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  “Classy …”

  “She is a very sweet girl. She’ll make some nice young man or woman very happy, someday.” Naomi sounded wistful, her voice far away.

  “Can I ask you something kind of personal?”

  “So long as I have permission not to answer, certainly.”

  “Do you sleep with people often? It seems like Theroen and Melissa did, and earlier, what Stephen was saying about the bras …”

  Naomi shrugged. “I can’t get pregnant and won’t get sick. There’s no risk and the reward is pleasurable enough. I pursue it frequently, yes. That’s what Stephen meant.”

  Two pondered this for a moment. “All that sex, but no love?”

  “There have been a few, but not all loves last forever. I try not to get that attached to humans, and it has been some time since I met a vampire that I … a vampire who I could be able to love.”

  “Are you lonely?”

  “As I said, I am a solitary person. I suppose it makes me lonely at times, but this has been my life for centuries now. I am used to it.”

  “Being used to it and being happy aren’t the same thing. Doesn’t it ever bother you?”

  “I … yes, sometimes. There are times when I wish greatly for a companion, someone like Stephen whose company – exasperating though it often is – I enjoy, but with whom I could share more. It is unfortunate that I have no one like that, I suppose, and I do sometimes feel unhappy. I can never tell if it’s real depression or just my Ashayt nature asserting itself.”

  “Don’t think that’d make it any less real,” Two said.

  Naomi toyed with her glass, not making eye contact, saying nothing.

  “Why not make a fledgling, or at least take someone in like Lisette did for you?”

  Naomi grimaced, as if her wine had suddenly gone bitter. “Where did that get Lisette?”

  “Sorry, Naomi. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  The vampire girl shook her head. “No, it’s not your fault. We’ve both had our fair share of loss, Two. You would think that after hundreds of years it would fade, and I sometimes think it has … but you and your stories have brought up some long-buried hurt. I don’t blame you – it’s just the way things are. I miss them both. I thought we had forever.”

  Two nodded and took a sip of her bourbon. Forever, yes. That sounded familiar. Two found that getting drunk suddenly seemed very appealing.

  “Let us talk of something more positive,” Naomi said.

  “Kind of low on positivity right now. I could tell you some stories from the good times in my life, I guess. I spent a lot of time hanging out with Rhes and Sarah, before I got into drugs.”

  “I would love to hear them.”

  “OK, but I get to hear some stories, fun ones, about your life, too.”

  Naomi signaled for another glass of wine, rested her chin on her palms, and looked at Two. “That seems fair.”

  * * *

  “I love nights like this,” Naomi told her as they returned to the apartment. “I feel wonderful. Je dévorerai le monde!”

  “We should probably be quiet,” Two said. “It’s four-thirty in the morning. People will be asleep.”

  “To hell with people,” Naomi said, leaning against the wall and pulling at her leather boots.

  Two had lost track of her drinks somewhere around the fourth, and Naomi had compounded the effects of her wine by feeding in the ladies’ room on the young woman with the barrettes. Both Two and Naomi were quite drunk.

  “I always wanted to be a ballerina,” Naomi said, twirling in a circle, her stockings gliding easily on the hardwood floors. She made her way to the living room, and Two followed, weaving a bit.

  “Where’s Stephen?”

  “Out at his club, no doubt,” Naomi said. “He won’t be back until just before dawn.”

  She flopped down on the couch, rolled on her side, and curled up in something resembling a fetal position. Two sat down on the same couch and laid her head back. The world spun, but in the gentle way that told her she’d had just enough and not too much. She felt giddy and giggly and happy for the first time in months.

  “I never finished telling you about the play,” Naomi said from beside her.

  “Oh, right. There was a fight?”

  “Yes! The woman had this awful feather boa, this huge thing which stuck up above her head like a hat, and she wouldn’t remove it. Lisette couldn’t see a thing, and she just kept complaining and complaining no matter how much Theroen and I tried to shush her. Finally, the woman turned around and told Lisette to behave like a lady.”

  “Oh, wow …”

  “Lisette punched her right in the teeth! Oh, Two, it was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen.” Naomi covered her mouth with a hand, breaking into pretty laughter, her eyes squinting closed.

  Two grinned. “That doesn’t sound much like the Lisette that Theroen described.”

  “We were so shocked we couldn’t move! I don’t know what came over her. There was this huge scene, and Lisette had to be forcefully ejected from the theater. I remember standing in the street, utterly mortified, and Lisette was raving … Theroen was holding her, keeping her from rushing back inside, only he could barely keep her with him because he was laughing so hard. Tears were just rolling down his face.”

  “That doesn’t sound much like Theroen, either!”

  “No, but … he could barely breathe, Two. It was truly absurd.”

  “I punched a girl in the teeth once.”

  Naomi sat up and leaned in closer, curious. “Really?”

  “Sure. I didn’t want to, but she was coming at me. It cut my knuckles up pretty bad, and she lost two teeth. I feel bad about it, but … no, wait, I guess I don’t really feel that bad about it.”

  Naomi laughed and rested her head briefly on Two’s shoulder. “Oh, you’re funny. Je comprends ce qu’il voyait eu toi.”

  “Thanks, but sorry, I don’t speak French.” Two could feel waves of warmth, not entirely physical, emanating from the vampire. They seemed to mix with the alcohol in her brain, softening the edges of the world. The sensation was not unpleasant.

  “None at all?” Naomi asked.

  “Not a word. Just English and a couple of Spanish swears.”

  Naomi put her lips close to Two’s ear, whispering. “Je veux t’embrasser et partager le sang avec toi.”

  “Naomi, I don’t understand …”

  Naomi sighed, shifted, said, “I was checking to see if you were lying.”

  “Nope, sorry.”

  “It was nothing, Two. Just a test.”

  They were silent for a time. Two wanted to ask about the waves of feeling Naomi seemed to be throwing off, but she couldn’t find the right way to phrase it. She was not entirely sure that it was anything more than her imagination.

  “I’m sleepy. So much wine,” Naomi said at last.

  “Yeah.” Two was nodding, feeling the same way herself. The warm pulses were lulling her to sleep.

  “Curtains are open. Shouldn’t stay here.” Naomi rubbed her eyes and stood up. Two felt a sense of regret as the warmth seemed to drain away.

  “It was nice going out with you,” Two said. “Thanks.”

  “You’re very welcome. It was a wonderful evening.”

  There was a long, awkward pause as each seemed to wait for the other to say something. Two knew this moment, had felt it before after nights of flirting with some boy in a pool hall. She wants to ask me to— her brain began, but Naomi interrupted it.

  “Goodnight, Two. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “OK Naomi. Goodnight. Or … morning … or whatever.”

  Naomi laughed and disappeared down the hallway. Two heard the door to the vampire’s bedroom open and close. Shortly after, she stood up and went to her own room, where she pulled off her clothes and slid into bed. The sheets were cold, and Two thought again of those pulses of warmth, and of the expression on Naomi’s face during that last extended silence.

  For
get it, she thought to herself. She turned over on her stomach, closed her eyes, and was soon asleep.

  Chapter 11

  Living Under Guard

  Rhes Thompson felt like a walking bruise. It seemed that every muscle, from toes to head, ached from his beating the night before. He was propped up on the couch with three pillows, watching television and waiting until he could take his next dose of painkillers. Sarah was in the kitchen making a late lunch.

  He had been dismissed from the hospital at nine in the morning, and they had taken a cab home in near-silence, happy to be alive and, if not safe, at least in no immediate danger. The sun was out and no vampires would trouble them until the evening when Jakob was scheduled to arrive.

  Sarah had called Molly from the hospital early in the morning, told her that they were fine, and instructed her to go ahead and go to school. Molly had begun attending a private institution in early September, the tuition paid by a trust that Two had established. The school dealt specifically with juvenile addicts, and Molly seemed to be doing well there. By the time Rhes and Sarah got home, she had already gone.

  Jake, Sarah’s guide dog, had been ecstatic to see them. Sarah had said hello and let him out into their tiny backyard. Rhes, still dazed from pain and painkillers, had limped into the living room, collapsed on the couch, and promptly fallen back asleep.

  He had awoken a few hours later to find that Sarah had brought him pillows and a blanket, and was sitting next to him, reading one of her books. Her fingers moved across the page with startling speed, and Rhes had watched for a moment before she stopped, turned her head toward him, and smiled.

  “You awake?” she had asked.

  “Yeah. How’d you know?”

  “Breathing changed. Want some lunch?”

  “That’d be great, hon, thanks. I’m starved.”

  And so she’d gone to prepare it. Now Sarah was emerging from the kitchen with a tray. On it were two bowls of what looked like minestrone soup, a roast-beef sandwich, and two glasses of water. She set the tray on the coffee table.

  “Can you reach this?”

  “Think so. Not totally crippled, just hurting. When am I due for more meds?”

  “Another thirty minutes or so. The doctor said we can bend the rules if you really need it, though.”

  “No, I’m all right. Thirty minutes is fine. This looks great, Sarah.” Rhes leaned forward, wincing, and picked up one of the bowls. Sarah took the other and sat back down.

  They were quiet for a time, eating, and then Rhes said, “I wouldn’t believe last night really happened if I didn’t feel like this.”

  “It’s pretty surreal,” Sarah agreed.

  “Where do you suppose Two is?”

  “Could be dead.”

  “She’s not dead.” Rhes set down the bowl of soup, already empty, and picked up the plate with the sandwich. He was ravenous. “You want any of this?”

  “It’s all yours. I just wanted the soup.”

  “Thanks. Two’s not dead, Sarah.”

  Sarah ate a spoonful of soup, sipped at her water, said nothing.

  “If she were dead,” Rhes continued, “there’d be no reason for those things to have broken into her apartment, right? They’d have her keys.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Sarah, come on. Two might need our help.”

  “Our help with what?” Sarah snarled. She slammed her bowl down on the end table, sloshing a bit of soup over the edge, and turned to face him. “What can we possibly help her with? She’s told us nothing for months, and when we finally go and try and help, it nearly gets us both killed. Fuck her, Rhes. Fuck Two, and fuck her stupid vampires.”

  Rhes said nothing, unsure of how to respond. Sarah pressed her palms against her forehead for a moment and then sighed.

  “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t get a lot of sleep and I … I’m sorry. I’m so angry.”

  “It’s OK,” Rhes said. He stood up, ignoring the pain, and knelt down beside her, reaching out to take off her glasses. Sarah’s hazel eyes still remembered how to track, from before she had lost her sight, and it was hard sometimes to remember that she couldn’t see him. Rhes leaned forward and kissed the bridge of her nose.

  “I’m too dumb and doped up on painkillers to figure it out,” he said. “What can I do to make you stop feeling bad?”

  Sarah shrugged, shook her head. “Probably nothing.”

  “I don’t understand why you’re so upset. Is it the blindness thing? I told you, it wouldn’t have changed anything.”

  “It’s not that. It’s … I’ve never been that scared. Not ever. Even when I woke up blind, after the car accident, I wasn’t that scared. I was just a kid then, too young to understand that my whole life had changed, so I wasn’t that scared. I just couldn’t stop thinking about you, and about Molly, and about how I want to get married and have a baby with you, and I hated Two. I hated her so much. I wished she had been killed by Abraham, or overdosed on heroin, or got hit by a fucking bus … anything that would have gotten her out of our life before last night. I hated her for not even being there. We were going to die for her and she wasn’t even there!”

  Sarah took in a shuddery breath. Rhes smoothed her hair away from her forehead and said nothing. He wanted Sarah to talk, wanted her to get this out before it could be bottled up somewhere secret to grow and fester.

  “All I wanted was a normal life,” she continued. “That’s all I’ve wanted since I was eight and that drunk bastard hit me and took my eyes away. I never thought I’d feel normal again, not until I met you, and then finally here I was having a normal life, and Two came along and fucked it up. And all I could do, because of my stupid eyes, was lie there and wait for it to be over.”

  “Sarah …”

  “I told you I hate being blind, and I do, but what I really hate is being powerless. I have never felt more powerless – more disabled – than I felt last night.”

  “So you were scared and confused, and didn’t feel in control of the situation, and you’re upset not only because you didn’t like that but also because of how it made you feel about Two,” Rhes said.

  Sarah nodded.

  Rhes kissed the back of her hand and the tips of her fingers. “Would it make you feel better if I told you that when I see Two again, I’m not sure if I’m going to hug her or punch her right in the damn face?”

  “A little,” Sarah admitted.

  “Look, last night was the best night of my life. I got the shit kicked out of me, but I asked the woman I love to marry me and she said yes. I’d do it again.”

  This time Sarah smiled at him. She moved her head forward and kissed him, still being careful of his split lip. Rhes kissed her back and then stood up.

  “I’m going to go take some painkillers. Then I’m going back to sleep on the couch. There’s room for two if you’re interested. I think we could both use it.”

  “Sounds wonderful. You’re sure it won’t hurt you?”

  “Positive.” Rhes wandered into the kitchen to refill his glass of water. When he returned, he swallowed the two pills that the bottle told him to take and lay back against the pillows. Sarah sat down beside him and leaned into his chest. Rhes put his arms around her, and minutes later, both were asleep.

  * * *

  “Holy fuck!”

  Sarah stirred, shook her head to clear it, and said, “Molly … language.”

  “Oh, sorry. I just … what happened to Rhes?”

  “It’s a long story,” said Rhes, not bothering to moves. “A long, rich story, filled with kings and queens … fairies, dragons … a young girl with golden hair and green eyes and an incredible penchant for getting herself in trouble.”

  “You mean Two?” Molly asked. She set her backpack down on the coffee table and took a step closer to inspect Rhes’s injuries.

  “Yes, I definitely mea—oh, ouch, baby, don’t use my ribs for leverage, please.”

  Sarah had been trying to sit up but stopped immediately. “Sorry, di
dn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “Don’t listen to her,” Rhes told Molly. “She’s a sadist. First the beating, and now the torture. It’s too late for me … save yourself!”

  Molly giggled. Sarah shook her head. “Molly, help me up, would you?”

  “Sure.” Sarah felt Molly’s hands take hers and pull her to a sitting position.

  “Thanks. How was school?”

  “Fine. I have an English test on Wednesday and a math quiz on Friday.”

  “OK. We can help you study for those. Did you have group today?”

  ‘Group’ was short for ‘Group Discussion and Therapy,’ an activity in which the students were broken into small clusters, each with an instructor, and given projects to work on relating to addiction and recovery.

  “Yeah,” Molly said. “It was OK. I got paired with Jen and Theresa and Bill, and Mr. Peterson. We had to make a list of things we liked to do for fun, but he wanted more interesting stuff than like, basketball or reading or whatever.”

  “What did you come up with?”

  “I told him about how you take me with you sometimes to your school and I get to help the blind kids learn Braille. He said that was good, and then we talked about focusing on constructive things like that.”

  “You’re doing fantastic, Molly. We’re very proud of you,” Sarah said.

  “Thanks. But anyway, what happened? Did you see Two? How come she never comes over anymore?”

  “We didn’t get to see Two, unfortunately,” Sarah said. “We went to try and find her and got mugged instead.”

  Sarah hadn’t rehearsed this story with Rhes, but she hoped he would be able to back her up without too much effort. He didn’t disappoint her.

  “These three guys came at us with a baseball bat. I managed to hold them off while Sarah called for help. And by ‘hold them off’ I mean ‘absorb the blows with my face and body.’ And arms. And legs. And my groin, but don’t worry, no permanent damage there. The groin is safe, ladies, and will be back in action soon!”

  “Rhes … gross,” Molly said.

  “I’d smack him, but he’ll just start crying like a baby,” Sarah told her.