My heart skipped a beat. One of Tara’s babies wore a pink cap, the other a blue. They were so little: scrunch-faced, red, their faces beginning to stretch as they yawned. Tears started in my eyes. I had not ever imagined being so bowled over by the sight of them. As I patted my cheeks with a tissue, I was happy that I chanced to be the only visitor looking at the new arrivals. I looked and looked, amazed that my friends had created life between them.
After a few minutes, I ducked in to see an exhausted Tara. JB was sitting by the bed, dazed with happiness. “My mom and dad just left,” JB said.
“They’re going to open a savings account for the kids tomorrow.” He shook his head, obviously considering that a bizarre reaction, but I gave the du Rone grandparents high marks. Tara had a new look to her, a gravity and thoughtfulness she’d been lacking. She was a mother now.
I gave them both a hug and told them how beautiful the babies were, listened to Tara’s childbirth story, and then the nurses wheeled in the babies to breastfeed, so I scooted out.
Not only was night closing in, thunder was rol ing through the sky as I stepped out the hospital doors. I hurried over to my car, opening the door to flush out the worst of the heat. When I could bear to, I got inside and buckled up. I went through the drive-through at Taco Bel to order a quesadil a. I hadn’t known how hungry I was until the smel fil ed the car. I couldn’t wait until I got home. I ate most of it during the drive.
Maybe if I turned on the TV and simply vegetated the rest of the evening, I might feel like a worthy human being by morning.
I didn’t get to carry out my program.
Bubba was waiting at my back door when I pul ed up. The much-needed rain had begun to descend on my way home, but he didn’t seem to mind getting wet. I hadn’t seen the vampire since he’d sung at Fangtasia the night we’d kil ed Victor; I was startled to see him now. I gathered my food trash, got my keys ready, and sprinted over to the screen door, my key ready. “Come on in!” I cal ed. He was right behind me as I unlocked the kitchen door and stepped inside.
“I come to tel you something,” he said without a preamble.
He sounded so serious that I tossed my empty food bag and my purse onto the table and whirled around to face him.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, trying not to sound as anxious as I felt. If I lost control, it would only agitate the vampire, who had not had a very successful transition from human life to living death.
“She is coming to visit you,” he said, taking my hand. His was cold and wet from the rain. The sensation was unpleasant, but I couldn’t pul away.
Bless his heart.
As gently as I could, I said, “Who’s coming, Bubba?”
“Me,” said a slightly accented voice from the darkness. The back door was stil open, and I could see through the screen porch door. Since she was backlit by the security light, I could just perceive the outline of a woman standing in the pounding rain. The noise of it almost drowned out her voice. “I have come to talk. I’m Freyda.”
I was so completely off guard that I simply couldn’t make myself speak.
Bubba stood facing out into the darkness, standing right under the light in my bright kitchen, his dark hair drenched, his jowly face determined. I was touched to my core, and I was terrified for him.
“I don’t mean you harm, upon my word,” she cal ed. She turned her head slightly, and I could see her in profile. Straight nose, tight chin, high forehead.
“Why would I believe you?” I asked.
“Because Eric would hate me if I harmed you.” She stepped up to the screen door. I could see her in the light, now. I thought, simply, Damn.
Freyda was at least five foot ten. Even soaking wet, she was beautiful. I thought her hair would be a light brown when it was dry, and she had broad shoulders, lean hips, and cheekbones that could slice bread. She was wearing a tank top with nothing underneath, and a pair of shorts, which I found just weird. Legs that pale shouldn’t be sticking out of shorts.
“I need a promise that you won’t harm Bubba, either,” I said slowly, stil not sure what I should do.
“I so promise.” She nodded. I wouldn’t necessarily believe her, but she was close enough to the house that the magical wards Bel enos had laid would have flared if she’d meant me harm. At least, Bel enos had told me so.
To my amazement—if I could be any more amazed—Bubba pul ed a cel phone out of his pocket and hit a number on speed dial. I could hear a voice answer. Bubba described our situation, and I heard Pam’s voice say, “Al right. Whatever happens, we know who’s responsible. Be smart.”
“So we got a safety net,” Bubba told me, and I patted his arm.
“Good thinking,” I said. “Al right, Miss Freyda. Come on in.”
She stepped out of the downpour and dripped on my back porch. There were folded towels in the laundry basket on top of the dryer. She pul ed one off the stack to dry her face and rub her dripping hair. I moved aside to let her enter the kitchen, and she took another towel and brought it with her. I didn’t want our wet selves dripping al over my living room, so I gestured to the chairs around the table. “Please have a seat,” I said, not letting my eyes leave her for a moment. “Do you want a drink?”
“You mean synthetic blood,” she said after a slight hesitation. “Yes, that would be nice. A sociable gesture.”
“I’m al about the gestures. Bubba, you, too?”
“Yes, ma’am, I reckon so,” he said.
So I heated two bottles, got two matching glasses from the cabinet in case they were particular, and set these items before the vampires, who had settled at the table: Bubba with his back to the door, Freyda with her back to the sink. I took the end opposite Bubba, so I was sitting to the queen’s left. I waited in silence while the vampires took polite sips of their drinks. Neither one used a glass.
“You understand the situation,” Freyda said.
I was relieved she wasn’t going to pussyfoot around. And she didn’t sound angry or jealous. She sounded matter-of-fact. I felt something cold creep into my heart. “I believe so,” I said, wanting to be crystal clear. “I’m not sure why you want to talk to me about it.”
She didn’t comment. She seemed to be waiting for me to spel it out.
“Eric’s maker was in negotiations with you when he died, and those negotiations involved you taking Eric as a husband,” I said.
“Since I’m a queen and he’s not a king, he’d be my consort,” she said.
I’d read a biography of Queen Victoria (and rented the movie), so I understood the term. I tried to think very hard before I said anything. “Okay,” I said, and paused, getting al my conversational ducks in a row. “You know that Eric loves me, that he married me according to you-al ’s rules, and that I love him.” Just getting the groundwork laid.
She nodded, looking at me thoughtful y. Her eyes were large, tilted up a little, and dark brown. “I’ve heard that you have many hidden attributes.
And of course, I see some that are not so hidden.” She smiled slightly. “I’m not trying to insult you. It’s a fact that you are a pretty human.”
Okeydokey. There was obviously another shoe to drop … and Freyda tossed it right at me. “But you must see that I am beautiful, too,” she told me. “And I am also rich. And though I’ve been a vampire only a hundred and fifty years, I’ve already become a queen. So I’m powerful. Unless I misread Eric … and I’ve known many men, many … he likes al those—attributes—very much.”
I nodded to show I was giving due weight to her words. “I know I’m not rich and powerful,” I said. Impossible to deny. “But he does love me.”
“I am sure he thinks so,” she said, stil with that eerie calm. “And perhaps it’s even true. But he won’t forgo what I have to offer, regardless of what he may feel.”