I grinned. “Yes, there’s that, too.”
“I’m happy that we got to have you as a decoy, even if it was for a short time,” he said, keeping his eyes on the road. Vampire Jerry could take a few lessons on driving from Michael. “So, what’s next for you?”
“I was thinking about going to grad school and getting my—”
“No,” he cut in. “What’s next for you and Robert?”
Well, that was pushy. Since when did Michael care about my love life? “We’re taking it day-by-day,” I said offhandedly.
“You two are pretty serious, aren’t you?” He mashed his foot down on the gas and the engine grumbled. “You’ll probably want to get married.”
“Eventually, but we haven’t—”
“Did you know that I used to be a decoy like you, Olivia?”
I was shocked. “No, I had no idea. It’s hard to picture you differently. Not as a vampire, I mean. I sometimes forget that you guys—vampires—all used to be human.”
“Yes, I was very human.” He glanced over at me with sad eyes. “Like you, I even fell in love with a vampire while I was a decoy. Her name was Iris.”
Her, I thought? That was surprising. Guess you never can tell, not that it made any difference to me. “You did?”
“If you think Marlena is a looker, Olivia, you should have seen my Iris. She was the most beautiful woman to have ever lived. Making love to her was like basking in the sunshine, only better.”
Nothing against this Iris, but I really didn’t want to hear about Michael “basking in the sunshine” with anyone. It was creepy, like imaging your parents having sex or something. “She sounds lovely,” I said, uncomfortable. What did he expect me to say?Go you and your sunny sex!Yuck.
“I was so certain of her love that I gave up my mortality for her. Iris wanted me to stay human because she didn’t want me to make such a major decision over her, but I wouldn’t hear of it. I was head over heels. I’d met a vampire, Lance, who was cash poor but desperately wanting to maintain a façade of wealth—all his money was tied up in investments, you see. So, one day Lance and I made a deal. In exchange for a few months of my decoy services, he’d turn me.”
I didn’t know what to say. This was getting personal fast. I shifted uncomfortably.
“So, I became a vampire and Iris was thrilled.”
“That’s great.”
“Not really.”
“Oh.”
“When I changed over, I gained the oddest talents,” he said.
“You can see the future,” I blurted and then cringed. Robert had never told me not to say anything about revealing Michael’s gift to me, but he also hadn’t said it was okay, either.
Michael smiled darkly. “I’m assuming Robert told you the specifics of my gift?”
“He didn’t get into details. He just said that you can see the future, but not all of it. Only pieces.”
He nodded. “I’ll see an event occurring—like a plane crash—but I won’t know which airline. Or I’ll see a crime and not be able to make out the face of the victim. Sometimes, a natural disaster like a tsunami or volcanic eruption. Again, I’ll have no idea where, though. These visions always come true, but it can be quite annoying, only seeing pieces.”
“Like reading a book and having a few pages missing in every chapter,” I said.
“Exactly. But seeing the future wasn’t the only gift I gained.”
“No?” I became aware of where we were. “Oh, shoot, Michael. We just missed my exit.”
“Can you guess what that other gift was?” It was like he hadn’t heard me.
“I honestly have no idea.” I peered ahead. “Good, there’s another exit up at the split.”
“Here’s the funny thing, Olivia. My gifts are related indirectly,” he said, passing that exit, too. As ancient as he was, I figured he probably knew some old school shortcut from back in the day. I left him to do the navigation. “In addition to seeing pieces of the future, I can tell when a human comes from an altered bloodline.”
