36

Kendra held Alexander’s hand for a minute or two before she withdrew hers.  If she were honest with herself, Thomas’ comment had as much to do with her discomfort as did the coldness of Alex’s touch.  She had no idea how to deal with a vampire who had been in love with her for over four centuries.

Thomas stopped sulking once Alex and Kendra were no longer in physical contact.  He resumed his cheerful tone.  “You’ll love what Regis has done with the movie hall.  It has all the charm of a fin de siècle theater now--plush seats, a fresco on the ceiling, and velvet curtains.  We could even stage some plays if any of the others could stop gazing down their own fangs long enough to learn a role.”  He pouted as he studied his nails.

“How old are you?” Kendra asked suspiciously.  He sounded younger than Neil.

Thomas didn’t look at her.

Alexander laughed.  “He is the youngest of those who live in the western United States.”  Alexander looked at Thomas, whose pout had deepened.  “Thomas, you know that I admire your passion, but how many times have I cautioned you against impulsiveness?”

Thomas flashed his fangs at Alex.  Kendra jerked back instinctively.  Filled with a visceral fear, she shrank into the corner.

Thomas laughed.  Alex moved faster than Kendra could see, but she heard a smack followed by a grunt.  Thomas sat up straight with his feet on the floor rather than stretched between Alex and Kendra.

“Kendra,” Alex said soothingly, “Thomas’s little display was really no more than a child sticking out his tongue—”

Thomas hissed in irritation.

Alex shot him a look that silence him once more, and then returned his attention to Kendra.  “Please don’t let this impudent child frighten you.”

Kendra straightened on the bench, and smoothed her skirt.  She ignored both vampires.  Instead, she flipped on the small television set into the door of the limousine, flipped to The History Channel, and watched something about the French Revolution.

Unfortunately, rating the accuracy of historical accounts seemed to be a pastime of which vampires were very fond.  Alex and Thomas enjoyed it at least as much as some human males enjoyed football.

“Oh,” howled Alex at one point, “that is such a lie!  What’s his source, Peabody?!  No reputable historian cites Peabody anymore!”

“Are you sure?” Thomas asked.  “I thought I heard Regis say that Humboldt had vindicated Peabody.”

“Absolutely not!  Oh, Humboldt looks nice and he sounds good, but I was there.  Necker’s budget did as much as the violence to inspire the Assembly to pass the August Decrees, and, though Maillard may have led the mob once it formed, Genevieve was the woman who started the Women’s March on Versailles by beating the drum in the marketplace.  We spent a marvelous time together the night before, and had just finished a splendid breakfast over which we discussed individual responsibility in government—”

“Shut up, would you,” Thomas muttered.  He looked at Kendra.  “The old ones will go on and on about who they knew in this century and what happened in that century.”

He sounded friendly for the first time.  Kendra nodded, sympathizing with his boredom.  Against her will, she was curious about Genevieve.  How many women had Alex been with?  How well had they known him?  She felt a flash of fury for which she was completely unprepared.  She turned to face Alex and spluttered, “I suppose you think you’re special!  Well…”  She couldn’t figure out what she felt, so how was she supposed to know what to say?  Thomas looked at her with encouragement.  Kendra felt her face grow red, and it infuriated her even more.  “I don’t even know your last name!” she wailed.

Thomas, who had leaned forward in anticipation of her next remark, sure that it would be biting and witty, slumped in defeat.

Alexander laughed for a long time before he said in a perfectly reasonable tone, “The surname I currently use is Sterling because I am so drawn to the mysteries of the universe, best symbolized, as far as I can understand them, by stars.  You see the Normans used silver to make their pennies, and stamped a star in each—”

“Oh, do shut up!” Thomas shouted, completely exasperated.

Kendra sighed, and turned off the little television.

“Don’t be discouraged,” Alex said gently.  “Humans and new vampires alike need time to accustom themselves to beings who have lived for centuries.”  His face grew serious.  “Roughly half of the sane among us will try to lord it over you because of their long lives.  Don’t ever let them.  As a mortal, you have passion that few of us,” he nodded toward Thomas, “manage to sustain in the ennui of long life.  We all envy you that.”

The limousine slowed, then stopped.  They had reached a vast underground parking area.

“City’s Heart, sir,” said Samuel.

“Thank you, Samuel.”

Alex and Thomas slid out of one side of the limo, and before Kendra could open the door on her side Alex had done it for her.

Dazed, Kendra accepted his hand in assistance as she struggled out of the limo’s plush seat.

“Where are we?” she asked in a hushed voice.  The low ceilings, fluorescent lights, and painted stripes that marked each parking space could have been in any parking garage anywhere in the world.  Thomas and the other vampires had already moved through a glass door ahead of her, into a generic sort of lobby.   She could see them chatting as they waited for an elevator.

“We are in the secret vampire facility beneath Mount Diablo.  This is Regis’ home.  He leads the Northern California Republic of Vampires.  You should feel honored that he personally came to meet you.” Alex stopped walking and put both hands on Kendra’s arms.

“Very soon you will have to swear to him that you will preserve the secret of this location.  Unlike most human vows, vampires mean every word in an oath.”  He looked as if he wanted to say more, but glanced through the glass door.

An elevator had arrived, but rather than step into it, all the vampires stared at Alexander, who looked again at Kendra.  “I am forbidden to say more.  That is as it should be.  You must speak for yourself.”  He took the few remaining steps to the glass door, and held it open for her.

The elevator had departed with the other vampires.  Kendra saw in the lit brass guide above the closed brass doors that there were twenty-five floors in Regis’ home.  Such a humble abode.

The elevator reached “Atrium” and paused.  After a minute it descended toward Alex and Kendra.  Alex spent that time grinning at Kendra with a besotted expression on his face.

“Alex,” she said after a silence that she found uncomfortable, “you know that you have lived for over four-hundred years with knowledge of me, while I have lived little more than a week with knowledge of you.”  What is wrong with me?  Kendra knew that she sounded as if she were trying to belong in the late sixteenth century again.  Alex seemed like he belonged there, not in her time.  She looked at him.  Despite what he’d said about old vampires lacking passion, he seemed as eager and filled with hope as any puppy.  She couldn’t bear to hurt him, and fell into a vaguely guilty silence.

The elevator arrived, sparing her further introspection.