One life per year. It seems so moderate a price… until you looked back and realized you could fill a movie theater with your victims. A sobering thought, even for one not inclined to dwell on such things. No matter. There wouldn't be hundreds more. Not from this vampire.
Contrary to legend, our gift of longevity comes with an expiry date. Mine was drawing near. I'd felt the signs, the disconnect from the world, a growing disinterest in all around me. For me, that was nothing new. I'd long since learned to keep my distance from a world that changed while I didn't.
After some struggle with denial, I'd accepted that I had begun the decline toward death. But it would be slow, and I still had years left, decades even. Or, I would, if I could get past this silly bout of ennui and make my rebirth kill.
As the crowd dwindled, I looked over my shoulder to watch them go and considered taking a life from them. A random kill. I'd done it once before, more than a century ago, during a particularly bleak time when I hadn't been able to rouse enough feeling to care. Yet later I'd regretted it, having let myself indulge my darkest inclinations simply because I'd been in a dark place myself. Unacceptable. I wouldn't do it again.
I wrenched my gaze from the dispersing crowd. This was ridiculous. I was no angst-ridden cinema vampire, bemoaning the choice she'd made in life. I was no flighty youngster, easily distracted from duty, abhorring responsibility. I was Cassandra DuCharme, senior vampire delegate to the interracial council. If any vampire had come to me with this problem-'I'm having trouble making my annual kill'-I'd have shown her the sharp side of my tongue, hauled her into the alley with that drunk and told her, as Aaron might say, to 'piss or get off the pot.'
I turned around and headed back to the alley.
I'd gone only a few steps when I picked up a sense of the drunkard. Excitement swept through me. I closed my eyes and smiled. That was more like it.
The quickening accelerated as I slid into the shadows. My stride smoothed out, each step taken with care, rolling heel to toe, making no sound.
That sense of my prey grew stronger with each step, telling me he was near. I could see a recessed emergency exit a dozen feet ahead. A shoe protruded from the darkness. I crept forward until I spotted a dark form crumpled inside.
The rush of his blood vibrated through the air. My canines lengthened and I allowed myself one shudder of anticipation, then shook it off and focused on the sound of his breathing.
A gust whipped along the alley, scattering candy wrappers and leaflets, and the stink of alcohol washed over me. I caught the extra notes in his breathing-the deep, almost determined rhythm. Passed out drunk. He'd probably stumbled into the first semi-sheltered place he'd seen and collapsed.
That would make it easier.
Still, I hesitated, telling myself I needed to be sure. But the rhythm of his breathing stayed steady. He was clearly asleep and unlikely to awake even if I bounded over there and shouted in his ear.
So what was I waiting for? I should be in that doorway already, reveling in the luck of finding so easy a victim.
I shook the lead from my bones and crossed the alley.
The drunkard wore an army jacket, a real one if I was any judge. I resisted the fanciful urge to speculate, to imagine him as some shell-shocked soldier turned to drink by the horrors of war. More likely, he'd bought the jacket at a thrift shop. Or stolen it.
His hair was matted, so filthy it was impossible to tell the original color. Above the scraggly beard, though, his face was unlined. Younger than I'd first imagined. Significantly younger.
That gave me pause, but while he was not the old drunkard I'd first imagined, he was certainly no healthy young man. I could sense disease and wasting, most likely cirrhosis. Not my ideal target, but he would do.
And yet…
Almost before I realized it, I was striding toward the road.
He wasn't right. I was succumbing to that panic, and that was unnecessary, even dangerous. If I made the wrong choice, I'd regret it. Better to let the pressure of this ominous date pass and find a better choice tomorrow.
I slid into the park and stepped off the path. The ground was hard, so I could walk swiftly and silently.
As I stepped from the wooded patch, my exit startled two young men huddled together. Their gazes tripped over me, eyes glittering under the shadows of their hoods, like jackals spotting easy prey. I met the stronger one's gaze. He broke first, grumbling deep in his throat. Then he shuffled back and waved his friend away as he muttered some excuse for moving on.
I watched them go, considering… then dismissing.
It was easy to separate one victim from a group. Not nearly so simple when the 'group' consisted of only two people. As the young men disappeared, I resumed my silent trek across the park.
My goal lay twenty paces away. Had I not sensed him, I likely would have passed by. He'd ignored a park bench under the light and instead had stretched out upon the top of a raised garden, hidden under the bushes and amidst the dying flowers.
He lay on his back with his eyes closed. His face was peaceful, relaxed. A handsome face, broad and tanned. He had thick blond hair and the healthy vitality of a young man in his prime. A big man, too, tall and solid, his muscular arms crossed behind his head, his slim hips and long denim-clad legs ending in work boots crossed at the ankles.
I circled north to sneak up behind his head. He lay completely motionless, even his chest was still, not rising and falling with the slow rhythm of breathing. I crossed the last few feet between us and stopped just behind his head. Then I leaned over.
His eyes opened. Deep brown eyes, the color of rich earth. He snarled a yawn.
''Bout time, Cass,' he said. 'Couple of punks been circling to see if I'm still conscious. Another few minutes, and I'd have had to teach them to let sleeping vamps lie.'
'Shall I go away then? Let you have your fun?'
Aaron grinned. 'Nah. They come back? We can both have fun.' He heaved his legs over the side of the garden wall, and sat up, shaking off sleep. Then, catching a glimpse of my face, his grin dropped into a frown. 'You didn't do it, did you?'
'I couldn't find anyone.'
'Couldn't find-?' He pushed to his feet, towering over me. 'Goddamn it, what are you playing at? First you let it go until the last minute, then you 'can't find anyone'?'
I checked my watch. 'It's not the last minute. I still have ten left. I trust that if I explode at midnight, you'll be kind enough to sweep up the bits. I would like to be scattered over the Atlantic but, if you're pressed for time, the Charleston River will do.'
He glowered at me. 'A hundred and twenty years together, and you never got within a week of your rebirth day without making your kill.'
'Hungary. 1867.'
'Sixty-eight. And I don't see any bars this time. So what was your excuse?'
'Among others, I was busy researching that council matter Paige brought to my attention. I admit I let things creep up on me this year, and a century ago that would never have happened, but while we were apart, I changed-'
'Bullshit. You never change. Except to get more imperious, more pigheaded and more cranky.'
'The word is 'crankier.''
He muttered a few more descriptors under his breath. I started down the path.
'You'd better be going off to find someone,' he called after me.
'No, I'm heading home to bed. I'm tired.'
'Tired?' He strode up beside me. 'You don't get tired. You're-'
He stopped, mouth closing so fast his teeth clicked.
'The word is 'dying,'' I said. 'And, while that is true, and it is equally true that my recent inability to sleep is a symptom of that, tonight I am, indeed, tired.'
'Because you're late for your kill. You can't pull this shit, Cassandra, not in your condition.'
I gave an unladylike snort and kept walking.
His fingers closed around my arm. 'Let's go find those punks. Have some fun.' A broad, boyish grin. 'I think one has a gun. Been a long time since I got shot.'
'Another day.'
'A hunt then.'
'I'm not hungry.'
'Well, I am. Maybe you couldn't find someone suitable, but I can. I know what you look for. We'll hunt together. I'll get a snack; you'll get another year. Fair enough?'
He tried to grin, but I could see a hint of panic behind his eyes. I felt an answering prickle of worry, but told myself I was being ridiculous. I'd simply had too much on my mind lately. I was tired and easily distracted. I needed to snap out of this embarrassing lethargy and make this kill, and I would do so tomorrow, once Aaron had gone back to Atlanta.
'It's not the end of the world-or
my world-if I don't take a life tonight, Aaron. You've been late yourself, when you couldn't find someone suitable. I haven't-and perhaps I'd simply like to know what that's like.' I touched his arm. 'At my age, new experiences are few and far between. I take them where I can.'
He hesitated, then nodded, mollified, and accompanied me from the park.
Aaron followed me home. That wasn't as nearly as exciting a prospect as it sounds. These days we were simply friends. His choice. If I had my way, tired or not, I would have found the energy to accommodate him.
When I first met Aaron, less than a year after his rebirth, he'd accused me of helping him in his new life because he looked like something to 'decorate my bed with.' True enough.
Even as a human, I had never been able to rouse more than a passing interest in men of my own class. Too well-mannered, too gently spoken, too
soft. My tastes had run to stable boys and, later, to discreet working men.
