35

The jeweler’s shop was only a few blocks northwest of Kendra’s apartment, a direction in which she rarely traveled since the university was east and south.  During the last bit of the ride Alex seemed quite torn between his romantic impulses and his need to impart information.  The upshot was that she learned more about his long life than she did about the machinations, industrial or vampiric, in which she had been caught.

“Shall I park in the alley, sir?”

“It doesn’t matter, Samuel.  They already watch us, I am sure.”  Alex sounded resigned, and Kendra wished they’d had more time.  Something about what he’d said bothered her, but she couldn’t name it.  As she put her hand on the door, it clicked into place.

“How do the vampires know about time travel?”

“I told them,” Alex sighed.  “I too have studied physics and astronomy.  It has been my primary focus for four-hundred years.  Certain vampires are my kin, as much as any vampire can have family.”  A variety of emotions flashed across his face, and he seemed to want to share them all, but when he spoke, he said simply, “I do not want to become extinct, not while you live.”  He got out of the car.  Kendra’s stomach twitched with…excitement?  Guilt?  She couldn’t tell.

An old-fashioned shopkeeper’s bell rang as they walked into the jeweler’s long narrow establishment.  It sounded far more cheery than Kendra felt.  What would other vampires do if they captured her?  She wanted to ask Alex, but as if he knew what was on her mind and wanted to avoid it, he was already at the back counter in conversation with the jeweler.

“My friend wears a rather…unique necklace that she would like to be rid of.  Can you take it off her?”

The man glanced up, but did not remove his jeweler’s glasses.  They looked like tiny binoculars fixed to an eyeglass frame.  “I’m busy.  Come back in three days.”

Alex opened his wallet, and placed one hundred-dollar bill on the counter, than a second, and a third.  Finally the old jeweler looked up and removed his glasses.  The joints in his hands were knobbed with arthritis.  He looked impersonally Kendra and the necklace.  “I take it you’re in a hurry?”  He glanced at Alex, who nodded.

“And you don’t care about the value of the necklace?” he asked Kendra.  She shook her head.

The jeweler picked up a pair of diagonal cutters.  He motioned for Kendra to lean closer, then snipped the necklace off, put his glasses back on, and peered at it.

“Thank you,” Kendra said and looked from the old jeweler, who ignored her, to Alex.

“Strange,” said the jeweler, and frowned.  “This is top of the line in enhanced jewelry...I’ve only seen the likes of it once before.”  He reached a trembling hand to the phone next to him, but Alex took it gently out of his hand and replaced it on the cradle. 

“Do you want to remember any of this when they question you?” he asked softly.

The old man shook his head.  “Please don’t kill me,” he whispered.

“Have no fear, old man.”  Alex reached for the side of the old man’s neck, and in an instant the fellow slumped.  Alex caught the jeweler’s body, then arranged the old arms on the counter to pillow the nearly bald head.

“Is that the Vulcan nerve pinch?” Kendra couldn’t help but ask.

Alex laughed out loud.  “You amuse me as no other can.”  He nodded toward the jeweler.  “It is a simple matter of stimulating the baroreceptors in the carotid sinus.  He will not be unconscious for long.”

He turned to look at the shop’s front door.  “The others are outside.”

“What will they do to me?”

Alex smiled grimly.  “I don’t know.  Shall we find out?”  Ever the gentleman, he offered his arm, and they walked toward the front of the narrow shop.

The door opened before them.  A well-dressed male vampire, who appeared to be about Kendra’s age, held the shop door, and beckoned them onto the sidewalk, where a group of equally dapper businessmen waited for them.

“Alexander!”  The most stately of the businessmen stepped forward, his hand outstretched, as if greeting an old friend.

To Kendra’s surprise, Alexander shook the vampire’s hand with enthusiasm.  “Nice to see you, Regis.  I hope that we can find a solution that satisfies all concerned.”  He backed up and extended a hand toward Kendra.  “This is Ms. Kendra Tanagawa, soon to be Doctor Tanagawa.”

The stately vampire raised an eyebrow as he looked at Kendra, and quickly returned his attention to Alex.  “Why don’t we discuss it at length and in comfort.”  It wasn’t a question.  Sirens sounded in the distance.

Alex hesitated as the group broke up and walked unhurriedly toward the waiting town cars.  Kendra saw the young vampire who had opened the door whisper with the stately vampire.  Doorman vampire, door vamp is a—before she finished the sentence, the young vamp was at Alex’s car with the back door open.  He motioned for Alex and Kendra to get in.

Ever the gentleman…gentle vamp…Alex offered his elbow.  Kendra again took it, but she did not feel buoyed by it.  If even the long-ago Sheriff of Cambridge had lost control of the situation, what chance did she have?

Door vamp sat facing Kendra and Alex in the back of the limo, his legs stretched between them.  “So, Alexander,” he said with forced cheer, “how are things in your desert fortress?”

“I wouldn’t call it a fortress, Thomas.  My lab is well-equipped enough to have an observatory, and the location affords me one of the best views of the stars on the planet.  You really should come visit.”

“Ah, the ‘s’ word.  You may rest assured that my shadow will never cross your threshold.”

Alex chuckled.  “I have no lights at my lab, Thomas, and given the aversion that our kind holds to sunlight, you could visit every day and not cast a shadow across my threshold or anywhere else on my property.”

Thomas sneered.  “‘Our kind’, as if they,” he inclined his head toward Kendra, “are in any way equal to us.”

“We must agree to disagree about the worth of humans.”  Alex looked at Kendra, and waited for her to look back.  He extended his hand on the seat, and his expression told her how much he hoped she would take it.

He had made himself so vulnerable, and in front of Thomas, that she couldn’t help but be moved.  Kendra took his cold hand.

“Uggh, you’re in love.”  Thomas sounded disgusted.