The Blood That Bonds (36 page)

“
I know. I don’t know how
to prove it, short of Theroen, and I guess even if I brought you
there, he’d just look human. Nothing I can do. All of my witnesses
are dead, except Tori. I guess she’s not really that credible … but
if you want to take her outside, she’ll happily lift the back end
of a car six inches off the ground for you.”

“
Actually, I’d say Tori’s
proof even without any of that. I don’t think she’s really capable
of lying. At best she’d have been hallucinating right along with
you, Two … and if that’s the case, then there’d have to be some
explanation as to why you both hallucinated the same
events.”

Two looked at him, silent. Rhes stood up,
stretched, paced back and forth a few times.

“
I guess if it comes down
to one story that’s as weird as another, I’m going to go with the
one that you think is the right one. I’m trying to believe you,
Two, because I think you’re telling the truth. My head hurts. It
feels like my brain wants to abandon it for safer pastures, and I
think I’m going to sleep with the lights on for the rest of my
life, now, but I believe you.”

Sarah sighed, but nodded. “Yeah. I guess I
do, too.”

Two looked at them both for a moment, then
burst into tears. She covered her face with her hands, sobbing,
shaking, unable to control herself. Tori woke at the sound, looking
worried. “Are you okay, Two?”

Two sniffled, ran a hand across her eyes,
tried to regain her composure. “I’m all right, Tori … it’s
okay.”

Rhes and Sarah were looking at her. Two gave
up on maintaining any illusion of control and let herself cry. She
needed it, and it didn’t seem to bother them. Eventually she was
able to compose herself enough to speak.

“
I never want to tell that
story again. I killed people. Victims, vampires … Sam and Melissa
and Abraham. I’d do it again. I’d do all of it, and I’d do even
more if it would keep Theroen alive. I’d murder everyone between
here and there, for that. I never expected you guys to believe me,
but if you do, I won’t blame you for hating me.”

“
Believing you is pretty
difficult. Not hating you is easy.” Rhes brought her a tissue, and
another beer. Two thanked him, opened the beer, drank half of it in
three quick gulps.

“
What now?” asked
Sarah.

Two leaned back, thinking. “What now? Good
question. Now, I need to try to relax, and pretty soon I’m going to
need to sleep. Also, I need a cigarette. Ashtray still on your
porch?” Sarah and Rhes were both nonsmokers, and Two was long
familiar with having to step outside for a cigarette.

“
Yeah. Might be buried
under the snow, though. You want company?” Rhes still looked dazed,
but he was coming out of it.

“
Nah. Stay inside where
it’s warm, and finish figuring out whether you think I’m crazy or
not.”

“
No offense, Two, but I’m
not sure I can figure that out that quickly.”

Two shrugged. She still wasn’t sure
herself.

Tori stayed inside, playing with Jake. Two,
out in the January cold, pulled her jacket closer to her, huddled
against the building, smoked and thought.

Two and a half days. An eternity of promise,
and it had delivered only two and a half days to her. She had been
a half-vampire for several weeks, had in that time known the taste
of Theroen’s blood, known his touch and his kiss and above all his
simple presence, always there at the back of her mind. As a
vampire, though, the events – it seemed a year’s worth – that had
led to her return to humanity had lasted only a scant sixty
hours.

Two tried to regret it. It would be so much
easier to regret it, that brief taste of immortality, than to live
with the loss. She couldn’t, though, despite the worry, the horror,
the hate. Her experience as a vampire had been filled with wonder
and love and joy. Two hoped she could someday bring herself to
embrace her humanity again. It seemed now a cold and hollow shell,
a dim reflection of what she once was.

There was a police car rolling down the
avenue toward her. Two felt that old, familiar prickling at the
base of her neck she’d known during her time with Darren. Cops were
trouble, and were to be avoided at all costs. She pushed it away.
There was no reason for it now. The car stopped in front of her,
window rolling down, and an officer looked at out her.

“
Nice night,” he
said.

Two nodded. It was. Cold, but clear, without
a lot of wind. Tiny, dry snowflakes danced under the streetlights,
hovered in the air, caught the lights of the city and turned the
night sky brighter than usual.

“
Your parents know you
smoke, little girl?”

Two rolled her eyes. “I’m nineteen. My
friends Rhes and Sarah live here. They don’t smoke, so I have to
come outside.”

The cop smiled, amused at her annoyance.
“All right, sweetheart. Fair enough. Still, this ain’t the best
neighborhood …”

Two gave him a tired smile and put her
cigarette out in the coffee can that served as an ashtray.

“
I’ve got nothing to be
afraid of here, Officer. Trust me.” She gave a small wave, turned
back to the door, and made her way inside.

* * *

Rhes was talking to Tori. He’d always been
good with kids, and she seemed to be responding well to him. At
least, she was answering his questions with enthusiasm.

“
Tell me about Melissa,
Tori.”

“
She was my sister! She had
black hair and was tall and sometimes she’d come out walking with
me and tell me stories.”

“
And what about
Missy?”

Tori faltered for a moment. “Missy? She was
the same as Melissa. Same thing, Rhes.”

“
Mmm. No, not quite, Tori …
but okay. I guess you couldn’t make the distinction.”

“
What’s
disjunction?”

“
Distinction
.” Two sat down next to
Tori. “It means telling the difference between two things, Tori.
Like black and white.”

“
Oh. Okay.”

“
Who used to read to you,
Tori?” Rhes asked.

“
My big sister.”

“
Melissa?”

Tori look uncertain again. Confused and
perhaps even a bit panicked. “No. No, my … my other big
sister.”

“
What was her
name?”

“
I dunno.”

Rhes looked at Two, raised an eyebrow.

Two shrugged. “Let’s not press it tonight,
Rhes, okay? We’ll talk about it later.”

“
Okay. You want to crash
here, Two? It’s late, and the subways will be running slow. The
couch folds out, and we’ve got a spare bedroom. I know Molly would
love to see you.”

“
She doesn’t hate
me?”

Sarah interjected. “No, definitely not. I’m
not sure Molly could hate anyone. She was pissed, for a while, that
you’d lied to her … but I think she’s come to understand it. She
knows you saved her life, Two.”

“
Okay. You want to sleep
over here, Tori?”

“
Sure!”

“
Good. We’ll get up and
have breakfast with everyone, ‘k?”

“
Okay, Two.” Tori yawned,
stretched, rubbed at her eyes like a kid. She was having trouble
keeping them open.

Two stood up. “I’m going to put her in the
spare bedroom. I’ll take the couch. You guys going to be up for a
while?”

Sarah nodded. “Time for the grownups to
talk? Yeah. We’ll be here, Two.”

Two took Tori by the hand and led her
upstairs.

* * *

With Tori settled into the guest room, Two
made her way back down to the first floor. Rhes and Sarah were
waiting with questions, and they spent another few hours going over
Two’s story. They wanted to know more about Theroen, more about
Melissa and Missy, more about Abraham. They wanted to understand
the events that led up to her standing over the latter’s headless
body, holding a machete. Two did her best to answer their
questions.

Over and over, the conversation kept
returning to Tori. She was, of course, the key. She was Two’s
proof, the deciding factor that forced Sarah and Rhes to accept the
story that Two had provided.

“
We have to find out who
she is, Two.” Sarah said finally.

Two sighed. “I know. I just don’t have any
idea how to do it.”

Rhes spoke up. “Public
records search at the library. You said that Tori couldn’t possibly
have been a vampire for more than two decades, right? How many
girls with her first name and description could have gone missing
in that time? Hell, she might be the only girl with that
name
to have gone
missing. It’s not that common.”

Two considered this. “I guess that’s true.
You think it’ll work?”

“
It’s as good a place to
start as any.” Rhes drained his beer, looked inquisitively at Two.
She shook her head.

“
What do we do once we know
who Tori is?”

There was silence for a moment, and Two felt
herself growing angry. She knew what was coming. At last, Rhes
shrugged and said without looking at her, “I think we need to find
out if her parents are still alive, Two.”

Two grimaced. “You’re not taking her away
from me.”

“
They have a right to know
she’s alive.” Rhes’ voice was gentle. He knew she didn’t want to
hear this.

“
Not if it means
that
. Not if she has to
go. That’s not fair. She’s all I’ve got!”

“
I think they might
disagree with you about how fair it is, Two, but it’s not important
right now. We don’t even know who they are or whether they’re alive
yet. Just … consider it for a while. I think you’ll see that I’m
right.”

Two looked out the window,
frustrated. She
knew
he was right. She just didn’t care.

Sarah stretched. “I’m beat. Haven’t been up
this late in ages, not since Rhes and I settled in and got boring.
This has been a long, weird evening, and even though I could spend
another three hours asking questions, I think we’d all better get
some sleep.”

“
Yeah, no kidding. Thanks
for letting us crash here, guys.”

Rhes stood up. “No problem, Two. I’ll go
grab some blankets. Do you want to go to the library tomorrow?”

“
I suppose we should,” Two
said with distaste. The idea of actively searching out ways to take
Tori away from her was painful.

“
It’s for the best, Two
…”

Sarah smiled, took his arm, stood as well.
“Don’t push it, dear. She said yes.”

Two laughed, then got to her feet and
embraced each of them in turn. “Thank you guys. You don’t know how
much it means to me that you don’t think I’m insane.”

Sarah shrugged. “I’d be lying if I said I
didn’t have my doubts, Two, but you don’t seem insane. Tori doesn’t
seem insane. Developmentally challenged, but not insane. Bare
minimum, the people you’re talking about existed. That I’m sure of.
The vampire thing … I may never believe it completely without
seeing it with my own eyes, but I’m trying. We’re both trying.”

Two smiled at her. “That’s more than I
expected. Thank you. Now go to bed, before we get going again.”

Sarah and Rhes headed for the stairs. Two
began unfolding the couch.

* * *

It was late morning when Two awoke, Jake
curled at her feet on the fold-out bed, sunlight streaming in
through the vertical blinds that covered the brownstone’s window.
After a moment of disorientation, she remembered where she was, and
lay back for a moment, thankful for good friends. Then she
stretched, got to her feet, padded into the kitchen. The house was
quiet, no one up yet.

Two made coffee.

In the middle of her second cup, Tori
wandered downstairs. Two said good morning, got the girl a glass of
orange juice, and the two of them sat in silence, happy just to be
alive and in each other’s company.

“
Did you tell Rhes and
Sarah about the bad stuff?” Tori asked after a time, and Two looked
at her, surprised. Tori’s mental capacity and ability to speak were
improving by leaps and bounds.

“
Yes. I didn’t want to …
but I had to.”

“
Were they
angry?”

“
No.”

“
Okay.”

“
Tori?”

“
Yes?”

“
What was your big sister’s
name?”

Tori looked troubled. “I don’t know.”

“
I think you do. It’s okay
to tell me, Tori.”

“
I don’t wanna.”

Two raised her eyebrows at this. “Why don’t
you want to tell me?”

Tori was suddenly on the verge of tears. The
glass of juice trembled in her hands. “You’ll make me go away!”

“
Tori. Sweetheart, I’m not
going to make you do
anything
you don’t want to do. Okay? Neither are Rhes and
Sarah.”

“
Promise?”

“
I promise, Tori. Cross my
heart.”

Tori was silent for a long time. At last she
sighed, and the sound broke Two’s heart. It was an adult sound,
full of wisdom and worry and understanding. “Her name is Mona.
She’s not my sister.”

Two nodded. “She’s your mom, right?”

A pause. “Yeah.”

“
Don’t you want to see her
again?”

Tori sipped at her juice, refusing to meet
Two’s eye. “Dunno.”