Birth of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Realm) (15 page)

On one hand, it would solve the problem I had created with my impulsive gesture. On the other hand, it was a horrible thing to allow to happen to my only scion. And if word ever spread that I had changed a human and then allowed her to fry on her first day as an immortal, I would at the least be shunned from all good society. At the most, I would be brought up in front of the Bishops on formal charges.

I had to at least try to convince Haley that she was a member of the undead and needed to protect herself against daylight. With that in mind, I mounted the steps and rang the bell. As I stood there waiting, I could hear some angry words being exchanged, and then the door was yanked open.

It was the drunk man. I wondered if he was Haley’s father. They didn’t look at all alike. “What?” the man snapped impatiently.

“I’m sorry to bother you at this hour on Christmas,” I said, “but I’m having some car trouble. May I please borrow your phone?”

“Use your damn cell phone,” the man said and went to slam the door in my face.

I stopped the door easily enough. The man’s eyes grew wide, and he put his shoulder into the door trying to close it but with no success. Humans never have the strength they believe they have. Not compared to a member of the undead. “I’m sorry to keep bothering you,” I told him, “but you see, I don’t have my cell phone on me. If you could just invite me in, then I could call AAA and be on my way.”

“Give me the number, and I’ll call for you,” the man insisted, still struggling to shut the door.

I had to give him credit; he was smarter than he looked. It was never wise to invite a stranger into your home. But I really needed to speak to Haley, so I did something I wouldn’t normally do. I used my influence over him.

For all the man’s determination not to open his door to a stranger, that’s where his strength left him. I was able to get him under my control almost instantly. “Look at me,” I told him, making direct eye contact. “I need to come into your home and speak to your daughter.”

“My daughter isn’t here,” he said without any struggle.

I had just seen Haley enter the house. I would have called him a liar if I wasn’t using my influence, but I knew he was speaking the truth. “Is there a young woman that lives here with you?” I asked him.

“Yes,” was his simple reply.

“What is her name?”

“Haley Scott,” he told me.

“And what is your name, sir?”

“Kevin Hale,” he said. “I’m her half-uncle.”

I had no idea what a half-uncle was, but it really didn’t matter as long as he invited me into his home. “Listen to me, Kevin Hale,” I said, really focusing on his eyes. “I need you to invite me into your home so that I can speak to Haley.”

He opened his mouth, and I knew he was about to obey my command when I heard a female voice on the other side of the door. “Who is it?” I don’t know if it was the tone of her voice or the fact that I was pretty sure there was no one else home, but I knew without doubt that the person standing behind the door was my scion.

Kevin turned to look at the speaker. He was blinking and shaking his head a little as if trying to wake from a disturbing dream. “It’s some kid,” he said. “He says he needs to talk to you. He wants me to invite him in.”

“What?” A moment later, Haley had shoved the man out of the way. She was clutching a raw slab of meat in her hand. “What the hell are you doing here? Did you follow me?”

“Of course, I followed you,” I informed her. “I’m trying to save your life.”

She rolled her eyes. “Listen. I don’t really have a life. So why don’t you go bother someone else for a while. Okay?”

“Haley, you must listen to me,” I insisted. “I am your maker. You are no longer a member of the living. You must protect yourself from the sun’s light.”

Shaking her head, Haley asked, “Has this line ever worked? I mean, seriously. Has there ever been a female that has fallen for this?”

I wasn’t quite sure what she was talking about. Nor did I understand why she didn’t believe me. I was her maker. Did she not feel our connection?

“You are a creature of the night,” I insisted. “Why do you think you crave the taste of blood?” I asked, indicating the meat she was holding. “It’s not the flesh you want from that raw steak.”

Haley glanced down at the meat. “Don’t be an ass. I was just about to cook this when you rudely interrupted me. It’s Christmas, you know. Don’t you have a family or anything?”

I could hear the sirens in the distance. They were getting closer. Haley jerked her chin, indicating the approaching law. “I think that’s for you,” she said. “You might want to go home and sleep it off.” With that, she shut the door in my face. I could hear the sound of an interior lock being turned.

I stood on the steps for a moment, staring at the door. I had absolutely no experience with progeny, and I had absolutely no idea what to do. The siren was getting closer, but I tried ringing the doorbell again anyway. There was no answer.

As a squad car pulled up in front of the house, I slipped off the side of the steps and melted into the shadows. While the police officer was hauling himself out of his car and heading up the walk, I blended in with a few tall trees, rose into the air, and flew back to the castle. In all likelihood, Haley would kill her half-uncle and then fry with the dawn. There was nothing I could do. I hoped she at least had the sense to let the police officers leave the house alive. It was one thing to make a drunken half-uncle go missing, but people tended to notice when a police officer disappeared.

Chapter 23

Haley

I have never met a guy as determined as Dorian. Not that I’d had a lot of attention from guys or anything like that, but I was aware of their behavior. When I’d returned home, Uncle Kevin was fighting drunk and seriously upset that I hadn’t at least bothered to call him to let him know I was alive. Apparently, he’d even called the cops to report me missing when I didn’t come home the previous night. If he hadn’t been so stinking drunk and belligerent, I might have been touched. It was almost like a Hallmark card—when you care enough to notify the police about my disappearance.

That weirdo Dorian must have had a car stashed somewhere near the road because he actually followed me home. I have no idea how he did it.

Uncle Kevin had a complete spaz about my disappearance, but after he’d calmed down, I realized I was starving. I started digging around in the freezer for something to eat. Way down at the bottom, I actually found a steak, which I threw in the microwave to thaw. As I was staring through the microwave door thinking
Hurry!
as the meat slowly spun around, the doorbell rang.

It was Dorian. He was spouting some load of crap about how his car had broken down and he needed to use the phone. I couldn’t believe it. The guy just wouldn’t give up.

Dorian was trying to get into the house for some reason, and Uncle Kevin was telling him to get lost. Then I heard Dorian’s voice subtly change. It didn’t go up or down in pitch exactly. His voice somehow took on a new timbre. Maybe it was a hypnotist’s trick or something because the next thing I knew, Uncle Kevin was on the verge of inviting the freak into the house.

All I wanted to do was sink my teeth into the juicy steak. The microwave beeped, and I picked up the steak using just my hand. I knew the meat was very hot, but I didn’t really feel like it was burning me. I decided I was too hungry to bother with broiling it. I had every intention of just sticking it in my mouth and sucking out the juices for a while. But I couldn’t let Kevin crumple under the influence of Dorian’s silky voice. I knew if we let him in the house, it would be hell trying to get him to leave.

So I shoved Kevin out of the way and confronted Dorian at the door. The porch light was illuminating his hair, making it appear almost white. His face was stern, and his eyes were stormy. It was too bad he was a complete nut case because he really was hot. But I guess if he wasn’t a complete nut case, he wouldn’t have had any interest in me.

I seriously wanted to know what the guy’s problem was, but he was still ranting about creatures of the night and how he was my master. Or something like that. I wondered if I’d somehow drunk a bunch of alcohol that I wasn’t aware of and had somehow blacked out large portions of the previous evening. That would at least explain the car crash. Okay, no. I had to own that one. Texting and driving was like trying to drive drunk. I’d seen enough public service announcements to know better.

And if I hadn’t been texting then I wouldn’t have crashed my car, and I would be on my way to Chicago. But for some reason, I wasn’t feeling the same urgency to get out of town. Instead of feeling used and ashamed, I felt somehow confident and pretty damn pissed. I had to fight the impulse to head over to Tommy’s house and beat him bloody.

Fortunately, just as Dorian was launching into a rant about how I needed to wear sun block or I would get burned by the sun, or something like that, there was the sound of a police siren heading in our direction. It was a good way to wrap things up. I had the distinct impression that Dorian probably wanted to avoid the police. As firmly as I could, I told Dorian to go home. Then I shut the door and locked it.

A few seconds later, he rang the bell again. I couldn’t believe it. I started to wonder if he was going to stand on the porch all night. Fortunately, the cops arrived, and that made him disappear rather suddenly.

It turned out to be only one cop. And I must admit, I never realized how yummy the cops were in Tiburon. I mean, not like hot, but like totally delicious looking. He wanted to know where I’d been for the last twenty hours. Something told me that giving him all the details of my car crash and then time spent in a shallow grave with a guy who was totally hot but completely bizarre would lead to more questions than I felt like I could deal with on an empty stomach. So I just explained that I had crashed my car into a tree. I got out to signal for help and must have wandered toward the woods instead of the road. Then I must have passed out because I woke up several hours later and walked back to Kevin’s place.

The police had found and towed my car, so my story sounded plausible if not all that probable. “And what’s all that brown stuff on your sweater?” he asked, while making a few notes in a notebook.

I squinted down at Erika’s sweater. I was pretty sure the stain was blood, but that would lead to questions about whose blood and things like that, so I just answered, “I don’t know. I guess maybe I passed out in some mud or something.”

The cop was not in a pleasant mood. He probably didn’t appreciate having to work on Christmas, but that was hardly my fault. He grumbled something about me maybe receiving a ticket for failure to control my vehicle and something else about paying a fine for damaging a tree. He would have to check with his sergeant and get back to us.

As soon as the police officer left, Uncle Kevin flew into one of his rages. “I can’t believe how stupid you are! Do you think I like having the cops come to my door? Is that what you think?”

He got right up in my face, little flecks of his spit sprinkling my cheeks. “No,” I told him. “Do you think I enjoy being in a car accident? I did pass out, you know. Thanks for not being concerned I might have a concussion or anything.” Normally, I would have backed down from Kevin when he was in one of his drunken rages, but I really wasn’t in the mood. I was just almost killed. So he could go get bent with his little temper tantrum. I suddenly realized that was all his rages were, really. The temper tantrums of a baby masquerading as a man.

“Don’t give me your lip,” he snarled. “You’re fine. I can see you’re perfectly fine. I don’t need this attitude out of you,” he said, poking me in the chest. “You keep this up, and I’ll throw you out, right on your ass.”

I definitely did not want to get thrown out. But I also was plain sick of Kevin being such a bully all the time. I guess I lost my temper a little because before I even knew what I was doing, I’d grabbed Uncle Kevin by the finger he was using to bruise my chest and twisted it.