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“I picked her up,” he whispered. It was a statement. Not a question.

“And took her to the motel,” Ethan continued for him.

“Yeah. ”

Pete staggered backwards. Ethan swiftly moved to shove the still-standing chair under him. Pete fell into it heavily. A cascade of memories overwhelmed him. He remembered confessing his love to Amaliya and his hopes she would one day settle down with him. He recalled sneaking her into the motel room and then what had followed. He had been joyously happy as they had made love for hours and then. . .

The beer in his hand fell to the concrete, its contents splashing over his boots, but he didn’t even notice. He cradled his face in his hands, overcome.

“What happened, Pete?” Ethan asked in a low voice.

“She had no reflection,” Pete whispered.

As clear as day, he recalled looking into the mirror over the vanity and seeing only himself, yet he had held her in his arms, had still been inside of her after their latest sexual romp across the room. “And I was afraid. ”

Ethan righted the other chair and sank into it. The sun was so low the stars were now flooding the East Texas sky. In silence, Ethan handed Pete another beer.

“She. . . started to cry. She was upset. Her tears were bloody. There was blood in them. I tried to get away from her, but she kept begging me to not be scared. I. . . saw her teeth. ”

“Sharp, huh?”

“Yeah, then she just threw me like a toy across the room. The rest is still hazy. ”

“She tried to remove the memory from your mind. ”

The second that door shuts forget about me. Understand? Amaliya’s voice whispered in his mind.

“Yeah. She did. With hypnosis or something. ”

“She was new to it all. Didn’t know what she was doing. You’re lucky to be alive, Pete. Others were not so lucky,” Ethan said.

Combing his hands slowly through his dark hair, Pete shook his head. The images filling his mind combined with what Ethan was insinuating was too much to fathom. The tranquility of his surroundings was at odds with the maelstrom inside his head.

“What you’re saying, it can’t be real,” Pete said at last. He popped the beer and drank it swiftly. He wanted to be numb. He didn’t want to feel. He wanted to be fuzzy. Ethan’s words were weaving Pete’s memories together into a tapestry he did not want to look at, let alone accept.

“Why not?” Ethan returned to the grill. The fat sizzling onto the hot coals filled the air with smoke and the stench of burning flesh.

“Because. . . if she died, she couldn’t come back. Dead is dead. ”

Ethan chuckled, shaking his head. “Oh, if only that were true. ”

“You think she’s some kind

of. . . vampire, don’t you?”

Glancing over his shoulder, Ethan gave Pete an incredulous look. “Think? I know she is. ” Ethan shoveled his food onto the platter and opened up the Tupperware bins he had on the folding table. Inside were bread, condiments and chopped up lettuce and tomato. Building his hamburger, Ethan continued, “I have no doubt that she was killed and buried in that forest. She rose a few days later probably hungry and very disoriented. Coming back does that to them sometimes. ”

“Them?”

“Vampires. ” Ethan finished making up his sandwich, covered up the remaining grilled meat, and settled back in his chair.

“It can’t be. It just can’t!”

“Think about it. It all fits together. The massacre at the college, her coming here and seducing you, feeding off you, then trying to wipe your memories so you won’t remember. She then heads on down the road and kills a trucker in a motel, and some crazy bitch on her way to kill her husband. I have figured that much out. ”

“Amaliya would never kill anyone!”

“She did, and she will. She will do it for blood. She needs it to survive. Right now she’s out there, hiding, probably afraid. ” Ethan bit hungrily into his burger, chewing swiftly.