Copyright 1996 by Anne Fraser and M.J. Gardner

Chapter Eight

Evelyn was digging through her bags, looking for receipts. They went in one pile, the clothes went into a large new suitcase, and the plastic bags were flung over her shoulder, where they wafted to the floor behind her like dead leaves. She had only just started attacking the sloppy pile of purchases when someone knocked at the door.

Who could be at her door? She knew she hadn't ordered room service, although a bellhop might make a tasty snack before she hit the road....

She opened the door cautiously to find Jake standing there, hands in his pockets.

"Can I come in?" he asked hoarsely. His eyes were red, and if Evelyn thought that six foot tall football players cried, she'd think he had been.

"Sure." She let him into the messy room and watched while he idly surveyed the foil-covered windows.

"Um, can I offer you something? From room service?"

"No, thanks."

She walked around him, studying him. He was just standing there with his head down. "I'm sorry about last night," she began, "but I didn't think it would freak you out this much."

"What? Oh, geez, I'd forgotten," he muttered half to himself. "No, no, that's not it. My girlfriend broke up with me."

"Oh. Would you like a seat?" She didn't wait for him to answer, but cleared off a chair that sat by the head of the bed.

Would it show friendly concern to ask why? Or would it just be nosy? "On account of the fangs?" she finally decided to ask. Jake was just sitting and staring into space.

"I tried to bite her."

"Shit, Jake. Uninvited? No wonder she broke up with you."

"I couldn't help it." His voice rose like a puppy's yelp. "I could hear her heartbeat, I could smell her blood, I got close to her neck and ... I just couldn't help myself."

"It's hard," she agreed, "but it gets easier in time. Of course, I don't try to stop myself. The only time I get near a mortal is to drink their blood." She started sorting through her bags again. She hoped he didn't mind if she worked while they talked. The nights were short and she wanted to have everything ready to leave tomorrow evening. "If you want to have a mortal girlfriend you need to find another source of blood, and keep yourself satiated."

Jake sighed. "I should have accepted your offer last night. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be ungrateful, I just ... freaked."

"No, I'm sorry," Evelyn protested. "I shouldn't have done it. I forget what it's like to be a human." She remembered how horrified she had been when Simms confessed his thirst for blood to her, and shown her the hollow needle that he used to drink from his victims.

"What's it like, being a vampire?" He knew what Adrian had answered when asked the same question.

Evelyn shrugged. "You're an outsider. Like having a disability. You can't go out in the day, you have to find a way to take care of business and such after dark. And, unlike a disability, you have to keep it secret."

Jake sighed.

"There's a certain satisfaction in not being human anymore though," she added, hoping to cheer him up. "I never did like people much."

"No wonder Adrian's so lonely," he mumbled. And I'm going to be that way too.

Evelyn came over and rested her hand on his shoulder. "Your friends already know you're going to be a vampire, right? They haven't all deserted you."

"Not yet," he muttered. He wondered how Max would react to a bite on the neck, not that he wanted to bite Max. But he probably wouldn't be any more receptive than Grace had been.

"I have a feeling that anything I say you're going to take to heart Jake. This is just off the top of my head. I don't know what it's like to be a vampire, I only know what it's like for me to be a vampire. You should definitely get another perspective on this before you get too depressed."

Jake's eyes rose to the level of her breasts and stopped there. The thought of a good-bye tussle on the motel bed flitted through Evelyn's mind, but she knew Jake wasn't in any kind of state for that. He wouldn't be able to stay focused. She turned away.

"If you want someone to counsel you to make up with your girlfriend, I'm probably the wrong person."

"No, I don't think that's an option. I think she was expecting it. Maybe not so soon, but sometime. She was prepared. Protected."

"I see."

Evelyn picked up the Danier outfit from the floor and straightened it on top of the other clothes in the suitcase.

"What are you doing?" he asked suddenly. He had been so absorbed in his own thoughts he hadn't noticed Evelyn was packing.

"Getting ready to leave." She sighed. "I've been away for a month, and there are some things I just have to go home and face." The perspective she had hoped to gain by going away hadn't really helped. She was calmer and cooler, but things didn't look any better from here.

"Your maker?" asked Jake.

Evelyn nodded. "You know I really hate the Faggot King -- Adrian," she amended when Jake frowned, "but he's a damn sight better than S-- than my bloodsire."

"Ss?" asked Jake. He was intrigued that she would not name him. It was something to think about other than his own problems.

Evelyn weighed it. She was leaving; she'd be out of the reach of anyone who might hold her blood lineage against her. And then, she really didn't know what Simms' problem was anyway. Maybe Jake could enlighten her.

"Alistair Simms," she said at last.

Jake shrugged. "Never heard of him."

"He's a nasty son of a bitch," she growled, going back to her packing so she could hide her expression. It actually felt good to have someone to talk to about him. "And I can't get rid of him."

"Why not."

"We've been ... accomplices."

"Then you must have as much on him as he has on you."

"More, actually, but he doesn't have anything to lose. Shit, if I had to leave this life behind...." She spread her hands. The house. The cars. The money.

"Adrian always keeps his money in the mattress, so to speak, in case he has to move on suddenly."

"I don't have enough mattresses."

"Oh."

There was silence for a while. Evelyn packed. Jake brooded.

"Has Adrian taught you much?" she asked finally to break the silence. She liked talking to Jake, no matter what it was about. In fact, she liked him just being here in the room, even if he was silent.

"No, not really. I can't say I've been an eager pupil."

"I was lucky. I met up with a vampire in the morgue who gave me blood and took me out on my first hunt."

"Not Simms?"

She shook her head. "He was long gone. He didn't expect me to die so soon after he gave me the blood. But he hasn't taught me anything since he came back."

"Why did he turn you?" asked Jake out of curiosity.

"He said he loved me."

"And did you love him?"

"No." Evelyn shook her head.

"Then why did you do it?" Jake's turning had been accidental; he wondered why anyone would go through this voluntarily.

"Turn down immortality?" she asked, as if it was unthinkable. "I didn't have a lot of time to consider the decision. And it wasn't going to happen until I died, which I figured was a long way off. There's something positive. You have immortality to look forward to."

Jake sighed. "Outliving everyone I love ... everyone I know doesn't seem all that appealing."

"Does dying?"

Jake considered it. No, death wasn't very appealing. The vampires he knew might be lonely, but not so much that they gave up their immortality through suicide.

"Well, if nothing else, you have Adrian." Her dislike was evident in her tone, but if Jake liked the arrogant vampire, she supposed that was his prerogative.

"He's in love with me," said Jake dismally.

Evelyn made a disgusted noise. "Isn't that awkward?"

"Hell, yes!" answered Jake. "But we're good friends."

"I don't think he's such a good friend."

"You're not jealous?" ventured Jake. "You're not in love with me?" He didn't really think she was, but he had to know for sure. His life was complicated enough already.

Evelyn was more amused than offended.

"No, Jake, I'm not." And then she asked more anxiously, "But we are friends, aren't we?"

"Yes. Of course," he agreed.

It seemed to be the first thing she'd said that cheered him up. Should she ask him to go home with her? wondered Evelyn. There was room enough in the house for another vampire. After all, what was left for him here? And he was still mortal. He could drag Simms out in the daylight....

It would mean the end of so many problems.

She looked at Jake. Would he do it? Adrian had convinced him to kill a vampire once. Would he do this for her? A friend would do that for another friend, wouldn't they?

But then, a friend wouldn't ask that of another friend, she decided. Jake had enough on his mind, and she guessed that doing something like that would leave Jake with a guilty conscience. He was too good. He was going to have a hard time being a vampire.

"What?" he asked. She was staring at him.

"Nothing." She turned away and found some hotel stationery in a drawer.

"Here's my phone number, if you want it. But if a man answers, don't bother to leave a message. I wouldn't even trust him with that."

"Of course I want it," Jake assured her. He folded it and put it in his pocket. "I'm sorry you're leaving."

"You're not in love with me," she teased.

He smiled wanly. "It's tempting, but no."

"If you ever need help, or you decide you want to get away from--" she restrained herself from calling him the Faggot King, "--Adrian, you can call me."

"I will," promised Jake.