Andrej stayed in his room resting until late in the afternoon. He walked out and saw the windows in the living room darkened to block out the afternoon sun for him, then headed to the kitchen where Anne-Marie was chopping vegetables and said to her, “How are you feeling?”
His silent approach startled Anne-Marie, and she whipped around, brandishing the knife she’d been using to chop vegetables, ready to face down a possible attacker.
“Jesus!” she screamed when she saw it was Andrej and put her hand to her heart.
“Hang on, it’s just me,” he said, laughing.
“Don’t do that!”
“Do what?”
“Sneak up on me.”
“Sorry, I didn’t realize I was sneaking. Little jumpy after last night?”
She was still trying to steady her breathing. Waving the knife in his direction, she said, “Stay back, just stay away from me today.”
“You didn’t cut yourself, did you?”
She narrowed her eyes, glaring at him. “Sorry to disappoint you, but no, I didn’t. And stop laughing at me.”
Still grinning, he hopped up and sat on the counter next to her. He was staring at her, trying to get her to look at him to assess how she was recovering.
“Don’t look at me like that. If you’re hungry you can just take yourself downtown and find some tender morsel to chew on.”
“I never chew my food, I’m on a liquid diet.”
“Oh for chrissake. And quit smoking in the kitchen when I’m fixing food.”
“All right, all right.” He slid off the counter and went back out to the living room. She was back to her old self, if a touch more irascible. Scaring her half to death sometimes had that effect. When she came out and sat down in the chair facing him where Alexandra had sat a couple nights earlier, he put out the stub of one cigarette and lit another.
“So?” Anne-Marie said.
“So, I saw them. They won’t be coming back here.”
“Meaning?”
He was leaning back comfortably with his feet up on the coffee table in front of him. He looked at her and took a drag on his cigarette.
“Meaning I had to get rid of her, and her friend should be cleared out of Prague by now.”
Anne-Marie raised one eyebrow. “Oh.”
He tipped his head to the side to look at her. “You knew this was a possibility. Surely you don’t disapprove?”
She shook her head. “No, no. Your call, always. Especially after seeing them the other night.”
He smiled a little. “Good to know you still trust me.”
The look she gave him was all the answer he needed, and he wasn’t sure the effects of yesterday were quite worn off. The smile faded from his face as he remembered where he’d been while she was in St. Tropez. He was lost in thought for a few minutes, not paying attention to the cigarette burning down in his hand. Anne-Marie, however, was watching and grabbed an ashtray just in time to catch the long ash that fell before it reached the carpet.
She saw the shadow cross his face while he debated how much to tell her. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
He tried to frame the words, but an inner voice stopped him from telling her. There was no need for her to know yet, there was nothing she could to do either help or hinder him, and knowing might make her ambivalent about continuing on with him. Honesty wasn’t always the best policy although he knew she suspected his actions weren’t always what could be termed ‘honorable.’ He decided it was best to give her a brief outline of the coming events that evening, in the unlikely event anything did go wrong.
“I have to go out to the countryside tonight, see those guys from the New York job again. I think my relationship with them may have to be terminated.” He watched her face to make sure she picked up his meaning, then waited to see if she would say anything, but she just nodded. He looked down at the cigarette he was holding, reached over and knocked the ash off into the ashtray.
“You never say what you think,” he said.
Anne-Marie looked at him, caught off-guard by the comment. “Does it matter?”
He was quiet again for a minute. “Yes, I think I’d like to know.”
She inhaled, looking down at the floor for a moment before answering. “Andrej, I know what you are, and I know that means you sometimes have to do things that…” she struggled for the right words, “well, things that put you in situations most people never have to face.”
He smiled ever so slightly with his head back on the sofa.
“I trust your judgment completely. Please don’t doubt me, I’m here for you. Since you can read my mind, you know this.”
“I think I just wanted to hear you say it.”
She looked unsure what to make of this and frowned. “This is going to be bad tonight, isn’t it?” she asked.
He tilted his head side-to-side a little as if to say ‘maybe.’
“What time?”
He shot her a wicked grin. “The witching hour, midnight.”
“You’re so full of crap.”
“What? You don’t believe in witches? You didn’t believe in vampires either until you met me.”
“Do you know any witches?” she said, giving him a look that said she didn’t think he did.
“Sure, I’ll introduce you sometime.” He winked, and Anne-Marie rolled her eyes at him. He stood up and put out his cigarette. As he walked past her on the way to his room he put his hand on top of her head and mussed her hair. She smacked at his hand, and he took hold of hers.
“Be careful,” she said, looking up at him.
He kissed her hand and walked off, unable to tell her what was bothering him most. His mandate to find the sacrifices was always in the back of his mind and starting to take center stage. He had to focus on what lay ahead this night, though. If these petty criminals knew what he was, they could possibly do him real harm if he wasn’t careful, and if there were too many of them he wouldn’t be able to fight them all. If, however, their knowledge of vampires stemmed from old movies and Stoker’s book, he should be fine. It was possible, even probable, he’d be able to make some progress on the sacrifices. That meant a kill with no blood taken for himself. There was no doubt in his mind this meeting was going to be lethal for someone.
Dark clouds were rolling in from the east, turning the evening into an early night, and there was thunder in the distance. It was going to be a full-on summer storm, distant lightning flashes turned the city’s skyline into an old-fashioned film negative. He dressed quickly and was coming back out as Anne-Marie turned the corner from the kitchen, nearly colliding with her.
“Are you taking any weapons this time?” she asked. He had a small arsenal, but almost never broke it out. She got up and started to walk to the wall where the safe with the guns was hidden.
“Hard to pack when I fly,” he joked. “I’m sure I can borrow theirs if the need arises.”
Andrej had been so sweet, attentive, even affectionate over the last few days she’d almost forgotten he was still the same Andrej who would think nothing of utterly destroying someone who got in his way or threatened his existence. She tried not to think about it too often; it was difficult to reconcile two such distinct personalities existing in one person.
“When should I expect you?”
“Hard to say for sure, but sometime before dawn.”
He was dressed in his leather duster as always, black scarf wound around his neck. It was the middle of May but still quite chilly at night, and he needed to look like he could feel it, even if he couldn’t. Anne-Marie knew at once that he was going to be out looking for a feeding before taking on the drug runners.
“Hey, if we’re still being watched by those guys, won’t it look odd for you to be out on the town by yourself tonight? Should I tag along?”
“No. Stay here. I’m going to be moving quickly, I doubt they’ll be able to follow.” There had been an eagerness to join him in her eyes that was quickly replaced by disappointment. “I think you’ve still got
a little hangover from yesterday. Best to be apart for a bit until your head clears a little more,” he said gently.
She nodded, trying to control her emotions.
“I am sorry, I had no idea you would be so strongly affected. You know I wouldn’t put you through this on purpose.”
“I know, it’s just…” she was trying to collect her thoughts, give voice to the chaos in her mind, on the verge of tears. “It’s almost physically painful to be away from you right now.”
“I can see that, and I really am sorry,” he said. He hadn’t marked her, and yet she was behaving as if he had. He remembered all too well this sort of agony, this particular kind of torment. Nothing he could say would dull this ache; it was up to time alone to heal. Like a doctor sedating a patient in pain he pulled her to him and kissed her forehead while mentally inducing a sleep state in her. Perhaps another good night’s sleep would help, and without his intervention she would be unlikely to sleep at all. She started to slump to the floor but he caught her and picked her up, and carried her to room. He laid her gently on her bed, covered her with the blanket, then headed out.
Andrej made his way downtown but to a different section of the city, to one of the older sections on the west side of the river. Frequenting the same areas all the time, becoming a ‘regular’ wouldn’t do. He found his way to a working class neighborhood, feeling the need for a change from the party girls he normally targeted. As he walked he passed a small bookstore where the lights were on and the sign on the door said it was open until midnight. He walked in, observing a handful of customers wandering around looking at the shelves, and a woman behind the counter who was either an employee or the owner. She was strikingly beautiful, in stark contrast to the griminess of the neighborhood, and he wondered how she came to be in such a place. Her features were refined, classically graceful, and her thick dark hair was pulled back, setting off her high cheekbones. He approached her slowly as she sat behind the counter, head down reading.
“Excuse me,” he said with a slight hesitation, not wanting to startle her. She looked up at him, catching his eyes.
He was already working on her, bending her mind. His large green eyes were so deceptively innocent, he had something of the lost puppy about him. It was a gift that the predator should be so well-camouflaged.
“Could you help me? I need to find a book for a friend’s birthday.”
She got up from the stool she was sitting on, set her book down, and started walking to the back of the shop, blankly and without speaking, already under his control. Andrej was close behind, watching to see if anyone was paying any attention to them. He was taking a chance here in the store, with other patrons still around. It wasn’t like a busy dance club with half-blitzed kids by the hundreds milling around making it easy to disappear in a crowd. Here people might take notice and remember seeing him, although the fact that he would not show up on any surveillance cameras certainly decreased the risk.
Once they were in the back office, Andrej closed the door and locked it. As the woman turned to face him, expressionless now that she was completely under his hypnosis, he reached out to touch her face. When he had been human he might have been attracted to her, taken her out for drinks, spent time getting to know her. Her skin was soft, naturally pale, no make-up. He sniffed her hair, her neck. She smelled faintly of lilac and jasmine. He ran his hand down her arm, to her hand where he found a wedding band on her finger. He sighed lightly, lifted her hand and kissed it, then drew her close to him, and dipped his head to her neck. He sank his teeth in gently. Knowing the risk of exposure he couldn’t take as much time as he would have liked. Her blood was sweetly metallic, strong. He felt the old urge to keep drinking beyond what he knew she would survive. It would be so easy, so easy. But there was no time, and he couldn’t keep her back here long before someone came looking for her. When he’d taken as much as he dared he licked the last drops off her neck as he pulled back. As he did, he realized what was different about her blood. He’d only tasted the like once or twice before, and it was quite distinct. He should have realized sooner. What he detected as unusual sweetness in the life-giving liquid was in fact the tell-tale taste of pregnancy. She was carrying a child. It was so early it was possible she didn’t yet know it herself, but he should have sensed it sooner. If he had… If, if, if.
The punctures in her neck were small dark spots, healed over already. He held her for another moment, feeling her heartbeat in her chest, stroking her hair, enjoying her soft scent despite his regret at being so careless. He waited until he thought she was steady enough to stand, then guided her out of the office, to one of the back rows of bookshelves. As she stood next to him, he pulled a volume off the shelf, a slim volume of poetry, gradually releasing his mental hold on her. Coming out of the trance she was a little confused to find herself standing at the back of the store as Andrej chattered about the books they were looking at. He was asking her a question but she looked at him puzzled, uncomprehending.
He stopped talking, looking at her with concern and said, “Are you all right? You look a little ill.”
She blinked her eyes to try to clear them, then lost her balance and started to fall. Andrej caught her before she slid to the floor.
“Someone help,” he called.
The other customers in the store came back to see what was happening. He laid the woman gently onto the floor, pulling the scarf from around his neck to make a small pillow to put under her head.
“What happened?” a woman asked, kneeling down next to the shopkeeper.
“I’m not sure. She was helping me find a book, and then I thought she was going to pass out. She started to fall but I caught her,” Andrej said, only partly a lie.
The other customers were standing around as the first woman started giving orders to call medics and clear away to give her some room. As the woman took charge of the situation Andrej faded into the little group gathered around and made his way out of the shop. Almost before he had turned the corner on the block an ambulance arrived at the shop. He felt a little relief at this, but made a mental note to stop back by the shop again as soon as he got a chance to check on her. He never would have touched her if he’d known, if he hadn’t been in such a hurry to find a victim. No amount of remorse could undo what had been done, but he rarely made a mistake of this nature and he didn’t like it when he did.
He hadn’t taken much blood from the bookstore owner, and with the meeting he was anticipating it wouldn’t do to be at less than full strength, and so he made his way to another part of town, to scout out another ‘donor’ as he liked to call them in his more convivial moments. Now that it was getting later the club kids had started taking to the streets on their way to various venues to indulge themselves in their current flavor of debauchery. He leaned against a building, one foot propped behind him on the wall, puffing on a cigarette while watching the crowd stream past. Lots of young, healthy bodies overflowing with life within his grasp. He was enjoying the moment, but kept an eye on the storm that was rolling in from the east, hoping it would pass quickly. The clouds were moving in fast, lightning flashes and rolling thunder with them. Wind was starting to gust down the street, bringing the smell of rain. The electricity in the air was nearly palpable. The wind was clean, refreshing, energizing. He stood and took a deep breath, and for the first time in weeks felt pleasure at the sensation. He noticed a young girl, no more than eighteen, glancing over at him while she talked with a group of people. He watched her through half-closed eyes, and decided she was the one. This would be easy. She was receptive, willing. He could smell the lust emanating from her. He made eye contact with her, his thoughts boring into her mind, tuning out all the chatter around her until all she could hear was his voice in her head. He pushed off from the wall he’d been leaning on, turned and started walking down the street. Without looking back he knew she was following. He could hear her friends calling for her.
“Anna, where are you going?”
“Hey com
e back, we can get you into the club.”
“What are you doing?”
She ignored them all, following Andrej even though he was now out of sight. He guided her telepathically, planting the thoughts of where to go. He entered an old apartment building through a side door from the alley and waited inside for the girl to arrive. The hallway was lit with a sour light that turned the dingy walls a sickly yellow-green. The floor was bare wood, worn and scuffed from centuries of use and lack of cleaning. He realized then he had been here before, a lifetime ago, when the building was still polished and cared for. He was instantly sorry he’d gone there when he saw the shabby state it had fallen into. The advantage was that it was so old and decrepit no one had bothered to install any sort of security or surveillance system.
The girl was behind him now, and all he wanted was to get this over with and get going. He put his arm around her protectively, and guided her to an apartment that he was able to sense was vacant. It was dark inside, which was just as well. The sooner he had her out of here the better for both of them. The building was so seedy even he didn’t want to be there. The feeding was done in a few minutes with time running short. He got her back out to the street to find her friends before he released her from the hypnosis. As he brought her out he had her facing him so it would look like they were having a conversation. He was mid-sentence, asking about directions to a particular nightspot as she came fully aware again, and picked up the conversation as if they’d been standing there talking all along.
“Yeah, I’ve heard of it,” she was saying, looking as if she’d been deep in thought. “I think it’s still open,” and gave him vague directions. Andrej thanked her, then turned and walked off in the opposite direction.
Chapter 10