The Meridian Gamble (6 page)

There’s an odd tone to his voice. It
almost sounds like a growl. Adam seems angry, so much so that I feel like he
might actually harm Trevor.

“He didn’t hurt me. But let’s just
say, he didn’t stay around very long after he got what he wanted.”

“What’s his name?”

“I’m not going to tell you his
name,” I say with a chuckle.

Adam shakes his head.

“Well, whoever he is, he’s an
idiot. You’re a spectacular woman.”

“I don’t know. I don’t feel that
spectacular. I feel pretty average, actually.”

“Don’t ever say that. You’re more
than just a beautiful woman. You’re special. I can see it in your eyes, they go
on forever,” he says. “You’re what they call an old soul. And trust me, I know
one when I see one.”

Adam moves closer, so close that I
think he’s going to kiss me. I almost hope that he will, even though it’s too
much too soon. But he only leans over to my ear and whispers into it.

“And just so you know, your
so-called friends at the agency, the ones who hold you back. It’s because
they’re threatened by you. On some level, they know that you have more ability
than they do, and that if they don’t block you, you’ll destroy them.”

Who is this guy? Geezus, he’s
something else.

Maybe it’s just that he’s telling
me what I want to hear, that someone believes in my ability, but suddenly I
feel a wave of emotion. It’s like a warmth in my chest, like something has
suddenly opened. And for a moment, I want to be aggressive, as aggressive as
Adam is. I don’t want to act like a loser, for once. Or maybe I just want to
shock him, to deflate that cocky edge.

And I’m the one who does it. I put
my hand on his chest, and stare into those endless eyes that must also belong
to an old soul. And I stand on my tiptoes, and press my lips to his.

At first, my body begins to tremble
with that slight edge of nervousness that returns. But quickly, my mouth melts
into his, and it’s the sweetest of sensations. Definitely, the best kiss I’ve
ever felt. His lips aren’t disgusting pillowy things that mash into my face,
the way Trevor’s had done. They’re firm, and seem to interlock with mine, like
two pieces of a puzzle that fit to perfection.

I must be crazy, because what
almost feels as good is his hand on my back, pressing my body into his. And the
sensation of my hand on his chest, which is rock solid, and gives off a kind of
warmth. A lot of warmth, for a cold night. I worry if he’s sick for a
split-second. And I wonder how much time he spends at the gym to maintain this
physique. It’s all I can do to keep my hands from roaming, to see if the rest
of him is just as hard.

But these feelings are too much too
soon, and I have to push myself away. Adam allows it, and I come up gasping for
air.

“Wow. I take it back, you can
definitely take me to dinner,” I say.

But Adam only smiles and looks
away, almost sadly. His reaction almost disappoints me, and I can’t stop
myself. I gently put my hand to his face, caressing it. And again, I feel a
magical, electric spark when I touch him.

“What’s wrong?”

“If we’re going to go out to
dinner, there’s something I need to tell you first.”

And my heart sinks. Here it comes;
he’s married, or has a girlfriend. Or worse, he’s bisexual, or has some weird
fetish. Of course, there has to be some wrench in my plans.

Please God, make it so it’s not
something too weird, like that he enjoys dressing up like animals.

“I’m a vampire,” Adam says.

And suddenly, I wish he was a
furry.

I’m in danger. A crazy person is
blocking my path to the stairwell. Even worse, he’s just standing there, staring
back at me calmly, as though he’s giving me a moment to let his words sink in.

I was an idiot to be seduced by
Adam’s good looks and charm. He’s a lunatic, a serial killer, Ted Bundy and
every evil frat boy I’ve ever feared rolled into one. Or at the very least,
he’s unhinged. Adam has had some sort of psychotic breakdown and thinks he’s
Count Dracula. And I have no idea what he’s capable of.

My worst nightmare is coming true,
and the yuppie couple nearby don’t even know what’s going on. It’s as if they live
in a different world that’s a million miles away.

“Oh my God, Blaine … no way! Blaine,
stop! You are such a hoot!”

They cackle together, and from the
corner of my eye, I can see the man pouring more wine. I consider calling out
for help, but somehow, the words catch in my throat. I hesitate, stopped by
some instinct to save them, even though I’ve never been particularly heroic.

Somehow, I know I have to face this
trial alone.

And to make matters worse, I can
feel one of my strange hallucinations coming on at the worst possible moment. Adam
begins to change before my eyes; his skin becomes more swarthy and his clothing
transforms into a simple outfit, a long cloth tunic that makes him look like he
too should be walking the streets of ancient Egypt. His hair grows into a long
braid with just a few curly wisps that have fallen loose, and I find the look
appealing, even through my fear. But unlike Staci and the glowing stranger from
earlier today, Adam doesn’t become a completely different person. His face is
still the same, he’s still Adam. And what’s even more bizarre, the vision
changes in a way I haven’t seen before. Suddenly, blood begins to flow from
wounds that appear over his neck and heart.

Suddenly, for a split second, I
find myself in a different place. I’m in a basement with sandy walls and a dirt
floor. I see myself wielding a weapon, a long stick. And I can’t shake the
feeling that someone is training me to kill.

The vision is so real that I become
empowered by it. In desperation, I look around the rooftop for something to
swing at him.

“Wow, you’re plucky,” Adam says,
seeming impressed.

“What? Why are you saying that?”

“You’re about to take a run at me,”
he says. “I like that spunk.”

“I’m not. I have never run … at
anything, ever,” I say, flustered.

“Trust me, I’ve been doing this for
thousands of years. I know when someone’s about to attack. But, that’s not a
bad thing. You have every right to defend yourself. In fact, I can teach you
some self-defense techniques, if you like.”

He steps forward slowly, moving as
though he doesn’t want to scare me.

“Just don’t ever think that I’m
going to hurt you, Meri. Because that will never happen.”

I back away, until I can feel the
ledge pressing against my big Latina butt, the one I hope he isn’t attracted to
anymore. Somehow, his saying that he isn’t going to hurt me makes Adam all the
more frightening.

“So, you’re not going to bite me?”
I say, turning back to face him. “But isn’t that what vampires do?”

“Not always,” he says, softly. “And
you don’t ever want to let a vampire bite you. It’s how they control you. And
being trapped in that grip can be a very difficult thing to break.”

Oh my God. He has a whole little
fantasy world of what it means to be a vampire built up in his mind. And I
can’t help but to wonder what has made someone so gorgeous break from reality
so severely. Has he read too much bad goth lit? Too much teen horror romance? It
would almost be fascinating, if he wasn’t about to strangle me.

“So, why exactly do you believe
you’re a vampire?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think these
things might have something to do with it.”

Adam opens his mouth, and two of
his perfectly white front teeth pop out, like the fangs of a snake.

And suddenly, I feel weak in the
knees. My world begins to shift and tilt, as though someone is tipping it on
its end. And I can’t believe that what I’m looking at is real.

A sudden wooziness comes over me. I
realize I’m about to faint, but I struggle to fight off the sensation. The last
thing I can afford to do is to fall unconscious and find myself at his mercy. Adam
moves forward, ready to catch me, but I wave him away. I breathe heavily,
slowly regaining my composure.

“So those aren’t some fake teeth
you’ve had surgically implanted?”

“No surgery in the world can do
this. There’s only one way to get them, as far as I know.”

“Then you did lie to me,” I
stammer. “You did come up here stalking me.”

“I didn’t lie to you. I’ll never
lie to you, and I’ll never hurt you,” Adam says. “I do come up here all the
time.”

“Which means my apartment building
is owned by vampires. Which might be even worse.”

“Well, there is that …,” he says,
trying to hold back a laugh.

“But back at the bar. Were you on
the hunt then?”

“No, it’s not like that. I haven’t
hunted in a very long time. I was bored. I’m very old, and believe it or not, I
sometimes look for diversions. And when I saw you there, you intrigued me. The
way you were putting up with those two buffoons, and how the bartender wouldn’t
bring you your drink. It amazed me that he couldn’t see how spectacular you
are. I was going to approach you, but you seemed so nice. I figured, why muck
up your life by bringing vampires into it?”

“So you took off when I came
looking for you?”

“You came looking for me?” Adam
says, hopefully.

“Well, I …”

And I want to kick myself. I try to
stop talking, but now it’s too late.

“There is the slight possibility
that I might have been foolish enough to want to address you again,” I say.

I look away stupidly. This is going
from bad to worse. I should be running away, screaming, not flirting with him.

“When I came up here and saw you, I
just had to approach you. It was one of those coincidences in life that you
have to take notice of, the kind that mean something. Like you’re being guided
by a higher influence. And I’m the type of guy who tends to listen to his
intuition.”

I nod my head in a daze, as if I
agree with him. But I slowly realize that I actually do. Adam’s words ring
true; they sound like something I would say. I’m always talking about listening
to my intuition, and looking for meaning in the coincidences that unfold before
me. But now I’m not so sure I like the coincidences anymore, because they’ve
led me to a dark place.

Geezus. Vampires are real. Monsters
are real. And I wonder what else? Fairies? Leprechauns? It’s hard to even wrap
my head around it.

But even though Adam is some kind
of scary creature of the night, I realize something else is going on. Despite
everything, I have to admit I’m still drawn to him. He’s absolutely
fascinating, and wildly attractive, unless that’s part of his vampire powers,
that he’s manipulating my mind to draw me in. But it doesn’t feel that way. I
do listen to my gut instincts, and for some reason, his words seem sincere. And
no matter what his intentions are, I can’t quite pull myself away from him. My
curiosity is too great. I mean, how often do you get the chance to talk to a
vampire?

“So tell me something. If you don’t
bite people, how do you survive?”

“It’s complicated. Killing people
or even hurting them gets old after a while. It’s too much of a burden, after
centuries, to have all those deaths on your hands. We have donors now, people
who give us their blood. We pay them for it.”

“Wait a minute. Are you kidding me?
You pay people for their blood? Like a blood bank?”

“Something along those lines. Only
it’s less noble, and far more lucrative. We’re very rich, we pay quite well.”

“So I could, like, pay my rent this
way?”

“Or more. We have a tank that
people go into. They give us a month of their life, and earn more than your job
pays you in a year.”

A month of my life, to earn more
than my annual salary. How much of my time is wasted in a year at a meaningless
job? It has to be more hours than a solid month spent filling the reserves of a
vampire blood bank. I try to do the math in my mind, but I’m too nervous to
even attempt it. And a chill runs down my spine when I contemplate the
exchange. As much as I like money, the idea of floating in some vat sounds
horrifying, like a scene from a torture chamber.

“It doesn’t matter, because that’s
not something I would ever let you do. But if you’re curious about the vampire
lifestyle, I’ll tell you anything and everything you could possibly want to
know. If you have dinner with me,” Adam says, smiling.

“Dinner? And I won’t wind up the
meal?”

“No, of course not,” he says,
laughing.

I should slap myself. I can’t
believe I’m actually considering it. And it’s even more pathetic that it’s the
best offer I’ve had in a long time, including the advances of the mail boys and
Staci’s ad execs.

“Wait a minute, is that it? Are you
doing this because you want to turn me into a vampire, like you?”

And his face drops. Adam’s smile
fades, and his beautiful dimples disappear. For the first time, he moves away
from me and drops his gaze. And I know I’ve offended him, or hurt him, somehow.

It feels strange to worry about the
feelings of an immortal monster.

“I can’t ever do that. I’ve lost
the right to grant the eternal life, because of something I did in the past. So
I’m sort of wrecking your chances for immortality by hanging out with you. Because
the others will never approach you.”

And now I’m the one who’s moving
closer.

“Hey, it’s okay that you don’t want
to change me. At least it tells me you’re sincere. And I’m pretty sure you’re
the only vampire I’ll want to hang out with on a long term basis.”

“They’re not all as nice as me. And
not nearly as charming,” Adam says.

I stare at him in amazement. This
strange creature is real, and he’s somehow taken an interest in me. Yet, it’s
more than just an interest. He wants me, physically, in some way, if not to
drink my blood, then something else. The attraction is palpable. And it’s so
typical in life, to have everything you could possibly want handed to you in
the worst possible way.