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“Oh, yes, the wine is excellent,” he said, not making excuses or explaining why he had not, apparently, taken a single sip of such excellent wine.
In the car ride she’d remembered a number of things, like her father saying Ansel only worked in the evenings, that he listened to recordings of meetings, and only came into the office in the late afternoons, when the sun had already set in Seattle. Now she remembered the way he never seemed to eat or drink.
The sheer insanity of the accusation, though, was still mortifying. He hadn’t reacted with scorn or disbelief, but had only shifted the powerful sports car into higher gear and pulled out onto the highway without speaking.
“Who else have you spoken to about this…theory?” he’d asked her, and she felt the tingling anxiety increase.
Was she in danger?
“About you?”
“About me.”
“Nobody, that would be fucking insane,” she said. “Nobody knows that I was ever at your house. Derek knows that we know each other, but—”
“That’s fine,” Ansel said. “I don’t really care about him.”
“Can you tell me what’s going on?”
“We don’t have time now,” he said. “We’re almost at the restaurant, but you have to promise me you will keep away from Derek, the kids at your school who are involved with him, and anyone else who might get you into trouble. Focus on finishing the school year, on your art, on gettingoutof here and going to college.”
“I’m not the only one in danger,” she said. “It doesn’t seem fair, or right that—”
“The world is neither fair nor right, Saber. I am not concerned with every random person in the world. Only you. I told your father he should move to Bainbridge. He said he had a daughter. I thought you would be younger, a little girl, I didn’t think…”
He trailed off and drove on.
“Do you ever go to those parties, Ansel?”
He didn’t speak. He still hadn’t technically replied to her earlier question.
“I’m not evil, Saber,” he said quietly as they pulled off the highway into the quaint little downtown of the island. “Neither am I good. Do you understand me?”
“No,” she said. “Not at all.”
He sighed and pulled into a parking spot. They could see the restaurant, but neither made a move to get out of the car.
“We can talk more later, I swear it. I’ll explain then. For now, you just have to trust me.”
“Are you a vampire?” she asked again, and he closed his eyes and kneaded his temples.
“Saber—”
“Are you?”
He looked at her with those glowing eyes. His face was so smooth and pale. She didn’t really need an answer anymore.
“You already know.”
She nodded, swallowing.
“And does that mean—”
“Whatever you think it means,” he said quietly, “it is probably much,muchworse than that.”
With that, he got out of the car, and went around to the other side to open her door.
She got out and looked at him long and hard in the face. Then she reached up and touched his suit, running her hand over the smooth wool of the lapel.
