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Authors: Charity Santiago, Evan Hale
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sacrifice or something.
“You haven’t been honest so far?” I couldn’t hide the tremor in my voice.
“Not completely. I didn’t want to scare you.” He looked a little unsure of himself, his hands twisting together as he looked at me. “When I saw you, I had this- I don’t know- like a flash of recognition. I know you from somewhere. I think you might be why I’m here. But you were always with that guy- and I didn’t know how to approach you.” He smiled crookedly. “Until you showed up on my back patio. I didn’t know how I was going to get your attention- and I wasn’t sure if you’d want to listen to what I had to say.”
I probably should have been freaked out at his confession, if only because I’m sure stalkers all over the world start off their own expositions similarly. But considering how much less frightening this was than my previously-mentioned theory of a human-skin coat, I was actually relieved.
“Is that all?” I asked, and sighed. “Well, I can straighten that out. We’ve never met. I’d definitely remember you. But maybe you knew somebody as a human who- who looked like me. Your wife, maybe. We might look alike.”
“Yeah.” Reeve looked disappointed. “Yeah, I guess that’s it.”
I almost felt sorry for him- until my inner voice told me to grow up and stop being a pansy, and I remembered that Reeve was still a vampire who drank people’s blood. I took a long swig of lukewarm water to clear my head. My rescuer tendencies hadn’t done me any favors in the past, and they certainly wouldn’t help me now, when I was drawn to this undeniably broken man.
Actually, broken didn’t even begin to describe Reeve accurately. As far as I knew, there was no cure for vampirism, so he was just about the worst rescue case I could have found.
The realization hit me hard, and I blinked. My sudden attraction to Reeve made more sense now. I was a rescuer, and he was damaged goods! I silently cursed my dad for passing on the rescuer gene to me. That particular inclination was not in any way advantageous during a vampire apocalypse.
I’d go home tomorrow, I decided, and with any luck, I’d never see Reeve again. That was assuming he didn’t pull out some dastardly leather coat plan in the hours between now and sunrise.
I looked ruefully at my knee. Hopefully it would support my weight in the morning- and hopefully it would heal up quickly. I didn’t have the supplies to warrant any significant downtime.
“Where is your husband?” Reeve asked, jarring me out of my reverie. I was momentarily surprised that I’d managed to let my thoughts wander while sitting in a room with a vampire, but then, Reeve didn’t appear to be a typical vampire, either.
“He went on vacation, right before the pandemic crossed the border,” I answered quietly. “Eight months ago.”
“Have you talked to him since then?”
“Just once.” I felt depressed, thinking back to that phone call. Considering the way our last conversation had ended, the odds of Cole’s survival were not good. I didn’t even want to think about what might have happened to the girls, Priscilla and Pearl.
Don’t even get me started on the girls’ names- especially Pearl. Kellie named the poor kid after her grandmother, and though it was a nice name, it did seem somewhat dated for an American twelve-year-old. The name had been an endless source of teasing from Pearl’s classmates at school.
“Do you think he’s still alive?”
My thoughts came to a screeching halt at that, and I glared at Reeve, suddenly irritated. “I don’t know,” I said. “He told me to wait here for him. So I’m waiting. But it’s a long way from Florida, and he might have gotten held up on the way.”
“Sorry,” Reeve apologized immediately. “I didn’t mean anything by it. But…well, you know…with Eddie…”
He didn’t have to say anything else. I knew
“You haven’t been honest so far?” I couldn’t hide the tremor in my voice.
“Not completely. I didn’t want to scare you.” He looked a little unsure of himself, his hands twisting together as he looked at me. “When I saw you, I had this- I don’t know- like a flash of recognition. I know you from somewhere. I think you might be why I’m here. But you were always with that guy- and I didn’t know how to approach you.” He smiled crookedly. “Until you showed up on my back patio. I didn’t know how I was going to get your attention- and I wasn’t sure if you’d want to listen to what I had to say.”
I probably should have been freaked out at his confession, if only because I’m sure stalkers all over the world start off their own expositions similarly. But considering how much less frightening this was than my previously-mentioned theory of a human-skin coat, I was actually relieved.
“Is that all?” I asked, and sighed. “Well, I can straighten that out. We’ve never met. I’d definitely remember you. But maybe you knew somebody as a human who- who looked like me. Your wife, maybe. We might look alike.”
“Yeah.” Reeve looked disappointed. “Yeah, I guess that’s it.”
I almost felt sorry for him- until my inner voice told me to grow up and stop being a pansy, and I remembered that Reeve was still a vampire who drank people’s blood. I took a long swig of lukewarm water to clear my head. My rescuer tendencies hadn’t done me any favors in the past, and they certainly wouldn’t help me now, when I was drawn to this undeniably broken man.
Actually, broken didn’t even begin to describe Reeve accurately. As far as I knew, there was no cure for vampirism, so he was just about the worst rescue case I could have found.
The realization hit me hard, and I blinked. My sudden attraction to Reeve made more sense now. I was a rescuer, and he was damaged goods! I silently cursed my dad for passing on the rescuer gene to me. That particular inclination was not in any way advantageous during a vampire apocalypse.
I’d go home tomorrow, I decided, and with any luck, I’d never see Reeve again. That was assuming he didn’t pull out some dastardly leather coat plan in the hours between now and sunrise.
I looked ruefully at my knee. Hopefully it would support my weight in the morning- and hopefully it would heal up quickly. I didn’t have the supplies to warrant any significant downtime.
“Where is your husband?” Reeve asked, jarring me out of my reverie. I was momentarily surprised that I’d managed to let my thoughts wander while sitting in a room with a vampire, but then, Reeve didn’t appear to be a typical vampire, either.
“He went on vacation, right before the pandemic crossed the border,” I answered quietly. “Eight months ago.”
“Have you talked to him since then?”
“Just once.” I felt depressed, thinking back to that phone call. Considering the way our last conversation had ended, the odds of Cole’s survival were not good. I didn’t even want to think about what might have happened to the girls, Priscilla and Pearl.
Don’t even get me started on the girls’ names- especially Pearl. Kellie named the poor kid after her grandmother, and though it was a nice name, it did seem somewhat dated for an American twelve-year-old. The name had been an endless source of teasing from Pearl’s classmates at school.
“Do you think he’s still alive?”
My thoughts came to a screeching halt at that, and I glared at Reeve, suddenly irritated. “I don’t know,” I said. “He told me to wait here for him. So I’m waiting. But it’s a long way from Florida, and he might have gotten held up on the way.”
“Sorry,” Reeve apologized immediately. “I didn’t mean anything by it. But…well, you know…with Eddie…”
He didn’t have to say anything else. I knew
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