“I think because you and I had saved her from that rapist, she was predisposed to trusting you.”
“That probably didn’t hurt. Shedidfeel indebted to both of us. But when I expressed my concern about her relationship with Falco, she showed me what she was made of.” Sly shook his head wistfully. “Just like her mother.”
“How did you tell her?”
“I didn’t. Nathan did. All I had to do was tell her he was right and try to dispel the myths.”
“Shit. I’m not about to let Nathan tell Roz for me. He’d scare her to death and laugh about it.”
“No, I wouldn’t recommend that. I didn’t ask him to tell Merry. He just blurted it out. Apparently she wanted to bake a dessert to thank us for coming to her rescue. When she asked Nathan where I lived, he couldn’t resist telling her my lair was in the basement and I was on an all-liquid diet.”
Konrad chuckled. “Sorry, man. I can just imagine what she must have thought.”
“Yeah, she thought Nathan was psycho, not me. Not that he isn’t…”
Konrad shook his head. “Man, that must have been bizarre for poor Merry.”
“I’m sure it was. I’m glad she didn’t take his word for it and came to me instead.”
“Yeah, but you had to tell her it was true. What did she do then?”
Sly shrugged. “She listened. I think she might have been too stunned to speak, so I took advantage of the silence and poured out my whole story.”
“And she believed you? Just like that?”
Sly shook his head. “Not ‘just like that.’ I had to give her details no one but her biological father would know, and then she added things up. My strength, her birth surname being the same as mine, my watching over her…But her ability to smell blood a mile away was what finally made a believer out of her. She’d never been able to explain that, except to say it predisposed her to becoming a nurse.”
“I see, so you actually had to persuade her of two things. Not just your vampirism, but also your being her only living—let me amend that—her only blood relative.”
Sly smiled. “Yeah.” He adjusted himself in his seat. “I’m afraid I don’t know your Roz at all. I’ve seen her, but we’ve never met. I don’t know what she’s like or what you should do. I’m sorry.”
Konrad sighed. “It seems like a recurring theme. I’m the one who knows her, and I have to decide how to tell her. I get that. The only problem is she’s the type who needs proof. She wants to see or experience everything herself.”
Sly shook his head. “I don’t envy you. Do it wrong, and you’re screwed, man…soscrewed.”
***
Roz dragged herself home from work the next afternoon, completely fried. Some of the sociopaths she had to defend were extremely intelligent, fooling even the savviest judge, and some, like the idiot she got today, were stupid enough to shoot themselves in the foot, literally.
The guy then had the nerve to say it wasn’t his gun. He was “holding it for a friend” when it went off in the convenience store. She had told him not to open his mouth. So, why didn’t the dumbass just sit dumbly and let her do the talking?
She fiddled with her keys and let out a huge sigh when the door opened in front of her. Nathan was exiting the building and held the door open for her.
“Thanks. I don’t know if I would have had the strength to open the damn thing if you hadn’t come along.”
He stared at her. “Were you hit by a truck?”
She chuckled. “No, I just feel like I was.”
“You look like you were, too.”
Oh, nice.“Thanks, Nathan.”
“Where are you coming from?
“Work.” Anxious to get rid of him, she said, “Well, you have a good evening.”
“Yeah, I will. My job must be a lot easier than yours, and sometimes I come home dead tired.”
