by Amy Richie
“Which Beatle played the drums?”
“Ringo,” he replied without looking up.
“Oh.” I bit my bottom lip and then switched to the top.
“Are you getting restless, Claudia?”
“I’m just ready.” His lips pulled down at the corners. “Hey.” He looked up and I caught the worry in his eyes before he could mask it. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing.”
He answered too quickly, though. Something had been off with Rueben since he returned form Blakesly House, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. He was more withdrawn and he barely ever smiled these days.
“You just seem…different.”
“So you’ve been saying.” His eyes widened for a second.
I pursed my lips tightly. “Tell me how to do it.”
“You can’t,” he began darkly, but then took a deep breath to calm down, “kill Silango.”
“Tell me.” He had promised that when I was ready, he would teach me how to kill the old guard.
“Fine.” It’s not like you’re ever going to get close enough anyways.
“I heard that.”
His familiar grin flashed. “It will be hard to kill him, to get close enough to actually do it.”
“Is there a certain place I would have to stab him? And to what depth?” I sat up eagerly.
“You won’t be able to just stab him; he’ll heal too quickly.”
“Then?”
“You have to behead him.”
“Like, cut his head off?”
“All the way off.”
I swallowed loudly. “Eww.”
“Then you have to burn it.”
“Burn the head?”
“Yes. Do it quickly before his warriors can put him back together. His warriors will be waiting.”
“Okay.” I tried not to envision the whole thing. “Then the bond will be broken?”
“Once the head is burned.”
Now I knew why he said I wouldn’t be able to kill Silango. It was a gruesome thought, not to mention I would have to get really close to a guard vampire. It did sound impossible.
“You are the most determined third generation I have ever met,” Rueben said softly.
“Determined enough to kill a guard?”
“Determined enough to get your husband back.”
“Same thing,” I muttered. We sat in a semi-comfortable silence for a long time. I could tell that Rueben wasn’t entirely himself. His usually smooth forehead scowled and darkened as his thoughts raced around someone named Sophia. Who was she?
I had asked before and was answered with a low growl and a ‘mind your own business’. I didn’t ask again. I did try to hear more of his thoughts, but he was so much better at hiding things than I was.
“You need to find a girlfriend,” I broke the silence.
“I have a girlfriend,” he smirked.
“You do?”
“Several, in fact.”
“I don’t mean like that,” I shoved hard against his shoulder. I felt the heat of my embarrassment.
“You’re just stuck in the 1800s,” he accused playfully, more like the Rueben I remembered.
“There’s nothing wrong with the 1800s.”
“Except they were like a hundred years ago.”
“It’s not like you don’t remember them.”
He laughed loudly, his shoulders shaking in amusement. “I may have a few memories.”
“Of Sophia?” I watched his reaction carefully, hoping to catch a glimpse of the truth.
“No, not of Sophia.” He stuck his blade into a nearby tree and buried his half-finished carving in the long grass. “Come on, Claudia, let’s race.”
I jumped up quickly. “Where to?”
“To your place.”
“Ha! I’ll see you there.”
“Yeah, I’ll be the guy waiting by your front door.”
“In your dreams, old man.”
As always, his laughter made me feel lighter, like all the dark parts of my heart were filled in by his amusement. I darted away while he was still laughing.
We both knew I didn’t stand a chance against Rueben. He could outrun me twice over and still have time to rest. Still, we raced often, just for the thrill of the run.
It was easy to get back to the city; we didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing us, so we could just run full speed. It was after we actually got into the city that the race became tricky. There were too many people to just run.
I darted behind a building and ran along the narrow piece of sidewalk hidden there. A dog came out to bark at me, but I was gone before it could consider giving chase. I was too far from home to go through alleys the entire time and if I knew Rueben, he had probably gotten a taxi. Maybe if I was lucky and didn’t run into too many people, I could beat him today.
I darted across the street and along another narrow street. The only person I saw was a small boy playing with a fire truck in front of a sagging blue house. He probably didn’t even notice me zipping by.
I had decided to stay in the same small apartment that Rueben had found for me when I first came to the city. It was cheap–not that money was ever an issue–but that meant that not too many people paid much attention to it.
It was in a bad enough part of town that feeding was never a problem, either. Crime was high even without a vampire living in the neighborhood, so an unexplained murder every now and then didn’t turn any heads.
I hardly ever killed them anymore, though. I was good at stopping, even without Rueben there. Now that I was feeding regularly, there wasn’t much I couldn’t do. I could almost keep up with Rueben when he didn’t run as fast as he was able to, and I could see and hear better than I’d ever been able to.
I ducked quickly behind a large black car when a woman walked by with a baby on her hip. I bounced on my heels as she moved agonizingly slowly past me. As soon as she was out of sight, I raced to the next street over.
No way was I letting Rueben beat me this time. If he was going by cab, he might be stuck in traffic while I was rushing through the back alleys. I skidded to a stop a few streets from my apartment.
I could already hear his taunting thoughts, the steady thump of his heart: a heart that hadn’t been exerted at all. Nice to see you could join me today, Claudia.
“Yeah, I figured you would probably be missing me by now,” I muttered.
His laughter reached my ears before his actual words did. “I was beginning to wonder where you had disappeared to.”
“Maybe I should have taken a cab like other cheaters I know.”
“I didn’t take a cab today.”
As I got closer to him, I saw his smirk more clearly. “Oh, no? Did you learn how to fly, then?”
“No.” He nudged my shoulder when I finally joined him on the front steps. “I just know how to take paths of least resistance.”
“Meaning?”
“The ones without any humans lurking in the shadows.” He wiggled his hands in front of us, trying to be funny.
I wasn’t giving in, though. “You probably just ran past them anyways.”
“If I go fast enough, they won’t see me anyways.”
I pouted my lips out and crossed my arms across my chest. “You cheat,” I accused good-naturedly.
“I wasn’t aware that we made rules that I could break. Isn’t it just whoever gets back the fastest wins?”
“You always push the limits.”
“I do not.” He feigned a look of innocence.
“Remember the time you went over the city?”
“From building to building.” He was already smiling wide and I couldn’t help but respond to him.
“Fine. You win this time.”
“I win every time.”
“Not tomorrow. Tomorrow is my day.”
“You do realize that you say that every day, and every day I win?”
“I know,” I pouted.
He flicked my lip playfully
with his finger. “You don’t want a bird to poop on that.”
“That would be really gross.”
“Yes it would.”
We both laughed. “Are you hunting tonight?”
He looked away quickly before answering; a sure sign that he wasn’t going to tell me the truth. “I might. I’ll probably just go home, though.”
“You gonna come up?”
“Not tonight.”
I wrapped my arms tight around my middle when feelings of dread tried to creep in. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”
“Absolutely,” he nodded. He looked away, down an empty alley. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Same place?”
“Where else?”
He turned back to wink at me. Any other words I may have had died in my throat. I could only manage a half smile when he waved at me. I wanted to call him back as soon as he left, but I resisted the urge. The rage I saw in his eyes had to have been just my imagination.
Chapter Forty-One
The sun had not yet come up when I made it to the cluster of trees. I liked to watch the sun rise up over the still sleeping city. Besides, the streets were easier to maneuver with less people.
I knew Rueben wouldn’t be there for a while yet. He preferred to sleep in. Sunrise wasn’t his favorite time of day.
“I don’t know how you can stand it,” he said one day.
“Stand what?”
“The sunrise.”
“It’s beautiful. Especially now with my new eyes.
”They still look green to me.”
“I can hear when it comes up over the horizon.”
“You can’t hear it,” he scoffed.
“Yes, I can.”
“Well, I’ll leave you to your imaginary noises. I’ll meet you at a regular hour.”
“A regular hour?” I laughed.
“After the sun is up.”
“So, a regular hour for humans?”
“I was human once.”
I smiled again as the memory faded away. I didn’t mind being alone for a few hours. It gave me time to think, time to plan. It wouldn’t be long now. I was ready to take back what was mine; I just had to figure out how to do it.
I would have to go to him; I knew that. Silango rarely, if ever, left London. Once I got to London, I was fairly confident that I could arrange an audience with Silango.
The problem was what I would do after that. How was I going to get close enough to him to actually kill him? His warriors would be there and no doubt he had given them all similar orders to kill me.
If I lived through all of this, I was going to have to find Neleh and find out why she hated me so much. Then, Marcus and I would be free to be together. And it would be better than it was before. We could hunt together and he could teach me so much.
I pulled a strand of grass from the ground and wound it in and out of my fingers. The sun had already risen and was climbing higher in the sky. Rueben was usually here by now.
I crawled over to where he usually sat and uncovered his piece of wood from the day before. It was just as he had left it; unfinished and waiting for his return. I buried it back with the grass and settled more comfortably in my own spot.
He would be here soon; I just didn’t know what was keeping him. I lay down on my back to watch the clouds as they drifted by the bright blue sky. The big fluffy globs began to take on different shapes.
When the shadows around me changed and darkened, I sat back up. It was nearing evening, I realized with a small amount of alarm. I had been sitting there the entire day and Rueben had never shown up.
I slowly got to my feet. It was time that I went home. Maybe Rueben would be there and be able to tell me where he had been. There had to be an explanation why he didn’t show up. I glanced again at the darkening sky–way past the time to be heading home.
It wasn’t as much fun going home alone as it was with Rueben. He had left me alone before, but at least then I had known beforehand that he wasn’t going to be there. I crossed the street slowly once I got back to the city, practically dragging my feet along the way.
I considered taking a cab, but I hadn’t brought any money with me. Besides, most of the cabbies in this part of the city didn’t like to drive to my part of the city. So I was stuck walking back home.
To make matters even worse than they already were, there were even more people out on the streets than usual. Most of the time, I was forced to walk at a slow human pace.
“Hey, cutie,” someone called when I passed into the dirtier part of the city.
I rolled my eyes and kept walking. I really hoped that idiot wouldn’t try to approach me. I was close to home and I was eager to see Rueben lounging on the front steps with that sheepish grin plastered on his face. He wasn’t going to get off so easily this time. I was really going to let him have it for making me wait all day and then just standing me up.
“Where are you going, cutie?” the man called as I brushed past him.
When I heard him start to follow, I turned around to glare his way. He started to laugh, but something in my face must have scared him because he quickly rejoined his friends.
I was disappointed when I reached home and Rueben still wasn’t there. I was so sure he was going to be there.
I jiggled the key in the lock impatiently. It was strange that Rueben hadn’t been there today. Where could he have been? The phone began to ring while I was still trying to get the lock to unlatch. “Damn it,” I muttered to no one.
The lock finally gave and I bullied the door open. It was closed and locked again before I darted to the ringing phone. It stopped ringing before I could pick it up.
“Ugh,” I groaned.
It had to have been Rueben trying to call; no one else even had my number. He was probably calling to tell me why he wasn’t there today. I wondered just how long he had been calling. He could have just come up there to cancel our plans, I thought with a frown.
Unless he was out of the city. Was that why he had been getting so strange? But if he was planning a trip somewhere, why didn’t he just tell me? It wasn’t like he’d never left me alone before. It just didn’t make any sense.
The phone began its shrill ring again, but this time I picked up on the first ring. “Where are you?” I demanded instead of saying hello.
“Claudia?”
My heart slammed inside my chest. I already knew who it was, of course, but that didn’t stop me from asking the obvious.
“Who is this?”
“It’s Marcus.” The silence in the room roared in my ears. “Why are you answering this phone?” His voice broke with the crappy connection. “What has happened to Rueben?”
Without even thinking about it, I slammed the receiver back down. My heart hammered fast in my chest until it stopped completely. It took several attempts for me to get it going again.
Marcus!
How had he even gotten my phone number? How did he know where I lived? What did he mean about Rueben? A million thoughts swirled all around in my head.
Marcus called me. I hadn’t heard his voice in six years. This was the closest we had been since that awful day in London. He could have been anywhere in the world, but we had made a connection. Finally!
What had I done? Why did I hang up on him? I should have asked him where he was, why he had left me all alone, if we were finally going to be together again.
I tapped my foot impatiently on the hard linoleum floor. He had to call back. He would sit back and be shocked for a few minutes, but then he would call back. This time I would be ready for it and I wouldn’t just hang up on him.
Minutes dragged by and still the phone didn’t ring. I picked the receiver up and pressed it to my ear to be sure there was a dial tone. I put it back down impatiently. It was working fine.
What if he had tried to call when I picked it up? I replayed the short one-sided conversation in my head. Rueben. Marcus had asked where Rueben was. Did that mean he knew where he was?
Was Rueben in some kind of trouble? He would have been in the trees if he was able to.
My desire to hear Marcus again and my need to know if Rueben was okay were at war with each other. If I stayed here, Rueben may be hurt somewhere and need me; if I left to find Rueben, then I may miss Marcus’s call.
With a heavy sigh, I shoved my key in my pocket along with some money and hurried out the door. There was only a handful of places that Rueben was likely to be. I would search them quickly, then return home. He would never leave me to fend for myself if he thought I was in danger.
I jogged quickly to a restaurant that was nearby. Rueben and I sometimes stopped there to eat after one of our races. I didn’t like human food as much as Rueben, but I could stomach it and had even learned to enjoy a few dishes.
The restaurant was already closed for the night when I got there, though, and I couldn’t smell Rueben’s scent anywhere nearby. His favorite feeding spot was close, so I chose to stay on foot and trot down the darkened streets.
I didn’t expect him to be there, but I still felt a twinge of disappointment when I didn’t find him there. Something inside told me that if Rueben was anywhere in the city, he would have already found me, but I stubbornly refused to give up.
I was still going to at least check at his apartment. It was clear across town, so I figured it would be faster to get a cab. I hated riding in a cab, but I needed to get there as quickly as possible.
I pounded several times on Rueben’s locked door. No one was inside, but I still felt the need to knock. Maybe he was in trouble and had stopped his heart.
“Rueben,” I called through the closed door. “Rueben, it’s me!”
If he was in there, he would already know it was me, I told myself. I didn’t know how to pick the lock, but I was sure I would be able to break it. Should I? There was a brief moment of indecision standing outside his doorway.
If the roles had been reversed and he couldn’t find me, he wouldn’t even hesitate to break down my door. But I would have never disappeared on him–unless something was wrong. Could someone have hurt Rueben? And if they had, what could I possibly do to help?
I took a deep breath and twisted the handle hard. The lock broke easily. If Rueben got mad, I would just have to explain to him how worried I had been for him. I needed to know where he was.
