By eleven o’clock that evening he was pacing in the apartment, waiting. At just a few minutes past the hour, he heard the door open, and Anne-Marie walked in followed by Neko.
“I’m so glad to be home,” she called as she entered the foyer.
“Oh come on,” Neko said behind her, sounding hurt, “I wasn’t that bad.” He walked over to Andrej and they shook hands.
“Welcome back,” Andrej said.
“Thanks. I trust everything went according to plan?”
“Like a well-oiled machine. Your men are quite efficient.”
Neko nodded. “Glad to be of service.”
“You going to stay in town?”
“I think so, for a bit. That is, if I’m not in the way.”
“Not at all. Come, let’s have a drink,” Andrej said. He headed to the bar and poured bourbon for himself and Neko, red wine for Anne-Marie.
“My god, Andrej, you should have seen the house,” Anne-Marie was saying. “I’d have to say crime does pay, judging by that place.”
“Oh nice work, Neko, now she’s not going to be happy with our meager existence here,” Andrej said.
Anne-Marie laughed. “Oh yeah, this is meager.”
Andrej smirked. He’d commissioned most of his furniture over the years from avant garde designers, assuring that his collection now held many rare and valuable antiques. His taste had always run to very clean, functional pieces, but made of the highest quality materials: rare woods, finest leathers, hand finishing. He didn’t want anything around him that felt ‘normal’ so all his pieces were uniquely designed for him. The black leather sofa and Anne-Marie’s favorite armchair were the only stock pieces, but still antiques.
“And Neko is quite an accomplished pianist. Makes me wonder what other talents you two are hiding,” she said looking at Andrej. They exchanged a look that Neko did not fail to notice.
“So are we safe from these guys for awhile?” she asked.
“Should be,” Andrej said. “I think we got the few in the immediate vicinity.”
“God I hope so. This is not my idea of a good time.”
“We could always go back to Greece,” Neko said.
Anne-Marie cleared her throat, finished her wine, and set the glass down on the table. “I’ll clean up in the morning, if that’s ok,” she said.
Andrej waved his hand in a gesture of unconcern.
“Ok then. I’m beat, I’m off to bed.”
Neko and Andrej both rose.
She stopped and looked at them. “You two are scaring me.”
Andrej walked over to her, putting his hand on her waist. “Let me walk you back,” he said.
“G’nite,” Neko said, raising his glass to her and smiling. She returned the smile before turning to go with Andrej.
In her room, Anne-Marie was astonished to see a bouquet of white roses. She looked at Andrej, mouth gaping, speechless for a moment.
“Happy anniversary,” he said, clearly enjoying the moment.
“What?”
“Tomorrow—well, in about three minutes—is three years since you and I met,” he said.
She shook her head in disbelief. “Andrej,” she started, “what’s gotten into you?”
“Wait, there’s more,” he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small box wrapped in silvery paper and handed it to her.
Inside was a heart-shaped locket made of platinum, with the letters “A-M” inlaid in diamonds on the front, suspended from a white gold chain. She opened the locket, but there was nothing inside. She sat down on the bed, staring at the gleaming heart.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Well,” he said, bouncing down like a child and taking a seat next to her on the bed, “I wanted you to know how important you are to me.”
Impulsively she leaned over and hugged him. “Ditto.”
Andrej kissed her cheek. “I was worried about you while you were gone.”
“I’ll never get to sleep now,” Anne-Marie said blushing.
“Need some help?”
She laughed, shaking her head. “No, that’s ok, I’m sure it’ll all catch up with me in a little while. Hey, do you have any old photos of yourself, one I could put in here?”
“I may be able to find one, if you want. Could take a while, I’m not sure where that stuff is anymore.” In fact he knew exactly where the photos were, but didn’t want her thinking he was that eager for her to carry his photo close to her heart. He patted her knee and got up to leave. “Sleep well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Are you guys heading out?”
“Probably. Neko should be set for awhile, but I could use something to eat.” He walked out and pulled her door shut behind him.
Back in the living room, Neko was pouring himself another glass of bourbon. Andrej stood at the edge of the room as Neko was about to down a shot. “I need to get out, get a feed. You doing ok, or do you want to go?”
Neko tossed back the bourbon and set the glass down. “You know me, I never miss an opportunity to fill the tank.”
“Good, because I’d like to talk.”
“Oh shit, I knew this was coming,” Neko said, as he poured the bourbon.
“Take it easy with that stuff, you get weird when you drink too much.”
“What do you mean, ‘weird’?”
“You start getting nostalgic and want to talk about old times. I don’t want to bring up things that happened two hundred years ago when we’re out picking up dinner.”
“All right, let’s go then.” He set the glass down and started for the door.
They found themselves at a new club that had just opened. It was an ultra modern, techno club, nothing like the dark smoky hole-in-the-wall kind of bar Neko favored. He didn’t plan to stay long, and within minutes found himself escorting an attractive girl out the door and around behind the building. Andrej stayed inside, having a drink and watching the crowd for a bit. He enjoyed hanging out at the bar, flirting with the girls. It wasn’t long before he singled out a pretty brunette, but as late into the evening as it was she had already had a fair amount to drink. Instead of taking her outside, he led her back to her friends, and walked out of the club. As he’d fed on Elizabet the previous night, he wasn’t really in need of another feeding so soon, but had wanted to get out for a bit. As glad as he was to have Anne-Marie back, he felt as awkward as a schoolboy being around her. He was afraid he’d gone too far with the anniversary gift and flowers, and wasn’t ready to fully express his feelings. Too many decisions had to be made. Standing on the sidewalk he lit a cigarette and waited for Neko to find him, which wasn’t long. Neko came out of the club although Andrej hadn’t seen him reenter after he left with his mark for the evening. He blew out a cloud of smoke as Neko joined him.
“Well, was it everything you hoped for?”
Neko gave him a look that said otherwise. “I think I’m spoiled now.”
“Spoiled?”
“Anne-Marie.”
Andrej’s expression was neutral, but he said, “Yes, I wanted to talk about that, but maybe it was a bad idea to leave the house.”
Neko met his gaze, with just a hint of defiance. “Look, I know what you’re gonna say, but everything went fine, she’s fine. What do you say we head back? I’m not in the mood for anything else tonight.”
Andrej gave up looking for a feeding for the evening and hailed a cab. As they drove up to the apartment building, he caught a glimpse of someone ducking around the corner, into the shadows.
“Son of a bitch,” he said.
“What’s up?” Neko was instantly on his guard, looking up and down the street before getting out of the cab.
“I think we’ve got more of them already.”
“Shit, are you sure?”
“Looked like it.” Andrej stepped out of the cab, keeping his eyes on the corner of the building where he’d seen the figure. He walked over and looked down the alley, but it was empty.
Neko hopped out of t
he cab, and even in the dark light of the pre-dawn street he was wearing his sunglasses. He looked around, but whoever Andrej had seen was gone.
“Maybe we all need to get out of town for a while,” Andrej said, thinking out loud.
“Put Anne-Marie on a plane and you and I can take our way,” Neko suggested.
Andrej shook his head. “No, I don’t want her left alone at all right now,” he said. “If they’re already sending in replacements she’d be too vulnerable alone.” He held the building door open for Neko and they hurried inside. No sense taking chances of being watched standing on the street talking. When they got to the apartment Andrej went straight back to Anne-Marie’s room. She was sound asleep, the window shut and locked. He pulled the door shut and went back to the living room. Taking a seat in Anne-Marie’s favorite leather chair he lit a cigarette, smoking in silence for a few minutes while mulling over their choices. They could stay or go, and if they left, he didn’t know where to go. Neko picked up the bourbon he’d poured before they left earlier, and lounged in another chair, legs dangling over one arm, head resting on the other. He set his drink on the floor and lay staring at the ceiling.
“Too bad there’s not some kind of vampire council we could go to for help. I’m used to having backup, reinforcements to call in. I could get some people to move against the odd crusader here or there, but not for an all-out offensive.”
“No, I don’t suppose so.” Andrej knew as well as Neko that even in the seedy underworld, no one would have much sympathy for vampires. There was no profit in it, except perhaps that the vampires might find themselves beholden to them. That might be a debt they would find worth considering, but the other risks were far too great. Still, the idea of some kind of group effort could be worth exploring. “Perhaps it’s time we organized with the others, a council or whatever you want to call it. If we’re having trouble with these guys, others probably are as well. Strength in numbers and all that. If we had to, we could convert more as well.” He didn’t condemn others to his fate often, or lightly, but a few well-chosen recruits to bolster the ranks might not be such a bad idea, if it came down to it.
Neko slowly lifted his head and looked at him like he’d suggested a pillow fight. “You can’t be serious. We don’t even know how many other vampires there are, or where they are. How would we find them?”
Andrej gave a crooked smile. “We know a few. As for the rest, we know who could.”
Neko looked even more disturbed by this idea. “My friend, I think you have had enough to drink for one night.”
“No, hear me out. He knows exactly who and how many there are. If we go to him, tell him what’s going on…”
“I’d bet real money he already knows,” Neko interrupted.
“More than likely,” he conceded. “But maybe organizing was never important before. Now that we are all threatened, more than we have been since the Middle Ages, he might be persuaded to call the others together.”
Neko thought about it for a minute then said, “I still don’t see it happening. If he loses one or some of us, he can always just select others and turn them. I don’t think an individual is of any concern to him at all.”
“I’m not so sure,” Andrej said slowly, thinking of his last audience with the creature in the cave. Despite the injuries he had inflicted on Andrej, he was willing to bet their creator attached some significance to the vampires it had created.
“It seems to take a great effort and drain him to turn someone into a vampire, at least the way I was turned. The main problem is how to contact him to make the request. I might have to go back to the cave in Slovakia. But now that the crusaders are watching us so closely, you and I could make the journey but that would leave Anne-Marie alone and unprotected. I don’t want her traveling alone, either driving or on a transport. We know they’d follow her. The location has to be protected.”
He sighed, and lit another cigarette. “All right, let’s put that aside for now. How about filling me in on what went wrong there in Greece?”
Neko sat up and cleared his throat. “Yeah,” he drawled. “Well, I hadn’t counted on her being the one to bring me down like that,” he said. Having to face his old friend after breaking his promise had him squirming. “I’m sorry about the wine thing, and I tried to make it up to her.”
“I know, but you put her under a lot of pressure. You didn’t give her much choice, did you?”
“Come on, man, you know what it’s like. This kind of thing doesn’t happen often, but when it does you know as well as I do how strong the drive is.” He sighed. “I didn’t mean to, I tried to be as nice about it as possible.”
“Neko, you promised me. You’ve got to convince me you can control yourself if the situation arises again. Yes, I know how it can overpower you, but we’ve been in the game long enough that we should be able to handle these things. Look,” he said, leaning forward and keeping his voice low so as not to disturb Anne-Marie, “you’re my oldest friend, and I’ve always trusted you. I have no right to try to control your actions. But as a friend, I am asking you not to put her in that position again. I expect we’re going to need to rely on each other more than ever in the coming weeks.”
Neko swirled the bourbon in his glass then emptied the contents in one gulp. “You’re right, I know.” He got quiet again, then said, “Maybe you should consider marking her.”
Andrej took a deep breath. “I’ve considered it, and if it comes down to it I will, but only as a last resort. I like her free to make her own choices. I like that she chooses to stay with me anyway, knowing everything.”
Neko looked up at that. “Everything?”
Andrej frowned. “No, I haven’t told her about that.” He knew what Neko meant: the mandate for human sacrifices. He didn’t know how he could ever bring the subject up without horrifying and frightening her so badly that she wouldn’t leave him on the spot.
“You know she’s going to find out eventually.”
“I know.” He sat stroking the soft leather on the arm of the chair. Anne-Marie had staked the chair as her own almost as soon as she moved in with him. His thoughts turned back to the first days she was with him, how quickly she had gotten over her fear of him, of what he was, and how her curiosity had taken over. She had tried to make out what he was, if part of him was still human with the thoughts, feelings and desires of a human man, or if he had altered beyond recognition to something so completely alien that she would never be able to understand. In time she had come to understand he was a combination of the two extremes. And in turn she made him feel closer to humanity than he had in a long time. She saw him not as a monster to be feared, but as someone to be looked up to. At first he had been uncomfortable with this mild hero-worship, unused to being seen as the good guy, but he hadn’t realized how unaccustomed she was to someone being kind to her, and looking out for her. As the months passed, their relationship deepened into a friendship beyond that of employer and employee. Without any real social life of her own anymore, he had become her world.In his mind, he conjured various scenes of how she might react to learning the ugly truth about the other parts of his life that he had kept hidden from her. None of them were good. He had deliberately shielded her from this one thing.
“What’s your long-term plan for her, anyway?” Neko asked, breaking the silence.
“That’s a good question. At first I was just going to let her be, and she could leave or retire whenever she was ready. Now I find myself thinking in terms of lifetimes with her around. But there’s only one way to achieve that.”
“But you’re going to leave it up to her?”
“Yes, I can’t force this on her.”
“I think she could handle it, I think she’d make a good companion for you.”
“For me?” Andrej said, “Or for you?”
Neko shook his head. “Her choice.”
“But you still want her blood again, and if I turn her, that’ll put an end to that. How much did you take, by the way???
?
“Just a small amount, couldn’t have been even a pint. She’ll be good as new in a few weeks, just like she’d donated to the blood bank. I didn’t hurt her.”
“Anything else?”
He looked Andrej straight in the eye. “No.” He got up then, picked up his glass and walked over to the bar to refill it. When he came back and sat down, Andrej was a little more relaxed.
“She’s still human, Andrej, she needs some physical closeness, even from the likes of us.”
“I know,” he said quietly. “I just couldn’t break my promise to her not to drink her blood while she worked for me.”
That Neko had done what he had wanted, but would never allow himself to do, frustrated and angered him. It was too soon for him to try taking her blood, but the idea of her willingly giving it to him was tearing at his mind. Their attraction to each other and affection had grown so slowly over the last three years that it shocked him to find it all coming to the surface now. He blamed Neko for this, for opening a door that he’d resolutely kept shut and locked. If he started feeding on her on a regular basis everything would change between them. If he allowed her to know he was in love with her, as she was with him, a terrible choice would have to be made. No, better to sate his hunger elsewhere for now, until Anne-Marie knew everything. He was determined to let her make the choice for herself. He had been given no such choice, but he could give her that.
As the sun started to rise, he and Neko took to their rooms to rest and wait for nightfall again. Closing the door to block out the light and sounds of the day, he lay down on his bed, stilling his mind, slowing his metabolism to try to achieve the mental state he needed, but he was still agitated, irritated. He got back up off the bed, pacing the room in the dark. The locket he had given Anne-Marie now seemed like he had gone too far in exposing his feelings to her. He briefly considered erasing her memory of it and removing the thing while she slept. He went over his own recent behavior, and it was more than just the locket and the flowers. He had been growing increasingly affectionate with her, and she had no ambivalence in her own feelings for him. She was in love with him, but what did it matter? They were never going to have the fairytale romance, every circumstance precluded that. He could stay with her, and watch her grow old and die while he remained young, or he could convert her, give her eternity. Whether they remained together forever or would eventually go their separate ways there was no way to know. Like any couple, he thought, you take a chance. He sat on the bed again, shaking his head. The idea of subjecting her to the life he had, turning her into a predator, a killer, was too cruel. But the day might yet come when the decision would not be his to make.
Chapter 23