To Kill An Angel (15 page)

Bo shrugged.  “I don’t see any problem with that.”

“Since I’ve had some…some…”

“Human blood,” Cade provided from across the room.

Both Bo and I sent him a withering look.  Cade held up his hands as if in surrender and turned his attention back to Annika.

“Since I’ve had that, she should be safe around me, right?”

“I think so, but if you don’t feel comfortable, maybe you should wait.”

I flicked my fingers as I pondered.

“Well, I really need to tell her what’s going on, especially since Trinity said that she’d seen Heather there.  I was going to tell her the other night, but Sebastian called and I didn’t get the chance.”

“If you’re concerned about your thirst, I could go with you.”

“Would you?  That way if she doesn’t believe me, maybe she’ll believe you.”

He shrugged again.

“It’s worth a shot.”

I called Savannah back and told her I’d be there in about ten minutes, but that I’d come to her window.  She was curious, of course, so I explained that I wanted to talk to her in private.  I think she was still a little suspicious, but she agreed without further question.

Rather than take any risks with the car, Bo and I jogged the distance and ended up getting there in half the time.  Speed was one of the greatest upsides to being a vampire.

I crept through the grass and approached Savannah’s house.  Bo hurried around to the side of the garage to wait in the shadows. 

Savannah must’ve been literally at the window waiting for me.  She slid the glass up just as I was drawing near. 

I was immediately hit with the tantalizing scent of her blood.  Even from around the corner, Bo must’ve sensed or smelled my reaction because I heard him whisper too faintly for Savannah to hear,
Mr. Hearst
.  Between the comical nature of his timely reminder and the reminder itself, I quickly brought my focus (and my body) back under my firm control.  I also silently thanked Cade for his blood donation, the thing that would most effectively keep my friend safe from my wayward appetite.

I approached Savannah.  Even in the darkness I could see the flawless texture of her skin as if we were standing in broad daylight.  Her hair was a more vivid red than I remembered and her eyes sparkled like chocolate diamonds.  She really was a beautiful girl and I hated to be the one to have to bring my sweet friend bad news.

“This is awesome!  I’ve had more visitors through my window since I met you than I have my whole life,” she teased quietly.

“How did you know I was here?”

“I could hear you,” she explained, lest I forget how heightened her sense of hearing had become.  She stepped back from the window, presumably so I could climb through.

“I’ll stay out here.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.  Come on in.”

 “No, seriously, it’ll be safer for you if I stay outside.  Trust me.”

With that, Savannah approached the window again, her porcelain brow puckering in worry.

“Why would you say that?  What’s wrong?”

“Savannah, I’ve got to tell you something and I know it’s going to sound crazy, but it’s very important that you keep an open mind and try to give me the benefit of the doubt.”

“Are you an alien?  Because I’m not one of those people that think Superman was a freak.  I’m down with all the—”

I chuckled, interrupting her before she really got going.  “Savannah, I’m not an alien.”

“Are you sure because I—”

“I’m positive.  But there is something that I have to tell you and it is about me.  And Devon.  And your mother.”

Savannah’s frown deepened as she leaned on the window sill.

“What about Devon and my mother?”

I had to wonder briefly if she was already suspicious that something was amiss.  Something about the way she asked, the way she half-turned her face away, as if she wasn’t quite sure she wanted the truth.  Of course, it could’ve been my imagination, too; it was a well-known fact that it worked overtime on flights of fancy.

“The night we were attacked, did you think it was a little strange that Lars was so strong?  And Trinity?”

“I don’t—”

“I know you’ve started to remember bits and pieces of that night, Savannah.  And there are other things that don’t add up either.  Like you being able to see Devon and all of a sudden your dead mother starts appearing to you.”

“But what does that have to do—”

“We’re vampires, Savannah.  All of us.  Bo, too.  Trinity was, but she’s gone now,” I said, my throat closing up over the last words.

“Vampires.”  Savannah said it matter-of-factly, as if she didn’t believe a word I said, but her eyes shone with a twinge of fear as she looked blankly past me.  “Is that the best you can do?”

“I’m serious, Savannah.”

“So am I.  You came all the way over here to visit me and feed me this line of unimaginative crap?”

“It’s not a line of crap.  It’s the truth.”

“And you expect me to believe you?”

“I was hoping you’d at least give it some thought.”

“Of course I won’t give it any thought.  It’s ridiculous.”

“Well, you’re making a huge mistake, because it’s not ridiculous.  It’s true.”

At Savannah’s pause, I realized her disbelief was not ironclad.

“There’s nothing to support what you’re saying,” she argued.

“What about all this stuff with the Slayer?  Haven’t you ever wondered what it’s really been about?  How he was never caught, just sort of disappeared?  And all the people we know that are now missing?”

She didn’t need to answer.  Her expression said she had puzzled over it, too.

“Alright then, say you’re telling the truth.  You said we.  If you are all the same, why can’t I see you?  Why can’t I see any of the others?”

“Because I have recently,” I tripped over the gruesome term, “fed.”

“So you’re saying that when a vampire hasn’t had blood, I can see them for some reason?”

“That’s what I think, yes.”

“So you’re trying to tell me that you think Devon is a vampire.”

“Yes.”

“Then what about my mother?  She drowned, remember?  She’s dead,” Savannah stated, the hurt still evident in her voice.

“I happen to know that she’s not.  Dead, that is.”

Savannah’s eyes widened and I could see her struggling to quell the hope that rushed to the surface.

“That’s insane.  I mean, how…”

“I haven’t figured that out yet, but trust me, your mother’s alive.”

“Trust you?  Have you- have you seen her or something?”

Here comes the hard part.

“Yes.”

Savannah leaned out through the window.

“You’ve
seen
my mother?”

“Yes.”

“Ridley, you have to take me to her.”

“I can’t do that.  I don’t know where she is.”

“Then take me to where you saw her.”

“She won’t be going back there.  Trust me.”

“How can you even be sure it was my mother that you saw?  I mean, it’s not like you ever got to meet her.”  Savannah leaned back inside the window, her mind already working hard to come up with alternatives other than the fact that her mother purposely stayed away and let her loved ones think she was dead.

“I saw her picture in your room.  It was Heather, Savannah.  Trust me.”

She said nothing for several long, tense seconds and then I watched as her eyes filled with glistening tears.  Savannah put hands to her mouth, like praying hands.

“Ridley, are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“My mother is alive?”

“She is.”

Savannah laughed, closing her eyes to drink in an emotion I couldn’t fathom.  When they popped back open, however, they were filled with skeptical confusion.

“So she really has been staying away from me?  From us?  Why didn’t she come sooner?”

“I told you, she’s a vampire.”

“Ha ha, Ridley.  Be serious.”

“I am being serious.”

“Ridley, it’s not funny anymore.”

“I’m not trying to be funny.”

“Maybe I can help,” Bo said as he came out from around the corner to approach the window as well.

Savannah’s mouth dropped open.

“Bo?”

Bo smiled.  “In the flesh.”

“Omigod, come here,” she said leaning out the window with her arms spread, ready for a hug.

Bo obliged her by stepping in to her arms for a friendly embrace.

After they parted, Savannah withdrew once more inside her window.

“What is going on here?”

“They’re telling you the truth,” a familiar voice spoke from behind us.”

Bo and I turned, but saw nothing in the darkness.  I smelled something, though.  It was a sweet, musky smell that I couldn’t readily identify.

“Devon,” Savannah whispered.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Devon?” I asked, searching the dim light for his shimmer.  Even though my vision was great, I still couldn’t make out his form.  It had been far too long since he’d fed.

“Sounds like a lot of things have changed since that last time I saw you,” he said, his voice getting closer as he approached me.  I felt his hand at my shoulder.  “Come here.”

Devon pulled me in for a hug and I felt like crying for some reason.  In a way, he was like a taste of home, a taste of an existence that had been somewhat “normal,” one I’d never see again. 

Now, there was very little left of the life we’d shared.  Many of our friends were dead, our eyes were opened to a world we hadn’t even known existed and our future was scary in a way that only infinity as a vampire can be.

“Who got you?” he asked as he leaned back.

“Um, well, that’s another thing I need to tell Savannah.”

I turned back to my friend, who was hovering silently in the opening to her bedroom.  I felt the weight of what I was about to tell her pressing on my shoulders like an invisible gorilla clinging to my back.

“Savannah, somehow your mother got mixed up with a very, very bad person.  Actually, he was the very first vampire.  She…she’s…”  I trailed off, struggling to find a way to tell my friend something that would likely crush her.

“Just spit it out, Ridley.”