Seer: Thrall (20 page)

I kept my voice and body posture casual and tried to watch both of them while appearing that I wasn't. I don't know if I was successful, but I give myself one point for the effort, anyway.

And so I noticed Aubree's look of approval before she turned to Solange.

Solange jerked her head just a little when I asked the question. I thought my question may have surprised her. Then she gave Aubree a considering gaze before answering. "That would be lovely."

"You know my tastes," I said. "My body is craving greens and protein tonight. I'm not sure what's going to happen when I start eating. I may turn into a pig. I burned a lot of calories today." I paused. "Do you have the same needs as I do after a day like today?"

"We burned every calorie you did," Sidney said. "So yes." She picked up the menu. She rarely looked at the menu here, so I was surprised. "Prime rib?"

My mouth began to water just at the thought, and I nodded with some enthusiasm.

"That stew special sounded really good," Aubree said. My stomach grumbled, and Aubree smiled. "That sounded like agreement."

Solange nodded and set the menu down. The waitress returned with our sodas and a breadbasket. I stared at it, my fingers twitching to grab a piece.

"I believe we're ready to order," Solange said. "We like to eat family style. We would each like a garden salad. For appetizers, we'll have the crab cakes and the scallops. For our main course, we'd like two servings of the stew and the king size prime rib, medium-rare. A baked potato for each of us, and a serving of the asparagus to share."

The waitress clarified our choices for dressings, assured us everything would be exactly to our liking, and disappeared.

Solange took a piece of the bread, setting the basket down between her and Aubree. She buttered the bread, then handed it to me with a gracious nod of her head. I knew this was part of her ritual, sharing of food, and I accepted with thanks.

The bread was warm, and I devoured it. When next I looked, there was another piece sitting on my bread plate. I ate it somewhat more decorously.

After that, Solange orchestrated the food, serving as hostess for our table. Aubree and I were both accustomed to that. We knew it was important to her, and in the past, I had always appreciated it.

I found it comforting, and it thawed my heart a little. It seemed to help calm Solange as well.

"You know," I said, "given how important this is to you, I don't know why you never entertain."

Solange cocked her head. "It's not a good story, Sidney," she answered. "I once told you about a former partner."

"The one who liked to entertain?"

"Yes. You perhaps understand now it was some time ago."

"How long ago?"

"One hundred and fifty-seven years."

I stared. The number was hard to comprehend.

"The house isn't a replica of your ancestral home, is it?"

"It's a replica of a home I once owned," she replied. "It burned to the ground."

"How long ago?"

"One hundred and fifty-seven years," Solange replied.

I stared. "I'm sorry," I said finally. "Did you want to tell the entire story?"

"Not tonight. I won't be able to think clearly if I do."

"Did she betray you?"

"Yes."

"Oh Solange," I said. "I'm sorry. You must hate me."

"No," she replied. "But do you begin to understand my reaction?"

I nodded. "I'm sorry."

"I've already forgiven you, Sidney, but thank you." She paused. "Aubree knows the story. Other vampires know of it, primarily through rumor, but I haven't told it to anyone else."

I nodded then hid behind my soda glass for a minute. When I set it down, Solange had calmed her features. "So," she said. "May we continue our conversation?" I nodded assent.

"Forgiveness," Solange said. "I would like to know if it's possible. I was under the impression we were on that path, but from your reactions this afternoon, I fear I was mistaken."

"I'm sorry," I said. "It felt like you were belittling my feelings, as if the past year is something I should just shrug off. No big deal, and I'm being unreasonable for feeling otherwise."

"That's not what I was trying to do, Sidney."

"I understand that now. I just meant that my reactions this afternoon shouldn't be construed as anything other than they were: a reaction to what I thought was going on."

She nodded, and there was perhaps a small smile. "So I may have hope? I wasn't entirely wrong in thinking you were beginning to forgive me?"

"You may not have been wrong," I admitted. "But that's not the same as time for hugs and kisses."

"All right," she said. "Sidney, I ask a favor."

"Oh?"

"These are difficult topics and complicated besides. You tend to react quickly, before everything is in the open. It makes it difficult to talk to you, because I spend a great deal of effort trying to find a way to present everything in a fashion you'll hear it all before reacting emotionally."

"Like I did this afternoon."

"I may not have explained things as fully as I did if you hadn't let everything out," Solange said. "I am not faulting you. But I want to explain some things, and your natural reaction is going to be to grow angry."

"I will try my best to contain my reaction until you get it all out, Solange."

"All right. Thank you. I want to talk about the last year. You have said you lost a year. You have said you paid a great price. I want to talk about that."

I already knew where this was going to go, but I thought it only fair to let her say it all. So I nodded.

"You commented earlier about your hair," she said. She reached forward and brushed her fingers through it, highlighting her point.

"It's gotten long," I said. I took some of the hair and looked at it. "It needs a trim. But it's otherwise perfect."

"It's beautiful," Aubree observed. "I like it."

"Thank you."

"You also told me," Solange continued, "that you are in the best shape you've ever been in." She brushed my face with her fingers, and I let her. "Your face looks five years younger than when we met." She took one of my hands. "So do these." She paused. "Do you disagree?"

"No."

"You didn't get this on your own. You didn't get this simply through hard work and exercise."

"I know."

"In some ways, you lost seven months, and then a few more in recovery. And you've lost time professionally, but I wish to address that later." I nodded agreement. "But you've gained years of good health."

"V is the fountain of youth?"

She smiled slightly. Aubree looked confused. "V?"

"Oh for crying out loud!" I said in mock outrage. "Don't either of you keep up with modern cultural references to your own kind?"

"V is vampire blood," Solange said quietly to Aubree. "It's from some television show. Sidney enjoys making references to these types of shows." She turned back to me. "Yes. V, as you say, is the fountain of youth. Sidney, if you never drink another drop of my blood, and you don't die from some violent cause, you've probably gained five years of good health. I've pushed back the ravages of time by far more than I took from you."

"If I don't drink another drop?" I asked.

"A separate conversation, but yes. Hmm. But you require more explanation. If you were to drink regularly, perhaps not as regularly as you have been, but every week or two as deeply as you drank today, then your life expectancy would be well over a hundred. If I were older and more powerful, then you could expect to live nearly indefinitely."

"Excuse me?"

She smiled. "I do not know how long you would live on my blood. A long, long time. Perhaps not indefinitely."

"You don't know?"

"The last person I shared blood with before you was Aubree. I've shared blood with retainers in the past, but times were more violent, and events intervened. So no, I don't know."

She let everything settle in.

"The point I wanted to make, Sidney, is that while I am not belittling what you have lost, you have gained as well. And at least in some ways, you have gained far more than you have lost. Will you agree with me?"

I thought about it. It was difficult to take it all in. I admitted that.

"I suppose it is," Solange agreed. "Sidney, you were starting to feel your age. Mid-forties is not old, but you were beginning to feel it."

"Does the effect continue? Will I look twenty-five a few years from now?"

"I don't know. I doubt it will roll back that far."

"Sidney," Aubree said, "someone looking at the two of you right now will believe you and Solange are of a similar age."

"So I look like I'm five hundred years old?" I asked.

They both stared at me, then Solange laughed loudly. She drank from her water, and when she set it down, she was smiling. "I needed that."

I didn't laugh, but I was smiling.

"I'm not belittling what happened, Sidney," she went on. "But will you agree you've gained something?"

I nodded. "Yes," I said. "It's been a difficult six months, but you're right. I feel good. I look good. I'm in great shape. I feel very healthy. I hadn't noticed some of the changes until today. But you're right." I paused. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she replied. "Do you know what you need to finish forgiving me?"

I thought about it. "I need more of my life back. Beyond that, I don't know. Time. I'm sorry. I don't know if I can offer more than that."

"I believe you just told me that forgiveness is still on the table," Solange replied. "Time. Time is something in abundance to me." She smiled. "To us."

"If we don't get killed, and you don't put me back, and I don't run away, and..."

"None of that's going to happen," Solange said. She put her hand on mine. "Is it?"

"Probably not," I agreed.

"So I may hope."

"You may hope," I agreed.

The waitress took that moment to reappear. She had the appetizers and refreshed our drinks. Solange, Aubree and I focused on the food for a few minutes. The crab cakes were wonderful, and the scallops were perfect. But I hoped the meal came soon. I was really quite hungry.

After dividing the appetizers and giving us each a moment to enjoy them, Solange turned to me. "Everything else we have to talk about is interrelated. I want to talk about your job first, but we might have to discuss all of it before coming to final decisions. I won't let you go back to your old job while you're taking my blood daily. I would let you code with a great deal of oversight."

I paused before responding. "I believe we're going to fight if you phrase everything the way you just did. I question your right to dictate to me whether I go back to work."

"All right," Solange said slowly. "That's a separate conversation. Can we agree that I have the right to control your access to my blood?"

"Yes, of course."

"Can we agree that cold turkey might be difficult?"

"Yes."

"All right. So I have the right to tell you I'm not giving you my blood daily if you go back to work?"

"Yes, but that's a discussion about your blood, not about my job."

"Perhaps, but perhaps you could agree that working with me is better than fighting, and we can have this conversation."

"Fine." I tried not to get my back up too much.

She paused again, perhaps considering her words. "Sidney, it's going to be too much work if I have to worry about my semantics. Will you give me the benefit of the doubt?"

"I'll try."

"Thank you. For you to go back to your old job, we have to wean you from my blood. Even for you to return to a pure coding position, unless you accept the oversight I mentioned, we have to wean you. For both of those, it wouldn't need to be entirely. If you aren't working on Saturday, you could drink Friday night, for instance. Are we agreed?"

"Yes." She was right about all of that, anyway.

"Good. You have some decisions to make."

"I do?"

"Yes. I have requirements. You will help me fight the impending war."

"I want to help stop it," I said. "If that's your goal, then we're readily aligned."

"Even if you don't care for my methods?"

"Then we might have more conversations."

"In order to direct your dreams, you need to reside in my home."

"Not necessarily. I could live nearby."

"Frankly, you can't afford 'nearby'. Are you going to fight me about this?"

I thought about it. "Not yet, but you aren't done talking. But I do not concede your point."

"Fair enough. Unless you move out, then I have the right to ask for concessions for household harmony. Agreed?"

I said slowly, "I'd like the specifics of what I'm agreeing to, but in principle, yes, agreed."