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“It’s difficult having blue eyes, everyone knows my secret.” Her voice was deeper than Aerin’s. Already I found it difficult not to stare at her openly. She smiled as she looked to Aerin,
“You were right, he does wear his emotions on his face.”
“What was that?” I hadn’t known that I was being spoken of. Aerin grinned as she stared into my face,
“You are pretty obvious, Rent.” I was being made fun of now. I realised I was still wearing my bed clothes and excused myself. I could hear their laughter as I entered my bedroom once again.
“I hope its ok but I asked Cate to stay here.” She wrapped her arms around me as I stood before the mirror inspecting the dark suit I wore. I looked back at her as I smiled,
“And how do you plan on explaining you’re new lifestyle?” Her face grew dark as she shrugged,
“I hadn’t thought of that. I suppose I could ask her to stay at a hotel but she would suspect something. I wouldn’t want her calling my father.”
“Actually, I think I would like to meet him.” She shook her head quickly,
“You don’t want to meet him. I think he’s in Bangkok these days.” It was my turn to frown as I pulled off my jacket and tossed it onto the table holding her accessories. For the short time she had lived in the house she had already acquired many material items. I wondered if she had come across my credit card and an internet connection.
“Why are you so quick to shoot down any introductions with him?” She turned to leave the closet as she waved me off,
“Never mind, it was stupid to bring it up. I’ll just have her stay at a hotel.”
“Aerin, you’re not answering my question.” She ignored me as she headed for the bedroom door. I cursed as I reached for my cell phone. I dialed Octavius’ house as he would no doubt still be indoors until the sun went down.
“I think we should meet tonight.”
“Yes, that would be swell…you can tell me what just happened.”
“What just happened was my girlfriend is being awfully shady about her father. I just met her sister who just happens to be her twin.”
“That’s a revelation…are you going to turn her too?”
“No, one Aerin is enough right now. Plus her sister is just a little too odd for me. I suspect she is running from something.”
“Humans are so complicated,” he said with a yawn.
“No shit,” I said as I pulled on another jacket and walked out of the closet. I stopped as I looked at myself in the mirror one last time.
It was wrong of me to get worked up about her father. I was angry and I was sitting at Café du Monde again. I hated the need to eat sugar and drink coffee when I was like this. Octavius wanted no part in watching me eat my feelings. He still didn’t understand how I could ingest a meal even after all this time. I still wondered how it was possible. The market was filled with people; it was Saturday. I thought about Samara and her love for her uncle. They had been inseparable,
“Until you took him away from me,” she would remind me. Ah, yes, her uncle had been a great hunter of my kind. It was late one night when I had followed Samara onto St. Charles. It had been late at night and I couldn’t understand what this very young girl was doing sitting by a tree crying her eyes out. I had watched from a distance as she had caught the attention of a long standing rival of mine,
“Are you ok? Should I take you home?” She had let out a growl as she launched from her seat and threw her weight against the blonde figure before her.
“I don’t want your help!” I watched as she held up the wooden stake in her hand and brought it down with such force and the glee that shined in her eyes could be seen for miles around. I had thought of my son watching the event at my side,
“Who was that?”
“Carter Vance,” I had whispered under my breath. Carter Vance, the name had been long unspoken. I thought of the rule amongst our kind. The blond haired monster with the angelic face. His grin still haunted me to this day.
“The only one of us that learned the dark powers from the great one.”
“I thought I was great,” I had laughed when Octavius told the story. He managed a smile as he continued,
“I hate to bring up the fact you both may have been cut from the same cloth.” We had run into Carter while living in New York during the last century. He never wanted to play by the rules. He refused to hunt with us all in the dark alleys. He preferred following the elite crowds where someone missing would garner interest. I would watch late at night as he dragged off a pretty socialite by her hair. He would leave them discarded like a deflated balloon from a party.
“I guess she couldn’t handle this ride,” he would say as he wiped the blood from his face.
“Carter, you seem to be enjoying this all a little much.”
“I’m a monster! You play too nice, Rent. Live a little.” I had grown tired of him and his constant need to be in the same city. So to see this young girl attack him, it was well applauded.
“It was very easy, he had a weakness for little girls,” she said with a laugh. My heart still ached when I thought about her. If I had been faithful, I would surely have given an eternity to stay beside her. I ordered another coffee and sat in silence.
“Rent Tres!” It was the nails on the chalkboard voice I had buried away. I looked up to see Nina standing before me. She wore jeans and a white tank top. It was summer, where had the time gone? Her skin was tanned from the sun and her hair was longer. She smiled at me as I nodded to her,
“How are you?”
“Pretty good, I never heard from you again. I thought you had moved away from this place. You look great.” I pushed the seat in front of me as she took a seat,
“So what have you been up to?”
“Oh you know school. My roommate moved out, she went crazy over some guy last semester. I don’t know, I’m glad she left. It was tons of problems with her and this guy Trevor she was seeing.”
“Trevor?” In my mind, I only knew of one person by that name. She nodded as she ordered a coffee and beignets.
“Yeah, skinny kid not too tall…really pale. Oh he had this terrible drug problem.” She leaned in as she whispered, “He was taking some illegal stuff that I guess is exclusive to the area here…it’s real bad.”
In her apartment I was sitting on the edge of the bed and wondering what had just occurred. I looked back at her sleeping on her side. I got up and began to dress quickly as I cursed myself over and over. I could hear her mumbling in her sleep as I headed for the door to her apartment. I was back out in the sunlight in a short moment and hoped she would not be too upset with me.
“Oh, it’s just what guys do,” she would tell her friends. I still had the taste of her blood on my lips as I headed for my car.
“You’ve been very naughty, Rent.” I rolled my eyes as I pushed my way into his house,
“I have a guess about my very secretive girlfriend.” He crossed his arms as he stared at me pacing,
“You tell me your guess.” He shook his head as he replied,
“I have my sources and it’s a good one.” I fell into the nearest chair in his parlor a I hung my head between my legs,
“I have no idea what I’m doing. I don’t think I love her the way she loves me. I love being around her…sleeping with her…I just can’t be monogamous to her.” His laughter was booming as I looked up,
“I’m not looking down on you. It’s hard to be true. I refuse to deal with any of our kind – do you know any vampire unions that have lasted? I don’t know any. I refuse to believe any of us can be trusted. We’re dead to begin with meaning any and all emotion is dead as well. I don’t know why you bother bringing them over. They eventually lose their shit and attempt to kill anything in sight.” I leaned back in the chair as I looked around the room. I noticed it was devoid of most furniture,
“Are you moving?” He shook his head as he surveyed the room,
“No, I’m just moving things around. Look, I know we’re skirting the issue here.” I wanted to bury what I knew to be true in my heart. My dead beating heart. I stared at him as I said,
“Would saying his name make it all the more real?”
“I think no matter what you say – he will come knocking one day soon. The question is are you ready to deal with dear old dad?” I sighed as I thought about our last meeting. I had fought with him over Yasmine. Poor dead Yasmine who was always in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I thought about how she had been pushed over the railing in my house and fallen onto the table below. Her back broken, she refused the blood that could save her. Poor Yasmine had fallen for Carter’s glamour and cornered in a bedroom. I didn’t want to think what would have happened had I not arrived just as she fell onto the table before me. She had landed with such a blow that the floorboards beneath her cracked.
“I don’t want it…let me die…just make sure he knows my pain.” I held her as she stared off; just before the light faded, her eyes grew wide and her fingers tightened on my jacket. I leaned in and whispered,
“Don’t be afraid.”
I had followed him into the night until I found him in the Quarter holding court in a bar. He had looked up at me,
“Don’t tell me you’re hurt over the human still.” My fist in his face proved that I was still hurting. He had fallen over and from there the fight moved onto Bourbon. I couldn’t name the time in history only that it was during an epic rainfall and we were soaked to the bone. The pounding flesh on the pavement followed by the great arms that pulled me off him. I had looked to Octavius as he pointed to the flashing lights in the distance.
“We have to go…we’ll settle this later!” We had run into the night disappearing behind buildings as Carter followed our lead. I made a mental note of finding him the following night. It was not to be as he met his fate at Samara’s hand. I had felt a greater justice had been done that night.
“Carter Vance,” we said in unison as he shook his head. How on earth had we missed it? I swore under my breath as Octavius replied,
“You know this is big. I would put money that Klaus will be here any moment.”
“He will be very angry.” I looked to the door as it opened and Marc stepped in. He was shaking as he shut the door behind him.
“I don’t want to be the one to tell you but Aerin…”
“We know,” said Octavius as he watched Marc shake his head.
“You know what? I’ve just come from the Quarter…she had a confrontation with Chloe.” I cursed as I said,
“What has she done?”
“She killed her…they were arguing and Aerin pushed her over the side of the building.” I could see it clearly in my head. Aerin had ended up at the private vamp club on Decatur. I looked to Marc knowing full well he had taken her.
“Did you know Chloe would be there?”
“Yeah, I just didn’t know anything would happen.”
“You didn’t know or you didn’t care?” He looked to his father as he shrugged,
“She said she didn’t care who was there. She was tired of being in the house.”
“And her sister?”
“Cate? She’s at her hotel room. We dropped her off at the Ponchartrain and headed to the Quarter. Look, I thought she would be cool. There were people everywhere that saw this. They fought in the alley below and Aerin…she staked Chloe. It was like she had been doing it all her life. There was no hesitation.”
“Rent, did you teach her this?” I shook my head, I had stayed silent up until now.
“No, I mean anyone could know that from watching television or movies.”
“She knew what she was doing,” said Marc as he paced the room with his hands on his forehead.
“Yes, this is going to cause quite a stir with Klaus.” Said Octavius. I could hear Marc cursing as he started for his room,
“Can you leave my name out of this?”
“He already knows,” I said as I looked into his dark eyes. I peeled myself from the chair as I pulled my phone from my pocket. I dialed a number as I said,
“Is it ok if I stay with you tonight?” I refused to return home as I headed for the door. I waved to Octavius and stepped out into the night. I didn’t want to be near her anymore.
“Sure, are you coming over now?” Her voice was almost indistinct with the music playing in the background. I knew she played her music loud in her place. It was what I needed to drown out the tomb like silence of my home.
“Yeah, it’s been a long night and I really don’t feel like going home.”
“Well, you’re more than welcome here. I have to study for an exam but you’re cool to stay here. We can order take out if you want.” I laughed, she really knew me well without having spent any real time with me.
“Thanks Nina.” I hung up as I got into my car, I settled in my seat as I headed out of the drive. I sped down the road past my house. I could see her shadow in the window as she paced the living room. I didn’t slow down enough for her to catch my scent. I didn’t want her to know I wouldn’t be home tonight.
“We have rules,” it was the low sort of voice filled with anger. I stood in the corner watching him staring down at her. He leaned on his cane as he stood at the stairs in my house. I could hear the rain beating on the roof, I wondered if it would cave in. I looked to Aerin as she sat with her legs crossed before him. She wore a grin now as she looked around the room. She was taking in the people standing before her,
