Chapter 15 A Matter Of Time #2
Eiji smiled. “Ah, you make me feel like a young man being chosen to join my brothers in battle again.”
“You are.” Nero grinned. “There’s plenty going on.”
“So let us not wait. It is time,” Eiji said.
Nero nodded and stood. “I will arrange everything with the rest of the Bloodline. Balthazar and Caemorn will need to be told. Ah!” Nero put a finger to his temple. “Balthazar already knows. Of course, he does. Sophia is his Seeyr. She knew what was going to happen because of her visit.”
“May it be done tonight?” Eiji asked.
Nero looked stunned once more. “Yes, yes! I… I am so glad, but…” His eyes slid to Mairead who was still standing there. Eiji made a small movement that was enough to have Nero revise whatever he was going to say. “I will start the process. I am certain we can formalize our bond tonight.”
Eiji smiled broadly. “I look forward to it.”
Nero started towards the door. He gently pressed a hand on Eiji’s shoulder. The old man covered Nero’s with his own before the Ashyr Vampire disappeared out the door. Mairead felt awkward standing there so she sat down in front of her now cold tea.
“Well. Well!” She shook her head and let out an uncertain laugh. “This is exciting. Are you excited? Of course, you are. And I am, too, Eiji-sama. I’m just a little stunned–”
“I wish I could be with you through this whole process,” Eiji interrupted her.
Mairead blinked. “But–but you will be! In class, they told us that the turning only takes a day. So you’ll be back–”
“Yes, the turning does take a day,” Eiji again gently interrupted. “But what they did not say in the class, but Nero explained to me is that most fledglings have a difficult time controlling themselves around humans.”
More blinking. “Controlling yourself? You’re the soul of self-control–”
“Yes, now. But when I was a young man I was quite violent,” Eiji contradicted. “And when I am turned, that violence might resurface for a time.”
“You wouldn’t attack me!”
“I would never want to even chance that,” he said.
She appreciated his kindness and thoughtfulness for her. But still, she didn’t like the thought of not seeing him and helping him adjust to being a Vampire. So she asked, “How long? A week? A few weeks? A month–”
“Nero says that most fledglings are allowed to be around humans after a year–”
“A year?!” Mairead half rose from her seat in her distress. “But that means we won’t see one another at all at the Academy and–”
“Which is why I had asked to be turned after the school year ended,” Eiji said.
“You… you were delaying getting turned for… for me?” Her eyes burned with tears.
He nodded. “Living this experience with you has been a new adventure for me. You have allowed me to… to be open in a way I have not been able to be for… for a very long time.”
She blinked as those tears threatened to fall. “Oh…”
“I have enjoyed it so much, Mairead,” he told her fondly. “And this is not the end. This is the beginning. For now we will be friends forever.”
Tears had begun to fall. She tried to wipe them away but more came. “Y-yeah, I know. I just… I don’t know. I am so happy for you. I will just miss you.”
“Yes, as will I, but once you are turned we can be together. No matter what Bloodline or House is lucky enough to get you. You and I shall always have something special that connects us.”
She nodded, swiping at more tears. He handed her a tissue, which she used to mop us the ever growing dampness on her cheeks. She blew her nose and, as always, it sounded like a clown car’s blast of the horn. She laughed even as he chuckled.
“So lady-like! I’m a mess!” She shook herself. “Don’t worry about me, Eiji-sama. I will be fine. And I’ll have so much to tell you–and you me–when we meet again.”
“We will. And I am so looking forward to it,” Eiji said.
“Go on, Eiji-sama. I know that you want to get prepared for–for tonight. I won’t keep you,” she said.
He looked at her closely and likely knew there was a lie there. But he allowed it to stand between them. She rose when he did. They both bowed as he then shuffled towards his room. She managed to keep to her feet with a smile plastered on her face until he disappeared.
She collapsed down on the couch and covered her face with her hands.
Her heart felt like it was being wrung out.
Eiji was right that if they both were turned then this year–or less–apart would be nothing.
Soon forgotten as the decades, centuries and millennia went forward.
But that was assuming she would be turned.
So far, she’d gotten no interest whatsoever from any Bloodlines, let alone any individual Vampires.
What if this is the last time I ever see him?
In a very short time, Eiji had become a friend, a mentor, even a father-like figure to her.
Far more than any of the men her mother had rotated through their lives over the years.
Her constant need to compete and prove herself had become muted in Eiji’s presence, because he made her feel that she was enough just how she was.
She didn’t need to try so hard. But now he would be gone and she would be left with her ever-growing fears.
She wiped her face vigorously. Crying and feeling sorry for herself had never gotten her anywhere.
She’d clawed her way to where she was. Eiji was going to be turned.
And she was happy that was happening now.
Because, though he seemed spry and with it, he was elderly and something could happen to him.
That he had been willing to delay his turning for her…
Well, she didn’t want him to risk himself like that.
Her eyes landed on the ripped up envelope.
She understood why Eiji hadn’t looked at it.
His faith and desire to be with Nero had made such an act a betrayal.
But Sophia had said there was more in there.
If she looked, it would not be a betrayal.
It would be Mairead being Mairead. Curious to the point of intrusive at times.
She knew that. And normally she wouldn’t have violated Eiji’s privacy.
But if there was something in that envelope that would help him–or hurt him–if she knew she could help him.
She glanced down the hallway, but his door remained closed.
Amara was out with yet another Vampire she was interviewing.
Grayson was, undoubtedly, with Ryder. There had been plenty of whispered conversations and comings and goings of many Vampires from his room, but he wasn’t in there now and she didn’t expect him to be back anytime soon.
Hue had been staying mostly with her, but she, too, had a meeting with a Mirryr Vampire.
So… she could do this and likely not be caught.
Her right hand darted across the table to the two ripped parts of the envelope and she snatched them up.
She then carefully teased the two halves of the single piece of paper out of the two halves.
Her eyes lifted to the hallway again and again.
Her heart rate increased and a sour taste flooded her mouth.
I’m sorry, Eiji!
She unfolded the delicate sheets of paper and fitted them together.
There were only three lines of text on the paper.
The first was today’s date and time. She checked her watch and saw that it was the likely exact time that Eiji had told Nero he wanted to be turned.
To the minute. The next line was Nero’s full name and the Ashyr Bloodline.
Mairead smiled. Fate and choice had met.
More tears fell. She wasn’t surprised, but still, it was good to see.
But it was the third line that perplexed her.
It was simply a date. A date next week. Only five days from now.
And there was a time beside it, too. There was no other explanation for it.
She looked at the back of the paper. Nothing.
She angled the paper to see if there was maybe a secret message where the indent of invisible letters could be seen.
Nothing. She sat there, thinking about it and what Sophia had said.
It is time.
It is time.
It is…
Mairead took in a sharp breath. She knew what the date and time meant.
They were the date of and time of Eiji’s death!
If he wasn’t turned now, his time would be up.
She clutched the front of her chest and felt like she couldn’t breathe for a moment.
Eiji’s desire to keep her company had almost killed him and taken away his dream of being a Vampire!
But Sophia came! Sophia made sure he didn’t lose his chance!
Mairead didn’t even realize that she had stuffed papers hastily back into the envelope or set them back where they had been.
She was rising and heading out. She glanced back down the hallway one more time.
But she wouldn’t disturb Eiji. She wanted him to be turned now more than ever.
She didn’t want a minute’s delay. She wasn’t even sure where she was going, but found herself taking the stairs two at a time and bursting out into the night.
Her head swiveled right and left. She saw the small, slender figure of Sophia in her ridiculously adorable dress standing by a nearby light pole.
She had one hand on the pole and was swinging herself around it.
Mairead ran to her. She had no idea what she was going to say.
She skidded to a halt, feeling breathless and, abnormally for her, without words.
“Can you keep a secret, Mairead, if you know that it will ensure someone’s safety?” Sophia asked.
Mairead considered this. She thought of that date in the envelope.
If Eiji had looked at it and had known he would die, Nero might have wondered if he’d just chosen him to avoid that death.
That would have been a bad outcome, but without Sophia coming, Eiji would have delayed his turning until it was too late.
Mairead nodded.
“And what if you had to keep many, many secrets for a very long time because you knew, in the end, it was the only way to make good things happen?” Sophia asked.
“I’d keep them,” Mairead said without a moment’s hesitation. “I don’t just want to know things simply to know them. Or for gossip. I want to know them so that I can keep myself and those I love safe.”
Sophia stopped spinning and looked up at her. She was holding an envelope for Mairead, but it didn’t have Mairead’s name on it.
“Dr. Amara Biswas? Why are you giving me her envelope?” Mairead asked.
“Open it. Read it. Know it,” Sophia said.
Mairead ripped open the envelope. Her hands were shaking a little. She pulled out another of the sheets of paper she was so familiar with already. There was a single line on the paper.
It read, Dr. Amara Biswas is a spy.
Mairead drew in a sharp breath. She read the line again. And again. She couldn’t believe it. Amara might not be her cup of tea in the way that she was so organized and type A that even a fork out of place caused her physical pain, but a spy? She wanted to be a Vampire. More than anything!
Mairead lifted her head and opened her mouth to ask if Sophia was sure, but one look into those big, silver eyes and she had her answer. Sophia was certain. Her heart fell. Yet if Amara was a spy that meant she was a danger to the people that Mairead cared about.
Mairead asked, “What do you want me to do?”