24. RUBBLE AND RUIN

RUBBLE AND RUIN

A ndras looked like he'd seen a ghost from where he kneeled on the floor of his entryway surrounded by rubble and ruin. I might not have recognized him if I weren't staring directly into his house from his porch. His black t-shirt had been torn in more than one place, blood smeared his gray sweatpants, and his hair and face were coated in a fine dusting of debris. The dark blue eyes I so often found myself drawn to were vacantly fixed on a spot on the floor. A beautiful woman with sun-kissed skin damaged by cuts and bruises crouched, panting, beside him, her delicate arm at a strange angle.

Andras' head whipped toward me. I stepped back, startled.

"I'm so sorry." I apologized, "I shouldn't have come."

I turned to go.

"Please don't go, Danny," Andras called out. But there was something unspoken in his tone, something desperate.

His voice sounded too strained, too wounded to be his. I froze and turned, startled to find him already standing at the doorway. He forced a weak smile, his beautiful face covered in pink scratches, like freshly healed cuts. The gorgeous woman slowly reached his side, face neutral and unreadable. She glanced down at herself, as if taking in the damage for the first time, eyes settling on her bent, gnarled arm. She rolled her eyes with annoyance before ducking behind a wall, just out of view. Something cracked, and she swore loudly. Andras frowned. Then she was back at his side, rubbing her arm. It still appeared a little off but was no longer completely mangled, aside from the piece of jagged wood jutting out of her thigh right below her tattered silk nightgown. Drywall chunks and crusted blood decorated her body, and even still, she was one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. Her cheekbones could cut rocks.

In a way, two of my suspicions had been right. There stood Andras, disheveled and obviously in trouble but with a nearly naked woman. It stung. But I didn't have the right to be angry; it's not like we were together, and I just got divorced, for fuck sake. Plus, I knew he needed to date in order to feed. The guy had to eat, right? At least, that's what I told myself.

Andras examined my face.

"Danny," he said, gently, "I can see your mind racing. Whatever you're thinking, it's not that." He tried to force a smile to put me at ease, but it came off as manic with his bloodshot eyes and way too-toothy grin. Something had rattled him, scared him. Honestly, it hardly seemed possible–the unkillable man was all swagger and smirk–but something had happened, something bad. I studied them.

"What happened?" I asked quietly but not weakly.

I stepped around them and into the house, knowing that the last thing any of us needed was for Kim to record me, Andras, and this gorgeous woman in a state of duress, so I was quick about it. Bethany had all but stopped her bullshit after I'd texted her pics of her fleeing Kim's bed, but no part of me truly believed she'd drop it off forever. If anything, she'd probably stock up on evidence for a few years before going in for the final kill when I lay on my deathbed.

The front door clicked shut behind me. The house was absolutely destroyed, and the view inside was far worse. There were human-sized dents and holes in the walls, his dining table lay in shreds, and blood had been splattered across the walls and floor. My hands flew to my mouth and I gasped as images of my father flooded back. The room tilted under my feet.

"The blood. Oh, no, the blood," Andras said quietly, as if he were far away.

He rushed to me and gently took my elbow to steady my balance. I looked up at him, and his dust-coated hair and face, thankful.

"Nadia is an old friend," Andras began, while he steadied me. "She arrived a few weeks ago, around the day I sat with you in the coffee shop."

Nadia grinned. "I'm terribly sorry we're meeting like this. I've heard so much about you. Nice to meet you," she said.

"It's nice to meet you, too."

I dipped my chin to her then turned to Andras. "What have you told her about me?" I asked him. "And I thought you were leaving? What is happening? What happened to your house?"

"I told you that I was leaving because I was trying to keep you safe," he held up a hand as if telling me not to jump to conclusions, "because unfortunately, it's not safe for me to see you right now." He gestured around his broken house, "and now that you've come here, you're most certainly in danger."

He paused and turned to Nadia, saying, "there's no way he didn't stop somewhere to see if we gave chase. He probably saw her approach."

Nadia shook her head that she agreed.

"In danger of what? From who?" I demanded.

I turned to Nadia.

"OH, GODS! NO," Nadia exclaimed, chuckling. "No, you have nothing to fear from me. I have nothing to do with this. I don't even really drink human blood. I'm mostly on the puppy diet." Puppies! I scowled. Nadia shook her head emphatically. "Well, not actually puppies. I'm not a monster ," she chuckled to herself, "but I do mostly drink animal blood, like from deer, unless I'm committed to someone, which I haven't been for centuries, although I have started dating someone here, and they're lovely, so maybe one day. And unlike this infant here ," she angled her head to Andras, "I'm old and not really tempted by human blood. Andras, however, must be suffering terribly around you." She beamed at him with absolute delight. Andras rolled his eyes.

"You're also a vampire?" I asked, unable to believe it. "Oh, and…" I pointed to her thigh, "you have a thing sticking out of your leg."

Nadia looked down at the splinter of wood the size of a knife jutting out of her thigh. "Great," she hissed then reached down and yanked it out in one effortless motion. Blood oozed from the gaping hole. Then, the bleeding slowed as the skin knitted itself back together.

I gasped.

Nadia clasped her hands together, waiting for Andras to say something.

Andras exhaled, "It's faster if I show you what happened here. May I show you?" he asked, extending his hand.

"How?" I asked, but just as the words left my lips, I realized what he meant. "You want to show me inside of your head?"

"Yes."

Andras smiled tightly, hand still extended. Slowly, reluctantly, I rolled my shoulders back in preparation for the epic mindfuck about to happen and reached for him, letting his long soft fingers envelop mine. He gently pulled me into him, close enough to feel the heat radiating off of his chest and gently grabbed my chin to tilt my face up to meet his stare. "I'll be with you, don't worry," he promised. I blinked once in confirmation and watched as the onyx of his pupils spread like spilled ink until the blue was gone, the white was gone, and all that remained was darkness. The darkness spread around us, too, shadows eating up the light until the whole world turned black. Then I realized I was seeing through his eyes, as if I were behind them, peering out. Much like a movie, a scene began to play.