A Dark-Adapted Eye (17 page)

He laughed and drew a little closer to me. “You’re very pretty.”

“Oh. Thanks.” I tried to be subtle when I inched away from him.

“I’m afraid I haven’t found anything out about Ivory yet.”

My eyes snapped to him. “What?”

“But I might be persuaded to look a little harder, if you catch my drift.”

“Who are you?” I demanded.

“My name’s Mercer. Don’t you remember me?”

Now that he mentioned it, he did look a little familiar. And I recognized the name. I’d seen him in the dark, illuminated faintly by a laptop screen, that night I’d gone out with Les. I knew the tangle of his hair and the outline of his features. It was hard to believe this guy standing before me sold insurance. He seemed the opposite of professional.

“Oh,” I said sourly.

“What’s your name?”

“None of your business.”

“I’d love to work with you sometime.” He grinned crookedly. From the tone of his voice, I knew his words held meaning other than the obvious.

“You are disgusting,” I scolded, turning deliberately away from him.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Ignoring him, I scanned the room. Cris was still sitting there with Rhys, and she seemed slightly less annoyed than she had a moment ago. I glanced to my left and was relieved to see Les emerging from a hallway. He headed for me, half a grin on his face. My stomach did all sorts of flips.

“There’s going to be a meeting in the family room,” he said.

“What kind of meeting?” I asked, allowing him to guide me with his hand on my lower back.

“It’s just a few people getting together to bitch about vampires and try to figure out better ways to fight them. But we can make them aware of Ivory, at least. Some of these people have gotten pretty up close with vamps in one way or another, so someone might have an idea where to find him.”

“Great.”

I could see the warm light from the family room at the end of the hall. Before we got there I turned to him and tugged lightly on the lapels of his jacket, staring at my hands because I couldn’t meet his eyes. I hoped one day it would get easier to say certain things to him. I couldn’t always be afraid of disappointing him.

“You know . . .” I began hesitantly. “If this doesn’t work out . . . I mean, if nobody can tell us anything, I could always . . . There are other options—”

“We’ll think about that later,” Les said stiffly.

I gazed up into his eyes, which looked troubled and distant. “I’m sorry,” I said.

He blinked, his expression softening just a fraction. “Don’t be.”

We entered the family room together. There was a handful other people sitting in various places around the room: on the corner of the pool table, some bar stools to our right, and on a brown leather couch near a door leading to a back patio. Two of them looked up curiously when we entered, but the other three focused their attention on a guy standing on top of a case of beer at the front of the room.

Les and I squeezed into a vacant space on the couch and waited. My eyes narrowed when I noticed Mercer come into the room. He propped himself up against the pool table and grinned at me. I redirected my attention to the guy standing on the case of beer, who was clearly going to be leading this meeting.

He looked, I realized, a little familiar. Taking in his short black hair, well-fitting sweater, and the bright white of his teeth when he smiled, I finally placed him. He was the preppy guy from the café who’d tried to pick up Criseyde. It was a little surprising to find out someone so impe
ccably groomed was involved in the strategies behind vampire killing, but in Las Secas, I supposed anybody could be.

“All right, guys,” he called out at last, his voice manly and booming. “I’m Ethan, for those of you who don’t know me. So, you guys are here because you’re sick of vampires. Well, me too. The first thing to know is they’re not immortal and not invincible. The surest way to kill one, in my experience, is just to cut off its head. But that’s a lot of work, and it’s not strictly ne
cessary.”

“Can’t you burn it?” someone asked. The source of the voice was a black-haired girl to my left.

“I guess you could,” Ethan replied, “but it’d be pretty hard to contain it. What you want to do is
stop
the vamp first. The best method I’ve come up with is just to shoot the son of a bitch in the face. That slows them down enough so that you can finish them off. They’re tough, so you have to make sure they’re really dead.”

“What if we don’t have guns?” someone else wanted to know.

“Get one. If you can’t, just carry any weapon you can get your hands on. Make sure you know how to use it, though.”

“Staking works,” Mercer said. “It shocks them for a minute. You’ve got to be quick, though.”

“You have to be quick no matter what,” the black-haired girl muttered.

“They don’t like the sun,” another guy said.

“Right,” said Ethan. “I put some UV lights on both my truck and my brother’s. He hasn’t had to use his yet, but I can tell you when I turn those lights on, the vampires get the hell out of there. If they can’t, the light just freezes them. Not sure how that works, but it lets me kill them without much trouble.”

“Knives work just fine, if you’re good at close-range fighting,” Les put in. “Vamps can bleed out just like anyone else.”

“Great. Okay, now, I wouldn’t advise you to go out looking for vamps,” Ethan said to everyone, “but it’s best to be prepared. I’ve killed a few, and it’s not easy.”

They talked some more about the best ways to kill vampires and I found my thoughts drif
ting. This was useful information in general, but I needed to know about Ivory.

“Have you ever heard about vampires kidnapping humans?” I asked Ethan when there was a pause in the conversation.

“Well, yeah.”

“I mean, what happens to the humans? Do the vampires ever release them? Everyone knows it doesn’t make much sense to kill them, since that would mess with their blood supply.”

“Why do you ask?”

“They took my brother, and I want to get him back.”

Ethan smiled a little indulgently at me. “You can’t. If the vampires who took him want to let him go, he’ll get back to you. If not, he’s already gone.”

“That’s not good enough,” I muttered.

“They must have had a reason,” he mused. “Generally, they don’t just abduct people right off the streets. They may attack, but like you said, they tend not to kill. They get their blood and get out of there.”

“They
did
have a reason. My brother said he knew something. But I have no idea what that is.”

“If that’s the case, I’m sure he’s already dead.”

I glared. Ethan was not helping. “I just want to find out where they’re keeping him. We have to stop them, because sooner or later they might come after me, or Les, or my friends, or anyone else in town.”

“Maybe they’re eliminating their threats,” someone said.

“I don’t think they
like
killing us,” I said, earning dubious looks. “Well, not all of them like it. It’s not their goal. It’s not why they let the public know about them.”

“You seem quite well-versed on vampires,” Mercer said to me, sounding suspicious.

“I have my sources,” I said, not looking at him.

“I just can’t imagine what human could have given you this information. How could you even have such ideas unless your source is a vampire?”

There were scattered murmurings around the room, but luckily it didn’t seem as if anyone was about to lynch me for being some kind of vampire conspirator. Les gently squeezed my knee and I fixed Mercer with my best ice-cold expression. “Not that I have to explain myself to you, but I haven’t been anywhere near a vampire since I was bitten.”

“You were
bitten
?” someone cried in a voice torn between horror and excitement.

“Yes, when I was nine. And I’m not sure how this could help you guys, but you might be i
nterested to know that each vampire prefers a certain flavor. They have, like, favorite foods, I guess you could say.”

I felt Les look questioningly at me. This was something I’d forgotten to share with him.

“Again, how would you know that?” Mercer demanded.

“I did research,” I said acidly. “Besides, when you know people who hunt vampires for a li
ving, you learn a few things.”

“Well,” he said, smiling narrowly. “What do you taste like, I wonder?”

I stood up quickly, offended, and Les right behind me. Several choice words zinged about in my mind, but instead of saying them I walked stiffly past Mercer’s smirky eyes and left the den. What was wrong with that guy? I’d just been trying to help those people by telling them what little I knew. I hadn’t expected to be questioned on that knowledge. I certainly hadn’t expected such harassment from some random insurance salesman who moonlighted as a guy who hired vampire hunters.

Mercer, however, was right about one thing: humans couldn’t give me the knowledge I needed about vampires. Only a vampire could. That meant only a vampire could help me find Ivory. One way or another, and no matter what Les said, I was going to get Rade to help me. T
onight.

“I want to go home,” I said.

“I’m sorry about Mercer,” Les said, coming up behind me. “I never knew he was so . . . crude.”

I smiled over my shoulder at him. “Don’t be.”

We collected Criseyde, who appeared suspiciously reluctant to leave Rhys. I was so focused on how I would get out and see Rade, I didn’t even bother to tease her about him. I decided I wouldn’t tell Les about my plan. He would only try to talk me out of it, and I would listen.

I already felt a knot of self-loathing forming in my stomach at the thought of lying to him. Sneaking away from him.

It had to be done, I told myself, trying to push the bad feelings away for now.

Les could hate me later, but I was going to see my vampire tonight.

thirteen

tidal f
orc
e

: the differential gravitational pull exerted on any extended body within the gravitational field of another body

The sun was down and the curtains were drawn. I lay stretched out on top of Les, stroking a piece of my hair across his chest like a paintbrush. My suntanned arm looked so dark against his skin, which was pale all over from him rarely going outside during the day for the past several years. He kept roughly the same hours as a vampire, but he looked healthy and alive, not chalky and dull. He was beautiful.

“I was always jealous of your girlfriends,” I said.

“I know. But after a while, they were all jealous of you too.”

“What?”

“I’m sure it had something to do with the fact that you lived under the same roof as me, and were so obviously into me.”

I rolled my eyes. “I thought I was hiding it pretty well.”

He grinned almost ruefully. “I thought about you all the time these last three years. Every time one of them touched me, or kissed me, or . . . anything, it was you in my head. Even though I tried to fight it.”

Unexpectedly, his words made me a little upset. I pressed my lips together and tried to r
emain calm and lighthearted. “You should have gone celibate. Don’t you know how much I agonized over those girls getting to be with you?”

“They were just . . . They weren’t special to me.”

Tears sprang to my eyes in that instant. It was the stress of the past few days catching up with me, the hurt of pining for him for ten years without acknowledgement. Some part of me knew this dimly, but I couldn’t rationalize with myself.

“Then why did you keep bringing them around?” I asked softly, not looking at him. “Why did you have to
fight
what you felt? Why didn’t you want me? Was something so wrong with me?”

I felt his hands tighten slightly on my arms. I chanced a glance at him and found him looking apologetic and slightly irate. “Sorry, Ash,” he said. “Nothing’s wrong with you at all. I . . . It’s just . . .
strong
. What I feel for you. So strong it’s kind of alarming, as much now as it was three years ago. I thought maybe it would go away if I spent enough time with other girls, but it never did. And not one of them ever made me feel even a fraction of what you do.”

I blinked, astonished and feeling foolish. “Okay, but . . . why did they all have to be so pretty?”

“Are you kidding? They’re nothing compared to you.”

I worked to keep a satisfied smile off my lips. “So what made you decide to stop running away from your
feelings
?” I asked in a cool voice.

“Well,” he said, “after Ivory was taken, I realized it could have happened to any of us. I knew that all along, of course, but it just didn’t occur to me that I could . . . lose you.”

“You were afraid of losing me.”

He nodded.

I felt tears forming again, but there was no anger behind them this time. I let my forehead fall to his chest. When his arms wrapped around me, I relaxed and breathed in the scent of his skin. All my dark, destructive thoughts slipped away.

“It was only three years difference,” I said after a moment. “It wasn’t
that
big a deal.”

“You were sixteen and I was nineteen. I felt a little pervy about that.”

“I’m glad you don’t feel like that now.”

“Actually, I feel a
lot
pervy now, but in a good way.”

I shook with sudden laughter for a minute and when I calmed down, I let him kiss me. I couldn’t resist his lips, or his hands on my skin. It thrilled me to feel his muscles as he braced himself above me. I loved the way his eyes held mine without flinching. I loved to lie in the comforting circle of his arms, feeling warm and content and slightly buzzed.

As much as I wanted to, though, I couldn’t stay there all night.

I slid reluctantly away from him and pulled on jeans and a tank top. “I’ll be right back,” I said softly.

I’d had my back to him, but now I turned around, trying to keep the guilt off my face. He lay there on the bed, shirtless, the sheet pulled up to his waist. I wanted more than anything to crawl back in beside him and feel his skin against mine forever. Instead I settled for a slow, lingering kiss that almost made me change my mind altogether.

“Right back,” I said again, my voice slightly more desperate this time.

“Make it fast,” he said, holding on to my hand as I stood up. I stepped away slowly, gripping his fingers as long as I could, until at last I was too far and our hands dropped away from each other.

Leaving the room, I shut the door carefully behind me. I tiptoed toward the living room, glad I’d left a pair of flip-flops by the front door so I wouldn’t have to explain to Les why I was pu
tting on shoes just to go to the bathroom. Criseyde’s keys were on the console table, and I lifted them off as quietly as possible.

It was a wretched feeling, deceiving everyone I loved.

“Where are you going?”

Whirling around, I clutched at my rapidly beating heart, but it was only Aleskie. She’d given up the bedroom she’d been using so Les and I could have it. I’d forgotten she was supposed to be sleeping on the couch.

“Uh . . . nothing,” I whispered. My eyes darted to the hallway, but neither Les nor Cris showed themselves.

“You’re sneaking out,” Aleskie guessed, though it was pretty obvious what I was doing. “You’re going to see that vampire, aren’t you?”

For a moment I didn’t know what to say. Then I squeaked, “Don’t tell.”

She sighed and rose off the couch. “I’m not going to tell. But I
am
coming with you.”

“What?”

“Someone has to make sure you don’t get into trouble.”

Glancing quickly at the hallway once more, I decided I didn’t have time to persuade her to stay home. “Fine,” I agreed, “but don’t get in my way. And don’t try to talk me out of anything.”

With Aleskie following close behind me, I eased open the front door and stepped out into the warm night. I held my breath and hoped Les wouldn’t hear us leaving. We stole down the driveway to Criseyde’s car, closing the doors as softly as we could, but in the still of the night they sounded so loud. The engine starting was a roar.

“Oh my god,” I muttered as I pulled away from the curb, managing to steer the car despite my shaking hands. “Oh my god, I am a terrible person. He’s going to hate me. He’s never going to speak to me again.”

“You’ll be fine,” Aleskie assured me.

But when I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Les standing at the base of the driveway wearing just his ratty, faded jeans, it didn’t seem like I would be.

~

I wasn’t sure whether Rade would be at his apartment or at Shiver, but I drove by his apar
tment first because it was the safer option. When I knocked on the door, however, there was no answer, and I rejoined Aleskie in the car.

“No luck?”

“No. I guess I’ll have to try Shiver.” Starting the car, I turned to her. “When you were at the hotel that night, you were trying to find out about Ivory, weren’t you?”

“Yes,” she admitted, lowering her blue eyes as if she’d done something wrong. “He wasn’t my friend in school, but I knew who he was, and he’s a good guy, and he helped me, so . . .” She trailed off and looked up at me hesitantly.

“Thanks,” I mumbled. “For caring about my brother.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Who was that guy you were with?”

She looked sheepish. “Oh, he’s just . . . His name’s Greg. I ran into him that night Les kicked me out. He was at school with us too, but he was a year behind me. Anyway, it turned out he was willing to let me drink his blood and I needed a place to stay . . .”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.”

“What’s there to be sorry about? That’s my life now.”

“So how did you know about the attack on the house?” I asked.

“At the dinner thing, there were a couple vamps talking at the table next to me. I don’t know who they were, but they said your name and mentioned the area where you live. I wanted to li
sten to them as long as I could, but for the rest of the time they were there they didn’t say anything else about it. By the time I got out of there, it was almost sunrise. As soon as it got dark the next night I came right over to you. I tried to beat them.”

“Well. Thanks,” I said miserably.

“I didn’t see the vampires who took Ivory, but I’m not sure who else would have reason to attack you. Maybe the vamps who came to the house work for them?”

“And they wanted to attack me because . . . of Ivory?”

“Must be. I don’t really know.”

Something else occurred to me. “Where do vampires go during the day?”

Shrugging, she replied, “Rade has his apartment, of course. Others do too. Some stay in abandoned buildings, since there are so many of them around here now. If it wasn’t for Greg, I’d have stayed in empty hotel rooms or something.”

“Don’t you have family?”

“Yeah. But I haven’t seen them in four years. Or anyone else I know. Besides Greg, Ivory is the only I’ve seen from my . . . my
old
life.”

“What do they think happened to you?”

“I told my parents after I got changed. They were upset, of course, and I told them I wouldn’t bother them. I needed time to myself. Getting forced over to the dark side . . . it was pretty traumatic.”

I smiled feebly. “How come no one can find vampires during the day if they stay in such normal places?”

She shrugged again. “Because they don’t want to be found, I guess. And maybe people are afraid to look.”

I wanted to ask her about the change, about her life as a vampire, but there was no more time to waste on conversation. I had to speak to Rade and get back to Les before the night was out. I hoped I’d have something valuable to share with Les this time to justify me lying to him. But even if I brought Ivory himself back with me, I’d betrayed him. He would never trust me again, I feared.

For Ivory, it was a risk I had to take.

Sorry Les
, I thought.
I love you, and I’m sorry.

How many times would I have to say that to him before the words didn’t even mean an
ything? It was practically becoming my life’s motto.

“Don’t worry so much about it,” Aleskie admonished, seeing my agitation.

“I’m not worrying,” I lied uncomfortably. “It’s not like Les owns me or anything.”

“I know that. He knows that, I’m sure.”

“Aleskie,” I said. “I love Les. But I’m afraid I’d never be able to stop myself from seeing Rade, even if I wasn’t trying to find Ivory. I don’t even like him. But I don’t hate him. I thought I did. I just . . . It’s confusing.”

“It happens,” she muttered. “It’s called thrall.”

“How do I . . . how do I stop it?”

“You don’t.”

When we reached Shiver, I was actually relieved to see the same doorman standing outside the club. He knew me and he knew Rade. Asking him a favor wouldn’t be nearly as frightening as venturing inside to look for Rade myself. I hoped.

“Hey,” I said, walking up to him as casually as I could. Aleskie waited in the car.

“Hello,” he said lowly, suspiciously. He tossed his head, his eyes catching the light for a second. They glittered briefly, then returned to darkness.

“I’m looking for Rade.”

“He’s inside.”

I glanced at the door, then back at him. No way was I going in there a second time. “Could you get him for me?” I asked as sweetly as possible. “It’s important.”

“Yes, well, it’s important for me to stand out here and guard the door. So no, I won’t.”

“Um . . .” I looked at the door again, then took a couple steps back. “Never mind. I’ll . . . talk to him later. Bye.”

“Wait a second.” Quick as a shadow he moved toward me and closed his long, slim fingers around my wrist. He didn’t hold me hard, but I couldn’t pull away.

“Let go,” I said, panic starting to rise in my chest.

“I could take you to him myself,” he offered.

“No, that’s—”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Aleskie walked up beside me. She had spoken in an oddly tough voice, so different from the soft, diminutive tones I was used to. With her usually timid eyes narrowed, jaw set at a slight a
ngle, she looked much closer to the fearsome vampire she’d been the night at the dinner club.

The doorman looked affronted. “I am attempting to escort this girl inside the club.”

“Not without me you’re not. Nice try.”

“Hold on,” I said, jerking my wrist free. “I’m not going in there again. Go get Rade for me and I’ll wait out here, or don’t get him and I’ll go home. It makes no difference to me, but I’m not becoming anyone’s midnight snack.”