Fate of the Vampire (18 page)

Dorian released him. “Thank you,” he said. “I accept your apology.”

Fred walked away rather quickly, even though I was sure his ego was smarting.

“I think we need to get going,” Jessie said, appearing at my elbow. “My mother is expecting us.”

“I think I’ll stay here awhile longer, if you don’t mind,” Dorian said, his eyes not leaving the departing Fred for a few seconds. Eventually, he turned to look at me. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on your little friends.”

“Do you think we should have done that?” I asked as Jessie and I walked to my car. We’d quickly said our goodbyes
, and I’d changed into my nicer outfit before heading out the door.

“What?” he wanted to know.

“Left Dorian with all those kids.” Jessie’s cousin was definitely not blending in well with the other guests at the party.

“They’re safer with Dorian there than they would be without him.” Jessie unlocked the passenger side door for me and held it open.

“Are you sure about that?” I asked as I climbed in. “He didn’t look like he wanted to help keep anybody safe.” I restrained myself from adding
Especially Fred.

“Of course he does,” Jessie said, closing my door and heading around to the driver’s side. “Why do you think I invited him to visit?” he asked as he climbed in next to me. “He’s at least a relative I know I can trust.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Dorian doesn’t visit every Christmas,” Jessie explained. “I asked him to come because something is very wrong in Tiburon
, and I thought the town might need a little extra protection.”

“You invited a vampire to Tiburon to help protect the town against vampires?” I asked, slightly incredulous. “Isn’t that a bit like the NRA?”

It was Jessie’s turn to be confused. “The National Rifle Association?” He started the car, the engine protesting against the cold.

“You know, whenever there’s a shooting, the NRA announces the best way to stop the shootings is to have more guns.” When Jessie still looked confused, I explained
. “Tiburon has a vampire problem and you think the best way to solve it is to bring in more vampires.”

“You may be right
,” Jessie said with a rueful laugh as he pulled the bug out onto the street. “But to be honest with you, I really couldn’t think of what else to do.”

We drove along for a few minutes in silence. Finally
, I said, “I’m sorry if you didn’t have a very good time at the party.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to glance over at me, eyebrows slightly knitted.

“I know all my friends must look very immature to you,” I told him. “I understand why you weren’t talking to any of them. I just feel bad that I forced you to go and that you had a lousy time.”

“Aurora, being around young people socializing is actually pretty refreshing for me,” Jessie said. “I wasn’t socializing because I was too busy scanning the skies in case of attack.”

I stared at him. “You think that could happen?” I asked. “A vampire could just dive out of the sky and snatch some kid out of the center of a party?” I pressed the button on my side of the car to double check that the door was locked.

“I don’t know if it could happen,” Jessie told me. “But it’s beginning to feel like a possibility.” He pulled up to a red light then turned to look at me. “When kids started disappearing without a trace, it made me nervous, so I reached out to Dorian and asked him to visit. I know he comes off as arrogant sometimes, but I trust him.”

“That’s good,” I said in a small voice, thinking of the way his cousin was staring daggers at Fred.

“I was beginning to think I was overreacting until that taxi driver disappeared
, and then you told me about the man you saw in the cemetery. Then I knew I’d made the right decision.” The light turned green, and he started driving again.

“Who was that man?”

Jessie frowned, shaking his head slightly. “I’m not sure, but he sounds like trouble.”

I had the definite feeling Jessie was keeping something from me. I looked down at my hands and realized they were shaking. “We have to go back,” I said. “My friends
… We can’t leave them unprotected.”

“Aurora, there are thousands of people that are unprotected in Tiburon right now. We can’t follow everyone all the time,” he told me, reaching out and squeezing my trembling hands. “The person at that party I was most worried about protecting was you. Dorian can handle the rest.”

“Will you stay with me tonight?” I asked, gathering my coat tighter around my neck and peering furtively out the window at the black sky.

“I would like to, of course, but there’s really no need. As long as you don’t invite anyone else into your house, you should be quite safe,” he assured me.

A memory nagged at my brain. “This is going to sound strange,” I began, “and I might just be remembering a dream, but I think that man with the scar came to my window last night.”

Jessie gave me an alarmed look and then quickly pulled the car over to the side of the road. Putting it in park, he said, “What are you talking about? Tell me everything.”

I really struggled to recount the events that may or may not have occurred the previous night. In fact, if I hadn’t immediately written everything down in my dream journal, I was sure I wouldn’t have remembered any of it. As it was, things were foggy, and I stumbled around in my narrative.

When I was finished, Jessie closed his eyes for several seconds and said nothing. “So what do you think?” I finally asked to break the silence. “Did it really happen? Was it just a dream? I can’t even tell.”

Jessie opened his beautiful gray eyes and looked deep into mine. “I love you,” he said. “I love you, and I will protect you, no matter what.”

“What is it, Jessie?” I asked, a slight quaver in my voice. I then asked a question with a very obvious answer. “That scary dude is a vampire
, and he was on my porch roof?”

Jessie nodded.

“So then why is it all hazy in my brain? Why did I think it was a dream?” I wanted to know.

“I think he used his influence over you to make you forget,” he told me. “You’re not all that prone to vampire influence, so that must be why you can remember so much of it.”

“Great,” I said, rubbing at my eyes to keep back the tears. I knew I was ruining my makeup, but crying would only make it worse.

Jessie reached out and took my face in his hands. “I will keep you safe, Aurora,” he said, leaning forward and kissing each of my eyelids with a touch as light as a butterfly. “I will keep you safe.”

I believed him. Actually, I had no choice. I couldn’t exactly protect myself from an angry vampire. “Are you taking me home?” I asked as Jessie pulled out on to the road again.

“No,” he told me. “We’re still going to the castle. My mother has gone to a lot of trouble to make this Christmas Eve special
, and I wouldn’t want to disappoint her.”

“Do you think I’ll be safe there?” I asked rather hesitantly.

Jessie let out a low laugh. “As bizarre as it may sound, you’ll probably be safer in a house full of vampires than anywhere else right now.”

Even with that reassurance, I was still nervous. In part because my fears had been confirmed
—last night’s visitor was very real, not just a terrifying nightmare. But also because it’s always nerve wracking to pay a visit to your boyfriend’s vampire mother. Especially when she lives in a large stone castle and has an older son that once suggested handing me over to a swarm of vampires as the best way to get rid of me.

We pulled up to the castle gate. A guard stepped out of a small booth and let us in, giving no reaction if he found it surprising that Jessie was driving an ancient gold VW
bug. All of the Vanderlind cars were in mint condition, and my bug had the habit of sputtering and backfiring.

“You look beautiful,” Jessie said as he took my hand to help me from the car. He had insisted upon getting my door even though Viggo had been standing by to do it.

“Good evening, Miss Aurora,” the giant said as we walked toward the house with him bringing up the rear. “I hope you have a vonderful holiday.”

“Thank you, Viggo,” I told him. “Merry Christmas to you, too.”

“Gloria asked that I extend to you her good vishes.”

“Oh, I hope I get to see her tonight,” I told him. “I don’t know if she’s busy, but if she has the chance, will you ask her to stop by and say hello?”

“I vill tell her you asked after her,” the giant said. “But she is very busy vith the preparing of the feast, so I do not know if she can find the time.”

I didn’t know if that meant it wasn’t proper for her to come out from behind the scenes to say hello or if she was seriously that busy. “That’s okay,” I assured him. “Please tell
her I said Merry Christmas.”

Turning to Jessie, I widened my eyes. “Feast?” I asked.

“Mother thought you might like to eat a little something,” he told me, and I could tell he was a bit embarrassed. “She hasn’t had an opportunity to have a real Christmas celebration in almost a century, so please just indulge her.”

“Okay,” I said, but with some reservations. The last time I was invited to dine with friendly vampires, they begged me to sample so many dishes that I thought I might burst. “It isn’t going to be like Madame Csorbo’s dinner. Is it?” I wanted to know.

Jessie looked even more embarrassed. “It might be a little bit like that.”

“Oh, great,” I muttered to myself. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have spent the last day and a half chowing on holiday cookies.

As soon as we entered the castle, a woman’s voice called out, “Colette. How wonderful to see you again.” Jessie’s mother swooped down on me all glittering diamonds and silk. She was a stunning woman with Jessie’s wavy black hair and gray eyes. We exchanged a rather awkward hug and then she stepped back, holding both of my hands. “Don’t you look charming,” she said. I knew it was a white lie meant to spare my feelings. I was in a wool skirt, thick tights, and a sweater. Mrs. Vanderlind was in a ruby-red silk gown and dripping with diamonds. She seemed a little overdressed for a family Christmas Eve dinner, but she also looked like a movie star from the golden age of film. Jessie told me she was turned by her father when she was twenty-four, which explained why she looked more like his older sister than his mom.

Mrs. Vanderlind turned and called over her shoulder, “Daniel. Colette is here.” I fought back the urge to correct her about my name. Jessie and I’d had to pretend I was Colette when we went to plead our case in Budapest. Mrs. Vanderlind obviously felt the need to keep up the ruse.

Another vampire appeared in front of me, but without the same enthusiasm as Mrs. Vanderlind. This vampire was rather sullen. “Hello, Aurora,” Jessie’s brother, Daniel, said, the disdain in his voice almost palpable. It was obvious that Daniel was Jessie’s brother; they had the same build, the same dark hair, the same gray eyes, but Daniel didn’t have the warmth that added to Jessie’s good looks. Daniel was handsome, but with more of a sinister look. There was something slightly reptilian about him.

“Happy Christmas,” Daniel added, but any happiness I may incur was not his intent. Given a choice between listening to Daniel speak to me or walking through the desert and suddenly hearing a snake’s rattle, there was a good chance I would have gone with the snake.

“Come in. Come in,” Mrs. Vanderlind insisted as Viggo relieved me of my coat. “I’m so glad you were able to join us,” she said, taking me by the hand and leading me into the great hall.

The furniture in the vast room had been pushed against the walls. In the center of the room was an enormous Christmas tree dripping with decorations from the highest peak to the lowest branch. I thought it would take a storage area larger than my mom’s house to warehouse all the ornament boxes in the off season. But I suppose when you live in a giant castle, you have spare room for frivolous items. “It’s beautiful,” I said, marveling at the tree. It really was like something out of an old
-fashioned Christmas story when the little poor boy finally discovers that he is a member of a very rich family.

“I’ve had so much fun decorating, not to mention planning the meal,” Jessie’s mom enthused. “I really can’t remember the last time I’ve enjoyed the holiday season so much.” She was so excited
, she was practically glowing.

Jessie couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, give her your present, already, why don’t you?” he said.

I gulped. It had never occurred to me to purchase presents for Jessie’s family. “I’m sorry,” I told her. “I didn’t know we were doing a gift exchange.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Mrs. Vanderlind said. “I’ve just been trying out a new hobby and ended up making you a gift.”

Her comment left me scratching my head. I’d never really thought of vampires as having hobbies. “That’s nice,” was all I could think to say.

Mrs. Vanderlind scampered over to the tree like an excited child proud to show off her handiwork. She pulled out a medium
-sized box wrapped in shiny paper and festooned with multicolored ribbons. “I know you probably think I’m being silly,” she said, “but please open it now. I can’t wait to see you in it.”

I indulged her and started peeling back the paper, but apparently I wasn’t going fast enough because she started tearing at it herself. “Here, let me just help you with that,” she said, by way of an excuse.

Once the box was free of paper, she pulled off the lid and left me to page through a layer of lavender tissue paper to reveal an emerald green angora sweater. “It’s lovely,” I said, gently touching the soft yarn.

“I had to guess on your size, so I hope I was correct,” Mrs. Vanderlind said snatching the sweater out of the box and holding it up to me. “You wouldn’t mind trying it on. Would you?”