Fate of the Vampire (14 page)

At first I couldn’t see Jessie amongst the small clutter around the grave. I wondered if I’d missed him and he’d flown home, forgetting to tell Viggo. As I drew closer, I spied the umbrella on the ground where I’d left it, so that was at least a good thing. I bent to pick it up
, and when I raised my head, I saw a figure dressed all in black standing by the grave. “Jessie,” I breathed in a voice just audible above a whisper.

When I said Jessie’s name, he didn’t turn to face me, but I could tell from a small movement of his head that he knew I was there. I stood perfectly still for a few seconds, wondering if I was intruding. He looked so forlorn, his long coat flapping around his legs, his hair being ruffled in a cold wind that had picked up as night fell. He had one hand stuffed deep in his coat pocket; the other clutched a bouquet of white roses.

“I didn’t know the traditional flowers for mourning,” he said, still not turning in my direction. “Lilies maybe. I thought it was something white.”

“The florist would have probably known,” I told him.

Jessie slowly shook his head. “No, I didn’t want to bring a stranger into my grief.”

“The roses are lovely,” I told him, mostly because I couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I’m sure Colette would have appreciated them.”

He looked down at the bouquet, seemingly surprised to find it still clutched in his hand. “I can’t remember her favorite flower anymore,” he said, bending to place the roses reverently against the new headstone. “I thought I would always remember everything about her, but some of the details are starting to fade.”

“Wildflowers,” I said without hesitation. “She loved wildflowers.”

Jessie jerked up to a standing position, staring at me. In a few quick strides he was directly in front of me. “How do you know that?” he asked, his voice both demanding and urgent.

“I …” I stammered, surprised by his behavior. “I remember you told me she used to pick flowers for your brother. The one with hemophilia that your family made up so you could get blood donations.”

“Oh,” he said, his eyebrows pulled down into a dark V of disappointment.

“And I dream about them sometimes,” I added in a hesitating voice. “The flowers, I mean. When I have those recurring dreams. The memories that aren’t mine. Most the time I dream of the woods from the night Colette died.” Jessie flinched a little, and I fought back the memory of it being him who pushed me into the pit at the building site. “But sometimes there are nice dreams. I’m in a pretty dress; the sun is shining; and I’m gathering wildflowers. I’m really happy and …” I remembered the dream I had right before Mom woke me up to tell me that they had discovered Colette’s body. “And sometimes you’re there.”

“That couldn’t possibly be me. She must have been with somebody else. I can never enjoy the sunshine again.” He shook his head. “Never.”

“No, it’s definitely you,” I assured him. “I don’t think it’s so much a memory of you as it’s her daydream. One she used to have about you.”

“Are you saying
…?” This time Jessie’s eyebrows rose high on his forehead, making a tepee. “Do you really think that you and Colette …?” He took my face in both his hands and stared into my eyes, searching for a glimmer of somebody else. “Do you think she’s you?” he finally asked. “I mean, did you used to be her?”

“I don
’t think so,” I said, turning my eyes away and feeling a painful stab in my heart. He didn’t love me. He only cared for me in the hope that I was somehow the reincarnation of his lost love.

Jessie released me and let his head hang. “I’m sorry,” he said. “That was an unfair question to ask. I just get so confused sometimes. You are so much like her in so many ways, but also completely different.”

“It’s okay,” I told him, reaching out to press him on the forearm. I loved Jessie with every fiber of my being, but Colette would always be the specter standing between us. It was something I had to accept.

He stood there, staring at his boots, grief pressing down on him. “Do you think it’s a betrayal?” he wanted to know.

“What?” I asked, trying to keep the tremble out of my voice even though my heart was breaking.

“Me loving you the way I do?” he said softly, still not looking up. “Do you think if Colette knew that I loved you it would hurt her?”

I went from the verge of despair to sheer joy. “You love me?” I stammered. “Even though I’m not Colette?”

Jessie finally raised his head and looked deep into my eyes. “How can you even ask me such a thing?” he asked. Stepping forward, bridging the small gap between us, he wrapped me in his arms and then s
ank to his knees, the side of his face pressed against my chest. “I love you so desperately it makes me feel guilty, as if I’m being disloyal to Colette.”

Tears sprang to my eyes
, and I blinked rapidly to fight them away. I inhaled deeply, trying to commit the moment to memory. I wanted to tattoo it on my brain so it would be there forever. He loved me. He loved me as much as I loved him. I couldn’t blame him for still loving Colette. We all had a past, and Colette was part of his. It would be weird if he’d just stopped loving her after we met. I didn’t want to erase her from his life. But I did want him to love me passionately because that was the way I loved him.

When I found my voice, I said
, “I think Colette would want you to be happy. Everything I know about her makes me think she was a kind and generous person. She wouldn’t want you to be miserable for an eternity. She’d want you to find happiness.” A few teardrops leaked from my eyes and splashed onto his hair.

“You make me happy,” he whispered, his words muffled in my bosom. “You make me the happiest I’ve been in eighty years.”

I bent my head and pressed my face into his dark hair, not feeling the cold wind that was whipping across the cemetery, not thinking that I had to text my mother and tell her all was well, just savoring a perfect moment with the vampire I loved.

A melodious ringing of bells brought us to our senses. We both looked up. “Mr. Wanderlind,” Viggo said, crossing the lawn quickly with his lengthy strides. “I think that is the signal vhen the cemetery vould like to close.”

We quickly broke apart, and Jessie got to his feet. “Thank you, Viggo,” he said. If vampires could blush, I swear he would have been blushing.

“Shall you escort Miss Aurora home
, or vill you be needing my services additionally this evening?” the giant asked.

Jessie glanced at me and immediately understood the eager look upon my face. I really, really, really wanted to be escorted home. “I’ll escort Miss Aurora, Viggo,” he said. “You may take the car back to the castle.”

“I was hoping to take Gloria out for dinner and a late movie,” Viggo said, a question left hanging in the air that I wasn’t quite picking up on.

But Jessie understood. “Oh, well then
, of course, you must borrow the car, by all means. Have to treat your lady right,” he said with a small smile while reaching for my hand to give it a squeeze.

“Thank you wery much
, Mr. Wanderlind. Good night, Miss Aurora,” Viggo said with a rumble before turning and striding off back toward the parking lot. I felt sorry for any lingering visitors who might encounter him in the dark. It would be startling. He really was surprisingly massive.

As soon as the giant was out of hearing distance, Jessie released a small chuckle. “Poor fellow. He’s too big to fit in any of the modern cars. Quite honestly, I think my mother would be happy to get rid of the old Rolls, but I don’t know how Viggo would get anywhere if we did.”

The bells chimed again. “Are you ready to go, or would you like another minute?” I asked. I really needed to text my mom.

“I would like a few more moments, if you don’t mind,” he told me.

“Of course,” I said, immediately heading away from the grave. “I’ll just wait for you over here.” I pointed vaguely toward the edge of the chairs. I began to wonder if they were going to be left out all night.

Pulling out my phone, I turned my back to Jessie to give him some privacy. I texted my mom a quick message. “Found the umbrella. Am safe. Heading home in a minute. Might have Jessie over if that’s okay.”

My mom must have been staring at her phone at that exact moment because she answered my message almost immediately. “Lock your doors. Can he come over tomorrow instead? I’m tired.”

I was disappointed, but I couldn’t blame my mom for being tired. It had been a long and emotionally draining day. “Okay,” I texted back before slipping my phone back in my bag. Or at least trying to put it in my bag. I somehow missed the opening completely
, and my cell slipped out onto the damp, mushy grass. Snatching it off the ground, I immediately started rubbing it on my skirt to dry it. The lawn wasn’t super wet, but still, best to be careful. I really couldn’t afford another one. When I looked up again, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. It was the weird old man again, the one I had caught a glimpse of the other evening while driving home through the snow. He was standing in between the tombstones, staring at me, with a look of pure disgust etched across his face. There was something else about his appearance that didn’t look right. He was old and wrinkled but also somehow young. He looked like when a special effects artist puts old-age makeup on a young person. You can always still see a youthfulness underneath.

There was something else odd about him. A distinguishing characteristic that I hadn’t been able to see the other night. He had a rather ugly scar that slashed through his left eyebrow and down his cheek. It was definitely not an asset to his already sinister face.

“Hello?” I said in a tentative voice while inching backward toward Jessie. The man made me nervous, and I felt it was too much of a coincidence that I would see him twice in such a short period of time. “Can I help you with something?”

The fact that I had addressed him seemed to infuriate the old man even more. I could practically feel a putrid bile of hate bubbling out of him. I turned my head briefly to get an idea of how much space there was between Jessie and me, but in the half a second I had my head turned away, the old man disappeared. It wasn’t like he stepped behind a gravestone or anything
; it was like he simply melted into the night.

Feeling more than a little frightened, I hurried over to where Jessie kneeled by Colette’s grave. I hated to intrude, so I didn’t say anything to interrupt him, but I did stand much closer than I would have if there wasn’t a creepy old dude glaring at me and then vanishing.

Jessie’s hair was tousled in the wind that had kicked up as night fell. I knew vampires didn’t really feel the cold, but the way he was kneeling there, half bent over with pain, gave the impression of him shivering against the dark. I turned my back to him again, feeling like I was an unwilling eavesdropper on an intimate conversation.

“Goodbye, my darling,” I heard him say in a soft voice as he got to his feet. “Sleep well.”

A moment later, Jessie had left the graveside and was offering me his arm. “May I escort you to your car?” he said in a gallant attempt to shake off his pain. I could tell by the tight expression on his face that it was taking some effort on his part.

“Please,” was my response as I hooked my arm through his. We took a few steps before I remembered my reason for actually visiting the cemetery so late in the day. “Wait a minute.” I scampered back to the chairs to snatch up the umbrella and then join him again.

I didn’t say anything to Jessie about the old man until we were in the car and were on our way back to my house. Jessie had offered to drive. There was something about my old VW bug that amused him. But once he’d had a little time to collect himself, I asked, “Are there any other vampires in the area?” When he gave me a perplexed look, I added. “I mean, besides your family.”

“I don’t think so,” he said, shaking his head slightly but keeping his eyes on the road. “My cousin
Dorian will be here for the holidays, but he hasn’t arrived yet as far as I know. Why do you ask?”

I told him about the weird
-looking old man who had been glaring at me. The corners of Jessie’s mouth pulled down more and more as I described him. He blinked several times when I mentioned the scar. “Does he sound familiar to you at all?” I asked. “I mean, I don’t know for sure that he’s a vampire, but you know …” My words drifted off, and I felt a flash of embarrassment—like I was paranormal profiling or something.

“No,” Jessie said rather abruptly. He shook his head back and forth quite rapidly as if trying to drive an idea out of his head. “He couldn’t
… I mean, no.”

“So he does sound like someone you know?” I asked
, a little surprised by his reaction.

“No,” he said again, but it almost sounded as if he was trying to convince himself. “I know of no one living or undead that matches that description,” he said firmly.

Jessie drove for a few more minutes in silence, frowning to himself. He was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that the knuckles of his already pale skin were almost white. Then, only a few blocks from my house, he pulled to the side of the road. When I gave him a questioning look, he said, “I’d better get out here. I’ll see you safely home, of course, but I’m sure your mother won’t be expecting me in your car.”

He was right. I knew he was right, but my heart gave a little wrench in my chest as I thought of being parted from him. “Will you come see me in a few hours?” I asked. “After my mom thinks I’ve gone to bed.”

He was about to say no. I could see the words forming on his lips. I stopped him by grabbing him by the lapels and kissing him quite fiercely. “Please?” I said in a husky whisper.

“Yes,” he said once I’d pulled away. “I’ll come by. I would very much like to spend more time with you this night, if that’s okay.”

Jessie had no idea how okay that was with me. It had been a tiring day, but kissing him fired up my hormones again. My heart began pounding a heavy beat in my chest at the thought of luring him into my room. “Okay,” I told him. “But meet me at our window. I’m sure my mom’s tired, and she probably won’t want guests. I’ll just tell her I’m going to bed early.”

Jessie got out of the car
, and I fumbled my way over the gearshift to the driver’s seat. He waited patiently for me to be settled and belted in before leaning down and planting an electrifying kiss on my lips. “I’ll follow you home, but keep your doors locked,” he told me.

“Always,” was my reply.

After kissing me again, he added, “I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Wait,” I said, tugging at his hand. “You’re not going to blow me off like you did last night. Are you?”

“No,” he assured me. “And I’m sorry about that. I meant to apologize earlier, but my mind was so cluttered with everything.” He gestured vaguely toward the way we had just driven. “I really didn’t mean to stand you up, but there’s been some tension at home between my brother and me. I really don’t understand what’s going on with him, but my mom made us talk it out. By the time we finished up, it was too late to meet you. Or even call.”

Jessie’s brother
, Daniel, was, in my opinion, a complete jerk. But it did strike me as amusing that two men who had been on the planet for over eight decades still had to have their mother settle their arguments. Being an only child, I didn’t know much about sibling rivalry, but I guess it ran pretty strong sometimes. “I forgive you,” I said, suppressing a smirk. “But please, don’t do it again.”

“I will do my very best,” he promised before leaning in through the window to bestow me with another lingering kiss before launching into the sky and disappear
ing from view.

I gave myself a few seconds to relish the kiss and make sure my hands were steady before I started driving. Jessie’s kisses were dizzying, to say the least.

When I finally walked in the door, I could tell my mom had been worrying. She immediately gave me a hug and said, “I should have just gone with you. It’s not like I got any work done, anyway.”

“I was fine,” I told her, returning her squeeze. “I know there’s a weirdo out there, but I really can’t always stay locked in the house after dark, you know.”

“I know,” she said, reluctantly releasing me, “but you can at least spare me the worry by not going anywhere by yourself at night until they discover what happened to those poor children.”

It seemed like a reasonabl
e request, so I said, “I promise.”

Mom had made mac
‘n’ cheese for dinner. Afterward, we hung out on the couch watching TV for a little while before I faked a few yawns and said, “I’m pretty beat. Think I’ll just go read a little before bed.”

“Good night
, sweetie,” she said, kissing me on my forehead. I had to force myself not to scamper upstairs in my excitement for Jessie’s arrival.

It wasn’t that I exactly planned to seduce Jessie. We had just buried Colette, so it would be weird to greet him in just panties and a bra. But I did have a strong desire to lure him into my bedroom and keep him there as long as possible. When he’d kneeled on the ground and buried his face in my chest, my nipples had grown hard despite the fact that I was trying to comfort him. I knew that probably wasn’t appropriate, but I was a teenager and I had hormones.

I brushed out my hair, fresh
ened my makeup while trying to make it look as invisible as possible, and then put on my prettiest nightie and robe. I didn’t exactly have anything sexy to wear, but it wasn’t exactly sex that I was after. At least for the moment. I guess I wanted intimacy. I wanted to hold him and touch him and feel his weight on top of me.

It felt like it took forever, but Jessie was finally tapping at my window. I sprang out of bed and rushed over to let him in. Once the window was open, I could see him drawing breath to protest entering my bedroom. Instead of arguing with him, I just grabbed him by the lapels of his coat and dragged him inside.

“Good evening,” he said, a bit surprised.

“Mr. Vanderlind,” I whispered
, lifting my arms up to drape around his neck.

He kissed me, his arms wrapped so tightly around my waist that I was lifted from the floor. “I know it’s only been a few hours, but it seems like it’s been forever,” he murmured in my ear. Then he deftly scooped up my legs and turned me so I was held like a bride being carried over the threshold. Then, with great care, he laid me on the bed. “Oh, Aurora,” he said with a soft moan as he pulled himself on top of me, pressing every inch of his body against mine.

“Jessie,” I whispered back, my body straining against his. I could tell that he wanted me, and it stoked the fire that was already burning deep inside of me. He kissed me deeply, his tongue parting my lips and dipping into my mouth. I writhed beneath him, fully feeling how much he wanted me.

His kisses descended to my chin, my throat, my breastbone. He nuzzled my breasts and then turned his head to rest upon my chest for a moment. “I can hear your heart beating,” he said
, and I felt his words rumble in my ribcage. He slid his hands underneath me, so he was almost cradling me in his arms. His weight became less as he supported both of our bodies, although the right side of his face still pressed against me. “I know you probably don’t fully understand what I’m talking about, but this is such a wonderful sound,” Jessie whispered. I couldn’t see his face, but I could tell by the angle of his long eyelashes that his eyes were closed. “Being with you tonight is wonderful,” he said, his voice barely audible. “It’s amazing to me that there can be any joy in this miserable day.”

After that, he became very still
; his breathing grew steady. I had thought he was just taking a moment, but as the time stretched longer and longer, I went from eager and lustful to slight confusion. What was he doing?

Jessie had told me once that vampires don’t sleep. He’d described the state they’re in while reclining in their coffins as more like being unconscious than any type of dream world. That’s why his behavior was so peculiar. If he wasn’t sleeping, I had no idea what he was doing.

As my libido calmed down, I became sleepy too. I wasn’t exactly warm in his arms—in fact, I was on the chilly side—but there was no place in the world I would rather have been. Eventually, I found my eyelids had become heavy.

“Aurora,” Jessie whispered. I couldn’t tell if I was asleep or awake. I had dreamed of Jessie so many times that I half convinced myself I was having some type of fantasy.

“Yes?” I finally managed to say when I felt him shifting above me and realized he was actually in bed with me.

“It’s almost dawn,” he said, trying to gently pull away from me.

I let out a small whimper and tried to keep him close. “So?” I said, a slight pout to my voice.

“I have to go home.” He managed to pull himself away and get to his feet.

“What happened
last night?” I asked, still groggy. But the memory of the passion that had quickly faded to napping immediately popped back into my brain. “I thought we …” I paused, not sure if I should feel embarrassed, or maybe even a little hurt. “I thought you …”

“What is it, darling?” Jessie asked, sitting back down and reaching for my hand. He pressed it to his lips.

Turning my face away from him, I managed to stammer, “I thought you wanted me.”

“Aurora,” he said, taking me in his arms. “You have no idea how much I want you. In fact, it would be ungentlemanly of me to say how much.” He kissed my forehead and then the lids of my eyes. “But yesterday was a very difficult day. I was awake all day in my coffin thinking how much I hated not being able to attend Colette’s service. And then the conflict of seeing you and missing her and trying to find out about
…” His words trailed off. “Well, that doesn’t matter right now, but when I took you in my arms, I felt passion coursing through me. I wanted you, every bit of you. I wanted to devour you in every sense of the word,” he told me. “But somehow, the beating of your heart mesmerized me. It’s the most beautiful sound in the world to me. I’ve just been lying here for the past several hours listening to your heart beat. It was so peaceful, so hypnotic to me.” He let out a small, rueful laugh. “It’s the closest I’ve come to sleeping in the last eighty years.”