Page 34 of Vampires of Eden

“If you say so.” Such a strange vampire. “I’m going to take the adhesive upstairs. Does anything else need to go? The drill and mixing paddle?” Those things are a bit heavier, so I figure I’d offer.

“Yes, please.” Daniel bends and starts gathering the tools. “I’ll take the trowel and spreader. They need to be cleaned first.”

I nod and we organize everything in silence. Once I snap the lid back onto the adhesive bucket, I lift it from the floor and Daniel meets me to hand over the drill and attachments.

“Do you accept my apology?” he asks, dead serious as he stands in front of me. “Yes or no?” He stares, not blinking his opaque eyes.

That weird staticky feeling had ebbed, but it returns with a vengeance and crawls down my spine. The question is awkwardly direct, as if he refuses to let me brush it off this time.

Swallowing, I accept the tools with my free hand, then shift toward the door. “Yeah… Yes.”

He smiles, but only kind of. It’s not that smug grin from before. It’s something else. Something more cautious. “Good,” he says, turning away from me. “Great.”

CHAPTER 9

Daniel

Karma, God, the universe—whoever. Some cosmic deity much greater than myself and with a flair for irony smacked me across the face today, over and over. Even my body is doing things that I thought it was incapable of.

Something strange is happening.

Driving back to the cottage was a physical challenge. Climbing the steps to my bedroom and showering was even worse because I absolutely overdid it today.

When I’m clean and cozy in soft sweats and a t-shirt, I collapse in a heap onto the couch in the front room. The rays of the setting sun cover me in an orange blanket of warm light. I close my eyes and relax every aching muscle, feeling the plush fabric against my skin as I sink deeper—like a heavy stone into an ocean of soft linen.

“Hard day?”

Bleary, I open my eyes from a soft touch on my nose. The room is cast in lamp light and it’s dark beyond the front windows. Leoni is bent at the waist, blinking her hazel eyes. The wavy bob of her hair swishes forward.

“¿Cómo te va?”

“I’m alright.” Slowly, I flip onto my back against the sofa. There’s no way I’m moving. Impossible. “How was your day?” I ask. “Is everything ready for Seze this weekend?”

“Yes, just about. I had a new banner printed and bought a better-quality tablecloth for the display. We’re getting professional about this—gotta have good marketing tools, you know? Brand image matters. Maybe I’ll pick up some roses, too?”

“Sounds elegant. I’m sure it’ll go well.”

Despite myself, a question swells in my mind, then trickles its way down to the cavern of my mouth. I’m reluctant to let it pass through my lips, but the unknowable force that’s been plaguing me all day triumphs yet again. “Is Alexander going with you?”

Leoni had left my field of vision and moved into the kitchen. Suddenly, she’s back, leaning over the couch so that she’s hovering above me, grinning. “He is. Did you see him today?”

I turn my head to stare at the empty hearth. “I did.”

“How did it go? It’s been, what—two weeks since you last saw him? Did you fight again?”

“A little.”

“Aww.”

“No blood was drawn and… I apologized. He said he accepted.”

Leoni nods. “That’s good.”

“He can sense me.”

“What?”

“He senses my nature, Leoni. He said that standing beside me is like being next to a high-voltage fence.”