"Technically I'm separated. The porce paperwork is being drawn up now by my attorney."
"You're doing an awful lot of talking," said the Heroes' bartender, smiling at me again. His white teeth shone brightly, and so did the monstrously long teeth dangling from his neck. "And not enough asking."
"Fine," I said, feeling my heart calming down. This was Fang, after all, my best friend, my confidant, the man I had opened my life up to...all my secrets, all my fears. Everything. "What's your name?"
"You can call me Eli Roberts," he said. "But my given name is," he paused. "Aaron Parker."
I blinked, and might have gasped, too.
Aaron Parker. I knew the name, of course. Anyone in law enforcement would know the name. I looked at the man in front of me again...looked at the fangs hanging from the leather strap. Indeed, those weren't shark teeth.
"You're the American Vampire," I said.
He smiled and laughed lightly. "Could you say that a little louder, Moon Dance?"
Chapter Two
The Downtown Bar & Grill was a new restaurant in a very old building. The walls were brick and the black lacquer bar counter was epic. It stretched from nearly end to end and I could only imagine how many drinks had been served from its polished, scarred surface.
Aaron Parker, aka Fang, found us a table in the darkest corner of the deepest part of the lounge. Music thumped from nearby speakers. There wouldn't be a soul on earth who could overhear us. A waitress materialized out of the darkness like a ghost and took our orders. Aaron ordered for us. White wine for me. Jack and Coke for him.
"You remembered what I drink," I said. I found myself feeling wary and highly exposed and vulnerable. I also found myself fighting a very strong desire to run. But to run was to leave a lot of questions unanswered.
To run was to screw everything up, and I didn't want to screw everything up.
Aaron sat forward and studied me intently. I don't like to be studied intently. He knew that, didn't he? Interestingly, his look was the same look he'd given me many times at Heroes, a bar I frequented with my sister. Silly me, I had thought his probing glance had been an interest of a different sort. Now I knew differently. He had been stalking me. He had known who I was all along.
I instinctively looked away, feeling a bit like a freak at a carnival: "Come one, come all - see the real-life bloodsucker!"