just realizing I was afraid of her quick movements. She recoiled her hand and carefully tucked both hands on her lap, looked down.
“I want to know about you, first,” I said. “How long have you been this? How did you know vampires exist?” I laughed, in disbelief I was asking such things, yet not surprised by my new knowledge. This world was crazy and unpredictable. No one, no thing, no monster had to convince me of that. For a long time now, I’d been aware that anything was possible in this life.
“I didn’t know they existed. I found out about Gabe before I flew home to Seattle. He told me the truth, and I wanted him to change me. I know how it sounds, but I had my reasons.”
And you didn’t tell me about Gavin?”
“I knew you were safe with him. And it was his place to tell you, not mine.”
“Unbelievable,” I folded my arms, disgusted by the betrayal. “There is no valid reason to give up your life to be what you are now. Nothing can justify that.”
“Gabe told me about Andrew last night, so I caught a redeye and flew down here. Then this happened,” she pointed to my battered body.
“What are you saying?”
When Gavin and Gabe found out who Andrew was—that he was the one you were trying to break up with—they knew you were in danger, knew he was about to kill you. Knew they’d have to stop him when he tried. But saving you meant you’d find out the truth.”
“So? They told you the truth. What, were you all planning on lying to me until you decided to have me for lunch one day?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She pursed her lips. “Like I said, I wanted Gavin to tell you what he is, not me. And I found out by accident, as did you. And … this part’s hard to explain … Gabe and Gavin have a way to break the curse. I wanted to be with Gabe, but if I were still human, I wouldn’t be able to go with him, where he needs to go to break it. There was a chance that if he went, he wouldn’t come back. And I couldn’t lose him. I simply couldn’t!”
She sat silent for a moment, let me absorb the absurdity. Then she said, “Andrew attacking you set things into motion. Gave us a reason to visit Samira sooner. She’s the creator of our kind, the one who can lift the curse. ”
Her kind? This was something straight from the Syfy Channel. “Your creator? Do you have any idea how deranged this sounds, Audrey?”
“Yes, Camille, I am very aware of it,” she barked, impatient. “But you wanted answers, and I’m trying to give them to you. Just bear with me.”
“Okay, go on,” I sighed. “But at least start with your species’ specifics. You know, sunlight, diet, coffins, sleep schedule?”
“Uh. Okay.” She stood up to reach for and hand me a glass of water from the coffee table, remained standing. “Well, for starters, I think you can guess our diet. We drink any kind of blood. Fortunately, there are plenty of us who have access to it: blood. Like Gabe. He was a doctor back in the day. Today, he has connections that can get us what we need, so we don’t have to … feed traditionally. Hence, one of the reasons we had no need to kill you. The other specifics should be obvious.” She smiled curtly. I rolled my eyes. Great. Not just a vamp, but a stand-up vamp. Nothing described surreal quite like this did. Yet I listened with wide eager eyes, a fascinated child hearing the most fantastic bedtime story ever.
Yet there was one thing I still didn’t know. “How do you know all of this if you were just changed so recently?”
“Gabe sort of gave me a crash course. But there were stories passed down in my family about my mother’s great aunt being one of us years ago. I grew up with the assumption that they were just that, ghost stories or something. I never knew this stuff really existed, but when I found out … when Gabe told me … I had the strangest connection to it.”
“I can’t believe you never told me about this. You were always so … normal.” My mind wandered, picturing the Audrey I knew in middle school, but I quickly reeled myself back into the conversation. “So let me get this straight. As long as you