Page 5 of Blood & Bones

Jocko led me to the room, then turned to me. Under the soft glow of the overhead lights, he took a deep breath, then said, “We have a problem.”

“What? Or should I say who?” Chances were, the problem was a someone rather than a something.

“Laddy McDonald’s in there.” Jocko said.

Laddy was one of our regulars whom we saw five nights a week. He was a reserved young man in his mid-20s, who was a junior accountant at one of the local firms. He always came in alone, and he always ordered dinner and one drink. Then he would leave, and we wouldn’t see him until the next night. He never brought a date; he never talked much; he was always polite and a good tipper. I had wondered what his home-life was like. Did he have a girlfriend? A boyfriend? A pet?

He never showed up with friends, so I didn’t even know if he had any. He was an enigma, but a pleasant one. He knew I was a vampire, but he never treated me differently from anyone else. He was human, but he seemed perfectly at home among a crowd of Supes.

“Why? What did he do? Don’t tell me he’s actually a Supe?” I couldn’t imagine Laddy being part of the Supe Community, even if he fit in well. He seemed too mild and placid.

“I need you to talk to him. Menolly, he’s been turned,” Jocko said. “He’s terrified and confused.”

My blood ran colder than it already was. Laddy, turned?

“No,” I said, staring at the door. “Is he feral?”

“I don’t know. He was hanging on by a thread when he showed up. I could see it in his eyes. They were crimson, and his fangs were down, so he was hungry. I tried to calm him down, but he just kept begging me to stake him. He was absolutely terrified and hungry. He doesn’t seem to have realized his strength yet, so I was able to steer him down the stairs and lock him in the safe room. I figured that you, of anybody, would know how to handle this.”

I didn’t want to handle this. I didn’t want to remember the night after I was turned, but it was inevitable. An unwilling vampire—one who didn’t ask to be turned—was usually in a rough state, but more often than not, their sire would stick around and help them adjust. Rogue vamps, however, basically were the hit-and-run drivers of the Vampire Nation.

And given what Jocko said, Laddy’s transformation was the result of one. And that was bad news. Rogue vamps were best hunted down and destroyed because they were too chaotic and dangerous. The Vampire Community was lobbying for rights, and rogue vampires provided plenty of fodder for anti-vampire groups to fight against us.

“I’ll go talk to him. Don’t worry,” I said. “He can’t hurt me unless he’s got a stake or a blowtorch. Tavah, can you cover me, just in case?”

“I’ll watch the portal while you take care of this,” Jocko said. He paused, then asked, “You don’t have to kill him, do you?”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “I hope not. Not only has he been through a massive system shock, the biggest one you can go through, but he’s been emotionally traumatized. I’ll do everything I can to make sure he’s okay.”

Tavah cleared her throat. “I know someone who can help him, but he has to agree to go.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah, he runs a group for vampires with issues. Like a self-help group. But let’s see what we’re dealing with first.” She nodded at the door. “Let’s go.”

I wasn’t sure how long Tavah had been a vampire—we hadn’t had that discussion yet. But she was older than I was, at least in vampire-years. I had been close to sixty in human years, but the equivalent to about nineteen when I was turned.

Bracing myself, I unlocked the door and pushed through, girding myself should he attack.

But in the light of the safe room, I saw him, sitting on the bed, curled into a ball, his head between his knees as he coiled tightly.

“Laddy?” I asked, keeping my voice soft. “Talk to me.”

He didn’t answer, but his shoulders shook. He was crying.

“Laddy? Look at me,” I brought out my command voice. Every vampire had one, though it had to be developed. It was part of our glamour and it was similar to the Fae command and glamour, though stronger.

Laddy jerked his head up. His bloody tears stained his face. He hiccupped, then panicked. “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe, Menolly!”

The terror in his voice was all-too familiar. I walked over to him and sat down in front of him, taking him by the shoulders.

“Stop. Stop trying. It won’t help. I know—and Tavah knows. We all go through this when we’re turned.” I actually didn’t know if all vampires experienced the panic of realizing they weren’t breathing, and desperately trying to claw for air that would never again inflate our lungs.

I held his gaze, forcing him to stare into my eyes as I projected an energy that was calm and peaceful. I pushed the energies out to enshroud him, and he slowly began to relax. This was the exact energy we used to calm our prey, but he didn’t need to know that right now.

“Close your eyes,” I said.

Laddy obeyed.