Chapter 4
Sebastian woke up to a banging noise coming from the front of his house the next day. He looked over and checked his phone for the time. At the 5 in the hour’s spot, he groaned. Who the hell was at his door before dawn?
Padding across the living room, he glanced out the small window pane beside the door. He frowned and felt his chest constrict before he slowly opened the door half a foot. “What do you want? Why are you here?”
“Not usually the response I get when I drop in on men,” Leona said with a smirk. “You know I could just barge my way in, right?”
“So why don’t you?”
“I like to think of myself as a lady.”
Sebastian inched the door open wider but didn’t make any sort of move to let her through. “You’re a vampire. You have to be invited in, right? That’s one of the myths.”
“Aren’t you full of fun facts? I like a well-read man,” she teased. “Are you going to invite me in?”
“That depends,” Sebastian drawled. “Are you going to eat me?”
“I’m watching my figure,” Leona said. She waited for him to crack a smile, and when he didn’t, she merely rolled her eyes and pushed past him. “You were right. The invitation-only thing is a myth. We can go where we please. It would be extremely cumbersome and annoying to have to wait to come in everywhere.”
Sebastian knew it was pointless to try to kick her out. It was probably best he stayed on her good side. “You never answered my question earlier. Why are you here?”
“I thought it was rather rude that you stormed out last night. So judgmental. I’m sure your friends will come ‘round later today when the sun’s up. Daylight and I aren’t on speaking terms at the moment,” she said, perching on the arm of his sofa.
“So that’s true, then? No sunlight? Do you crumble into ash?”
Leona laughed and shook her head. “Nothing so dramatic. If we’re in direct sunlight, we burn pretty extensively. Imagine a sunburn times a hundred. We heal if we can get into the shade quick enough, but it doesn’t feel nice.”
“What if you wear sunscreen?”
“Mmm,” Leona hummed, folding a leg over the other. “Doesn’t really work. I’ve gotten used to the shadows anyway. Sleeves and a good hat work wonders. And gloomy days. We have a lot of those in England.”
“That’s where you’re from?”
“The accent didn’t give it away?”
Sebastian flushed and cut his eyes away. “Where in England?”
“London.”
“Why are you here?”
“How many times are you going to ask that?” Leona asked, eyeing him closely. “If you mean New Orleans, I’m… taking care of personal matters. London is crowded,” she said softly. “But as far as why I’m here, at your house, I wanted to talk to you. Obviously you’re brimming with questions. I can practically hear your thoughts.”
Sebastian brought a protective hand to his head. “You can read minds, too? Is there anything you can’t do?”
“I can’t read minds. I can’t hear every line that goes through your head. It’s tough to explain. But, I can’t get drunk,” Leona said. “I can drink and eat human food, but it does nothing for me. It’s strange,” she sighed, sliding to sit down properly on the sofa. “Without a functioning liver — or any other organs — it doesn’t have the same effect on me. It makes it easy to blend in though. This place has immaculate food. Very French.”
“Some of it,” he muttered. “What about garlic?”
Leona made a face. “Not my thing. Doesn’t kill me, just… I hate it. Always have.”
He was making mental notes. “Silver?”
“I prefer gold.”
“Stake to the heart?”
“Stake to the heart kills anything, not just us.”
Sebastian couldn’t counter that. He hadn’t thought of it that way. “You drink blood?”
“Well done,” Leona said while sarcastically clapping her hands. “Yes. But you already knew that. In anticipation of your next question, I feed on people.”
“So you’re a murderer.”
“Yes,” she answered simply. “I only go after people who deserve it.”
“What do you mean? Who deserves to be murdered?”
“Rapists, other murderers, thieves, pedophiles.”
“Not all criminals deserve to die,” Sebastian said.
“You’re defending rapists? Murderers?”
“No,” he said. “I’m saying there’s a gray area. I used to be a criminal. Doesn’t mean I deserve to get the blood drained from my body.”
“What kind of criminal?”
“I stole a lot when I was a kid. Needed money for food. Victor plucked me from a life of crime and helped me turn everything around.”
“Believe me, Sebastian, the people I kill deserve to die. I take life very seriously. You either waste it or you don’t.”
The man huffed. “You take life seriously? You aren’t even alive.”
Her expression shifted momentarily, then returned to a relaxed state. “No, I’m not. My life was taken from me. I never wanted this. I don’t agree with what your friends want. None of us got a choice, but Piper and Whitney are hypocritical when it comes to that. I think my presence just isn’t enough for them anymore and they want some new friends,” she scoffed. “You have every right to be afraid. You should be. We’re your natural predators.”
“There’s nothing natural about you,” Sebastian snapped.
“Ouch,” Leona laughed, putting her hand to her chest. “If I had a heart, it would be broken.”
He ignored that comment and stayed as far away from her as he could. “So if you’re not here to convince me to join your cult, and you’re not here to kill me, once again… Why. Are. You. Here?”
“Because you intrigue me, Sebastian. Not many humans get to know about us. Or live to tell the tale. I saw you from across the room. I felt drawn to you. That doesn’t happen often.”
“Drawn to me? No shit. You’re drawn to everyone with a pulse. We’re all just your next meal,” he said. “None of this makes any sense.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Leona said with a sympathetic smile. “But if you can forget that I’m some soulless creature from Hell, perhaps we can be friends.”
“Friends,” Sebastian said dubiously. “You and your coven want to kill my best friends, and you want us to braid each other’s hair and spill secrets? Have a sleepover sometime?”
“I told you, I don’t want?—”
“You waltz here and just… want to take everything away. I don’t give a shit what you want, Leona. Apparently you and your friends don’t either. You need to stay away from Victor and Charlotte. This is a momentary lapse in judgment on their part.”
“They’re adults, Sebastian. I don’t agree with it, but if Piper and Whitney want to turn them, I can’t stop them. They’re old enough to make their own decisions. You don’t get to police them.”
“You don’t even know them,” Sebastian snapped.
“I don’t have to. That goes for everyone. My choices got taken away from me. I won’t do that to someone else who is of sound mind, despite disagreeing with it. This life is suited better to some than others.”
Sebastian felt utterly exhausted. He wasn’t sure if she was working some kind of vampiric magic on him to influence his mood and demeanor, but he didn’t want her here any longer to find out. “Get out of my house.”
Leona heaved a sigh and stood up quickly, before flitting over to him in an instant. “Thanks for talking to me. I’m all ears for any more questions.”
“Go.”
Sebastian stared at the space she left before he could blink again. It felt even colder now than it had when she was here. Had that been some sort of sick power play? He knew damn well she could break into his home and snap his neck without even chipping a nail. He would stand no chance against her. Was it mercy? Surely not.
His head hurt. And he definitely wasn’t going back to sleep now.
Later that morning, his house was two blondes fuller. Sebastian sat in an armchair across from them, staring at them intently, waiting for one of them to start.
“Sebastian, I’m sorry,” Charlotte said, breaking the silence. He could hear the genuineness in her tone. “We just didn’t know how to tell you. We knew you had to see it to believe it.”
“Didn’t know how to tell me?” Sebastian scoffed. “Didn’t know how to tell me you want an assisted suicide from complete strangers? That you want to leave your lives behind — leave me behind — for what? An empty promise of immortality? Where did this even come from? Where did you meet them?”
“We met Piper first,” Victor chimed in. “Several months ago when we were abroad. In Spain. We got lost and she gave us directions, we offered to buy her dinner and she declined. Charlotte coaxed her into it and we got to talking. She was there visiting a boyfriend. Found out we were from New Orleans and told us she’s visited the city many times. Asked if we believed in all the scary stories. I told her where I work, our backgrounds, and our ambitions. I knew there was something different about her. So I outright asked. I think she appreciated my candor and told me what she was. We didn’t believe her at first — because it’s just so unbelievable. Why would a vampire just tell a human she just met about her abilities? So I assumed she wanted to kill us. Maybe she did. I’ll never know,” he said. “We offered her money, and then… we offered our blood. In exchange for information. Books don’t do this shit justice,” he said as he shook his head. “There exists a partnership between some vampires and humans. There’s a whole network of leech-like relationships. We offer blood, they don’t kill random people. A bond forms between the host and the parasite.”
“They hate that word,” Charlotte scolded while nudging him.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “The… passenger.”
“So… you’re letting these things suck your blood so you can… what, be in with their crowd? Protection from other beings? What?” Sebastian asked, his expression cold, yet curious.
“Yes and no. Among other things,” Charlotte said, taking over the conversation. “We became friends with her and Whitney. When we came back here, they would drop in from time to time. We shared correspondence. Kept in touch. We talked about it several times over and decided that we want that lifestyle.”
“It’s not a lifestyle. You aren’t just deciding to go off the grid and live in the woods. You’re talking about killing yourselves to… what? What’s the goal?”
“Think about it, Sebastian. Think about everything they must have seen by now. They’re over three hundred years old! They have lived through so much history. They have no threats. No fears. They go through their lives and just… do whatever they want. They don’t worry about money. They don’t worry about petty things like food or housing. They can be whoever they want.”
Sebastian rubbed his face in frustration. “You already have everything, Charlie. You have everything a person could possibly want. Money, a giant home, a good job, and a husband who loves you. Why throw that away? What’s wrong with a long and happy life together?”
“Sebastian,” Charlotte sighed sadly. “You just don’t understand. This is what we want.”
“No!” he boomed, standing up. “No. I don’t accept that. I’m not letting you?—”
“It’s not your call,” Victor said seriously. He stood up and walked over to him. “I need you to calm down. You’re getting worked up.”
“Get the hell off me,” he snapped, shoving his arm away as he reached out. “Why did you do all that shit for me when you were kids if you were just going to leave me? All alone?”
“This isn’t about you, Bas. You know that. You’re lashing out,” Victor said. “You’re scared. You aren’t going to lose us. Why do you think we told you? We could have just let you believe we died. We could have let you grieve. We were selfish and asked if we could bring you in. We thought we’d…”
“We thought we’d be able to convince you to do it with us. Be with us forever,” Charlotte finished. “If you’re so scared of losing us, then?—”
“Don’t,” Sebastian said. “Don’t ask me that. You can’t possibly be asking me that. This is insane,” he said, laughing in disbelief. “I feel like I’m in some sort of fever dream,” he said, bringing his hands up to his face, his fingers rubbing his eyes.
“Leona said she visited you,” Victor said. “She said you had a lot of questions.”
“So what?” Sebastian said, turning from him. “I just found out vampires are real. Of course I had questions. Doesn’t mean I want to be like you. If anything, I want it even less.”
“Well…” Charlotte said, shooting Victor a look. “Maybe you can come by for dinner this weekend. We won’t bother you until then.”
Sebastian kept his back to them. “Fine.”
Victor started to reach out, but Charlotte pulled him away. They left his house without another word. Sebastian stared down at the deep wood covering his floor, trying to calm himself down. He counted each of the little knots and grains peppering the boards. He lifted his head, his eyes scanning over the bookcases lining the walls of his living room. All the things he’d read, and this was unbelievable to him. All the stories, the fantasies he pored over growing up, and this was something he couldn’t wrap his head around. It was laughable.
He felt like he’d wandered into a snake pit.