“Car’s here!” Pa calls out.
“I gotta go, Ma.” I give her a quick hug. “I promise I’ll call.”
CHAPTER 31william
Two weeks after meeting Henry, William is finally summoned by the mysterious Anne.
“Hurry,” says Nate as the three of them exit the subway. “If you’re even a minute late, she won’t be there when you arrive.” Unlike William and Cisco, who are in jeans and a coat, Nate wears a crisp business suit. He runs his fingers through his ponytail, smoothing any flyaway strands.
“What is the story with you and Anne?” asks William, who spied Nate applying product to his long hair this morning.
“Story?”Cisco guffaws. “More like asentence!” He expertly dodges Nate’s elbow.
“Anne isn’t into vampires this century,” says Nate as they climb the stairs and stride down the bustling sidewalk. “But if there’s one thing we have, it’s time. I can wait.”
After a couple of weeks of playing nonstopCall of Duty,Nate has started to ease up around William. He still has not revealed more information about Anne or Lenny or the rest of their kind, yet with every passing day, William gets the sense that whatever Nate’s doubts are, they are slowly ebbing away.
“She might change her mind when she sees you today,” says William, andthough Nate does not respond, William notices the way his shoulders roll back, making him look taller.
As different as they may be, William feels a strange determination to win Nate’s trust. Maybe because what he wants more than anything right now is to finally feel like he belongs somewhere.
When he was first turned, William hated being a vampire and had to be sent away to the Old World to acclimate to his new form. Now that he has a second chance, he wants to do things right.
When they reach the next block, William registers the pumpkins and turkeys featured in many of the display windows along the street, and it strikes him that it is Thanksgiving week. That meansshemust be in the same city right now.
“What day is it?” he asks.
“I know it’s weird to meet for business on a Sunday,” says Nate, reading the wrong intent behind William’s question. “But the whole point is to be discreet.”
William nods, but he is thinking of Lorena, and whether she is back at school yet. He wonders what excuse she came up with for his disappearance, and whether she has kept his secret or broken his trust. He is so distracted that he does not notice when they arrive at the tallest building he has ever seen.
They step into a sleek lobby with creamy marble floors and golden light fixtures, then they approach a security desk where they hand over their identification to a receptionist.
“Only Mr. Pride has been granted access to meet with Ms. McIntyre. The rest of you may take a seat down here and wait.”
“What are you talking about?” snaps Nate. “All three of us are here to see her.”
“Ms. McIntyre’s explicit instructions are to only allow Mr. Pride through.”
A guard peels away from the wall and makes his way over, like he senses Nate might be trouble. Yet Nate does not even glance at him. His eyes begin to glow as he holds the receptionist’s gaze and commands, “You will let—”
The guard sticks his hand out to Nate, and the vampire plucks a note from between the man’s fingers. William looks over to see a handwritten message in impeccable lettering:
Defy me, and I will clean out your bank account.
Nate lets out a deep growl. He sounds like a wounded animal. “Fuck that. If she won’t play by the rules, we won’t, either. Let’s go,” he says to William. “We’ll come back when she starts acting right.”
William follows Nate and Cisco outdoors, but he does not move away from the building. “Why is she doing this?” he asks Nate.
“To fuck with me. She knows Lenny won’t like it, but if she insists, I’ll have to report it. She’s being”—he seems to be casting around for the right word—“insubordinate.”
“Who is Lenny?” William presses. “Why will he not like this?”
Yet Nate just shakes his head. “Let’s go.”
He and Cisco make it to nearly the end of the block before they realize William is not following. They stop and wait for him, yet William does not budge.
“This is my meeting,” he says in a low voice that nonetheless reaches their ears. “I must attend.”
