After Dark (The Vampire Next Door Book 2) (29 page)

Where was Rick? Still on the hard cold floor. He had sacrificed his comfort for her once again, and he would not order the boys off the furniture.

She slowly opened the door to his room a few inches to see him in the darkness with the small amount of light that drifted in. She lingered a few moments and wondered if the light was hurting him. She shut the door quietly, and wished for nightfall to swiftly come. She wanted to hear more stories of ancient times. She wanted to hear his voice. She wanted his company.

Rufus awakened slowly as she prepared supper for the boys. He wandered into the kitchen, smelled the food, looked at it, and mumbled. “I’m not hungry.” He drifted back into the living room and sat in front of the television.

“Rufus?” she asked, “Don’t you want anything?” She had finally learned to cook, and was eager to be useful, to feel accomplished. She was also relieved that she finally managed to convince the boys to sit at the table.

“I don’t know what I want,” he moaned.

“He never eats much,” said Jimmy. “He just always complains.”

“Yeah.” Charlie spoke while he chewed. “We’re skinny ’cause we tested positive, he’s skinny ’cause he don’t eat much.”

It was odd, she agreed.

“What’s odd? The hours I keep?” Rick emerged from the darkened hallway that led to his small room. She turned and looked at him; he did not appear to be bothered by spending the day flat on the hard floor. His hair was uncombed, slightly out of place, and he still wore the black faded jeans and dull white T-shirt that he wore last night.

“Rufus is odd!” Jimmy howled out with his usual loud voice.

“Shut up,” Rufus moaned from the living room, not quite looking away from the television.

“He won’t eat,” Laura said. “The boys say he never eats much at all.”

Rick watched Rufus as he stared lifelessly into the television. The light from the screen illuminated his fair skin, glowed into his eyes. And then Rick finally saw it. Could it be? He looked away. He could not say anything. Perhaps his friends would ostracize him if they knew? They stayed with Rick for protection and food and shelter. Rufus could offer them none of these things.

Rick went to his refrigerator, went through the motions of preparing his own food. Rufus stared at the process from a careful distance.

Rick was alone in the gallery. The tourists that occasionally came in to browse did not matter. If they came in at all, they usually left him alone with his thoughts.

Laura was good for the boys. They needed a mother. And she could see another side of the world through their eyes, the darker side. His world was dark, but not like theirs. Rufus. Would he come to him on his own? Maybe not.

And Laura herself? Should he even think of it at all?

He turned when he heard soft footsteps descending the stairs to enter the gallery. He was relieved that it wasn’t any of the boys. “You came to admire the art?”

“Maybe,” she whispered. “I don’t know,” and she came closer to the desk that he casually leaned against.

“I was wondering about Rufus,” he began.

“I think that it’s too bright in here.”

“Yes, it is, but it’s only for customers, if and when they come in.” He reached to adjust the dimmer switch that controlled the brightness. Instantly the room fell into a soft cool darkness. “That’s better. It does put a strain on me. Now, about Rufus.”

She didn’t listen. Instead she drifted closer.

“You didn’t really come in to look at the paintings, did you?” She was seized, pulled towards him. “What do you want, Laura? Do you want me to pretend to be like everyone else, so we can both end up miserable?”

“No,” she whispered. “I only want you.” She tilted her head back, gazed at the darkened ceiling and closed her eyes as he bent to her throat.

Slowly, peacefully, she awakened to his soft caress. His hand ran through her hair, stroked the small wound on her throat. She felt his warmth, discovered that he had warmth, that he wasn’t dead cold. Her eyes opened, she sat up. She was in his bed, he had carried her up after she had drifted down into blissful soft darkness.

The television was on down the hall in the living room. Did they know? Did they care?

“They are asleep, except for Rufus,” he whispered as he held her in his arms. “And they never listen to him. They will see that you are all right.”

“Will I be?” she wondered.

“Of course.”

She felt fine. No. Better than fine. Lightheaded, placidly lethargic. “What will you do now?”

“Keep you forever in my arms. What else can I do?”

Finally she slept. And he rose from her side, reluctantly, and drifted quietly out of the room. He had to. He could not feed from her anymore.

He could hear movement close by. In the kitchen, footsteps, shuffling, unsure footsteps.

There he was, opening the refrigerator, staring into it, its light illuminating his pale face and the entire room. “Oh go ahead, take it. I’ve got plenty and can always get more.”

“Huh?” the boy spun around in sudden fear.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry. I know. I can tell.”

“What d’you want from me?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all. But tell me, you’re awake all night, and can’t stand the light of day. Is that not so?”

“How d’you know?”

“I know. I didn’t at first, but now I do. And there’s nothing to worry about. You’re lucky. By some coincidence you landed in the right place. Because we can take care of you. On your own, on the streets, you’d starve, you’d die.”

“You mean I can die?”

“Yes, slowly, by starvation, and by the other unpleasant traditional methods they use to dispose of us.” Rick stood at the entrance to the kitchen facing Rufus. He hoped he could get through to him.

“Like, why is all this stuff happening to me?”

“Did you know your real father, Rufus?”

“Naw. My mother doesn’t even know who he is.”

“I see,” he sighed. “Well, maybe someday we can find him for you. Would you like to find your father? Most likely, Rufus, he was one of us.” Rick went to the refrigerator. Rufus stepped back as he came forward. He reached in, took out a bottle. “Want some? Yes?” The boy was coldly silent. “No?” No answer. “Never mind then. Look, whatever you do, don’t starve yourself. It’s the worst thing you could do.”

“What’ll happen to them?”

“Them?”

“My friends.”

He thought a moment. “There is no way to save them from the disease, if that’s what you mean.”

“No, I mean, what will you do?”

“You should already know I would never harm them. They’re as safe as they can be, for now.”

“There was blood on your mouth.”

“Oh. That.”
Is this how the parents of teenagers feel?
he wondered, as he put it in the microwave. “I suppose, growing up in their world, you would never imagine—”

“Who was it?” the boy demanded. “Are they dead?”

“Rufus, slow down. You will have a lot to learn.”

“What?” he whispered.

“No one is dead. Now stop jumping to conclusions.”

“I don’t want this!”

“Not now you don’t, but in time, Rufus, you will understand. Give yourself time. And, don’t ever starve yourself.”

Martin stayed home that day. He simply called in and let them know the situation. It couldn’t have been any of Them. It was in broad daylight. And now he watched as his little girl sat there, on the floor, in front of the television, gazing vacantly into the endless colorful and loud stream of cartoons. It didn’t seem to affect her. Though she had nightmares all night long, she did not speak of it in the morning. It was as if it never really happened. She acted as if it was just one of the bad dreams that she had awakened from. Who would do this sort of thing? Attempt to steal his little girl? In all his years as a cop, he had seen so many horrible things. He never imagined anything could happen to his own precious little girl.

Tirrell was by himself again, on the swing, swaying back and forth slowly, looking down at the sand on the ground. The other children ran about screaming and laughing, playing, fighting.

He was alone, like her. She went to sit beside him, but did not move. “Tirrell, did you see what happened yesterday?”

“Yeah.” He still gazed down at the ground.

Laura continued to ask, “Did you see the man—”

“The white truck. It was the white truck.”

“We all know the truck was white, Tirrell.”

“Street kids from grandma’s neighborhood say that when the white truck goes down your street, someone will die. That’s what they say.”

“Why, what do you mean, Tirrell?”

He rose from the swing and quickly ran away.

Tirrell’s mother told him to put the newspaper away and to do his homework right now and not to talk back damn it.

“But it’s another one!” he protested.

“Never mind that trash. Do your math.”

“But Mom.”

“Don’t you
but mom
me. Give me that.” She took away the nightly edition and read the headlines. The newest murder victim was sixteen years old. A street kid. Jesus God.

“Mom, when can we go home?”

Keisha didn’t answer. She had driven back to the house, again, just to see it, to see her dream destroyed.

“Mom.”

“Tirrell! Never mind. We are gonna get an apartment around here. Lina said a good one was gonna be empty real soon.”

“They’re weird,” and he pretended to look at his math book.

“Tirrell!”

“They are. They’re locked up in their rooms all day long. See? They don’t trust us ’cause we’re black.”

Keisha took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That’s not the reason, Tirrell. Now, just shut up, okay? And do your homework or you’ll be useless and end up like your father. Listen, Lina said that Alex will let us keep a dog in the apartment. How’s that? You wanted a dog. Right? Tirrell?”

“And they never eat nothin’ either.”

“Shut up.”

He awakened slowly, almost painfully, remembering the halfhearted but coldly suspicious accusations left with him the night before. From one of his own kind. He inhaled, smelled nothing but the familiar scent of both wet and dry paint drifting up from downstairs. He listened and heard only the television. He had not yet gotten used to hearing the constant electronic noise that had recently invaded his quiet home.

The door opened slowly, cautiously. It was Laura. He was glad she had chosen to stay. “Rick?” she stammered softly.

“Laura?”

She could not see him well; the room was nearly totally dark. “It’s Rufus. He’s gone.”

“Gone? What do you mean,
gone
?”

“We weren’t sure if you were awake yet, Rick, so I came in to see. The boys wanted to know what happened, but I think they were afraid to come in right now. They think—”

“What?”

“They’re really worried about Rufus being missing so suddenly. They wanted to leave, but I told them to stay. I told them you would go look for him. But they think you’ve done something with him.”

He ran his pale moon white fingers through his messed up hair. “No, he was upset last night. I found him looking into the fridge, and he started asking all sorts of questions. I tried to get him calm, but...” He looked in her direction. Fortunately she had the sense to conceal her small scar with a silk scarf. Even in the dim light he could tell it was an expensive one. “Look, keep the boys calm, okay? I’ll get out of last night’s clothes, then we’ll go out and find him.”

She left and closed the door behind her.

“Damn it,” he whispered. “Rufus, boy you are in deep trouble.”

He wouldn’t survive long. Not without his own kind. And the serial killer preyed upon the lost.

The Catalina rode out onto the street with the top down, letting in the light from the bright crystalline stars above. Rick could smell the salt from the nearby ocean mixing with the cool night wind.

“Wait! Wait a minute, hey.” It was Jimmy. He ran wildly down the stairs that led out into the yard. Charlie followed. Then came Laura, still wearing hear silk blouse, linen skirt, high heels, expensive designer silk scarf, and pearls—they were genuine, of course. Together they leapt into the car so quickly that its suspension quivered.

“What the—?”

“We’re gonna go with you!” Jimmy declared. “We ain’t got nothin’ to lose. We’re dead anyway!”

“Yeah,” Rick growled. “That’s just too damn bad. What about her?”

“I’m suicidal, remember?” Her cultured voice had little emotion, only a slight touch of sarcasm. He looked at her and wondered if she was finally getting a sense of humor.

“Okay.” The white wall radials hit the pavement. “Let’s go and find him.” They sped down the road into the darkness.