RYKER

 

Aliza directed Ryker to a quaint neighborhood near the edge of southwestern Dubuque. The homes were old, many with peeling paint and boarded windows. Broken bikes, cracked cement, and a ton of garbage littered their front yards.

Aliza’s eyes lit up, and she pointed past Ryker to a park with a basketball hoop strung with a rope mesh that was beyond its good years. “Every Wednesday, I’d meet my friends there to play a game of HORSE.” Her musical laugh and the joy it held had Ryker silent, waiting for more. “I never won, but always came for a rematch.” Her arm moved across the dash to point out her window. “And that’s the grade school I attended. My dad used to pick me up right over there, by the bike racks. He was never late and always had a snack waiting for me at home on our kitchen table.” She sunk back into the seat. “I’m sorry. I’ve been talking nonstop about myself.”

“It sounds like you had a great relationship with your father. What happened?”

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Not until you tell me something about yourself. Where are you from? How about your parents? Do you have someone special at home? I mean... I suppose not, since you kissed me, but—”

“No, I don’t have anyone special. Not anymore.” Ryker glanced over. For some reason, he was interested in her reaction. Her face was unreadable, so he continued. “I haven’t had a companion in a long time. I mostly just work and sleep.” And eat a little, too. Suddenly, his fangs tingled.

“Funny, that sounds just like my life. Pull over here.” Aliza pointed to a lot surrounded by caution tape. In the center of the property was a pile of rubble. Bricks, broken boards, and wires created multiple piles of debris. “Just last night, this was a home and held memories.” Aliza didn’t look at Ryker, but as soon as he parked, she hopped out of the SUV. Her black hair reflected gold from the overhead streetlight. She swayed and grabbed a light post.

Ryker didn’t care who saw his burst of speed. In seconds, he was beside her, supporting her attempt to stand. He looked into her eyes, to see if she noticed his slip in judgement, but they were full of tears.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered.

She nodded toward the pile of rubble. “It was my family home. I lived there for over ten years before my father died. After my mom left, my dad bought this house, letting me pick it out. I loved the wooden railing on the steps. It was the reason I chose this one.” She looked up, as if the house still stood. “He died in his bedroom on the second floor.” Then she pointed somewhere in the center of where the house had stood. A soft tremble filled her voice. “Down in the kitchen, he taught me to bake. I remember the rhubarb pie he used to make, but can’t quite remember how it tasted after all these years. One by one, my memories are slipping away. After my dad died, I had to move in with my grandma. I wish I could have stayed here for a little longer. Long enough to accept he was gone and would never come back.”

Ryker pulled her into his side, steadying her and providing some emotional support. “There’s nothing I can say to ease the pain. Losing a loved one is one of the most difficult things a person goes through in life.”

Aliza turned toward Ryker, wiping a tear. “You’ve lost someone, too?”

He nodded. “I’ve lost everyone I was ever close to. Friends, lovers, even a wife.” His voice cracked unexpectedly. “My life’s not meant to have anyone special in it.”

The warmth of Aliza’s arm encircled Ryker’s torso, and she gave him a gentle squeeze, guiding him tight against her. “Then we’re a pair. I don’t have anyone left, either. When I got lonely, I’d come here and sit on the bench across the street and watch the house. I’d imagine my dad was still in there, getting my snack ready for after school or baking that rhubarb pie. Now that the house is gone, he’s gone, too.”

A breeze blew, bringing an unfamiliar metallic scent to Ryker’s nose. It was coming from Aliza. Yes, she smelled human, but there was something else. He had tasted her blood after their kiss, and it had been human, so what was the odor? Was it coming from her bite? How had he missed it?

He wanted to lift her bandaged wrist to his nose and pull away the tape, but now was not the time. His phone vibrated in his pocket; it had to be the Blood Board. He ignored it, not wanting to disrupt Aliza’s hold upon him.

Instead, he just stood beside her, letting her lean against him while her tears fell and his own memories played out.

Of Dubuque.

Of the three-year hunt for Leila.

The games she had played with his head.

The emotional turmoil he went through before he decided he needed to end her.

Of losing his wife, Emma, to a vampire…

And of losing Mary Sue, his other human lover, seventy years later.

Oh, it was a cruel, cruel world to face alone.

How long would he need to stay at Aliza’s side to ensure a vampire would not come back for her? He should be hunting down whoever it was, but he couldn’t leave this woman. It wasn’t her physical condition compelling him to stay, but something more.

 

ALIZA

 

“Walk with me,” Aliza said, unable to stare at what was left of her home. She pulled out of Ryker’s embrace and swayed a little from dizziness. In a blink, Ryker was beside her, interlacing her arm in his. She didn’t fight it. In fact, she enjoyed the companionship. A day ago, he had been a complete stranger, but now, his caring and supportive personality shone.

He tightened his grip. “I’ll walk with you, but you need to keep your arm here.”

Aliza didn’t think of where they were going, just wandered along the sidewalks. Down her block and over a few. She walked past the little yellow house on the corner where her best friend had lived until she moved away her senior year of high school, right after Aliza had lost her father.

The next block held a little sandwich shop that was currently closed. She remembered getting a sub and a cookie there as a reward for good grades. Images of she and her father reflected across the glass as memories played in her head. Then she remembered one trip there before her mother had left, where they were a happy family, but it didn’t last long. Aliza turned away when an image of her mother appeared in the glass.

“What about your parents?” Aliza asked, needing a distraction.

“They died so long ago. Like you, I struggle to remember them sometimes.”

“How do you accept the fading memories?”

“I keep a token to remember them by. A reminder of something I never want to forget.” Ryker pulled a lump of metal from his pocket. He held it tight, then handed it to Aliza.

She stopped under a streetlamp and turned it over in her hand. “It’s warm.” The image stamped into the surface was so worn, she couldn’t make it out. “It’s almost like a coin.”

“It is a coin. Three hundred years old or so from Europe. It was my father’s, and I keep it with me to remember him by. He used to make it disappear behind my ear, and it would reappear in his hand. A bit of magic, nothing special but it made me laugh as a child.”

Aliza smiled and reached up, making the coin disappear behind Ryker’s ear. “Like that?”

The corner of Ryker’s lip turned up, and he displayed a smile that could have rivaled a child’s. “Yes. Just like that. Where’d you learn how to do magic?”

Aliza opened her hand to show the coin. “College. It’s nothing special.”

Ryker took the coin back. “Hmm, it’s not any warmer than your body temperature.” He raised an eyebrow and turned it over in his hands once or twice before shoving it back into his pocket. Once he laced his arms with hers, they continued walking. “I keep the coin to always remember where I came from. Hard-working farmers, nothing elaborate. I have the coin from my father, and I have my mother’s smile, so that’s a little of everything. How about you?”

“I used to have a lot of memories of my father. Photo albums, videos, and the images in my mind were very clear. Five years ago, the apartment I lived in flooded, destroying all my photos and videos. And as time passes, my memories seem to fade as well. There are times I don’t remember what his smile was like or what it was like to eat his lasagna. The house was one of my last physical memories, but now, it’s gone.” She wiped a tear and forced an uncomfortable smile. “I guess I’ll have to find another reminder.”

“And your mother? I assume she’s gone, too.”

Aliza looked away. “She’s not important.”

“Not important?”

Aliza shoved her free hand in her pocket. “She left us when I was six. I remember the night she left. I had been sleeping, but the sound of shattering glass woke me up. There was yelling from downstairs about who was going to keep me. I felt loved for a moment that they both wanted me, but then my mother gave up. She took off and never looked back. I crawled down the stairs, and Dad wrapped his arms around me and whispered, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll always have each other. Mom’s sick and can’t figure things out with us around.’ We never heard a peep from her again. Later, Dad said she wasn’t a good person and was probably dead already.” Aliza shrugged. “At least, she’s dead to me. She’s been gone from my life for over twenty years.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way. It’s an awful way to feel about family.”

Aliza stopped and took a deep breath. The evening continued to grow more melancholy, and she was tired of feeling sad. “Enough of this depressing stuff. I need to do something fun.” In front of them was a large white building with a neon sign that read, Western Lanes—at least it would have if the W wasn’t burnt out. Now it just read estern lanes. They had wandered to the edge of the city where a few farm fields mixed into the scattered subdivision homes. “I think you should take me bowling.”

Ryker grew rigid. “I don’t bowl, and I don’t think it’d be a good thing to do in your condition.”

“I need a distraction. It’s something I used to do when I was younger. I think now is a good time for you to pick up a new hobby. I can feel sick anywhere, but I don’t want to be depressed any longer. Besides, you owe me.”

“I owe you?” Ryker arched an eyebrow.

She rubbed her face to push away the last of her sorrow, then gave him a little, playful jab with her elbow. “You did kiss me…or don’t you remember?”

Ryker laughed. “Oh, I remember. It’s hard to forget.”

She wrapped her arm in his. “I think I can manage, with your help. I want to do something normal.”

“Bowling is normal for you? I don’t know if I should…”

“Didn’t you have some questions to ask me? I’ll let you ask them, and I’ll answer anything you want to know.” All her troubles were forgotten for the moment, and it was just her and this handsome stranger she couldn’t wait to learn more about.

A slow, sly smile grew upon Ryker’s lips. “Anything I want?”

“Yeah, anything.” She winked. What was it about this confident and gentle man beside her? He made her feel wanted. Complete.

“Then let’s start with who that man was in your apartment earlier.”

“Really? Of all the questions in the world that was the one you pick?” She gave him a little tug towards the entrance. “First, you have to finish one game.”

Ryker tightened his grip on her arm. “Fine. Let’s go.”