The Greater Darkness

  The hesitation with which Venice made the last statement would have gone unnoticed a few weeks previous, but Geoffrey had come to realize that he had as much to learn from how Venice said things as what she said.

  "So I just gave you a hint as to how old I really am then?"

  Venice paused, maybe more startled by the fact that she was about to answer honestly than that he'd caught the misstep.

  "Basically yes. It isn't a perfect science, obviously, but to regenerate from something like you described in the space of eight or nine hours is pretty impressive. It isn't as fast as someone like Imastious would do it, but it makes you older than I expected. Older than your speed would seem to indicate too."

  Geoffrey shrugged. "So we get faster as we get older too?" At Venice's nod, he continued. "I guess I'm a freak even among vampires then. I just must heal quickly, because I'm obviously not much, if any, faster than you are."

  Venice returned Geoffrey's shrug. "I suppose." Stripping off her warm-ups to reveal loose cotton pants and a white tank top, the blonde continued. "I'm actually more interested in the dogs that attacked you; do you have any idea why they did so?"

  Geoffrey shook his head. "I don't know that much about mutts, but it wasn't like I was doing anything to provoke them. They seemed entirely normal other than the fact that they were so aggressive, and that the one had some kind of injury to his back legs."

  Venice paused mid-stretch. "When you say injury, do you mean he was bleeding?"

  "No, there wasn't anything wrong that I could see, it just looked like they didn't work quite right."

  Venice went even whiter than usual. "Rabies, it has to have been rabies. You're absolutely sure that you killed them both?"

  Geoffrey nodded slowly. "Yes, they were both quite dead when I left. Why are you so concerned?"

  Venice put both of her hands behind her, as if to ensure that they weren't trembling, and then started to pace back and forth. "I don't know, not completely at least. There are rumors of course, stories about things that prey upon us like we prey upon the humans. Things that own the night, that can appear out of the darkness and kill you before you know that they're there. I always assumed that they were just stories, kind of like the ones about us descending from something else thousands of years ago, things that won't be happy with what we've become when they return to check up on us. I dismissed them all until I found out that once something is infected with rabies it can sense vampires. Not only that, they always become abnormally aggressive in our presence."

  Venice looked up, and Geoffrey realized he'd never seen Venice scared before. "You wouldn't believe the way Imastious reacted the last time there was a case of rabies in the city. He all but disappeared until the humans were positive that they'd contained the incident. He kept muttering about a massive outbreak."

  Geoffrey's blood ran cold as he realized he'd been exposed to whatever Imastious was scared of. "Are we exceptionally vulnerable to contracting rabies?"

  Venice shook her head. "No, as nearly as I can tell there hasn't ever been a case where a vampire picked up the disease, it just boiled down to Imastious worrying something would hunt him down."

  "So if somehow there was a big enough outbreak, it is conceivable that the city's population of vampires could be decimated?"

  Venice nodded in response to the question. "The humans don't realize how ill-prepared their medical establishment is to deal with something like that in a city this size. Imastious went on and on at the time about population density's effect on transmission rates, and a bunch of other stuff I understood even less well, but he sounded worried, and he told me it was more than my life was worth if I ever withheld information like that from him."

  Geoffrey still felt like someone had injected ice water into his veins, but he tried to inject a little levity into the situation as Venice began packing up her things again. "He doesn't seem like one who would be all that worried about the good of vampire-kind."

  "He isn't, he's worried about his own skin. That, and he'll no doubt be looking for ways to profit from an early warning if things really get as bad as he seems to think they may."

  It wasn't until Venice had been gone for half an hour that Geoffrey realized the matter-of-fact way she'd described Imastious' desire to profit from the pain and suffering of others bothered him more than the thought of packs of rabid dogs cornering him in dark alleys.

  Chapter 15

  Geoffrey had been hoping that over time he'd manage to get used to what he was. He'd been prepared to deal with things remaining just as bad as they'd been, but he hadn't even considered that they might get worse. It seemed like everyone who looked at him now could see his guilt.

  Geoffrey self-consciously looked around, but even if anyone had been nearby, the odds of them noticing him, positioned as he was in the shadows, were pretty remote. It was all he could do to stop himself from compulsively scanning his surroundings.

  The sudden appearance of heavy clouds early the day before had caused the temperature to drop significantly, and Geoffrey pulled his trench coat tighter around him as he examined the course of events that had led him back to Melody's building.

  Venice had told him that the only way to keep his sanity was to focus on his cause for performing the hit. He felt like he was holding onto reason with the weakest of grips, so maybe she was right. Maybe seeing Melody again would be enough to keep the shards of his being together long enough for the nightmares to go away. There were countless reasons not to go, not to put Melody in any further danger, but Geoffrey couldn't seem to get past his own need to see her.

  His decision made, Geoffrey stood and headed towards Melody's building. A short time later, he was once again crouched outside her window.

  Questing fingers quickly found and removed the letter that Geoffrey had half-hoped to find. After securing the note in a pocket, the vampire's eyes turned to the pale, blanket-covered form just visible in the darkness. His night vision seemed to have improved now that he wasn't spending quite as much time outside in the sun, but it still wasn't quite good enough for him to see the details that he'd come hoping to see.

  Tearing his eyes away from Melody, Geoffrey looked past an unusually familiar-looking backpack to her diary sitting closed on the desk. He couldn't seem to shake the worry that the letter wasn't going to tell him how she was really doing. The obvious solution was to go inside her mind again. He was stronger than he'd been last time when she'd nearly trapped him, but it felt wrong. She hadn't invited him in, and he'd be doing so out of selfish reasons rather than because he was trying to help her.

  The vampire closed his eyes, fighting the temptation to let his thoughts slip out and touch Melody's mind and then shook himself and climbed back up the fire escape.

  The earliness of the hour meant there were still a large number of establishments open, and it didn't take Geoffrey long to find a bar that was well-lit enough for him to read the letter Melody had left.

  Dear Geoffrey,

  You don't know how much it means to me to know your name. I find it's the small, even insignificant things that give me the strength to go on. You call yourself a demon, and I don't dispute that you may have done terrible things in the past, or that you may even now be involved in such things, but anyone who would intercede on my behalf as you have without looking for some form of payment has elements of good in them.

  Knowing you're there, that you cared enough to come back and help cushion me from the cruelties of those girls, means more than you will ever know. Even if you are never able to help in any way again, I think that should count for something.

  It really is the little things in life that set us apart from those around us. For Anna, it is the fact that she comes and checks on Mom far more often than she is paid to, and sometimes brings a little surprise like the backpack she brought last week. For you, it's simply that you exist, that maybe once again in a time of great need you'll be there to help protect me.

  Melody

  Despite st
ill waking up nightly with nightmares from killing the girl, Geoffrey had started to think of himself as the soulless, hardened killer Venice and Imastious insisted he used to be. It surprised him when he once again found himself fighting back tears over something so trivial.

  Melody didn't really know. Despite his efforts to tell her, she still didn't understand how bad he really was. Still, she knew he was bad and cared for him regardless. If only he were actually worthy of her.

  **

  Geoffrey was down on the subway platform again. A cold wind pulled at him as he watched his target. It was all chillingly familiar, but this time he didn't have to touch the girl's thoughts to get her to the edge. She was already standing there, her back to him, patiently waiting for the train.

  Something seemed to nag at Geoffrey, telling him it was impossible to kill the same girl again; but as had happened so many nights before, the vivid reality of his dream drowned out thoughts that anything might be amiss.

  Geoffrey was shaking again as he tried to steel himself against what he was about to do. Children filled the area between him and the girl, but they melted away, giving him a clear path to his mark. It was as if they were offering her up to satiate his blood lust.

  Geoffrey could hear the train now, charging through the darkness towards the platform, as he strode over the rough, filthy concrete that separated him from the girl. As the vampire reached his target, the rush of air that pushed out of the tunnel blew her short brown hair about. Once again, Geoffrey reached up to the stylish black backpack before him and gave it a sharp tug.

  The poor girl stumbled over the edge a split second before the train arrived. She turned as she fell, revealing her face for a split second before the train hid her with a squeal of brakes and a cascade of sparks.

  Geoffrey awoke panting and drenched in a cold sweat. This time it had been Melody he'd pushed off of the platform. He'd found himself back in that station countless times now, but this was the first time that it had been Melody he'd killed. It made no sense, but something had happened to change the dream.

  The vampire wanted nothing more than to wall the dream away in a portion of his subconscious where he wouldn't ever have to think about it again, but instead he forced himself to examine it, noting each difference from previous dreams in an effort to understand why his nightmares had become even more disturbing.

  He shouldn't have had to see her face to realize it was a different person. Her hair had been different. The girl he'd killed had had long hair. The clothes seemed like they'd been a little different, and he was pretty sure the two of them had slightly different builds. He couldn't see any reason why he would have been so sure it was the same girl despite all of the clues that indicated otherwise.

  Geoffrey replayed the approach in his mind again and again until he suddenly realized what had remained the same. It was the backpack. The backpack he had pulled on to send the first girl to her death was the same backpack that he'd glimpsed through the darkness the night before. It was the backpack that Anna had given Melody, the one that had helped tell her that someone cared about her.

  **

  Geoffrey had hoped that the passage of a few additional days would lessen some of the vividness of the dreams, or that at least he'd stop seeing Melody's face when he pushed the girl off of the platform. Instead he was now sometimes having them more than once in a given night.

  The vampire had stumbled his way through weapons practice twice already this week, and each time he'd been slower and less skilled. Venice had scored more touches on him during the last session than she had the first time they'd sparred.

  Finally disgusted, and apparently sure that Geoffrey wasn't even trying, Venice had ended the practice session and sent him home.

  Geoffrey was half an hour late already tonight for the last session of the week, but between the hunger and sheer exhaustion he couldn't seem to muster enough energy to care. He couldn't keep going like this, but he was having a hard time coming up with alternatives. Maybe he could anger Imastious enough for the older vampire to just kill him outright rather than invading his mind and then hunting Melody and her mother down.

  Time skipped forward, as it often did when the hunger started to take a life of its own, and Geoffrey lost an hour or so dreamily contemplating the death he'd receive when Imastious finally found out that he wasn't training anymore. In Geoffrey's fantasy, Imastious kicked the door down again and then swooped in and broke Geoffrey's neck with his bare hands.

  A persistent knocking at Geoffrey's door finally penetrated the hunger haze, and he absently wondered why Imastious had decided to knock instead of just killing him.

  "Geoffrey, I know you are in there, please come open the door."

  Venice's voice was full of the usual self-confidence and exasperation that Geoffrey had come to associate with the gorgeous vampire, but there was something else there as well that he couldn't quite place.

  "Please, Geoffrey. We have to talk. I'll come in like I usually do if you won't open the door."

  Unsure why he was doing so, Geoffrey tried to rise, only to find that he was too weak to get out of bed.

  His vision had started to become blurry due to the hunger, but Geoffrey was just able to see the locks as they turned one by one, seemingly of their own accord.

  "By the blood, you look terrible."

  Geoffrey tried to tell Venice he was fine, but his thoughts never made it down to his mouth, instead wandering off to wonder if what he'd heard was genuine concern.

  Venice pulled off her black leather jacket as she crossed the room, but Geoffrey's vision began to fade out again, barely allowing him to see that she was wearing a white tube top and leather pants that matched her jacket.

  "How long has it been since you fed?" demanded Venice as she knelt on the bed next to Geoffrey.

  Apparently alarmed by Geoffrey's inability to communicate, the beautiful vampire used her fingernails to open up a vein in her arm and pressed the wound against his mouth.

  The hot flow of sustenance awakened the hunger tenfold inside of Geoffrey, and he found himself sucking greedily as rational thought began to return. A split second later that was all swept away by a pale shadow of the sense of connection that seemed to be such a part of feeding.

  For a few moments, nothing existed save the few, incomplete thoughts that trickled through the connection, and Geoffrey's need for more blood. Venice suddenly tore her arm away from his grasp, stanching the flow of blood as best she was able while trying to fight off Geoffrey.

  "It's me, Geoffrey. Stop or I'll be forced to hurt you."

  The words, repeated again and again, finally penetrated the hunger and Geoffrey opened his eyes to find Venice trapped under him, a dagger held to his throat.

  The imminent threat of violence was somehow made worse when viewed against even the weak bond the pair had just shared. Realizing what he had almost forced Venice to do, Geoffrey recoiled and tried to flee into the bathroom, only to stumble and crash weakly onto the ancient hardwood floor after only a few feet.

  When the vampire regained consciousness, he found himself cradled in Venice's arms as hot tears splashed onto his neck.

  "Why are you doing this to yourself? I lied for you last night to Imastious, I'm doing what I can to protect you, but you don't care. All you seem to want is death, and there's only so much I can do to keep you from finding it."

  A wave of guilt and sadness crashed through Geoffrey as Venice's worry caused tears to flow down his face as well.

  For a time, nothing else was said, and Geoffrey felt nearly the same closeness that he'd experienced while feeding.

  "I see her when I dream, every night." It was hard, but Geoffrey forced the words out past the sobs. "At first it was the girl I killed, but now it is the one that I dreamed about before this all happened."

  Even now, being held by Venice, Geoffrey didn't completely trust her not to convey what he said to Imastious. The lack of trust tore at him almost like a physical wound, but he just
couldn't quite believe her tears were completely real.

  Venice made shushing sounds and held him, rocking back and forth for what seemed like hours. "She must have been the reason that you finally went through with the hit."

  Geoffrey nodded, not trusting his voice.

  "And now the very reason you killed the girl is the thing that's eating at you."

  **

  Venice had spent hours holding Geoffrey before gently telling him she had tasks from Imastious that had to be taken care of before sunrise. Geoffrey had reluctantly promised to feed as soon as it got dark again, and then watched as the other vampire flirtatiously blew him a kiss and left the apartment.

  Despite feeling more physically and emotionally drained than at any other time he could remember, sleep had proven elusive for Geoffrey. There was too much risk that he'd still have nightmares and he wasn't sure he could handle another bout this soon.

  Geoffrey had dropped into a light sleep a few times, only to start awake before he could begin dreaming. When night finally came, the vampire slipped out into the darkness.

  Venice was right. Melody was the reason that he'd killed that girl, but now the thought that it could have been her he'd killed instead was slowly eating away at him. He'd promised Venice that he'd feed, and it was a promise that he'd keep, but first he needed to visit Melody.

  The clouds from earlier in the week were finally fulfilling on the rain that they had been promising for days, alternating between a constant drizzle and torrential downpours. The conditions were miserable now that things had cooled off so much, but it was probably the cleanest the city would be for weeks. Maybe a little misery was always exacted as a price for washing away the filth.

  After slogging through what seemed like hundreds of foot-deep puddles, Geoffrey finally reached Melody's building. Making his way down the fire escape from the top of the building was more difficult than normal, but at least he didn't have to worry about anyone seeing him through the gloom.

  Settling down in his usual place against the window, Geoffrey carefully let his thoughts reach into the room before him, lightly brushing the surface of Melody's mind.

  She was dreaming of pleasant things and places. He could only assume that her mom was having a good day. Geoffrey was overcome by a wave of regret and sadness. What right did he have to come here and ruin her innocence? Once again he was pursuing the course that protected him regardless of the cost to others.