The Vampire (THE VAMPIRE Book 1) (75 page)

They really were kindred spirits. She probably already understood him better, at her young age, than anyone might ever. She definitely possessed a wisdom beyond her years. And she seemed especially good at reading him; had the ability to draw him out, to bring his true feelings to the surface. But not this time. He just couldn’t risk it.

She hadn’t witnessed any real interaction between himself and Augere. Her keen perception would have picked up a tension between them. But even if she did—this was a “boss and employee issue,” as far as she was aware; there was bound to be some tension. So what. She could never begin to guess the true situation. Not with the little she knew or thought she did.

“I guess it is more resolved than it was. Maybe not perfectly, and it may never be. I have been coping with a lot lately I guess: moving, starting a new job; forming new relationships: I met someone new and we have been dating. I thought maybe we had drifted apart, still being new to the relationship, but we seem to be back together, with the potential to be better than before. But I still feel unsettled—about many things.” It was all mostly true, but not among the parties she might think. He was intending to describe his relationship with Zavi, but he knew: it just as easily described his other significant relationship too.

“Well, you don’t seem as bad as you were at home. I hated seeing you like that. You are my rock. You know you can share whatever is on your mind…you’re a strong person and you will always work things out, I’m sure.” She paused and looked around her. “You definitely want to keep this job …” She paused, a look of concern taking over her expression.

They finished off as much of the pizza and wings as they wanted, as well as all of the sub. There was easily enough food for a crowd of people. Jason would never dream of ordering this much junk food normally but it had seemed right somehow to share this experience with Carrie. A one-time splurge. She excused herself to go to “the office,” a family joke, and promised to bring back a warm cloth for him to wash his hands.

With her out of sight, he was able to drop his nonchalant façade for a while. It was the first real chance he had had to review the events of the day. What on earth made Augere open that door? Who did he think it could be? So much for Augere being “ten steps ahead of us” as Terrance had said. And what about what Carrie had said to him—for god’s sake! What if he had taken her seriously? No. He doubted that would have happened. But how did he know for sure? A darker thought crossed his mind now. What if Augere interpreted those words to mean Jason had told Carrie about him? And that Carrie’s innocent choice of words, just an expression as Jason knew it to be, was seen as proof of that knowledge ? Oh no… And why wasn’t she bombarding him with questions about him…? He reflected on that too. He felt like he almost had that figured out…the thought was right there—

“That has got to be the best bathroom ever! That cool stone shower! And I just now realized the towel bar actually warms the towels for you!”

He nodded as he took a damp warm hand towel from her and used it to wipe his sticky hands. And perspiration from his worried forehead.

They watched more TV and laughed loudly, getting pretty raucous at times. They joked about family stuff, a shared history of things that had happened. Carrie expertly and lovingly mimicked a teacher both of them had had in school, years apart, whom both of them had loved. They laughed at the movie parodies; they could finish each other’s sentences and both knew the lines to various movies so well they could say them in unison with the actors, which made for a new wave of hilarity. Jason couldn’t remember when he had laughed so much. It turned out to be one of the most fun evenings he had had in a long time.

Finally Carrie was yawning and couldn’t stay awake any longer. She headed off to Jason’s bed, declaring she would help clean up the littered coffee table in the morning. He made up the couch for himself, so he could stay up and watch more old monster movies on TV for a while.

He stretched out comfortably, watching an old black and white classic horror film. He was very sleepy now, but his thoughts would not let him rest.

Any irritation he’d had about Carrie springing this visit on him had already dissipated; he really was enjoying her company. He admired her willingness to sacrifice buying makeup, the goth CDs, magazines, clothes and accessories, just to be able to afford that plane ticket. He would see to it she got the money back. His eyes were getting heavy now. It wasn’t her fault there was a vampire in the house. That bizarre thought, and the image of Boris Karloff dragging his mummified body after his beloved Anksunamen across the TV screen made his own reality seem that much more surreal. His last waking thought as he drifted closer toward sleep—he had figured it out:
she knew…she picked up on the fact that I was very upset that she saw him…that I needed to get her away from him as quickly as possible…that was why she didn’t ask any more… she is still puzzling that out…

Saturday morning was more overcast, grayer than the morning before. There was no bright light to awaken Jason this morning, so he slept in later, finally stretching slowly and yawning. He was tired enough to sleep some more; the dim light, comfortably warm covers and soft pillow invited him back to sleep. It was so peaceful and quiet.

Too quiet. Hadn’t he fallen asleep with the TV on? It had been on low volume but still…he rolled over slowly and opened one eye for a quick look. The TV was off. And the coffee table’s surface was clean. All of the food containers and sundry from the night before, gone. Carrie must be up, he realized, as he closed his eyes and snuggled back into his pillow, pulling the blanket up to his neck to enjoy another fifteen minutes or so of drowsy comfort.

A moment later, he sat bolt upright.
She’s up! Not again!
He dashed to the bathroom, then to his bedroom. No sign of her. He returned to the bathroom and performed minimal hygiene, grabbed some fresh garments and quickly pulled them on. Then he went to look for her. The library doors were open so he checked there first. Empty.
I hope he’s gone. Please, please let him be gone
. He headed for the kitchen.

There was Carrie, sitting at the small kitchen table holding a coffee cup in both hands. And there was Augere, sitting opposite her, with a cup sitting in front of him. Carrie was gazing intently into his eyes and they appeared to be conversing quietly.

Jason was pretty sure, that although he had never fainted before in his life, he was certain it was about to happen. It was not a very manly thing to do, he realized, but in that moment it seemed like a really good way to escape what he was witnessing. So he was actually pretty disappointed when that did not happen. Now he was going to have to deal with both of them, and with the situation he was witnessing.
Maybe I am still asleep and just having this…nightmare
.

He had no idea how to handle this. He very quickly compared it to other scenarios: being in a raft in shark infested waters; ascending Mt. Everest just as the last O2 tank went empty; plane crashing in the Amazon jungle just as night was falling: these were more easily dealt with predicaments, it seemed to him, than the one facing him now.

Somehow, someway, Carrie really had to be the one more responsible for this. But of the two of them, she was the more innocent; she did not know what was going on and what was at stake. Augere knew. He bore much of the responsibility for this as well. Jason was so furious with Augere he could not look at him. But just how safe was it to become extremely angry with the vampire?

Augere was avoiding eye contact with him as well.

As he should,
Jason fumed. After he had insisted, against Jason’s better judgment, that Carrie be brought to the house and Augere had all but promised she wouldn’t see him, would not even know he was present—how could he let this happen? Was this some kind of cruel game to him? Jason struggled with his anger. This really was not the time to explode: no telling what the consequences of that might be.

“Look who I found in the early hours of the morning, in that library room.” She beamed at Jason. “I made him come and have some coffee with me.”

Jason could not speak.

She had turned halfway in her chair, to be able to see Jason better. “He really likes my shirt and I had to write down the website for him so he can order one.” She was wearing the same Poe T-shirt he had seen before, a shirt he had admired also. “I just knew it was something he would like.”

“Carrie…” He tried to keep his voice even. “I have been trying to keep you safe…and myself—and even protect Mr. Augere—and I am just not getting any cooperation here.” Jason’s tone was tense, the words sharply enunciated and spoken through his clenched jaw, with an undercurrent of desperation probably evident in his voice.

An awkward silence lasted several moments.

“Safe…? Safe from what?”

“Why don’t you ask him?” There was a palpable tension in the room now.

“Oh, Jason, for heaven’s sake! You don’t have to protect anyone! He has been a perfect gentleman. And don’t be mad at him! I had to literally drag him in here by taking hold of his sleeve. He did say ‘Your brother will not approve of this; he will be quite upset. He will rest the blame on me’—those were his exact words. And I told him either he comes with me to the kitchen and has some coffee or I would just have to bother him in the library. His choice.”

Now Jason stole a quick glance at Augere though no eye contact was made between them. Augere managed to maintain an expression of childlike innocence.

With her back partly turned to Augere now, she did not see him rise then and move toward the door in one fluid motion with a barely audible, “I must leave,” before she could launch a protest. She turned quickly and got just a glimpse of his back as he left the room and then she turned an angry look toward her brother.

“Jason! I think you really upset him!”

Jason’s eyes grew wide. “If I upset him, it is because HE knows how much he has upset me!”

Carrie titled her head, and furrowed her brow, narrowing her eyes, almost squinting for a moment as she looked at Jason.

“What exactly is going on between you two?”

“Nothing. Only that he’s my boss. And I told you—he can be very difficult. You can’t just intrude on him, order him around like that! Maybe he was just being polite to you, but that doesn’t mean he won’t have some harsh words for me!…He made an arrangement with me, and then he totally ignored it.” Jason hadn’t meant for that last bit of information to slip out.

She nodded her head slowly. “He told me. He wasn’t supposed to interfere in our visit. And I told him—well, Jason will just have to be mad at me too then.” She shook her head. “I think you have him all wrong, Jason.”

Jason couldn’t reply. What had Augere told her, exactly? He didn’t want to be angry with either of them. But how could it be helped?

She got up and poured him some coffee and brought it to the table. He wearily sat down and stared into the cup, his mood as black as the contents.

“We’ve just been sitting here for more than an hour, talking.”

Jason groaned silently. This was a disaster.

“There’s something…so…unusual…so different…about him.”

“No. No there really isn’t.” So it seemed she really didn’t know. Yet.

She looked at him in surprise. “Yes—there is. There just…is…” She seemed to be trying to find the words. “Something—”

“Nope. Not really.”

“—a kind of—sweet innocence…about him, for one thing.”

“What?—how do you mean?” Sweet innocence sounded comfortably far from vampire. But if she didn’t know already, the more she thought and talked about him, the closer she would get to the truth. He feared for her safety, and his own, if that were to happen. He was shaking at the thought. Had Augere mislead her somehow, into believing something else about him, far from the truth?

“Well—” she paused, laughing a little, “when we came into the kitchen, he just stopped and stared. Like everything was a surprise to him. He walked around, looking at the table and chairs, at all the appliances, touching different things, like it was all unfamiliar to him. I mean, I know most of the stuff in the fridge seems to be yours, so maybe he doesn’t use the kitchen that much, but still… He liked all your refrigerator magnets by the way—and I must say what a weird and impressive collection you have there. I had meant to tell you that too. And then he noticed all the little white cartons on the counter, from the Chinese food—and he asked what those were for. And when I told him he asked, ‘Why are you eating the Chinese people’s food?’ Which totally surprised me. So I told him how good it is and then I said, ‘Haven’t you ever tasted Chinese?’ And he got this strange expression for a moment and then he said with a kind of shrug, ‘In a manner of speaking, I suppose I have.’ Come on now—you have to admit—that’s a little weird!”

Jason took too big a sip of his hot coffee as he could feel himself becoming more anxious.
Was Augere being deliberately…no…probably not
. They sat quietly for a few moments, both lost in their own thoughts.

“Uh…Jason…you’re about to put salt into your coffee—is that what you really intended?”

He glanced at the salt shaker in his hand, poised over his coffee cup. He shook his head.

“I can’t brain right now. I have dumb.”

Carrie laughed and then got up and brought him sugar and creamer. She refilled his coffee cup and prepared it the way he liked it. He took a few sips.

His initial anger had left him, but an uneasiness and growing fear held on, along with his own curiosity and fascination. He felt like he was sitting in the eye of the storm; a temporary reprieve.

Jason wanted to keep her off the subject of Augere. He needed to. But he was really curious about their lengthy conversation. He had rarely ever spoken to Augere for very long at one time himself. He felt somewhat envious. It was dangerous to keep her talking about him now, but maybe more dangerous not to know what had been said. Should he risk it? She made the decision for him.

“I asked him if he was being decent to you. I mean, I said I knew he took you to Paris and all those great places, but you know—was he being nice to you. Because he better be.”