Vicious (8 page)

She knew it too. In an even fight, I could beat her, but she thought and planned things out in a way that I never could since she no longer hunted to feed. The blood lust didn’t take her over like it did me ever since she went all vegetarian on me. She knew I was weakest when I hadn’t fed and that I would make careless mistakes if I was near all that blood, so she’d used her boy as bait. She always was clever in that extremely annoying way.

The edge of the roof was near, so I launched myself off of the ledge and landed softly on the next building’s roof with ease. This was so simple for me. They always kept the French Quarter buildings so close together. The smell of his blood was getting farther and farther away as I leaped onto another rooftop and continued to run without breaking stride. My mind was beginning to calm slowly and clear contemplation began to sink in.

What was her game? I know that I’d broken our treaty, but I did that from time to time, whether she knew it or not. Just because she’d decided to deny herself certain things did not mean I had to as well. And what was all of that I-need-your-help business? She had not sought me out in almost two decades. We’d separated and were happier for it. I lived my truthful, natural life, and she lived her weird, denying one. I knew she followed me from time to time to make sure that I behaved myself, but never this close. Never had she wanted to talk, let alone asked for my help. What could she possibly want from me now?

I leaped across a larger gap and hit the next roof a little harder, hoping no one inside heard the noise I made. I stood still for a moment to listen for any movement from inside the building, and when I was satisfied I had heard nothing, I continued onward. I often gave human senses more credit than they were worth. Obviously, the boy had no sense about him or else a bogus story about a chill room would not have worked so easily. What was she planning on doing with this blood bag now that he had seen all of this?

“Maybe she’ll take him home, come to her senses and eat him,” I whispered to myself for my own amusement more than anything else. I jumped over another gap and landed softer this time on the next roof.

Not Anna. She would never do that. I knew that well enough. She loved to torture herself and deny her nature just as much as I loved to embrace mine.

What did she have planned for the boy? Surely she wouldn’t do to him what they’d done to that other boy? The thought made me stop running and pause. She might. After all, wasn’t that the reason he’d so intrigued me in the first place? The fact that he seemed to follow her all doe-eyed and adoring was one of the reasons I had decided to take him to the back alley. I couldn’t stand the idea that she would do
it
again. It was hard to believe she had done it once. Was this boy her next victim? It would have to be someone who adored her. Someone would have to trust her.

I slapped my forehead with my hand with a sudden realization. What an idiot I was. I had made it easier for her. Now he was all injured and helpless, and here comes super Anna to save the freaking day. I’d just set her up for the perfect scenario to repeat history with this human.

I could have kicked myself I was so angry, but instead, I slowed my thinking and tried to rationalize the situation. It didn’t seem right. I knew Anna. Whether I liked her or not was another story, but I knew her.

The Anna I knew would never want to do that to any human. I didn’t mind feeding on them, but even I wasn’t that cruel. Even though I knew about what had happened with the other boy, I didn’t want to believe it was Anna who had done the deed. I didn’t exactly agree with her ways, but I knew her. Maybe it had been one of the others?

No, don’t get soft. Anna is a cunning girl, and there was absolutely no way to predict her.

The confusion and conflicting feelings swirled like a cyclone in my brain until I felt dizzy and tired from the physical and mental exertion of it all. There was only one person who could help me sort through this mess, and he was the only human I could ever trust.

I went to the edge of the roof and looked at the street level in all directions. I realized I had run pretty far because even though the scent of humans was still permeating the air, there didn’t seem be any in sight for a while. After double checking the streets were clear, I dropped down from the roof and landed without a sound onto the sidewalk. I began to make my way through the grid of streets and toward his neighborhood. He normally was not up at this hour, but he’d be expecting me. Brother Sinister always knew when I was coming for a visit.

Chapter Ten

Grant

My awareness jumped around from dream to reality where I played out each moment of last night over and over again. My consciousness slowly drifted into the room I was in, and I began to have an acute understanding of exactly how heavy my body felt sprawled across the bed. I lethargically moved away from last night’s memories and began to focus on what seemed like reality.

Slowly but surely, I became aware of my body and my breathing. The sheets both below and above me were cool and comforting against my warm skin. The pillow below my head was nice and supportive while the weight of the blanket on top of me was heavy with its protective cocoon. I was lying on my stomach and felt the pillow get warmer and cooler with the cadence of my breath.

I twitched my fingers and toes and felt relief when my limbs moved and seemed rested and alive once again. The more I became aware of myself, the more last night seemed like a very realistic dream and nothing more. I was certain I would soon hear Eric’s wall-trembling snore any moment, or be rudely awakened by some overzealous hotel maid trying to rattle open the door despite the
Do Not Disturb
sign. I shouldn’t drink Hand Grenades anymore. They gave me nightmares.

It was when I opened my eyes that I got slapped in the face with the harsh truth of the morning. This was not my room. There was no Eric. I had no idea where I was. I flipped over and sat up suddenly, feeling the pulling, stitch-like pain in my throat in the process. I reached for my neck and found a fresh bandage there. It had not been a dream. Where was Anna?

I looked around the dimly lit room for her, but the only thing I could find of hers was the long, thin black scarf that was draped over a nearby armchair. The armchair, like the room, looked like how you would expect an old New Orleans room to look. The décor and the furniture was old French antique, and there were floor-to-ceiling windows with grandiose curtains covering them fit for Scarlet O’Hara to make a dress from. The carpet was a deep-maroon color and every mirror was framed with something gold and cherub encrusted. This was nothing like the cookie-cutter nameless hotel I had checked into less than twenty-four hours ago.

Suddenly, the sound of someone sticking a key in the door and turning the lock startled me, and I scrambled to stand up to flee or defend myself, whichever made more sense at the time. I quickly sat back down and covered myself with the blankets when I realized I was naked except for my undershirt and boxers. The door opened, and there stood the creature from my dreams. It was Anna, exactly as I had remembered her from last night. She was mysterious and frighteningly beautiful. Even the brilliance of the morning couldn’t seem to find a flaw on that face of hers. She looked up from the plates she was holding and flashed me a smile that shocked me in its simplicity.

“I see that you are awake. They close the breakfast at ten, so I got a few things to bring up to you. I hope you like croissants and beignets. I’m told they have great beignets here, but these are a little cold. Oh, I got you some orange juice too. That will help you recover.”

I looked at her confused as she set everything out in front of me on the bed. She didn’t seem to notice my expression as she placed the glass of orange juice on the night stand nearest to me. Without hesitation, she reached for the bandage on my neck with the familiarity of an old friend.

“Let’s see how you are doing here.”

I flinched instinctively, and she stopped her hands. I saw her react to the sudden realization I was uncomfortable with her presence. Anna sat on the bed next me as I eyed her. Had last night really happened?

“What’s wrong, Grant?”

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Did last night really happen?”

“Yes,” she said with no inflection in her voice.

“You, you are real?”

“Yes.”

She gave me a look like she thought I might be simple.

“Then how can you ask me what’s wrong? It
should
be obvious. I almost get killed by some crazed animal chick, and then you drag me back to some weird hotel half dead. I couldn’t tell if you were going to finish me off or not.”

“Well, did I?”

“Did you what?”

“Finish you off?”

Her nonchalant way of asking things never ceased to throw me for a loop. I looked her over for a minute.

“Well, no.”

“Then how about you give me the benefit of the doubt today?”

I thought about it for a moment and realized she was right. If last night had happened the way I remembered it, then she had saved my life. Now she was trying to feed me breakfast and check my bandage. I softened my demeanor.

“Okay, I’m sorry. Just please tell me what’s going on.”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she stood up and began pacing the room a little. The anxious movement made me jumpy.

“What do you do for a living?” she asked out of the blue with nothing but innocence in her voice.

“What?”

“Just tell me.”

“What does that have to do with any of this?”

“Just answer,” she said, obviously not going to relent in her odd questioning.

“I’m a college student at LSU.”

She stopped and looked at me cautiously.

“And what do you study?”

“Writing and literature mainly. I’m a journalism major.”

She made a groaning noise and pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers.

“You’re a writer? A writer?”

“Well, I hope to be someday.”

“Oh, Jesus.”

“What?”

“I can’t tell you anything.”

“Why? I want to know what the hell happened to me last night.”

“I can’t tell you because you will go write about it. You will not just tell everyone, you will write it so the whole world can read it.”

“What?”

“I have to go.”

“Wait, Anna!”

I reached for her, but she gracefully dodged my grasp as she headed for the door. The evasive gesture was just like how Lea had moved when she’d dodged people at the bar.

“Make sure you eat that food. You need it to help your strength.”

“Anna, please don’t go. Tell me what happened. I have the right to know.”

“The room is paid for, so there is no need to check out. Just be gone by noon.”

She already had the door open and was walking out of it when a thought occurred to me. I couldn’t tell you why I said it or thought it. It was incredibly stupid to taunt a creature like Anna, but the words spilled out of my mouth before I could even complete the sentence in my own head.

“I will go and tell everyone what happened if you don’t come back in here and explain your side to me.”

This did make her stop, and she walked back into the room, eyeing me suspiciously now. This did not please her. I could see that. It probably hadn’t been the best move after seeing firsthand how she had handled herself physically the night before, but I had this strange urge to keep her close to me and to get some answers.

“Are you threatening me?”

She was standing now at the foot of the bed with her arms crossed over her chest looking very angry, and I began to get scared.

“Look, Anna, I want to understand what happened. I’m sorry about the threat. I just want to know what happened to me. I won’t breathe or write a word of it if you will explain this all to me.”

She took a deep breath and released her hands. She seemed to calm a little, but I began chewing on a croissant quietly, hoping it might please her to see me eat the food that she had brought.

“I can’t tell you everything.”

“Whatever you can will be helpful.”

“And if you do ever go public with this, I will deny everything, and you will look like a loon.”

“Understood. I wouldn’t believe me either.”

She took a deep breath as though preparing herself for the next sentence.

“What you guessed in your stupor last night is correct. We are vampires.”

The piece of croissant I was chewing fell clumsily out of my mouth. If this were a cartoon, the sound of a falling bomb whistling its way down to earth would be audible above me. The big boom noise would have crashed across my face at the word
vampire
.

“We aren’t what you know as vampires. There is no ancient magic or eternal life in our story. We exist because science made us.”

I kept trying to eat nonchalantly, but I dropped everything in my hand. I did not dare go near the orange juice for fear of the mess I would surely create with a liquid.

“How is this possible?”

“I can’t really explain that.”

“Well, who made you?”