Nancy A Collins-Vamps 02 (3 page)

Yeah, being attracted to a man whose family was sworn to eradicate her race from the earth was beyond cliché, not to mention
seriously
unhealthy. But the moment she had seen Peter in the subway, she’d realized there was something between them. She wasn’t sure
what
it was, but the bond was as undeniable as it was forbidden. And it wasn’t just one way, either: Peter felt the same immediate attraction, going so far as to 18

track her down after that first meeting in order to tell her how he felt. It was like there were magnets in their hearts that kept drawing them together, no matter how hard they fought against the pull. Whatever it was that drew them together—chemistry, destiny, lust, or fate—

all Cally knew was that she couldn’t resist.

Being half vampire and half human, she had spent her entire life torn between two worlds, never truly belonging to either one. All those public service announcements telling kids to “just be yourself ” made it sound so damned easy. But what if being “yourself” gets you beat up, or even killed, what
then
? Finally, with Peter, she had found someone with whom she didn’t have to pretend she was something she wasn’t.

Sneaking off to be with Peter was like taking a vacation from her real life. When she was with him, she was free to talk about all kinds of things she never could before, like her curiosity about the true identity of her father and the mixture of aggravation and love she felt for her mother. When they were together, all the things that stressed her out seemed to melt away.

At first their rendezvous were infrequent. Now they could barely go a day without seeing each other—despite the danger to both of them should they be discovered.

As Cally approached the hawthorn tree that stood silent sentinel over her grandparents’ graves, she spotted a red-and-black-plaid wool blanket spread out on the ground underneath its gnarled branches. Sitting in the 19

middle of the blanket was an old-fashioned wicker picnic hamper. She stopped and looked around. Peter suddenly stepped out from behind one of the nearby monuments.

He was older than Cally by a couple of years, with tousled reddish-brown hair and dark brown eyes.

“I thought it would be nice to have a picnic together while the weather’s still good,” he said with a sheepish smile.

“You really didn’t have to do something like this—

but I’m glad you did!” Cally said, throwing her arms around his neck.

“I guess I’m just a romantic at heart,” he said as they sat down together on the blanket.

“So what kind of picnic did you pack?” Cally grinned, flipping open the lid of the hamper.

“Oh, a little bit of this, a little bit of that,” Peter replied. “Let’s see . . . we’ve got a mini-bottle of sparkling Blanc de Blanc, farmhouse biscuits, chocolate truffles . . .”

“What’s this?” Cally asked, holding up a stainless steel cylinder. “Coffee?”

“No.” Peter chuckled. “That’s for you. Go ahead and open it.”

Cally unscrewed the top of the gleaming thermos.

Even before she looked inside, the smell told her of its contents. She looked up at Peter, who was watching her expectantly.

20

“Do you like it?” he asked.

“Peter—where did you
get
this?” she asked in an awed whisper.

“It came from the infirmary at the Institute.” Cally screwed the cap back onto the thermos. “Are you
sure
about this, Peter?”

“They’ll never notice it’s gone,” he replied. “I hacked into Doc Willoughby’s computer and ‘corrected’ his inventory. He’ll never miss a spare pint of O positive.” Peter reached up and cupped the back of her head in the palm of his hand, running his fingers through her short, dark hair. After a long moment, they finally broke their kiss and stared into each other’s eyes.

“You’re so beautiful, Cally. I wish I could show you off to the rest of the world.” Peter sighed as he stroked her cheek. “I know this little Italian place, with a stroll-ing accordionist and opera singer, just like in
Lady and
the Tramp.
It’s kinda cheesy, but it’s also wicked romantic, you know?”

“It sounds
wonderful
, Peter!” Cally smiled as she busied herself with opening the bottle of wine. “But I couldn’t really eat anything, no matter where we end up going. I mean, I could pretend to, like they’ve been teaching us at school. All I have to do is push my food around on my plate and sneak some of it into my nap-kin when nobody’s looking every now and then, just like anorexics and fashion models do.

21

“You know, it’s been
years
since I went on a picnic. It was up at Granny’s cabin in the Catskills. I could still eat solid food back then,” she said as she handed him a glass filled with the sparkling wine.

“Are you sure you can’t have any of this?” Peter asked, holding out one of the chocolate truffles.

Cally shook her head and pushed the proffered candy away. “If I try, I get sick. I’m on a liquid diet for the rest of my life.” She held up a glass identical to the one she’d given him, except this one was filled with chilled blood. “I propose a toast: to us!”

“To us!” Peter agreed. He touched the rim of his wineglass to hers, only to look away at the last moment as Cally drank. “So—how was your day?”

“It was great—but you don’t really want to hear about it because it was mostly shopping.”

“You’re right about that part.” Peter chuckled. “You didn’t run into any handsome young vampires while you were at it?”

“Are you kidding? Vampire guys aren’t
that
different from the rest of you! But I did have a run-in with Lilith Todd.”

Peter froze. “Victor Todd’s daughter?”

“You know who Victor Todd is?” Cally asked, surprised.

“I know the names of all the major Old Blood families in this city,” he replied. “
Especially
the Todds.” 22

“Really? Did I tell you Lilith totally tried to kill me at school?”

“I’m not surprised,” Peter said darkly. “The Todds have a mean streak. I should know. Victor murdered my grandfather Leland.”

“Oh, Peter! I’m so sorry!” Cally gasped, placing a hand on his arm.

“Todd killed him right in front of my dad. He was about my age when it happened. If it hadn’t been for your grandmother Sina, my dad probably would have been killed, too. So, in a way, she’s responsible for me being alive.”

“That’s so weird.” Cally shook her head in disbelief.

“I’m still trying to get my brain around Granny being a vampire hunter, back in the day.”

“
That’s
weirder than her being a witch?”

“Hey, I
knew
she was a witch. That was never a secret from me. Besides, I’m a half vampire, so being a witch isn’t
that
weird.”

“Point taken.”

There was a long silence, and then Cally glanced back up at Peter, an anxious look on her face. “Is your dad still trying to find me?”

“Don’t worry; he doesn’t know where you live or anything like that.”

“Yeah, but
you
managed to track me down, didn’t you?”

23

“I changed the files after I hacked into the database.

According to the New York State graves registry, your grandparents are now interred at Woodlawn Cemetery, up in the Bronx. You have nothing to worry about, Cally, I
promise
.” Peter smiled, giving her hand a comforting squeeze.

“Have you discovered why he’s so obsessed with capturing me?”

Peter shook his head. “Just because I’m his son, that doesn’t mean he tells me anything about his plans.”

“I know how
that
goes.” Cally sighed, rolling her eyes. She snuggled in close to him, savoring the warmth of his body pressed against hers. “Peter—do you think there’s a place for us in this world?”

“Yes,” he said as he gently stroked her hair. “There has to be. Why would we have found each other like we did if there was no hope for happiness for us? Life can’t be
that
cruel. Maybe we could run away together to someplace where no one knows who we are. Or better yet, some remote island paradise where the people have never even
heard
of vampires or vampire hunters. We could make love on the beach every night. How does that sound?”

“Like a dream.” As she rested her head on his shoulder, Cally pictured herself and Peter walking hand in hand along a shore as white as sugar, watching the moonlight reflect across the ocean. She kissed his neck, 24

savoring his musky smell and the salty taste of his skin on her lips. She felt a rising heat in her belly, born of lust instead of hunger. Even though they had grown increasingly intimate over the last couple of weeks, Cally had yet to taste Peter’s blood for fear of losing control and accidentally draining him. Besides, she didn’t want to be the first to broach the subject. If he offered up his throat for a love bite, she would have to rethink things.

However, she did not want to put pressure on him. After all, it was
his
blood. Still, there were moments when he was sitting so close, she could feel the blood rushing through his arteries and veins. If she listened really hard, she could almost hear it calling out to her, tempting her to take just one sip. . . .
What could it hurt? Besides, you
know he wants it, too.
. . . Cally shuddered, forcing her thoughts from the path they were on.

“Is something wrong?” Peter asked, unaware of what had been running through her mind.

“No,” she lied. “I was just thinking about what you said about your grandfather. I never knew there was so much bad blood between the Van Helsings and the Todds. It sounds like the vendettas that go on between vampire families. You must
really
hate the Todds.”

“Just the ones who deserve it,” he replied.

As Cally entered the lobby of her apartment building, she spotted Mr. Dithers, the chairman of the condo 25

association, emptying his trash into the incinerator chute. She walked as fast as she could toward the elevator, praying it was sitting on the lobby level for once instead of hanging around on the seventh floor. She punched the call button and, to her relief, the doors parted instantly.

“Miss Monture—! A moment, please?”

Cally turned to find Mr. Dithers standing at her elbow, his Coke-bottle glasses making his over-magnified eyes appear to be hovering in front of his face.

“We’ve been getting complaints from the tenants on either side of your unit—and those on the floors above and below as well, to be frank—about the noise from your home entertainment center. I’ve already sent two warning notices to your mother. . . .”

“I realize that, Mr. Dithers,” Cally said apologeti-cally. “I’m
really
sorry. I’ll talk to my mother about keeping it down—”

“It’s not that I have anything against you personally, Cally. I
know
you try the best you can, but the noise ordinances are built into the covenants of the condo board. If this continues, we’ll have no choice but to fine your mother two hundred dollars for each new complaint.”

“There’s no need to get drastic,” Cally assured him.

“I’ll take care of the situation, I promise.”

“I certainly hope so, Miss Monture.”

26

* * *

As the elevator doors opened onto her floor, Cally was relieved she could not hear whatever movie her mother was watching from halfway down the hall. She unlocked the door and stepped inside the apartment. The combination kitchen-dining area was dark, save for the faint bluish-white light from the living room.

“Mom—? I just ran into Mr. Dithers again,” Cally announced as she set her purse on the breakfast bar.

Cally’s mother was seated on a red velvet chaise lounge, watching the hi-def plasma flat screen hung on the living room wall. As she entered the room, Cally realized why everything was so uncharacteristically quiet: her mother was watching F. W. Murnau’s classic silent film
Nosferatu
.

“Mom? Did you hear me? We need to talk.”

“Damn
right
we need to talk!” Sheila Monture said as she turned to glare at her daughter. “I want to know where you’ve been sneaking off to at all hours, young lady! You’re seeing someone, aren’t you?”

“Mom, you’ve been drinking,” Cally said in a matter-of-fact voice. “You
know
I won’t talk about things like this when you’re drunk.”

Sheila pushed herself up off the chaise lounge, tee-tering for a moment until she regained her balance. She was dressed in a long, flowing black velvet dress with tight-fitting long sleeves that ended in a point above 27

the hand, with lace finger loops affixed to the cuffs.

Cally recognized the outfit, and the long black wig that went with it, as the Morticia Addams look her mother favored whenever she obsessed about their social standing in the vampire community. This was a real laugh, seeing how her mom was a human.

“Just because I’m asleep by the time you normally come traipsing home doesn’t mean I don’t notice things!

You better not be messing around with that no-account Johnny Muerto! I won’t have you ruining your chances of finding a proper husband by fooling with that newbie trash!”

Cally rolled her eyes in disgust. “Mom, I
despise
Johnny Muerto! I got sent to Professor Burke’s office for punching him in the throat when he tried to kiss me, remember?”

“Well, if you’re not sneaking off with him, then which one of those Varney Hall newbies
are
you fooling around with?” Sheila asked.

“I’m not seeing
any
New Blood boy on the sly, Mom!

Besides, I don’t know what you’re so worried about.

Oldies only marry their own kind, and I’m definitely not one of
them
!”

“You shouldn’t talk like that about yourself, sweetie,” Sheila admonished, leaning forward to stroke her daughter’s hair. “You’re as good as
any
of those Old Blood girls you go to school with. Those boys at Ruthven’s 28

would be falling all over themselves if they knew who your father was!”

“Yeah, big help
that
is,” Cally said acidly, pushing her mother’s hand away from her face. When Sheila was this close, it was impossible to ignore the reek of bourbon. “
I
don’t even know who my father really is!”