by Gayla Twist
“That’s none of your damn business,” Ilona snapped. And then, without another word, she disappeared into the night.
I was about to launch into a tirade about the vampiress, but Dorian lifted a finger to his perfect lips. “She may still be listening,” he said in a voice that was as quiet as a breeze. Then, raising his voice to a normal volume, he added, “Perhaps we should finish our conversation inside?” He gestured toward Uncle Kevin’s house.
“I’m not sure my uncle’s home,” I told him. I wasn’t one-hundred percent clear about the rules for vampires entering a mortal’s home. I lived there too, but was my invitation good enough?
“It’s not a problem,” Dorian said, offering me his arm. It was a good thing I was a fan of watching historical dramas so that I knew how to loop my hand through and we could walk together up the steps to the porch.
“I’ve been admiring the improvements your uncle has done to your home,” he said as we stepped over the threshold, Dorian showing no reservations. I wondered if his conversation was still for Ilona’s benefit. “It’s as if he has a whole new attitude about life.” His smile let me know he was intending to give me a compliment.
“It appears he has a new lease on life,” I said, playing along as I shut and locked the front door.
We both took a seat on the new couch in the living room. Since Kevin had given up gambling, he had money for a few extras around the house. “I’d offer you something to drink, but I don’t think we have anything you’d like.”
Dorian shrugged, and then reached for my hand.
“So what’s the deal with that Iona chick?” I asked.
“Ilona,” he corrected me. “She’s…” He pursed his lips together and squinted while he thought about it. “She just has an overdeveloped sense of…”
“Sticking her nose in other people’s business?” I suggested.
He gave a small laugh. “Yes. There’s quite a bit of that.”
“And you used to date her?” I raised both my eyebrows, trying to encourage him to be open about his past.
“Yes,” he admitted, looking a little embarrassed. “But it was a long time ago. Before you were even born.”
“And then you dumped her and now she’s pissed?”
“No. Not exactly,” he said, looking down at his fingers intertwined with mine. “It’s a long story.”
I shrugged. “We’ve got eternity.”
“Okay. Fine,” he said, grudgingly. He tilted his head back and briefly contemplated the ceiling. “It was maybe thirty years ago. Ilona first pursued my cousin, Jessie. But he wasn’t interested. Then she turned her attentions to me.”
“And you were interested?” I asked. It was no wonder that Dorian wasn’t attracted to me if Ilona was the kind of chick he found appealing.
It was his turn to shrug. “She is rather attractive. And…” He struggled with his words. “And my taste used to be less discriminating.” He gave my hand a squeeze and shot me a half-smile, his gray eyes hopeful.
I wanted to just forget about the whole Ilona situation and get back to kissing Dorian. But that was mortal Haley’s way of thinking. Undead Haley didn’t let stuff slide just because she was hot for a guy. “So why exactly is she hanging around Tiburon now? And how does she even know about me? Becoming a maker isn’t like having a baby. Is it? You don’t turn a mortal and then announce it on Google Groups or anything like that.”
“No.” He shook his head. “It’s just…” He gave me a pained look and I could tell he was thinking of hedging.
I looked straight into his eyes. “It’s probably a good idea to go with the truth.”
Dorian sighed, his broad shoulders slumping for a moment. “Fine. After you rejected me at your prom, I flew back to Europe to try to… Well,” he stammered, “I flew to Vienna to try to get my head together.”
It hadn’t been prom. It was Winter Formal. And I hadn’t rejected him. Not exactly. But that was beside the point. “And then what?” I asked. “How does Ilona fit into all of this?”
Dorian closed his eyes. “I may have gone home with Ilona after a party one night. She actually wanted to… Well, you know.” He squirmed a little and tried to pull his hand away from mine, but I wouldn’t let him. “So anyway, I was really confused and angry because of the way you were acting after…” He opened one eye and peeked in my direction. “I mean, I know it’s confusing and scary when you first become a member of the undead. And I’ve accepted the fact that you don’t feel connected to me as your maker. But after we kissed at your prom, I just thought...” He turned away from me. “I thought that maybe things would be different after that.”
He had felt it too! When we kissed, Dorian had felt the electricity pass between us. It wasn’t just me carrying a torch for him. He was practically confessing that he liked me. I wanted to shout with happiness. I wanted to fling my arms around him and lock our lips together. But before I could say anything, he kept talking.
“Anyway,” Dorian continued, “I couldn’t go through with… what Ilona wanted. And instead I may have ended up babbling a bit about you.”
“You did what?” I asked, mentally slamming on the breaks. Had I heard him correctly?
Dorian cringed a little. “I told her about you and… you know…” he faltered.
“No, I don’t know,” I said. “I wasn’t there. So I’m still confused. Why is it, exactly, that you were talking to her about me?”
“Because…” he began. “I needed someone to talk to. I didn’t understand what I was feeling or why you were acting the way you were acting. And I needed to just purge myself of all these confused feelings and...”
“So you decided to just blab everything about me to that nosey psycho?” I really couldn’t believe my ears. “You couldn’t have purged to your cousin or aunt or some other person who wasn’t a crazy, undead stalker?”
“Well what about you?” His temper was rising. “You weren’t exactly acting sane,” he informed me. “Or even close to pleasant.” We were no longer holding hands and I couldn’t remember who had pulled away first.
“Gee, sorry,” I exclaimed, “I’d just died and found out that I was a vampire so I was a little freaked out. I apologize if I was having a little trouble dealing with the concept.” I shook my head back-and-forth several times. “I can’t believe you were gossiping about me all over Europe. And I know you’re not telling me the full truth. You obviously did something to piss that chick off or she wouldn’t have flown all the way over here to spy on us. I swear to God, you’re as bad as Tommy.”
“You’re no better,” Dorian informed me. “What were you doing with that mortal boy, anyway?”
“None of your business,” I said, suddenly feeling wildly defensive.
“Don’t think I don’t remember him.” Dorian’s eyes were flashing. “He’s that brute from the Christmas Eve party. He’s the one who push you down.” His hands were balled into fists, as if he wanted to punch the mere memory of Tommy. “Along with whatever else he’s done to you. He’s the same boy. Isn’t he?”
“So what if he is?” I asked, folding my arms tightly across my chest. “What’s it to you? You don’t even want to be my maker anyway.”
“You can’t kill him, you know,” he told me. “Not without causing a lot of trouble.”
“I have no intention of killing Tommy,” I informed him. Who the hell did Dorian think he was, prying into my personal affairs? Tommy was none of his damn business. He had no reason to be bent out of shape like I was about Ilona. It wasn’t like Tommy was spying on him and threatening him in some passive-aggressive way.
Okay, Tommy had sort of threatened him, but that was kind of like a Chihuahua barking at a lion.
“So is it your intention to make that boy your pet?” Dorian asked, raising his eyebrows in a very superior manner.
I shook my head. How could I love Dorian so much and still desperately want to ram a stake through his heart? “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Chapter 17
Dorian
I have never been a jealous person. I was born into a life of privilege, so I’ve never really had any need to be jealous. Not in good conscience, that is. Maybe I’ve had my little envies over the years. That’s only human nature. But I’ve never been jealous that someone might steal something away from me. To be honest, I’ve never felt like anybody could.
That all changed when it came to Haley. I don’t know what it was, but I couldn’t stand the thought of Haley being with that brute of a boy. All day as I lay in my coffin, I thought about the two of them together. On a rational level, I knew that Haley was just toying with the idiot for reasons that she refused to divulge. But on a different level — one built on some previously unrecognized insecurities — the thought of him putting his hands on her was making me insane.
If she wanted revenge on the brute, then there were plenty of ways to exact it without having to hold his hand and make eyes at him. Unless that’s what she wanted to do. One could never tell with young women.
As soon as I could feel the light outside starting to dwindle I was out of my coffin and getting dressed. Things had not ended well with Haley the previous night and I had stormed out of Uncle Kevin’s house rather abruptly. I needed to talk to her. I needed to explain that Ilona meant nothing to me. She had never meant anything to me. The only reason that I had been with her in the first place was out of boredom. Eternity was a very long time to fill and that’s why vampires had a tendency to run amok. In a few decades Haley would begin to understand. But I couldn’t wait that long for her to forgive me. Every second that we weren’t together felt like an eternity.
I hurried to Haley’s house, convinced that if I could just speak to her while we were both being rational, then I could clear up any misunderstanding that had arisen with the appearance of Ilona. But much to my annoyance, Haley wasn’t there. Nor was she at her place of employment. It seemed early for Haley to be cruising the bars for something to eat, but I checked anyway. She wasn’t there either. Where the devil had she gone?
I returned to the castle to fill my belly. I’d left the house in such a rush that I hadn’t used common sense precautions. It was a good thing I hadn’t run into Haley’s little boyfriend while I was out or I would have had a challenging time controlling my temper.
As I sat in the salon, sipping a cocktail, I thought things over. There was Erika’s house. Haley might have gone to see her. I felt a pang of alarm. My scion did still have an open invitation to that abode. I immediately leapt to my feet. Was she really so stupid as to go back inside Erika’s home? There was no telling with a fledgling vampire.
I gulped the rest of my drink and headed to my room. I had no idea where Erika lived. It was time to do something very modern and deploy social media. The very idea made me shudder.
It turned out the internet wasn’t as helpful as I’d thought it would be. I couldn’t really figure out how Facebook worked. I couldn’t look at most people’s listings. Finally, in frustration, I rang for Hugo.
“Yes, Mr. Wanderlind,” the giant said as he entered my room.
“What do you know about social media?” I asked him. When he only responded with a stony stare, I expanded my question with, “Do you use Facebook?”
“No.” Hugo shook his head. “I have never felt the urge. But my Gloria has a page so that she can keep in contact with her family in Budapest.”
“Summon her,” I commanded. I realized that I was embarrassed, so I may have come off as a little arrogant. “Please,” I quickly added.
The giant disappeared and returned a few minutes later with the dark haired woman I had seen in the kitchen. “You need my help, sir?” she asked. She was diminutive, even without the massive Hugo standing at her side for comparison.
“How does this whole social media thing work?” I demanded, feeling extra foolish now that there was a lady present. “I can’t seem to find anything I need.”
“What are you looking for?” she asked, tucking her black hair behind her ears as she bent to examine my laptop screen.
“There’s a young woman who lives in Tiburon. Her name is Erika and I need to find her address,” I told her. “But this Facebook won’t tell me anything,” I said, wrinkling my nose in disgust.
“Let me just log into my account,” Gloria said as she typed a few words on the keyboard. I didn’t even know that I needed an account. I thought Facebook was just there for people to use. Gloria glanced up at me. “Do you know her last name?”
I thought it over. “No.”
“That will make it a lot harder,” she told me, chewing the side of her lower lip. “Is there anything you can tell me about her? Does she go to Tiburon High?”
“Yes. I think so. I’m pretty sure she does.” I actually had no idea, but didn’t want look completely foolish.
“A lot of young people aren’t using Facebook anymore,” Gloria said as she tapped away. “They’ve moved on to other sites. But maybe I can cross reference her name with her high school and come up with something.”
I had to give her credit; Gloria did find some information on Erika, but nothing as helpful as an address. “I guess her parents did a good job teaching her about privacy,” Gloria remarked as she scanned the screen for anything helpful.
“Damn it!” I growled, restraining the urge to chuck the laptop across the room. With all the young mortals over-sharing online, I had to try track down the only one with parental supervision.
“Do you want me to keep trying?” Gloria asked. I could tell my small outburst had made her uncomfortable, but she handled it well.
“No,” I snapped. “Thank you,” I quickly added in a kinder tone. “I appreciate your help. You may return to whatever you were doing.”
Hugo and Gloria wasted no time in leaving the room.
I quickly shrugged into my long coat and wrapped a scarf around my neck. It was winter in Ohio, after all. If I was going to be knocking on doors to check on the safety of a mortal family, I needed to look like I was aware of the cold.
As I flew over the small woods that surrounded the Vanderlind Castle, I wondered about my cousin, Jessie. How close was he to his giant? I’d been making a bit of a fool of myself in front of Hugo lately. I really didn’t want to give Jessie any additional ammunition for laughing at me. He’d have enough once he found out that I’d become a maker and then fallen for my progeny.
I decided to drop back by Haley’s house and start my search all over again. I doubted my scion had ventured any further than some of the surrounding small towns. And it was a good thing I did swing by because I just managed to catch Haley heading out with that horrible boy again. I couldn’t believe she had another date with him. I felt like a fool for having been worried about her.
They drove to a local fast food restaurant. I had been turned into a vampire before the concept of modern fast food existed. I’d never even tasted a French fry. I found the whole industry fascinating. Sometimes I would sneak out to a late-night burger shop, go up to the counter and order. It always astounded me how quickly my food request would be filled, all piping hot and bubbling with grease. I never attempted to eat any of it. That would have spoiled the illusion. I usually just sat in the restaurant for a short while and then donated the food to the first local vagrant I found lurking in a neighboring alley.
I wondered if Haley had tried eating mortal food since her transformation. If she hadn’t, then she was in for an unpleasant surprise. I think the one thing that vampires seemed to miss most about the mortal world was the food. I can’t begin to list how many times I had been at a dinner party only to have the conversation devolve into the undead reminiscing about what used to be their favorite meals.
Watching Haley’s date eat was rather disgusting. He shoveled food in his mouth so quickly and at such a high volume that I wondered if he actually felt the need to breathe. I guess mortals didn’t exactly linger over fast food but it seemed like most of them took the time to chew. I los
t my appetite for any type of sustenance just watching him through the window. How was Haley ever attracted to this type of male? It was no wonder she had no interested in me, if she found Tommy appealing. His manners were little better than if he’d been raised by wolves.
Other young people joined Haley and her date. There seemed to be some kind of small drama playing out between Haley and another girl who looked familiar. I had probably seen her at the mortal Christmas Eve party. I couldn’t tell exactly what was going on, but there seemed to be conflict over Tommy. This perplexed me greatly. Were things really so desperate in the small towns of Ohio that a philistine like Tommy was considered a prize? It was a sad commentary on the modern world.
Eventually Haley and Tommy had to leave because the other girl was causing a scene. There was some shouting, but I wasn’t exactly sure why. I followed Haley and her date as they drove out of town, heading for an isolated road in the woods. The remoteness of the location made me uncomfortable. I couldn’t decide if I was more anxious about Haley trying to kill him or Tommy trying to kiss her. Either way, I had no intention of letting it happen.
After Tommy pulled the car over and turned off the engine, I crept up on them so I could try to overhear their conversation. I knew I was crossing the line into stalker territory, but I tried to justify my actions by pretending that I was concerned for the mortal’s wellbeing. Nothing could be further from the truth, but it was a convenient excuse.
Even with my excellent night vision, I couldn’t exactly see what was going on inside the car. Thanks to the light cast by the moon Haley and Tommy appeared more as silhouettes sitting side-by-side. The boy kept leaning in and then Haley would gently push him away. I felt my hands ball into fists. But at least she wasn’t eager to kiss him. That would have been horrible to watch.
Eventually the brute kind of lunged for her. On a rational level, I knew Haley could easily subdue him. She was a vampire, after all. But I wasn’t exactly thinking rationally. Tommy was just a plebeian. He was a flea on a dog’s butt cheek. He wasn’t good enough for any young lady, let alone a member of the undead. And Haley wasn’t meant to be with him. She was destined to be my mate. I just had to convince her first.
