Part 7 (1/2)
Another nod.
”Why?”
That one was too much for him and he tried to get away. I held him with one hand and advised him to calm down. After a minute he ran out of steam, his legs went like jelly again, and I let him sink down to the running board to rest.
I crouched to be at eye level with him. ”You seem to know what I am. Do you?”
”Yes.”
”Were you and your friend planning to make the world a little safer from vampires?” I should have been more diplomatic-his eyebrows were galloping into his hairline again.
”Please...don't...”The kid was crying, actually crying, he was that scared. I felt sorry for him and a little embarra.s.sed, and finally pulled out a handkerchief and gave it to him. He stared at it.
”Go on-it won't bite you.”
He took it, suspicious of some kind of trick. When the trick failed to happen, he finally blew his nose.
I shook my head. ”Van Helsing you're not.”
He stiffened again. ”You know about that?”
”What, Dracula! Yeah, reading it is one of the requirements for joining the union. Maybe you've heard of us, the International Brotherhood of Vampires. I'm with Chicago Local three eleven.”
He stared. Well, I thought it was funny, but the kid was taking me seriously.
”Matheus-do they call you Matt?”
”No, they call me Matheus.”
They would.
”All right, Matheus, I think you should listen to me very carefully so you can get this straight. You and your friend need to go back to New York and do business as usual. You're probably a very nice kid-you don't need to be chasing after vampires in the wilds of Indiana, you're not cut out for it. You got that?”
Now he was looking stubborn. Somewhere deep inside he had a backbone.
”Don't get me wrong, I think you've got a lot of guts to even be thinking of tracking me down. How did you latch on to me anyway?”
”The papers.”
”What about them?”
”Your ad stopped.”
This was a can of worms I hadn't expected. ”Tell me about the ad.”
”It stopped and we wanted to know why, so we called the papers and got your address.”
”How did you know about it? What do you know about Maureen?”
”Nothing!”
”What does Braxton know?” But I was overanxious and the kid clammed up again. I counted ten and tried a calmer voice. ”Did he know Maureen?”
”I think so, years ago.”
”How long ago?”
”I don't know. Honest, I don't. But he knew you had been with her... that she had... had... that you might become... but we weren't sure.”
My grip on him relaxed; the muscles felt like water. ”Is Maureen alive?”
He shook his head. ”No, she's like you.”
”Is she alive?”
”I don't know!”
”Does Braxton know?”
”Uh-uh. He said he lost her trail, you were his only lead. When the ads stopped he thought you'd found her or that you'd died...” The realization that he was talking to a dead man must have hit him all over again. He sat with his arms dangling, looking at me with helpless horror.
”How did you get on my trail?”
”Through the papers. We only got into town this afternoon, and spent the day looking for you. We got to your hotel, but they wouldn't help us, even when we described you, so we waited across the street for you to come out.”
”So Braxton knew what I looked like?”
”Yes... but I thought you were a lot older.” The kid was right. I was thirty-six, but my condition and diet made me look about twenty-two.
”We saw you putting the trunk in the car and thought you were running away, but we weren't sure-not until you went to the Stockyards, then we knew that you were... you had...” He gulped the idea down. ”We followed you, but when you got on the road you didn't act like you were running, so we just stayed back and followed.”
”Biding your time until the dawn, huh? And then what? A stake in the heart and garnish with garlic?”
He squirmed, utterly miserable.
”Well, you ought to feel uncomfortable, that's just about the dirtiest trick I've heard of, and I've heard plenty. Have you actually thought about what you were planning?”
He had not.
”Come on, Matheus, I'm really a nice guy once you know me. I am not some kind of diabolical maniac; I even send money home to my mother. Think of it as a medical condition. You wouldn't try to kill me if I had polio, would you?”
Seeing things from my point of view was a whole new experience for him.
”Except for some physical and dietary restrictions, there's really nothing bad with being a vampire.”
He acted like I'd said a dirty word.
”Would you be more comfortable if I said Undead or would you prefer something else? I know lots of subst.i.tutes, but they're harder to p.r.o.nounce.” I waited for an answer and tried again. ”Come on, kid, if I could go back to being like you I would, but I can't, so I'm just trying to make the best of the situation. I'm not what you expected, am I?”
He shook his head grudgingly.