dull headache started behind my eyes. I was reaching my limit for processing strange crap.

I couldn’t get down the stairs, so I was trapped on the big, wrap-around porch. I turned and headed around the side of the house, where I could get a better look at the night sky. When I rounded the corner, I paused to let my eyes adjust. It was darker over here, but that just made the moon and stars seem that much brighter. I don’t know how long I sat there, staring out at the black sky, before a voice spoke from the darkness, scaring the bejesus out of me.

“Beautiful isn’t it?”

I jumped and frantically searched the shadows on the porch for a person. He waved and I was finally able to see him, a pale figure sitting on the railing, his back against a post and one knee drawn up to his chest as he looked out at the night. I took a deep breath and told myself to calm down. Peter and the others were just a shout away, and nothing in this man’s posture implied that he was about to attack me. He turned his head to look at me, and the dim light from the window glinted on his silver hair.

“You’re the guy from the coffee shop?” I tried to sound casual, as if I wasn’t fazed by moonlight conversations with strange vampires.

There was movement in the dark. I think he nodded. “Haine,” he said softly. “And you are Peter’s Melody?”

I pushed my chair forward, and leaned my forearms on the railing so I could look up at the sky. “Are you hiding out here too?”

He snorted. “Of course not. It was just a bit stuffy in there. I wanted some air.” There was a hint of humor in his voice that made me think he might be smiling.

“That’s one way to put it,” I said with a sigh. I pressed my hands to my temples, and took a deep breath of the cool night air, hoping to soothe my building headache.

Haine dropped his folded leg, so that they both dangled over the railing. “It’s hard for you to keep up with us,” he observed. “I wonder if Peter knows how much it affects you?”

I shrugged and dropped my hands back over the railing. “It’s fine. I’m not as fragile as everyone seems to think.”

He reached out and ruffled my hair, startling me with his familiarity. “Of course you are.” He dropped his hand to rest on the railing next to mine. “But then, vampires are also more fragile than everyone seems to think.”

Something in his voice sounded deeply unhappy. “Well, we all have our issues I suppose.” I was having difficulty thinking around my fatigue. “And vampires were human once. I guess becoming immortal doesn’t magically cure you of all your personality flaws.”

He laughed, a rich sound that danced over my skin like a caress. “You have no idea how right you are. But at least when you are human you have your freedom, you have no master controlling your destiny.”

I sighed and backed away from the railing. I wanted to argue with him- after all I didn’t feel like I had much freedom, and my guardians controlled my, er, destiny- but I just didn’t have the energy. “I’m going to head back inside.” I paused. “It was nice to meet you,” I said awkwardly. Somehow talking to him out here had felt oddly intimate. Like I had known him forever.

He slid off the railing and joined me. “I’ll come with you.” We made our way back around to the front of the house. Haine didn’t seem to mind my slow pace. When we were back in the warm glow of the front porch, he put a big hand on my shoulder. “Don’t let your differences discourage you. I like to believe that if you love someone deeply enough, you can overcome any obstacle.”

I looked up at him, completely floored by the soft sentiment. His blue eyes were full of kindness. He smiled and lifted his hand to touch my hair, pulling back when Peter and Leah came through the door. Peter’s green eyes grew silvery as he took in Haine’s proximity to me. The other vampire gave him a wry smile of apology and stepped away, taking up a place at Leah’s side.

Leah glanced between the two men. “Take good care of our new friend, Peter,” she said softly.

He bowed his head and touched his heart. It was a formal sort of gesture, and Leah repeated it. I got the feeling there was something going on here. Something vampirey. And to think, Leah had said she didn’t want to talk about politics tonight.

We drove home in silence. Overall, I had enjoyed myself. I had been accepted by Peter’s people, and I felt like I was part of his life. But still, I was slightly on edge. When we got to my place, Peter carried me up. Opening the door with the spare key that now resided on his keychain, he carried me straight to the bedroom. He followed me down onto the bed, kissing me deeply. I was shocked at his intensity. His eyes had gone silvery and his fangs were elongated. He pulled me against his body and his urgency lit through me like a flame.