“I believe you.” She takes a deep breath but doesn’t say anything else. The rest of the ride back to town Maris keeps my hand in a death grip. It’s only when we cross the official city limits of Vesper Point that she relaxes with an audible sigh of relief.
It’s when we’re sitting at the stop light to turn up the hill to Maris’ house that she breaks the silence.
“It’s him,” she whispers.
“Who?”
“The man I killed.” Maris points to a man standing on the sidewalk that leads to the docks. He’s not moving. People walk around him but he doesn’t look at any of them. Not even whenthey try to speak to him. He’s looking out towards the sea like he’s waiting for something.
I scowl at the sight of him. There’s only one reason why he would be standing out here in the sun looking as human as he does.
“I buried him. Evidently not fucking deep enough.” The light turns green and I keep driving. Fuck the man I buried for her. We’ll deal with that later.
“You what?” Maris whirls to look at me.
“I buried him,” I repeat.
“H-how? When? I mean, why would you do that?”
“Quickly and with my hands, after I listened to your confession. I did it because I wanted you,” I answer her questions in quick succession as I pull up in front of Vesper House.
Maris puts a hand on my arm to stop me when I move to get out of the car. “But you-I didn’t know you did that. Why didn’t you tell me that you did that for me? I’ve been waiting for his body to just turn up. I thought Aria knew when she tried to stab me.”
“I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t important and you didn’t ask me. You killed a man, understandably distressing for a mortal but who hasn’t these days?”
“I don’t get it. Is he a fucking zombie?” Maris looks over her shoulder like she thinks the man is going to come shuffling up the road behind us.
“Zombies aren’t real,” I tell her and open my door. “He’s a vampire.”
Forty-Two
MARIS
Afucking vampire. I killed Brian and he comes back as a motherfucking immortal demon with speed and strength far greater than anything I’ll be able to throw at him.
“This is so fucked.” I bury my head in my hands and let out a deep sigh. “Brian is the worst fucking person to get that kind of power.”
“He’s new. He’s not that powerful. Strong, yes. A little bit quicker than normal but he won’t be much to look at for a few years. As far as vampires go he’s an infant.”
That’s good news. At least Brian isn’t running around as powerful as Julian. I lift my head to look up at Julian hopefully. “Is that infant stronger and faster than a human?”
“Well, yes.”
I groan. “Fuck.”
Julian comes to me and kneels in front of me. We’re in the living room. The house was cold when we walked in, like the storm had started to seep its way inside to take hold. Julian just started a fire but for once the comforting sound of the fire popping doesn’t calm me down. He cups my face and lifts my head until I look at him.
“Do not trouble yourself over him. I’ll handle him if he thinks to come after you for revenge. I’ll give him the Final Death. He’ll be gone once and for all.” That gives me some relief. I don’t think I can take a vampire. “The real question we need to be worried about is who his maker is.”
“Shit. You’re right, that means there’s another vampire in town.”
“He works at the hospital. I haven’t met him yet though. He’s been out since I started,” Julian tells me casually while I feel like my brain is imploding.
“What? There’s a vampire in town at the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“What’s his name? I might know him.”
