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FEAR GRIPPED ELIZA’S heart as she drifted off into darkness. What if she forgot Graham again? What if she forgot the fragile memories he’d shared or the blissful ache his kindness had awakened in her? She wanted so badly to remember.
Part of her had feared and loathed him as she regained her own timeline and remembered his role in the events that had led to her current condition. But as she pieced everything together, she realized he was not to blame. He had only saved her from herself, preventing her from spreading like a disease, killing everything in her wake, and he had protected her from being executed by whoever these guests were that Daisy had mentioned.
The crazed ghost had freed her from the basement, so Eliza couldn’t bring herself to be too mad at the girl. Still, she felt horrible about Dr. Delph and the blond orderly she’d almost taken a bite out of. Graham had saved her then, too. She just needed to stick close to him. He knew what he was doing, and for whatever reason, he seemed to like her. Or at least, she hoped he did.
Who brings someone they don’t like blood every night for five months? Eliza remembered everything, though much of it was still jumbled in her mind, twisted through with a confusing blend of hunger and fear and rage. She struggled to contain it all, even after the three glasses of blood Graham had offered her.
When the sun set, and her eyes opened to his smiling face, she thought of Walter Nilsen and what she’d done to him. Part of her lusted for more blood and mayhem, but when Graham pulled her closer, a stronger emotion tugged at her core.
“Are you still with me, Eliza?” He brushed a curl out of her eyes, letting his fingers trail down her cheek. She nodded, unable to find her voice. “Are you thirsty?” She nodded again.
Graham leaned away from her to grab his phone off the night table. He placed another call to his butler, requesting more blood from somewhere called Hotshots Bistro. Eliza crinkled her nose as he ended the call.
“What kind of bistro serves blood? That seems a bit...unusual.”
Graham snorted. “Not for Spero Heights. There are several nice blooderies in the Midnight District. The bistro is unique in that they serve werewolf blood. It’s more fulfilling. You’ll like it,” he added at her repulsed expression.
“Spero Heights? The cheese town in the mountains?”
Graham nodded. “That would be the one.”
“What’s the Midnight District?” she asked next.
“Vampire central around here. You’ll like it, too,” he said, grinning as he climbed out of the bed and stretched.
A knock at the door made Eliza gasp before she remembered that Graham had requested blood for them. She felt like her insides had been scooped out and replaced with a tangle of live electrical wires. Everything seemed to spook her since she’d awakened as one of the undead.
Graham cracked the door open long enough to accept two cardboard to-go cups and to thank whoever had delivered them. Then he offered one of the beverages to her with a smile and said, “Drink up.”
The small cup was warm in her hands, and the logo printed on the side reminded her of an overpriced coffee shop she used to visit. It made her a little sad, thinking of the life that she’d left behind—and of the carnage. She knew she could never return to it, but that didn’t make it any easier. That David Vitz and Veronica had survived her killing spree was a small comfort.
Eliza and Graham drank their blood in silence, and then Graham showed her to the adjoining bathroom where she took her first real shower since the night of the reunion. She stood under the hot spray of water for what felt like ages, enjoying the bit of privacy as she cried and laughed and reflected on the horrors and wonders she’d experienced.
Life was strange. Stranger than she could have ever imagined.
When she finally emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a thick towel, she found a pair of jeans and a sweater laid out on the bed. Graham had already changed. He stood with his back turned to her, his cell phone pressed to his ear.
“They’re gone? Good. She’s doing just fine. Stay with Lia. Our meeting can wait another night.” He hung up and turned to face Eliza. “Get dressed. We’re going out.”
* * * * *
“MAYBE THIS ISN’T SUCH a great idea.” Eliza tugged at the hem of her borrowed sweater. The pale blue cashmere felt nice against her skin—much better than the hospital gown had—but being out in public made her feel like a skittish squirrel in search of a tree to climb.
“You’ll be fine.” Graham squeezed her hand, and while she could sense his own nerves, the contact comforted her.
The residential street they were on was quiet, though lights shined through many of the windows. It was peculiar for the late hour. They crossed paths with another couple, and Eliza instinctively shrank behind the cover of Graham’s shoulder. He gave her a reassuring smile, but he didn’t try to drag her out into the open.
“This is Eliza,” he told them. “She’s a new vampire in town.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” the woman said, offering her a warm smile as they parted ways.
“Was she... Are they...” Eliza felt almost invasive just asking.
“Yes,” Graham answered. “We don’t hide here. This is more than a town. It’s family.”
Eliza considered his words as they crossed the street, and the houses gave way to businesses. The blue streetlights and music raised the hairs on the back of her neck, and she clung more tightly to Graham’s hand, wrapping her free arm around his.
“That’s the Velvet Casket,” he said, nodding at a business front with a red, coffin-shaped door. “It’s a popular vampire hotel. The town doesn’t receive many human guests outside of the Cheese Festival, but the Midnight District does bring in some vampire tourists throughout the year.”
Vampire tourists. The thought tickled Eliza, but she remained quiet as Graham pointed out the other establishments. They stopped inside a clothing store and a beauty salon, where he introduced her to a few more vampires and a couple of harem humans. The exercise was more than Eliza was used to, and before she knew it, her thirst had returned.
“Think you’re ready for a bigger crowd?” he asked, tugging her toward a noisy patio where couples were dancing to live music.
Eliza panted, and her heart began to pulse unsteadily. “I think...I need a break.”
“How about some blood?” He lifted an eyebrow. Eliza swallowed and nodded slowly. Maybe that was all she needed.
As they cut across the patio to the café standing behind it, several patrons paused to stare at her. Some smiled fondly at Graham, and she remembered that he was the mayor of this small town. Of course everyone knew him. A few people regarded her with suspicion, and at least one seemed a bit disappointed as her eyes fell on Graham’s hand wrapped around Eliza’s.
Inside the café, a wide bar stretched down one side of the room. Every barstool was occupied, along with the handful of tables crammed between the bar and a small stage where a man with a guitar and a woman holding a fiddle played their hearts out. The ceiling was covered in elaborate copper tiles, and glossy hardwood covered the floor. Both reflected the glow coming from a dozen pendant lights that hung throughout the place.
A guest at the bar waved at Graham before biting down on his date’s wrist. Eliza spotted another vampire in the corner, feeding on someone’s neck. Her fangs instantly stabbed her lower lip. She groaned and turned her face away, pressing it against Graham’s shoulder. His back went rigid, and she knew he could feel her mounting need as a tremor took hold of her.
“Two shots of B positive,” he called out to the bartender. The man nodded and reached through a window behind him. He came away with two small glasses of blood.
“On the house,” he told Graham as he handed them over.
Eliza took the glass he offered her, but her hands shook uncontrollably, and she ended up spilling half the drink down the front of her blue sweater. Someone outside laughed, and though she was sure they couldn’t see what she’d done with her back to them, she felt her face ignite with mortification.
“It’s okay,” Graham whispered in her ear. “We can go back to Dead Threads and pick out something new for you.”
“I need...air.” Eliza gasped. “It’s too hot in here.”
“Mayor Pierce!” someone called out.
The bar erupted in cheers as they lifted their glasses, and panic exploded behind Eliza’s eyes. The black veil that she’d disappeared behind through her five months of isolated therapy threatened to suffocate her again. If she surrendered to it here, now, there was no telling what kind of damage she could do.
And Graham would be blamed for it. She couldn’t allow that.
His hand slipped free of hers for a brief second to toast the patrons acknowledging him, and that’s when Eliza took her leave.
She shot through the crowd like a bolt of lightning, moving faster than she thought possible, but she didn’t stop there. There were still too many people in sight. She glanced back the way they’d come, and was suddenly standing on the corner of the quiet residential block.
Still too close. Still too many people, she thought as she spied the couple they had bumped into before.
Then she was at the edge of the woods on the opposite side of the neighborhood. Her pulse hammered in her temples as if she’d just run a marathon, but she couldn’t remember the steps in between her destinations.
Was she losing time again? Would she wake up in the basement cell with Dr. Delph telling her how she’d massacred dozens of innocent people?
Eliza covered her face and sobbed. Cicadas chirped at her from the shadow of the woods, and a cool breeze whipped her hair around her face. She looked down at the red stain spreading across her chest and recalled a similar incident that had preluded her first horrible rampage.
“You need more blood.”
Eliza yelped and spun around to find Daisy hovering behind her. The girl smiled innocently, but there was a darkness in her eyes that never really went away.
“There are faeries in the forest. I’ve heard they’re delicious,” the girl said.
“Eliza?” Graham called in the distance. She jumped at the sound of his voice. Adrenaline still coursed through her veins, and it urged her down the slope of a ditch and beyond the tree line.
“Yes,” Daisy whispered. “Just a little further. Can you smell her?”
Eliza breathed deeply, despite not trusting the specter, but then she paused. Something sweet and heavy, like honey or maple syrup, tinged the air. Once again, her fangs slipped free against her will, and she moaned, closing her eyes against the delicious lure.
When she opened them again, the nymph’s throat was clutched in her hand. She didn’t remember crossing paths with the creature. Her broken timeline was ruining everything. The girl’s green-tinged skin was white where her fingers pressed down. Eliza thought that she should let go. She wanted to let go. But she was enthralled. She’d never seen anything so beautiful in her life.
Her throat felt dry, and she leaned in slowly, considering the best place to sink her teeth in. Maybe just a small taste. She could do that, couldn’t she?
“That’s it,” Daisy hissed in her ear.
Eliza spotted the ghost in the corner of her eye and froze suddenly. This wasn’t what she was supposed to be doing. She’d been trying to flee so she wouldn’t hurt anyone else. Graham had been so kind to her. He believed in her. She couldn’t let him down.
“What are you doing?” Daisy said, frustration screwing up her features.
Eliza took a couple deep breaths, and then one by one, she uncurled her fingers from around the nymph’s throat. The green girl squeaked and tore off through the woods, while Eliza turned away and wrapped her arms around a tree trunk, refusing to give in to her urge to chase the girl down and rip her throat out. The thought filled her stomach with excitement and dread.
“You could still reach her,” Daisy hissed, hovering closer. Eliza threw an arm out, slicing it through the girl’s ghostly form. “Ungrateful harlot! See if I find you prey again.”
“Go away!” Eliza screamed at her. “Leave me alone!”
“I can’t,” Graham answered. She turned to find him standing at the edge of the road above the ditch, his silhouette cutting a dark shadow across the glow of the neighborhood. “I need you.”
“No, you don’t.” Eliza sobbed and pushed away from the tree as he descended into the ditch and entered the woods, making his way toward her. “I’m not getting better. Dr. Delph was right. I don’t belong here. I don’t deserve this place or a second chance.”
“None of us do,” he said, surprising her. “Which is exactly why this place is perfect for us. For all of us.” He shot a glare in Daisy’s direction, and she vanished with an indignant huff.
“I’m afraid.” A fearful shudder rocked Eliza’s shoulders, and she hugged herself. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“I know you can.” Graham stopped in front of her and took her face into his hands. “I know you can.”
He pressed his mouth to hers, and Eliza’s eyes closed. She slipped her arms around his back and sighed as he kissed his way down to the side of her throat. His teeth grazed her skin, and the next shudder that took hold of her had nothing to do with the cold or fear.
“I saw the nymph,” he whispered against the side of her neck. Her heart leapt, and she tried to pull away from him, but he held tight. “I saw you let her go. You are getting better. It doesn’t happen overnight, Eliza. But we take our victories where we can.”
She relaxed and melted against him once more, enjoying the way his hands felt on her lower back and in her hair. Pressure began to build low in her stomach, and her fangs slid free again. When her mouth brushed the side of Graham’s neck, his breath hitched, but he didn’t withdraw from her.
She moved further up the column of his neck until she reached his earlobe.
“Take me home,” she whispered.