AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Please, Lord, let that be the only time I compare Gabriel to my mother.
I was running before the idea of confronting Gabriel was even fully formed. Still enjoying my newfound inner track star, I sprinted over to Silver Ridge Road at full speed. It was so much better with shoes. I passed a couple of cars, but if they noticed a woman running at sixty-five miles per hour in the dark, they didn’t make a fuss.
I reached Gabriel’s driveway just as I was hitting my stride. Even in my foul temper, I could appreciate the sight of Gabriel’s house. It was about as stately as houses get in the Hollow. Immaculately whitewashed clapboard, big wraparound porch complete with Corinthian columns, and a front door that covered more square feet than my first apartment. It still amazed me that Gabriel had been able to direct public attention away from this place. My mother and her historical society cronies would probably sacrifice their firstborn just to snoop through the root cellar.
And yes, I do realize that would be me. (Jenny had produced grandchildren, after all.) I slapped the hood of my old station wagon in a sort of greeting, wondering idly if Big Bertha had behaved herself for Gabriel. It didn’t really prick my conscience either way.
Lifting the brass knocker, I was struck by a horrible thought. What if Gabriel wasn’t home? Or worse, what if he was home and had someone with him? Some vampire groupie/snack or another vampire? What if he was feeding? Ick. Or having weird vampire sex? Ickier.
I had turned on my heel and started to run back to my house when I heard Gabriel ask, “Where are you going?”
7
The bond between sires and the young vampires they create is sacred and should be respected.
—From The Guide for the Newly Undead
“Gah! How do you do that?” I yelped, turning to find Gabriel standing in all his noir glory just behind me. “Why didn’t I sense you or smell you or whatever?”
“I move faster than your young senses can detect,” he said, opening the door and welcoming me with a wave of his arm.
“You will become more attuned to me in time.”
I chose not to respond to that, striding into the slate -blue foyer with my shoulders squared. He followed, hovering on the edge of touching me. His fingers glided millimeters from my arms, leading me through to the den.
“I fixed your car,” he said, tossing the keys from a jade dish on the little maple end table.
I palmed them and eyed him speculatively. “You fixed my car?”
“I have walked the earth for more than a century. I managed to pick up some skills along the way, ” he said, before reluctantly adding, “and one of them is finding skilled mechanics.”
I smirked, leaning against the wall. “You almost had me there.”
“I supervised,” he insisted. He was adorable when he was all flustered and indignant. “That car was a death trap—”
“It’s a classic.”
“A classic with shot brakes, a fuel line that had been gnawed by rodents, and a carburetor that had been rebuilt using duct tape,” he said. “I don’t know what any of that means, but my mechanic said he couldn ’t determine what made your car break down because it would have been much easier to look for what didn’t.”
“OK, so I’ve been a little lax in the automotive -repair department,” I said defensively. “And I shouldn’t have let a high-school student rebuild my carburetor. But that doesn’t mean you need to do things like this for me. It makes me feel obligated.”
“That wasn’t my intention. I liked feeling that I was doing something kind for you, Jane. I haven ’t felt the urge to do something like that for a woman in a long time. And I thought you would appreciate the restoration of your vehicular independence far more than posies and poetry.”
I smiled, and, encouraged, Gabriel took a step toward me.
“Thanks. I mean, it’s not exactly a sonnet, but that’s really—wait. No,” I said, warding him off. “I’m still pissed at you, seriously pissed. That girl at my house, Andrea. You had no right to do that. Did it even occur to you that you had no right to do that?”
Unimpressed with my outburst, he replied, “You needed someone experienced to help you through your first live feeding.”
I jabbed a finger into his chest, backing him into his living room. “So why didn’t you just send over a hooker? Hell, why didn’t you videotape it? You could have sold it to Vampire Girls Gone Wild.”>“There isn’t one,” she insisted. “What can I do to make this more comfortable for you?”
“Get a tourniquet and a glass, and take your neck out of the equation?”
She laughed and led me to the porch swing, where I sat as she tipped her head back. I opened my mouth, extended my fangs, and leaned toward her. I saw her pulse beating beneath her skin, her living, human skin. Every nerve ending was an opportunity for me to cause her pain. She took a steadying breath when she felt my nose awkwardly brush her ear. It reminded me of how I used to exhale sharply when I was stuck at the annual library blood drive.
“I can’t,” I said, giving her a helpless, apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I’m just afraid I’m going to hurt you.”
“Don’t worry about being nervous. A lot of vampires have trouble with this from time to time. It happens to everyone.”
