Eternal Read online

  “Older.”

  “Twenty-nine.”

  “Older.”

  I didn’t like this game. “Fifty,” I said sarcastically.

  The waiter was coming with our appetizer. Caeran’s eyes narrowed and he lowered his voice to a murmur.

  “Older.”

  The waiter arranged the plate in the middle of the table and said something cheery. Len answered and he went away.

  Caeran was still watching me. No sign of joking in his face.

  I leaned toward him. “Bullshit.”

  Something flickered in his eyes and I was suddenly afraid. I had never, ever felt afraid of Caeran before.

  “I was born in what you call the fourth century,” he said.

  Len gave a little sigh and dipped a piece of bread in the fondue. I didn’t know whether to yell or get up and leave. She could have at least defended me.

  “You don’t believe me,” Caeran said.

  “Give me a break.”

  He shrugged. “I cannot explain if you refuse to accept ideas that are outside of your comfortable beliefs.”

  “Fine. You’re sixteen hundred years old. You don’t look a day over fifteen hundred.”

  “The person you saw at the blood center is probably older than I.”

  I didn’t have a snappy comeback for that. I grabbed a piece of bread and swirled it around in the fondue.

  “He—or she, it may very well be a female—is not human. Neither am I.”

  I looked at Len, wondering when she was going to tell him to quit. She just smiled and gave a little apologetic shrug.

  “OK,” I said, “setting aside that you’re a Vulcan, how do you know that creep is one too?”

  “Because we know the way the alben hunt. That student—” he gestured toward the newspaper “—died at the hand of an alben. My kindred and I were trying to find her, but it will be a few days now.”

  I swallowed a bite of fondue. “Oh? Why?”

  “Because she is sated.”

  I stared at him, trying to work out some way that could mean something other than what it sounded like. “Sated?”

  “The alben hunt for food.”

  “That guy wasn’t eaten.”

  “No,” Caeran said with the air of a parent patiently talking to a kid. “He bled to death.”

  Meaning the alben or whatever had drunk the blood. “But the article says the ground where he was found was steeped in blood.”

  “Yes. How many pints of blood are in the human body?”

  Dammit. They’d just told us that at the blood donor center. “Ten.”

  “More than one person’s stomach would hold.”

  My stomach informed me that this was not an appropriate topic for mealtime. Why was Caeran trying to gross me out? That was mid-school behavior. Certainly beneath someone over the age of fifteen. Hundred.

  “She was at the blood center looking for prey,” he said. “I went back and checked the register. The student she killed gave blood about the same time we did.”

  That was why his picture had looked familiar. I must have seen him at the center. I shivered.

  “So we’re either talking vampire or creepy vampire wanna-be. Right?”

  Caeran leaned his elbows on the table and spoke softly. “I need you to set aside what you’ve learned from books and movies. This is real. The alben is immortal but she can be killed. She feeds on blood. She is—”

  “Why do you think it’s a she?”

  “Because the alben often prey on the opposite sex. They use sexual attraction to disarm caution.”

  Oh, ew.

  “So she seduced the guy and then drank his blood?”

  Caeran looked tired. “I don’t know. It is possible.”

  “OK, assuming I accept all this, what do we do now?”

  Caeran glanced at Len. “You should come and stay with us for now.”

  “Why? The al—albino—”

  “Alben.”

  “Whatever—she’s sated, you said.”

  “For now. She may stay in the area, though. And she knows your scent.”

  Ugh.

  “That’s nuts. I can’t stay with you indefinitely.”

  “You need not. Only until my kin and I find the alben.”

  “What are you going to do then?”

  He looked down at the table. “Kill her.”

  He was flat serious. A chill sank into my gut. Caeran, pretty Caeran, Mr. Wonderful. Calmly determined to kill.

  He must have picked up on my freaked-outness. “We will atone,” he said sadly. “But we must keep her from harming others.”

  “Why not just call the cops?”

  “She is alben. She is more powerful than any human.”

  “Oh, right. So, um—she drinks blood, she’s immortal, and she’s got super-powers. What else?”

  “It isn’t a joke, Man,” said Len.

  I raised my eyebrows at her. “You’re telling me you believe this?”

  “It’s true.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “We wouldn’t be telling you about this at all if your life wasn’t in danger!”

  Len never yelled like that. She really did believe the fairy-tale crap Caeran was feeding me? Had he hypnotized her or something?

  She turned to Caeran. “Just show her, all right?”

  “Show me what?”

  He shook his head, then looked at me. “You don’t have to believe us. Just come and stay at our house for a while.”

  “I’ll be safe in the bat-cave?”

  “Safer than on campus.”

  I swallowed. He had me there.

  The murder was too close to home. The campus killer last fall had taken four students before the killings stopped. And yeah, they’d happened a week or two apart, as I recalled. Same MO.

  Something clicked in my head and a bunch of pieces fell into place. “Wait a minute. You said the guy from last fall is dead.”

  “Yes,” Len said.

  I looked at Caeran. “And both you and Savhoran were injured last fall. Coincidence?”

  “No.”

  “So you were injured by another of these monsters?”

  “They are not monsters. They are alben. They are our kindred.”

  “What?”

  “It’s a disease, Man,” said Len. “They’re all the same race, but the alben have a disease—”

  “That makes them immortal?”

  “No,” Caeran said.

  “They’re immortal to begin with,” Len went on. “The disease makes them unable to digest much of anything but blood.”

  I watched them trade one of their long looks, then Len leaned toward me.

  “That’s why we had to leave Guadalupita. Savhoran has manifested the disease.”

  I gaped at her.

  “I’m sorry, Man. We were all hoping he wouldn’t get it, especially since Caeran hasn’t…”

  She shot Caeran a worried look. He laid his hand over hers.

  “My wound was not as severe as his.”

  The last time I’d seen Savhoran, I had cut my finger. And he’d freaked out. Because seeing my blood made him want it?

  My heart tried to flip over.

  “No,” I whispered.

  “Amanda—”

  “No!”

  I jumped up, unable to sit still, unable to bear what they were telling me, even if it was just a cruel joke. I headed toward the entrance, walking, then running.

  Faces blurred by: surprised waiters, curious customers, the hostess looking dismayed. I couldn’t stand any of them, I had to get away from the crazy things Len and Caeran were telling me.

  Vampires. Immortals. A disease that had struck Savhoran—

  No!

  I ran out the door and down the steps to the parking lot. The Sandias were pink; the sun was down. I turned away from the frontage road and headed toward the movie theater. I had a vague idea of calling a cab and waiting for it in the safety of the lobby.

  I wasn’t thinking ve
ry straight, and I was still running because I couldn’t stand to stop. If I stopped I’d be able to think about what Caeran and Len had told me.

  Saturday night; there was a fair amount of traffic. I crossed the street in a gap between cars and headed for the theater parking lot. As I picked my way over the landscaping a shadow separated itself from a tree and stepped in front of me.

  I gave a little gasp and tried to go around the stranger, but I couldn’t. It felt like something had grabbed control of my brain, frozen me where I stood.

  The stranger chuckled, which pissed me off and terrified me both. With the fading daylight to the west blinding me, I couldn’t really make out the face, and that scared me even more.

  “I remember you.”

  = 5 =

  The voice was quiet—a woman or a high-pitched guy. Not an ounce of warmth in it.

  I started to shake, even though I couldn’t move. The stranger took a step toward me, and a flash of light blinded me.

  I thought it was lightning for a second, but the sky was clear. I heard a grunt and scuffling. When I could see again there was a fight going on. The stranger was grappling with…Caeran!

  Another flash of light made me step back, which was how I discovered I was no longer frozen. I scrambled away from the fight, but I couldn’t just abandon Caeran.

  I picked up a baseball-sized rock from the landscaping. Stupid, but all I could think of. I held it in my fist, trying to decide whether to throw it or try to clock the stranger on the head with it.

  I didn’t want to get that close.

  The stranger was shouting. In the same flowy language Caeran used.

  My heart sank. It was true. They were the same, except for the blood-drinking part. I hoped.

  Caeran didn’t answer, he was trying to get a stranglehold on the stranger. I hopped from one foot to the other, looking for an opportunity to use my rock.

  Squeal of tires behind me. I dove for the tree. It was Len’s car; she jumped out and ran toward the fight.

  Well, crap. I went back, bringing my rock.

  Len had something in her hand. She was getting too close to the fighting. I followed her, my heart pounding.

  We must have looked like idiots, the two of us dancing around while Caeran and the stranger brawled. The stranger’s hood had fallen back and the long white hair spilled loose. Caeran grabbed a handful and pulled, but the stranger kicked at the same time and Caeran went down.

  Len jumped forward, arm outstretched. The stranger gave a strangled cry, let go of Caeran, and ran off, staggering all the way.

  “Caeran! Are you all right?” Len went to her knees beside him.

  He was coughing and wheezing. Len knew how to help him better than I did, so I kept an eye on the stranger.

  He/she stopped stumbling and ran north across the parking lot to disappear behind buildings. A creepy feeling came over me and I looked away, trying to shake it off.

  “I’m sorry!” Len said to Caeran. “Oh, I’m so sorry! Man, get my water bottle from the car, will you?”

  I went to the car, which was sitting crooked against the curb, engine running. I switched it off and turned the flashers on, then grabbed the half-empty water bottle.

  I wanted to get the keys, too, but I still had the rock in my other hand. I had to tell myself the stranger was gone—twice—before I could drop it.

  I hurried back to Len and Caeran with the water and the keys. Spotted Len’s pepper spray canister lying on the gravel.

  I used to tease her about her obsession with carrying that thing everywhere. I never would again.

  Len gently dribbled water over Caeran’s face. It was getting dark, but I could see that his eyes were swollen shut and streaming.

  He reached up but Len batted his hand away. “Don’t touch your face. That’ll just make it worse.”

  He caught her by the wrist. “The alben—”

  “She’s gone.”

  “It’s a she?” I asked stupidly. “For sure it’s a she?”

  “Yes,” Caeran said, and coughed some more.

  “We’ve go to get you to a bathroom,” Len said. “Can you stand up?”

  Caeran took a couple of deep breaths, then struggled to his feet. Len pushed the empty water bottle into his hands.

  “Hold this. It’ll keep you from touching your face.”

  She helped him back to the car and buckled him in. I got in the back seat, then remembered I had the keys.

  “Len.” I held them out to her.

  “Thanks. Where’s the nearest bathroom?”

  I pointed to the restaurant directly ahead. This made me think of food, which made me remember I’d run away from my dinner.

  “Oh, jeez! I meant to pay for Pappadeaux—”

  “We took care of it,” Len said, driving to the parking lot ahead.

  It was a family chain, decent but nowhere near as wonderful as Pappadeaux. The host listened to Len’s explanation, offered to call 911, and escorted her and Caeran away. I kicked my heels in the lobby waiting for him to come back.

  The adrenaline was wearing off, and I remembered how it had all started. It seemed really stupid now that I’d run out into the theater parking lot by myself. Not that one usually expects to get attacked.

  It was my fault that Caeran had gotten sprayed, kind of. Sort of. Yes, it was my fault for running out alone when I was vampire bait. From the perspective of having just experienced things that couldn’t be explained, the warnings Caeran and Len had been trying to give me now made a lot more sense.

  I felt bad about Caeran getting hurt. I felt worse about what they’d told me. Savhoran had this disease, this vampire albino whatever, and maybe I’d never see him again.

  That hurt to think about. To fight off crying, I picked up a menu and looked over it. I didn’t really feel like eating, even though I’d been starving earlier. But I owed Len and Caeran a meal, so I chose a couple of sandwiches and a salad, and when the host came back I asked about ordering them to go.

  Len and Caeran showed up before the food did. Caeran looked a lot better, almost normal. I was surprised because I’d heard that pepper spray lasted a while; it was supposed to incapacitate you for a good half hour. I thought about the stranger running away from the parking lot, stumbling at first but then doing a lot better.

  “I’m sorry, Caeran,” I said. “It was stupid of me—”

  “It’s all right,” he said.

  “Guess you believe us now?” Len said.

  Ordinarily I would have called her on that snark, but she was right. I just nodded.

  A waiter brought two carryout bags. I’d already paid for the food, so we took it out to Len’s car and drove to their house. We didn’t talk on the way.

  We parked in their tiny driveway and Caeran got the luggage out of the trunk, including mine. Apparently I was staying for the night, at least.

  He carried his and my bags into the house while Len got her bag and I brought the food. I heard Caeran’s voice as I came up to the door, and saw one of his cousins in the living room.

  “Go ahead and take those into the nook,” Len said to me.

  The nook was the tiny excuse for a dining room adjacent to the kitchen. They had made it beautiful, with plants and lace curtains and a gorgeous table that I now recognized as Madera’s work. I put the food on it and sat in one of the chairs, staring out the window and remembering my abbreviated visit to Guadalupita.

  Len came back and started fussing, bringing glasses of water and putting on a pot of tea. Since she’d met Caeran she’d become a tea drinker.

  Caeran was still talking with his cousin, in their language. And what language was it, I wondered? Transylvanian?

  I pulled the cartons out of the bags, and Len brought plates and silverware and napkins. Cloth napkins. Those were new, too. Madera’s influence?

  Len started opening the cartons. “Oh, good, you got a salad.”

  “I wasn’t sure if Caeran would want anything.”

  “Salad�
�s a good choice. What else have we got here?”

  I couldn’t stand her cheeriness. It had a false note to it.

  “I’m really sorry—”

  “It wasn’t your fault, Man,” Len said, putting the sandwiches and fries on plates. “But we just need to explain to you. It’s more important now for you to know what we’re dealing with. You want the fish or the chicken?”

  “I don’t care.”

  Len took the fish sandwich and gave me the chicken. I still wasn’t hungry.

  “Caeran’s one of them, too?” I asked.

  “He’s not alben,” she said sharply.

  “But he said they were the same race—”

  “They are. ‘Alben’ is what they call the ones who have the disease.”

  “Then what are the rest of them?” Not human, I knew.

  Len gave me a speculative look. “They’re ælven.”

  An hour or so earlier I would have scoffed. I didn’t dare, now.

  “Elves? They’re elves?”

  “Shh. They prefer ‘ælven.‘ I know it seems crazy, but just go with it, OK?”

  I picked up a fry from my plate and took a bite. My stomach sent positive signals, so I nibbled a couple more. The salt tasted good. I still couldn’t bring myself to pick up the sandwich.

  Elves and vampires. I would wake up soon, now, right?

  “They’re immortal,” Len said softly. “Caeran says he’s actually the youngest of them. The ones here, I mean. Him and his cousins.”

  “And Madera.”

  “Madera’s older than any of them. He’s been here since Spanish colonial days.”

  Sure, why not? It explained the hacienda.

  Something niggled at my memory and I frowned, trying to catch it. “Is Madera his real name?”

  “Uh, no. It’s the name he took when he came here. His real name is Madóran.”

  That rang a bell. I could hear Savhoran’s voice saying that.

  The front door closed. A second later Caeran came in and joined us. He reached for the nearest glass of water and chugged it down. Len pushed hers over to him and took his empty glass to the kitchen.

  “Um,” I said. “Thank you for saving me.”

  Caeran looked at me as he put Len’s empty glass down. “You’re welcome.”

  “Nice of you to risk yourself for someone who’s not going to live very long..”