by Мишель Роуэн
He frowned.
“I’m kidding.” I bit my bottom lip nervously. “I didn’t even know you had one on you that night. Sorry. Humor at inappropriate times, that’s me.”
“So you will help me?”
I took a deep breath. “I don’t like it at all, but I did promise to help with whatever it is you need.”
That was as far away from a yes as I could get at the moment. How could he want to die? He had everything any man would want. Long life, good looks, a thriving business… a hot chick across the table from him. Hmmm. Well, three out of four ain’t bad.
“We will discuss this more at a later time,” he said. “For now, get some sleep. I will do what I can to look after your friend.”
“His name is Quinn, and he’s more of a passing acquaintance, really.” I looked around the busy club for a moment. “Fine, I’ll go, but I’ll be back first thing in the morning to make sure everything’s okay.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Do you think it will be?”
I bit my bottom lip again and looked away. “I’ll bring donuts.”
Chapter 11
First thing in the morning ended up being nine-forty-five. The alarm didn’t go off. I know—excuses, excuses.
I’d slept so soundly that I hadn’t even heard the phone ring. There were two messages on my voice mail at home, both from my mother. She wanted to know details about my travel plans for my cousin Missy’s wedding. When I was showing up, if I was bringing a date, and that she’d made my favorite chocolate-chip cookies for my arrival.
Tomorrow.
I almost died when I remembered that little detail. How time flies when you’re being hunted within an inch of your newly immortal life. I’d booked three days off work, not that that was an issue anymore. In twenty-four hours I was supposed to be on my merry way three hours north of Toronto to my hometown and the site of my cousin’s second wedding. I was one of the bridesmaids. I wondered if they’d believe I had the flu.
Or maybe I could just tell them the truth. I’d been bled nearly dry and made into a creature of the night, a bloodsucking monster who barely had a reflection anymore. I wondered if that meant I wouldn’t show up in the wedding photos. Or was it just a mirror thing? I should probably figure that out before I went anywhere. I had to get out of going. There was no other way. To be a bridesmaid in my current condition would be wrong on too many levels to list. I’d have to think about what I’d say later, though. Right now I had to deal with the Quinn situation.
I swung past Tim Hortons on the way back to Midnight Eclipse to buy a dozen donuts. I used to love donuts, but now that I seemed to be on a strictly liquid diet, their sweet, carb-filled aroma didn’t make me want to gorge myself on the first dozen and buy a second dozen to cover up my binge. Not that that had ever happened before. Right. Strawberry-filled seemed to be a pretty good choice for your average pastry-eating vampire. Red stuff in the middle and all that.
The taxi dropped me off in front of the tanning salon. I’d decided to take only taxis everywhere now, as long as I could afford it. Walking the streets alone, even in the blinding broad daylight, was making me more nervous with every passing day. The front door was locked, so I went around to the back. I was surprised to see George leaning against the wall outside, wearing very dark sunglasses that mirrored my own, and passionately smoking a cigarette. There were many butts strewn on the ground by his feet.
“You’re still here?” I said. “Don’t tell me you never left last night.”
I couldn’t see his eyes, but the expression on the rest of his face wasn’t pleasant. “Oh,
you’re back. Thanks so much for leaving us with that lunatic.”
“Lunatic? Quinn? What did he do?”
“The real question is, what didn’t he do?”
I shoved the box of donuts at George and pulled the door open all the way. I immediately heard banging—a loud, steady noise, as if somebody were playing around with a battering ram.
A tired-looking Zelda approached me. “Thank God you’re finally here. He’s been asking for you. Well, maybe yelling would be a better word.”
“Wonderful,” I said sarcastically. “Where’s Thierry?”
“I don’t know, but he wanted me to give you this.” Zelda grabbed my hand and placed a large, heavy silver gun with a black handle in it. A gun! I’d never even held one before.
“What the hell is this for?” I sputtered.
“For protection.”
“What do I look like? Dirty Harry?”
She walked wearily behind the bar, poured herself a shot of blood from what looked to be her personal flask, and drank it down. “I like you, Sarah. I really do. But you’re the one who brought him here and then left. It’s your turn to deal with him now. I’ve had it.”
She grabbed her blue cloth coat from behind the bar, threw it over her shoulders, and left the club through the back door.
I swallowed heavily. Oh well, at least George was still there for support.
“I’m gonna take off, too,” George said as he poked his head through the door, cigarette dangling from his lips.
I ran to the door before it closed and grabbed him by his nearly see-through white shirt and pulled him roughly back inside.
“Oh, no, you’re not.” I shook him by his shoulders. “You’re not leaving me here all alone.”
The cigarette was knocked from his lips and pinged off my thigh to the floor.
He blinked. “You’re kind of sexy when you’re all dominant and stuff.”
“Does that mean you’re going to stay?”
“Will you beat me up if I don’t?” He grinned at me.
“Probably.”
“Ooo.”
Behind us there was a loud banging coming from Thierry’s office. Gee, I wonder who that was?
“Sarah!” Quinn’s voice was hoarse as if he’d been yelling all night long. “Let me out of here right now!”
I turned back to George. “Why hasn’t he just busted out of there by now?”
“Reinforced door. It’s stronger than it looks. Kind of like you.”
“George, compliments will get you anywhere,” I said. “Too bad about the gay thing.”
I held the gun at my side like I’d seen cops do on television and walked toward the office.
I knocked lightly.
“Quinn?”
The replying bang sounded like Quinn had thrown his entire body at the door, shoulder first. “Let me the hell out of here!”
“Okay, you realize that probably isn’t going to happen, right?”
“Let me out now!”
I glanced at George, then back at the door. “Did you go deaf when you got bitten? Listen, nobody trusts you, especially me. If we let you out of there, you’ll tell your friends and then we’ll all be dead.”
It made a lot more sense to me now in the harsh light of day. Maybe I’d made a huge mistake by bringing Quinn back to the club. Uh, maybe! Okay, I’d definitely made a mistake, I’ll admit it. I didn’t deal well with violence, death, and other nasty things. In fact, I normally didn’t have to deal with those things at all. I guess my brain shut off its common sense part last night and I’d been running on pure stupidity. Didn’t make me a bad vampire, it just made me more likely to get dead.
But Quinn was my responsibility now, whether I liked it or not.
“Okay, Quinn, why don’t you take one huge chill pill? I want to talk to you, face-to-face.”
I waited for a response, but there was nothing.
“Just so you know,” I continued, trying to sound as strong and confident as the commercials for my underarm deodorant said I should feel, “I have a gun. A big one. I’ve used it before, and I don’t have a problem putting a big, gaping hole through your sorry ass if you give me any problems.” I glanced at George. He nodded with approval and even gave me a big thumbs-up. Again I waited for a response from Quinn. Finally he said, “Fine. Come on in and we’ll have a nice chat.”
Why was I
finding his sincerity so hard to swallow? Oh, it could be because of the extremely insincere tone of his voice. I clutched the gun tighter. It was starting to get heavy.
“It’s an automatic,” George whispered. “All you have to do is point and shoot.”
“Just like a camera,” I said. “Listen, George, if things go wrong in there, can you tell Thierry that I’m sorry for calling him an asshole last night?”
His eyes widened. “You called him an asshole? You are so my hero.”
I shrugged, then turned back toward the office. “Okay, Quinn,” I said louder. “Move away from the door.” Then added, “Or else.”
George slipped a key into the lock and turned it. I tensed, ready to aim quickly. I’d shoot for the legs if I had to. Could bullets kill vampires? I didn’t know for sure, although it was probably a safe bet that they’d hurt like hell. I turned the knob and pushed the door open a fraction so I could peer inside. Quinn was now seated on the sofa, his hands clasped, head lowered. It looked like he was praying. I took a step inside and George quickly closed the door behind me. I heard the lock click and my stomach sank. Thanks a lot, I thought. Throw me in with the lions, why don’t you?
Quinn raised his head slowly, until he was staring directly into my eyes. “So here we are,” he said drily. “Let’s talk.”
“How are you doing?”
“Great. Just great.”
He stared at the gun. I raised it higher so it was pointed directly at him.
“Why do I find it hard to believe that you’ve ever fired a gun before?” he asked.
“Because you’re a male chauvinist?”
“You don’t need it. I’m not going to try anything.”
“Sure. Why wouldn’t I believe you? You’ve been so friendly before this.”
He looked around. “Can I get out of here?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
I shrugged at him. “I just want to be greedy and keep you all to myself. It’s your charm. You’ve won me over.”
He blinked at me.
I shook my head. “I’m being sarcastic.”
Quinn looked down at the floor. “Can I ask you one question?”
“Ask away.”
“At the bar the other night, were you planning on killing me?”
“Pardon me?” I lowered the gun a bit.
“Biting me. Making me into a vampire,” he clarified.
“No.” I almost laughed. “Why would you think something like that?”
“Because that’s what vampires do. Bite people.”
“I haven’t bitten anyone yet, and I’m not planning on starting anytime soon. Do the words ‘gross’ and ’unhygienic‘ mean anything to you?”
He frowned. “You seemed so normal. I still can’t believe I had no idea what you were. Are.”
“Touch?.”
“So, what were you doing in there—in Clancy’s— the other night?”
“You probably wouldn’t believe me if I said I only wanted to have a drink.”
“Probably not. But what did I have to do with anything?”
I rolled my eyes. “Wow, self-centered much? Hate to burst your bubble, buddy, but I wasn’t out to get you, if that’s what you think. I felt like a drink, so I had a drink. I saw a cute guy at the end of the bar, so I flirted with the cute guy.”
“Cute guy?” He raised his eyebrows.
I felt an immediate flush rise in my cheeks. “I think we’re getting off topic here. This is supposed to be our little chat about why you can’t kill all of us.”
“You thought I was cute?”
“Trust me, I’m over it now. You’ve been a royal pain in my ass ever since I met you, so that takes a bit away from the whole package.”
“So, that man, the tall one dressed in black, is he your boyfriend?”
“Thierry’s a boy and he’s a friend. But not in the way you might think. What difference does that make?”
Quinn stood up. I took a step back and raised the gun, which I’d lowered almost all the way down to the floor.
“I’ve had a lot of time in here to think things through,” he said.
I felt every muscle in my body tense as he took another step nearer to me. “Why don’t you sit back down? It’s a comfy couch.”
He took a third step toward me. I didn’t want to shoot him, but it was feeling as if it might be easier and easier the nearer he got to me.
He stopped then and sighed. “Look, Sarah, I know that if it wasn’t for your help, I would have died last night.”
“And?”
“And I know you’re different from the rest of them.”
“The rest of who?”
“The vampires.”
“Hate to break it to you, but you’re a vampire now, too.”
A flash of pain went through his eyes, but it wasn’t physical pain this time, that much I could tell. “I know. But I don’t feel any different than when I was normal.”
“See? I tried to tell you.”
“But… I am different now. I have to be.” His voice was sad. “I just can’t be the same thing that killed my mother. I can’t be an evil, bloodsucking, dead thing.”
He lowered his head then and began to sob very quietly. The way men sob. Quiet, dry, and as discreet as possible. If I hadn’t been standing right in front of him, I might have missed the signs.
I swallowed hard, but didn’t put the gun down. “Quinn, it’s not true. You’re not like that. I’m not like that.”
“Dead things,” he said. “We’re disgusting dead things.”
“No, we’re not.” I closed the space between us, grabbed his hand, and thrust it against my chest so he could feel the steady beat of my heart. Immediately my heart increased to an embarrassed pounding as I realized I’d just forced him to touch my boob. I let go of him, but his hand didn’t move away. His breath was ragged as he lifted his gaze to meet mine.
“You’re right,” he said. “Definitely not dead.”
He leaned toward me with his hand still pressed warmly against my chest. I felt something tighten inside me as I stared into his intense blue eyes—it might have been desire or need or want. I didn’t know. All I knew was he was so cute and vulnerable and deadly. And I was going to kiss him. I really was.
The gun dropped to the floor as I reached for him. I felt a hand clamp down on my shoulder and I was lurched back a few feet out of arm’s reach of Quinn.
“What the hell?” I turned around.
Thierry stood behind me, looking very unhappy. He turned his gaze to Quinn and pushed him up against the wall behind the desk, knocking the wind out of him.
“Thierry, no!” I yelled. “He wasn’t going to hurt me.”
Thierry had his hands wrapped around Quinn’s neck and had lifted him a few inches off the ground. But he’d heard me. He slowly, very slowly, lowered Quinn back to the ground, where he then sputtered and coughed and sank to the floor in a heap.
“What did you think you were doing coming in here all by yourself?” Thierry said to me.
“I’ve never witnessed such stupidity.”
I felt my face redden. “I had it under control.”
“Have you forgotten so soon what he is? A hunter. A hunter of your kind. Open your eyes, little girl, or you will not live long enough to reap the benefits of what you now are.”
“I said I had it under control.”
Quinn slowly got to his feet. “I won’t say a word to my father or the others, I swear it. I owe both of you my life.”
Thierry stared at him. “Words. Only words. I have no assurance that what you say is true.”
He shrugged. “Then I don’t know what to tell you.”
“I will give you something more than words,” Thierry said. “I will give you a promise. That if you walk out of here and it leads to danger befalling any of us, any of my customers, my employees, or Sarah herself, then I will hold you responsible.”
“I understand—”
“You
understand nothing,” Thierry snapped. “I will hold you personally responsible.
Therefore, anything in your life that you hold dear, any person you have known, any friends, lovers, or family members—I will hunt them all down and destroy them. Words are meaningless unless you have the will to back them up, so you would do well to mark my words, hunter.”
Quinn’s face had paled considerably, as I was sure mine had, too. Thierry could be a scary man when he wanted to be, that was for sure.
George walked into the room and looked at each of us in turn, ending with Thierry.
“Hey, boss,” he said as he lit a cigarette and exhaled the smoke out slowly, “did Sarah really call you an asshole before?”
“George!” I moaned. “Now? You have to bring that up now?”
“Is this a bad time?” He didn’t wait for an answer, or for that matter, a response to his first question. “I just figured that since I haven’t heard any shooting in here, this might be a good time for me to take off.”
“Go,” Thierry said to him, but he was staring at me. I knew it even without looking because I could feel a distinct burning sensation on the side of my face.
George smiled and blew me a kiss, then he left. It was silent for a moment until Thierry spoke again.
“Do we understand each other?” he asked softly.
“Yes, absolutely,” I said.
“I was talking to the hunter.”
I noticed for the first time since I’d entered the room that the fang marks on Quinn’s neck had faded so much that I could barely see them anymore. Thierry’s powerful blood at work again. I wondered how soon he’d lose his reflection.
Quinn didn’t flinch from Thierry’s fierce gaze. “Yes, I think we understand each other just fine.”
Thierry studied him for a moment longer. “Then go. I won’t try to stop you.”
Quinn started for the door, but then turned back to look at me. “I meant what I said. I won’t say anything.”
I forced a smile and nodded at him. As soon as he was gone, I looked at Thierry.
“Sorry. I know it was stupid.”
He sighed. “And yet you did it, anyhow.”
“I had the gun you left for me.”
“The gun was not meant as artificial courage. It was not so you could come in here and wave it around like you know what you’re doing. Besides, the gun is now on the floor.”
