The Fertile Vampire (19 page)

Her eyes widened. “You cannot compel me, child.”
 

She probably had four hundred years on me, but I had something she didn’t - a desperate need to discover what I was.

God help me, but I wanted to try to force her. I wanted to tie somebody, anybody, down and make them answer my questions. Instead, I dropped my gaze to my hands, white-knuckled on the edge of the desk.
 

Please
.
 

She dropped the eraser on the tray beneath the white board and slowly walked to me. She turned the desk Ophelia had occupied with an ease belying her frail appearance. Dropping into the seat, she clasped her hands on the top of the desk and regarded me.
 

“A female will appear to give the Kindred back their humanity. She will not be Pranic but a Dirugu.”
 

That was new.
 

“What is a Dirugu?” I pronounced it the way she had, dear-oo-goo.

She waived one blue veined hand in the air. “A Dirugu is a creature who is not human, nor one of the Kindred, but a combination of both, perhaps.”
 

“What makes a vampire a Dirugu?”
 

She didn’t answer me, only frowned and continued.
 

“With the Dirugu’s help, the Kindred would be able to walk into the sun without being harmed. They could feel the heat, know the beating of their hearts, the breathing of their lungs. They could have children.”
 

“And how would the Dirugu do that?”
 

“By her sacrifice,” Miss Renfrew said, staring at me.
 

I was suddenly as cold as the oldest vampire.
 

“What kind of sacrifice?”
 

“It’s a myth, that is all. A yearning from the Kindred. Nothing more than a child’s story.”

“Then what is happening to me?”
 

She slid from the desk.
 

Tell me
.
 

She shook her head and I knew I wasn’t going to get any more from her.
 

Standing, I followed her to the door. “Is there someone else? Someone who could tell me what I need to know?”
 

She didn’t look away, her brown eyes as dark as a wet stone. “The fewer people you tell, Miss Montgomery, the safer you will be.”
 

Was she going to tell the Council everything I said? I was too damn honest for the world of vampires. I said what I thought. I kept my word. I wasn’t equipped for subterfuge and saying one thing while meaning another.
 

“You should leave now.”
 

I opened the door, wanting to say something, knowing there were no words strong enough to convince Ms. Renfrew to help me. I represented the antithesis of the world she knew, the world she taught.
 

“Do not come back here.”
 

I didn’t answer, merely closed the door behind me.
 

“Are you all right?” Meng asked, seconds before smothering me in an embrace.
 

He had to stop doing that.
 

I wasn’t a huggy type person. Heck, I didn’t even like to slow dance. The only embracing I did was in my bed. But as I’d already discovered, when Meng wanted to hug me, there was nothing I could do about it.

At least my purse was wedged between us so my breasts weren’t flattened against his chest. My hands waved in the air and I finally placed my fingers on Meng’s back.
 

“It’s been so terrible,” he said. “So terrible. First Ophelia died, then the shooting. You didn’t come to class tonight.”
 

I’d only known Meng for a few hours, but he’d evidently taken my absence hard.
 

He finally released me, stepped back, but held me with a hand on each shoulder. Whatever he saw must have reassured him.
 

He nodded, dropped his hands and smiled. Since we were the same height and his teeth were blinding white, it was an experience being the sole object of his smile.
 

I tried to curve my lips into some kind of answering expression and took a step back, still clutching my purse.
 

“Well, good to see you,” I said, taking a sideways step. I glanced toward the stairs but he didn’t get the hint.

Meng smiled at me again. “I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Okay,” I said. Call me gracious and poised.
 

“Would you allow me to escort you to the Moonlight Madness Ball?”

I blinked at him, surprised. “Pardon?” I said, sounding exactly like Il Duce.
 

His cheeks turned bright pink.
 

“I think you would enjoy it. I’m a good dancer. Everything but the Tango. I’ve never managed to master such a complicated dance. You would do me the greatest honor if you’d allow me to escort you.”
 

I hadn’t the slightest idea what to say. Someone had tried to kill me. I might be turning into a Dirugu. I was having my period. I was not an agreeable soul right at the moment and Meng wanted to date me?
 

“Um.”
 

“Thank you,” he said, grabbing my shoulders again. “I’ll pick you up at midnight on the thirty-first.” He kissed me twice, once on either cheek, grinned like a rabid hamster, disappearing down the stairs before I could say, “Hey, wait a minute, I have no intention of going to any ball with you.”
 

The memory of his tears kept me silent.
 

I stood at the head of the stairs, hearing him giggle to himself and hum some tune I’d never heard.
 

Marcie Montgomery, big bad vampire, stunned into silence.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-O
NE

God works in mysterious ways

The taxi was still where I left it, the driver as alert as a meerkat on caffeine.
 

The minute I slid across the back seat, I handed him the other half of the fifty. He took it without a word. As he put the car in gear a look of relief eased the furrows of his face, making him look twenty years younger.
 

“Back to where I picked you up?”
 

I nodded.
 

He pulled out of the parking lot, silent through the wooded drive. When we hit 281 he glanced at me in the rear view mirror.
 

“You know you’ve got a tail, right?”
 

I sighed, hoping Dan the Driver would have remained on point at my townhouse.
 

“Yeah, I know,” I said.
 

“Want me to lose him?”
 

I grinned, amused for the first time tonight. “You’ve been watching too many movies.”
 

“Nobody ever jumped in my cab and said, ‘Follow that car!’ I was kinda hoping.”
 

“It wouldn’t matter. He knows where I live.”
 

He glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “Old boyfriend?” he asked, his eyes worried. “Old boyfriends can be dangerous.”
 

“He’s a bodyguard,” I said. “He’s supposed to make sure nothing happens to me.”
 

He shook his head and I could almost hear his thoughts - and I actually waited for her in this spooky place.
 

You’re safe.
 

The need to ease his mind was so automatic I didn’t realize what I’d done until he began to smile.
 

Holy crap, this wasn’t good. I couldn’t go around altering people’s thoughts.

When I got out of the taxi I tipped the driver well in apology for planting a thought in his mind.
 

I stood at the doorway as the taxi drove away, unsurprised when Dan pulled in and parked right in front of the building.
 

I did a little finger fluttery wave and opened the door, standing in the darkened foyer. Was it my imagination or had I begun to see better in the dark? Was that a trait vampires pick up?
 

Who the hell could I ask?
 

Miss Renfrew would certainly not welcome any further questions from me.
 

I wasn’t sure I trusted Il Duce to tell me the truth - about anything. I still thought there were things he wasn’t telling me, but I’d been very careful not to think too long about him. Nor was I about to summon him to me.
 

I hadn’t seen the man, vampire, since the night he’d come to my grandmother’s house. I was a little surprised he hadn’t shown up on my doorstep after someone riddled my car with bullets. Maybe the message I’d sent him had worked.
Stay away
. I couldn’t make it much plainer than that.
 

Who else was there? I ran through all the vampires I knew. Meng, whom I would have to call and let down easy. I wasn’t going to any function filled with vampires. Felipe - I hadn’t seen him after that first night. Kenisha had the ability to scare me even in absentia. Doug? He’d been as faithful as a hound and had even looked hound-like in front of Il Duce. Anything I said to Doug would go straight to the Master.
 

I was alone.
 

I dropped my purse on the hall table, heading for the kitchen. A plate of cheese and crackers later and I was in front of my computer.
 

Google had a lot to answer for, especially since I couldn’t find anything on a Dirugu. I could have been misspelling it. I tried a couple of combinations but no other iteration of the name appeared. The closest I came to finding anything was a Hindu mother goddess who was a true bad ass.
 

I was so out of my league.
 

If Il Duce were correct, I’d have to learn a skill or develop a talent aiding mankind somehow. Otherwise, I’d probably get demerits. Was there a vampire report card?
 

Vampire Montgomery has shown a lamentable lack of ambition in the medical field. She has demonstrated no credible ability to design either buildings or art. Nor does she have any discernible talent in sculpting, painting, or writing.
 

She is thereby recommended for conflagration.
 

I’d have to use my ability to send mind messages, then.
I’m brilliant
, I could say. Or,
bow down before me, lowly vampire.
 

This ability to send thoughts could go to one’s head, if you’ll pardon the pun.
 

I searched for hours but couldn’t find anything about vampire gluttons. Nor did Google come up with anything about vampire menstruation. I was sure I was sending up red flags at Google HQ.
 

“Hey, Carl, come look at this weirdo’s searches. She thinks she’s some kind of super-vampire. Now she’s going through historical records looking for plagues and things.”
 

I don’t care what they say, I’ll bet you for every search you make on the Internet, there’s someone chortling about it.
 

Giggle away, Google Guys.
 

I stood and walked to my window, pulling aside the blackout drapes I’d installed in my office. My imagination was working overtime. I felt eyes on me, the sensation so strong I immediately closed the drapes and took a few steps back.

That was it. My life had gotten scary enough as it was - I wasn’t going to deliberately try to spook myself.
 

I went upstairs, retreating into my bedroom, tired of this new world and myself.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-T
WO

Red sky in the morning, vampire’s warning

I called a rental car outfit that bragged about being open twenty-four hours and arranged for a compact car and a pickup in twenty minutes.
 

George, the rental car guy, reminded me of a cocker spaniel, all eager tongue and wriggly body. He was helpful to the point of obsequiousness. Is there anything else I can do for you, Miss Montgomery? Would you like more coffee, Miss Montgomery? Is the chair comfortable enough for you?