Chapter 33. William
william
Nate and Cisco are asleep when William returns to the apartment.
Most vampires require only three to four hours of rest in a day cycle, so before they wake up, William combs through the entire place—kitchen cabinets, entertainment center cubbies, closets.
Despite all the progress he has made with Nate, the ponytailed vampire still does not trust him, and there must be a reason.
If Nate refuses to say what it is, William will find out for himself.
He moves stealthily, as silent as a whisper, and neither guy stirs while he searches their rooms. Yet after looking everywhere, William finds nothing out of the ordinary, aside from a bag of condoms in Nate’s nightstand drawer.
William throws himself onto the couch in defeat. Why does Nate still not trust him? Why is this Lenny so powerful? Why would vampires need protection during sex?
William leaps to his feet and sneaks back into Nate’s room. He removes the bag of condoms from the nightstand and brings it to the living room. Then he spills the contents onto the coffee table, and a metal device falls out from among the little square packages.
It has a single button, and William presses it.
The floor vibrates lightly as the gray marble wall with the television begins to retract. Once it is fully recessed, William sees only one thing: Guns.
This secret storage is lined with what looks like every variety of weapon, enough to arm a small army. Since bullets will not stop a vampire, they can be here for only one purpose: Killing people.
As William surveys every inch of the space, his gaze alights on the one thing that is not like the others. A notebook.
The cover is bloodred, and the paper edges have yellowed. It looks as ancient as his copy of Hamlet.
It is the only thing in here he touches. He lifts the book gently and opens its hard cover. The first page is stained and lumpy and blank. William flips to the next one, and it is also blank.
This is just like the LUB.
The thought annoys him, and he turns to the next page, and the next, and the next—and on the fifth page, he reads:
The Manifest
The heading is followed by a list of names. The list continues for a few pages, and a quick calculation tells him there are three hundred and forty-five people listed here, in alphabetical order. Most of them are marked with an asterisk.
William flips back a page to the letter S—
No Stokers.
Next, he looks for P—
No Prides, either.
Yet there is another P last name that is in there twice: Natalio Alejandro Perez and Francisco Horacio Perez. Nate and Cisco.
Both of them are missing asterisks.
“What is this?” asks William. He can sense Nate’s presence behind him.
“The list of those of us who stayed behind.”
“You said there are only fifty-four.”
“That is how many are left.”
William sets down the notebook and turns to look Nate in the eye. “What happened to them? The names with the asterisks?”
“We can only guess,” says Nate, walking away from the weapons closet. He waits for William to join him in the living room before going on.
“It’s hard to be immortal in a world that runs on time,” he says, clicking the button so the gray marble wall locks back into place.
“In our old lives, we existed in the open, we had places that catered to our needs, and of course, there were some among us with the power to make more of us. We had what I like to call potential.”
Nate starts returning all the condoms to the bag, but at a mortal’s pace, as if he is making a point. “Now we walk through this world like ghosts. We are alone, we are lonely, and we are a secret. Some of us, like Anne and Lenny, have taken to this kind of existence. But most haven’t.”
“Are you saying they…” It is hard to produce the word. William has never heard of vampire suicides before.
Nate straightens, holding the bag. “The other theory is they were killed by the Legion.”
“The Legion…” Every joint in William’s body locks up at that word. “They are still active?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it? If you told the average human that vampires exist, they would sooner call you crazy than well-informed. Get what I’m saying? Even if the fifty-four of us who are left haven’t had run-ins with the Legion, we can’t speak for the three hundred dead.”
Nate is being very forthcoming all of a sudden, yet William does not get the impression it has anything to do with a newfound trust. On the contrary, the ponytailed vampire studies William like an investigator interrogating a suspect.
“Why am I not on this list?” asks William.
“You tell me.”
Sounds like they have arrived at the root of Nate’s issue with William. “Is this the reason you took so long to take me to see Henry and Anne? Why I have not yet met Lenny? Because I am not on the manifest?”
“Only Lenny and I know about the manifest,” says Nate. “When I told him you weren’t on it, he instructed me to learn what I could about you and make sure you weren’t some Legion plant.”
“Why would I be—?”
“In our time, there were rumors of brainwashed vampires in league with them. Lenny did not want me sending you to him if it could put his hideout at risk. He would not be a fan of moving. You’ll see why when you fly to France to meet him.”
Fly to France.
William is going to get on an airplane. He is going to return to Europe. He is going to meet Lenny at last. “Are you coming with me?”
“Not this time. Cisco and I have other business.”
“What about the guns? Why do you need them?”
“Protection,” says Nate, flashing his sharp teeth in a crooked smirk. “If Legion hunters come for us, we can get rid of them without giving ourselves away. You should probably get going, or you’ll miss your flight.”
“Now?” asks William. “I do not even know where to go.”
“Henry texted me your number, so I sent the flight info to your phone. Already checked you in. Just head to JFK and show your passport at security.”
“What do I do when I land in Paris?”
“Head to Notre-Dame. Lenny will find you.” Nate turns toward his bedroom, like this is the extent of their farewell.
“What, no kiss goodbye?” asks William.
“Anne’s wasn’t enough?”
Even though Nate has walked away, William can hear the hurt in the vampire’s voice, and it makes him think of Anne’s parting words—about his heart being broken.
“She was not interested in me.”
William is not sure why he says it. The only explanation he can muster is that some part of him is not ready to give up on being friends with Nate.
He pulls on his coat to leave.
“Take this.” Nate is back with a white cable that he hands to William. “So you can charge your phone on the flight. You’ll need an adapter once you’re in Europe.”
“Thanks.” William places the charger in one of the coat’s deep pockets. In the inside pocket, he has his license and passport. The rest of his documentation—his birth certificate and Social Security card—is in Nate and Cisco’s safe, along with their own paperwork.
“Lenny is different.”
William catches the warning in Nate’s voice. “How do you mean?”
Nate goes quiet, like he is either hesitating or searching for the right words. “He’s still living in the past. His lifestyle will feel more familiar to you than ours, but I’m not sure you’ll find that’s a good thing.”
“I would prefer you speak plainly,” says William, who is fed up with all the mystery.
“Funny, I would prefer the same from you.”
“Okay,” says William. “Speaking plainly, what is the plan after I meet Lenny? I lease my own apartment and source my own blood and wait for the missing vampires to reappear? Or for a secret Stoker to awaken?”
Nate’s jaw tightens, confirming William’s suspicions that the ponytailed vampire did not want William to know about this Stoker theory. But why?
“We’re not just waiting around,” says Nate, not commenting on the Stoker bit. “We each have our assignments.”
“What is yours then?”
Nate cracks a crooked smirk. “I’m the fucking welcome committee.”
“Right,” says William with a small grin. “So long, fucking welcome committee.” He holds out his hand, and Nate shakes it. “Thank you for everything.”
Halfway down the stairwell, he hears Nate’s voice one more time.
“If you’d told me about Anne shooting you down sooner, I’d have booked you first-class. Enjoy the seven-hour flight!”