Two days later when he arrived back at the apartment, he disabled the alarms and fail-safe, and then remembered that Anne-Marie was still in St. Tropez. He had told her not to come back until he called her. Things were going to become more complicated for her now unless he could somehow keep her unaware of his mandate to make the kills he had been avoiding. She had been his right hand while things were just fun and games, but he didn’t know what she’d do if she found out he was killing. He wasn’t sure what he’d do to her, if she became a problem. She had never minded what he was, in fact he sometimes thought the fact that he was a vampire was what she most liked about him. But she knew an awful lot about him, and how to kill a vampire. Then again, he had a strong hold on her, and without even trying he could manipulate her and keep her in check. He decided to wait another week before calling her back to Prague.
The next evening he found his high from his recent feedings was already starting to wane. His first impulse was to do what every junkie does: go in search of a new fix, and once again found himself sitting on the apartment balcony overlooking the Vltava, chain-smoking, mulling his options.
His choices were simple. He could give in, and find himself constantly on the prowl for a new victim, or he could maintain control, and the lifestyle he’d spent so many years crafting. Why not both? It was a futile train of thought, and he knew it. To feed that kind of addiction, to keep up that kind of high would take more than his usual low-level feedings. There’d be the trail of bodies again. It was too easy to misjudge and go too far in that game. His only recent kill had been the thug who'd attacked him on the street, and he hadn’t used his teeth in that one. Damn shame, now he thought about it.
He was so preoccupied with these thoughts and the potential for a massive shift in his habits that he hadn’t even felt the approach of the others. The doorbell startled him out of his reverie, but before he opened the door he knew who it was: Kiril and the one who had converted him, the woman from the club that he’d threatened to kill.
“So, now you’re making social calls?” he said as he opened the door and saw the two of them standing there.
“May we come in?” the woman asked.
He nodded and stepped back to allow them to pass in. They were both too new to be any real threat to him, but it was that same newness that might have prevented their understanding that little fact. The woman was dressed more conservatively than she had been when he had last seen her. Perhaps she was not interested in attracting a lot of attention tonight. Kiril didn’t speak as he followed them into the apartment.
“You live well,” she observed, scanning the elegant, upscale apartment. She ran her finger along the edge of his Victorian mahogany desk.
“I think so,” Andrej said, lighting another cigarette. He walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch without inviting them to sit. He leaned back, watching them as he blew the smoke out.
“What can I do for you?” he asked.
As soon as he said that they were all startled to hear the door to the apartment open. Andrej stood up, waiting to see who the hell was stupid enough to try to break into his apartment. Only it wasn’t a break-in: it was Anne-Marie.
“What are you doing back? I told you to wait for me to call you,” he said more sharply than he intended.
Anne-Marie stopped in her tracks when she heard the tone of his voice and saw the other two. They had turned to see who it was and were eyeing her with something akin to unbridled lust.
“Oh my, what have we here?” the woman said.
“Forget her,” Andrej said, “she’s off limits.”
The woman raised her eyebrows at this. “She’s not marked,” she said, sniffing the air in Anne-Marie’s direction.
Anne-Marie was looking from Andrej to the woman, and back again. Realizing she’d made a critical mistake in returning unexpectedly she was starting to think about leaving again, but staying close to Andrej was her safest option. She walked quickly across the room to stand behind the sofa. Andrej looked at the other two vampires coldly and sat back down.
“I said she’s off the menu,” he repeated slowly, “just in case you somehow misunderstood.”
“As you say, then.” The female vampire was trying hard not to look miffed, avoiding Andrej’s gaze and trying not to look at Anne-Marie as well. Her senses were able to detect Anne-Marie’s scent, and it was almost more than she could do to control herself. Andrej watched her face, the tensing of the jaw muscles as she tried to compose herself.
He reached up behind himself and caught Anne-Marie’s hand on the back of the sofa and said, “Why don’t you go to my room and wait there while we talk?”
She looked at him, unsure which room he meant.
“Go on,” he said, nodding his head in the direction of his private room. Still partly uncertain that was what he meant, Anne-Marie started walking in that direction. He nodded slightly again, and now she knew what he meant. She could barricade herself in there if things got ugly with these two. The male vampire still hadn’t spoken, but she’d caught him glancing furtively at her, no doubt considering her the main course. She practically ran into the room, shutting and locking the door behind her. Andrej hoped she would be all right sitting in the total dark in there. Few people had ever experienced complete blackness like that. With no light there was little she could do but sit on the floor and wait for Andrej to retrieve her. She wouldn’t be able to hear anything that was being said either, which would no doubt add to her anxiety. He hoped she had enough faith in him to keep from panicking.
“Why don’t you sit down,” he said to the two visitors once Anne-Marie was safely out of the room. He intended to find out what they wanted and get rid of them as quickly as possible. They sat down opposite him as if they had been granted an audience with a king.
“Thank you,” the woman said. “I understand you have already met Kiril. We’ve come to you because his conversion was fairly recent, and he’s having a very difficult time adjusting, and learning to control himself. Look, what you said to me that night in the club, that I’d been careless… you were right. I have been. And I don’t want to have to live on the run, like a wild animal. I need to know how you learned to control yourself, and how I can help Kiril do the same.”
Andrej wasn’t buying it. She couldn’t possibly have had a complete reversal in her attitude in the time since he’d met her. No, something else was going on here. Why she even had Kiril still hanging around her was another mystery. Very rarely did vampires stick together. Once a favorite was turned they generally went their separate ways.
He didn’t say anything for a couple of minutes while he smoked his cigarette and thought about this. “You kids today have everything so easy,” he mocked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the female asked. Andrej noticed how quickly she could be riled. Another undesirable trait.
“You didn’t come up through the Purification. We learned the hard way, and quickly, how to protect ourselves.”
Kiril looked lost. “What’s the Purification?”
Andrej rolled his eyes. “Did you two ever go to school? At all? All right, here’s your two-minute history lesson. About a hundred and fifty years ago, religious fundamentalists around the globe were gaining political power, and global warfare broke out.” He stopped short of drawing a parallel with the Middle Ages. If they didn’t know about the Purification, it was unlikely they knew ancient history. “Superstition and beliefs in the supernatural took hold. Two vampires were found and killed. They had been careless, overconfident.” He glanced at the woman who was examining a painting on the wall. “After that the blood lust of the humans rivaled that of the vampires, and the vampires became as stealthy as they had been in ages past. We got careful, or we got dead.
“The Purification grew into a global conflict that led in the end to germ warfare. In ten years the population of the planet plummeted from nearly twenty billion to eight billion. The religious masses thought it was Armageddon. There were humans
lying in the streets dying, with no one left to help them in many places. There were simply too many and too few healthy people left to do anything.”
“Sounds like it would have been a good time to be a vampire,” the woman observed.
“In a way. They didn’t have the resources anymore to come after us, and most lost interest, forgot about us. Sometimes I’d finish them off, end it for them, when I found someone dying and beyond help. Society was ‘reset’ like a computer reboot.” Andrej stubbed out his cigarette. “By the way, what’s your name?”
“I go by Alexandra,” she said. “Alexandra Maklakova.”
“Well, Alexandra, I think you’ll find life a lot more fun without crusaders on your tail constantly. They’re still out there, obsessed with hunting us down and killing us.”
“What makes you think I don’t know that? How do you know your girl isn’t working with them?”
Andrej gave her a disgusted look. “You’re joking, right? Do you think I can’t read her thoughts?”
Alexandra shifted in her chair looking impatient. “All right then. Will you help us or not?”
“Now, for someone who needs my help, you certainly aren’t asking very nicely.”
Kiril had remained mostly quiet since they’d arrived, but at this he spoke up. “You helped me awhile back when I made my first kill. I would have just left the body there in the alley, I can’t think straight when I get the taste of blood.”
“I’m not your nanny, Kiril. It’s in my own best interest not to attract attention to our kind.”
Alexandra looked uncomfortable now. Andrej stared hard at her, sensing her anxiety.
“It’s too late, isn’t it? They’re already on your trail, aren’t they?” he said.
She tossed her head defiantly. “I couldn’t help it, they found my place.”
“And so you came here?” he said with a subdued fury. “You had them following you the whole way. Stupid bitch!” He walked over to her, raised his hand and slapped her so hard she flew backwards several feet. Kiril ran to help her up as Andrej crossed to the window and looked down to the street. It was the usual assortment of pedestrians and vehicles. Then he saw them: a group of three just across the road, nondescript except for the one in the middle who looked like some kind of religious cleric. He was too out of place in this area, at this hour. They still thought holy water and crosses would help them. Been watching too many movies, Andrej thought. That was good; it meant they didn’t truly know what they were doing. Not yet anyway. In time they’d connect with other vampire hunters and learn the truth. In the meantime, he was rapidly running through some damage control options in his mind. If he wouldn’t have had to worry about disposing of the bodies he would have killed Kiril and Alexandra right then.
“You have to go, you have to get out of here. Now.”
Alexandra was on her feet now, desperation in her eyes. “Please,” she said, “Please help us.”
“Meet me tomorrow night, in the cemetery. Now go. They need to see you leave the building the same way you came in. Lose them on the street, but don’t go back to where you live. You’ll have to spend the time out in the countryside somewhere, where they can’t track you.”
Alexandra and Kiril left as Andrej stood at the window waiting to see them emerge onto the sidewalk from the building. He saw them enter a cab and drive off, and immediately two of the crusaders climbed into a car and sped off in the same direction.
Anne-Marie was still sitting on the floor in Andrej’s room when he went to get her. She jumped when he opened the door, not sure if it was him coming in or one of the others. She exhaled sharply. Without realizing it she’d been practically holding her breath the entire time.
“Come on,” he said, holding out his hand to her. “They’re gone, you’re safe now.”
She took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. Impulsively she embraced him, hugging him hard.
“Whoa, whoa, it’s ok, don’t worry,” he said, hugging her back for a moment. She was shaking, more frightened than he’d ever seen her. “What, don’t you trust me to look after you anymore?” he asked, trying to keep a light tone in his voice. He got her out to the living room and over to the sofa where he sat her down, then poured her a glass of brandy. She took a gulp of it, which steadied her a little.
“Now, tell me why you came back tonight. Didn’t I ask you to wait until I called you?”
Anne-Marie squared her jaw. “Yes, but I just had this horrible feeling something was wrong. I couldn’t wait, it was making me nuts. I had to come back and find out if you were ok.”
“Looks like the link between us is getting stronger. There was an incident, but we can talk about that later. But these two, Kiril and Alexandra—I’m not sure what their game is.”
“I don’t know what it was about them, there’s just something… wrong.”
Andrej nodded. “But they’re gone for now and I don’t think they’ll try coming back here.” He got up and walked back over to the balcony, checking the street again for any sign of the crusaders. The third one he’d seen was gone now. “The woman, Alexandra, said she’s been found out. If it’s true, and it seems to be, I expect they’ll be on the move now. I said I’d meet them tomorrow night. I want to get a better feel for what’s going on, how much trouble they’re in and if they’ve managed to involve me in any way.”
Anne-Marie watched him scanning the street as he talked. Even from this height she knew he could see anyone on the ground as well as she could – if she were down there.
“Are they still out there? Do you see them?”
“No, but I think they were followed as far as our building. With luck, they won’t know exactly who they came to see here.”
“Crusaders?”
“Looks like it.” He lit a cigarette and contemplated the situation for a few minutes. “I think what we need to do now is some damage control to throw them off. I’m sure they’ll be watching us anyway for the next few weeks so we need to go about our lives, our ‘regular’ daytime lives. And I think we should start tomorrow with a visit to the cathedral.”
“Are you serious? Can you do that? I mean without spontaneously combusting or the building collapsing on you?”
He laughed. “Of course. Now go get some sleep, we’ll have a nice Sunday visiting some tourist attractions.”
Anne-Marie looked doubtful. “Do you really think that will do any good?”
“It’s worth a shot. If we throw them off a little bit, make them doubt their information, they might back off.”
“I don’t know, it could also just tell them more about you than they already know.”
“I won’t allow them to make us prisoners here. I can come and go as I please, but you would be virtually under house arrest if we let them dictate our movements. No, it’ll be best if we go through the motions, keep up appearances.”
Chapter 8