Vamp-Hire (19 page)

Whatever had gone on between them or what was
still going on, Nick could tell the connection ran deep enough to
where either one would lie down his or her life for the other.

Nick figured Ti had said her piece to the man
behind the bar and sat on the other side of her, resting his elbows
on the bar. He pointed to the bottles behind who he guessed was the
bartender.

“Can I get I shot of one of those?” Alcohol
was not forbidden; actually it was encouraged in social settings.
Vamps actually metabolized pretty quickly and based on his body
weight he could have up to three shots in an hour with no ill
effects. Nick hadn’t actually imbibed yet and he figured one
couldn’t hurt.

“‘Old on. I serve up the greenie.” Coco
slapped his palms on the bar as he side-leaped over it. “Whatcha
want now? You got your rumpshaker, Irish Car Bomb, Devil’s ice
cream—whatcha tum-tum achin’ far and I fix it right up?”

Nick had never heard of any of those and was
pretty sure Coco was making them up. “I’ll have the Devil’s ice
cream,” he said and Coco begin grabbing random bottles and pouring
into a silver cup over ice. He capped the whole thing off and shook
furiously, occasionally doing complex tosses over his shoulder and
under his arm, catching and flipping it with casual ease.

He poured it into a tall glass and then
grabbed a can of Cool Whip from a mini refrigerator. He topped it
off and slid the drink over to Nick.

Nick looked at the glass, slowly unfolding
his arms. He glanced at Coco and Ti, the other man standing back,
watching him. Nick picked up the glass and downed it. Ti gasped and
the grin on Coco’s face broadened.

It burned. Nick tried his best not to pull a
face, the muscles twitching and constricting on their own until he
had a full grimace going. He could feel it before he knew what it
was and the words came spilling out of his mouth before he knew
what he was saying.

“So how’d you lose your leg, Coco?” he
asked.

“What?” Coco asked in accentless English.

“Your leg. You tell everybody you lost it
after you got shot by a guy you beat up in a fight. Didn’t you fall
down the stairs, though?”

Coco’s mouth opened and closed.

“And whose name is that tattooed on the back
of your arm?” Coco raised his arm as if he were unaware of any such
tattoo. He pulled up the short sleeve exposing the rest of the
Jamaican flag tattooed on his triceps.

“Sorry, Charlie, you missed on that one.” The
accent was back, the smile less so.

“Oh,” Nick said. “Why don’t you pour me
another one? Make it strong this time.”

“Hey, we got a bris coming tonight,” the
other man said.

“Irie, I got it covered.” Coco took out a
five and slapped it on the counter in front of the bartender. Ti
seemed to be watching with interest as he went to work, shaking up
another Devil’s ice cream and pouring it into the same glass. This
time he put a maraschino cherry on top of the whipped cream.

Nick wasted no time, plucking the cherry up
by its stem and grabbing the glass and drinking it down as fast as
he had the first one. He slammed it down and swiped the whipped
cream off his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Hey, don’t do that.” The other guy grabbed
the glass off the bar. “This is oak.”

Nick resisted the urge to look down at
himself to see if he’d caught on fire. He pushed on. “So, about
that tattoo? Whose name is that?”

“I don’t have a tattoo of anybody’s name on
my arm,” Coco said, slamming his palms down on the bar.

“Hey, the oak,” the other guy protested
weakly.

“Sure you do.” Nick looked at Ti, who seemed
mildly interested. “You tattooed that flag over it. What is that
name, though?”

“You shut your—” Coco had telegraphed the
punch by letting his hand drop to his side. He may have caught Nick
had he simply swung from where his hand had been on the bar, even
though the blow would not have had any leverage. His sentence died
prematurely when Nick casually turned his head, braced his feet,
and rolled away from Coco’s swing, using his forward momentum to
yank the taller man off his feet and over the bar. Nick brought him
down hard on the floor, the wind exploding from his lungs.

Nick kneeled into his chest and wrenched his
head to the side by a fistful of coily hair. He saw the big artery
pumping in the side of his neck and for one long second wanted to
open it. He was aware of his free hand, pulled back to right behind
his hip, fingers pointed straight like knives, poised as if ready
to slice that artery open.

He felt Ti’s foot coming before it struck his
head and he slapped it out of the way. She lost her balance and
almost went down and he was on his feet, catching her in one
arm.

“What are you trying to do, kill him?” she
said.

“I… no.” Nick knew that wasn’t exactly true.
There was a big difference between Coco and the other two human
beings in the room. Coco was the only one who smelled delicious. He
let Ti go, examining the feelings going through him and trying to
shove them back where they came from. He also realized he’d
misinterpreted the relationship between them. They weren’t siblings
and they weren’t just like siblings, either.

Somewhere along the way, Coco had fallen in
love with Ti. She loved him too, just not like that. He’d tattooed
her name on his arm and it had had the opposite effect by pushing
her further away.

Ti watched him and he retreated to a far
wall. She knelt and checked on Coco—Keith. Nick had been close to
what—tearing his throat out? He looked at his hand and saw the
fingernails were a little longer than they had been last time he’d
paid attention to them. They also appeared to be thinner than his
fingernails typically were, and sharp. Nick ran them over the back
of his other hand and was surprised by a paper-thin cut.

He’d never done anything like that
before.

Nick waited where he was, watching Ti and the
other guy hover over Coco.

In a few minutes they were helping him stand.
They sat him at the bar and he propped himself up on one elbow. Ti
turned furious eyes on Nick. If she were going to kill him, now
would probably be the ideal time. He thought about running. Then
again, he thought about running a lot lately. Nick didn’t want to
run anymore. He didn’t want to be afraid.

He braced himself as she approached. No, he
wasn’t scared. He even held his chin up and smiled to show her he
was happy to be there.

The right cross dumped him on his butt.

“Let’s go for a walk,” Ti said.

* * *

The cold helped clear the cloudiness. Nick
eyed Ti suspiciously, half expecting her to take another swing at
him. Thankfully, she didn’t. Silence stretched between them and
Nick had no clue how to fill it.

“You embarrassed him,” she said. “I don’t
know how you were right but you were.”

“Look, he took a swing. I was only—”

“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking
about what you said. Coco and I—Keith and I have known each other
since kindergarten. We’ve been best friends since second grade.
When the Conflict started they were grouping people up in houses,
figured safety in numbers. For a while he slept in a room with me
and my brother.

“A vampire, they called it a leaker because
of all the black gunk that came out of its eyes and mouth, killed
my brother right in front of us. It was one of the few that could
walk around in daylight. You probably know all about them, being a
vamp and all.”

“Actually, I don’t.” Nick had heard there had
been differing breeds of vampire during the Conflict, but they had
never gone into detail at the Center. He supposed he could find out
all about them now that he was out.

Ti gave him a doubtful look and continued.
“It would have killed me, but Keith was there. He protected me and
it almost tore his leg off. A doctor thought he’d managed to save
it, but when Keith fell down the stairs he broke it and it had to
be removed. So, if you guessed we’re tight, you’re right.”

She examined his eyes as if expecting him to
jump in with the next part of the story.

“I thought you were brother and sister at
first,” Nick said. “Then I realized it was more complex than that.
Does he see every guy as a challenge for your affection or is it
only the vamps?”

“It’s not like that. He’s not like that.
Keith likes the vamps, thinks you people probably got screwed more
than anybody else out of this whole thing. He attends the Imprean
services sometimes to learn more about you people.”

“It’s nice to know you think of me as a ‘you
people’.”

Ti looked stung and he supposed that wasn’t
entirely fair.

“Look, vamps didn’t even exist ten years ago
so I’ll take a pass on the prejudice. This is new for everybody.
What I mean is Keith and a lot of people are trying to… digest this
new dynamic, and that includes me too. So if I use the wrong words
it’s because I’m still learning the right ones.”

Nick was silent a couple of beats. “Fair
enough. There’s a simple way to get to know somebody like me. Talk
to me.”

“Let’s start again.” She stopped. “I’m Ti
McGregor.” She put out her hand. Nick had to smile. That was the
same hand she’d punched him with. He shook it, noticing for the
first time the necklace around her neck with the black circular
medallion. Nick knew enough about Impreanism to recognize it as
their version of a crucifix. He’d seen ones like the medallions on
many people, most wore it wrong. The inlet was empty, where so many
others had diamonds or zirconia. Empty meant you were a humble
beginner and over time with piety and practice, the Facilitator, or
Reverend, would grant a practitioner a token jewel or stone to fill
the inlet. Ideally, it would take more years than the average
person had to live to fill it, thus showing how even in humility,
Imprean vamps were incomplete.

“I’m Nick. Just… Nick. You practice?”

Ti looked down as if noticing the medallion
for the first time. “No, I… it was a gift.” She looked embarrassed.
She raised a hand and cupped it in the palm of her hand and seeming
to have second thoughts, dropped it to hang free again. Many of the
devout didn’t believe humans should be allowed to practice. Nick
even felt a tug of envy that she had it on and forced himself not
to care. He would have liked an explanation, though. She didn’t
offer one.

“You’re not the first person Keith has given
the jerk act and truth be told, it’s not you. It’s Lucky.” Nick
made a face and Ti sighed. “We used to date. I was all into the
hardcore underground thing and Keith—”

“—just didn’t do it for you because he was
too much like a brother.”

She nodded. “He thought I saw him as less
than because of the leg, but I just can’t with him. It took him
years before we got to a point where he understood it was never
going to happen.”

“So because he and Lucky are kind of the same
he took it personally when you dated him.”

“I don’t think they’re anything alike at
all.” Ti’s eyebrows pinched closer together. “I guess he might
think of it that way. I never thought about it before.” They turned
and began heading back. “When Lucky called and asked me to tail
you, I told Keith where I was going.”

“So Coco’s still not over you.”

“Oh, no. He is. We’re probably closer now
than ever.” Nick imagined being ‘friends’ with this woman. Ti was
so beautiful. He didn’t think it would be possible. There were
probably a few dozen guys she thought were perfectly fine with
simply being her friend. He could even see himself lying in wait,
always ready for the right opportunity. Maybe when she was lonely
or needed a shoulder to cry on.

Just friends with her sounded like the worst
thing in the world.

“Okay, so he isn’t such a bad guy. You just
have to peel off his jerk outer layer.”

Ti laughed. That was the best sound in the
world.

“He’s a normal human being for the most part.
He actually needed the piss taken out of him, so now he should be a
little easier to deal with. But don’t make the mistake of thinking
I wouldn’t kill you to protect him.”

“All right,” Nick said. “We understand each
other. Do I need to apologize?”

“No. He’ll respect you more if you
don’t.”

They walked back toward the entrance and made
it there just as a Ford Fusion pulled to the curb. Lucky rolled
down a window and waved. Ti waved back. Coco came outside as well,
stepping out onto the sidewalk between Nick and the car.

He had a look on his face Nick didn’t know
how to interpret and when he looked at Ti, he saw her expression
was equally unreadable.

“Hey, Tiiii,” Lucky called from the car.
“You’re looking good.” She hadn’t bothered putting on her leather
jacket when she’d come out with Nick and had her arms folded across
her chest. Coco’s eyes narrowed at Nick, but rather than attacking,
he forced a smile and approached them. He took off his thick
sweater, exposing a considerable amount of tattooed skin beneath it
and the t-shirt it almost dragged off with it. He wrapped the
sweater around Ti’s shoulders, tying the arms into a loose knot at
her neck.

With a deliberate turn of his head he looked
at Nick. The smile was still on his face and he stuck out a
hand.

“It was nice meeting you,” he said in a way
that could have been mistaken for, “I really would enjoy stabbing
you repeatedly in the face” had Nick not been listening expressly
to his words. “Please come back and visit.” Nick gave his hand a
good pump and quickly let go. He got the briefest of aromas off
Coco and he still smelled like food.

“Yeah. I just may.” Nick broke away and
walked to the curb. He didn’t want to turn back to wave for fear
Coco would take a swing at him. For fear he might try to eat Coco.
And for fear Ti might kill him.