by Aubrey Rose
"Then it's not okay. She can't see me and live."
"Thad—"
"No witnesses!"
"Thaddeus!"
Robb's voice crackled with anger, and she opened her eyes to see the creature with white hair trying to push past him, blood still dripping from his lips. His eyes were fixed on hers, and she found that she could not look away.
"Come here," the man—Thaddeus—said.
Despite her fear, her body reacted to the sound of his voice. Hypnotic, the way Robb's voice had sounded before. Her foot took a step forward. She couldn't stop it. She wanted to scream but couldn't. She wanted to run but couldn't.
"Don't touch her," Robb said. His hands were restraining the man, but then Thaddeus spun and ducked under Robb's arm. The motion was too quick for her to see, but the result wasn't.
In a split second, he darted past, shoved the butler to the ground, and had Liz pinned against the wall, one bloody hand wrapped around her neck. He bared his fangs—short pricks of white against his bloody maw, and bent forward. She could feel his breath and smell it, dark and putrid on her skin.
Before she could even take a breath to cry out, Robb was there. With one arm he threw Thaddeus across the laboratory. The man crashed into a shelf full of glassware and fell to the ground. He was up in an instant, his eyes glowering. The cuts from the impact bled freely, the blood dripping to the ground. He stepped forward slowly, his feet crushing the bloodied glass.
"Don't do this to me, Robb," Thaddeus said.
"It's alright," Robb said, holding his hand out as though to ward off the man. "She knows. It's alright." Fear chilled every muscle in Liz's body. The man had gotten through Robb's defenses before. If he did again—
"Two people you trust," Thaddeus said. He licked his lips where the blood was oozing out. His white hair was stained with red. "Two. Not three. Not her."
"I trust her," Robb said. "Stop this."
The man snarled and lunged forward, and Liz shrieked, but Robb was already there to catch Thaddeus in his arms. She pressed herself back against the locked lab door and watched as the man took Robb to the ground with him.
"Uh!" Robb grunted as he landed on the floor, his head making a sharp crack on the tile. Liz pressed her fists to her lips. She wanted to help, but had no idea how. She would only get in the way if she meddled. Her eyes flitted across the lab, searching for a weapon.
The men tumbled together across the lab floor. The tiles were bright red with blood, and they slipped over it as they fought. Thad scrambled backwards and Robb threw his body against him. They fell together and rolled over the broken glass.
"Robb!" Liz screamed. The shards of glass lacerated his skin as they rolled. The other man pummeled Robb's body, his fists blurring with the motion. Liz darted forward and grabbed a scalpel from the lab table, meaning to help. Robb grabbed the man's fist as it came down for another blow. She heard the crunch of bone as he squeezed, and Thaddeus howled in pain. Robb pulled the man down, rolling over and pinning him to the ground. His hand was around the man's throat.
"STOP!" she cried out, holding the scalpel out in front of her. The man on the ground looked up at her. Robb's fingers were still squeezing his neck tightly.
To Liz's surprise, the man began to laugh. It was a horrible sound, the cackle mixed with thick blood.
"A human girl?" he choked out. "That's who you risk your life for? That's who you risk your friends for? After everything I've done for you!"
Robb's face was full of fury.
"You're not my friend," Robb hissed. His fingers eased up on the man's throat, and Thaddeus began to cough. His energy appeared to have been spent at once in his initial attack. Now he wriggled under Robb's hold weakly, his age showing. He seemed shriveled, like a piece of crumpled paper on the floor.
"I've repaid your damned favor," Robb said. "Now get out."
He turned to the lab table where the surgeon stood.
"Vasin, is he finished?"
The doctor nodded. He was putting away his medical equipment into his bag.
Robb lifted his body from the old man's. Thaddeus rolled onto his palms, hacking blood onto the tile. As he rested, Liz could see his largest cuts healing, the skin knitting itself together. The blood in the creases of his limbs turned dark and dried under Liz's eye. It was as though he was drying up, desiccating in fast-forward.
“Get out, Thad,” Robb said.
"I can't...I can't drive. I can't—"
"I'm not asking. I don't care if you get caught halfway out of London and thrown in jail to rot."
Liz had never heard such venom, could never have imagined it in Robb's voice had she not heard it coming from his lips.
"Robb?" The old man looked up at him.
"Leave. Go out the back, go to the woods, and die there."
The old vampire's beseeching expression turned to one of pure hatred. He spat, the mixture of clotted blood and saliva.
"None of us get to die," Thad hissed. "Not you. Not me."
He turned to Liz, and Robb's muscles tensed. Thaddeus spat again and coughed, a mist of blood spraying from his nostrils. It dried in the air and floated down as ash.
"Look at your girl," he said. "Look at her, and don't you blink. She'll be gone before you know it, just like that. " Thaddeus snapped his fingers with a bony crack.
At that same instant, Robb's hand lashed out and grabbed the old man again by the throat. Standing up now, he lifted the man up by his neck. Thaddeus's feet strained for solid ground but found nothing. His eyes hove to the ceiling, his hands clawing uselessly at Robb's arm.
"I don't want to die," Robb said, and let the old man gain an inch or so of footing. His shoes slipped on the bloody tile; the scraping noise of glass shards against the ceramic made Liz cringe. "That's the difference between you and me."
"You chase mortality," Thaddeus said. "We all chase it."
"I chase it because I want to live." Robb let Thaddeus go, shoving him back toward the lab table. The old man caught the edge of the table and Liz heard something inside of his body crack grotesquely.
"Live, live!” He laughed again, weakly. “That's all we do is live!"
"Thirteen years!" Robb cried. His hands balled into fists at his side. "I had thirteen years, Thad! I was only a boy!"
"You used to be grateful—"
"Leave. I don't ever want to see you near London," Robb said.
“How can I—“
“Take the elevator down to my private parking. There’s a door that opens out to the apartment parking. I trust you can avoid being seen by anyone for the twenty feet or so you’ll have to carry the body.”
"Robb—"
"I won't say it again."
"Then goodbye." Thaddeus said. He cast a look at Liz. "I hope the human girl is worth it."
Robb was silent. He stood still as a stone statue as Thaddeus picked up the dead body.
Liz was surprised to see that he handled the corpse easily. He was, she supposed, still a vampire, but it was strange to watch the old man leave with his burden slung over one shoulder. Robb opened the door and waited as the man climbed into the elevator and pressed the button.
"It's over," Robb said, turning back to Liz. Liz stood tensely, watching the silver doors slide shut. She didn't believe that he would ever be gone, and she would never turn her back to such a creature. Especially now.
For just before the elevator doors closed their mirrored walls over his face, Liz saw the old vampire wink.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
After Vasin and Gerry left the apartment, Robb found himself alone with Liz in the blood-stained lab. He raised his eyes wearily to hers. All of the adrenaline from the fight had been exhausted in his body, and he was ready for a break.
"Then...it's true," she said. "You're a..." Her voice trailed off into nothing.
"I'm a monster. Say it."
"A vampire. They exist?"
"We exist." He ached to take her in his arms. "Liz? Will you come over to my apa
rtment to talk? I want to change out of all this." He motioned down to his clothes, the white shirt soaked through with blood so that it looked as though it had been dyed a dark crimson.
“This...all this...” Her voice trailed off and she looked around the lab. Bloodstained glass covered the floor. It was a scene out of a horror movie.
“I will explain everything if you let me,” Robb said. “I promise. No more secrets, Liz. I’ll tell you anything you want to know. I’ll tell you about how I became a vampire.”
"A vampire," she repeated. "That's impossible. There's no such thing." Her words were automatic, as though she'd been rehearsing.
"Please, Liz." She lifted her eyes to him, and they were filled with pity.
Pity. Not love. If he had a heart, it would have broken. As it was, the numbness in his body deepened into his bones and the last dregs of energy he had remaining evaporated. He bent against the door in pain.
"Are you okay?" Liz took a step forward, but Robb held a hand up to stop her.
"Don't," he said. "I'm covered in his blood."
She stopped short of him, and he longed to reach out to touch her.
"I have his blood on me, too," she said. "From...from when he had me..."
Robb looked down to her shirt. There was one handprint on her neck, the blood dried dark against her pale skin. Fire pulsed through his veins in anger as he remembered the old man darting past him. He wanted to kill Thad. He should never have trusted him, the old bastard.
"He's a vampire too," she said dully.
"Yes. Thad. Thaddeus. He's older than I am."
"Your friend?"
"No. Yes. He—I owed him a favor."
Liz swallowed.
"A favor."
"Yeah," Robb said. "A big favor."
"What now?"
"The debt's been paid. He won't come back again," Robb said. He'd better not.
"Robb?"
"Yes?"
Liz clasped her hands in front of her primly.
"I'll come over. To clean up. And to hear about everything. About you."
"The blood didn't get on your clothes." He averted his senses from her neck. Her quick pulse aroused him even in his tense state. "We should be able to wipe it up no problem."
"Can you...would you give me the card key first?" she said. "So I have it. Just to feel safe."
"The key? Oh. Of course," Robb said. He handed her the key from his pocket and let her lead the way to his apartment. She paused before the door.
"Promise me something else," she said.
"Anything," he said. He would crack the earth in half for her.
Robb waited as Liz put together her words, her lips pink and slow and oh-so attractive, even under her grave demeanor.
"If you ever owe me a favor, please...." she said, "...just buy me a beer."
The smile that ran along her face was the greatest relief he had ever known.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Liz stood in Robb's kitchen. She'd wiped off most of the blood on her neck with a paper towel, but she was glad when only a minute or two later, Robb emerged from the shower clean and newly-dressed in a crisp shirt and pants. He looked for all the world like a successful businessman, and only the blood on the crumpled paper towel in front of her told the truth about him.
Vampire's blood. She shivered.
Blood had never creeped her out. It couldn't, not really, not in her field of study. A hematologist squeamish at the sight of blood would be laughed out the profession. But the sheer amount of blood spilled over the white tile made her shudder at the memory.
"Did I get it all off?" she asked. She tilted her head back.
"Ah—I...ah, yes. I mean no. There's still a little." Robb blinked hard.
"What?" she said.
Robb laughed softly and reached across the counter for a washcloth.
"You don't understand how tempting you are," he said. He twisted the washcloth under a stream of hot water.
Liz flushed once she realized what he meant.
"Sorry," she mumbled. "I don't...I can..."
"It's okay," Robb said. His voice was gentle, and he touched her chin lightly, his fingertips turning her head. She swallowed.
"Is it too late to make you promise not to drink my blood?" she said. A nervous cough of laughter burst from her.
Robb paused, the washcloth pressed against the base of her neck.
"Liz, I would never do that if you didn't want me to," Robb said. "I can control myself."
His voice choked up with contrition and Liz wanted to take back her words. At the same time, she was relieved to have spoken aloud her fear. She got some measure of comfort from the fact that he was ashamed at her thinking it was a possibility.
"It's alright," she said.
"Last time was...I misunderstood. I thought you knew. I'm so sorry."
"It's okay."
"It's not!" Robb cried out, his voice strained. Then, more quietly: "It's not." His eyes shone, and Liz was shocked to see tears bead and trickle down his cheeks. "I hurt you."
"I forgive you."
Liz went to wipe his tears away with her hand. His cheek smeared red, and he breathed in sharply, his nostrils flaring. She looked down at her hand. There was a cut on her inside of her knuckle.
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry," she said, taking the washcloth from him and swiping it quickly along his cheek to clean it off.
"Just a little blood," Robb said. He caught her hand with his.
"Here," he said. "Let me fix this for you."
His strong fingers intertwined with hers. With his other hand, he raised a finger to his lips. He met her gaze with a calm, gentle intent. His dark hair fell over one eye.
"Is that okay?" he asked.
Liz's mouth went dry at the thought. She nodded dumbly, too scared to say a word lest it come out as no.
Robb opened his mouth slightly, baring his gums. The points of his fangs emerged above his canines at the gumline. Liz stood transfixed as he pierced the tip of his index finger with one fang. A bead of blood rose on his skin.
Quickly he brought his finger down to hers and touched the cut. Liz focused her attention on her finger and was astonished at the sensations she beheld. It was itchy, sort of, the itch of bone knitting. Except this was skin and blood, the cells growing so quickly that she felt the tissue stretch tight across her wound and then thicken in place. After only a second, the new layer of skin was complete. She touched it in awe. She bent her fingers. The skin was pink and new, but entirely healed.
"Now let me get that spot on your neck," Robb said, running the washcloth under the sink faucet again. The hot water steamed up from the sink as he wrung out the white cloth.
Liz leaned her head back. The washcloth pressed against her skin, and the wet heat of it was wonderful. Just a little blood. And now it was gone. Robb still caressed her skin with the washcloth, cradling her neck in his strong hands. She was sorry when his touch left her. He tossed the cloth into the sink.
They were standing mere inches from each other, and neither of them moved.
"Why did you come back?" he asked, his voice soft.
"I...I forgot my lab notebook," she said.
Robb burst out into laughter. The relief on his face and his hearty laugh were so contagious that Liz was laughing along with him before she knew it. She breathed more easily now. It was alright. The danger was over.
"Of all the times to come back into my apartment!" he said, shaking his head.
"I think you might need to give your butler a raise," Liz said.
"He does deserve it, doesn't he?" Robb said, laughing. “I need to tell you about everything he’s done for me. And how I got here. And why there was a dead body in my lab.”
“You didn’t kill him, did you?” Liz said. A flash of fear struck through her suddenly, but when Robb spoke next she knew that she could trust him.
“No,” Robb said. “Let me tell you the story.”
“I would like that,” Liz said.
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It took the better part of an hour. Robb sat on the couch and explained his history to her. About Eliza, and the vampires, and how he had been Robert Chatham for over a hundred years. Liz stopped him only a few times to ask him questions, and it seemed that he knew as little as she did about how to stop his disease. When he was finally done, she had tears in her eyes. To have lived for so long, and never to have loved...
“Liz.”
Liz looked up into a face stricken with grief and love. Robb caught Liz by the hand and knelt in front of her.
"Liz," he said. "I have to ask you something."
Liz jerked back against the kitchen counter.
"I—we can't— No! I can't marry you!" she cried out, standing up. Robb's face turned to confusion and he frowned in sudden realization.
"What? Oh! Damned social customs! They change so fast!" Robb said, standing up and taking both her hands in his. "Sorry, Liz, that wasn't what I meant at all. I shouldn't have knelt. I'm sorry."
"Oh," Liz said. As relieved as she was, there was a part of her that found herself oddly disappointed that he hadn't meant to propose.
