Chasing Shadows (A Shadow Chronicles Novel) (20 page)

When we arrived, Lochlan paid for the tickets while I purchased soda and popcorn for Mark, Juliette, and myself, and then we went to find seats. I ended up sandwiched between Lochlan and Mark, with Juliette choosing the other side of her brother. We got comfortable and waited for the movie to start, and as the theater filled up, every few minutes Loch would lean close and remark on the scents he picked up from the people around us. I grinned, enjoying the game that had become something of a ritual when we went out together.

Just as the lights were going down, the three of us who had a heightened sense of smell sat straighter in our seats. We leaned forward and glanced at one another in the dark, acknowledging silently that we had each caught the same scent on the air: there was another vampire in the theater. Mark asked what was going on and I whispered in his ear what we had all detected as Juliette none too subtly scanned the people around us. Whoever it was, they were close by, and though I was determined to enjoy myself in
spite of this development, I nonetheless paid attention every time someone in my field of vision got up from their seat.

“Aren’t you worrying for nothing?” Mark leaned over and whispered as the movie began.

“Remember how Lochlan reacted to your scent?” I whispered back. “Whoever it is may not have my brother’s discipline, Mark. He could try to attack someone else here or he could try to come after you.”

Juliette leaned across him, saying, “Maybe we should leave. We can all come see this movie some other time.”

Lochlan leaned forward and shook his head at her. “No, I don’t think so. While I agree that caution is warranted, my lady, you cannot necessarily run every time one of my people comes near, or you’ll be running for the rest of your life.”

“I’m not going to turn tail and run,” Mark said firmly. “A Marine doesn’t back down from a fight or cower in fear. We stay. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the zombies.”

*****

Zombieland
wasn’t a particularly intelligent movie, but then it wasn’t really supposed to be. It was, however, campy and hilarious—although I thought Bill Murray’s death was just plain wrong. I mean, it just sucked that he’d managed to survive the zombie outbreak that long only to get shot in the midst of playing a prank.

I was pleased to see that, despite the proximity of another vampire, our entire group managed to enjoy themselves. As a safety measure, though, we decided to sit through to the end of the credits (“You never know, there may be a bonus scene,” Lochlan quipped), and Juliette was visibly relieved to discover that the unknown vamp had apparently left the theater with the other moviegoers—we were the last ones in the room when the film reel was stopped and the clean-up crew came in to get it ready for the next showing. This did not, of course, stop three of the four of us from sniffing to try and locate the vampire’s scent trail as we were leaving.

Mark peeled off as we were passing the restrooms on the way out of the building. “A guy can only hold a thirty-two ounce soda for so long,” he said, pushing the door open. I gestured to Lochlan to follow him, and although he rolled his eyes he nevertheless complied. Juliette mentioned a need to use the ladies’ room, so I went in with her, realizing that I also needed to relieve myself.

As women are wont to do, even those of us—like me—who are not all that “girly,” when we had finished our necessary business, Juliette and I stood at the sinks and checked our appearances in the mirror after we’d washed our hands. “Juliette, can I tell you something?” I said carefully, wanting to break the uncomfortable silence.

“Sure, what is it?” she asked.

I turned to her, and since by smell I knew we were alone in the restroom, I didn’t bother to lower my voice. “I don’t want you to worry about Lochlan. He is a good man, I promise you. I admit that he was tempted by Mark, and his thirst was so strongly stirred that he actually had to feed on one of the pigs. But he didn’t even know why he was so tempted until I told him Mark is a
dhunphyr
, and he’s promised to make sure he
is well fed before he visits again so that he is less tempted.”

Juliette sighed. “The problem is he will always be tempted by just the smell of him. Other vampires will be tempted by the smell of him. I suppose Lochlan can’t help it; it’s the nature of a vampire to be tempted by blood. At the same time—and if you tell him I said this I will have to hurt you—he’s right. Mark can’t be expected to hide forever, nor should he have to. He also shouldn’t have to be looking over his shoulder and worrying that he’s in danger every moment of the day.”

I nodded my agreement. “I have to say that it’s something of a surprise he’s managed to remain hidden from our world for as long as he has, though I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that he spent one third of his life as a Marine,” I told her as we exited the ladies’ room, and I looked around for Mark and Lochlan. I didn’t see them, so I turned back to Juliette.

“I also don’t want to have to hide him from the world,” I went on. “We’re lucky in that so few vampires travel in daylight, so the only time there’d really be any reason for concern would be at night. And I really do have little to do with vampires myself other than my brother, and a small number of vampires who have forsaken human blood, the latter of whom I see rarely. Truth is, Lochlan is the biggest vampire presence in my life, and he’s only around once a week, sometimes less.”

“You have to admit, though, that there is a chance that even if you don’t visit the vampire social circles that often, they may come looking for you once they learn there’s a
dhunphyr
on your farm,” my companion pointed out.

“But why worry about something like that when you cannot be certain it will happen?” I countered. “Remember what I told you the other night: a life spent looking over your shoulder is no life at all. The thing to do is live our lives as we normally would, and deal with the obstacles if and when they arise. You’ll enjoy your life so much more that way.”

She sighed. “I know. You’re right, Saphrona, I know that. It’s just… I almost feel like a mother who is sending her kid off to school for the first time. I know Mark is a grown man, and he’s military trained so I know he can take care of himself. But letting go is so damn hard.”

I gave her a sympathetic smile and reached over to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. I then looked around again for Mark and Lochlan.

“Where the heck are they?” I mused aloud. “Usually men complain about us taking too long in the bathroom.”

“No kidding,” Juliette agreed, also looking left and right for any sign of her brother or mine. “You don’t think they’d have gone out to the car already, do you?”

I shook my head. “No. It may be early evening, but it’s still daylight outside. Lochlan wouldn’t spend any more time than necessary out in the sun, direct or not.”

Just as I was about to go into the men’s room to see if they were still in there, Mark and Lochlan came out. Mark immediately put his arm around me and Lochlan placed his around Juliette’s shoulders, whispering in her ear as she started to pull away, “Please do not make a scene. Let us leave casually with all due haste.”

Alarm shot through me at his words—and at the scent pouring off of both men. They’d encountered the vampire in the men’s room and their desire to make a quick
getaway meant the encounter had not gone well.

Juliette nodded stiffly and the four of us walked outside, heading straight for the Escalade. Lochlan used his keychain remote to unlock the doors, and to my surprise, Juliette continued the charade by climbing into the front seat next to him. When Mark and I were in the back seat and we had all four of us shut our doors, Lochlan turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking space.

“What the hell happened in there?” Juliette demanded, turning in her seat. “I can smell vampire stink all over both of you—no offense,” she added with a nod in my brother’s direction.

“None taken,” Lochlan muttered.

“The vampire ambushed me at the urinal,” Mark told us.
“How fuckin’ messed up is that—to come at a guy when he’s taking a piss?!”

“Did he say anything at all?” I asked.

“No. He was standing at one of the urinals when we went in, but since I can’t smell him like you guys can, I didn’t know it was him at first. Just walked to one a few feet down to do my thing,” Mark said. “I’d barely gotten my dick in my hand when he flew at me.
Didn’t even seem to fuckin’ care that Lochlan was there.”

I’d never heard Mark curse so much, so I figured it was a sign that he was royally ticked off. I couldn’t blame him of course, and I gave the hand I held what I hoped was a comforting squeeze.

“He didn’t bite you, did he?” Juliette asked, and at her words I found myself inspecting Mark for signs of injury.

“He didnae have time t’ bite ‘im,” Lochlan said, his own voice conveying his annoyance by the thickening of his accent. “The moment the bugger moved, I was on ‘im and snappin’ ‘is neck like a twig.”

Juliette looked at him with wide eyes. “You killed him?”

Lochlan shook his head.
“Unfortunately, no.
At least not permanently.
The sodding git will live—‘is spine is probably re-fusing even as we speak, and because his spinal cord wasn’t severed, he may well recover in just a few hours instead of taking three days to do so. He’ll be in a right foul mood when he does, too.”

“How did you conceal the body in the meantime?” I asked.

“The reason you smell so much vampire stink on us, as Jules so aptly put it, is because we hauled the fucker into one of the stalls and yanked his pants down so people would think he was taking a shit,” Mark replied tersely.

“Eeww,” his sister remarked with a wrinkling of her nose.

“It’s really too bad you couldn’t have killed him,” I said slowly, surprising Mark. “Obviously I don’t like the thought of killing anyone, or I wouldn’t have been able to give up people as a food source. But allowing him to survive means allowing him the chance to attack you again, because he knows what you smell like.”

For the first time, Mark looked more alarmed than angry. “He’s not going to be able to follow us home, is he?”

I shook my head as Lochlan replied from the front seat. “No, our scent trail will have ended in the parking lot. He won’t be able to follow us unless he’s adept at tracking vehicle exhaust, and the chances of that with the countless petrol vapor trails in
that area are nil. However, Saphrona is right about one thing: if you encounter him again, he will not hesitate to attack. Not only does he want your blood to feed on, he’ll
be wanting
you dead for getting the best of him.”

“Won’t he want you dead, too?”

Lochlan nodded. “Aye, most likely,” he said, “which is why I intend to see that he’s taken care of as soon as possible.”

“Oh, so it’s not because he tried to kill Mark, but because he’s gonna want to kill you too,” Juliette said with a sneer, crossing her arms as her eyes shot daggers at our driver.

My brother glanced sidelong at her as he maneuvered us through traffic. “On the contrary, madam—the threat against me is, although very real, a mere annoyance at best. And while I admit to wanting to remove said annoyance permanently so I am no longer thus annoyed, I’m far more concerned with the fact that a threat against Mark means a threat against my sister. And
that
I will not tolerate.”

“How is a threat to Mark’s life a threat to Saphrona?”

I cleared my throat and she looked back at me. “Because now that our bond is complete, if Mark dies, so will I.”

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Mark
turned to me with an alarmed expression. “Are you for real?”

I nodded. “I’m afraid so. As a friend who has bonded once ex
plained to me, our experiencing
pure physical and emotional intimacy in
 
the same
 
moment completes the bond,” I told him. “So if something ever happened to you, I would be so heartbroken as to eventually be consumed by my grief.”

“But what if, God forbid, something happened to you? Would I die as well?”

“You would.”

“Of course,” Juliette mused softly. “I’d forgotten that vampire pair-bonding is virtually the same as imprinting among shapeshifters. In that first moment of dual intimacy, you exchanged a small part of your life force with one another, making it impossible for either of you to live without the other.”

Mark looked understandably ashen, and even though we both wore seat belts, he reached over and wrapped his arms around me, holding me for a moment before he said, “You told me you thought I would be human, that vampires almost always bond to humans. Doesn’t that kind of give you guys the short end of the stick, to dangle immortality in your faces only to have it cut off by the relatively short lifespan of a human being?”

“Very observant of you, brother,” Lochlan put in, “but what may surprise you is that when one of us bonds to a human, the metaphysical connection delays the aging process for that human. It doubles their life expectancy. But because it does not grant true immortality, most human bondmates are eventually turned.”