tonight?”
“Many. Very, very many.” She glanced at him. “Does that trouble you?”
“Killing doesn’t trouble me. Possibly getting caught does. Surely we’ve each had enough blood tonight to last us a while. Doesn’t it make sense to strike fast one time, like we did back there at that house, then lie low for a while?”
A broad smile spread across Narcisa’s face as she tossed her head back and laughed without any of her usual reservation. Then she looked at David, a big smile still stretched across her face (though he noticed there was no hint of mirth in her pitiless eyes). “You’re still thinking like a human. Getting caught isn’t a concern.” She reached out and touched his face, her fingertips tracking a cool path along his jawline. “New vampires are so adorable.”
David frowned. “Do you make new ones often?”
“Depends on your definition of ‘often’. I am surpassingly old. I last turned a human a decade ago. She was a disaster. An unruly, rebellious, insolent child.”
“What happened to her?”
“I destroyed her.”
David drew in a slow, shuddery breath and carefully released it. “Oh. I see.”
The BMW pulled into the diner’s mostly empty lot. Narcisa parked the car behind a big Ford F-150. She turned the engine off, twirled the keyring around a finger, and patted him once on the cheek. “Oh, don’t worry. You’re nothing like her. You’re far more mature, for one thing. That’s why I watched you for so long before drawing you in. I needed to be certain you were the one for me.”
David felt uncomfortable again. He shifted in his seat, stealing quick glances at the brightly lit diner as he fidgeted beneath Narcisa’s steady gaze. “How did you…”
“Choose you?”
“Yeah.”
“Fate. You caught my eye one day several months ago while I was out people-hunting in the same mall where you were shopping for the cunt’s engagement ring. That day you were engaged in something marginally more sensible.”
David frowned and scratched his chin. “I was?”
She nodded. “You purchased a large television from an electronics store.”
“Huh. Funny. I remember having the strangest feeling that day, as if someone was watching me. I kept looking around, trying to figure out who it was eyeballing me.” He laughed once, a humorless sound. “I chalked it up to paranoia. I guess I should’ve trusted my instincts.”
Narcisa shrugged. “Sometimes they really are out to get you, as the saying goes. The people I track only see me if I wish them to. That day I elected to stay invisible. So I could study you. And that’s what I did, David. I followed you everywhere. Saw how you lived your life. Came to know all the things you cared about. By the time I decided to draw you in, I knew you inside and out. And I liked what I’d discovered. I knew I had to have you, had to make you mine. Forever.”
Hearing all this was more than a little creepy. It wasn’t every day you learned that a mysterious supernatural creature had been stalking you for the better part of a year. He supposed it didn’t matter much anymore. She’d drawn him in, as she put it. She had turned him. It was done and there was no going back. It was best to just accept it and let her show him the way from this moment forward.
After all, he didn’t want to wind up like that “insolent child.”
She patted him on the cheek again. “Smart boy.”
This time David didn’t even cringe. The thoughts she’d read would reassure her that she’d made a good choice. And that felt really, really important at the moment. Right now he was her prized new pet, but she had him on a short leash. He sensed it wouldn’t take too many mistakes to cause her to reassess her choice.
So don’t make any mistakes, motherfucker .
And yet…
There was one more thing he had to know. “You remember at the mall, when you told me it was my choice, whether to go with you or not?”
Her eyes glittered with amusement.
“Many. Very, very many.” She glanced at him. “Does that trouble you?”
“Killing doesn’t trouble me. Possibly getting caught does. Surely we’ve each had enough blood tonight to last us a while. Doesn’t it make sense to strike fast one time, like we did back there at that house, then lie low for a while?”
A broad smile spread across Narcisa’s face as she tossed her head back and laughed without any of her usual reservation. Then she looked at David, a big smile still stretched across her face (though he noticed there was no hint of mirth in her pitiless eyes). “You’re still thinking like a human. Getting caught isn’t a concern.” She reached out and touched his face, her fingertips tracking a cool path along his jawline. “New vampires are so adorable.”
David frowned. “Do you make new ones often?”
“Depends on your definition of ‘often’. I am surpassingly old. I last turned a human a decade ago. She was a disaster. An unruly, rebellious, insolent child.”
“What happened to her?”
“I destroyed her.”
David drew in a slow, shuddery breath and carefully released it. “Oh. I see.”
The BMW pulled into the diner’s mostly empty lot. Narcisa parked the car behind a big Ford F-150. She turned the engine off, twirled the keyring around a finger, and patted him once on the cheek. “Oh, don’t worry. You’re nothing like her. You’re far more mature, for one thing. That’s why I watched you for so long before drawing you in. I needed to be certain you were the one for me.”
David felt uncomfortable again. He shifted in his seat, stealing quick glances at the brightly lit diner as he fidgeted beneath Narcisa’s steady gaze. “How did you…”
“Choose you?”
“Yeah.”
“Fate. You caught my eye one day several months ago while I was out people-hunting in the same mall where you were shopping for the cunt’s engagement ring. That day you were engaged in something marginally more sensible.”
David frowned and scratched his chin. “I was?”
She nodded. “You purchased a large television from an electronics store.”
“Huh. Funny. I remember having the strangest feeling that day, as if someone was watching me. I kept looking around, trying to figure out who it was eyeballing me.” He laughed once, a humorless sound. “I chalked it up to paranoia. I guess I should’ve trusted my instincts.”
Narcisa shrugged. “Sometimes they really are out to get you, as the saying goes. The people I track only see me if I wish them to. That day I elected to stay invisible. So I could study you. And that’s what I did, David. I followed you everywhere. Saw how you lived your life. Came to know all the things you cared about. By the time I decided to draw you in, I knew you inside and out. And I liked what I’d discovered. I knew I had to have you, had to make you mine. Forever.”
Hearing all this was more than a little creepy. It wasn’t every day you learned that a mysterious supernatural creature had been stalking you for the better part of a year. He supposed it didn’t matter much anymore. She’d drawn him in, as she put it. She had turned him. It was done and there was no going back. It was best to just accept it and let her show him the way from this moment forward.
After all, he didn’t want to wind up like that “insolent child.”
She patted him on the cheek again. “Smart boy.”
This time David didn’t even cringe. The thoughts she’d read would reassure her that she’d made a good choice. And that felt really, really important at the moment. Right now he was her prized new pet, but she had him on a short leash. He sensed it wouldn’t take too many mistakes to cause her to reassess her choice.
So don’t make any mistakes, motherfucker .
And yet…
There was one more thing he had to know. “You remember at the mall, when you told me it was my choice, whether to go with you or not?”
Her eyes glittered with amusement.
Similar Books
