“Reams of photocopies I can deal with because I know e-mail is an issue. But Latin?”
He shrugged. “You asked for originals. I take my notes in Latin, and I have for roughly two thousand years. If you expect me to apologize, you’ll be waiting awhile.”
Makeda said nothing, but Lucien couldn’t help but notice the color rising to her cheeks. Apparently the unflappable Dr. Abel could be pushed beyond the clinical. So far he’d heard only praise from the team he’d so carefully put together.
She was so friendly for a research scientist.
Such a good listener.
So quick with feedback and surprisingly organized.
There were even rumors she had a sense of humor.
It grated more than it should have.
Lucien asked, “Will you need an assistant to translate them for you? I believe more than one are fluent.”
Of course they were. He’d chosen them.
Makeda’s eyes frosted over. “It’s fine. It’s been a few years, but I’m sure it’ll come back to me. If I run into problems, I’ll call my father. His Latin is probably better than yours.”
“Since I spoke it as a child, I very much doubt that.”
If Lucien had to guess, there were more than a few Latin phrases she was thinking of at that moment. She picked up the file and walked out of the room a few moments before Natalie walked in with the baby.
Natalie handed Sarah to Lucien and took a seat, fighting a smile. Lucien’s instincts immediately calmed when Sarah was in his arms. He loved children, even if he’d never had the desire for his own. He found their presence soothing. Sarah smelled of milk and baby shampoo. She fussed at being away from her mother, so Lucien tucked her into his shoulder and rocked his chair a little so she’d fall asleep.
“Making friends already, I see,” Natalie said. “That didn’t take long.”
“I can’t imagine why she doesn’t like me.”
“I know. You’re delightful. In a moody, arrogant way.”
He sighed and closed his eyes, focusing on the delicate weight of the child on his shoulder. “I know.”
“She’s really very nice, you know. We had her over for pizza and a movie the other night. She’s great with Jake.”
“I heard. She’s also funny and smart and organized.”
Natalie glanced at Lucien’s desk, which was piled with books and papers. “No comment.”
“None needed.”
“So you’re jealous of the new doctor in the lab?” Natalie pursed her lips. “Do all the kids want to play with her now and not you? It’s okay, you can tell me.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“No, I’m charming. And cute. And funny.” Natalie cocked her head. “No wonder Makeda and I already like each other.”
“And humble,” he growled, shuffling papers with one hand. “Don’t forget humble.”
Natalie laughed. “I love you, Lucien, but if you were my vampire, you’d drive me up the wall.”
He looked at her from the corner of his eye. “If you were mine, I would drive you up the wall. And you wouldn’t be complaining about it.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Was that a smolder? What has gotten into you? Give me back that baby. Men aren’t allowed to smolder while they’re holding babies. It’s not playing fair.”
He smiled, but he didn’t give her back the baby.
“Seriously though, what has gotten into you?” Natalie asked. “I can tell you’ve been down lately. What’s up?”
When he’d first met Natalie and Baojia, Lucien hadn’t been certain he still wanted to live. Now that he had a purpose, he’d determined to stay alive so he could finish. After that? Who knew? But humans didn’t want to hear about the darker moods of immortal life.
“I don’t like research work,” he said. “I’m a clinician at heart. Research is… not my favorite.”
“And Makeda loves research.”
“Yes.”
“Can this be like a gang rivalry or something?” She leaned forward. “George and I could take sides. Would there be blood?”
“Natalie, there is always blood.” He bared his fangs. “We’re vampires.”
“Not yet, I’m not. Probably soon.” She paused. “It’s important though. What you’re doing is important. It’s going to cure people someday. I know it will. That’s huge, Lucien.”
“But I can’t help Carmen.” He went back to sorting papers, trying to keep his free hand busy so he wouldn’t break something. “I knew going in that I wasn’t going to be able to save them, but I didn’t realize how angry it would make me.”
“You developed the testing kit.”
“That helps vampires. Not humans.”
Natalie narrowed her eyes. He hated that expression. She was too perceptive when she narrowed her eyes.
“I don’t think you like vampires very much, do you?”
Lucien said, “That’s ridiculous. I am one.”
“Doesn’t mean you like them.”
Lucien stopped messing with his desk and put both hands on Sarah’s back, enjoying the rise and fall of her little lungs. He could hold her, just like this, for hours, marveling at the intricate symphony of the human body. The divine machine that had fascinated him for thousands of years.
The beat of Sarah’s heart and the draw of her breath. The ebb and flow of blood racing through veins and arteries. The quiet gurgle of milk in her belly and the soft coos she let out as she slept. And humming through every inch, conducting that symphony of life, were billions of nerve cells. A galaxy of energy contained in one tiny frame.
“Vampires are fine,” he said, rocking Sarah. “We’re boring. But you’re right. The work is important. I’ll try to be nicer to Dr. Abel. Maybe she’ll be able offer something of value.” He couldn’t stop the smile. “Once she gets through my notes.”
“They’re in some obscure language, aren’t they? I hate it when you guys do stuff like that.”
“She won’t complain.” He rocked back in the chair. “After all, I could have written them in Greek.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Makeda was unpacking boxes of dishes on the kitchen table while Natalie cleaned the counters and Jake ran yelling up and down the hallway of the small bungalow set back on a quiet street.
“Gotta love that echo,” Natalie said under her breath. “Jake! Not so loud—the baby’s sleeping.”
“Ooooooooookaaaaay,” the little boy shouted, his feet slapping on the hardwood floor as he made one last trip up and down the empty hallway.
Natalie smiled. “Thank you for being cool about me bringing them.”
“Thank you for being cool about helping me unpack,” Makeda said. “I am very happy I don’t have to live out of a suitcase anymore. And please don’t worry about the kids. I have nieces and nephews galore. There’s something about an empty house that invites running.”
The cheerful redhead peeked over at the port-a-crib set up near the fireplace. “Her brother is so loud. I have no idea how she sleeps through it all.”
“Takes after her father?”
Natalie barked out a laugh, but the baby still didn’t wake. “Well, that’s the truth,” Natalie said. “She’s dead to the world.”
“Is it difficult getting them on a normal sleeping schedule?”
“Difficult?” Natalie rolled her eyes. “Try impossible. Their father wakes up around eight at night and goes to sleep when they’d normally have breakfast. Regular sleep schedules are a foreign concept.”
Makeda shrugged and opened another box. She could hear the little boy opening and closing all the empty cupboards and drawers in the back of the house. Most of her things were still in boxes, so he couldn’t get into too much trouble.
“Until the children are in school, odd schedules won’t be an issue,” Makeda said. “As long as they’re resting enough to be healthy, do what works for your family.”
“That’s our philosophy too.” She glanced at Makeda from the corner of her eye. ?
??Have you ever had a relationship with a vampire?”
“No, and to be honest, the sleep thing is one of the reasons. I’m a morning person,” Makeda said. “There was one—he worked security at my lab, a lot like Baojia—and he was very attractive. We got along well. We went out a couple of times, but…”
“No chemistry?”
“Oh no. There was chemistry. But it was hard getting past the ‘feeling like food’ thing. I never felt like we were on equal footing.”
“That’s on him,” Natalie said. “Not you. You’re incredibly bright and accomplished. You’re beautiful—”
“Oh, he was too,” Makeda said with a smile.
“Plus you seem like a really cool person. So if he was making you feel inferior, that was about him, not you.”
Makeda shrugged. “I’m sure it was partly me. I’m… a nerd. I’m the smart, quiet girl in class who sat in the back and tried not to attract attention. I have no interest in status or power dynamics, and I think you have to be willing to play that game—at least a little bit—to live in that world.”
“Hmmm.”
Makeda glanced at Natalie, who was now unpacking a box of glassware. She didn’t mean to be offensive, but she often had a difficult time gauging how her words would be interpreted. What she considered honest, others sometimes thought was rude. That was not her intention. She truly liked Natalie and thought she could grow to be friends with her. She certainly appreciated her help unpacking.
“I don’t mean to say you’re power hungry or anything like that,” Makeda said.
“I didn’t take it that way! And I’m not. But I’m also okay with playing politics a little bit. Newsrooms are very, very political, and writers can be ambitious and manipulative. Fortunately, I find it interesting, not tiresome.”
Jake ran back into the living room.
“Jakey, why don’t you do a quiet puzzle? Momma brought some in your backpack.”
“Okay!”
“Laboratories can also be political,” Makeda said. “And researchers are very territorial about their information. But people mostly keep to themselves. Everyone has projects, and as long as they’re not fighting over funding, most people just want to be left alone.”
“Keep your eyes on your own microscope?”
“Pretty much,” Makeda said. “I like it.”
The quick stab of anger was no less painful after a month. She had to be here, working on the Elixir cure, but it had been infuriating to be pulled off her thalassemia research. She woke up at night thinking about it. She called to check with her assistant even though the young woman had already been reassigned.
“How are you liking the lab?” Natalie asked.
“It’s not mine,” Makeda said abruptly. “Sorry. It’s… difficult. I didn’t choose to be here—I was assigned. Pulled off a project I’d been working on for several years. I know the work here is important, but it’s not mine. I don’t know if that makes sense to other people.”
Natalie grimaced. “It does. I’ve had stories—I still think about some of them—that I had to abandon because I got to a dead end in the investigation or my editor refused to keep backing me. Not many news organizations are willing to devote time to investigative journalism anymore. It’s maddening.”
Makeda had never thought about that. Both were researchers in their own way. “I imagine it’s quite a similar feeling.”
“Yep.” Natalie reached for the glass casserole dish Makeda was unwrapping. “You move on—usually to something equally as important—but it’s not your story. Not the one that’s lived in your head for months or even years.”
“Yes, it sounds very similar.” Makeda bent and started putting dishes and pans away in the small kitchen. “I’ll adjust. It would be easier if Lucien was more cooperative, but I also understand his point of view. He didn’t ask for me to be here.”
“Don’t be too nice to him. I love him, but he’s a grumpy old man. Don’t let the pretty young face fool you. I know he could use some help. The problem is, he’s entirely too brilliant for his own good.”
If that wasn’t a familiar feeling, Makeda didn’t know what was. She had always been socially isolated by her intelligence. It was part of what made research so appealing to her. The thought that she had something in common with the irascible vampire she was forced to work with was somewhat annoying.
Makeda said, “Lucien is…” Irritating. Stubborn. Brilliant.
Highly attractive.
Makeda blinked as the thought popped into her mind.
How inconvenient.
“He has a hard time connecting with people,” Natalie said. “Not many people understand how his mind works. I’m sure that’s very isolating.”
“His notes certainly indicate that he’s quite brilliant. Now that I’ve managed to interpret them.”
Natalie bit her lip to hold in a laugh. “He can also be a bit of a shit when he doesn’t get his way.”
“Early observations also point to that conclusion.”
“I have faith.” Natalie pursed her lips. “I think you two will find some common ground.”
She wanted to move on to the next subject because her brain was supplying all sorts of inappropriate common ground she might find with the irritating Dr. Thrax. “How about you?” she asked Natalie. “Are you working at the newspaper right now?”
Natalie shook her head and looked over at Jack and Sarah. Jack had finished the puzzle with lightning speed and was wandering back down the hall. “I’m going to have many, many years to write. I get these little people for a blink. I’m going to enjoy every minute.”
“So you’ll turn?”
Natalie nodded silently.
“When they’re young?”
“Probably.” Natalie looked up from a box of cookbooks. “He worries. He never says anything, but it’s constant. And I do too. We live in a dangerous world, and I’m vulnerable. Right now he has to protect all three of us. He says he wants me to wait, but I can’t help thinking that if I were less vulnerable, I could be the one protecting too. And it wouldn’t all be on him.”
As hard as it was for Makeda to imagine wanting to be a vampire, Natalie’s reasoning made sense. The heart of a mother was a fierce thing. Would she give up her life if it meant protecting one of her nieces or nephews from harm? Absolutely. Family was everything to her.
“You’d be separated from them at first, wouldn’t you?”
Natalie nodded. “For a year at least. Which is why it won’t happen right away. Sarah’s too little. But once they’re older… We have friends. Good friends. We’ve been talking to them about how to make things work. Baojia has a few favors he needs to call in, but he has favors he can offer too.”
She smiled. “Politics. Again.”
Natalie nodded. “It’s inevitable. Believe it or not, Baojia is much more like you. He hates politics.”
“But it’s a reality.”
“Yep. And he does what he needs to do to protect the people he loves.” Natalie glanced over at baby Sarah. “I can’t imagine a better or more attentive father.”
Makeda and Natalie both realized at the same time that Jack was being suspiciously quiet. The women stopped and angled an ear to the back of the house.
Springs.
“He’s jumping on your bed,” Natalie whispered. “Do you care?”
“Nope. But we’re not going to tell him he has permission because that would spoil the fun.”
“You are an experienced auntie.”
Makeda smiled. “I am the best.”
A cheerful tap at the door made both women turn their heads.
“Expecting anyone?” Natalie asked.
Makeda poked her head around the corner and caught the edge of gold-tipped brown hair through the glass of her front door.
“It’s Philip,” she whispered. “My neighbor. He’s very… friendly.”
Natalie wiggled her eyebrows. “Oh, is he?”
“I better get the door or he won’t le
ave.”
Natalie’s amused expression turned suspicious. “Wait, is this guy hassling you?” Leaving the boxes on the kitchen table, Natalie followed on Makeda’s heels. “Because that’s not okay. This is a friendly town, but that’s not an excuse for harassment.”
“No, I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. He’s not harassing me,” Makeda said. “He’s just a friendly, and I’m antisocial. He lives in Mrs. Gunnerson’s guest house, and he helped me move some stuff into the garage last week. He’s been stopping by ever since. He probably saw the garage door open and boxes out.” Makeda opened the door and forced a smile. “Hi, Philip.”
“Mak!”
You are not familiar enough to use a nickname with me.
Shiny white teeth in a tanned face reminded Makeda of a beer commercial. Philip, the quintessential California surfer dude kicking back on the beach with his friends. Probably a volleyball would be involved.
He pointed toward her garage with his thumb. “I saw the boxes out. Need any help? I’m trying to avoid work right now.”
Natalie poked her head around and stuck her hand out. “Hey, I’m Natalie.”
Philip shook her hand, his eyes squinting in the afternoon light. “Hey, Natalie, nice to meet… I’ve seen you at the market, haven’t I?”
“Could be. So, you’re trying to avoid work, huh?” Natalie stepped beside Makeda and crossed her arms. “What do you do?”
Philip looked pleased at the cross-examination. “Software development. I work for a company in Palo Alto, but since all my stuff is remote, I live up here.”
Makeda said, “Philip likes his surfboard.”
“I do.” Another bleached-white smile. “And the north coast may be cold, but the waves are wicked.”
“Nice.” Natalie’s expression hadn’t softened, but her stance did. “So you don’t mind if we put you to work?”
Oh no. Makeda was having a nice time talking with Natalie. She didn’t want an intruder. She was fine socializing one-on-one, but the bigger the group, the more awkward she felt. There were too many variables with large parties.
Philip looked eager to help, but Makeda shut him down. “We’re fine,” she said. “Honestly, with the baby sleeping, probably the less people in the house the better.”