In the house, they found Gena lying in the bed and Will in the kitchen, wearing his pants but nothing else. He glanced at Kyle and smirked.
“I saw what you were doing,” Will told Irene with a little wink. “That really does seem to be a thing with you, Irene.”
“You may be right,” she agreed.
“Lay him down with Gena,” said Will, nodding his head toward the bedroom. “Did you take enough blood from him to leave him out a while?”
“Yeah, I did,” she agreed. “What’s more, he has no idea that was what I was doing. Would it hurt for either one of them to survive this? They don’t get transformed just by taking blood, right?”
“Not usually, no,” he said. “But then again, you did. And that’s something I’ve been wondering about, too.”
Irene set Kyle next to Gena, and he groaned as he flopped over, passing out on the bed. She closed the door and returned to Will’s side.
“I’ve been wondering how you’d transform just from being drained,” he said. “That’s not supposed to happen to anybody except a vampire born who has yet to feed. Normally, we are not allowed to hunt before the age of sixteen, and as part of that birthday ritual, our father, or whoever is the leader of our clan, drains us of almost all of our blood. That’s what kicks in our desire to feed and begins the process. It’s not supposed to happen that way to a human.”
“So, what are you trying to say?”
“What do you know about your lineage?” asked Will.
“Nothing, actually,” Irene admitted. “My parents adopted me from an orphanage when I wasn’t even two.”
“So, you could easily be vampire-born and not even know about it,” Will said with a nod. “That would sure explain a whole lot of things.”
“But that’s crazy,” she gasped. “I mean, wouldn’t I have known somehow?”
“Well no, not really,” he shrugged. “Not without being told. If I hadn’t known what I was from birth, I don’t think I would have realized I was any different from the other boys. But since I did know, that can only be speculated, though.”
“Is there any way for us to find out?” Irene asked curiously.
“Well, no,” he said. “I mean, none that I know of. There’s no vampire blood test or anything.”
“I see,” she nodded, biting at her bottom lip. Then, she looked up at him earnestly. “Say, Will, do you remember when I asked you about pregnancy earlier?”
“Yeah,” he nodded.
“Well, do the human pregnancy tests work when you’re a vampire?”
“Yeah, they do,” he nodded. “Why?”
“And do we still get monthly periods, too?”
“Irene, yes you do,” he laughed. “Is there something you’re trying to tell me?”
“Only that I didn’t get that last week when I was supposed to,” she admitted. “I wondered if it was just stress from turning into a vampire or if it was something more. I thought maybe we could pick up one of those home tests and find out.”
“There’s no need,” he chuckled. “We can make an appointment with one of our own doctors.’
“Well, that’s probably a good thing, then,” she said. “Back to what I asked originally, though. I thought we were draining these people until they die so they wouldn’t end up like me. Now you’re saying that’s not the reason, really. So why exactly do we have to kill people?”
“I—don’t know,” Will said, clearly never having questioned it before. “It’s just what we do. My father said so, and I never considered doing anything other than what the leader of our clan told us to. I guess it doesn’t really matter if you think about it.”
“So, let’s do it then.”
“Do what?”
“Let’s just leave those two here to sleep, and let them find their own way home,” Irene suggested. “They’ll never be the wiser; they’ll only remember that we all came here together, and they woke up alone.”
“You’re serious about this, aren’t you?” Will scoffed. “And do you realize that they could easily find out who owns the place? They could come looking for us again.”
“So what?” she scoffed. “If they do, we’ll just tell them we were called away unexpectedly, maybe even make another date with them. We could make them into ghouls if it would make you feel better.”
“I don’t think so,” Will snorted. “I think we’ve got just the right dynamic at home right now, don’t you?”
“Yeah, that’s true,” Irene agreed. “But one thing, though. If we stay here much longer, we’ll be stuck here all day. Those two will wake up, and that’ll be the end of this opportunity. I’d kind of like to make them into an experiment of sorts. Maybe follow their progress, see what happens.”
“That’s so crazy!” Will exclaimed. “You know, if my father even knew we were talking about this, he’d have a fit.”
“Well, he doesn’t know, does he?” Irene chuckled. “Who is going to tell him?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Irene,” he winced. “You’re playing at a very dangerous game, going against the orders of the leader of the clan. You don’t know him. His punishments can be—cruel.”
“Please, Will? It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Just this once, I suppose,” he sighed. “But leave our number by the telephone along with a little note. Tell them we had a good time, and to let us know they’ve arrived safely home. If we’re going to study them, we’ll need to keep in touch, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, sure,” she agreed. “So, we’re going to do it?”
“I’ll write the note,” Will decided.
“Hey, it’s my experiment,” she complained.
“No way, I think this should be both of our experiment,” he insisted. “I mean, am I not a part of it too?”
Irene chuckled. “Fine. You write the note. You’re probably better at coming up with something anyway. I’ll go back out and find my clothes.”
Will laughed and shook his head.
*****
The sun was just beginning to rise as Will and Irene pulled back into their garage. They were still giggling over what they had just done.
“Ah, the prodigal couple returns,” said Charles as they stepped into the library. “How did it go?”
“Oh, we took care of business,” Will hedged.
“And you’re back so soon?” Charles asked. “It couldn’t have been that much fun if you didn’t come crawling in here sometime tomorrow evening.”
“It wasn’t so bad,” Irene shrugged. “Not magical or anything, but how could it be? I mean, not when what Will and I have is the real deal.”
“Well, maybe, but it seems to work well when you’re with me,” Charles pointed out.
“That’s not the same thing,” Irene scoffed. “We know you already; we’re with you every night. These people are strangers, and worse, most of them are miserable, with no end of it in sight. Kind of like things were with you and Nancy. You got along all right, but obviously you must not have been in love anymore.”
“You’re right,” Charles agreed. “We probably never were, really. I picked her up for rebound sex, and we just stayed. But I don’t know how to explain it; I’m happier here than I have ever been. You would think that wouldn’t be the case, but it’s true.”
Will chuckled. “It probably helps that you don’t have to teach anymore, and you’re living in the lap of luxury, and you don’t have anything expected from you besides sex.”
“See, now there you go,” he grinned. “I didn’t have to explain anything. It’s great having a guy like Will around to say what I’m thinking for me.”
“Shut up, Charles,” said Will.
“Not a problem,” he agreed. “Isn’t it about your bedtime?”
“Yeah, it is,” Will affirmed tiredly. “We’ll see you tonight, okay?”
Will stepped over and typed something into his computer. Irene was pretty sure she knew exactly what it was, but what she didn’t know was whether or not he chose to share it with anybody else. Hadn’t they just decided to break the rules? Telling others might not be the best idea.
“Was that a personal file?” she asked hopefully.
“It was a note to Garrett,” he supplied.
“Oh, well, that’s pretty much the same thing,” said Irene, clearly relieved.
Will smirked. “Yeah, that’s about right.”
They headed for bed and tiredly got in, snuggling up together. It was several hours later when Will’s phone rang. He opened his eyes blearily and answered.
“Well, I almost decided not to call you, but Gena insisted,” said Kyle. “We just wanted to let you know we got home okay.”
“That’s great,” said Will. “Sorry we had to cut it short. Maybe another time?”
“We’ll think about it,” he said, but Will didn’t get a positive vibe about the answer. He just hoped indulging Irene’s little game wasn’t going to backfire on them.
“Cool,” he said. “Well, you have a nice day.”