Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
BOZ
I was a vampire. A freaking vampire.
Yes, I'd been planning it, expecting it, but to have my choice ripped away from me by a vampire who wanted to murder me and send the empress a message …
I hadn't wrapped my head around it yet. I was nobody, the newest hire at Imperial Accounting. Why me?
For the first few days, I wondered if Rocky's fate would be mine. The cravings hit me like a bus. I'd be fine, and then I wasn't. Thankfully, Santa anticipated the crashes and handed me blood each time. When I asked him how he knew, he said I always tried to push my missing glasses up my nose right before I got hangry. Now, I could recognize the symptom, too. My vision went a little hazy, and then the hunger pangs started.
After a week at home, Harley and Colette called me to a meeting at Imperial Accounting. They pulled me into the same conference room where we'd held Memphis's birthday party. It was the first time I'd left Santa's basement apartment since I'd turned.
Everyone was stunned by my ability to hold intelligent conversations. I'd been working at home on my laptop, sipping on the never-ending blood supply Santa ordered for me, but this was my first return to the office.
The hardest part of leaving the apartment was leaving Santa behind. He'd been back to Fanglory a few times to meet with his boss, but he always left me with a thermos of blood and returned before I finished drinking it. I'd barely noticed his absence.
Tonight, the center of my chest ached, as though my heart was tethered to his by an unbreakable bond, and this was the first time I had tested its limits. I stretched my shoulders, trying to alleviate the pain.
An image of Santa popped into my head. He had driven me to work, and now he was waiting at the drive-thru window for the folks at Blood Drive to fill our metal carafe.
Santa had kept me on a strict diet of human blood infused with cinnamon and ginger. Both flavors had been favorites when I was a child, but other flavors like lemon-lime soda and fruit punch had overtaken my palate at MIT. Now, my tastes had completely changed. Fruit-flavored blood tasted terrible. Cinnamon and ginger, especially when blended, were so delicious, it barely registered that I was drinking blood.
Lots and lots of blood. Santa had sent a thermos with me, so I took a sip, letting the ginger and cinnamon sting my tastebuds before swallowing.
Harley and Colette continued to talk about mutual friends and old times as though Kristin and I weren't there, and Kristen smelled annoyed …
I could scent her emotions. I wondered if my new skill pertained to shifters only, or if I could sense human feelings, too. Once Santa decided it was safe for me to visit my parents, I would try it out. Until then, I would avoid them and any possibility of accidentally attacking them.
I tried to read Harley and Colette. After a minute of listening to them talk, I couldn't get a read on either of them. Either vampire powers didn't work on other vampires, or they were better at hiding their emotions from me.
Finally, Harley turned the conversation toward Imperial Accounting's financial planners.
"I think there's more to the picture than what you've uncovered," Harley said. "Nothing here says a rational vampire should have tried to kill a human accountant. "
"Maybe they were irrational?" Kristin shrugged.
Colette tapped her sharp fingernail against the glass conference table. "Calculating, yes. Crazy? I don't think so. I've known Cassius for centuries, thanks to our sire."
"There's nothing in his past with the empress to indicate he wanted revenge on her."
"What if their target was Colette?" I asked. "You're the only one who would miss me. Well, you and Santa."
Colette scraped her nail across the countertop with a sharp squeal before snapping her fingers. "We need to look for a connection between Cassius and Santa."
Harley frowned. "Santa's been in the U.S. for over a century. Cassius arrived ten years ago from Italy."
"I'll check the last ten years," Colette said.
"I'll take the rest." Harley had looked rested and festive on Christmas Eve, but now, dark bruise-colored crescents rimmed his red eyes. I didn't envy his job as liaison to the empress one bit.
"I'll ask Santa," I said. He'd never mentioned a history with Cassius. He didn't know the vampire's name until I told him, but he rarely mentioned his past before returning to the U.S. If I asked him about it, he might remember something vital to save us time.
While I could hold a conversation, I wasn't thinking clearly. Santa was waiting at the curb to take me home, but I lost track of time after that. I blinked, and then I was staring at spreadsheets on my work laptop in my third-floor living room, somewhere I hadn't visited in a week. I tried to focus, but my eyes kept drifting to the windows.
Santa found me sitting on the window ledge, the bug screen lodged in the hedges below.
"A fall from this height would hurt," he said.
"At least then I would feel something." Fuck. I'd said that out loud. I could feel, at least, physically. My emotions were a mess. Instead of dealing with them one at a time like I usually did, I felt numb.
Santa masked his concern with a smile and hopped onto the ledge with me. "We can jump together."
"I'm fine, really. I'll put the screen back on."
"Why? My vampire tenants don't have screens on their windows. They can jump to their pain whenever they want."
His phrasing made me laugh. Gods, he was funny and sweet. I didn't deserve him. Tears slid down my cheeks. I didn't know why I was crying.
"Let's get you to bed." He gently took my hand and carried me back into the apartment, closing the window behind us.
"I can't. I'm supposed to be working."
"Colette planned on you being gone for six months," he chided. "You can rest for a few hours a night. "
"He's right, you know," Empress Marcella's voice whispered in my head . "Take a moment to be yourself."
"I don't know who I am anymore," I responded.
"Figure it out together."
Together … I still wasn't ready for sex, but maybe …
"Do you want to go for a run with me?"
He looked at me like I was crazy, and maybe I was. I'd hated running when I was human, but I still wanted to make the trip to Cambridge.
"Blood Drive first," he said. I'd mindlessly finished the carafe.
It was there, in the luxurious heat and the smells of the blood cafe's delicious infusions that I remembered my question for Santa. Unfortunately, the timing couldn’t be worse. I didn’t want to disturb the other customers. They ranged from dock workers to people in suits. We had a bustling vampire community in Boston, and the diversity astounded me every time. We'd even seen a ballet troupe waiting for their to-go cups a few nights ago.
When we were outside again, I drained half my cup. "Ready to run to Cambridge?"
"Where in Cambridge?"
"Outside my old dorm."
He took off before I'd finished my sentence, the bastard. He beat me, too, though he looked a little worse for wear after running through woods. His shoes were caked in mud, and I wondered if he'd run through a creek.
"Vampire rule number one: don't stick to the roads." He finished his cup and tossed it in the large metal dumpster I'd battled countless times as a student. This time, when I lifted the lid, it didn't even creak on its hinges. Impressed, I next tried to lift it with my pinky finger, and it easily flipped open.
"Damn."
"Super strength," Santa said. "Anything in particular you want to do here?"
"Let's go to the North Corridor." I'd always been afraid to walk around the open spaces at night. I'd never once thought about vampires lurking behind the monuments, but now I wondered if we would meet anyone else out at this hour.
Santa followed me to the public space I'd always found a little spooky at night. I grabbed his hand, still too nervous. My friends had laughed and called me a worry wart, or worse, but Santa said nothing. He stayed by my side and held my hand as we strolled campus together.
"I was mugged when I was a freshman," I whispered. "Right here, beside this fountain. The guy was shorter and stockier than me, with his hand in his pocket. Maybe it was a gun or only his index finger. He told me to hand over my money, so I did. All twenty dollars. When he saw how little I had on me, he punched me in the gut and ran, dropping my wallet at my feet."
"Asshole." Santa released my hand and slid his arm around my shoulders instead. "I'm sorry he hurt you."
"Thank you." My laugh sounded hollow. "I tried to shake it off, but?—"
"I could tell something had scared you in the past. I could even tell it happened here at Cambridge. When you're in Boston, you're more relaxed."
"I am?"
"You were." He sighed. "The club … I hope you don't have a similar aversion."
"They did most of the damage outside. Made it so I couldn't walk before they brought me in. I think I passed out, but not before they puked their guts out, just like Enid said they would." I didn't remember much after that, except the crash when Santa broke down the door and stabbed through it like an avenging angel in fuck-me jeans and a "Cum Slut" t-shirt.
"Come with me sometime soon?"
He looked so sweet and vulnerable, how could I say no? I hadn't felt like partying since I was turned, but this would be good. Returning to campus as the predator instead of the prey was cathartic. I could walk into Fanglory with the same confidence.
"Yeah, I think I'd like that."
I sank down onto a concrete slab bench, and he followed me. I'd always hated the sensation as the cold seeped through my jeans, but it seemed easier now. More soothing than annoying.
"When are you going back to work?" I asked.
"When you return to the office," he said. "Or in six months." He grinned. "You need a keeper until the urges pass."
"You've taken such good care of me." Whenever I got the tiniest bit peckish, Santa shoved another refillable bottle of blood in my face. Ever since his meeting with Empress Marcella, he'd been more conscientious about waste and the environment.
Thinking of the empress reminded me of my work assignment again. "Is it possible you met Cassius in Europe?" I finally asked.
I leaned against his shoulder, loving the contrast between the cold beneath us and his warm blood-filled body.
"It's possible I don't remember," he said. "If he's got the empress's mind control powers, he could have made me forget." He blinked. "Fuck. That was the wrong thing to say."
I held him on the bench as his body spasmed. Empress Marcella's presence left my head, which I assumed meant she'd ditched me for Santa.
I felt her return like a warm breeze blowing into my mind. It was both disconcerting, feeling wind somewhere it shouldn't be, and comforting, like welcoming an old friend home. An ancient, self-satisfied friend. I knew if I dared to ask a question, she would gloat.
"What did she show you?" I whispered.
"He was with my sire the night I killed him." Santa hid his face in his hands. "He's the reason I ran. He wanted me to flee, and then he intended to hunt me. He said he would find me in New York."
"He's been in Boston for the last ten years," I said.
"He must have been pissed when I didn't remember him." Santa shrugged. "Another vampire wiped my memory of him and said I could stop running." He tapped his lip with his finger four times. Then, he grinned at me. "But she added a little flavor so I wouldn't cause too much chaos around town. Said I should fear the old ones like any good little vampire should."
I laughed at his explanation. "Should I fear them, too?"
"Never become too complacent. My children and I will be watching."
I shivered as Empress Marcella's presence left me again. This time, it felt permanent. "I think she's gone for good."
"She knows I'll keep you safe and fed." Santa pulled me to his side again and kissed my temple. We sat there so long the bench warmed to our body heat, which was saying something for two vampires .
"She said I should stop hiding who I am," Santa whispered. He turned to me. "My name is Nicholas."
I grinned. "I kinda figured. Enid told me."
He looked shocked that the witch knew his real name, but then he sighed and dropped his head back on my shoulder. "She learned it when she strengthened my warding spell. The original caster used my real name."
"It's not a huge leap to Santa," I said. "Saint Nicholas."
"I'm no saint."
"Most of the supernatural folks in this city would disagree with you," I said. "The shifters love you. Everyone I meet has a story about how you funded their school, gave them a place to stay when they first came to Boston, or provided food and clothes to the halfway houses."
"Penance," he said. "That doesn't make me a good person."
"The empress forgave you," I reminded him. "Are you going to stop funding all your causes tomorrow, now that your penance has ended?"
He snorted. "No."
"See?" I kissed his cheek. "You are a good person."
He coughed some choice words into his fist and changed the subject. "So. Empress Marcella. What was it like having her tag along? I only had the pleasure twice, for a few minutes at a time. She's been in your head for a week."
"I didn't think I'd like her being in my head," I said. "Now, I think I kinda miss her."
"Did she talk to you often?"
"Not really." Most times, I didn't know she was there. "I could sense her emotions sometimes, though. She was really smug when she discovered the history between you and Cassius."
He shivered and pulled me tighter to his side. "She knew the vampire who helped me. She said she was older than the mountains, but she had to be joking, right? Humans aren't that old."
"Not on earth, anyway."
If side-eye could kill …. "You sound like those creepy guys in tinfoil hats."
His side-eye became a full-on stubborn glare when I turned his head toward me. To make him forget my silly comment, I kissed him. I showed him everything I couldn't say, not yet.
"Let's get you home and see what else you feel like doing with that mouth," he said.
"I thought I needed Dr. Bredlow to clear me for sex."
He blew a raspberry into the air. "Dr. Bredlow would make us wait just to spite me. And I didn't mean sex, exactly. More kissing?"
"More kissing sounds divine. "
We raced home, with me following Santa across streams and through dense woods off the highway. Each obstacle gave me more confidence as I easily dodged or leaped over branches, swerved around tree trunks, and even uprooted a stump I hadn't seen in my way. All that, and I arrived at home without a scratch on me.
After that, we didn't stop with kisses. We fucked like feral animals wrestling for dominance. Santa topped me first, but it was my turn after a few minutes. Even my recovery time was faster as a vampire.
By the time morning came, we were both all fucked out. When my heart started to slow, I knew what the empress had known upon leaving my head. Bloodlust wouldn't be a problem now that I'd replaced it with the sexual lust I felt for Santa. Lust, and so much more.
As a human, my emotions had always been far more garbled than the simple language of numbers. Now, I swore I could understand my own emotions as well as I could balance a checkbook or figure percentages. I was in love with the most charming vampire on the eastern seaboard. I had all the time in the world to convince him to love me, too.