Nectar (Nectar 1)

“Who do you think is after you?”

“I have a few ideas but I’m not 100% sure. Some voiced concerns it was too early for this promotion but the overwhelming majority said I’d more than demonstrated how ready I am.”

The silence stretched between them.

“If attacking a pet isn’t looked on lightly is Sam freaking out on Rebecca about Julia?”

“Julia isn’t Sam’s pet. There’s a difference. She’s just a hook-up. It matters, believe me, but Rebecca is an anomaly.”

She digested that for a minute, wishing Rebecca would be hauled in front of some vampire court. When he didn’t offer further explanation, she asked, “What’s the bug-out bag for?”

“If things go wrong tomorrow night then we’re taking off. That bag has money, passports, clothes, things we need to get out of the country.”

“For both of us?”

“Yep. You don’t think I’d leave without you?”

I’m already part of his bug out bag plan?

“How did you get a passport for me?”

“As soon as the blood went missing from the lab I took some precautions. Sent your ID off to my guy. I have connections.”

“So that’s why you didn’t give me back my purse,” she said softly. He didn’t answer.

“What’s the story with Rebecca? There’s some serious animosity between you.” He shook his head and gritted his teeth. For a few minutes they were silent. He looked like he was brooding. She sure was. She was astounded that he’d be prepared to take off with her if things went awry. Finally, a burning question rolled off her tongue, “Okay, since you’re not going to tell me about Rebecca, yet, and I say ‘yet’ because I’m not giving up but how ‘bout for now you tell me what a functional trance is”

Tristan shifted in his seat a little uncomfortably. Clearly she wasn’t the only one with a personal bubble of steel.

“Esther. You said she was in a functional trance. What does that mean?”

“It means that she’s basically brainwashed, for lack of a better term. If we have use for someone who’s entranced, it doesn’t do well to leave them barely functional so we give them their faculties back but they remain loyal, follow directions, and don’t reveal anything about us. An elder with certain talents can program them.”

“So, there are degrees of entrancing.”

“Yeah.”

“Esther was my grandfather’s pet. She…” He trailed off and looked lost for words.

“Got old?”

“No. My grandfather died. Can you give the 20 questions game a breather, please? My head is just ---- ” He held his hand up over his ear for a second, clenched it into a fist and then grabbed the steering wheel.

A few minutes later he grabbed her hand again and let out a sigh.

“Your fingers? They’re not blistered anymore.” Kyla was shocked looking down at them.

“No.” He let go of her to look at his hand, “Fast healer. Even faster than usual, actually.”

Kyla wanted to ask again about how his grandfather had died and wanted to push to find out about the Rebecca issue and she had other questions about what would happen next but the 800 pound elephant in the SUV with them after the statement about Esther was something she couldn’t stumble over.

She stared out the window, feeling like she was in a trance. If there were degrees of entrancing then maybe Kyla was in just a different level, one where she was now linked to him but still had some of her own faculties. She decided to push that off for now and push away thoughts of being an old housekeeper serving pitchers of blood to vampires in a semi-catatonic haze while Tristan stayed youthful and beautiful or while Tristan was dead. Then again it wouldn’t be the way it’d go, would it? The minute another vampire tasted Kyla’s blood she’d likely be drained bone dry and there’d be no need for any sort of trance.-11-They arrived at a skyscraper of a fin-shaped glass building right downtown in an uber-trendy neighbourhood. Tristan’s place was beautiful. It had a great view of the city’s skyline. It was large and modern with a lot of glass and stainless steel. Very different from the Tuscan-style villa. The apartment was on the 57th floor with two storeys but just one large master suite that took up the entire second storey which overlooked the rest of the apartment and had a great view.

“I chose here so that we wouldn’t have to bring anyone. No room for houseguests or staff. It’s my oasis, when I need time alone. You can have more space to move around and I won’t have to stress about it.” He kissed her when putting the duffle bag down on the tan granite island in the kitchen.

It was a spacious apartment even if there was just one bedroom. She wandered around looking at it and admiring the view of the city.