The Lie (The Skyy Huntington Series) (9 page)

“What do you mean other than for feeding if that is what they prefer?” I asked him with curiosity in my voice.

“Well, in the modern age we can get blood from other sources, like blood banks. We don’t have to feed from the source anymore if we choose not to,” he said it as if it was common knowledge.

“Oh,” was all I could say. Well that was very positive, at least I wouldn’t have to worry about being a food source for my new found friend.

I think he could sense that in my voice. “So don’t worry, I am not going to attack you or drink your blood, and you are not in any danger by knowing a vampire,” he chuckled.

I’d have to take his word for it. Now for the next question. “So, you don’t have a uhhh, vampire wife or vampire girlfriend?” I asked, feeling stupid. Way to make myself look desperate.

“No wife, no girlfriend. Never been married, never dated anyone,” he replied with some sadness to his voice.

Now
that
was not what I was expecting. He might be the oldest bachelor in the world.

“You’ve never dated anyone? Is there a reason?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Well I have never met anyone I was interested in I guess. In my human form my life was consumed with work and responsibility, and in my vampire form I guess I have never met anyone I thought was worth my time. Most of the female vampires I know are more than consumed with themselves and have ugly personalities. And I have not really attached myself to the human world for the last two hundred years or so since I have been able to rely on donated blood.”

Or, maybe he was so ugly no female would even
want
to be close to him. I laughed out loud a little, and realized it too late.

“What is so funny?” he asked, sounding a little offended.

I made something up quickly. “Oh my dog is acting very silly right now.” Lame. Very lame excuse. But better than telling him I was pondering if he was the hunchback of Notre Dame or not.

“And how about you? Are you dating anyone? Ever been married?” Aiden asked in return.

“Well, I would think you would know all of that information by now, 007,” I replied and laughed. “But, no I am not dating anyone, the thing with Christian is very complicated, but we are definitely not dating. And no I have never been married before either.”

I was discussing my love life with a vampire. I was wondering if I should be on meds. After I got all the upfront stuff out of the way, I started to wonder about all the things he had seen in his long life and all the people he must have met. I was not real big on talking on the phone for long periods of time, but this was real fun.

The next half hour passed by very quickly. I told him about my previous relationships (or lack of) and about my hesitations to get into a relationship with Christian, or any male for that matter. I wasn’t known for picking “the winners” as my cousin Cate liked to say. I could tell this disturbed Aiden, he didn’t like to hear I was cheated on in the past by my ex. Just as the conversation started to go in a different direction, my other line beeped in my ear. I glanced at the clock next to my bed, and it was after one in the morning. I asked Aiden to hold on, and saw the caller ID was Maia’s cell.

“Hey Maia. Everything ok?” I asked her. I figured she was probably taking me up on my offer of a ride home from the pub. I didn’t mind, I would rather have her call someone sober than to drive home with someone who had been drinking.

I was right. “I am sooooo sorry for calling you this late Skyy! I hope you’re not mad! But I rode over here with that girl Heather from class, and she is trashed. I mean like, beyond drunk. Would you be able to give me a ride home?” she asked. I could tell she was really truly sorry for having to call me, but I didn’t mind.

“No problem, just give me the address and I will drive over right away.” I grabbed a pen and some paper from my computer desk and she rattled off the address. I hung up and clicked over to the other line where Aiden was waiting patiently.

“I’m back. Sorry that took so long. A friend of mine from my cooking class needs a lift home from a bar, so I am going to have to cut this short.” I didn’t want to hang up but I figured it was a decent end to our first real conversation.

“Oh. Ok then. It’s rather late, would you mind texting me when you get home so I know you made it safe?” he asked. That seemed odd to me but I agreed.

I grabbed my keys and my coat and said goodbye to Cupcake. After I cranked the heat up in my car, I punched in the address Maia had given me into my GPS. It was only about ten minutes away.

When I got to the bar, Maia was outside with Heather who was sitting on the sidewalk with her head in her hands. It looked like she had been sick. I got out of the car and walked over to them hoping that she wouldn’t get sick in front of me. I have a very weak stomach for those kinds of things.

“Is she ok?” I asked Maia, who could see I didn’t want to get too close to Heather.

“She’s been throwing up for about forty-five minutes now, not sure what else could be left in there,” she laughed. “She knows how to, uh, party I guess you could say?” she added. I got the impression this was the first and last time Maia would be hanging out with Heather.

“Is someone picking her up?” I sure wasn’t going to let her ride in my car.

“Yes, her sister is on the way she should be here any minute.” Just as she said that, Heather’s sister pulled into the parking lot.

After putting the sick Heather into the passenger seat, along with a borrowed garbage bag from the bar, Maia and I climbed into my car.

“I am so sorry again for having to call you. My boyfriend must be asleep already I called him a least five times and he didn’t pick up. When he sleeps he is out like a light.”

“Don’t worry about it, I don’t mind at all,” I replied.

She lived pretty close to the bar actually, so I was back home in no time. She had insisted on giving me gas money which I refused. We made plans to go see a movie over the weekend, which was nice. I was finally making some friends in the area. Outside of Christian and my vampire of course…

It was almost 2:30 a.m. by the time I got back to my house. I went upstairs, washed my face and put on some PJ’s. I figured I would read for a little while before finally calling it a night. I crawled into my bed with my book and my phone. I remembered that I told Aiden I would message him once I got home. I typed out a text message
Hey, I made it home safe. Are you still awake?
and then I opened up my book as I waited for a reply.

He sent a message back almost immediately.
Yes I am awake, I am a vampire ;)
was his reply. How cute.

So much for my book. We spent the next hour and a half texting back and forth until I could hardly keep my eyes open anymore. Since he asked what I was doing, it opened up the conversation for books we had both read and enjoyed, then on to movies. I fell asleep that night with a smile on my face. I guess I had made two new friends today.

Chapter 5

I woke up later than I had wanted the next day. It was the early afternoon by the time I managed to drag myself out of bed and get showered. A quick cup of tea to get the chill out of my bones had me feeling much better. I decided to drive by an empty building for lease that I had seen in the paper earlier in the week. As I was shrugging into my coat and opening the front door, I noticed a package on my doorstep. I wasn’t expecting anything so it piqued my curiosity. I took it with me to my car which I got into and quickly turned the heat on. The package was wrapped in plain, thick, heavy brown paper. There was a small card attached to it. It read:

I was shocked to hear you’re such a fan of horror and have never read this classic. Well, here it is, in its true classic form. Enjoy.

- Love,

Aiden

I opened up the package to find a very, very old copy of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The book was in great condition and I knew it was the real deal. I opened the cover to find it was a second edition of the book, published on August 11, 1823. Wow. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how much this book must be worth, and he had trusted it in my hands. I pulled my phone out of my purse and sent him a quick message thanking him, not sure if he was asleep or awake or busy. I didn’t hear anything back from him so I assumed he was sleeping.

My afternoon turned out to be quite uneventful and pleasant. I drove by the building for lease, and wasn’t the least bit impressed. I wouldn’t waste the time to call the real estate agent who listed it. I swung by the mall just to mosey around, and ended up picking up a new pair of shoes for the spring that were on sale and a couple of new DVD’s that had just come out. I also went by the garden center at Target to get a few items for my garden I was planning to get started on eventually. My grandfather had some of the basics like a shovel and a wheelbarrow but he wasn’t real big on lawn care and certainly never planted a garden. He didn’t even have a hose or a sprinkler to water the grass with. What a shame for such a nice house in such a nice area to go neglected. Well that was all going to change come spring time!

The sun was just about to set as I was putting all my new garden items into my trunk. I was getting hungry and figured I should head home to cook some supper. If things hadn’t been so weird between Christian and I right now I probably would have called him and asked him to meet up for dinner since I wasn’t too far from his house. I figured it would be better to let that situation cool off before seeing him again.

On my way home my phone rang. It was Aiden. I smiled as I picked up. “Hello?” I said happily.

“Hello Skyy, its Aiden,” he replied, as if I didn’t know. “Are you busy?” he asked.

“No, just driving home from the mall right now. I got your present, not sure if you got my message or not. Thank you so much, what a great surprise,” I replied genuinely.

“I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think when you are done,” he said.

I wondered to myself if I should ask him out to grab a bite to eat. Then I wondered if he could even eat human food. I was so curious about what Aiden looked like it was driving me crazy. Plus it wasn’t fair he knew what I looked like. And a public place might be a safe idea for meeting him for the first time…well officially anyway.

I hesitated for a moment, then finally just asked, “Hey, I know it is last minute, but would you maybe want to meet up somewhere for dinner?”

It seemed to me like he hesitated a little on the other end of the line. Then he replied, “Thank you for the offer but I will have to take a rain check this time. I already have a previous engagement this evening.” So formal. I wondered if he was lying or telling the truth. Maybe he didn’t want to seem rude if he didn’t eat in front of me, or maybe he really was the hunchback of Notre Dame and didn’t want to scare me off just yet. Oh well, at least I had asked. I felt really stupid for it too, and vowed if we were to meet in person he would be the one to ask next time.

“Ok Aiden, just thought I would ask, maybe next time,” I said.

I wasn’t sure if I said or did something wrong but he hung up the phone quickly after that. I was almost home by then, and really hungry. I made a quick and easy meal, some fresh garlic sautéed in olive oil over some spaghetti noodles. A couple chunks of Italian bread and a glass of wine to round it all out, and I was in front of my TV with one of my new movies in the DVD player. Two hours later as I was cleaning up the kitchen my vampire called me.

I picked up the phone even though I was still a little agitated at how our last call had ended. “Hi Aiden, how was your night?” I greeted him.

“Hello Skyy. Oh my evening was alright. How was yours?” he said sheepishly. I think he knew that he had acted strangely earlier. I wasn’t going to make a big issue out of it, heck I barely knew the guy…err I mean vampire.

“It was boring, my whole day was really. I just made some pasta and watched a new movie I bought at the mall today. I was thinking about reading some of the book you gave me in a little while,” I replied. The conversation went smoothly. He asked about the movie I had watched which led to us talking about movies, again. Aiden really seemed fascinated by the cinema and film. After about fifteen minutes he took an awkward pause. I knew something was up.

“Skyy, about earlier today on the phone…” he began. Uh-oh. This couldn’t be good.

I tried to put on my best casual/concerned voice. “Yeah? Is something wrong?” I inquired.

“Well. I wasn’t truthful with you, and I feel really bad about it. I said I had plans and I couldn’t make it to dinner with you. I didn’t have any plans, I was just scared to meet you in person.”

A vampire who was scared to meet a human. Wow, I guess they really did get it all wrong in the books.

“Why would you be scared to meet me? You’ve seen me before plenty of times. You are brave enough to call me and talk to me. What is wrong with dinner? Do you not eat human food?” I asked bluntly.

“Oh no, I don’t usually eat human food. I mean, I can eat it but I usually don’t. That isn’t the problem. I’m just…well, I am just shy I guess. I have never had a human friend before who knew that I was a vampire. I don’t want to scare you away, or lose your friendship,” he replied.

“I don’t know why you would think you would scare me away. If you telling me you’ve been creeping around my house and following me around in the cemetery has not scared me off yet, I don’t think anything will.” Then I was brave enough to ask about his appearance. “Are you like some disfigured corpse or something? I mean, you go out in public right, so you can’t be that scary looking?”

He laughed at that. “No, I look normal I guess. I am a little on the pale side because I do avoid sun as much as possible. I’m not disfigured or creepy looking, at least I don’t think so. I know it may sound foolish but, I just want to make a good impression and you caught me off guard today when you asked me to dinner.”

“Well, it’s no big deal Aiden. I’m sorry I put pressure on you. When you’re ready, if you’re ever ready, to meet me just let me know, ok? Until then we can always talk on the phone and get to know each other better.”