“What’s wrong?” I asked, trying not to sound as anxious as I felt. If I lost control, it would only agitate the vampire, who had not had a very successful transition from human life to living death.
“She is coming to visit you,” he said, taking my hand. His was cold and wet from the rain. The sensation was unpleasant, but I couldn’t pul away.
Bless his heart.
As gently as I could, I said, “Who’s coming, Bubba?”
“Me,” said a slightly accented voice from the darkness. The back door was stil open, and I could see through the screen porch door. Since she was backlit by the security light, I could just perceive the outline of a woman standing in the pounding rain. The noise of it almost drowned out her voice. “I have come to talk. I’m Freyda.”
I was so completely off guard that I simply couldn’t make myself speak.
Bubba stood facing out into the darkness, standing right under the light in my bright kitchen, his dark hair drenched, his jowly face determined. I was touched to my core, and I was terrified for him.
“I don’t mean you harm, upon my word,” she cal ed. She turned her head slightly, and I could see her in profile. Straight nose, tight chin, high forehead.
“Why would I believe you?” I asked.
“Because Eric would hate me if I harmed you.” She stepped up to the screen door. I could see her in the light, now. I thought, simply,
Freyda was at least five foot ten. Even soaking wet, she was beautiful. I thought her hair would be a light brown when it was dry, and she had broad shoulders, lean hips, and cheekbones that could slice bread. She was wearing a tank top with nothing underneath, and a pair of shorts, which I found just weird. Legs that pale shouldn’t be sticking out of shorts.
“I need a promise that you won’t harm Bubba, either,” I said slowly, stil not sure what I should do.
“I so promise.” She nodded. I wouldn’t necessarily believe her, but she was close enough to the house that the magical wards Bel enos had laid would have flared if she’d meant me harm. At least, Bel enos had told me so.
To my amazement—if I could be any more amazed—Bubba pul ed a cel phone out of his pocket and hit a number on speed dial. I could hear a voice answer. Bubba described our situation, and I heard Pam’s voice say, “Al right. Whatever happens, we know who’s responsible. Be smart.”
“So we got a safety net,” Bubba told me, and I patted his arm.
“Good thinking,” I said. “Al right, Miss Freyda. Come on in.”
She stepped out of the downpour and dripped on my back porch. There were folded towels in the laundry basket on top of the dryer. She pul ed one off the stack to dry her face and rub her dripping hair. I moved aside to let her enter the kitchen, and she took another towel and brought it with her. I didn’t want our wet selves dripping al over my living room, so I gestured to the chairs around the table. “Please have a seat,” I said, not letting my eyes leave her for a moment. “Do you want a drink?”
“You mean synthetic blood,” she said after a slight hesitation. “Yes, that would be nice. A sociable gesture.”
“I’m al about the gestures. Bubba, you, too?”
“Yes, ma’am, I reckon so,” he said.
So I heated two bottles, got two matching glasses from the cabinet in case they were particular, and set these items before the vampires, who had settled at the table: Bubba with his back to the door, Freyda with her back to the sink. I took the end opposite Bubba, so I was sitting to the queen’s left. I waited in silence while the vampires took polite sips of their drinks. Neither one used a glass.
“You understand the situation,” Freyda said.
I was relieved she wasn’t going to pussyfoot around. And she didn’t sound angry or jealous. She sounded matter-of-fact. I felt something cold creep into my heart. “I believe so,” I said, wanting to be crystal clear. “I’m not sure why you want to talk to me about it.”
She didn’t comment. She seemed to be waiting for me to spel it out.
“Eric’s maker was in negotiations with you when he died, and those negotiations involved you taking Eric as a husband,” I said.
“Since I’m a queen and he’s not a king, he’d be my consort,” she said.
I’d read a biography of Queen Victoria (and rented the movie), so I understood the term. I tried to think very hard before I said anything. “Okay,” I said, and paused, getting al my conversational ducks in a row. “You know that Eric loves me, that he married me according to you-al ’s rules, and that I love him.” Just getting the groundwork laid.
She nodded, looking at me thoughtful y. Her eyes were large, tilted up a little, and dark brown. “I’ve heard that you have many hidden attributes.
And of course, I see some that are not so hidden.” She smiled slightly. “I’m not trying to insult you. It’s a fact that you are a pretty human.”
Okeydokey. There was obviously another shoe to drop … and Freyda tossed it right at me. “But you must see that I am beautiful, too,” she told me. “And I am also rich. And though I’ve been a vampire only a hundred and fifty years, I’ve already become a queen. So I’m powerful. Unless I misread Eric … and I’ve known many men,
I nodded to show I was giving due weight to her words. “I know I’m not rich and powerful,” I said. Impossible to deny. “But he does love me.”
“I am sure he thinks so,” she said, stil with that eerie calm. “And perhaps it’s even true. But he won’t forgo what I have to offer, regardless of what he may feel.”
I made myself think before I responded. Inhale. Exhale. “You seem certain the prospect of power wil trump the
