Authors: Melody Johnson
“That we can’t live like everyone else. We can’t stay late at football practice and date pretty girls who can’t see vampires. That’s how you and people around you end up dead. He didn’t grow up on hunts and stakings and fallout shelters. As shelters go, though, this is the best one we’ve ever lived in.” He spread his arms out, indicating Walker’s house.
“It certainly is a beautiful home,” I commented, but something in the way he’d specifically said, “fallout shelter,” as opposed to, “home,” stuck with me. “What makes it the best?”
Keagan shook his head. “I have questions of my own.”
“What kind of questions?”
He smiled, and I noticed that his left canine endearingly overlapped with its neighboring tooth. “Bathroom questions.” He nodded his head at me. “Get back in there.”
“Excuse me?”
“Do you want to know about fallout shelters or not?”
I narrowed my eyes. “You mentioned that on purpose, knowing I’d be interested.”
Keagan shrugged. “Walker said that you’re new at being a night blood, that I should be informative and make you feel at home.”
I raised an eyebrow. “This bathroom interrogation is supposed to make me feel at home?”
“I’m being informative. Did you know that you can turn your city apartment into a relatively safe fallout shelter in less than an hour? Not as sealed tight as this house, but better than nothing in a pinch.”
I bit the inside of my lip. Walker had never mentioned turning my apartment into a fallout shelter.
“Would a fallout shelter work, even after giving a vampire permission to enter?”
Keagan nodded. “For sure. It wouldn’t be the best protection, but like I said, anything’s better than nothing. It’d certainly be more effective than in the country. More witnesses to slow them down.”
I laughed. “Have you ever lived in the city?”
Keagan shook his head. “My dad’s got roots that run pretty deep. We move a lot, but he prefers the country.”
“Most city vampires, in my experience, don’t care how many witnesses they incur. I’ve had a vampire attack me in front of an entire police department, take down the officers and surrounding witnesses, and then take a hostage to bargain with me.”
“Attack you?” Keagan asked, looking shocked. “To kill you? But you’re a night blood.”
“It doesn’t matter, not in the city. The Master vampire there doesn’t have control over his vampires like Bex does here,” I said, and I couldn’t keep the bitterness from my voice as I admitted the truth to myself.
Keagan shook his head. “That’s insane.”
I nodded. “More witnesses don’t necessarily mean less danger. It just means that the vampires have more people to entrance.”
Keagan was still shaking his head in awe.
“So about fallout shelters…” I began.
He pointed into the bathroom.
“I just told you about city vampires. It’s your turn to spill,” I countered.
“That wasn’t one of my questions, but I appreciate the information all the same.”
“You want to play hard ball?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“I have specific questions, and I’m willing to trade information for answers.” He raised his hands innocently. “That’s all.”
“That’s all,” I grumbled, but I stepped back reluctantly into the bathroom. Keagan followed, shutting the door behind him. “You’re a pretty persuasive kid. You should consider becoming a reporter when you grow up.”
He leaned against the sink. “Remember what I said about Jeremy living a normal life? Having a career is part of living a normal life. Night bloods don’t get that.”
“I have a career,” I pointed out.
“Yeah,” He said, flashing that snaggle tooth. “And how’s that going for you lately?
I narrowed my eyes, his question too on target for comfort. “You get three questions.”
“Deal.”
“And you tell me about fallout shelters after question two.”
He hesitated this time, but then nodded. “That’s fair.”
I cocked my head and waited.
“How do you know that the person who killed Lydia also killed Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar?”
“There’s evidence to suggest they were killed by the same person,” I answered vaguely.
Keagan snorted. “Obviously. What kind of evidence?”
I crossed my arms. “That’s confidential information in an ongoing investigation. Next question.”
“Confidential information that you told Dominic. How would Walker feel about that?”
I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter what Walker feels. I can’t answer that question, so I guess we’re done here.”
I stepped to the door and grasped the handle.
“No! I have more questions!”
I turned back to face him. “Then ask them.”
He nodded, but a moment past before he gathered his thoughts. “What’s the Leveling?”
I raised my eyebrows. “They don’t teach you about the Leveling in night blood university?”
He snorted. “I must have skipped that class.”
I grinned. “Every seven years, on the anniversary of their making, Master vampires lose their powers to their successor for one night. It’s the coven’s opportunity to empower a new Master, if they so choose. If the current Master survives the night, his powers are returned to him, and he continues his reign over the coven.”
“And if the Master doesn’t survive?”
I sighed, this problem all too real. “Then the successor would take reign as Master vampire.
“Is Dominic your Master?”
“I get my question now,” I interrupted. “Tell me everything you know about fallout shelters.”
Keagan made a rude noise in the back of his throat, but he didn’t argue. “Any place can potentially be a fallout shelter, granting that it’s essentially an enclosed space with a threshold to cross. The easiest way to prevent a vampire from crossing the threshold is to not invite him, but as you probably already know, vampires can be persuasive.”
I nodded. “Exactly. And once invited, you can’t take it back.”
Keagan frowned. “You can take it back.”
I blinked. “What?”
Someone knocked on the door.
Keagan stared at me, eyes wide.
I held a finger up to my lips. “Sorry,” I said to the door. “The bathroom’s occupied.”
“I know,” the person whispered. “Let me in.”
I stared at the door, shocked.
“It’s Jeremy,” Keagan said and let him in.
“Don’t—” I hissed, but Jeremy was already inside and locking the door behind him.
“When you didn’t come out, Ronnie got worried, so I said I’d look for you.”
I snorted. “How magnanimous of you.”
“I heard what you said.”
“Is that so?” I asked dryly.
Jeremy nodded. “Is Bex losing her powers? Is that why she didn’t remove my DNA from the scene?”
“Wait your turn.” Keagan elbowed Jeremy in the ribs. “I get one more question.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Actually, I believe I get information on fallout shelters before either of you get anything.” I pointed my finger at Keagan. “Go.”
“Fallout shelters?” Jeremy looked at me and then Keagan like we were insane. “What’s there to know about an underground safe room? It’s made of silver because vampires are allergic to silver and you hide in it.”
Keagan rolled his eyes. “There’s more to it than that. There’s precautions you can take, like having a location that’s clear to the east with lots of windows. Soaking blood into the earth helps, too, if you have access to that sort of thing. You need a lot of it.”
Jeremy shook his head. “Between a safe room and blood-soaked earth to protect me against the vampires, I’ll take the safe room.”
“We’re protected here because of all the precautions Walker takes, not just the safe room.” Keagan hissed at Jeremy before looking sheepishly at me. “Although the underground safe room is the main component.”
“But how does that translate to my city apartment?” I asked. “If a vampire has permission to enter, I don’t have an underground safe room to hide in. I live five stories off the ground.”
Jeremy snorted. “Move to the country.”
Keagan rolled his eyes. “Take as many precautions as possible. Pick an apartment with lots of windows that isn’t overshadowed by another building. In a pinch, your apartment will be exposed to the first rays of dawn. Don’t underestimate the timing of the sun.”
I laughed. “You’re preaching to the choir. I live by the rise and fall of the sun.”
“We all do,” Keagan said. “With enough windows, your apartment will soak in the sun’s light and warmth all day. The more windows the better. You might think that windows, since they’re breakable, would make it easier for them to enter, but if your fallout shelter is working, it won’t matter if every window is open, they can’t cross the threshold.”
I nodded. “All right, what else?”
“Try to find an old apartment, one that’s been soaking up the sun for years. If it has real metal door hinges and door knobs, that helps, too. The antiques are made with brass and cast iron. Don’t go for porcelain or glass door knobs; they’re pretty to look at but they don’t do shit against vampires.”
“Why brass and cast iron? Not silver?” I asked
“They don’t make door knobs in silver, it’s too expensive. Although Walker might if you asked nicely.”
I stuck my tongue out at him.
He laughed. “There’s something about the metals, even if they’re not silver, that doesn’t sit well with vampires. They’re uncomfortable entering a house that’s filled with it.”
Jeremy scoffed. “That’s bullshit. How will that prevent a vampire from entering her apartment?”
“It’s not guaranteed to work, but the sunlight combined with antique metals and human blood gives you a chance. Even if he can still physically enter the apartment, your vampire might at least hesitate, and in that moment, revoke your invitation.”
My skin prickled in anticipation. I might actually regain a measure of control in my life. “You mentioned soaking the earth with human blood,” I said thoughtfully. “How does that help? Wouldn’t blood actually attract vampires?”
“Vampires are attracted to our scent because new night bloods mean potentially new vampires. They’re attracted to human blood for food, but specifically, they’re hunting warm, circulating human blood in a live human. Stagnant human blood is unappetizing, like stale bread, so pouring human blood into the ground, or in your case, smearing it around the perimeter of your apartment, will keep you off their radar.”
I blinked, and a sudden rush of understanding swept over me. “So smearing blood around the perimeter of my apartment, across door frames, will help ward off vampires?” I asked, thinking of the blood smears around the entry of Ronnie’s old house. Someone was using her house as a fallout shelter.
Keagan nodded. “For sure.”
“And Walker knows about all this stuff? About fallout shelters and smearing blood across doorways to keep vampires at bay?”
He nodded. “Of course. He taught me.”
“Are you good now?” Jeremy asked impatiently. “Because I heard you say something about Lydia and the Dunbars, and anything to do with Lydia I—”
“No, we’re not good.” Keagan snapped. “I get one more question, so you can just—”
Someone knocked on the door.
The three of us stared at each other, startled into silence.
Jeremy opened his mouth, and I covered it with my hand.
“Just another minute,” I said through the door. “Sorry.”
“Take your time, darlin’,” drawled an unmistakable twang.
I closed my eyes in embarrassment.
Shit,
I thought.
Now what?
Jeremy disappeared from under my hand. I opened my eyes only to witness Keagan dragging him into the shower stall. I shook my head at the ridiculousness of it.
Keagan nodded back at me.
I rolled my eyes, but despite my better judgment, I didn’t have a better idea. I flushed the toilet.
Keagan pointed at the sink and rubbed his hands together.
I waved him off and washed my hands. Jeremy slowly and silently slid the shower curtain closed, hiding from plain view. I took my time drying my hands, only delaying the inevitable, but hoping Walker would wander back into the kitchen. I could hear the plodding creak of footsteps, but in a home this old and housing so many people, the noise could be anyone.
Taking a deep breath, I twisted my hand around the doorknob and opened the door.
Walker was leaning against the door jam, his arms crossed.
I smiled. “It’s all yours.”
Walker smiled back. “Funny, I could have sworn I heard someone talking back to you in there.”
I snorted. “Speakerphone works better than my regular phone.”
“Using speakerphone is pretty inconvenient in your line of work,” Walker said. “Conversations tend to be confidential.”
I nodded. “That’s true.”
Walker’s hard, locked gaze was unwavering.
He waited what felt like a full minute before breaking eye contact, reaching behind me in a quick lunge, and yanking the shower curtain wide open. I closed my eyes, mortified.
“I know Keagan was in here with you.”
I turned sharply at the accusation in his voice and stared at the empty shower, stunned. “Keagan?”
Walker turned back to me with a hot glare. “And Jeremy, too, if I’m not mistaken. I could hear those two bozos through the door, clear as day.”
I shrugged. “I told you, I was on speakerphone. And as you can see,” I said, spreading my hand out for his perusal, “No one’s here except me.”
He stared at me for another moment, willing me to break, but I crossed my arms and met his gaze without flinching. Knowing how vulnerable I felt in my city apartment, he could have told me about fallout shelters, but he’d kept that information to himself.
Well, I could keep information to myself, too.
Walker sighed. “I guess I was mistaken,” he said. He touched my shoulder, and I could feel the solid warmth of his touch through my leather jacket.
I eyed him skeptically. “Why would Keagan be in the bathroom with me?”
Walker’s laugh was self-deprecating, but I kept my anger wrapped around me like a blanket against the chill of my guilt.
“Just something he said to me earlier while you were touring the house with Ronnie.”
“Oh?” I asked. “What did he say?”