by C. Gockel
A man stared at her where she landed on the sidewalk, and she locked on his eyes and said, “You are imaging things. Get home and go to sleep.”
The man smiled and said, “Good night” to her in Greek.
“Kaliníhta,” she said in reply.
As she entered the building and climbed the steps toward the apartment, she reached out to Nikita.
Please come out to the stairs, Gertie said in Nikita’s mind. I need your help.
Is that you, Gertie? Nikita wondered.
Yes, it’s me. Gertie waited on the bottom of the last flight of stairs.
You’re possessed?
One of the neighbors opened her door and looked at Gertie, first with curiosity, and then with horror. Gertie clapped her hand to the mark on her throat.
“Tramp stamp!” the woman cried, as she closed the door behind her.
Gertie?
Not possessed. Bitten. Please come out. Please. This is important.
Moments later, the front door to the Angelis apartment opened, and Nikita stood in the hallway. She glanced around before meeting Gertie’s gaze down on the second landing.
“Invite me inside,” Gertie said, using her magnetic powers. “Ask me to come in to see your family.”
Nikita said, “Do you…” but before she could finish, Mamá appeared in the doorway asking, “What is this?”
Gertie attempted to cover her mark, but was too late. Mamá’s eyes widened with fear and rage.
“What have you done to yourself?” she cried. “Why have you so blatantly disobeyed my wishes? I don’t believe it! I don’t believe you could do this to me, Gertoula!”
“Mamá, please listen!” Gertie rushed up the steps. “Look into my eyes and listen.”
Mamá refused to meet Gertie’s gaze. “I will not let you trick me like that. I know the ways of the tramps. I thought you cared more for me than this!” Tears spilled down Mamá’s face.
Babá was soon behind her with a look of shock. “Gertie? No, it can’t be true. Again?”
“Please, Babá! Please listen to me.”
“Don’t look at her,” Mamá warned. “She’s come to deceive us.”
“No!” Gertie said, unable to stop the sobs from racking her body. “Please hear what I have to say. Can I come inside? I just want to talk to you. Look into my eyes.”
How could she manipulate their minds if they didn’t look at her? Nothing was going her way.
Klaus then appeared in the doorway. “Gertie?”
“Don’t look at her,” Mamá warned again.
Babá pointed his finger at her. “You have devastated this family beyond repair.”
“Gertie, how could you?” Klaus gave her a look of revulsion.
“Please let me explain,” Gertie begged. “Tell them how I was only trying to help, Klaus. Please, look at me!”
“No more lies!” Mamá screeched.
Two neighbors from across the hall opened their doors to stare at the scene.
“Now leave,” Babá demanded of Gertie, ignoring the neighbors. “Your blatant lack of respect for us after what we have done for you is atrocious and heartbreaking. We loved you as our own daughter, and you come here like this?”
“He’s right,” Mamá said, sobbing as hard as Gertie was. “You must leave. We can do no more for you now. We’ve lost you to the tramps of the night.”
“You haven’t lost me,” Gertie said, rushing to Mamá. “Please look at me. I love you, Mamá. You are more my mother than that woman in New York. Please don’t turn away from me!”
“You mean to manipulate me?” Mamá accused. “Why?”
“I speak the truth,” Gertie took Mamá’s hands and pulled her close, trying to embrace her. “Please, Mamá. I love you. I need you.”
Tears poured down Marta’s red and quivering cheeks. Through thick sobs, she said, “I told you to have nothing to do with that vamp, and you cared nothing for my wishes. Is that love?”
Mamá ripped her arms away from Gertie and stepped back, avoiding her eyes.
Gertie turned to Babá, but he, too, lowered his eyes, his face a mixture of rage and sadness.
“Klaus, please,” Gertie murmured, losing her nerve.
Klaus turned away and went back inside.
Gertie turned to her best friend in the whole wide world. “Nikita?”
Mamá put an arm around Nikita, who’d been watching the scene unfold in silent shock and misery. Gertie could read the mixed feelings in all of their minds. At least the powers of the vampire gave her that ability to see how much they did love her. But they also gave her the power to see how terribly hurt, disappointed, and outraged they were by her deeds.
Their thoughts told her that they were frightened of her and of what she might do to their family. They turned their backs on her and left her alone in the hallway.
As she turned to leave, she saw Hector standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up at her with horror. She read his thoughts of disbelief and, worse, of betrayal. He couldn’t believe she would turn her back on him, especially after he had helped her.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
His eyes were moist and his face pale. “You can’t stay with me and be with him. You have to choose.”
She bit her quivering lip, tormented by the thought of losing another friend. There was no one left for her but Jeno. He was her one true friend who would stay with her and help her, no matter what the cost. Without looking again at Hector, she flew through a second-story window, away from the building and up into Jeno’s arms.
“Take me away from here,” she said, as she broke into another round of tears.
He held her close, comforting her with kisses, as he guided her across the sky back to the acropolis, to the spot where they had left her shopping bag filled with Jeno’s pillow and Hector’s art supplies.
She took the pad and pencils and was about to fling them over the city when Jeno stopped her.
“You can still give them to him,” he said. “I’m not your only friend.”
She threw herself against him. “You’re so kind and good. It’s just not fair that they won’t accept you,” she faltered, “or me.”
“Lord Hades once told me that life isn’t fair, but death is. When I asked him what about the undead, he had nothing to say.”
“What will I do now?” Gertie asked, still sobbing uncontrollably. “Where will I go?”
Jeno smoothed her hair from her eyes and wiped her tears from her cheeks. “You still have your credit card, no?”
She nodded.
“I know of a place, a hotel that is friendly toward my kind.”
“Can you stay there with me?” she asked, not wanting to be alone.
“Of course.”
“My things are at Hector’s house.”
“They are just things. Leave them.”
“I left a window open.”
“But he told you to choose,” he rubbed his nose against hers, “and you chose me.”
“So?”
“This means you are no longer invited into his home. As long as the vampire virus runs through your blood…”
“I see.” She sniffled. Except for Jeno, she had no one and nothing.
“That isn’t true. You can always ask Hector for your things. He would give them to you.”
“You didn’t see his face.”
Jeno did not reply.
28
Hotel Frangelico
The Hotel Frangelico was on the darkest corner of the darkest street between the acropolis and the Omonoia Square. Gothic columns and stained glass windows with sharp angles adorned the façade. If she hadn’t known better, Gertie would have thought Jeno had taken her to an old church.
Inside, the lobby was all reds, golds, and dark mahogany wood, with crystal chandeliers that gave off little light. Gertie suspected the hotel was once very fine, a hundred years ago.
She produced her credit card, and after it was approved, had no trouble securing a room for the two of th
em.
“One bed or two?” the old woman behind the counter asked, in Greek, in a thick Mediterranean accent.
Gertie glanced over at Jeno. “Um…”
“Dhyo,” Jeno said, which meant “two.”
“How many nights?” the woman asked.
“Three,” Gertie said.
And what if your mission takes longer and your parents cancel the card? Jeno asked telepathically.
“Actually, I’d like to pre-pay for an entire week,” Gertie said.
The old woman said nothing about their lack of luggage as she handed over the key, but Gertie could read her mind. She considered Jeno a tramp and Gertie an addict, and the woman didn’t care, because her business was founded on such relationships. Tramps preyed on rich victims, who were more than happy to pay for a nice hotel stay in exchange for their fix. The hotel welcomed these customers, until they ran out of money.
The couple in line behind them smiled courteously as Gertie and Jeno walked past. Gertie noticed a tramp stamp on the man’s throat and caught a brief view of fangs in the woman’s mouth. As she and Jeno continued toward the elevators, they passed a bar. Gertie stopped to gawk.
The tramps were openly vampires here, especially in the bar, where music played, and sexy bartenders danced on tables. The vampires sat and talked and laughed with their fangs bared, and the humans did not balk. Instead, the humans appeared stoned out of their minds, in a permanent stupor that rendered them helpless. And it was nearly four in the morning.
“Why did you bring me here?” she whispered.
He guided her onto the elevator. “Because it’s safe.”
Safe for vampires, she thought, but maybe not for humans.
“For humans, too,” he said as the elevator doors closed. “Trust me.”
That’s when she noticed the mirrors on the elevator walls. She nearly jumped from her shoes because it was eerily jarring not to see their reflections looking back at them. She inspected her arms and legs, double-checking that she was still visible, which she was. Then she stared in awe at the missing reflections in the mirror.
“Our cells reflect light, but that light cannot be reflected a second time,” Jeno explained. “It dies in the air around us.”
“That’s so bizarre,” she said, studying the mirror. “I should have expected this.” The same was true in all the vampire lore she had ever read.
“I’ve not been able to see my reflection in a body of water or a piece of glass for centuries, and yet it still unsettles me.”
A hazy, transparent outline of Gertie appeared in the mirror before they reached their floor.
“The vampire virus is fading from your body.” He took her hand and kissed it.
She watched with fascination at her shimmering reflection beside his missing one.
When they reached the seventh floor, they were met by another couple waiting to board the elevator.
A girl, who looked about Gertie’s age, gave them a smile full of fangs. “Going down?” she asked in Greek.
The boy beside her wore a tramp stamp on his neck and a grin on his face. “Watch this!” He disappeared, only to reappear in the elevator. “Cool, huh?”
His clothes must be an illusion, she realized. Gertie saw a bit of herself in his fascination. She could see how Jeno and other vampires would grow weary of the attitude of their human prey. It was always a novelty to someone, she supposed.
“It’s not a bad life,” the girl vampire said.
Was she responding to Gertie’s thoughts?
“Do yourself a favor and don’t think so hard and so deeply,” the girl vampire said to Gertie. “Life is what it is. Just enjoy it, dearie.”
“This is our stop.” Jeno held the elevator doors for Gertie as she stepped out into the hallway.
“Thanks,” Gertie said to the other vampire.
“Good night,” the vampire replied as the doors closed between them.
Jeno led her down the dark hallway. The red and gold carpeting was full of stains, and the crème-colored paint on the walls was chipped along the baseboards and corners.
This hotel needs some serious updating, she thought.
“At least you’ll be safe here,” Jeno said, stopping before their room.
He took the key and opened the door to what she supposed was her new home—at least temporarily. The color scheme from the lobby and hallways continued in this three-room suite with its sitting room, bathroom, and bedroom. A sliding glass door opened from the bedroom onto a balcony that faced the acropolis—its bright lights shining prominently above the city.
Gertie and Jeno stood together on the balcony, holding hands.
“I’m scared, Jeno.”
He pulled her into his arms. “I will take good care of you.”
“What if Mamá and Babá never forgive me? What if Nikita and Klaus and Phoebe and Hector never want to speak to me again?”
He stroked her hair and gazed down at her with a smile. “That will never happen. Can you not hear their thoughts?”
She closed her eyes and focused on Nikita, but heard nothing.
“The virus must be leaving your body,” Jeno said. “But I can hear them. They are all hurt and confused and frightened, but they have not stopped caring for you, koureetsi mou.”
“Oh, Jeno,” she threw her arms around his neck. “Please bite me again, so I can hear their thoughts.”
“But it’s nearly morning. You won’t be able to tolerate the sunlight with the virus pumping through your veins.”
New tears poured down her cheeks. “Oh, please? I’m so depressed and worried. You and I can spend the day inside the room. I don’t need to be out in the daylight.”
He kissed her wet cheeks, wiping her tears with his lips. She ran her fingers through his thick, curly hair. The fatigue that always set in after the vampire powers had faded from her body was beginning to overtake her.
“Please, Jeno,” she whispered. “Take my blood once more. Just enough to help me hear their thoughts.”
His eyebrows bent together. “I’ll have to make a new mark. The one on your neck has already begun to heal.”
“That’s okay. I don’t mind. Oh, please.” She could sense his arousal, as his hands trembled and his mouth sought hers.
“I fear we are becoming what we both wished not to be,” he whispered breathlessly, as he moved his lips to her neck.
“What do you mean?” she asked with her eyes closed and her heart desperate.
He lifted her wrist to his mouth and sank his fangs in hard.
She gasped and opened her eyes wide as he sucked eagerly. The room began to spin, but despite the euphoria gently sweeping through her system, she was frightened. Just before she was about to say something, he stopped.
“I’m sorry.” He wrapped his long fingers around her wrist and applied pressure to the bite.
Blood continued to drip down her arm as he squeezed. He licked it up as though he were holding a melting ice cream cone. For the first time since she had been with him, she shuddered at the sight.
Jeno frowned. “I’m sorry. I got carried away. It will never happen again.”
As soon as the spinning stopped, Gertie sought Nikita’s presence, looking first in their room. She found her and read her thoughts:
If only she would leave him, she could go back to the person she was. She could be my best friend, my sister. Why did she have to change? And will she ever go back to being my Gertie? The real Gertie? And not this possessed monster that has hurt my family?
Gertie broke away from Nikita, unable to listen anymore.
“She wants you to leave me,” Jeno said, having read her thoughts. “She might be right.”
“Don’t say that.” Gertie squeezed his shoulders and looked deeply into his eyes. “Please believe me when I say I love you.”
He gave her a tender smile. “You can’t use mind control on me, but that was a nice try.”
“I’m serious.”
“I know.” He ki
ssed her.
Although she was terrified of what she would hear, Gertie sought out Mamá. Her thoughts were in Greek, but the vampire virus made their meaning clear:
Yes, I will have to call Danielle in the morning, when it is evening there. The only thing to do is for her to come and rescue her daughter. I’m such a failure. I should have known better than to bring another child into this home.
Tears tumbled down Gertie’s cheeks.
“Please don’t cry, koureetsi mou,” Jeno said, swiping her tears with his thumbs.
“Mamá thinks it’s her fault. That she’s a failure.”
“Come and sit with me.”
They went inside and closed the balcony door. Jeno drew the curtains and then led Gertie back to the sitting room. Side by side they sat on the sofa. Jeno put his feet up on the coffee table and held her in his arms. She laid her head on his lap and curled her legs over the opposite arm of the sofa.
She read his thoughts. He was upset with himself for taking so much of her blood. He needed to use more restraint and to think of her before his own needs. He wished he never would have tasted her blood. Neither of them would be in this mess if he had stuck to his original intentions.
“Stop, Jeno. You did this for me.”
“I wish that were true, my love.” He stroked her hair.
Gertie now sought out Klaus. She knew her reactions to Hector’s thoughts would only hurt Jeno, so she avoided them, but this small bit came through: I didn’t mean what I said. You can be with him and stay with me. I didn’t mean it.
She fought the urge to continue in his mind.
When she focused on Klaus, she found him weeping. My poor little brother and sister. If Mamá and Babá will do nothing, I must do something. Damien must be put out of his misery. A wooden stake through his heart. It’s the only way. And while I’m at it, the other vampire should be put out of his as well. Then maybe Gertie will be free of her addiction.
Gertie flinched and looked up at Jeno. “Klaus wants to drive a stake through Damien’s heart.”
“And my father’s,” Jeno said. “That would destroy hundreds of vampires.”
A few moments later, the hotel door burst open, and a half a dozen vampires stood in the entry with seething looks on their faces. They were a mixed group of young and old and male and female. Two were tall and lanky, one was as muscular as a boxer, two wore their hair in colorful spikes, and another, an older woman, was small but the scariest of them all.
