The Fertile Vampire (36 page)

Silence created a vacuum between us. Gone was the woman to whom I could turn in a crisis. No more weeping on Nonnie’s shoulder after my miscarriages. Had she been grateful for them? Had she somehow precipitated them?
 

Nothing was normal, if normal was defined as what I’d known all my life. But everything had been so topsy turvy and so different since waking up in the VRC I’d never gotten the chance to mourn either my old life or the person I’d been.
 

Now, in the sudden silence, it all came crashing down on me. Grief swamped me. In seconds tears wet my face.
 

“Yes,” I said, anger mixing with the sadness. “I’m going to use it on a Master vampire. Niccolo Maddock, Prince Almonte, Duke of something or other.”
 

Just when I was prepared for a lecture on the sanctity of life and my values as a once-human, my grandmother spoke again.

“You can’t come here. I’ll call you.”
 

I hadn’t expected an invitation, but her words cut another hole in the bond between us.
 

“Let me know when it’s ready.”

She agreed. Before she hung up, though, I asked another favor, one as important.
 

“I could go and get something,” I explained. “But I have a feeling whatever you give me would be more effective.”
 

“Oh, Marcie,” she said.
 

For the first time I heard the echo of the Nonnie I’d known. The sweet smile, the fulsome hug, the focused interest on anything I wanted to talk about - surely it hadn’t been all because of what I was. Some of it must have been love.
 

Each successive bit of knowledge I gained was plastering over something I’d once thought true like an endless wall of urban posters.
 

After hanging up I wiped both hands over my face. I dropped my head back. Inside was a carved out hollow. There in the dark cave I grieved. Not for the person I was but for the person I would never be again.
 

As I headed back toward the castle nausea bubbled up from the base of my stomach. But I hadn’t eaten recently. That was it. I was just hungry. I wasn’t grieving for the child I’d been or the woman - vampire - I was now.
 

Denial can be a safe and welcoming place sometimes.
 

My mother had been entertaining as I suspected. The guy was a new catch, ten years younger and with no idea my mother was older. Nor could he explain why his truck, parked in the garage to keep nosy neighbors from knowing her business, had traces of blood on the undercarriage.

I thanked Kenisha for letting me know and hung up, tucking my phone into my jeans.
 

Dan was as angry as I’d imagined, making no secret of it when I pressed the button in front of the gate. For a second I thought he wouldn’t let me in, but he buzzed me through.
 

I parked in front of the house and walked up to the massive double doors. At another time the two brass chicken heads would have made me laugh. Now they barely summoned a smile.
 

As the door opened he stood there looking at me.
 

“You okay?”
 

Everything was relative. I’d cried all the way back to the castle. I didn’t cry well. I always looked like a rabbit afterward with red eyes and nose. Plus I was tired and hungry.
 

I nodded anyway.

“Could Mike move my car?” I asked. Even though the rental car was new, it looked out of place in the castle’s portico. A carriage belonged here or a Mercedes at the very least.
 

“I fired Mike,” he said, moving aside so I could enter one of the massive double doors.
 

“What do you mean you fired him?”
 

“His job was to protect you. He didn’t do it. He’s fired.”
 

“That’s hardly fair,” I said, facing him as he closed the door.
 

“It’s perfectly fair. He was given a job. He didn’t do it.”
 

“Are you always so intransigent?”
 

He lifted one eyebrow at me.
 

“Yes, I’m always so intransigent, “ he said, pronouncing it slowly as if proving he could. “Especially when it comes to doing a job.”
 

“Rehire him,” I said, taking a step closer. “Please.”
 

“I can’t. If I do, it’ll undermine the morale of my men.”
 

This conversation was disturbing on more than one level. I had the feeling he was saying more than I was understanding. Either that or I wasn’t getting the whole story.

Who the hell was Dan the Driver?

“Can’t you say you rehired him as favor for me?”
 

He stared at me. I suddenly felt like saluting him.
 

“If you don’t I have to leave,” I said.
 

“You can’t.”
 

I folded my arms and stared at him. “Like hell I can’t. It’s called kidnapping if you try to keep me here.”
 

He blew out a breath, looked up at the domed ceiling above us, then shook his head.
 

“If I rehire him his job is to look after you. If you leave again he goes with you. If you leave and he doesn’t know about it he gets fired permanently.”
 

Great, I’d just gotten myself a full-time bodyguard. I narrowed my eyes at him. If I didn’t know better I would think Dan had planned the whole thing. I was beginning to believe he was sneaky enough to do it.
 

“Okay,” I said, not exactly gracious in defeat. “Did you find Mutt?” I asked.
 

“No, I’m sorry. The manager didn’t know you had a dog. I’m to tell you you broke your lease by getting a dog without permission.”
 

I stared at him.
 

“You have until the first of the month to get your stuff out.”
 

Could this day/night get any suckier?

I was suddenly so tired I could barely stand.
 

“I’ve got to take a nap,” I said, glancing at my phone for the time. “There’s still plenty of night left for Maddock to come after me and I’m not up to par at the moment.”
 

“You don’t have to be. We’ll protect you.”
 

My eyes were getting wet again. I had to stop doing that. Maybe after some sleep I wouldn’t be so emotional.
 

He surprised me by grabbing my hand and holding it as we walked to the stairs.
 

He didn’t say anything. I glanced at him to find him looking at me, an expression in his green eyes I couldn’t decipher. I’m pretty good with people. Lousy with vampires and witches but good with people. Dan, however, was putting me to the test.
 

I couldn’t read him.
 

Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe I didn’t want to know what he was.

C
HAPTER
F
ORTY
-O
NE

The older they are the harder they fall

To my surprise, I slept twelve hours. So much for being on constant alert. When I woke, however, I felt more myself than I had in weeks.
 

I studied the play of sunlight on the ceiling.
 

Maddock was not going to leave me alone. He was going to come after me until he succeeded in getting me pregnant. I closed my eyes, unwilling to envision what a child of Maddock’s and mine would be like. Super-vamp times two with the added advantage of a father as evil as the devil and a mother who was a slave.
 

I could always have a hysterectomy and I thought about it. I’d wanted children once upon a time. Now I was torn. Even if my husband was human, what kind of offspring would we have? Would I give birth to a natural born vampire?
 

I tucked the idea of surgery into my mental folder called Possibilities. Right now there weren’t a whole bunch of pages in there. I needed time to consider my options. Time was the one thing I didn’t have. Not as long as Maddock was able to function.
 

That was the one thing I could change.
 

Fear can be a good thing. Fear can keep you safe. Fear can make you think of things you would never ordinarily consider.
 

I dressed, brushed my hair and put on makeup, feeling like it was warpaint. My blue eyes stared back at me in the mirror. This morning they were clear and guileless, the eyes of a woman without secrets, qualms, or regrets.
 

Oh, if that were only true.
 

I opened the door to find my new shadow, Mike, sitting outside my room. He stood and nodded at me.
 

“I have a woman I’d like to introduce you to,” I said.
 

Mike blinked at me.
 

“She’s a vampire, but she’s a good vampire.” Kenisha still scared me but I respected her, too. And I thought she and Mike would be perfect for each other.
 

“I don’t date.”
 

“Are you prejudiced?” I asked.
 

His mouth twisted, narrowing his full face. I wanted to call back the words, but I let them stand.
 

“You don’t understand. I don’t date.”
 

I closed the door behind me, about to question Mike further. He didn’t give me the chance. Instead, he looked to the left then the right as if seeking refuge. When none was forthcoming, he said, “Food.”
 

It was the one word designed to make me forget everything else.
 

Snacks were all well and good, but the small refrigerator in my room didn’t have pancakes and bacon and that’s what I smelled.
 

I hadn’t eaten since yesterday so I followed him like a puppy to a room that was an homage to Arthur Peterson’s love of hunting. A dozen heads were mounted on the nearest wall each of them some species of deer or elk. A moose head decorated the area over a fireplace. Just when I was getting used to the glassy eyed stare of all those animals, I turned my head to find myself being regarded by the largest stuffed head I’d ever seen, a rhinoceros.

“I thought that was illegal,” I said, but Mike had already pushed open one of the swinging doors and vanished into what I hoped was the kitchen.
 

I pulled out a chair and stared at the polished wood surface, anything but look up and apologize for not being a vegetarian. To be fair, I’d never eaten rhino, so maybe I shouldn’t feel guilty.
 

I was wrong. They weren’t pancakes I smelled. They were waffles and they were coming my way. I gave up any pretense of being cultured or sophisticated. I sat there, wide eyed, as Dan himself delivered a platter to the table.
 

He wasn’t what interested me. Okay, maybe slightly. He still wore a sleepy look around eyes twinkling at me. This morning he was dressed in a black polo shirt and a crisp tan pants, as preppy as anyone who ever lived in Alamo Heights.
 

Alamo Heights is our answer to 90210. The city is a small enclave inside San Antonio known for its overpriced cottages, trendy zip code, and pretentious air.
 

I would love to live in Alamo Heights.
 

No, what caught my attention was the stack of waffles on the platter, along with four pitchers of different kinds of syrup and bowls of assorted fruits.
 

Joy is a waffle topped with butter and syrup and never having to worry about the calories.
 

Maybe I should do what Robert Louis Stevenson said:
“…do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.”
 

Okay, RLS, I’ll try that, just as soon as I fix a few things in my life.
 

Please pass the butter.

Dan totally ignored me.
 

You really are a very attractive man.
 

No reaction.
 

I could communicate with vampires, witches, and mortals. Just not Dan or Mike. Right now I was going to concentrate on waffles and leave everything else for later. One crisis at a time, please.
 

“Where did you go yesterday?”
 

I glanced at Dan, realizing I’d left him in the dark.
 

Although I’d made the emotional break last night, the words were difficult to say. Maybe I didn’t want to admit my mother so despised me she’d wanted to give me away then tried to kill me.
 

Marcie Montgomery, beloved by all.
 

I went through another waffle before I answered him, concentrating on how good it was. I loved breakfast food at night: cereal for dinner, oatmeal for desert, even scrambled eggs. I’d much rather have eggs at night then in the morning. But these waffles I could have at any hour. And the bacon? Yum.