Lengths For Love (5 page)

“But I don’t think it’ll be a problem for you father. I mean, she can remove the brow piercing and her navel will be covered.”

“I suppose you have a point. Enough about her, though. Come on.” He took my arm and dragged me outside. “I know the perfect place for lunch!”

I followed silently as we drove down to this little café outdoors. I wasn’t sure what to expect here, but it looked friendly enough. He took care of all the ordering while I just nodded and smiled at everyone. I cursed myself for never having taken German in my life. Why did I have to listen to my father and take Spanish? Why did he convince me that it would help me in life?

Lunch was not that uncomfortable and he did seem charming during our conversation. He told me all kinds of stories about his time in Vienna. He had apparently been born in London, but moved here when his father decided to set up the Vamporium. He had worked in business for a while until his father allowed him to live here and look after vampires. I laughed a few times, but my mind kept going back to Alexis. I knew she would be taken care of, but I wished I had been with her.

As he talked, I couldn’t help but notice how he flashed that pinkie ring around. He sure knew how to pimp himself out and seemed proud of who he was. I wondered if he used that ring to stamp initials onto papers. Next to him and his fancy suit, I looked out of place in my jeans with the holes in the knees. All the same, I pretended to give a damn about what he said and nodded my head.

“Ian?” He waved his hand in front of me and I found myself paying attention again. “Did you hear anything I said?”

“Um, yeah!” I lied. “I was just... nodding in agreement! Yes, that is a good idea and all that jazz!”

He looked horrified. “You think it would be better if Alexis died?”

I gasped, shaking my head. “No! No, I did not mean that at all! There’s no way I’d want that! I... I... I ‘m sorry, man. I didn’t hear anything you said. I was admiring your ring.”

“Oh, this? It’s a present from my great-grandfather.” He looked down at it and showed me the inscription. There it was again, only the shortened version: From Here to Eternity. I gingerly touched it and felt the tiny letters that had been carved in. “Yeah, it’s real gold. Worth a lot despite how small it is.”

“What does it even mean?”

He looked down at it. “The VA? Those are my initials.”

“No, I was talking about the inscription. From Here to Eternity.”

He smiled. “You’ve been seeing it everywhere, haven’t you? Can’t blame you for being curious about it. It’s our motto. It basically means that, no matter where you were before, if you come here now, you’ll be safe till eternity.”

I tried hard not to laugh at that explanation. “Okay, dude. Anyway, I’d like to see how Alexis dealt with her first chemotherapy treatment over here. You think we can go now?”

He looked down at the Rolex he was wearing. Yup, he was worth thousands of dollars while I looked like I came out of the clearance bin at K-Mart. Maybe I needed to pack some suits before coming here. Too bad I had only brought along one, and that was for an emergency. Evidently, I didn’t think anything through. I watched as Vince paid for our meal, then he motioned for me to go back to the car, which had rolled up right at that moment. I waved to the driver who stopped, and got into the back and waited. Vince finally returned and sat next to me, handing me some money.

“Use it in case you ever need to get out and shop around,” he said.

I blinked, flipping through the euros he had handed over. “Wow, thanks! I’ll pay you back as soon as I can!”

“You don’t need to. It’s all on me.” He turned to the driver and said something in German. We were rolling once again and pretty soon we were back at the Vamporium. I felt good holding all that money and flipping through it. Maybe it was enough to buy me a suit as good as his. Or at least a nice pair of shoes.

When we got back in the house, it was almost empty. No doubt Alexis was back, probably resting upstairs. I didn’t need to bother her. Vincent nodded at me and we went down the hallway together.

I saw a black woman folding up laundry and putting it in the hamper as we walked by. She was the only one I had seen, besides myself, Vince, and Alexis, that looked like she was my age. Her clothes were a bit worn compared to what I’d seen others wearing. I assumed that she simply didn’t feel like putting on brand new outfits every time. She looked up when she heard us walking towards her, almost dropping the sheets that she had folded.

“Mr. Augustin!” She exclaimed. Her British accent was thick like his, although it didn’t have any of his smoothness dripping from it. She seemed a little more softspoken. “I’m sorry I haven’t finished with the laundry yet!”

Vincent held up his hands. “You need not apologize, Kristine. I’m only here to introduce you to one of our guests. Kristine, this is Ian Choi. Ian, this is Kristine. I told you about her last night, remember? She’s my housekeeper.”

“Oh, right.” I held out my hand for her to shake. “Pleased to meet you.”

She only stared at it like she wanted to kiss it. “You’re human, right?”

I had no idea how to answer the question. “Um... what gave that away?”

“You smell like one.”

“I’m sorry?” I blinked. I was wearing deodorant, so that couldn’t be the reason I smelled like a “human” as she claimed.

“Your blood. Vampires don’t smell like that,” she explained.

Oh. She still did not shake my hand, so I decided to retract it and let her get back to folding the laundry. Vincent pulled me away and waved to her.

“After you are through with that, could you please go upstairs and help Miss Cloud get ready for her visit? Jenny is still sleeping for some reason, even though I told her to wake up at eight,” he sighed. “I’ll have to talk with her later. Anyway, come with me, Ian. I’ve got something to talk about with you.”

I followed him outside and we got inside the car while I waited for him to start talking. He looked around and nodded to his driver to start moving. “Okay, I just wanted us to get away from the house before I say anything.”

“Sure, whatever,” I shrugged. “So what’s the big news?”

“I know you and Alexis are here for a specific reason. But I must warn you that vampires aren’t easy creatures to get along with. A lot will happen once Alexis is turned. She may not be the person you once knew her as.”

I nodded, even though I already knew this information. “When do you intend to turn her? I know she doesn’t want to wait.”

“She won’t have to wait long. The vampire I’ve picked for the job is decent and careful with willing humans. I just need him to come back here, first.”

“Why can’t any vampire just do it?” I wanted to know.

“It’s not as easy as those books make it sound. I would never leave an inexperienced vampire with her, especially considering the state she’s in,” he said with a grim smile. “This has to be done carefully. I hope you understand that, Ian.”

“Yeah,” I lied. I understood it, but that didn’t mean I believed it. The whole thing felt hokey, but if it entertained Alexis, so be it. I did make that promise after all.

“I have some work to do now,” he said, looking at his Rolex again. With the money he gave, I needed to get one, too. “You can do whatever you want now. I’ll see you at dinner tonight then?”

“At dinner.” I agreed, waving him off.

Feeling weighed down with all the thoughts in my head, I headed upstairs. I needed to clear them out.

I had met quite a few guys in my life, but none were like Vincent. He seemed like he was split in two, yet only those who were close to him could see it. Whenever he cracked a smile, it was like he was showing his true self. Unfortunately, I was not close enough to him to get that true self, nor did I want to be. As far as I knew, he owned this place. He wasn’t my friend and he wasn’t someone I wanted as a friend. I hated the way he looked at me and I especially hated how he looked at Alexis. When he had his eyes on her, he didn’t take them off until she was gone.

But he was harmless. I didn’t know why everyone kept staring at us like he was going to kill me. Nothing bad had happened. I didn’t expect anything bad to go down. Maybe they were just paranoid. Or they were waiting for a moment to eat me. Yeah, that had to be it. Fake vampires trying to scare me by pretending they wanted to eat me. Spooky.

I finally decided to confront Kristine about it. Out of all the so-called vampires, she’d tell me what was up. As Alexis was sleeping, I went to where I knew I would find Kristine. Somehow, the only thing she seemed to do was the housework and there she was again, holding a huge basket of clothes. What luck. I only had to step outside of my room and go a few steps to find her.

“I’ve been looking for you,” I began.

“For what?” She asked, heading to the laundry room. I followed and offered to help. She shook her head. “I’m a big girl. I can do it. Now what do you want?”

“Well, anyway, I was hoping you could tell me about this place some more.” I laid it out straight for her. “I tried asking Vince, but he’s so busy. I figured you wouldn’t mind since you’ve been here for a while.”

“This isn’t the place for her or you,” Kristine said, folding the laundry she brought in. “We’re not a tourist stop. We have lives to lead and things to do. We can’t go around entertaining you or drinking your blood when you ask.”

“We’re not here to visit. My girlfriend wants this,” I explained.

“Well, she should have gone elsewhere.” She put the clothes back in the basket. “Tell me, how much did Mr. Augustin spill?”

“Spill what? He didn’t spill any drinks,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood between us.

“Very funny. What did he tell you about the Vamporium?”

“Uh, nothing that the ad didn’t tell me,” I shrugged. “I mean, Alexis is the one that’s into all this. I was skeptical about the whole thing. Plus the doctors said it was okay to come here for treatment and she’s adamant about changing. I guess she’s afraid of death or something.”

“You should have been against this from the start. Forget about doctor’s orders or your promises.” She looked up and stopped folding her laundry. “There’s still time to get out, though.”

“We’re not going anywhere.”

“I really wish you’d change your mind.”

“Why? This is what she wants.”

“But it’s not necessarily what she needs,” she replied. “Turning into a vampire is a big decision. Once it’s done, you cannot change back into a human. You’re going to deal with a lot of consequences and nothing will feel the same. Is she willing to give up what she knows for this? What she feels? Has she given any thought to those?”

I shrugged. “I just know she wants the pain to go away.”

Kristine nodded, but I didn’t think it convinced her. “That’s what all the patients that come here say.”

“You mean you’ve had patients here before?”

“Oh, yes. They all come for the same reason your girlfriend is here. They all want to change so they can end the pain,” she said, sitting down on the bed. “But none of them are ever aware that the pain doesn’t end when your life does. Instead, you get to deal with different pains. You end up regretting the decision you made.” Then she gulped and looked at me. “Tell me, Ian, do you regret coming here?”

I shuddered. I hated the way she looked at me. It wasn’t the usual look of hunger that I got from most of these vampires. She was looking at me with pity.

Still, I had to answer. “I’ll be honest. I wasn’t too keen about coming here. I thought Alexis could have just as easily benefited from treatment back home. But she kept insisting on wanting to be turned and she found this place. She thought that, if treatment here didn’t help, at least she could die and be born again as a vampire. I’m not sure why I felt the need to come along, but I guess this place called me, too.”

“It called to you,” Kristine repeated.

“Stupid, huh? I’m not sure why I kept being drawn to it. I looked at the ad and tried to convince myself this was a bad idea. Yet those words could not come out of my mouth. Eventually, I just gave up and agreed to be with her during the treatments.”

“What about her family?”

“Too bogged with work to accompany her. Not like she has the best relationship with them in the first place.” I shrugged. “Alexis doesn’t have too many people close to her. She opted to go alone, but I couldn’t let her. Those treatments are painful. There’s no way she could deal with them by herself and especially not far away. So I took the semester off and came with her.”

That made her smile. “You are a kind boyfriend.”

“Either that or I’m nuts.”

“Not very many people would do this for people they loved,” she went on. “So no, I don’t think this makes you crazy.”

“Well, I feel crazy. I gave up my school and life for her. Therefore, I have to have a few screws loose in my own head.”

“Maybe a few. But I also think it is very thoughtful of you. I don’t know who would have done something like that for me. In fact, I wish I had someone like you. Someone who would have stopped me from being turned.”

I gave her a smile, though I was pretty sure she wasn’t trying to flatter me. “Come on. I haven’t stopped my girlfriend from doing anything, yet.”

“But you would. If something came with huge risk, you would,” she pointed out. “I think I made a stupid mistake when I was turned. I should have died that night. Living like this, living in secret... it’s not quite as fun as you think.”

“So you don’t run around, drinking blood?” I asked. This was not shocking to me. I knew there were some hidden problems with this plan. The more I looked at Kristine, the more obvious it became. She wanted me to leave this place as soon as I could and take Alexis with me. I watched as she polished a brass nameplate. On it was the following once again:

From Here to Eternity, You Will Find Where You Belong

“What does that mean?” I had to ask, nodding toward the name plate. “I saw it on the ad and it’s here again.”

“It’s the Augustin family motto,” she shrugged. “Truth to be told, I’m not sure what they are aiming for with it. But I see it everywhere. I’ve had it memorized for the last twenty years.”