by Gary Jonas
As we walked to the exit, Amanda kept tossing glances back toward the restroom. Hot guys tended to make her stupid, but only when they didn’t notice her.
“Relax,” I said. “Any guy who looks that good is bound to be gay.”
She sighed. “Story of my life.”
CHAPTER SIX
What time should you call a vampire?
I decided 9:00 was as good a time as any. The sun was down, and he’d have time to get up out of his coffin, brush the dirt from his clothes, and maybe go out and kill someone before the bars got too busy. I had no idea what to expect. I stared at the magnetic card, which I’d stuck to my refrigerator, and pulled out my cellphone. Amanda and Chantelle were in the living room staring at me from the sofa. I poured myself a glass of water and leaned against the kitchen counter.
“Is it time yet?” Chantelle asked.
“What if he’s in L.A.?” I asked.
“He’s in Denver,” Chantelle said. “He was in Los Angeles last, so he still has that number. I want to talk to him, but I’m afraid.”
“He can’t bite you through the phone,” I said.
“I’m worried that if I hear his voice, I’ll want to run to him and have him turn me the rest of the way. Or that I’ll try to bite you or Amanda.”
I rolled my eyes. She thought she could bite me? It cost me nothing to let her believe that, so I didn’t point out the fact that I could snap her neck before she took three steps toward me.
“No time like the present,” I said and placed the call.
The phone rang four times then went to voice mail.
“Hello, Victor. I would appreciate a return call when you get this message. Chantelle says hello.” I left my number even though he could simply press a button to call me back. It was possible that he had an older cell, though I doubted it.
A few minutes later, a text arrived: Who are you and how did you get this number?
I typed, Call me, and hit send.
The phone rang.
I let it ring three times before I answered. “Is this Victor?” I asked.
“With whom do I have the pleasure of conversing?” His voice was heavily accented, but it wasn’t quite British. I couldn’t place it.
“You already know my name. Kelly Chan. I have Chantelle here with me, and—”
“And who, pray tell, is Chantelle?”
“Chantelle West. The girl you bit two nights ago.”
“Impossible,” he said. “I was out of the country two days ago.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“That is your prerogative, of course. How did you acquire this number?”
“From your butler.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Geoffrey, your Watcher, who near as I can tell is Alfred to your Batman.”
“Geoffrey Windsor?”
“One and the same,” I said.
“You should refrain from believing a word that man speaks.”
“Would you like to talk to Chantelle?” I asked.
“I am unacquainted with anyone named Chantelle, and whatever fabrications Mr. Windsor placed upon your table should be swept into the refuse bin without delay. Discard this number, and please delete it from your telephone’s history. Good night.”
“Wait,” I said. “Is there a cure for vampirism?”
The line was silent for a few seconds. “Is the number you’re using valid for a later call?”
“Yes, but—”
He hung up.
I turned to look at Chantelle and Amanda. “That was weird,” I said.
“How so?” Amanda asked.
“Victor the Vampire claims not to know Chantelle, but he does know Geoffrey and thinks he’s a liar.”
“Geoffrey is his Watcher,” Chantelle said.
“Like on Buffy, but not for a Slayer,” Amanda said.
“Geoffrey is as much Giles as you are Willow,” I said.
“You’ve seen Buffy?” Amanda asked with a grin.
“Jonathan used to have me watch TV shows and movies with him.”
“Who’s Jonathan?” Chantelle asked.
“He was a friend. He’s been dead for years.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right. That was a long time ago.”
My phone rang.
I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered it anyway. “Hello?”
“Miss Chan, this is Victor.”
“Your voice sounds different,” I said because it did. He’d lost the weird accent.
“Are you alone?”
“No.”
“Call me back on this number when you are.”
And he hung up.
“Who was that?” Amanda asked.
I shrugged. “Said he was Victor, but I think something strange is going on here.” I looked at Chantelle, who was balanced between life and death. “Stranger,” I corrected. “I’m going to run to Safeway for some milk. Do either of you need anything?”
“You should call Victor back,” Chantelle said. “Tell him I need him. Tell him I’m hungry.”
“You have his number,” I said. “You call him.”
I headed to the front door.
Amanda rose and met me before I could reach the knob.
“What’s the deal?” she asked.
“I don’t know yet. I’ll be back in a few.”
“Is everything all right?”
I shook my head and whispered, “I think we’re being played.”
Five minutes later, I was in my truck heading down Sheridan toward I-70. Traffic wasn’t too bad, but it was after nine at night. At a stoplight, I pulled out my phone and called the last number Victor had used. He answered on the first ring.
“Are you alone now?” he asked.
“Yes. I’d like to meet you.”
“That won’t be happening, Miss Chan.”
“You’ve lost your affected accent.”
“I’ve also tossed my old phone into the Platte River. Thanks to you, I’m in the process of moving to a new home.”
“First, I call bullshit. Second, the sound of trumpets you hear in the background sums up exactly how many fucks I give.”
“I don’t hear any trumpets,” he said. “Oh.”
“What did I step in here?” I asked.
“Nothing you can’t scrape off your boot right now. Steer clear of Geoffrey Windsor, Miss Chan. He’s likely to get you killed.”
“How would your Watcher get me killed?”
“You’re under the impression that as a Watcher, he answers to me.”
“That’s right.”
“That’s not how it works.”
“I hope you’re not going to get biblical on me and say Watchers are fallen angels.”
He laughed. “Not even close.”
“Then how does it work?” The light changed and I started driving again.
“Watchers move in shadows, and they sometimes hunt people like me.”
“So he’s one of the good guys,” I said.
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“Well of course you wouldn’t if he’s hunting you.”
“You know the old saying, ‘who watches the watchmen’?”
“Why did you call me?” I asked.
“Because I was told you’re worthy.”
“Who told you that?”
“My butler. I don’t call him a butler, of course. He’s my companion.”
“So you’re a gay vampire.”
He laughed. “Not by any definition. I’m not happy, nor am I homosexual, though I suspect Ben would fit both definitions.”
I pulled into the parking lot of a Burger King and wheeled into a spot. “Does he wear a leather jacket?”
“Yes, he was following Geoffrey on my behalf today. He did some preliminary research for me. You are Kelly Chan. You operate the West Side Dojo where you teach self-defense, but you carry yourself differently than most martial arts instructors.”
“How so?”<
br />
“Ben didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t ask. You were with Amanda West, and her sister, Chantelle West.”
“So you have heard of her.”
“Yes.”
“Chantelle is trapped between life and death.”
“Most likely the result of a death spell.”
“And Geoffrey?”
“He and his team of Watchers have been after me for the past decade. They are either using your witch friend and her sister, and you I might add, or your friends are in on the plan to flush me out.”
“So they can rid the world of a vampire?”
“I don’t kill people, Miss Chan. I’m able to get as much blood as I require without harming anyone.”
“I don’t care,” I said.
“Ben’s impression was that you are in the employ of Amanda West.”
“She’s a friend, but she didn’t say anything about working with Geoffrey.”
“Perhaps she doesn’t know. You may wish to give her the benefit of the doubt. You know her. I don’t. I guarantee you that Chantelle is in on the plan to push me into the open.”
“She tried to kill herself in front of me. Claims she’s in love with you.”
“I’ve never met her, so love would be a bit difficult to achieve. And if she’s using a death spell, she’d have to completely sever her head in order to actually die. Regardless, they’re using you.”
“To call you.”
“Yes, and I called you back, which may have given them time to get my position from the GPS, so I lost the phone and moved to a new location. They tried to get too fancy. I wasn’t sure they had my number until you called.”
“So they could have tracked you without your knowledge.”
“I think they did track me.”
“So now you’re on the move again.”
“Indeed.”
“And they may be following you.”
“Not now. I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”
“So they want you dead,” I said. “Why not just hire me to kill you? I’m good at that sort of thing.”
“They don’t want me dead just yet. I have something they want.”
“What’s that?”
“Ben may think you’re trustworthy because he met your gaze, but I’m not so quick to trust. You don’t need to know anything more, Miss Chan. Tell Chantelle the game is over. When Geoffrey gets in touch again, tell him you’re not interested in helping him.”
“Why would they go to so much effort to involve me?” I asked.
“They must think you’re special somehow. Ben didn’t find enough information about you to suggest what that might be. If you step away now, I won’t bother him with the research project. Should you choose to remain in the game, I’ll have him find your secret, and I may be forced to kill you.”
“I thought you said you don’t kill people.”
“I haven’t taken a life in fifty years, Miss Chan. I don’t wish to start now, but the Watchers may force my hand. I’d like to know how they found me so quickly. I could leave the country, but I have business here, and it may be simpler to destroy them and be done with it. But that could lead to more Watchers on my trail.” He sighed. “I have much to consider. I’m offering you the opportunity to back out now before you’re involved to the point where I have to deal with you directly.”
“Don’t hang up,” I said.
“Why not? We’re done here.”
“Not yet. I have questions. If you’ll answer them, I can make an informed decision about whether to go after you or to let you go.”
“If you come after me, I won’t offer you another chance to back out.”
“A kernel of truth here or there could mislead someone, though.”
“Explain.”
“You’re calling me from a burner phone.”
“That’s right.”
“You have more burners.”
“Indeed I do.”
“So you could be setting them up too. Call me tomorrow night. I’ll know more about what’s going on then.”
“Are you offering to give me information?”
“I didn’t say that. You’re a vampire, and while I’ve never met a vampire before, I’m going to fall back to the default position of vampires are evil. Still, if you were leaving a trail of bloodless bodies lying around, that would make the news, so I’m guessing you’re being honest about not killing unless necessary.”
“It saves me any undue attention.”
“I’ll let you know if I’m in the game tomorrow night.”
“That will be cutting it close,” Victor said.
“How do you figure?”
“They’ll need to make a move on me tomorrow night or that death spell could turn permanent.”
“They can cancel the spell.”
“That’s what they think, but if they used the spell I let them discover, they’ll be in for a nasty surprise.”
“And you think they’re using it?”
“You said Chantelle tried to kill herself in front of you. Was it a serious attempt?”
“It seemed like it.”
“Then yes, they’ll be in for a surprise.”
And he hung up.
I sat there wondering why vampires would even bother with magic and spells. But I suppose if you’re immortal, you might want to learn various disciplines to keep things interesting for centuries on end. That’s the problem with living forever; it would be too easy to get bored.
As for the surprise, I told myself to be ready for anything.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Your sister is being played,” I said as I sat on the couch across from Amanda.
Amanda paused the movie she was watching, some romantic comedy. Chantelle was in the bathroom with the door open. She leaned close to the mirror and applied makeup, trying to cover the black eye.
“Played how?” Amanda asked.
“Pavlenco set her up.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
“Not the way you think.”
“Do tell.”
I glanced over at Chantelle. She was still messing with the makeup.
“Pavlenco says he’s never met Chantelle, and that he set up whoever she’s working with to find a death spell, but that it doesn’t work the way they think.”
Amanda raised an eyebrow. “And you believe him?”
“He seemed sincere to me. He said Windsor is trying to flush him out and he thinks Chantelle is working with the Watchers.” I held her gaze for a time. “As you’re my friend, I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt here because if I thought you were pulling me into something big without warning me…”
“Chantelle called me,” Amanda said. “You know what I know. Well, maybe more now.”
Chantelle wandered back into the living room. “You don’t have much makeup, and what you have won’t work for me.” She looked at Amanda and at me. We stared back. “What?”
“Sit down,” I said.
“Okay,” she said slowly. She took a seat on the opposite end of the couch and looked at me warily.
“I don’t like people who lie to me,” I said.
“Who does?” Chantelle asked.
“I just talked to Victor Pavlenco.”
“And?”
I stared at her. “He says he’s never met you.”
“Then he’s lying.”
“Or you are.”
“Why would I lie?”
“To try to get me and your sister to help flush Pavlenco out.”
Chantelle blinked a few times, but held her poker face better than I expected. Then her expression sank. “First of all, I didn’t call you. I called my sister.”
“Do you actually know Pavlenco?” I asked.
“Yes. He turned me partway into a fucking vampire! It’s not like I chose this!”
“So why would he say he’s never heard of you?”
“Maybe he doesn’t want you to be part of this.”
“And evidently he doesn’t w
ant you to be part of it either.”
“We’ll see about that!” She dug in her pocket for her cell phone. “I’ll call him right now, and I’ll put it on speaker.” She placed a call. She punched the speaker icon and the sound of a ringing phone filled the room.
A deep male voice answered, “Hello, Chantelle. I was hoping you’d call.”
“Hi, Victor,” she said. “I want you to finish what you started.”
“Geoffrey told me he saw you, and you’re with your sister and a dangerous woman.”
I didn’t recognize the voice, but it certainly wasn’t the person I’d talked with earlier.
“That’s right,” Chantelle said. “Amanda and Kelly.”
“You have me on speaker.”
“Indeed she does,” Amanda said. “How dare you put my sister in this position!”
“Let me handle this,” I said.
Amanda fumed.
“I trust the person claiming she’ll handle this is Kelly Chan, Sekutar warrior, formerly of Dragon Gate Industries?”
“You’ve done your homework,” I said.
“Oh, I know all about you, Miss Chan,” he said. “You don’t survive for centuries unless you know what you’re doing.”
“What did you do to my sister?” Amanda asked.
“I was turning her, and she left before the task was completed. Surely she told you that.”
“Amanda,” I said, “that’s enough. I’ve got this.”
“You don’t have anything,” Chantelle said. “Victor, I want you to finish it.”
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“No, she’s not,” I said. “You had—”
“I do!” Chantelle screamed.
“Adults are trying to talk here,” I said and reached over to stab my fingers into a particular pressure point on her neck.
Chantelle grimaced, and her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. That nerve center caused a lot of pain, but wasn’t particularly dangerous. I touched another pressure point to ease her suffering.
“Fuck you!” she said. “That really fucking hurt!”
“And it will hurt again if you don’t shut your mouth.”
She closed her mouth and stared at me with widened eyes.
Amanda shook her head.
“You’re wasting my time,” the man claiming to be Victor said.
