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Page 13


  “You need a bath?”

  “No. I need…”

  “Oh, bathroom?” Christian asked.

  He nodded. I looked at Christian. That’s all you.

  We helped the boy stand on wobbly legs and then walked him to the bathroom, one of us on either side. Once there, I let Christian take him in while I went to the living room to check my phone. I had the sudden urge to call Kalia and Aaron. I realized at that moment how much I was starting to rely on them and it brought an unexpected smile to my lips.

  Christian joined me after tucking Jose Luis into bed and closing the bedroom door.

  “As soon as he wakes up, I want to know who all those people are,” I said.

  “Aloysius said they’re the hunters. If that’s true, why are they sending the youngest and obviously newest member to deal with us? It doesn’t make any sense.” Christian sat on the sofa, draping his arm around me and squeezing me to his side. I let my head drop on his shoulder, letting his comfort envelop me and take my worries away, at least for a little while.

  “And who the hell is Melinda?” I asked, closing my eyes to shut the room out.

  “I have no idea. By the way, what is it that he needs to recover from the blood loss?”

  I opened my eyes and lifted my head so I could see his face. “Um…a very rare and bloody steak.”

  “Is that all? I thought it was some deep, dark secret, some magic potion or something.” Christian’s eyes crinkled with amusement.

  “The problem is, I have to go out and get one. Aloysius won’t have such a thing in his refrigerator, I’m sure. I won’t be long.” I wrapped my arms around him to kiss him goodbye.

  Be careful, my love.

  “I promise. I will always come back to you.” I kissed him once more and left.

  Before the key fully turned in the lock, the door was yanked open and it pulled me forward. “I was so worried,” Christian whispered into my hair as he held me in his arms, forcing me to drop the bag.

  “I’m sorry it took me longer than I expected. I think I was being followed,” I mumbled against his quiet chest. He moved to arm’s length and looked at me.

  “The one doing all the following is here, still asleep.”

  “I know. That’s what is so weird. No matter how hard I tried, I didn’t catch even a small glimpse of who it was. He or she kept a good distance and a blocked mind,” I picked the bag up off the floor and walked to the kitchen with him close on my heels. “So I took a long way to the store, up and down streets, hoping to see something or maybe just lose the person.”

  A spine-chilling scream made me drop the frying pan on the tile floor. Christian crouched, ready to attack. “It’s Jose Luis!” I said, already running for the bedroom.

  It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the blackness of the room before I saw Jose Luis curled up in a ball on his side, his body rising and falling from his strain to breathe. He screamed again. “What is it?” I yelled as Christian turned on the lamp and inspected the room and the adjoining bathroom. From where I stood, I could see that the windows were tightly shut.

  “Mi cabeza…mi cabeza va a explotar…” he moaned between sobs.

  “What did he say?” Christian asked.

  “His head is going to explode. What the hell does that mean?” I bent over his curled up body and tried to get a look at his face.

  “Maia! She can do that, remember?” Christian offered.

  “Yeah, but it happened to you too, when you were taken. Maia was nowhere near you.”

  “Right…so she’s not the only one with that talent, unless…there really is something wrong with him,” His face filled with worry. “He looks so helpless.”

  “No matter what is going on with him, I still can’t get into his mind. I can’t get past his wall.” Jose Luis’s body went totally still. I jumped, thinking he was dead, but his heart still beat weakly.

  “Jose Luis?” Christian asked, sitting on the other side of the bed. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I think,” he responded and I breathed a sigh of relief at hearing his calm voice. “I sleep but I am tired still.”

  “We have some food for you. I have to cook it and then I will feed it to you,” I informed him.

  “Please let go my hands,” he whispered. “I will be good.”

  I looked at Christian and he nodded without hesitating. What makes you think he won’t run?

  “I promise I will not.”

  “Great! He can hear us.”

  I nodded to Christian and he started loosening the scarves. My body stiffened, waiting for some kind of a fight from Jose Luis as soon as he was free to use his arms but it didn’t come. I didn’t know if it was from his weakened state or if he truly wanted our help. Regardless, it was best if Aloysius didn’t come home to find him tied up in the bedroom.

  Jose Luis sat at the dining room table and devoured his undercooked steak without taking a breath. It was a good thing I had picked up a few more things while I was at the store, remembering that a human would need more to sustain him than one piece of meat.

  “It is good,” he said with a mouthful.

  “Thanks for saying that but it’s not. I’m an awful cook.” I confessed.

  Both of them laughed and I couldn’t help but laugh with them. “Do you want more of this stuff?” Christian held the empty glass.

  “It’s chicha morada, juice of purple corn,” Jose Luis explained with a mouth-full.

  “I remember it. I just didn’t remember what it was called. I had it years ago. It was really good,” Christian said as he poured him more out of the bottle I had put in the refrigerator. As I sat at the table across from the boy, I was surprised to realize that I was curious about him, not only because of what he was doing, but about him in general.

  “Where are your parents?” I asked.

  “They are gone. I was ten when it happen.” He swallowed a gulp of his drink and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “Bus crash.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said and reached for his hand before I realized what I was doing. He shivered at my touch and I yanked my hand away.

  “I am sorry. I never touch vampire before,” he explained and smiled. His teeth were shockingly white against his deep tan.

  “It’s okay. How old are you now?” I couldn’t say why but I wanted him to relax. Christian beamed at me and settled into a chair next to me.

  “Fifteen.”

  My face must have shown my surprise because he laughed. “I thought you were older. How did you end up with the hunters?”

  “I was living in a house that was…how you say…nobody?”

  “Abandoned?” Christian offered. Jose Luis nodded.

  “I get money from people of buses and streets, from pockets. One day, I steal from wrong pocket and when I wake up I was with them, their house. They wanted me to stay with them because of what I can do and because I speak English.”

  “Where did you learn to speak English so well? I mean, classes are expensive,” I asked.

  “I had books from when I was in school and I learn some on the street from the tourists. I hear it one time and I know it.”

  “That’s impressive,” Christian said. “Are there a lot of English-speaking vampires in the city?”

  “Sometimes, from the US, England, the islands. Some are German.” He ate the last of the food on his plate and leaned back on his seat. “Thank you for the food.”

  “How do you feel now?” I asked and took his plate to the sink.

  “Okay, I think. Not so tired.”

  “So what is it that you can do?” Christian asked, not giving the conversation a chance to die.

  “Vampires listen to brains. They cannot listen to mine but I can listen to theirs and talk to them that way.”

  “Yes, I clearly remember,” Christian said but he smiled, encouraging him to open up.

  “Have you met many American vampires?”

  “No. I see them sometimes, listen to them. But I am too young to sit in mee
tings with them and the elders.”

  I raised my eyebrows at Christian. Why would vampires need to meet with the hunters?

  Jose Luis heard my silent question and continued. “They must have permission from the elders to hunt in the city, sometimes to stay in the city. They cannot hunt innocent people. They must meet with the elders when they come and when they are going to leave. We must know who is here all the time.”

  Christian stiffened in his seat. “What is it?” I asked looking at him. He was clenching his hands into such a tight ball on the table that I thought he should be bleeding from his fingernails digging into his flesh.

  “Uhh…nothing. Why?”

  “You look uncomfortable,” I said. Jose Luis backed his chair away from the table but stayed seated. He looked back and forth between us, his eyes growing wide, his Adam’s apple sliding against his throat from swallowing so hard. Christian pushed his chair away also. “Do you hear something I don’t?”

  Christian shook his head slowly, not taking his eyes from the boy’s neck. It was at that moment that I realized what was happening, but I wasn’t fast enough to react.

  ~ Nineteen ~

  Christian leapt across the table, the empty vase and dishes flying to the tile floor with a crash. Jose Luis’s body flew to the other end of the room with Christian’s heavier mass on top of him, making both look like rag dolls easily thrown in the air. In an instant, I was on top of Christian, trying to pry his fangs from the boy’s neck, pulling his head away by his hair. Jose Luis struggled under him but to no avail. With one fist still gripping hair, I grabbed Christian’s chin and turned his face toward mine. His eyes clouded over and his expression looked like that of a sleepwalker.

  “Christian, look at me. Focus! Focus on my face!” He made no attempt to breathe or blink. Jose Luis finally went limp under Christian’s weight. Since neither was moving, I took that opportunity to jump into Christian’s mind. I heard his anguish. “I am so sorry, Christian. I wasn’t thinking.”

  The metallic smell reached my nose as Christian’s shoulders slumped in defeat. He blinked and shook his head. The scent was mouth-watering to me so I could just imagine what it was doing to Christian. The fact that he was trying to focus on my face showed me he had more self-control than I did at his age.

  “Oh, God. What did I do?” he whispered, turning away from me to look at Jose Luis’s pale, terrified face. “Did I?”

  I nodded. “It was not enough to cause any serious damage. See? He’s fine.”

  “I didn’t mean to. I don’t know what happened.”

  “It’s my fault, baby. I should’ve known better. You haven’t fed,” I caressed his cheek with my fingertips, still holding his head up with the other hand.

  “Why do you always take responsibility for my actions?” he snapped. “I’m a grown man.”

  “I know. But this whole thing is new to you and it is up to me to teach you and take care of you until you adjust.” Though his tone of voice hurt, I knew I shouldn’t take it to heart. It was his hunger speaking. “Come on, get up with me.”

  He let me pull his shaking body up, stepping away from Jose Luis in unison. The boy sat up and backed against the wall, wrapping his arms around himself, ignoring the trickle of blood running down his neck. “No me maten, por favor,” he pleaded with a weak voice.

  “No te vamos a matar. Te lo prometo,” I responded without taking my eyes off Christian. “Christian, listen to me. This is not your fault. You’re a newborn vampire. You needed to feed.”

  “It’s not your responsibility to take care of me,” he said, his voice sounding a little stronger than I expected. “I should’ve gotten up and walked away instead of doing this.”

  “But it is my responsibility. I made you what you are. I am responsible for you.”

  “Um…excuse me,” Jose Luis interrupted. “What about this?” He motioned toward his bleeding neck.

  “In a minute,” I answered. He slumped back against the wall. I wasn’t finished with Christian yet.

  “No. I did this, I will fix it,” Christian said and before I could stop him, he moved to kneel at Jose Luis’s side. The boy slid away from him, keeping his body tight against the wall. “I am truly sorry, Jose Luis. Please forgive me.”

  Jose Luis looked at me for guidance and I nodded. He didn’t reply but didn’t move away when Christian approached him again. “I’ve seen you do this, Lily,” he assured me. He bit the tip of his tongue and then leaned toward Jose Luis’s neck. The boy stiffened and his eyes bulged.

  “It’s okay, Jose Luis. He won’t hurt you again. He’s going to make it better. Please trust him,” I encouraged. Christian rubbed the blood over Jose Luis’s puncture wounds, exactly as I would have done. The bite marks closed before our eyes. Jose Luis’s body finally relaxed and he took a deep breath.

  “You need to feed, Christian.” I looked at Jose Luis. “But we’ll have to either tie him up or take him with us.”

  “Leave the boy to me.” We all jumped as Aloysius appeared behind me. “Go feed. We will talk when you return.”

  “How much trouble do you think we’re in?” Christian asked as we walked back to a well-lit street in search of a taxi. We had fed and were fully sated, but nervous about facing Aloysius. We walked slower than normal, trying to delay going back to the apartment for as long as we could.

  “I have no idea. He didn’t sound too angry but then again, he’s always composed. The calmness of his manner actually makes me a little nervous.”

  “I know what you mean. Is that your phone?” Christian asked as we settled in the back seat of a run-down car that smelled like it had been used as a toilet.

  I grabbed the phone out of my pocket and opened the text message to read it. “Fiore’s in Miami. She’s on her way here!”

  “What? What is it about ‘you’re my wife’ that she doesn’t get?” Christian looked out the window with his back tense.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” I had seen his jealousy before, but I still didn’t know why. Was he seeing something I wasn’t when it came to Fiore?

  “Nothing…forget about it. Why is she coming?”

  “She doesn’t say.”

  The taxi turned down a dark road that I didn’t recognize. We bounced in our seats before we were thrown back as the taxi started to climb a steep, winding hill.

  “Where are we going?” I asked the driver in Spanish. The only response was his eyes in the rearview mirror, looking back and forth between us.

  “Something wrong?” Christian asked, looking out the window at the cliff that dropped off to what looked like a black hole.

  “We’re going the wrong way. This is nowhere near the apartment building,” I answered.

  “We’re not even on a real road, are we? It’s nothing but dirt. I don’t like this either,” Christian took my hand and squeezed it. We should get out…

  As he transmitted that thought to me, the car came to a stop. “Bajen!” the driver commanded. I didn’t argue and we got out. While Christian and I stood to the side, the car backed up, turned around, and sped away, raising a cloud of dust that made us cough.

  “What the hell was that all about?” Christian yelled, waving his hands to clear the dust.

  “I don’t know. They usually bring people up here to rob them. He didn’t,” I explained. The cross stood in front of us, aglow in white lights, and the ocean to the left. “The planetarium is up here.” The wind pushed my hair in front of my face, making it hard to see. I reached in my pocket for a hair tie.

  “Is this some kind of joke? ‘Let’s see if the tourists can find their way back?’ Hey,” Christian took my hand to stop my advance. “Not only did he not rob us, but he didn’t even let us pay him.”

  “That’s really not good. Someone is waiting for us up here. I’m sure of it.” We stood still for a moment, deciding on which way to go. “We need to get off this mountain.”

  “Which way?” he asked.

  “The fastest way possible,
you on my back and off the edge of that wall,” I answered, walking toward it.

  “Did you hear that?” He grabbed my hand again.

  “What? The wind?”

  “No. It was a laugh – a woman. I’m almost positive.”

  I listened more closely but heard nothing. I started walking again when suddenly I heard someone clear a throat. “Where are you going? Don’t want to play?” It was a woman’s voice, one I didn’t recognize. I caught the light scent of a flowery perfume.

  We spun around, raising more dust. “Who’s there?” I yelled.

  “So you are playing? I’m so glad,” the voice yelled back. I looked at Christian. He motioned for me to remain quiet.

  “Do you hear an accent?” I whispered to Christian. He shook his head.

  “What are we playing and who are we playing with?” he asked with a strong commanding voice.

  “I ask the questions. Let’s begin, shall we? First question, what have you done with the boy?” The voice sounded even closer, yet we saw no one.

  “The boy is alive. That’s all you need to know.” Christian started to usher me behind him. I stiffened, refusing to let him shield me. “Are you Melinda?”

  She hesitated before she spoke again. “I can be whoever you want me to be. I want the boy back.”

  “What do you want with him?” I asked before Christian could take over again.

  “That is not your problem. Your only job is to bring me the boy and I will trade him for someone you will want.” Her voice seemed to surround us.

  Chills went through my body when I heard that. Fiore? Could she have Fiore?

  “Perhaps.” She laughed.

  So she was reading my thoughts. Communicating secretly with Christian would be futile. “Where?” I asked. Christian looked at me with shock on his face.

  “I thought you’d see things my way,” she said with a laugh. “Tomorrow at midnight, right here.”

  “Fine. We’ll be here,” Christian answered.

  “No! Just her and the boy. If you bring any others, your little friend dies. You got that?”

  “Are you crazy?” Christian blurted.

  “Agreed,” I answered.