FOUR
Jake hadn’t even closed the front door when other “new vampires” began arriving. First, there was a carload of young women, all very friendly and nice. Telling them that my dad would be hosting some kind of an “orientation” meeting soon, I ushered them into the house before heading outside again, expecting more arrivals.
Next came a lone man who’d arrived on foot, coming up the driveway with a steady, unhurried sort of walk. Appearing to have been turned when he was maybe in his late fifties or early sixties, he said his name was James, then told me that he’d traveled all the way from Tennessee to see if he could “be of any use” to the “Southern Michigan Watchers.” I told him that I was sure he could be, adding that I knew my dad would want to see him at the meeting, before ushering him into the house.
After James, newcomers began coming so fast that I barely had time to introduce myself before the next guest or group of guests arrived. However, in my hasty series of introductions, a particular pair of newcomers stuck out to me, just because they were so different from the typical vampire stereotype held by most people in the “outside world.” The older-looking of the pair was a young man named David, who appeared to have been turned sometime in his mid-twenties. He wasn’t exactly bad-looking at all, by any means, although thick, black-rimmed glasses kind of obscured whatever good looks he might have had. Along with his “nerd chic” glasses, he was also dressed kind of nerdy. Whether this was by design or by accident, I of course had no idea. All I knew was that pressed khaki pants and a starched dress shirt with a tie seemed like somewhat of an odd outfit for a young man to be wearing on an August day that had been so muggy.
After introducing his similarly-dressed companion to me as Sean, his younger brother, David said that this was all very new to them. A little confused, I asked him what he meant by “this,” and he shrugged, turning slightly pink.
“Oh, just this whole vampire thing, I guess. See, Sean and I were just turned only about a month ago. A group of people that we’ve since learned were Warrens broke into our apartment in Cincinnati and nearly drained us both dry, turning us into vampires in the process just for the sport of it, as best we can figure. When Sean and I got the urge to…well, drink, we caught the attention of an elderly witch in our city, who filled us in on what had likely happened to us. It was she who suggested we come here to ‘try out’ to be Watchers, and for that, I’m very grateful. To tell you the truth, though…I’m not too sure how Sean and I will fare in this ‘audition’ process, if there really is one, but…well, I’m just really glad to be seeing a friendly face right now, Chrissy. Sean, here, and I didn’t know quite what to expect. I’m just a little out of my element as a junior research scientist, you see.”
Wincing slightly every now and again, David had begun twining and untwining his hands in a way that made me think that he possibly had some sort of an anxiety problem, or was at least experiencing some serious anxiety right then. This, combined with his nerdy-style glasses and what he’d said about being glad to be seeing a friendly face, made me find him very endearing, and I decided that I liked him already.
After giving him a smile that I hoped would be reassuring, I told him that he was very welcome on the farm, and that he’d probably find many more friendly faces inside the house. “Just try to find my Aunt Jen. She has bright red hair, so you can’t miss her. She’s really good at making people feel welcome, and she’ll show you around. Oh, and by the way, maybe ask her something about the ‘scientists in her head,’ just if you want to get a conversation going. I know that sounds weird, but she likes to cite ‘scientific studies’ a lot, even though she pretty much just makes them up as she goes along; so, my family and I sometimes tease her about the ‘scientists in her head.’ She’s come to see the whole thing as funny, so she won’t be offended if you bring it up and mention that you’re a real scientist or something, and that you’ve been sent to ‘verify’ all her ‘scientific studies’ or whatever. I honestly bet she’ll crack up.”
Making his natural good looks apparent despite the glasses that kind of overwhelmed his face, David cracked a smile. “All right. If you say so.”
There was something about David that reminded me a little of Superman as Clark Kent, just how he was more than a bit nerdy, yet not too hard on the eyes at the same time. His whole manner of being was somehow a little Clark Kent-ish, too, from his mannerisms to his bashful sort of smile.
He and Sean soon went inside the house, and I watched them go, noting that while they both had naturally athletic builds from what I could see, neither of them were quite built like Jake. And although David and Sean were both nice like Jake, neither of them made me feel like he had while I’d been talking to him.
Wondering if David would meet up with Jen inside, and if so, if they’d have any kind of a connection, I soon went about greeting more newcomers, until finally, after ten minutes or so, there was a lull. Watching the sun begin to sink behind the trees that bordered the forestland beyond the circular driveway, I waited around on the porch until a quarter after seven or so. Then, another pair of vampires arrived, parking a dark sedan far down the driveway, behind at least a dozen other vehicles. Watching them approach the front porch, I guessed that these new guests, a man and a woman, had been turned sometime in their late forties.
When they reached me, they introduced themselves as Mack and Liz, and Liz apologized for their tardiness.
“See, I knew that some sort of a meeting was supposed to start here around seven, but on our ride up here from Illinois, I asked Mack if we could stop for a minute so that I could photograph some sandhill cranes that I spotted in a field. Well, Mack, forgetting that a professional photographer doesn’t just take ‘a minute’ to photograph cranes, said yes; so, long story short, I’m placing the blame for our tardiness squarely on Mack…as well as on a pair of exceptionally beautiful sandhill cranes.”
Smiling, I said that her and Mack’s tardiness was no problem. “My dad hadn’t even arrived for the meeting yet.”
Both looking relieved, Mack and Liz soon went inside the house, and I was left alone on the porch once again.
A few minutes later, I was thinking that they’d probably been the last of the stragglers, and I was about to go inside, where a long-awaited warm shower in my master bathroom awaited me. However, just as I extended a hand to open the front door, a noise stopped me. It was the noise of an obnoxiously loud engine. I turned, and a few moments later, a battered old black truck came into view, coming up the driveway at a leisurely pace.
Slightly irritated by this apparent latecomer’s noisy engine and their apparent lack of concern about being late, I almost unconsciously folded my arms across my chest, tucking my phone and my book under one arm while I did so. In all the busyness of greeting guests, I’d set these items down at some point, but had picked them back up when I thought I’d soon be heading inside.
When the truck came to a stop behind all the other vehicles, I just stood and watched, hoping that whoever was about to emerge would be an older person, maybe with a charming story about having stopped to photograph sandhill cranes, so that I couldn’t be too irritated with them. However, the person that got out of the battered black truck, which was more rust than it was black, wasn’t a person who appeared older, no matter how many years they were in “vampire years.” In fact, the person that got out of the battered black truck was one of the youngest-looking male newcomers I’d seen all evening, appearing to be maybe twenty-one or twenty-two. Despite his youthful appearance, though, he moved with the unmistakable confidence and purpose of a man much older, which made me think that he was possibly an older man in “vampire years.” If he wasn’t, and was instead only fairly recently turned, he had some kind of natural crazy confidence that I’d never seen in my life before.
Either that, or he’s just an extremely cocky asshole, I thought, still watching him make his way up the driveway with his purposeful, unhurried strides. It was as if he couldn’t even see that I was waiting for him, even though I was sure that he could. Just relax, Chrissy, I told myself, not exactly sure why this new newcomer was making me feel mildly irritated. It’s because you didn’t want to have to choose between crushing on Jake and someone else, I suddenly thought, almost startling myself, because I immediately realized that what I’d thought was true.
The new vampire striding up the driveway was just as hot as Jake; I could see that even from a distance. He was tall like Jake, too, maybe an inch or two over six feet, with the same type of powerful, muscular physique. On the whole, though, he had kind of a different look than Jake, at least facially. Whereas Jake had an open sort of face with far-spaced, bright, light-colored eyes, and golden blonde hair that bordered on light brown, this newcomer’s hair was extremely dark, as were his eyebrows, which gave him a serious, brooding sort of look. His high cheekbones and eyes, which seemed to be some dark shade, only added to this look, which I didn’t find unpleasant at all. In fact, I thought, if this dark-haired newcomer had any kind of a decent personality, I was going to be crushing on him just as hard as I was already crushing on Jake. And torn between liking two guys wasn’t a problem that I wanted to have.
When the newcomer was nearing the porch, I turned my gaze to the side, not wanting to creepily stare him down from close distance. Suddenly realizing that I’d been greeting everyone while wearing an ice cream-stained apron and now feeling slightly embarrassed about it, I quickly smoothed the front of the apron, as if removing a few wrinkles would really make me look like less of a complete mess. And it was too late for me to remove the apron now, unless I wanted the incredibly handsome newcomer to think I’d done it for his benefit, which I didn’t.
When he reached the porch steps, I returned my gaze to him and said hello.
Climbing the steps with as much purpose and confidence as he’d been walking with, he returned the greeting unsmilingly. “I’m here to meet with Hayden MacGregor.”
Surprised and slightly offended that he hadn’t seen fit to introduce himself to me, I opened the door, gestured inside, and spoke in a voice that I tried to make as icy as possible. “He’ll be hosting a meeting in the dining room soon.”
Saying a terse thanks, the stony-faced visitor made as if to stride through the front door. However, he was prevented from doing so by the fact that I’d positioned myself to where I was kind of blocking the door. I wasn’t even really sure how this had come to be, whether I’d done it accidentally, or had moved into this position out of some subconscious desire to make the young man pause to introduce himself to me. At any rate, my partial blocking of the doorway was enough to make him stop in mid-stride, frowning at me. However, he didn’t stop for long.
After just a quick moment spent glancing at the copy of Anne of Green Gables I still held in my hand, he turned his body a few degrees sideways and began breezing on by me. “Excuse me…bookworm.”
Although he’d said Excuse me at normal speaking volume, he’d said bookworm very much under his breath. He’d said it at such a low volume, in fact, that I wasn’t even a hundred percent sure that I’d heard him right. However, I was sure enough to be immediately outraged, and I glared at him.
“Excuse me? What did you just say?”
Just past the threshold of the front door, maybe just a foot or two away from me, he looked at me with a perfectly neutral expression. “I just said, ‘Excuse me.’”
Seeing some trace of deception in his dark gray eyes, I shook my head. “No, you didn’t. You said, ‘Excuse me…bookworm,’ with bookworm just under your breath, but I still heard it.”
He lifted his broad shoulders just a degree or two. “Well…so what if I did?”
I could only sputter briefly. “Well…it’s incredibly rude to call someone a bookworm right while entering their own house, especially when you know nothing about that person…especially when you have no clue if that person really is even a bookworm.”
“So, you’re denying that you are one?”
I resisted the urge to slam my damned book on the floor. “Look. The point is that you were incredibly rude by muttering under your breath what you did. And don’t you even try to deny it.”
For the second time, he lifted his broad shoulders in a faint shrug. “All right. That probably was pretty rude. I’m sorry.”
Having not expected this response, I briefly struggled to think of what to say. “Well, thank you for the apology.”
“You’re welcome…messy, ice cream-covered little bookworm.”
Stunned and outraged, I gasped. The handsome, infuriating newcomer probably didn’t even hear me, though. He was already striding through the foyer to the kitchen, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he’d gotten my heart racing even faster than Jake had.