Chapter 27

The ride home was comfortably quiet.

They still had a few hours before the festivities would begin downtown, so they decided to head back to the apartment for the duration. They didn't discuss what happened at his mother's house by unspoken agreement. Rob just wanted to bask in the feeling of closure today's meeting had afforded him, and Elaina just wanted to be there with him.

After circling the block twice, Rob asked how she had found a spot so close to his building when she first came over.

"It was early yet," she shrugged. "There was plenty of parking then."

They ended up parking two blocks over and walked back, Rob whining the whole time about how this was why he didn't own a car. She just smiled indulgently at him.

Once in the apartment, Rob knew the lagniappe was over and they were going to talk.

"Before you say anything else, Rob, tell me how you feel about Patty now."

He told her of how he had looked at Patty and seen the changes in her. He also told her of how he'd had this idealized image of Patty he carried around with him, and how that image had morphed into her ... naked. She got a good laugh out of that. He finally told her of how the closing door signaled the finish of him and Patty.

"We're done. Never again will thoughts of her color my thinking. I did nothing wrong. It was always her," he affirmed with finality.

"Good," Elaina said with a nod. "I was getting tired of running into her shadow. Now we can truly move on.

"And now it's time to ask the other burning question: What was that?"

He knew immediately what she was referring to and posed his own question.

"What did you mean when you said I 'smelled like a hunting vampire'?"

"That's difficult to define," she warned. "You just know it when you smell it. It's not the pheromones: even you can smell those. No, it's like you can smell the concentration, the intensity of focus, even the thirst for blood. And that's what struck me the most; you smelled like you wanted blood."

"Huh," he said bemusedly. "Who would have thought it? But what about the heightened senses?"

"That might be easier to explain," Elaina postulated. "We already noted that you recover quicker from injury than normal. Although, since I've been healing your wounds, we haven't really tested that."

"And I can wait a long time for that test, thank you very much," Rob interjected.

"You had to be put into a situation where you truly felt threatened," she continued. "The memory of Patty's betrayal has been the bane of your existence all of your adult life. When you were faced with the reality, you, I don't know, maybe flipped a switch to something you didn't know you had."

"Not very useful if it takes life or death to bring it out," he grumbled. "Or maybe not. If the memory of Patty could bring it on, what if another memory could trigger it?"

"What are you talking about?" Elaina inquired.

Rob wasn't listening. He was concentrating on the night the mugger jumped them. He tried to relive the shock of the initial assault, the feeling of anger for letting himself get trapped, the terror of knowing Elaina was in danger...

He opened his eyes to a new world. He could see dust motes falling through the air, he could smell the difference between the various candles, he could sense Elaina's concern...

He snapped his eyes to hers, seeing a swirl in her irises, watching them as they brightened. He smiled at her to show his good intentions.

"You're eyes are glowing," she said wonderingly. He stood and walked to the bathroom mirror. They were glowing. His eyes were burning gold. Even as he watched, the effect faded until he saw his plain old hazel eyes gazing back at him.

From behind him, he heard Elaina say, "You're not turning. You don't have the strength or the speed. And your senses fade. This must be from your association with me."

"I imagine the effect would pass completely in time if you were no longer here." He winced at the pang of loss that passed through him. He couldn't contemplate her being gone.

"How did you do that?" she asked.

"I remembered ... no, I relived the mugging. And the thing that triggered it..." He felt the change come over him again, " ... was thinking you were in danger. Maybe it's not self-defense that brings it on, maybe it's the need to defend you that brings it on."

He looked back to the mirror to see his eyes glowing faintly. This time he kept the trigger in mind but didn't focus on it. The glow remained constant. He frowned as he began to feel fatigue building, as if something was draining his energy. He let go of the trigger and felt the drain stop. Now he was just hungry.

"There's something else," he said. "Using whatever this is uses energy, like when you feed from me. I'm going to have to eat before we go out, or I'll end up napping on a wall somewhere."

"So it's not limitless. That's good to know," she said. "Let's get you fed. I might need your strength later." She gave him a wicked smile to be sure he knew what she meant.

Rather than cooking, she threw together a huge sandwich, putting things on it he would never have considered, such as lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, etc. When she was done, it was almost more than he could get his mouth around, but with a little judicious squashing he managed.

He told her she could build him a Dagwood any time, but she shook her head saying she didn't know what he meant. He started to explain then gave it up as a bad job. Some things have to be seen to be believed.

After eating, Rob announced he needed a nap. Elaina asked if he was still feeling fatigued, and he replied it was just the lethargy of a solid meal. She joined him on the bed and they napped for about an hour. Upon arising, Rob realized that the festivities would start soon and suggested they get going.

They found parking at a municipal lot and only had to walk three blocks to get to where everything started. On the way, Elaina had kept swiveling her head, tilting it back to take deep breaths as they walked past various alleyways. He worked his trigger and found it came quicker now without having to remember the details of the attack. He scented the wind and realized he could smell something acrid. He looked at Elaina, his eyes asking what he was smelling.

"That's the smell of an intelligent scavenger. There are muggers and thieves in all these alleys, waiting for the crowds to gather so the can start picking at the edges. This would be a good place to hunt except for one thing: there's too many of them. I could never hide what I was doing."

They finally reached the main event and had a great time just wandering around, watching the street performers, and, in Rob's case, eating greasy food from the wandering street vendors. Rob managed to talk Elaina into trying cotton candy knowing that it melted to a syrup in the mouth. She liked it well enough but said it was too sweet for her tastes. They ended up discarding it.

They found a vendor selling wine and Rob got them two cups of the red that was offered. Having had better, they agreed it was good enough for the night. Total strangers came up to them to wish them a happy New Year, several trying to take advantage of the holiday atmosphere to steal kisses from pretty girls. The first one got away with it, suffering only bruises, but the next to approach Elaina nearly got flattened.

As midnight approached, people started gathering at the central square where a huge old clock tower stood with a spotlight on its face. When the clock started chiming midnight, the crowd exploded with noise, and fireworks began bursting over the square.

Rob pulled Elaina close, unwilling to share her with strangers at this moment. He drew her inside his cloak and kissed her until neither could hear the crowd. One persistent idiot tried to get Rob to release her; he got flattened by a quick elbow strike from Elaina. Others around them gave them more room after that.

Even after the fireworks were over, the crowd refused to let the party end. The raucous crowd and the loud music covered what Elaina said next to Rob.

"It's time for me to hunt, dear heart," she husked.

"Do you want me to do anything for you?" he asked eagerly.

"Follow me, sharkbait, and I'll show you," she said with a evil grin.