Isla’s eyes narrowed as she studied Coleen. “Prove it.”
Coleen could tell from her tone that Isla thought they were playing a game, but she wouldn’t be deterred. Closing her eyes, Coleen waited a split second and then opened them. Isla gasped and recoiled against the sofa.
“How did you do that?” Isla’s voice shook.
Forcing her way past hurt feelings, Coleen continued her demented show-and-tell. “I can control the eye color for the most part, but sometimes when I’m angry or excited they glow.” Coleen willed her irises to return to their normal blue.
“And then there’s this.” Coleen smiled, and a second later her two incisors were extended beyond her lower lip.
“Jesus!” Isla got up and walked behind the couch.
“I don’t age, I’m very strong, and I’m practically indestructible.” Coleen had never done this before, and wasn’t certain how much she should say. Ultimately, she decided everything was on the table. “I’m not a demon, I don’t have a problem with sunlight, and crosses and garlic don’t bother me.”
Isla took several steps back. “How is this possible?”
Coleen allowed her incisors to retract before speaking. “You know better than anyone. Evolution.”
Isla shook her head back and forth. “No. Your strength, speed, and longevity would lend themselves to your complete superiority.” Isla swallowed the lump in her throat. “You’d be everywhere.”
Coleen casually sat down in the chair across from the sofa, and crossed her legs. “You’re forgetting one key element the dominant species must demonstrate.” Isla stared in stunned silence as Coleen spoke. “One general law, leading to the advancement of all organic beings, namely – multiply.”
Isla’s eyes widened. “You –”
“Vampires could never out number humans because in the process of growing our ranks we would, in return, diminish our food supply. It’s a catch twenty-two.” Coleen watched Isla carefully. Her heartrate was elevated and she had begun to sweat, but the look on her face wasn’t one of terror.
She’s curious. Thank god the biologist in her has kicked in.
“How old are you again?” Isla cautiously walked around the sofa and sat on the farthest end, putting as much distance between Coleen and her as possible.
“I’m two thousand seven hundred and forty two years old.”
“Ha!” Isla covered her mouth. “Sorry, but it’s funny that you’ve kept track down to the year.”
“I’m meticulous.” Coleen said flatly. “You’re the first human I’ve ever told my actual age to. In fact, it’s only been in the past few decades that I’ve honestly disclosed it to other vampires.”
“What is it they say, age is just a number?” Isla joked.
“Yes, but a vampire’s age can tell you a lot about their strengths and their weaknesses.”
Isla looked closely at Coleen. “I’ve always wondered. I mean not thinking anything like this was possible, but you’re so – well, perfect.”
Coleen smiled. “That’s the point. We wouldn’t get very far if we were difficult to look at.” She absently picked at a loose fabric strand on the chair’s arm.
“How many – ah, vampires are there?”
Coleen shrugged. “I have no idea. We don’t keep track, but we tend to congregate in urban areas; so I’ve come across more in San Antonio than say, Ames, Iowa.”
Isla cleared her throat. “How many have you come across here?”
Coleen counted on her fingers. “Rachel, Sara, Ela, Emma, Rayven, Bryce – though Bryce is human again, and Ela and Rayven are dead. Emma moved – so, actually just Sara, Rachel, and me.”
She tapped the arm of the chair with her index finger. “Oh, and Claudio, but he’s just visiting.”
Isla ran her fingers through her hair, her eyes unfocused as she stared at the floor. “Christ.” Something occurred to her, and her eyes shot up. “Wait, Bryce is human again? How’s that work?”
Coleen didn’t want to venture into the full spectrum of specters that were out there. She thought the revelation that vampires existed was about all Isla could handle today. “We can get into that later, but I am sorry to say that the science you study, though basically correct, does not account for every variation of the theme.”
“Explain that.”
Coleen was pleased that Isla was moving further away from her fear, and more toward understanding. Her decision to share her true nature with Isla was beginning to look like the right one. “As old as I am, I am not the oldest vampire by far. Our species has coexisted with humans since the beginning. What has been speculated is there was a mutation of human chromosomes and evolution took care of the rest.”
Isla leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. “You’re organic, but you don’t age, you don’t decay?”
“I don’t as long as I maintain my food levels.”
“You mean human blood?”
Coleen shook her head. “Not always. A lot of us have opted for animal blood.”
“Why?”
“Any number of reasons. Moral conflicts, ease of access, and frankly it’s become more difficult as human technology has advanced to keep the killings secret.” Coleen hesitated. “People tend to notice these days if someone goes missing.”
“Thank god for those Amber Alerts then.” Isla smiled, and Coleen was relieved that some levity was working its way into their conversation.
“Yes, thank god.”
“So what do you want with me?”
Coleen had not anticipated that question, and it took her several seconds before she could respond. “I enjoy your company.”
“How’s that even possible? You’ve had experiences I can’t even imagine. Not to mention that society tends to go in circles – every other generation repeating the mistakes of the past.” Isla leaned back on the sofa. “You must be bored out of your mind.”
“There have been periods where I have struggled, but time moves differently for us.” Coleen laid her hand on her chest. “Our internal clocks feel different. I can’t explain it, but time is fluid for me.”
“You don’t sleep, do you?”
Coleen’s brow furrowed. “No, I don’t.”
Isla nodded. “That makes sense. You don’t feel the passage of time acutely because you don’t have Circadian rhythms. Your cells have no reason to maintain a cycle of regenerative maintenance, or internal metabolic processes.”
Coleen nodded. “That makes sense.”
The two women fell silent, and Coleen wasn’t sure what she should say next. She was relieved Isla hadn’t run screaming from her, but was also nervous that her tone and body language had become so formal. Coleen was immediately missing the warmth and affection Isla had shown her.
“Why are you telling me this?” Isla asked frankly.
Coleen sighed, and sat up in the chair. “I wasn’t going to. I was going to turn you and be done with it.”
Isla’s eyes widened. “What?!”
Coleen knew instantly that she had been too matter-of-fact about her original intentions toward Isla. “But I realized quickly that it wasn’t going to be that simple.”
“What about my life? Not to mention Julian.” Isla’s voice cracked, and tears filled her eyes.
“But it didn’t happen.” Coleen maintained an even tone, but sensed the conversation was about to spiral downward.
“You thought about it. The fact that you even considered it turns my stomach.”
“Yes, but doesn’t it count that I didn’t do it?” Coleen began to sound desperate, and she hated it. “I did the right thing.”
“You don’t get credit for basic decency, Coleen. It’s the very least you can do.” Isla stood up, her face red with anger. “I want you to leave.”
“Why?” Coleen stood. “We’re talking and I thought –”
Isla held her hand up in front of her. “Stop.”
Coleen’s own anger flared, and her eyes lit up. “Don’t shush me. I’m not a ch
ild.”
Isla lowered her hand. “No, you’re not, but I think it’s been a very long time since a human has argued with you. Maybe, even, a long time since a vampire has.” Isla took a deep breath. “But to refresh your memory, when someone tells you to leave their house – you leave.”
Coleen stood perfectly still, her eyes ablaze as she glared at Isla. Her anger was mixed with resentment and disappointment. She had wanted this conversation to go differently. “Aren’t you scared I’m going to kill you?”
As soon as the words left Coleen’s mouth, she hated herself for them. The implication of a threat had always served to scare and intimidate her opponent. But Isla didn’t feel like an adversary.
“I get that you’re strong, but I’m a five foot four woman who weighs a hundred and thirty pounds. There are a lot of people stronger than me.” Isla gestured with her hands as she spoke, her voice tight with anger and frustration.
“Vampires don’t have the monopoly on killing humans. We manage just fine on our own, so that’s never a reason for me to not speak my mind.” She pointed her index finger at Coleen. “And for the record, you suggesting that it should be, makes you a bad person.”
Coleen’s shoulders sagged, and for the first time in almost three thousand years, she felt tired. “I’m going to leave.”
Isla lowered her hand, but didn’t speak. Coleen saw more tears welling in her eyes, and fought back her own as she walked to the front door. Her hand on the door knob, Coleen turned to Isla.
“I could never hurt Julian or you.” Coleen looked down, her mouth set in a deep frown. “I don’t know why I said that.”
“Habit.” Isla said flatly.
Coleen nodded. “I have a lot of bad habits.” She opened the front door. The rain had stopped, leaving the outside muggy. Coleen walked to her car, and hoping to see Isla one last time, looked toward the front door. But the door was closed, and Isla was gone.
***
“I thought bloodshed would make you feel better.” Claudio ran his blood stained fingers through his rain soaked hair.
Coleen shut the backdoor, and pulled her hair free of the band holding her long locks up in a tight bun. “If only I had your simple tastes, Claudio.” Coleen tossed her friend a hand towel from under the kitchen sink. Taking one for herself, she blotted at her wet hair and face.
“I’m going to change, and then we can have a drink.” Claudio laid the damp towel over his shoulder.
Coleen smiled. “Sounds perfect.” She tossed the hand towel into the kitchen sink, and walked through the house toward her bedroom.
Stripping out of her wet clothes, Coleen caught sight of herself in the full length mirror adjacent to the walk-in closet. She had hunted countless times, but looking at her blood and mud encrusted jeans and t-shirt made her feel uneasy.
Coleen imagined what she would look like to Isla, and how revolting she would find Coleen’s touch now that her fingernails were coated with mountain lion and coyote blood.
I’m ridiculous. Rachel’s joke seems too real. I am pissing myself over a human. It’s pathetic that I should care what she thinks.
Coleen finished getting undressed, and immediately got in the shower. Standing under the jets of hot water, she closed her eyes. Her last conversation with Isla ran through her mind in an awkward and horrific loop.
After toweling off, Coleen put on a pair of jeans and a lightweight V-neck beige sweater. She could hear The Masque of the Red Death, by André Caplet playing from the library as she made her way through the house.
The chamber piece, based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story Mask of the Red Death about a prince trying to avoid a plague, filled the room with long, hushed notes of viola and cello. The pronounced and abrupt repetition of the harp made Coleen’s skin crawl as she entered the library.
“That’s a bit macabre.” Coleen poured herself a glass of sherry.
Claudio sat on the sofa, his legs stretched out in front of him. “I’ve always enjoyed it.”
“The Plague was not one of humanity’s finer moments. As I recall, we didn’t fare too well either, given the reduction in food stocks.” Coleen sat down next to Claudio.
“Still, I miss the ease of things back in the day.” Claudio took a drink of his whisky. “You could scare the peasants into utter submission by killing a few of their livestock.”
“I can’t imagine you stopped with sheep, Claudio.” Coleen took a deep breath in, enjoying the smell of wood and cherry coming from her drink.
“You seem apologetic.” Claudio’s voice took a more accusatory tone.
Coleen shook her head. “Not at all, but I think we can do better, and have done better over the centuries.”
Claudio sighed. “I feel we’ve had this conversation already, Coleen. When we parted ways seventy years ago.” He emptied his glass in one long gulp. “I will always choose a vampire over a human. I will always see our strength and longevity as inherent signs of our superiority.”
“We are superior, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the order of things.”
“Might does in fact make right, Coleen.” Claudio’s words were charged, but he sat perfectly still. “Take this current conundrum you find yourself in.”
Coleen didn’t want to discuss Isla and Julian with Claudio. She had gone out of her way to distract the man from the topic throughout his visit. “What conundrum would that be?”
Claudio chuckled. “Please, I’m not stupid. You come home reeking of the human. No blood though, just citrus and, what is it, lilac?” Claudio distorted his perfect mouth into an exaggerated pout. “Pale and tragic.”
“Since you have never attempted the vetting of a companion, I wouldn’t expect –”
Claudio gushed. “Because it’s absurd! Find yourself another vampire to play house with and call it a day.”
Coleen tensed as her friend’s voice echoed through the library. “You know once the covens disbanded during the mid-twentieth century, the idea of being beholden, even to another vampire, quickly became a thing of the past.”
“Then turn her.” It was as if a switch had been flipped, and Claudio slumped into the sofa. “I shouldn’t care except I think of you like a sister, and to see you so depressed –” He cringed. “It depresses me.”
Coleen laid her head on Claudio’s shoulder, the tension from moments ago gone. “It’s harder these days. I can’t just pluck her up.”
Claudio took Coleen’s hand in his. “It’s the boy. You don’t want him to suffer.”
Coleen closed her eyes. “No. I don’t.”
Claudio sighed. “Then you suffer in his place.”
Coleen squeezed Claudio’s hand. “For now.”
“Let me have him.” The appalling words were spoken so casually that it took Coleen a second to register her own disgust at what Claudio was suggesting.
Determined not to feed her friend’s affinity for games, Coleen nuzzled closer to Claudio, turning her lips to his ear. “You would make a terrible father.”
Claudio turned his head. His lips were just inches away from Coleen’s own. “You’re planning on making him motherless soon. So better a poor father than an orphan.” Coleen recoiled, her incisors extended as she glared at her friend.
Claudio laughed, and stood up. “You take this all so seriously, Coleen. They’re only humans.” Claudio put his empty glass on the drink cart. “Lighten up, for Christ sake.”
Coleen watched as Claudio left the library. Standing up, she began to pace. She pulled her phone from the back pocket of her jeans, and dialed Rachel’s number.
“Hello.”
Coleen hesitated.
“You’re on my caller ID, Coleen, so what gives?” Rachel teased.
“Sorry. I called, and then thought better of it.” Coleen hated how needy and indecisive she had become. “Things have become more complicated with Isla.”
“You told her.” Rachel’s tone was more casual than Coleen would have imagined, and she wondered if the eventu
al outcome with Isla had been obvious to everyone but her.
“Yes.” Coleen sat back down on the sofa.
“But you still haven’t turned her?” Rachel sighed. “She doesn’t want to be turned, does she?”
“Not in the least.” Coleen rubbed her palm against her forehead. “Not that we really got very far with that part of the conversation.” She cringed, recalling Isla’s visceral and angry reaction to the very idea that Coleen had been considering turning her.
There was silence on the other end of the phone. “Rachel, aren’t you going to lecture me?”
“What would be the point? You sound miserable enough.”
“I just thought, given all the grief I caused Sara and you, that –”
“I don’t hold any ill will toward you, Coleen. You’re my friend.”
“Thank you.” Coleen smiled.
“Do you think she’s going to tell anyone?” In spite of Rachel’s reassurances when they last spoke, Coleen could hear the concern in her friend’s voice.
Coleen leaned back on the sofa, and crossed her legs. She listened carefully for Claudio, and hearing only silence in the house, spoke quietly. “I don’t know, and for the first time, I don’t care.”
After several seconds, Rachel, her own voice low and reassuring, finally asked the most important question. “What are you going to do now?”
Coleen’s instinct was to leave the city, and the utter mess she had made of things with Isla. “I might travel. Maybe a change of scenery will do me some good.”
Rachel chuckled. “Just remember, wherever you go there you are.”
Coleen winced. “Are you reading self-help books again?”
The frown on Rachel’s face came through clearly in her tone. “That was a long time ago, and no. I’m saying you should get your house in order. Eternity is a long time to be miserable.”
“I know you’re right, but I feel like indulging in it a bit.” Coleen stood up, and stretched her neck first to the right, and then to the left. A faint popping sound came from the joints.
Coleen: Forever (Waking Forever Series Book 5) Page 15
