Nicholae
Four Months Ago
I didn’t have to ring the doorbell. Laramie certainly already knew I was here. But Laramie was the one person whose opinion mattered to me above all others, and ringing the doorbell, while a human thing to do, was the polite thing to do.
The door buzzed unlocked to let me in the minute my finger left the doorbell. I went inside and closed the door behind me, and it bolted locked again. Laramie was very big on security. He lived all the way out in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico, far away from any human town or highway. His huge house/laboratory was built into a mountainside facing north so that the sun’s reflection would not glare too brightly on the glass walls of its façade and attract the human eye. I told him he could have eliminated that possibility by simply not having glass walls, but he enjoyed the desert views too much to shut himself up behind cement and drywall.
As a scientist by nature, Laramie was quite particular, and there was just no arguing with him.
I came into the large open space of his living room, furnished with modern style leather couches all facing the long glass wall. Laramie was sitting in the armchair, eyes glued to his laptop; research, no doubt. His dark brown hair was curled atop his head like a crown, and I could almost see him as the Greek gentleman he used to be, could almost see a white senatorial robe covering his torso rather than the handsome dark blue collared shirt that fit his broad chest and square shoulders perfectly.
“Haven’t you heard that all work and no play makes Laramie a dull vampire?” I teased, sauntering over to him and sitting on the couch catty-corner to him.
He looked up from his screen and smiled at me. “I’m sorry. We can’t all be spending our nightly hours pining for a pretty girl.”
“Touché,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck in embarrassment.
“I hope you are discreet with her,” Laramie said now in a serious tone.
I nodded. “I have been very careful with my visits to Tucson. I always make sure there is no one watching. I can’t afford for anyone to get to Crimson before I bring her into our world. For that very reason, I want to jump the gun and just turn her now. It’s not safe for her to stay human.”
“What’s not safe is for you to keep watching her,” Laramie corrected, “but I know that you couldn’t stay away if I chained you to a wall in my lab.”
“Thank you for not doing that,” I said with a laugh. “Actually, Crimson is the reason I came to see you. I need your advice.”
“Oh?” Laramie asked, interest sparking in his studious blue eyes. He set his laptop on the side table to his right and leaned forward to give me his full attention.
“Crimson is planning to go on a trip to New York,” I said. “To find me.” I was so excited as I spoke these words that it was a struggle to keep my legs from bouncing.
Laramie lifted his alluringly dark brows in surprise. “When?”
“In September,” I said. “She just found out that her high school marching band is scheduled to compete in a marching competition in New York City at the beginning of next school year.” I had overheard her telling her mother two nights ago about the announcement her band teacher had made about the trip. “She plans to sneak away that night to come to my house.”
Laramie smiled and shook his head. “She is just as impetuous as you are. Clearly, you two belong together.”
“So, do you think I should turn her then?” I asked, needing only a small bit of encouragement at this point to push my indecision over the edge. I wanted to be with her, and the idea of having to wait a whole year still made me feel frantic. The longer I put this off, the greater the chance that one of my enemies would discover her and take her away from me.
Laramie shook his head, and my hopes deflated. “I still agree with William that you should wait to turn her until she moves on to the next phase of her life. I promise you it will make things a lot easier. You know that.”
I sighed and slumped my shoulders. “Yes… But I can’t just let her show up at my place and leave empty-handed. If she goes through all that trouble, and I’m not there, she’s going to be crushed. She might even give up on me completely and move on with her life.”
Laramie snorted. “I highly doubt that. From what you’ve told me, she’s just as determined and driven as you are. I don’t think a little hiccup like missing you in New York would douse her obsession with you.”
I knew he was right, that I was being overdramatic. But I was definitely not a clear thinker when it came to Crimson. How could one person have such an effect on me?
“And besides, I’m not saying you should stand her up,” Laramie said. “She’s expecting to find you in New York. So, let her find you. Just because you are going to wait until she graduates to turn her doesn’t mean you can’t enter her life before that. In fact, it might be better this way. It will give her an extra eight or so months to get to know you, to decide if being a vampire is what she wants.”
I was so happy I wanted to jump off the couch. “Laramie, you are brilliant!”
“While that’s true, I thought my conclusion was rather obvious,” Laramie teased.
“Yes, well, nothing is obvious to me anymore,” I said. “This girl does something to me. She’s my own personal drug.”
“I’m glad you’ve finally found someone who makes you happy,” he said. “I’ve watched you struggle for so long, and after that whole fiasco with Arianna, I was afraid you’d swear off women altogether.”
I scoffed. “Yea, that definitely was a nightmare. But Arianna was psychotic. If anything, what Arianna put me through made me even more desperate for a mate. If I had already been claimed when she stumbled upon me, she might have been dissuaded.”
“On the contrary, I think it would have made her want you more,” Laramie said with a chuckle. “But enough about her. Tell me more about your human.”
I huffed out a laugh. “How much time have you got?”
“For you, my boy, all the time in the world.”