The Fertile Vampire (33 page)

The bath was lined with aquamarine tinted glass tiles, the shower larger than my entire bathroom at home. You could have a dance party in there and with the three shower heads, it had to have been designed for more than one person.
 

I didn’t ask just kept nodding my head like I wasn’t overwhelmed.
 

I was strictly middle class. I was Calumet Street, San Antonio. I was middle management. Okay, prior middle management.
 

I was so out of my element.
 

“Thank you,” I said when we returned to the bedroom. “It’s lovely,” I added, remembering my manners.
 

“Are you hungry?”
 

“No,” I said. My stomach was still queasy from whatever drug Maddock had given me.
 

“I can have some soup sent up. Tomato soup?”
 

“With oyster crackers?”
 

“And a grilled cheese sandwich?” He smiled at me.
 

“Maybe later.”
 

If it had been another time I would have hugged him for his kindness. But last night was still with me, would probably be with me for days if not weeks.
 

“Sleep well,” he said, closing the door behind him.
 

I turned and surveyed the room, my little suitcase and my big purse looking out of place.
 

Something else was happening here besides the kindness of a handsome man to a confused vampire.
 

Why had the wealthy Dan the Driver been working for Maddock? What information had he been wanting to discover? Why was he so solicitous of me when no one else had been, not even my family?
 

More importantly, why did I suddenly feel I had escaped one web only to leap into another?

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY
-S
EVEN

A man’s castle is his…castle

I only slept three hours, which surprised me since I felt as if I’d slept a day or two.
 

After taking another shower - I had to find a way to afford one of those nifty walk in versions - I went to the small kitchen area in the dressing room and discovered an under counter refrigerator and two burner stove, a microwave, and an instant hot water dispenser along with a coffee brewer. The shelves were stocked with a variety of snacks and foods, the refrigerator filled with sodas and mixers.
 

My townhouse wasn’t this homey.
 

I made myself a cup of coffee and a plate of cheese and crackers, enough to kill the worst of the hunger pangs.
 

I fiddled with the IPad, managed to open the curtains and sent a message to the kitchen. It was probably the power of suggestion but I ordered tomato soup and two grilled cheese sandwiches with a slice of cheesecake for desert.
 

I am a slut for cheesecake.
 

Dressed in clean jeans and a flowered top, I sat on the chaise, extended my legs out and wiggled my bare toes. Here the view of the lake was magnificent. I might have been at a highly rated resort relaxing from a crazy year.
 

Someone knocked on the door. I peeled myself off the chaise to find Dan playing waiter.
 

“Now you make me feel bad I didn’t search out the kitchen myself,” I said, trying to take the tray from him.
 

He wouldn’t release it, only grinned down at me.
 

“I was hoping to get a tip,” he said. “Besides, you wouldn’t have found the kitchen on your own.”
 

In any other house that would have been boasting but I could believe it about Arthur’s Folly.
 

“How many square feet do you have?”
 

He shrugged. “I think the architect stopped counting after twenty,” he said.
 

“Twenty thousand?” I think my townhouse was a grand total of nine hundred or something.
 

He nodded, moved to the chaise and put the tray down on the end. He disappeared into the dressing room, returning with a collapsible table. He erected it beside the chaise and put the tray on it.
 

“Would you like anything else?” he asked in a perfect waiterly way.
 

I shook my head. “I don’t have any cash,” I said, “but if I did, I’d tip you. I don’t have my phone, either,” I added.

At least I hadn’t taken my wallet last night. I’d only tucked two twenties into my evening bag so I still had my driver’s license and credit cards.
 

“I can get another phone for you,” he said.
 

“Why?”
 

I couldn’t keep taking stuff from Dan.
 

“Why?”
 

I nodded. “Why have you opened up your house to me? Why have you rescued me like a damsel in distress?”
 

“Why not? I didn’t see anyone else stepping up, did you?”
 

His smile was charming but his eyes were distant. He was definitely hiding something. I’m not down on humanity, but I’d seen enough to know most people aren’t altruistic, at least not without a reason.
 

What was Dan’s reason?
 

“Can you check on him?” I asked.
 

“Who?”
 

“Mutt.” I sat on the end of the chaise, my fingers trailing over the silver coffee pot.
 

“You’re still worried about him?”
 

I nodded. “He’s my responsibility.”
 

“Sounds like he did okay on his own.”
 

I gave him a nasty look. “You don’t like dogs.”

“I love dogs. I love all kinds of animals.”

“Then would you go to the complex manager and find out if he took him?”
 

Dan stared at the lake. “Yes,” he finally said. “If you’ll stay here. And listen to Mike.”
 

“Who’s Mike?”
 

“Your guardian, until I get back.”
 

I folded my arms. “I don’t need a guardian.”
 

“For now you do.”
 

He turned and walked back to the door. “I don’t know what happened last night, Marcie, but something did. I don’t know why Maddock wants you, but he does.”
 

I huffed out a breath.
 

“Why did you work for him if you dislike him so much?”
 

“To find out what he’s up to. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, that sort of thing.”
 

“Why is he your enemy?”
 

“He’s a vampire.”
 

“So am I.”
 

I waited with my heart beating sluggishly, nausea churning my stomach.
 

“No, you’re not.” He tilted his head and regarded me. “You’re something else. Something important. Something scary, I think. I think Maddock knows and it’s why he doesn’t want you out of his sight.”
 

“He wants to get me pregnant,” I said.
 

The words shocked me. I didn’t have any intention of telling Dan the truth. Nor, from his expression, did he have any inkling of it.
 

“You’re kidding, right?”
 

I shook my head. “Nope.”
 

“You can get pregnant?”
 

I was not going to talk to him about my period. I settled for a nod.
 

“Maddock knows this?”
 

I nodded again.

He walked back to me, reached out and grabbed both my hands. Once again, I was surprised by his warmth.
 

Up until now I’d thought his eyes were green, but they were more brown than green right now. His cheeks took on a bronze color as his lips thinned. He looked down at our joined hands.
 

“He raped you, didn’t he?”
 

I didn’t answer.
 

“There are different kinds of rape,” he said. “There’s the rape of the will, the spirit, the mind.”
 

I blew out a breath. “I shouldn’t have been there.”
 

“I suppose you were wearing something sexy, too,” he said, his voice mocking.
 

“I don’t believe I asked for it if that’s what you mean. I was just stupid.”

“Hell, being stupid doesn’t mean you deserve bad things happening to you.”
 

His eyes were heated. I had the impression he wasn’t only talking about last night.
 

“Yeah, well wait until you wake up in the VRC.”

“You’ve had a hard time of it.”
 

“I didn’t say that to get sympathy, Dan.”
 

But maybe I had. I wanted someone to put his arms around me, croon to me, rock me a little, all the while telling me it was going to be all right. I knew it wasn’t, but a little denial never hurt anyone. Right now I was practicing more denial than I had in my entire life. I didn’t want to think about Nonnie, my mother, last night, my future, or the danger I was in. That was enough of a list for anyone.

“What are you going to do?” he asked as I pulled my hands free.
 

“About Maddock?” I asked, picking up my fork and tasting the cheesecake. I closed my eyes at the taste. This was wonderful cheesecake and I’d love to savor it for a moment rather than answer Dan’s questions.
 

“Among other things, yes.”
 

I wasn’t sure yet. I had some ideas. But first I had to take care of something important.
 

“Is he the only one who knows about your…” His words stumbled to a halt.
 

“My ability?” I said, looking up at him.
 

Hera might know, but I was doubtful she’d tell another vampire. Besides, I didn’t know if Maddock had confronted her this morning. I did not want to think about how that meeting might have gone. Hera might be a husk of her former self right now.
 

“I don’t know who else knows,” I said.
 

There, a bit of honesty. In fact, I could use the same sentence to explain most of what was happening to me now. For a person who was used to finding answers and having things make sense, I was in an uncomfortable place.
 

Dan reached over and poured me a cup of coffee, using the paper napkin to soak up the coffee he spilled on the saucer.
 

I did like a neat man.
 

Bill had been anything but, stretching the boundaries of my tolerance by making me pick up his soiled undies from the bedroom or bathroom floor. It’s like they became invisible once he shed them, like so many skin cells.
 

Poor Bill, I wonder if he knew I’d forever place him in the Before section of my mind, hoping to always find an After man.
 

 
“I’ll go and check on the dog,” he said. “You’ll listen to Mike?”
 

I nodded, good little girl that I was. There were traces of the good little girl inside me, the child who wanted to be praised and loved. I’d probably never gotten enough affection or notice as a kid so I went around trying to get it now. Maybe King Lear was right:
That way madness lies.
I wasn’t perfect as a person, a vampire or whatever I was now.
 

Mike turned out to be about ten feet tall with a bald head, ebony skin and a taciturn way of speaking - which meant he uttered five words to me - and striking hazel eyes.
 

How unfair was it to be surrounded by gorgeous men?
 

At Dan’s introduction, he nodded to me, his eyes taking in my sartorial outfit of jeans and t-shirt. I was comfy but not dressed for tea. Although the temperature was hovering around seventy, he wore a leather jacket. From the bulges under his arms, I suspected he was also well armed.
 

Dan the Driver was Dan the Millionaire. Niccolo Maddock was a megalomaniac vampire. I was a sun walking, wall climbing something or other, genus to be determined at a later date. People couldn’t decide what they wanted to do to me, either kill me or get me pregnant.
 

To have a resident body guard was no biggee at this point.
 

After Dan and Mike left and I consumed my meal with glee - if all else failed I could always depend on my appetite - I wandered through Dan’s home. I knew Mike was watching me from somewhere, either an electronic vigilance or a hulking mountain man presence through secret viewing holes in the walls.
 

At this point, I was grateful for him, like a child knows she’s protected from danger by her father. A sexist remark, but there it is.
 

I felt the first tingle in the downstairs library, a room that was an experience more than a place. In addition to all the ten foot high shelves filled with books, every available surface was covered with framed scrolls and chunks of stone bearing hieroglyphs and an awe-inspiring wall featuring a six foot long Egyptian mural.