La Vida Vampire

“Bodyguard.”


“Whatever. You could’ve pulled rank on March and refused.”

“I figured,” he said as the light turned and the cars in front of us accelerated, “you’d rather have me around over going to jail or being with a complete stranger.”

“I’ve got news for you, Saber. You’re strange enough.”

“There’s the pot calling the kettle black.”

I crossed my arms over the seat belt strap. “I’m not the least bit strange. I’m just trying to have a normal afterlife.”

“You’re a vampire. There’s nothing normal about it. Vampires don’t take dance lessons. They don’t play bridge. They don’t, for God’s sake, surf.”

Everybody’s a critic. I ground my teeth as he braked again. Now we were tenth in line. “What’s your point, Saber?”

“You’re not mortal, Francesca,” he said, his eyes again hidden behind the aviator shades. “Stop trying to blend.”

His use of my given name slowed my tongue for one second before I lit into him.

“I am not trying to blend. I’ve never hidden what I am. Hell, I have to be registered like a stinking sex offender,” I fumed.

“As for dancing, playing bridge, and surfing, maybe I’m ahead of my time. Maybe I want something more out of life than hanging out in nightclubs and being all woo-woo vampiric.”

“Maybe you’re afraid of being what you are.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ve been out in the world since when?”

“Last August. So what?”

“How many times have you intentionally used your vampire speed?”

“Once.”

“And your vampire strength?”

“Twice on stuck jar lids.”

“And what other powers do you use?”

“None.”

“Wrong. You walk in the sun.”

I snorted. “That’s not a power. It’s just a—”

“Do all the other vampires walk in the sun?”

“Hell, I don’t know. I haven’t known any in centuries.”

“Day-walking is a power. Your vampire senses are a power, and you have at least a half-dozen others you haven’t tapped. You’re a vampire. Be who you are.”

I balled up a fist to smack him, but checked the impulse as the line of cars moved again. I was being me, and I didn’t care what Saber thought. He was less than nothing to me. A man I wouldn ’t have met if it hadn’t been for Yolette’s murder. Sure he was wrong, but why argue with a mule?

Well fine. Saber didn’t get me, and I didn’t get him. That would just make it easier to ignore him altogether. Ignore the way his tanned hands gripped the steering wheel. Ignore the way his thigh muscles bunched when he hit the brake. Ignore the virility that rolled off him, and remember that he was just a temporary annoyance.

Finally we arrived home, Saber taking Maggie’s parking space. I hopped out before he turned off the engine and headed around the corner to the building entrance.

“Don’t even think of locking me out,” he called as he pulled the strap of a black nylon duffel bag over his shoulder and strode after me.

“Then hurry it up. I need to change for class.”

“Funny,” he said as we both stepped through the door, “I don’t remember saying I’d take you to this class.”

I stopped and turned on him. “Saber, you keep pointing out that I am a vampire, a fact I’m well aware of, thank you. How hard would it be for me to throw you into next year?”

He stepped close enough to be almost toe-to-toe. “You might be able to pull that off, but I am armed. With silver ammo.”

I snorted. “Apparently my speed can trump your silver bullets, so let’s get something straight. Barring danger to others or myself, I’ll do what I want when I want. You don’t want to drive me to class? I’ll get there on my own.”

“And if I tell you there is danger at any time?”

“If I don’t think you’re lying, I’ll defer to you. We clear?”

He shrugged, but I took that as a yes and marched off toward the elevators. I punched in the code, not bothering to hide it from him, and we rode up in silence. Once in the penthouse, I told him to drop his stuff in the living room. No way was I letting him step a foot in Maggie’s room without asking her first. Yikes! She was going to have a cow when I told her Saber was staying after all.