Nightshifted (Edie Spence 1)

I shrugged, even though she was looking elsewhere.

“Most humans have many things,” she continued.

“Most humans don’t talk to vampires. ”

“And live,” she added, with a tone that sent a jolt down my spine.

“Remember your promise, Anna,” I said.

And she turned around and looked at me curiously again. “Why do you call me that?”

I opened my mouth to respond—and then I realized that might be the only reason she was here now. “Is that what you want to know?”

“Perhaps. ” She licked her lips. “Tell me what you want, first. ”

“The vampires think I killed another vampire for no good reason—I need you to testify for me at a tribunal, to tell them your side. ”

She stared at me for a moment, and then laughed out loud.

“Hey—it’s not funny—” I said. It was my life—my crappy and endlessly difficult life, such as it was, but still my life!—on the line.

“The vampires?” she said, with a mocking intonation made more cruel by her Russian accent—it sounded like I was being interrogated by a double agent in a Cold War flick. “Which ones?”

I tried to summon up more information about them, but all I could remember was Dren’s name and the Hound. “They had long black coats,” I offered up. I knew it was lame as I said it. “And a Hound. ”

“Huskers and Hounds. ” She rolled her eyes at me and then made her way to my couch. The cushions didn’t even dent beneath her weight. “Anyone can purchase their services. There’s all sorts of factions—all the Thrones, those cuckoo chick daytimers in training, pledged donors to both, ancient family allegiances. ” I could tell by the set of her lips that she viewed my request as absurd, and me as an idiot for asking. It was time for a different tack.

“Look, I saved your life—”

“You did not save my life. I was in no danger of dying. ”

My hands curled into fists of frustration. “You didn’t really seem in any danger of being freed, though, now, did you?”

And faster than I could see, she lunged at me, standing toe to toe, staring defiantly upward. I gulped. How foolish I’d been to think that a mere promise would hold a creature like this, but I pressed on. “Will you help me or not? Because if you won’t, I need to start opening new credit cards and figuring out where to spend the few remaining days of my life on vacation. ”

She inhaled and exhaled deeply. From so near I could smell her sweet-sour scent again, and the soporific chemicals that comprised her breath. “How do you know my name?” she asked.

“An older man at the hospital. He told me to save you,” I said, taking a step backward, finding myself against the wall. “He wrote down your name. ”

“Who?”

The name Mr. November would mean nothing to her, of course. My hands clenched into distracted fists, until I remembered the photo that’d sent me on my quest. “I think I have something you’ll

recognize. Wait here. ”

* * *

I went back into my bedroom and into my closet. I’d kept the pocket watch and the sepia photo it held—making my next student loan payment in a timely fashion ranked under “live through the next week” on my current to-do list.

What was I going to tell her when I gave it to her? “Hi, I’m sorry I killed your friend and/or relative?” Promise or no promise, there was no way she was going to help me after that, and then where would I be? Dead or worse. I sat on the ground beside my bed, and Minnie peeked out. “Stay under there. There’s no way this can go well,” I told her. Then I heard German begin in the living room.

“What kind of parlor trick is this?” she said, waving the CD player as I came out. Its light was warning yellow.

“That’s Grandfather,” I said, as she mashed the buttons on the player. She flung it across the room and it hit the far wall. “Don’t do that!” I said, running after it.

“I didn’t promise to not hurt your things. A pity you have so few. ” She sat on my couch again.

German continued to rise from the now red-lit player, despite the fact that the cover was clearly askew.

“He killed a dragon once. ” I picked it up and held it. It silenced in my hands as I forced the broken lid closed. “Do you want to know or not?”

Anna crossed her arms. I dropped the watch and photo into her lap.

She stared at the photo while she rubbed the pocket watch with her thumb.

If I hadn’t had Grandfather to hold, the silence would have been intolerable. It was obvious that she was deep in thought, and if we’d been on Y4, I would have excused myself out of her room. Trapped in my own living room, though, I kept my hands busy by stroking the CD player’s plastic case and consciously making an effort not to speak.

“We came to the New World together. My brother, my uncle, and I. And then I was separated,” she began, just when I thought my resolve would break. She set the watch in the lap of her skirt, and began doing something to the small photograph with her short nails that I could hear but I couldn’t see.