Or so she thought. The room was dark and quiet, and she was sure she’d been asleep but she found herself looking out the open window at the night sky. It hadn’t been open before she went to bed. She lay there for a minute, listening. She could hear some faint traffic in the street, a slight breeze stirred the sheer curtains on the window, but the apartment was silent. The stars were still bright against the blackness of the night sky, dawn had yet to dim them. She felt tired, unwilling to move, and couldn’t be bothered to roll over and look at the clock to check the time.
Although there was no sound in the room she began to have the distinct impression of a presence at the foot of her bed. The little light from the surrounding buildings and streets that made its way into the high-rise gave her no confirmation one way or the other if she was imagining it, or if there was someone in the room. The fear brought her fully awake as her heart started racing, her breathing became shallow. She was convinced a form, dark and silent, was standing at the foot of her bed. She tried to calm herself, think rationally. Just sit up and turn on the light, she tried to tell herself, but she couldn’t move a muscle. Mentally she tried to call for Andrej, knowing he could hear her thoughts. Their bond had become so strong lately she was sure he’d hear her, sense her fear. It was like a nightmare where she was unable to scream or move. She no longer had any doubt something was there; she could feel it getting closer, moving towards her, towards the head of her bed, as if the air around her was being compressed, pressing on her. Whatever was there was soundless, a shadow in the dark, rounding the corner of the bed. In her mind she was screaming Andrej’s name.
An instant later, the door to room opened just as a gust of air brushed past her and out the window, leaving the curtains fluttering out into the night behind it. Andrej stood in the doorway, darkness behind him. He walked quickly to Anne-Marie’s bed and reached down to take her hand. She unfroze at his approach and reached out to him, sitting up and hugging him, holding him tightly in relief. Her sense of dread receded a little, but her heart was still pounding in her chest, and her mouth was dry.
“Did you see anything?” he asked.
She shook her head, still unable to speak.
“Neko, can you get a glass of water?” he said. Anne-Marie was clinging to him so tightly he didn’t want to leave her even to get her a drink. Neko came into the room a moment later with a glass of ice water, squatted down on the floor next to the bed and handed it to her. She took it but her hand was so shaky Andrej put his own hand over hers, steadying the glass to keep her from spilling it.
“Jesus,” Neko said, “What the hell happened?” He stood up and sniffed at the air like a hunter catching the scent of its prey.
“Look out the window, see if you see anything,” Andrej said.
Neko walked to the window and pushed the curtains aside. He looked out into the night, up at the sky, down to the ground, around on the balcony. He came back in a moment later and shook his head.
“Nada.”
“Someone was here,” Andrej said.
“Anyone we know?” Neko said, as he continued to scan out the window.
Andrej didn’t answer as he sat on the bed holding Anne-Marie.
“Who was it? What did they want?” Anne-Marie asked. She looked up at Andrej’s face, but his eyes were still looking out the window at the night. The expression she saw was one she had rarely seen. “Are we going to be ok here?” she asked after a moment.
“Sure, sure,” Andrej said, keeping his voice even, soothing. Anne-Marie let go of him, allowing him to walk over to the window to have a look. His eyes had gone hollow and took on the glow he had just before a kill. He didn’t like his home being invaded, his assistant threatened.
“If whoever it was had wanted to hurt you they could have done it before we got in here,” he said staring out at the night sky. He was still trying to get a definite taste of the etheric trail left by whoever or whatever had been there. It seemed too unlikely to be who he thought it was, but not impossible. He turned and met Neko’s gaze, a look of understanding passing between them. Anne-Marie saw it, but didn’t say anything.
“So you think someone was just checking things out? For what?” Neko said.
“Hard to say.” He shut and locked the doors to the balcony behind him.
Anne-Marie watched as he clicked the lock. “That wouldn’t keep you out. You think it’ll keep out whoever this was?”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
Neko sat down in the armchair next to the doors watching Andrej and Anne-Marie. He’d never seen a vampire and servitor so obviously devoted to each other. Although Andrej would never admit it, the affection he displayed to Anne-Marie was remarkable, and obvious.
“I doubt they’ll be back tonight, why don’t you try to get back to sleep? Neko and I will be here, we’ll keep an eye out.”
Neko rose from the chair, taking his cue to leave the room. He said goodnight to Anne-Marie and went back out to the living room. Andrej joined him a couple minutes later.
“Have to work your mojo on her? She didn’t look like she was going to be able to sleep anymore tonight,” Neko asked.
“No, I think she’ll calm down before long.”
Neko regarded Andrej for a moment. “Why do you care so much about her?” he asked.
They eyed each other in silence for a moment.
“I told her I’d take care of her,” he said simply, trying to downplay the issue.
“That’s not what I asked.”
Andrej gave a little sigh, and said, “What’s the matter? Are you afraid I’m losing control of myself? I’ve always cared about my assistants, taken care of them.”
“Not like this.”
“You never even saw most of them,” Andrej pointed out.
Neko nodded. “True, but I saw you in there with her, and that was more than simple concern. I’ve had enough assistants of my own over the years, but I never treated them the way you treat that one. I’ve often wondered why you go to so much trouble even with your victims, wooing them, courting them. It’s so much easier to simply take what we need. And now this affection for her. It’s a strange hold this girl seems to have on you.” He paused, not sure how far he should go with this. “If you’re not careful, she could be trouble,” he finished.
“Neko, I think you’re imagining things,” Andrej said, looking bemused.
“All I’m saying is, you know what happens when you get attached to them.”
“Yes, yes, I know. But you’re worrying needlessly. Sure, I’m fond of her. She’s a good assistant, we get along well. In a way, we’re two of a kind.”
“How so?”
“There’s something very dark in her past, I can’t read some of her memories. She’s suppressing something. I’ve never asked her about it, but whatever it was, it was almost enough to put her where I was the night I died. I found it when I probed her mind when I first met her.”
Neko shifted where he stood. “She’s never hinted at what happened?”
“Nothing, not a whisper.”
“Maybe she’s blocked it out, can’t remember.”
“Could be.”
They had another hour until dawn when they would need to rest. Andrej poured them each another glass of scotch and they sat down again, relaxing into their old friendship.
“How long are you going to be in Prague?” Andrej asked.
“Not sure yet,” Neko swirled the liquid in his glass as he held it up to the light. “I’m still working on what I want to do next.”
“Didn’t have a falling out with your employers, did you?”
Neko grinned. “Well, I guess that’s one way to look at it. I prefer to think of it as crime prevention.”
“You are just evil, my friend.”
“Thank you,” Neko said, and clinked glasses with Andrej.
As they finished their drinks Andrej offered the guest room to Neko to use while he stayed with them. It didn’t have the safeguards and complete darkness Andrej’s privat
e room had since it was set up for entertaining the women he preyed on, but there were enough ways to darken the room to make it tolerable for a vampire, at least short term. Before turning in himself, Andrej went back to Anne-Marie’s room to check on her one more time. He opened the door and soundlessly walked to her bed, watching for a few moments, seeing her chest rise and fall gently with the even, regular breaths. He checked the French doors to the balcony and the window confirming they were still shut tight and locked. In the morning he would see to having the seals around the window and doors specially outfitted with more security.
Outside the sky was lightening; it would be dawn soon. He walked back over to stand next to Anne-Marie again for a moment, feeling a twinge of envy once again at her peaceful sleep. He pushed her hair back off the side of her face, tracing his fingers down her cheek, to the side of her neck. Ah, if only he could. She slept on as he stood there debating, knowing how sweet her blood would be but refusing to betray her trust. He would have to find someone else the next evening and satisfy his hunger. Andrej was so engrossed in watching Anne-Marie sleep that he didn’t notice Neko peering into the room watching him, but Neko walked off again before Andrej turned around.
Chapter 13