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This is the closest I’ve ever come to teleporting. The minute I got on the plane I fell asleep. I didn’t even get a chance to eat my meal. Thankfully I had a window seat, so I was able to rest my head and just pass out. Lenore had wanted me to fly first class—to ease her guilty conscience for having me inadvertently killed, no doubt—but this flight was sold out in first and I didn’t want to wait another day.
I’m not that surprised at how deeply I slept though. I didn’t sleep a wink the night before. Eventually Dylan ended up leaving Dark Eyes via the secret back entrance and went back to the hotel, and I stayed up talking with Solon and Lenore.
Despite the circumstances, it was actually really nice. Though Solon was the first vampire ever turned, by the now-dead king of vampires, Skarde, and had outgrown his monster phase over the centuries, Lenore was a natural-born vampire like myself, so we have a lot in common. She took care of me in ways that my mom might have, had I been at home and had our house not been filled with all this crazy tension, and made sure I was well-fed.
Which to them, in their old school ways, meant bringing in a human volunteer into the club in the middle of the night and putting them in the feeding room.
At first, I was totally squeamish and shy about the whole thing. I’d been popping the blood pills and drinking from blood bags ever since I turned. I hadn’t sunk my fangs and fed from anyone. Ever.
But the volunteer was super excited to be there. Just some young man named Michael who was apparently a regular at the other “decoy” club Lenore and Solon ran in town, which turned out not to be much of a decoy at all. They took us into the feeding room, which is all stainless steel and leather mats and couches, everything that’s easy to clean.
Michael laid down on one of the couches, then Solon held me back, which at first I thought was completely unnecessary, both his hands wrapped around my biceps. Lenore cut a gash on the guy’s forearm and at the sight of his blood, I went completely nuts. I fought against Solon, testing my full strength for the first time, and if he had been just a regular man of his (quite large) size, I could have thrown him against the wall.
But Solon is unfathomably strong and he held me in place while I fed, so I didn’t completely lose control and end up killing the guy. I totally understood why vampires had to be restrained by the chains inside the room.
I also understood why some vampires stayed alive on a diet of pills. It was addicting to feed from a live being. Lenore told me that the blood I had would sustain me for at least a week, and that regular food would keep my energy levels going, but within hours I immediately wanted more. Michael was already gone on his merry way, having got something out of having me feed on him, and I’m definitely not kink-shaming here, but it spurred something in me. Before I felt like I was still very much Rose Harper, just now a vampire, and now I feel like I’m a totally different species altogether.
Of course, remembering all my past lives doesn’t help either.
When the sun came up, Lenore drove me to the airport. We stopped by the hotel to see Dylan, who was still angry with me that I was leaving. He was planning on staying in San Francisco for a few days, just to live it up, and apparently had enough money to do so from his part-time job as a bartender at the Rogue Brewing Company. Lenore promised me that she and Solon would keep an eye on him and that he would be safe.
I had to trust that. There was no reason for anyone to know who Dylan and I were and that we were in SF, but even so, I was a little paranoid, especially after learning what happened to Leif. But without going into too many details of the hows and the whys, Lenore assured me that he would be well protected. I guess the vampires have more security around them than I ever even noticed.
Lenore also promised to ring up my mom and tell her everything. I gave her our number and she said she would call from a secure line. It seems my parents got even more paranoid over the last ten years, hence why they pulled away from Lenore and Solon and why I hadn’t seen them around. I have to wonder if some other incident happened, maybe there was an attempt to take me or Dylan and we don’t remember it.
But all those questions have to wait for now. Now I only have one thing on my mind and that’s Valtu.
Okay, there are two things on my mind. Valtu, and destroying Bellamy. But I can’t do the latter without the former’s help. He’s the one with the magic book.
The plane touches down at the Innsbruck Airport and I shuffle off the plane with the rest of the passengers. Even though the sleep initially left me a little disoriented and groggy, now I feel that life force of last night’s blood coursing through me. My mind keeps wanting to drift back and replay the moment my lips closed around Michael’s skin, the way his blood flowed onto my tongue as I sucked it back, feeling his beating heart in every single drop.
But then I have to stop myself, because the more I think about it, the more of an animal I feel like. I don’t want to be wild and unhinged. I want to keep my humanity as much as possible. I was a human so many times before I became a vampire, so I have to trust that my human side will always keep me on the straight and narrow.
My heart sinks when I realize how easy it is for someone like Valtu to throw all their humanity away.
Once I’m in the airport, the customs officers giving me a strange look for only traveling with a carry-on, I head toward the exit, hoping to get a taxi. Though I landed in Austria, it’s the quickest way to get to Mittenwald since it’s right by the border.
I see Dr. Van Helsing standing in the arrivals area and to my surprise he’s holding up a sign that reads Mina Lucy Dahlia Rose.
I can’t help but break into a grin at his familiar face. He looks just as he had the night I last saw him, twenty-one years ago during my organ recital in Venice. Tall, square-jawed, auburn-haired with twinkling blue eyes. He was wearing a suit then, and now is wearing a sporty-looking parka.
“Doctor!” I cry out and then start running toward him.
He’s staring at me with a look of complete awe when I crash into him and throw my arms around him. “I can’t believe it’s really you,” I tell him, giving him a squeeze. He smells Christmassy, like snow and cedar.
Dr. Van Helsing chuckles good-naturedly and pats my back. “Likewise.” He pulls away as I release him from my grip and he studies my face intently, his eyes brightening as he looks over every crevice. “I have to admit, when Solon told me they found you, I didn’t know what to think. I was sure they had been mistaken. But now that I see you, there is no mistaking it. It really is you. A little younger than the last time I saw you, but still you.”
“I’m still not sure I believe it myself,” I admit. “It’s a lot to come to terms with.”
“I can imagine. So, what do I call you?”
“Rose is fine,” I say. “Dahlia Rose, if it’s easier to remember.”
He taps my current name on the sign. “I’ll stick to Rose. I adapt easily.” He peers at me. “So you really do remember me being your doctor, when you were Lucy?”
I nod. “I do. I mean, I don’t rememberallof Lucy’s life, or Mina’s…it’s kind of like how you don’t remember every moment of your childhood. But I do remember most of it and I remember you very well, Doctor.”
He chuckles and gives me a dismissive wave. “Please. Just call me Abe. The days of me being your doctor are over.” He pauses, his expression turning wistful and grim. “I must apologize for the way that you died when you were Lucy,” he says softly. “If only I knew then what I know now, I could have saved your life. And the baby’s.”
