The Days Fly

by C. L. Quinn

  Her watery eyes glistened as she looked up into his.

  “Ooh, thank you, young man. These old bones lock up and refuse to do what I tell them to do. Stairs are not an old person’s friend.”

  “I am happy to assist.”

  She moved her eyes over his body and smiled. “There are many times when I wish I were thirty or forty years younger. Your girl is a lucky girl. Are you waiting for her?”

  “I am waiting to see someone, but she is not my girl.”

  “Forgive me for the assumption. I just can’t imagine that they aren’t standing in line.”

  “I would want only this one woman, but I do not believe that I am what she wants.”

  The woman’s eyebrows went up. “You’d be surprised what a woman wants. It’s always best to ask. Who is your girl?”

  “Her name is Sarah.”

  “Sarah? Oh, honey, she hasn’t lived here in months.”

  “She is gone?”

  Nodding, the woman removed a foldable cane from a bag on her arm. “I’m sorry, but yes. All I know is that she moved to an apartment somewhere on the waterfront.”

  Mies bowed. “Thank you. Do you need further aid?”

  “No. I’m just going two doors down to spend the night with an old friend. Well, good luck with finding Sarah.”

  She turned to go and stopped.

  “I just remembered. She moved in with some guy. I think he had just gotten a new job at a museum.”

  “Do you remember which one?”

  “Um, it’s near the waterfront too, I think. That’s all I can tell you.”

  “You’ve been exceptional, madam. I’m forever grateful.”

  This made her blush. “I hope you find her and I hope she accepts you. You would be good for her. Sarah’s a sweet girl, but she needs to get out and raise a little hell. Life flies. You can’t waste a moment of it, trust me on this.”

  She touched Mies’s hand with a naughty gleam in her eye. “I imagine you would be fun to raise some hell with.”

  Mies laughed for the first time since he’d returned.

  “You, madam, must have raised some in your time.”

  With her cane now extended, offering the support she needed, the woman turned away from Mies and looked back as she shook her booty. She grinned. “If the walls could talk! Good luck, young man.”

  Continuing the same direction that she faced, she slowly made her way down the sidewalk, just as she’d told Mies, two apartment buildings away.

  Mies pulled out the cell phone he’d taken from a wireless shop downtown and dialed for a taxi. When it arrived, he slid into the seat.

  “Where to, buddy?” The cab driver asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m looking for a museum located on the waterfront, but I don’t know what kind. Would you know of any that you might be able to take me to?”

  “Uh, yeah, I’ve got a map on my phone. Let’s see. Locally, there’s a children’s museum, and an art museum. Looks pretty fancy. I haven’t been to those. Hey, you might like the nautical museum. You can actually tour a big old cargo ship. And, oh, yeah, there’s a new museum, I don’t think it’s open yet. Looks like it deals with foreign antiquities. Yeah, that isn’t my scene.”

  Foreign antiquities. Perhaps Nikolai? Yes, that might be it.

  “That last museum you mentioned, the new one, take me there please.”

  “Sure do, buddy.”

  Nikolai. Mies fell back against the worn seat and closed his eyes. Their connection was like nothing else in this world. They knew each other better than any other person could ever know someone else because they’d lived inside each other. As much as Mies wanted to see Sarah, he needed to also be sure that Nikolai had made it through without damage. If so, even if he hadn’t made the choice to do this, Mies would have a lot to atone for.

  The taxi stopped and the driver twisted to face Mies.

  “It’s right over there. That red brick building with the glass front.”

  Mies nodded, used compulsion to thank the driver and send him away with the belief that he’d had no fare tonight.

  Multicolored lights glittered all along the pier, a magical setting, as Mies walked up aged wooden planks to cross a bridge meant to mimic an old fashioned rope bridge. Once he reached the door, he hesitated. Should he just observe Nikolai and Sarah to confirm whether they were okay? Or should he let them know that he had returned?

  He’d already decided that Sarah would be better off if he didn’t interfere with the life she built now. Would it be okay, though, to tell Nikolai? The answer came when he entered the building moments later and saw Nikolai, distant, above him on a cantilevered floor actively engaging with a tall bald-headed man.

  No, Mies decided that it would be best for everyone if he just disappeared once he made sure that those who knew him last time were all right. He could use compulsion to find out if their lives had continued undamaged.

  The tall man walked away, and Mies watched as Nikolai glanced down at him.

  “That shipment is delayed by at least two weeks, and it’s half of the exhibit for room 4 for the open house. Can you see what you can do to replace it? Thanks, Brad.”

  Nikolai shook his head. Managing a museum this large with all of its political and financial obligations was exhausting. With all of the drama recently at home, Nikolai thought that he could sleep for a week if he had the chance.

  He wouldn’t, of course, with Sarah back to work, Naji traveling a great deal for a client, and all child care had to be handled by the three of them. A babysitter would be wonderful, but that couldn’t happen, not with this child’s parentage. They would manage, of that he had no doubt, things just had to be worked out.

  Only a few more things needed attention so that he could get home to relieve Sarah, who had accepted an emergency overnight shift at the hospital. Thank God MGH had been so understanding about the strange schedule she needed.

  He turned to follow Brad back to the offices when movement in the lobby caught his eyes. A big man he did not recognize stood just inside the doors.

  Moving to the stairs, he called out. “Sir, excuse me, the museum is not open yet. How did you get in here?”

  The man stood ramrod straight, still, his stare unsettling. As Nikolai approached him, he had an odd sensation, almost dizziness, but it cleared quickly. He stared back into the unusual pale green shade of the man’s eyes.

  He scanned and assessed him; tall, model handsome face, ripped body, probably had a different gorgeous girl each night. He didn’t know the man, nothing about his face was familiar. And yet, something was.

  “The door was open,” the guy said suddenly, his voice graveled, deep, commanding. “The place looked interesting so I just wandered in.”

  “Huh. I apologize, that door should have been locked. I’ll see to it, but you’ll have to leave.”

  “I will. You run this place?”

  “I am the administrative manager, so yes, I do.”

  “It’s nice. You enjoy the job?”

  Nikolai was getting strange vibes from the stranger. The man didn’t seem inclined to leave, and now he was asking personal questions.

  Nikolai answered abruptly this time, his voice coldly polite. “I do, very much. Sir, let me escort you out.”

  When he placed his hand on the man’s shoulder, the dizziness he felt earlier returned, stronger, enough to nearly lose consciousness. His head cleared again and he pushed away from the man, who had steadied him with both of his hands on Nikolai’s shoulders.

  Nikolai pulled away. “Please, you need you go. I have a security team if you don’t.”

  “I’ll go. Can you look at me?”

  Nikolai had walked over to the door and opened it as an urgent invitation for the guy to go through it when the question surprised him and he looked right up into the guy’s eyes. “What do you want?”

  Heat infused Nikolai’s head. What was happening?

  The stranger walked right up to Nikolai and stood in the ope
ning of the museum. “Tell me if you’re happy, if everything in your life is normal and you are satisfied with where you are in your life.”

  What the hell was this? He would call security, although, in truth, his security right now consisted of two gentlemen in their sixties long retired from the air force. He could easily imagine this giant of a man putting them down with no effort, so he would try once more to get the crazy asshole out of the museum without a confrontation.

  “I don’t know who you are, but if you want me to have you arrested for trespassing, just stay the fuck right where you are.” Nikolai lifted his cell phone from his pocket and held it up to show he was ready to dial 911.

  Holding his breath, Nikolai waited for the man to go or to punch him. When the stranger smiled and just walked out, Nikolai was surprised and relieved. He closed and locked the door quickly, talking to himself like he used to do when he was alone in his cabin in Siberia.

  “What an odd duck. I guess you get all kinds, but that one needs some major mental healthcare. Wait until Sarah hears about this one.”

  Mies walked away from the newly erected building designed with an attractive blend of old architecture and new.

  He’d learned something tonight that affected his plan to make sure that Nikolai and Sarah were well and happy.

  Nikolai could not be compelled. Not by him anyway. Mies had used compulsion to make Nikolai answer a direct question about his life, then he would have used compulsion to erase that question and any memory of the man who wandered into the museum after dark. In all of his centuries before, and even in this one, Mies had never met a human who could not be compelled.

  “It had to be the merge. Somehow, it made him immune to my forced control. God, I depended on that skill to check on him and Sarah.”

  That wouldn’t happen now. If he couldn’t control their memories, it was too risky.

  Using air displacement, Mies was on a sandy beach a good mile from the museum in minutes. Nikolai had looked well, and up until he’d frightened Niko, Mies had thought that Niko seemed quite content. What concerned him was that Mies knew that Nikolai had never had any intention of staying in Boston, and yet he had. Why? In spite of the situation, he still needed to check on Sarah. Surely, she would not be immune.

  He’d do it quickly, carefully attempt compulsion on her, testing her before he asked his questions, and disappear afterward regardless of the outcome, no harm, no foul.

  His best lead now to finding Sarah was Nikolai. He would follow him home tonight, stay near, and eventually, Nikolai would lead him to Sarah.

  Leaving plenty of documents in a stack of bottomless paperwork, Nikolai squeezed the bridge of his nose with two fingers trying to get his tired eyes to focus. Glancing at the clock, he groaned. Midnight. He needed to get home.

  When he got to the main entrance of the building, which was vacant now, he locked it, set the alarm, and stepped out to a waiting taxi.

  “Home,” he whispered, and the driver pulled out. Ivan was on most nights in this part of town and often drove Nikolai to his apartment building.

  Ivan looked at Nikolai in the rearview mirror. “Another long one,” he commented.

  “Yep. I just want a quiet room and a warm bed for three weeks and I’ll be good as new. Gonna have to talk to our little baby mama.”

  Strangely, because it wasn’t common, Ivan knew a lot about Nikolai’s life. They’d ridden together so often over the past three months, Ivan almost considered them friends. He’d met Nikolai’s roommates, certainly two of the most beautiful women in Boston, and he’d told Nikolai so, and been invited for tea.

  They pulled up outside the apartment building, Nikolai lifted his satchel, paid Ivan, and left. Ivan backed up to turn around. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a figure, a big man, standing across the street. Partially hidden by the cascading branch of an ornamental tree, the man stood, solid, unmoving, as he watched Nikolai enter the building.

  Ivan pulled around the corner and did a little watching of his own. The man didn’t move the entire time he was there. Fifteen minutes later, Ivan got a fare and had to leave, but as he pulled out, he decided that something wasn’t right there.

  Tomorrow night, he would let Nikolai know that someone might be watching him.

  Mies watched Nikolai walk into the nice apartment building right on the waterfront. He knew those properties were expensive, which meant that, financially, Nikolai must be doing well. That was good news. Financial stability was essential to human happiness.

  Feeling much better after a long buffet meal at a downtown restaurant and a blood meal from a healthy-sized young man, Mies still tired easily. Eventually, he moved a park bench from deeper in the park and relaxed into it. Like many things in this century, he marveled at how it was made, smooth metal curved into the perfect shape for the human body. Flower designs molded into it gave it an artistic as well as functional feature. He approved, and particularly, his sore ass did.

  Tonight, he’d sped all over town using his own vampire power. Tomorrow, he would get a car. Nikolai’s knowledge of how to drive had been easy to assimilate, and although he’d never actually gotten behind the steering wheel of a car, he didn’t think it would be a difficult task for him. If he was going to be here for very long, indefinitely, or perhaps forever, then this he must be able to do.

  Sliding his hand into a small bag he carried, he pulled out a pack of chocolate bars, something he’d become addicted to when he was here before. He was halfway through the pack when he heard a laugh and recognized the voice. Sarah’s voice.

  Mies’s head shot up. She laughed as Nikolai and she walked from the building. Nikolai handed her a satchel, kissed her on the cheek, and walked back inside as she got into a taxi that had just pulled up.

  Nikolai and Sarah were living together? What did that mean? Were they together…lovers?

  He had trouble wrapping his mind around the idea. It made an odd sort of sense. If it were true, if they were together and in love, he should be happy for them.

  He should be happy for them. So why did his chest feel as if the universe had crushed it? Where did that lump come from that blocked his throat? And, what the fuck, vampires didn’t get headaches, but between his eyes the pressure and pain was so great, he tried to force it away by holding his hands against his temples.

  If Sarah and Nikolai had sought solace in each other’s arms, it was natural and perfect. No one else would have understood what they’d been through, so it was good. It was good.

  His heart was breaking. Mies realized now that it wasn’t just Nikolai, but any man she would be with would have hurt. He was in love with Sarah, and to see the woman he wanted more than this second chance at life with someone else made him die inside.

  It didn’t matter, it didn’t change anything. Now, he knew with absolute certainty, she was happy, she was with Nikolai, who was the finest man Mies had ever known, and she was living her desired human life.

  He would go from here. After sheltering the coming day in his basement, Mies would go to the other side of the world and begin anew. Why they’d sent him here again, he might never know. But this part of his mission, he got it. Move on. This part of his new life was finished.

  Several hours remained until he had to worry about sunrise, which was good since Mies could not use his air displacement to get back downtown to safety. He walked the entire distance at almost normal human speed because he was trying so hard to convince himself that he was okay with how things were. He didn’t have the heart, the interest, or the energy to fight for speed.

  Eighteen

  “I missed you all so much!” Naji yelled as she came through the door, her bags abandoned in the hallway, her arms out. Nikolai reached her first, with Sarah right behind him carrying Zia.

  Naji hugged and kissed Nikolai, then pushed him away to reach for the baby.

  “Ooh, gimme, gimme. Damn, she’s grown up so much in the past week!” Zia giggled as Naji hugged her close. “I don’t thi
nk I can go away again! How could I walk away from this little princess, eh, love?”

  Nikolai brought Naji’s bags inside and closed the door.

  “We’re heading to Shay’s to celebrate your return. Olivia is here to give us some blood and she’s going to babysit. Go get gussied up, I know you want to clean up after the flight, and we’ll go.”

  “Yes, yes, I’ve missed all of you, but I can go for a fine dinner and Shay’s yummy cocktails. I’ll be twenty minutes!”

  Naji was ready exactly twenty minutes later, sparkling in sequins and shiny eye shadow. She stopped to give Nikolai a deep kiss before they headed out.

  Throwing an arm over Sarah’s shoulder, Naji hugged her. “I don’t feel like I gave my man a proper hello. Later, he’ll really get an idea how much I missed him!”

  Nikolai nodded, a sly smile warning her that he was going to hold her to that.

  They piled into a taxi and Naji pulled out a flask studded with shiny stones.

  “Pretty,” Sarah commented.

  “Pretty? My darling, you don’t realize that these stones aren’t rhinestones or crystals, they’re diamonds! Right? My client has way too much money to burn. Luckily, I lit a match for him. Not like that, Nik, he just liked my skills. Artistic skills, baby, artistic skills!”

  Sarah pushed herself against the left side of the taxi while Naji apologized to Nikolai in case he misunderstood her comment about lighting her client’s fire.

  Shay’s stood on the very edge of the waterfront and featured a deck that went right up to the waterline. The outdoor tables were romantic, spaced apart for privacy, with its own bar.

  “We have reservations for the deck tonight.”

  “You spoil me, my friends, thank you. I promise I’m home for at least the next six weeks and I’ll pitch in and make up for my absence. I meant it, leaving that baby is awful. She’s growing so quickly.”