satisfaction. “ That’s not fair,” Otis said.
Vlad set the spoon on the counter and folded his arms in front of him. “It’s perfectly fair. You’re so concerned about my appetite and the safety of the people I’m around. What about you? Do you ever think you might forget that Nelly is anything more than food?”
Otis’s jaw hung open. His throat emitted several stunned sounds before he shook his head sharply and said, “ Vladimir, I would never harm anyone I care about.”
Vlad picked up the spoon again and stirred the onions into the herb-blood mixture, but he kept an eye on Otis. “I know. But it doesn’t feel good to be accused, does it?”
The front door opened and Nelly called out, “Otis? Vlad? Are you home?”
Vlad rolled his eyes a little. After all, all of the downstairs lights were on and Otis’s car was in the driveway. Unless they’d gone for a long walk and needed a beacon to find their way back, it was pretty obvious they were home. “We’re in the kitchen.”
As Nelly stepped into the kitchen, the grocery sack she was holding slipped from her fingers. Otis caught it moments before it hit the floor. She stared wide-eyed at Vlad and then at Otis.
Otis placed the bag on the plank table and returned his attention to her, his brow furrowed. “Is something wrong, Nelly?”
Vlad’s brow furrowed too. Nelly’s face had gone completely white, and her eyes kept flitting from Vlad to Otis to the room around them.
Vlad turned to survey their surroundings for the first time since Otis had started preparing the meal. His uncle, as it turned out, was not a tidy cook, to say the least. Strewn about the kitchen were large, sharp knives, bits of ground meat and chopped vegetables, skins that the sausage would eventually find its way into, and blood. Lots and lots of blood.
Nelly’s eyes finally stopped to focus on the large bowl of blood on the counter in front of Otis, then on his blood-soaked apron, moving up to meet the bewildered expression on his face. “What happened in here?”
Suddenly the realization fell on Otis that to a human, the scene around them made it look as though he and Vlad had been making a nice stew out of the neighborhood children. Laughter escaped his lips. “Nelly, this isn’t what it looks like, I swear. I’m sure it seems we were gorging ourselves on the Johnsons down the street, but we are innocent.”
Nelly looked relieved. “I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting to come home to a scene straight out of
Vlad coughed. He was almost certain Nelly had never seen that movie, though the previews had been enough to give her an idea of the plot. He wondered for a moment if she had any idea that he and Henry had seen it last year under the pretense of watching a nice, severely-lacking-blood-and-gore spy movie instead.
Vlad looked down at the front of his shirt, which was spattered with small red dots. Several had dried into a rusty brown color. He chewed his bottom lip for a moment, troubled somewhat by Nelly’s reaction. Even after all this time, Nelly still worried she’d come home to find him acting like some sort of animal. She’d never voiced it, but Vlad knew that was how she must feel. After all, it had to be hard for her to live with a vampire all these years. It would be like being a pizza living with Henry for an extended period of time. Say, ten minutes or so.
The thought made Vlad a little sick to his stomach.
Otis took Nelly’s hands in his and said, “I would never bring the fruits of my hunts into your home, Nelly. You never have to worry about that. And your ward is rather like a vegetarian, so there’s no cause for alarm there either. We were simply making blood sausage for dinner.”
Nelly’s eyes lit up. “You’re cooking?”
Otis’s voice became softer, sweeter. “It’s the least I could do.”
Vlad almost retched at their flirting. It was the only obnoxious thing about Otis staying with them. He slipped his soiled shirt over his head and headed for the stairs, muttering that he needed to change… not that he thought they’d hear him. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about the obvious attraction between Nelly and Otis. On one hand, if they ended up married, he’d have the coolest family on the block. But on the other… the idea of them dating was kind of weird.
Plus, the thought of walking in on them making out was positively repulsive.
After slipping upstairs to his room and changing his shirt, Vlad took his time rejoining them for dinner. Otis cooked Nelly’s blood sausages and served them with a side of spiced potatoes and buttered asparagus. Vlad’s and Otis’s-much to Vlad’s delight-were served raw. Vlad lifted one up to his mouth and bit into it, his fangs popping through the fleshy casing. The feeling gave him an excited chill, but he said nothing to Otis about it. Even so, his uncle smiled at him as if to say, “See how pleasant it would be to suck the life out of people?”
After Vlad had drained three sausages, he sat back in his seat, surprisingly satisfied. Nelly smiled at him. “I’ll take care of the dishes. Why don’t you help Otis get ready?”
Vlad nodded and slowly turned his eyes to Otis, who had finished his meal some time before and was watching Nelly with a sad expression. Without hesitation, Vlad spoke to his uncle telepathically.
But Otis wouldn’t hear it. Vlad felt a definite crunch in his head, a signal that Otis had cut him off. Vlad pursed his lips. Otis stood and pulled a watch from his pocket, noting the time. “Thank you, Nelly. It would be nice to spend a moment alone with Vladimir before I leave.”
Vlad and Otis wordlessly carried Otis’s suitcases upstairs. Otis unzipped the largest suitcase, opened the large bottom drawer of the antique bureau Nelly kept in the corner of the library, and began moving neat stacks of his clothing from the drawer to his luggage. Vlad turned away, unable to watch his uncle choose to leave him and Nelly behind.
Otis’s voice sounded raspy. “Would you mind gathering my toiletries together? They go in the smallest bag.”
Vlad grabbed the bag and walked into the bathroom. He took his time filling it-not that he was concerned with neatness or that Otis might fret over leaving his toothbrush behind. He just knew what was coming. It was goodbye. And he really, really didn’t want to face it again. Every time Otis had left him behind, Vlad found it harder to be without him.
Not to mention the fact that whenever Otis wasn’t around, people tried to kill him.
As he slipped Otis’s shampoo into the bag and zipped it closed-slowly-his uncle appeared in the doorway, a meek smile affixed to his lips. “All set out here.”
Vlad handed him the toiletries bag, and Otis led him back out into the library. Once they were there, his uncle stopped, looking very much like he wanted to tell Vlad something, but he couldn’t seem to find the words. After a long silence, he said, “Trust only yourself in this world, Vladimir.”
Vlad blinked, uncertain what Otis was talking about. Did he mean not to trust even him? Was it his way of saying he wasn’t coming back? Vlad pushed the thought away and picked up one of Otis’s suitcases. As he helped carry the bags down the stairs and out to Otis’s car, he felt like someone had placed a cinder block on his chest. And the cinder block got heavier with every step he took.
Otis placed the bags inside his car and closed the trunk before joining Nelly on the porch. Vlad knew they were whispering, but didn’t care to hear just what. Time seemed to move very slowly. It was like falling. Vlad knew it was happening, that pain was coming, but he just couldn’t stop it. And then suddenly, Otis brushed his lips against Nelly’s cheek and time picked up again. The hurt of his uncle leaving swelled up inside of Vlad and poured forth out his eyes in hot tears. Otis moved down the stairs and without missing a beat or uttering a sound, he swept Vlad into a tight embrace and spoke with his thoughts.
The tears poured down Vlad’s cheeks. “Then why? Why can’t you stay?”
Otis’s breath was warm on Vlad’s hair. It reminded Vlad too much of his father and those long ago moments when his dad would rock him back to sleep after a nightmare. “ Vladimir, we’ve been through
