by Gayla Twist
“No, no,” Grandma Gibson said. “There’s no reason to worry. I’m just a bit tired and want to lie down in my own bed.”
“Okay,” Mom said. “I’ll get your coat.” Looking over at me, she asked, “Aurora, would you like to come with us? I was planning on going over to Danny’s after dropping Grams off. You can meet him if you feel like it.”
“Not if he’s planning on popping the question,” I told her, busying myself with finishing up the dishes.
Mom pursed her lips. “Won’t it be a little strange if I get engaged before my daughter has met my fiancé?” she asked.
“That will be a little strange,” I told her. “But I’ll get over it.” I jerked my chin toward the door. “Go and have fun.”
“Is Jessie coming over later?” she asked, wanting to go but not sure if she was doing the right thing.
“I’m sure he’ll be here after dark,” Grandma Gibson said under her breath as she struggled into her winter coat.
Once she was buttoned up, I came over to give Grandma Gibson a hug. “Thank you for the necklace, Grams,” I stammered, wondering if I’d ever see her again. “I’ll cherish it forever.”
Grandma Gibson wrapped her arms around me in a fierce hug. “I want you to know that I love you,” she whispered in my ear. “I loved you as my sister, and I love you as my great granddaughter.”
“I love you too, Grams,” I told her. “Goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Lettie,” she said, giving me an extra squeeze before releasing me and quickly heading for the door.
After they left, I went to the living room, sat on the couch, and cried. It’s not like Grandma Gibson hadn’t said strange stuff to me before, but I guess everything that had been happening in the last few weeks caught up with me. I just cried and cried to the point that I didn’t think I could stop. I remembered that Mom had opened a bottle of Chianti for her to sip during dinner, so went back to the kitchen. I chugged a few gulps straight from the bottle. It wasn’t something I would normally do, but at least it helped calm me down a little.
I wanted my mind to go numb, but it just kept on thinking. Was Grandma Gibson right? Were we never going to see each other again? Did that mean she thought I was going to die?
I lay down on the couch and stared at the television. It took at least two minutes before I realized it wasn’t on. She’d said she wasn’t predicting my future, she was predicting her own. I had to give her credit; it was a new twist as far as freaky fortune-telling great grandma was concerned.
But Grandma Gibson had to be wrong about the future. She’d been wrong before. She’d been wrong about me never returning from Budapest. In a way, she knew things about the future, but she also didn’t know everything. I rubbed at my cheek over and over again like a baby trying to soothe herself to sleep.
Maybe she could only see one possible future, I thought. But the future has a billion different possibilities. Anything could happen, if that was the case. I could miss a light and avoid getting mowed down by a bus or make the light and end up a pile of carnage on the pavement. A person could go crazy running different scenarios over and over again in her head. Maybe that was one of the things that had been forcing Grandma Gibson deeper and deeper into dementia. Maybe she had to believe in a definite future to keep herself from going mad.
It was dark outside but still pretty early. If Jessie was going to come see me, it probably wouldn’t be until after nine. I decided a hot bath might feel good and clear my head. Plus, it would spare me the indignity of a shower cap if I wanted to get clean but wasn’t up to facing the challenge of my hair.
Even if our house was kind of crappy, at least we had a nice tub. I usually didn’t indulge in a soak because I knew it ran up our water bill, but I decided that as a Christmas treat, I should be allowed one. I pinned my hair up while filling the bath, adding a dash of soap for bubbles. Then I stripped down and climbed in.
Time in the bath was exactly what I needed. I hadn’t even realized I had a giant knot in my neck until it started to unknot. I savored the waste of water, playing with the bubbles. It was so much easier to shave my legs in the bath than in the shower. Once the water grew tepid, I still lingered in the bathroom, moisturizing and trimming my nails. It was all pretty mindless, but it helped me feel better.
I was padding around my room in my robe and a pair of fresh panties when I heard a soft knock at my bedroom window. I froze in mid-stride, my eyes racing over to the clock. It was not yet even eight, a very unlikely time for Jessie to call. Plus, with an open invitation to our home, I was getting used to him using the front door.
“Aurora,” a male voice called softly. “It’s Jessie.”
Chapter 26
With my heart pounding in my chest, I hurried over to the window and peeked out between the curtains. Jessie was standing on the porch roof looking out into the night. A breeze had kicked up his coat, and it swirled around his legs.
Hurriedly, I opened the window. “Jessie,” I called to him. I shivered, my body still damp. It was damn cold out. “Come in.”
He shook his head. “No,” he told me. “I’d better not.”
“Jessie,” I said, allowing annoyance to creep into my voice as I stood there in my flimsy robe. “I’m just out of the bath, and I’m not going to freeze to death talking through an open window. Now, get in the house.”
Immediately complying, Jessie quickly closed the window and shut the drapes once he was inside. Before he could say another word, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. I think he intended to say something immediately, but instead he took a moment to relish the kiss. And so did I, for that matter. I was acutely aware of my state of near undress.
When we finally broke apart, he bent his head, pressing his forehead to mine, and said in a ragged whisper, “Aurora, we need to talk.”
I shook my head. “No,” I told him. I knew if we talked, he would tell me something I didn’t want to hear. I tried to pull him in for another kiss.
“Please?” he asked. “It’s important.”
“Let me give you your Christmas present,” I said, stalling. “It is Christmas, you know.” My robe had inched open a little, and I felt his gaze lingering over my body.
Jessie closed his eyes, trying to stay focused on his task. “Aurora,” he tried again.
“No,” I insisted, slipping out of his arms. I went over to my dresser and picked up the small box that I had gone to great pains to wrap. “Here.” I thrust it at him. “It’s probably not even something you want, but you’re really challenging to shop for.”
Jessie gave a small sigh and took a seat on the bed. “Okay,” he said and reached out for the present I was forcing on him. He looked at the paper package in his hands for several seconds before deftly untaping one end and sliding out the box. I thought he would put the paper to one side, but instead he carefully flattened it and then tucked it in the breast pocket of his coat.
Pulling the lid off the box, he gazed at the smartphone, his eyebrows drawn down in the middle. “It’s a phone,” I finally said after receiving no reaction from him for almost a minute. “It’s a cell phone. A smartphone,” I quickly added.
He looked up at me. “I thought we agreed to a price cap of one hundred dollars.”
“I know,” I said, sitting down next to him. “I lied.”
Jessie pinched his lips together, giving me a stern look. I couldn't tell if he was annoyed or amused. “Thank you,” he finally said. “I guess it was time for me to enter the modern age.” I thought his use of the past tense was weird but decided not to ask why. I didn’t want to lead our conversation down any dark alleys.
He reached in the side pocket of his coat and pulled out a small, purple velvet box. “This is for you,” he said, presenting it to me.
I stared at the box. It had one of those lids that flip up. I could tell from the size and shape that it was either a ring or earrings. Jessie had already given me a ridiculously expensive engagement ring when we had to pretend to be engaged for our tr
ip to Budapest. I’d tried to give it back to him, but he’d refused. I ran a finger over the soft lid. Maybe it was earrings.
“Open it,” Jessie said, giving me a nudge.
Despite everything, I felt a wave of excitement. I couldn’t help it. Jessie always gave me such pretty jewelry. With slightly trembling hands, I flipped open the top.
Inside was a ring. If I was being honest, it wasn’t the prettiest piece of jewelry Jessie had ever given me. But I could tell it was very old, and maybe that accounted for it looking a little weird to me. I probably had more modern tastes.
The ring was heart shaped with a spring green stone in the center that was surrounded by some roughly cut clear stones. I remembered reading once that very old diamond rings had stones that were surprisingly un-uniform. I looked at Jessie. “Are these stones what I think they are?” I asked him.
He nodded. “They’re old mine cut,” he told me, as if I knew what that meant. “And the center stone is a green garnet.”
“Oh,” I said, half frowning to myself. I hadn’t realized garnets came in any other color but red. I narrowed my eyes at him. “I thought we agreed not to spend more than a hundred dollars on gifts for each other.”
He shrugged. “I lied.” Then he added, “And besides, I didn’t exactly buy this. It’s part of a family collection.”
“Oh,” I said. I wasn’t sure if that made me like the ring more or less. It still puzzled me.
“My uncle, Dorian’s father, used to collect items people crafted as protection against vampires.”
“Okay.” I wondered if the green garnet was somehow repellant to vampires. But it didn’t seem to bother Jessie. “Isn’t that a little odd? His collecting that sort of stuff, I mean.”
“It is a little odd,” he admitted. “But many people obsess over collecting odd things, and vampires always have a lot of time on their hands.”
I took the ring out of the box to examine it closer. When viewed through the lens of history, it had a subtle beauty. “I don’t understand how this would repel a vampire,” I had to admit.
“Well, let me tell you the story of the ring first,” he insisted. “Do you know who the Marquis de Sade was?”
“Um.” I really had no idea where he was going with the conversation. It seemed like a bit of a left turn. “Wasn’t he some French guy that enjoyed torturing people when he had sex with them?”
“That’s his modern reputation,” Jessie had to admit. “He was also an author, a philosopher, and a revolutionary politician.”
“Okay,” I said, for lack of anything else to say. The marquis could be as intelligent as he wanted, but that still didn’t justify torture.
“He was also a vampire,” Jessie told me.
I was used to Jessie revealing that all sorts of famous and infamous people throughout history had connections to the undead, so hearing that the guy who had the word “sadism” coined after him because of his exploits was a vampire didn’t surprise me too much. “I believe you,” I said.
“The Marquis was a very complex man,” Jessie went on. “Unfortunately, he caused a lot of suffering. But he did have one great love, Anne-Prospère de Launay. She was so devoted to the Marquis that she signed a love oath to him in her own blood. He gave this ring to her for protection.”
“This exact ring?” I asked, feeling a little flabbergasted. I wasn’t sure of the exact time period for the Marquis de Sade, but I knew it had to have been at least a couple hundred years ago. I looked down at the ring. “I don’t understand. How would it protect her?”
“Because of the Marquis’s unusual appetites, he was concerned that he would get carried away and kill Anne-Prospère. He had this ring custom made.” Jessie reached over and did something to the ring that caused the top to flip open on an invisible hinge. Underneath was a gray-brown stone set into the ring’s base. The stone had been sharpened into a vicious-looking point.
“What is that?” I asked.
“Fossilized wood,” Jessie told me. “It’s extremely dangerous for vampires. Even just a small scratch would cause a member of the undead horrible pain. We can’t heal from it. At least not easily. Even a small scratch can be quite deadly.”
I blinked at the fossil, impressed. “And this is something the Marquis gave his girlfriend?”
“Well, yes, but she wasn’t exactly his girlfriend. She was his wife’s sister,” Jessie said with a small cough.
That piece of information wasn’t doing much to help me enjoy my Christmas present. “That sounds kind of twisted.”
“Yes, like I said, he was complex. But when he gave this ring to her, he said that if she ever truly feared that he was going to end her life, she should use it on him without hesitation.”
“Um, Jessie?” I said, my stomach suddenly feeling sour. “Are you trying to tell me that there’s a chance you might try to kill me and if you do, I should stake you?”
“No,” Jessie said, letting his hands fall limply to his sides. “I’m saying that after tonight, I can’t ever see you again, and I wanted to leave you with something that might give you a small ounce of protection in case other vampires ....” His words faded.
“You …?” I felt myself break out into a cold sweat. “What ...?” I stammered. “Jessie, please don’t start all this again.”
“It’s not me,” he said rather fiercely. “It’s my grandfather. He has forbidden me to ever see you again. I had to plead with him to come here tonight so that I could at least tell you goodbye.”
“I don’t understand. How can your grandfather keep us apart?” Tears were welling in my eyes, and I did nothing to stop them.
“He’s my maker,” Jessie said, sounding despondent. “I have to obey him.”
“Then just lie,” I told him. “Just tell him we’re no longer together.”
“It’s not like that,” Jessie insisted, sadly shaking his head. “I wish it could be that simple, but very, very few vampires are able to even slightly resist the command of their maker. I don’t understand why, but we find it physically impossible.”
“And your grandfather told you that you have to end things with me?” I wiped angrily at a few tears sliding down my cheeks.
“I promised him that I would never see you again, and he promised me to spare your life.”
I gulped. Jessie’s grandfather wanted me dead, and our permanent separation was the only way to prevent him from killing me. I didn’t understand. How could a grandfather not want his own grandson’s happiness? “But did you explain to him?” I said, my throat feeling tight. “Did you try to explain about us?”
“He already knew some things,” Jessie said, taking my hands. “I don’t know how he found out.”
“But how is he even alive?” I wanted to know. The man had been missing for eighty years.
“When they dumped him in the water, he was shackled but somehow managed to get free. He found a piece of wreckage that was floating in the ocean. It was part of a ship, I think. I guess it was enough for him to be able to mostly conceal himself from daylight. Not completely though because his skin has been horribly disfigured.”
I guess that explained how the man looked both young and old. “How long was he out there?” I asked.
“Years,” was the reply. “Decades.” Jessie ran his fingers through his hair a few times. “He was always a volatile man, but I’m afraid so much time alone made him lose whatever small portion of compassion he still harbored in his heart.”
“Does he know what happened?” I asked. “Does he know how he was discovered on the ship and thrown overboard?”
“No,” Jessie said. “He might suspect, but I think he would have killed my mother already if he knew. She’s never spoken of it to anyone but me. She’s never even told the rest of our family.”
A thought occurred to me. “Is he the one that’s been grabbing people? Liz and Don and Mervin? Are they all dead now?”
Jessie opened his mouth to reply but then stopped. He gave me a look of consternat
ion then drew breath to try again, meeting with the same lack of success. It was painful to watch him struggle, like when someone has a severe stutter and can’t quite get the words out. I was confused for a few moments and then asked, “Are you not allowed to tell me?”
Jessie nodded, his body ceasing to strain.
“Did your maker say you weren’t allowed to talk about the missing people?”
I could see him searching around in his head for words that he could say without directly going against his grandfather’s orders. He finally stated, “There are certain topics that I’ve been forbidden to discuss.”
I gave that some thought, then tried, “If you were able to answer me freely, would I be very upset?”
Jessie opened his mouth and then froze. Shutting his jaw, he began thinking again. “I hate it when you’re upset,” he said. “I’m glad that there is no news I could tell you that would upset you.”
I took that in. He was trying to tell me that Mervin and the kids were still alive. “Are they still in Tiburon?” I asked.
This question proved easier for Jessie to answer. “I believe my grandfather has spent most of his time in Tiburon since his return.”
They were still here. Held captive somewhere, but still alive and still in Tiburon. That meant they could still be found. “Is there any hint you can give me that will tell me where they are?”
He shook his head. “If I had any secrets to share, I would find a way to share them,” was his reply. Jessie didn’t know where they were. He might have had his suspicions, but he didn’t know.
I thought about never seeing Jessie again. I thought about the precious minutes laid out before us being the last we had left. “If your grandfather died, then would we be able to be together?” I wanted to know.
“I’m not sure,” Jessie said. “But it is unlikely he will die within your lifetime. There is no way I can think of that I would be able to kill him, however much I want to.”
I started feeling a bit frantic. I didn’t know how I was going to make it from day to day without Jessie in my life. I must have felt like an addict did when denied his drug of choice. I felt like I would go crazy if I had to live without him. “Can we at least write to each other?” I asked.
