that?" He crumpled to the floor and sat with his back against the counter. "I'm so sorry, Jody. I didn't want to hurt you. I was just... sort of lonely."
She felt tears welling in her eyes and wiped them away. He was genuinely sorry, she could tell. And she had always been a sucker for pathetic apologies, going back as far as the time the bass player she was seeing hocked her stereo. Or had that been the construction worker? "What happened?" she pressed.
He stared at the floor and shook his head. "I don't know. I wanted someone to talk about books with. Someone who thought I was special. I met a girl at work. I was just going to meet her for coffee, nothing else. But I didn't think you'd understand. So I... well, you know."
Jody sat down on the floor in front of him. "Tommy, you could have killed me."
"I'm sorry!" he screamed. "I'm afraid of you. You scare the hell out of me sometimes. I didn't think it would hurt you or I wouldn't have done it. I just wanted to feel special, but you're the special one. I just wanted to talk to someone who sees things the way I do, who can understand how I feel about things. I want to take you out and show you off, even during the day. I've never really had a girlfriend before. I love you. I want to share things with you."
He looked down, would not meet her gaze.
Jody took his hand and squeezed it. "I know how you feel. You don't know how well I know. And I love you too."
Finally he looked at her, then pulled her into his arms. They held each other for a long time, rocking each other like crying children. A half hour passed, ticked off with tear-salty kisses, before she said, "Do you want to share a shower? I don't want to let go of you, and it'll be dawn soon."
Warmed and cleaned by the shower, they danced, still wet, though the dark bedroom, to fall together on the bare mattress. For Tommy, being with her, in her, was like coming to a place where he was safe and loved, and those dark and hostile things that walked the world outside were washed away in the smell of her damp hair, a soft kiss on the eyelid, and mingled whispers of love and reassurance.
It had never been like this for Jody. It was escape from worry and suspicion and from the predator mind that had been rising for days like a shark to blood. There was no urge to feed, but a different hunger drove her to hold him deep and long and still, to envelop and keep him there forever. Her vampire senses rose to the touch of his hands, his mouth - as if finally her sense of touch had grown to feel life itself as pleasure. Love.
When they finished she held his face against her breast and listened to his breathing becoming slow as he fell asleep. Tears crept from the corners of her eyes as dawn broke, releasing her from the night's last thought: I'm loved at last, and I have to give it up.
Tommy was still sleeping at sundown. She kissed him gently on the forehead, then nipped his ear to wake him. He opened his eyes and smiled. She could see it in the dark; it was a genuine smile.
"Hey," he said.
She snuggled against him. "We've got to get up. There's things to do."
"You're cold. Are you cold?"
"I'm never cold." She rolled out of bed and went to the light switch. "Eyes," she warned as she flipped on the light.
Tommy shielded his eyes. "For the love of God, Montressor!"
"Poe?" she said. "Right?"
"Yep."
"See? I can talk books."
Tommy sat up. "I'm sorry. I didn't give you a chance. I guess we were always talking about - about your condition."
She smiled and snatched a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt from the pile of clothes on the floor.
"I talked to the other vampire the other night. That's why I left the note."
Tommy was wide awake now. "You talked to him? Where?"
"In a club. I was mad at you. I wanted to go out. Show off."
"What did he say?"
"He said it's almost over. Tommy, I think he's going to try and kill you, maybe both of us."
"Well, that sucks."
"And you've got to stop him."
"Me? Why me? You're the one with X-ray vision and stuff."
"He's