Midlife Blues - Victoria Danann Page 0,36
skin taken on a rosy tone as if he was blushing.
“That’s quite alright. Do you agree with everything that’s been said about your experience?” He nodded. “How did you sustain yourself?”
“Rain,” he said in a voice that was gravelly but much higher than his uncle’s. “And pigeons. They landed right on me like they thought I was made of stone.”
I tried not to think about that too hard. It’s not good to become queasy in the middle of a case. After all, I told myself, it’s not like I hadn’t eaten bird for lunch. It was just a difference in presentation. One live. One executed and then roasted.
“How did you come to be found?”
Ekrem looked at Bulent, who must’ve communicated some signal of approval.
“A vampire.” He shrugged.
“You were rescued by a vampire?” The kid nodded.
“How did that happen?”
“One night the vampire was on the roof.”
“At Notre Dame?”
“Yes.”
“What was he doing there?”
“I don’t know. Looking for food?”
“Then what happened?”
“I guess he sensed that he wasn’t the only, uh, creature. He turned his head and looked right at me.” The longer Ekrem talked, the more relaxed he became. His neck had elongated, his tail had unfurled, and he was beginning to use his stumpy hands, claws retracted, to gesture. “I was scared. I’d spent so long trying not to be noticed.”
“Had you met a vampire before?”
“No.”
“Then how did you know it was a vampire?”
“Stories. Vampires are the only creatures who have an aura that’s silver with a red center.”
“Oh. Can you read everyone’s auras?”
“Uh-huh.” He said it as if I should’ve known that.
“What does mine look like?”
He grinned, which transformed his face from cute to menacing, but I knew he didn’t mean me any harm. “Mostly blue. Some green. A little yellow.”
“Does my aura tell you that you can trust me?”
He hesitated, raised and lowered his wings, then said, “Yes,” quietly.
“So, the vampire recognized that you were not a stone imitation of a gargoyle, but the real thing. Then what happened?”
“He said, ‘Lost little fella?’ I was shaking, but said I was. He asked me how I came to be there. I told him. He seemed mad, but said he wasn’t mad at me. He said he’d take me home if I knew where home was.”
“Did you? Know where home was?”
“I didn’t know how to get there, but I knew Koln is the name. The vampire said, ‘Fly down to the street below and meet me there. I will take you home.’ I was so happy. He stepped off the edge of the roof. He wasn’t flying. He was going down fast, but not falling.”
“Like floating down?”
“That’s it! Floating.” Ekrem had become more enthusiastic by the minute. “He picked me up and set me on a pedestal and told me to wait there and be still. I didn’t want to.”
“Because, the last time someone said that to you, they left you there?”
He looked sad. “Yes. But I wanted to go home so bad.”
“I understand. What happened next?”
“He was only gone for a little while. He drove up in a car thing shaped like a box.”
“A van?”
“I guess so. He whistled and opened a door on the side of the box. I looked around. No one was close by. So, I flew right in. To the box.”
I looked at Keir for a minute before returning my attention to Ekrem. “Did the vampire steal the van?”
“I don’t know. Is that important?”
I smiled. “Probably not. Go on.”
“He said, ‘If we drive fast, we can probably get to Koln before sunrise.’ I’ve never been so happy. I was crying a little.” He looked around the room. “But I didn’t want him to know.”
“It was a harrowing experience, Ekrem. You were very brave. So, did you get to Koln before the sun came up?”
“Yes.” He sounded excited. “The vampire taught me songs and told me stories. He stopped at a store and got me Cheetos.” The kid looked into my eyes soulfully as if he was about to say something profound. “I looooove Cheetos.”
I smiled. “Yeah. Me, too. Now that I know my body can process anything, I might have some.” I paused considering that. “How did the vampire know you’d love Cheetos? I mean I wouldn’t have thought, there’s a gargoyle in the back of my van, I think I’ll stop for Cheetos.”
“He bought all kinds of stuff. I tried everything.”
“I see. So, you reached Koln.”
“We drove right to the spires.”
“He means the cathedral,” Bulent clarified.
“There’s a door to my world there. He made sure I