Vampire, Hunter

by Maria Arnt

  But Seth’s blood—and her mouth began to water at even the memory of its taste—would drive all such thoughts out of her mind. Surely just a small sip wouldn’t have the same effect on her as gorging herself did? And would it really hurt to feel friendly towards him when she was going to have to endure another seven-and-a-half hour drive back to Chicago next to him?

  “Alright,” she gave in at last. “But just a little.”

  “Of course,” he said smoothly, and stood beside the bed, holding out his arm.

  Bracing herself, she took it in both hands and bit down.

  The skin of his wrist was much easier to break than that of his shoulder, and instantly her mouth was filled with the exquisite taste of his ancient blood. She swallowed once, twice, a third time, and then suddenly the ecstasy was ripped away from her. She had only just grazed the surface of his immense ka.

  An inhuman growl escaped her throat, and she looked up to see Seth licking the blood off his own wrist. His direct gaze was so blatantly erotic that her instincts made that same quick-shift in imperative for a brief second before she managed to slam on the parking brake of self-control.

  He chuckled deeply at her response. She licked her lips self-consciously, relishing the taste of his blood. As with the last time she fed on him, she wondered if she had made a really stupid decision.

  “Lipstick,” she said shakily, and cleared her throat.

  Seth sighed in defeat. “Come here, then,” he purred.

  She obeyed without thinking, and it rankled. Holding still, she found herself watching his lips as he applied several colors to hers with a tiny paintbrush, which tickled. The odd sensation coupled with his habit of licking his lips when he was thinking hard gave her the absurd urge to kiss him. It seemed like an eternity since she had been kissed, surely just one—

  She ruthlessly derailed that train of thought. That kind of thinking had gotten her into this predicament in the first place. Once he was done, she inspected his work in the mirror and then grabbed her purse and the keys to the rental car.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you off or call a cab?” Seth had given her a cursory driving lesson on the way down. It had been a lot easier than she expected, especially since the rental was an automatic when she was used to the complexity of driving stick.

  “Yes. If I can’t drive on these streets, I can’t drive anywhere,” she argued.

  “I suppose. But be careful. And be back—”

  “—well before sunrise, I know,” she finished. “Anything else?”

  Before she could protest, he wrapped her in his embrace. She told herself it was because of drinking from him that instead of pulling away, she melted a little into his warm, protective arms.

  “I am very proud of you,” he whispered.

  She sighed. “Yeah whatever,” she muttered halfheartedly.

  With a last chuckle, he let her go.

  Tanya stood before the front door of her parents’ house and hesitated. She had never knocked before. This was her childhood home, why should she? But now she felt foreign and unwelcome, a wolf in the midst of unwary sheep. The old superstition about vampires being unable to cross a threshold without invitation nagged at her, but she knew it was untrue.

  As a compromise, she tapped out shave-and-a-haircut on the door before opening it herself. The familiar smell of her home assaulted her, and she took a moment to breathe it in.

  “Tanya?” Her dad asked before he even rounded the corner into the foyer. “Tanya!” he chucked the car magazine he held in his hands at the back of the couch—and missed—before enveloping her in one of his bear-hugs.

  The problem was, she remembered them as being almost painfully tight. Now, it was like he was barely trying. Was he holding back, or was he just that much weaker than her now? The prickle of tears threatened the corners of her eyes, but she fought them off, returning his hug gently.

  “Hi Daddy,” she muttered into his T-shirt. He smelled, predictably, of oil and transmission fluid. She’d spent some time in Seth’s garage to make sure it wouldn’t offend her sensitive nose.

  “I’m so glad you could make it, honey.” Todd pulled back and held her at arms’ length, studying her. “You look... different. Good different!” he added quickly.

  “Thanks, I—”

  “Look at you!” Her mom came hurrying in and swept her into a quick squeeze of a hug. “You look amazing! Did you get a makeover?”

  “Something like that,” Tanya muttered, nervous about all the attention on her looks.

  “Well, you look great. And did you go on a diet, too?” She frowned at Tanya’s waist. Her mother did not approve of ladies starving themselves to look pretty. She’d seen more than her share of the consequences at work.

  “No. Well, I mean yeah, but not to lose weight, more of a health-food thing. I’ve been working out a lot, getting in shape, you know.” Tanya found it far easier to lie to her mother than she had expected. It wasn’t very reassuring.

  “Well, you’ll just have to cheat tonight. I’ve got a pizza waiting to go into the oven,” she declared, and turned around to go back to the kitchen.

  Fabulous. “But it’s like nine o’clock! You didn’t have to wait for me. If I had known I wouldn’t have eaten before I got here,” she half-apologized, half-whined.

  Her mother smiled. “Sweetie, it’s Thanksgiving. I know we don’t do the whole turkey shebang, but there still has to be food!”

  Not two minutes in the door and Tanya already regretted her decision to visit.

  “Julie, she doesn’t have to eat the pizza if she doesn’t want to.” Todd seemed to sense his daughter’s distress. “That just leaves more for us!”

  Julie flapped the towel at them as she left, and Tanya knew she and her dad had won.

  Dinner was a little awkward, sitting at the table with nothing in front of her as Tanya watched her parents eat. To her eyes, the pizza was a greasy disgusting mess. She was glad her dad had stood up for her, she knew she couldn’t pretend to eat that.

  Fortunately, her mom was happy to fill the awkward tension with chatter about all the drama at work. Tanya couldn’t help but smile. She really must have changed if she enjoyed listening to her mom’s gossip. Her dad had a few stories to share from a classic car show he’d gone to in St. Louis. Neither of her parents seemed much interested in what the other had to say, and Tanya wondered how they managed to stay together so long.

  At least they don’t hate each other, she mused. She really had no idea what went into a successful relationship, after all. She hesitated to even categorize what was between her and Seth as such, and even if you were generous with the definition, it was still the epitome of dysfunctional.

  “So how is your work at the museum going?” Julie pushed away her plate, and Todd snatched up the uneaten pizza crusts on it.

  Tanya shrugged. “Slow.”

  “Do you have many coworkers? Any friends?”

  “Well, Professor Walker is my supervisor, and he’s in charge of the Egyptology department. There’s a new girl, Beatrice, I don’t know her very well yet, but I think we’ll be good friends. I don’t see a lot of the other workers, just in passing, I guess.” She fidgeted with the edge of her shirt.

  Julie frowned. “It sounds awfully lonely. Do you get out much when you’re not working?”

  “Oh yeah,” Tanya waved a hand dismissively. “We go out a couple times a week, hit the clubs. You know.” At least that much was true.

  “You and Beatrice?” her mother assumed. “I thought you said you just met?”

  Shit.”No, um. I meant me and Seth—Professor Walker, he’s kind of... showed me around, I guess. Since I was new in town?” She prayed for a change in topic.

  “I see,” Julie pressed her lips together for a moment. “And the undercover stuff?”

  Tanya sighed. “I dunno. I went in there thinking I would uncover all of these underhanded things I could expose, black market trading and whatnot. But it’s all pretty abo
ve-board there, so I’m having a hard time finding any dirt to report on. Professor Walker was born in Egypt, and he takes his work very seriously.”

  “So did he go back home for Thanksgiving? Or, I suppose he’s British, probably not.”

  “Nope. He’s probably holed up with a book somewhere. Kind of a nerd,” Tanya laughed.

  “Well I wish I had known, you could have invited him along,” she suggested.

  For a long moment, Tanya just stared at her mother. Then she laughed. “No way, Mom. We work together, but we don’t actually get along that well.”

  “No?” her mother sounded disappointed. “I thought maybe, seeing as you’ve been working with him so closely, and he is rather attractive...”

  “Oh god no!” Tanya put a hand over her face. “He is an overbearing control freak, and I am most definitely not attracted to him.” At least not in the way she means, she added silently. “Anyway, didn’t you say he was too old for me?”

  Julie glanced at her husband. “Well, your father is seven years older than me, and we met when I was about your age,” she argued.

  “Seth has at least twice that much on me,” she understated. “And like I said, he’s a jerk.”

  Julie put her hands up. “Alright! I just want you to be happy, sweetie.”

  Tanya resisted the urge to groan. Leave it to her Mom to put it that way. “Beatrice doesn’t get along with her family,” she blurted out, scrambling for a change of topic. It occurred to her after saying it that it was most definitely true. “I thought about inviting her, but it was so short notice.” She shrugged.

  “Oh, I wish you had!” Julie was instantly sidetracked by her instinctual need to care for others. “You’ll have to ask her down for Christmas.”

  “Uh, she’s Catholic,” Tanya tried to think of excuses, “so she has to go to Mass. But I’ll ask.” They fell silent, the argument not quite forgotten.

  “So do you think you’ll keep working at the museum?” Todd asked. He had been quiet throughout the exchange, probably trying to separate fact from fiction.

  She sighed. “Yeah. I mean, it’s a good job, why not?” She glanced at her mom, who had started picking up plates.

  “Well, it’s a reliable paycheck, at least. You sure you don’t want a piece?” she offered one last time as she stood. “I could pack up some for you to take for the drive home?”

  “Sure, that would be great,” Tanya forced a smile. At least it would get her to stop bugging her about it.

  “Care for a beer on the back porch?” her dad asked hopefully.

  Tanya smiled sadly. “Beer is definitely not on my diet. But I’ll join you anyway.” No way she was going to miss out on that old tradition.

  Julie came out of the kitchen with a bottle, handing it to her husband. “I’ll join you two once the dishes are done,” she promised.

  As soon as they had settled into the rickety old lawn chairs and cozy blankets, her dad got right to the point. “So tell me more about this professor guy? You had a lot of great things to say about him when you started working together.”

  Tanya sighed, remembering that Seth had fabricated her texts to that effect. She stared up at the stars, remembering his lecture on Egyptian astronomy. There were a lot more visible points of light out here, and she located Cassiopeia almost without thinking. “He’s an expert on vampires. He thinks they originated in Egypt, that’s how he knows so much.” It was as close to the truth as she dared to get.

  “Like a Van Helsing?”

  “Sort of.” She frowned. “Except he doesn’t hunt them. He’s more fascinated than anything, but he’s willing to train and help me. Kind of insisted on it, really. And he helped me hide out,” she added reluctantly. The lie grated on her conscience.

  Todd glanced out at the dark woods behind their house. “Is it safe for you to be here?”

  “Yeah.” Just to be sure, she listened carefully. There were sounds of a few small animals, but nothing more. As far as she knew—Seth could be staring right back at her, and she’d never know it. Creeper. “They won’t strike here, they’d want to make it look like an accident. Anyway, they mostly seem worried about being outed. As long as I stay quiet and don’t kill any more of this guy’s friends, I should be okay. Seth has arranged it so I’m swapping cars with a look-alike who will continue on south to New Orleans.” It was the story she’d rehearsed with Seth on the way down, but it hurt her to have to lie to her dad about this. If he knew the truth though....

  He looked at her for a long, somber moment. “Tanya, maybe it’s time for you to stop.”

  She closed her eyes. “You’re probably right. But it’s too late for that.”

  Todd took a deep breath, letting it out in a white cloud, and then took a swig of his beer. “And Chicago’s the best place to hide from them?”

  “Yep. Way easier to hide in a crowd than out here in the middle of nowhere. More witnesses, too. Don’t worry, Daddy,” she added at his sudden frown. “As much as I hate the guy, Professor Walker is the best chance I have. He’s keeping me safe, and with his help, I might be able to take down these guys eventually.”

  “What’s his problem, anyway?” Todd chuckled.

  “Oh, he’s just an asshole.” She shook her head and leaned back. “One minute, he’s all polite and proper, the next he’s said something really creepy and inappropriate.”

  Todd scowled. “He hasn’t tried anything funny?”

  Whoops. “You know I’d kick his ass if he did,” she answered vaguely. “He just doesn’t have great people skills. He probably doesn’t mean to be a creeper. I think he kind of sees me as one of his experiments or something and forgets I’m a person with my own ideas and wants and a need for privacy, thank you very much.”

  He laughed. “Well, you give him hell then,” he teased.

  “You better believe I do.” She grinned.

  They both turned as the sliding glass door opened, and Julie came out to join them. The rest of the evening was spent in small talk and stargazing until Todd started yawning every few minutes and Julie all but fell asleep.

  “I better go, you guys. I’d like to get some sleep today before I go back to work,” Tanya stood. Dawn wasn’t for another five hours, but it was as good a time to leave as any.

  “Okay, honey.” Her mom got up to hug her. “Will you be back for Christmas?”

  “I’ll try,” she promised. Who knew what things would be like a month from now?

  “Be careful,” her dad murmured as he hugged her tightly.

  “I will. It was good seeing you guys. I missed you.”

  “We missed you too, sweetie. Don’t forget to call,” Julie chided.

  “Okay, Mom.” She rolled her eyes, earning a playful pat on the cheek.

  “And say hi to Professor Walker for me,” she teased. “Maybe he could come with you next time.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” When hell freezes over. Tanya made her way through the house, gathering her coat from the front closet.

  After a few more goodbyes, Tanya managed to extract herself from her parents’ loving embraces and get to her car. She sat in it for a long time, thinking. She really didn’t want to go back to Seth. She could always keep driving until the sun came up, but she knew that wouldn’t end well.

  “You can do this, Tanya,” she whispered to herself. She took a deep breath and started the car. “You have to.”

  But as she left her parents’ neighborhood, a memory tugged at her mind, and she turned right instead of left. Maybe there was somewhere else she could go….

  Seth had expected Tatiana to remain at her parents’ house for as much of the night as she could. He was surprised when she left early, and decided to take his time in returning to the motel so it would not appear that he was trying to arrive at the same time. Allowing her to go out unobserved was out of the question, but he tried to give her the illusion of privacy at least.

  As he walked along the darkened streets, he took the time to reminisce about the years he had
spent watching her in this place. The smells and sounds of the Ozarks at night were more familiar to him than many other places he had lived. He had become something of a wanderer over the last couple of centuries, and the two decades he had watched over Tatiana was the longest time he had spent in any one place for quite a while.

  However, when he reached the motel, she wasn’t there.

  Tanya stopped the car, pulling to the edge of the gravel road. There was almost nothing about this stretch of Rural Route 8 that marked it as different from the rest of it, except for a small copse of trees. Years ago, they had hung out over the road, providing a secluded spot used by cops pulling speed traps in the day, and amorous teenagers at night. Now they had been cut back, leaving the shoulder bare and open to the moonlight.

  As she stepped out of the car, Tanya looked around, remembering. What angle had they approached from? It was nearly impossible to tell since they had surrounded the car before she or Jake had realized they were there. But Tanya would guess they would have come from a town nearby, the attack had happened at 10:18 PM and they had been traveling on foot. She turned around in a circle, trying to judge the distances of the nearest towns as the crow flies: Stoutland, Decaturville, Hugo.... She remembered something; the female had asked her for weed and Tanya had given her an address in Montreal. Just before pulling them out of the car, she had said they’d already been there. Well, that answered that question.

  Made sense, it was the closest. She stared off to the north, imagining the two vampires, strolling aimlessly along the gravel road. They had likely taken the same path as she and Jake. Had they passed them in the Corolla? Had the vampires decided to follow and see what a couple teenagers were doing out in the middle of nowhere on a Friday night? They must have seemed a perfect mark.

  From there it was easy to imagine the rest: sneaking up on either side of the car. The female distracting Jake while the male prepared to strike. Maybe they even genuinely wanted a hit, and Tanya had the surreal image of sharing a blunt with the two vamps. Would they have spared them? Or would they have just waited until she and Jake were too stoned to resist?