The next day he was more like himself again when he appeared around six in the evening. Anne-Marie watched him, waiting for him to say something, anything, about what was going on. He meandered around the apartment, smoking as much as ever, but he seemed to be deliberately avoiding going out on the balcony now.
“How was your concert?” he asked, breaking the silence.
“It was good. The pianist was wonderful, some new prodigy,” she said, relieved to be able to say something at last.
He nodded, puffing on his cigarette.
“I had to visit an old friend last night,” he said.
This caught Anne-Marie up short. She stopped what she was doing and blinked a couple times. “A friend?”
“An old girlfriend.”
Anne-Marie’s face blanched. “I see.”
Andrej was standing in the kitchen, barefoot, shirtless, in just his jeans. He cleared his throat a couple times. “She’s in the Ďáblická cemetery, she died a long time ago.”
Anne-Marie exhaled. Stupid. Of course, what was she thinking?
“I’m sorry, I had no idea,” she said awkwardly. As much as she wanted to know details about this woman, she’d be damned if she’d ask him anything about her. He’d tell her in his own time, if he chose. At the moment he was reluctant to talk about it, perhaps he never would. She rightly assumed this woman, whoever she had been, was far more than just ‘an old girlfriend.’ Andrej had never shown a particular interest in any woman he had ever met, and yet here he had crossed an ocean to visit the grave of an old love.
“She must have been very special,” she said softly.
“Yes, she was.” He stubbed out his cigarette, met her gaze for just a split second, then headed off to his bedroom.
She was dumbstruck. Andrej was still pining for an old love. Suddenly the apartment felt claustrophobic to her, she needed to get out, get away, get some air. She scribbled a note and taped it to the inside of the front door, grabbed a sweater and headed out. She had no idea where to go, or what to do. She instinctively headed for the river, walking quickly without noticing anyone or anything around her. Eventually she found herself back at the same café where Andrej had taken her for lunch a week ago. She stood inside the doorway, looking at the people talking, eating, coming, going. She couldn’t make up her mind what to do, stay or go. She decided it was too weird to be there again, with all the cafés in the city to be back at this particular one, alone, in the place where she had nearly blurted out to Andrej that she was in love with him. She backed out slowly, wondering how her life had taken so many bizarre twists and turns that led her to fall in love with, even to simply meet, a vampire. She wondered where she’d be now if her parents hadn’t died when she was twelve, if she hadn’t run away from her older brother who’d been her guardian, if she hadn’t gotten mixed up with Denise. She wondered where Denise was now, if she had any idea what had happened to her the night she’d found Andrej feeding on her in the alley behind the club. Not likely, Andrej was pretty good with the mind control. She occasionally imagined telling Denise what had really happened, but she knew she’d never believe her. Maybe she should just go back to New York, but there was nothing and no one to go back to. She’d lost touch with Denise, and her brother had moved to Canada. At least she knew Andrej would never abandon her, especially not in a foreign city. He was no knight in shining armor, but he wasn’t cruel.
After awhile Anne-Marie realized she’d been gone for nearly three hours wandering around town. She hailed a cab to get back to the apartment, suddenly almost desperate to get back and see if Andrej was all right. By the time she reentered the apartment it was nearly ten o’clock. There was no sign of him in the living room, or the kitchen.
“Andrej?” she called. For a moment there was no answer, then he came out of his room. He looked tired, and his eyes had a haunted look.
“I’m here,” he said. “Everything ok?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Anne-Marie said. “You don’t look so good.”
He waved his hand in the air in a dismissive gesture. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” He lit a cigarette, then went to the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee. She started to feel ridiculous for worrying, watching him stand there sipping coffee and smoking.
“Where did you go?” he asked, lounging against the counter, cigarette in one hand, coffee cup in the other.
“I just thought you needed some space, so I went for a walk. I left a note on the door.”
“Yes, I saw it. Just don’t forget about those others I told you about. Coffee?” he asked, holding the pot over an empty cup, ready to pour one for her. She shook her head.
“You’re not going out tonight?” she asked.
“No, I don’t think so. Not very hungry,” he said with a hint of a smile. “Listen, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something,” he said. “In the two years you’ve been with me, you’ve never asked for a vacation. Do you want to go visit family, or hang out in St. Tropez or some nice beach somewhere for awhile?”
Anne-Marie bit her lip and gave him a suspicious look. “I never thought about it,” she said. “You know I don’t have any family to visit…”
“That’s not true,” he said cutting her off.
She pursed her lips. “Ok, no family that I want to see.”
He made a face at her. Her parents were dead, but her brother was a police detective in Toronto and she hadn’t spoken to him in five years. He was ten years her senior, married with a couple kids she’d never seen.
“So I get the feeling you want me out of town for awhile?” she said.
“There’s just something I need to do, and I’m better off on my own for this. I can call you if I need you, or when I’m ready for you to come back. That is, if you still want to come back.”
She was getting an uncomfortable feeling. “Why wouldn’t I? Andrej, just tell me what’s going on. I think I can handle it.”
“Don’t be so sure.” He had turned his back to her, looking out the kitchen windows at the night sky.
“I don’t want to leave you,” she said.
He turned around to face her. “I know. But I need to know you’re safe. Let me do this for you.”
“Why? What’s happening?”
“I can’t tell you now. Just please be ready to go in the next day. Pick a place you’d like to go, make your arrangements, and I’ll cover all your expenses.”
She quit trying to argue. There was a determination in his manner that she had never seen.
“Oh, and one last thing. Don’t come back until you hear from me.”
By the next afternoon she was on a plane to St. Tropez, nervously chewing her fingernails. He had never asked her to go away for her own safety before and he wouldn’t even give her an idea of how long she would need to be away. She had no idea what she was going to do with herself in St. Tropez all alone. He was right about one thing, though.
“I may not like the sun, but you still need it,” he had told her as she packed to go. She did need it. A couple weeks in the sun would no doubt do her a world of good. Her own moods were becoming gloomier, and she was becoming overly sensitive to everything he said or did. At first she couldn’t even name what was going on, she just knew she felt on the verge of tears far too often. The loneliness and sense of isolation weren’t helping; maybe a change of scenery and a good dose of sunshine weren’t such a bad idea.
Chapter 6