“What about where you…live? Or where you stay when you’re not filming?”
“I’m recording my album at an old mansion with a mobile studio I brought in. Nobody knows where it is but Christina and Carl. I’m doing all the tracking myself, and the band will come in once I’m done and lay their tracks down over mine, so I don’t even need an engineer. I find it easier to work that way than in a studio.” He walked to the window and adjusted his sunglasses. “That’s where I’m living, at least for now. There are six bedrooms. You should stay with me until I resolve this…this issue.”
“I still don’t understand why I can’t go back to school, Jared. I’m nobody. If it’s you they’re after…” And what about when classes start again on Monday? Or what will happen to me if I fall behind?
“I have no idea what these people will or won’t do, Lacey. There is no chance at all I’ll allow you to be in harm’s way with them out there. Christina told me that it’s quite the news around the campus that I’m seeing you, so it’s no secret. I can’t take the risk.”
“What about what I want? It seems like you’ve got everything figured out, but you forgot to ask me,” I said, my voice harder than I’d intended. I bit back an even harsher comment and, instead, finished my coffee and stood. “I’m ready. How long will it take to get to Bar Harbor?”
Jared must have seen the flash of anger in my eyes, because his face fell and he took a step toward me. “I’m sorry, Lacey. I didn’t mean it to come off that way. It’s just…you have no idea what you’re up against. I’ve been dealing with these things forever. This is all new to you.”
As annoyed as I was about being told what to do, it was hard to stay angry at Jared for long. I decided that this wasn’t a battle worth fighting right now, and reluctantly extended an olive branch. “I’ll take your word about things for now. Let’s see what your seer has to say.” I paused. “But I’m going to need to pick up a few clothing items soon. I’m still mortal, so I don’t exude perfume or whatever it is you do.”
That brought his smile back. “That’s one of the positives to being a vam…to being special, along with the eating and drinking. Our metabolisms are nonexistent, and what scent we produce has the peculiar characteristic of being irresistible to humans. Same with our appearance and our voices. It was a useful tool for captivating our victims back when we were predatory, but even now it has its benefits. That’s why we tend to appear attractive to everyone. It’s almost like hypnosis, only instantaneous. At least, for most. It doesn’t work on everyone.”
“That explains you and Christina. But Carl…well…not my type.”
He laughed. “Different strokes. Like I said – your mileage may vary.”
We made our way to the Porsche after dropping the room key in a box at the front desk, and I noted that he slowed when he was outside in the sun, his movements a bit less graceful and confident than earlier. He started the car, and we drove east toward Bar Harbor, at a more normal speed than the prior night.
“As you probably guessed, I’m more deliberate when it’s light out. The sensory acuity I have after dark diminishes during the day, and my reflexes slow,” he explained.
“I think I prefer this pace,” I said. He slipped his gloved hand over to my side and held mine until he had to shift, and the feeling of warmth and completeness from the prior night flooded my senses again.
I glanced over at his hand. “Why the gloves all the time?”
“You don’t miss much, do you?” He held out a gloved hand and considered it. “Mostly to avoid having you alarmed by how cool my skin is. I wasn’t planning on telling you my little secret last night, and I didn’t want to take any chances.”
“That makes sense,” I acknowledged. I thought for a few more miles, watching the landscape fly by. “Why Maine?”
“It’s not very populated compared to many places nowadays. And it’s overcast much of the year, which for obvious reasons is a plus for me. Oh, and it’s where my family settled before I was made, so I suppose there was familiarity to it for me…after.”
“That was important?”
“At the time. Now it’s mostly just habit. And because I know the entire state extremely well, I feel safer here than anywhere else.”
“But now that hunters are on your tail…”
“It doesn’t matter. They won’t get us. Maybe with someone less experienced they’d have a chance, but not against me.”
We arrived in Bar Harbor, and Jared motored down a main street toward the waterfront, the dusty Porsche drawing stares. He found a parking place on a smaller artery, and we walked to the seer’s house, which turned out to be a dark, postage-stamp-sized two-story home on its last legs. A sign by the door announced Madame Véronique along with the hours she was available, with no other explanation. Jared and I exchanged a glance and he knocked, but there was no answer.
“Maybe she’s out to lunch,” I suggested.
“Maybe.”
I looked around the run-down area. “Let’s find a store so I can buy some things while we wait.”
He nodded. “Right. I almost forgot.”
We wandered the main boulevard, which was crowded with tourists, and the first thing Jared did was buy a baseball cap for himself so he wouldn’t be recognizable. As we made our way up the hill from the water, he pointed out a tavern on the far side of the street. “You see that symbol above the door? The triangle with the moon inside? That’s a sign that it’s a gathering spot for supernatural beings – probably a portal to another plane.”
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“Of course. If we went inside,
