Chapter 9

Chapter 9

David woke with a start in unfamiliar surroundings. He was in a bed. Luxurious, but not his own. The room was dark, and it was hard to make out details, but the layout was equally unknown. The only light was a soft ethereal glow from the bathroom. David realized it was a night-light.

His nightmares had been disjointed as his mind tried valiantly to make sense of the attack. As he sat up and looked around, dual sensations of pain and a tugging came from his neck. He reached his right hand above his clavicle and felt a bandage taped to his skin. When he applied slight pressure to the area, a jolt of pain from something that felt like a cut made him stop.

“David?” A calm, gentle voice spoke out of the darkness. When he looked in the direction it came from, he could make out a figure in a chair. The figure rose in a fluid motion and approached the bed, settling lightly next to David. “How do you feel?”

“Joseph? Where am I?” David’s voice came out scratchy. His throat was hoarse and sore from screaming.

Joseph reached to the bedside table. “Watch your eyes, I’m turning on a light.”

David closed his eyes and heard a click. Through his eyelids, he saw the warm glow of a bedside lamp. He had meant to keep his eyes closed a moment longer to let them adjust but an instantaneous panic shot through him, and they flew open. Fortunately, the lamp was not bright, and the level of light was comfortable.

“Shhh, it’s okay. You’re at my house. You’re safe. I…” Joseph stopped, unsure how much he wanted to say. He wanted to find out how much David remembered and what he knew, but more than anything, he wanted to comfort him. He grabbed a glass of room-temperature water from the table and held it for David. “Here, some water.”

David sipped tentatively at first, unsure if it would hurt to drink, but it soothed his dry throat, and he downed half the glass before he stopped.

“How do you feel?” Joseph asked again, gently but insistently.

David had not yet looked Joseph in the eyes but did so now. He saw the love and concern Joseph felt for him and felt his own feelings begin to rise to the surface. But the trauma of the attack crashed over him like a wave, against the rocks and shoals that were the details trying to piece themselves together into a not-yet-coherent picture. He burst into tears.

Joseph held him, and David wrapped his arms around him in return, squeezing as if his life depended on it.

“It’s okay… it’s okay…” was all Joseph said as he gently rubbed David’s back. David’s hot tears fell between them and dampened Joseph’s shirt, but he made no move to part. He would hold on to this man forever if that’s what he needed.

David cried like a child, and it exhausted him just as it had when he was young. After ten minutes or so, his whole face felt swollen from the physical effort. His head throbbed, and his eyes burned. The sobs subsided, and he squeezed his eyes closed. He relaxed and lay back into the bed but didn’t let go of his grip on Joseph, who followed David down and adjusted himself until they were both lying together in the bed, wrapped in each other’s arms.

Feeling safe and protected, David drifted back to sleep.

He was roused hours later by the sound of a laden tray being set on the bedside table, and Joseph softly saying his name, “Daaaaviiiid…”

David’s eyes were crusty with the salt of dried tears. The smell of chicken soup wafted into his nose from the tray.

His dreams had been quieter, less chaotic this time. Now that he was awake, certain details became clearer.

“There wasn’t a mountain lion, was there?” It wasn’t really a question.

“No.” Joseph sat back on the bed. “Here, I brought you a hot towel.”

David scooted up into a sitting position and took the washcloth from Joseph, who placed his hand on top of David’s for a moment. David placed his other hand on top in a silent gesture of reassurance. I’m okay. I love you. Give me a second.

The towel was the perfect temperature to give his skin a slight sting when David pressed it to his face, and it contained the exact amount of moisture to effectively wipe away the remnants of his tears, sweat, and grime from the alleyway. When it had cooled, he lowered it from his face and looked at Joseph. Neither of them could decide what to say. A palpable silence hung between them.

“I have some chicken soup and ginger ale if you want,” Joseph offered.

“What time is it?” David asked.

“Around 4:30 AM. You were out cold after … what happened. You woke up the first time about 3:00 AM.” Joseph was being careful, picking his words cautiously.

David felt at the bandage on his neck. “What is this?”

“You got cut. I cleaned and dressed it while you were asleep.”

“You got cut,” David countered, pointing to the spot on Joseph’s forehead that had been bleeding earlier but now showed no sign of a wound at all.

Joseph reached up and touched the spot. “It wasn’t as bad as it looked with all the blood. I…” He stopped. That was enough explanation. He was about to add that he healed quickly but caught himself.

David felt like he had a thousand questions jumbling around his head and couldn’t grab onto the most important one. He grasped at the one piece of information he already had.

“There was no mountain lion,” he said simply. Saying it out loud for the second time sounded ridiculous. In fact, he couldn’t think of how the idea ever occurred to him in the first place, it was so preposterous. Okay, he pushed that one to the side.

The problem was he didn’t have a complete picture. Whole chunks of the puzzle were missing. The pieces he did have felt nearly as improbable as a giant cat in the middle of Los Angeles. What he needed was more information. One potential source was sitting next to him. The vital question was, did he trust Joseph?

David looked at him. Even in the dim light, Joseph’s blue eyes were easy to see. They were filled with … what? Compassion, sympathy, for sure. Pity, maybe. Love? David’s throat tightened involuntarily at the thought, and he felt the bandage tape pull at the skin. How did he really feel about Joseph? That was the key. Did he trust this man he’d only met several days before? Did he … love him?

At the thought, the lump in his throat dissolved and a warmth filled his chest. He had never fallen for someone so fast, but everything thus far had been perfect. It might not last, but for now, yes. He trusted him to fill in the pieces.

David reached for the open bottle of ginger ale and took a sip, feeling the carbonation tickle his nose and the spiciness of the ginger as it flowed down his throat.

“What happened?” he asked, his voice a bit stronger and more confident.

“You were attacked,” Joseph replied, placing a hand on David’s leg over the comforter. “I was on my way to meet you when I saw them and … fought them off.”

David’s racing mind slowed. All the puzzle pieces that were flurrying around like glitter in a snow globe started to settle, and he set to picking them up and putting them in place. He had always been a problem solver. He couldn’t help it, when someone told him something was wrong, he automatically tried to fix it. It had occasionally been a source of friction in previous relationships.

“Who were they?” he asked, picking up on an important detail in Joseph’s statement.

“Um…” Joseph paused before deciding that feigning ignorance was the lesser of two evils. “I don’t know.”

“How did you find me? You just happened to go down the same alley a block and a half away from where we were meeting?” David’s face set into a determined stare, reading Joseph for information.

“Yeah,” was his reply.

“It wasn’t just a gay bashing. I thought it was at first, but it wasn’t. They were crazy.” David could feel the events of the evening coalesce into coherent memory.

Joseph misunderstood David’s irritability as panic and saw where it was headed. “You’re safe, David.”

“Why are you saying that?” David snapped. “You wouldn’t keep saying that unless there was a reason to think I wasn’t.”

“I just think you should calm d—”

“Who are you?” David cut him off.

Joseph just looked at him. The vampire had just reconciled his feelings for this man but had yet to decide if he was going to let him further into his life. That decision would mean revealing his true self. The decision was being thrust upon him right now, this very moment. He couldn’t think of what to say.

David saw the conflict in his eyes. He knew there were several ways this conversation could go. One way was for him to get out of the bed right now and leave, go to the police and report the attack. He didn’t think Joseph would stop him. But he didn’t want to do that. The other option was that he stayed. He took a deep breath.

“Joseph. I’ve never met anyone like you. The truth is, I haven’t stopped thinking about you since the night we met, and I think…” David struggled to get this line of thought out in the midst of everything else he was reconciling. “I have never really thought that love at first sight was a real thing. Because I’d never experienced it.” He placed a hand on top of Joseph’s. “Until you.”

A tear welled up in Joseph’s eye and rolled down his cheek. David realized two things. One, Joseph felt the same way about him, deeply. Two, the expression in his eyes wasn’t sympathy or pity; it was sorrow. In that moment, Joseph’s eyes looked older than any David had looked into.

David continued, “I think I love you. I don’t know how but I do. But there is so much I don’t know about you. I don’t know what you do for work, exactly. This—” he waved his arm to indicate the room “—is a nice place. But I don’t know what your job is. I feel like you’ve told me a lot of half-things about yourself, but I can’t quite put my finger on why.”

Just then a detail from the evening lit up like a neon sign in his brain. “They were looking for you. The crazies.” He waited for Joseph to respond with shock or ask how he knew, but he remained silent.

“You already knew that.” Another piece fell into place. The picture was still indistinct. “Because you know them.”

Joseph looked like he was about to be torn in two but still didn’t speak.

“Do you?”David demanded.

Joseph barely whispered his answer. “Yes.”

David was silent before he decided Joseph’s earlier lie wasn’t the important thing. “How?”

“They’re from my past. A long time ago, from a different part of my life. I never expected to see them ever again.”

More bits from his encounter with Alexander and Roxana clarified in David’s memory. “They knew about us. That we’d slept together. Did you tell them?”

“No, David, no,” Joseph said, grateful for the ability to answer honestly.

“Then how did they know?” David insisted, his voice rising.

Joseph spoke slowly. “David, I just want you to know that I love you. I do, I love you. I’ve never felt anything like what I feel with you and when I say that, it means…” He trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence. “I need you to know that you’re safe. And that I love you.” Tears flowed freely down his face. “I don’t want you to hate me.”

David’s memory flashed back to ten years ago, when he was trying to come out to his family. He had said the exact same thing. But Joseph clearly wasn’t trying to come out to him, so what was his secret? What was so awful?

The final piece slid into place and a horrifying and completely improbable realization occurred to David. He reached up to his neck to feel the bandage and started peeling away the tape. Joseph reached out to stop him.

“No, don’t do that,” he implored.

David didn’t listen; he pulled the bandage off and touched the wound that had been cleaned and dressed. He felt two holes beginning to scab over. What are these? Whatare they?

David looked into Joseph’s eyes. They were completely visible despite the lack of light in the bedroom, eyes that shimmered slightly and…

“Joseph… What are you?” David said softly, both wanting and not wanting to know the answer.

Joseph spoke slowly but avoided answering the question directly. “The people who attacked you… They were vampires, David.”

“No… that’s not possible,” David said quietly but didn’t believe himself. He said it because that’s what you say when someone tells you that you were attacked by vampires.

Joseph closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This wasn’t the first time he had revealed his secret to someone, but the last time had been Robert, thirty years ago. Before that, Rafaél, close to fifty years ago. And before that … centuries. This may not have been different, but it felt too rushed. The decision was taken from him, and he felt unprepared for it. Joseph opened his eyes and exhaled slowly, making eye contact with David. “I… I was born in the year 1518.”

David pressed his palms to his eyes. His brain hurt. Somehow this information, phrased that way, was more real than some mythical monster. “No…” Despite having pieced it together, there was a difference between a puzzle laid out in your mind and the stark reality of something so impossible presented to you in real life.

“Please try to stay calm. It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.” The truth was out and now all Joseph could do was wait to see what happened next.

David was calm. At least, he didn’t feel particularly frightened. “That’s what vampires do, though, right?” he pointed out. “They hurt people. I was almost killed tonight! I thought I was going to die.” He lowered his hands and made eye contact again. “Joseph, I was sure of it.”

Part of David’s brain still fought the notion altogether. It was like mountain lions in LA. There were no vampires in the world, it was utterly ridiculous! But the calmer, problem-solving part of his brain answered, Yes, but there are mountain lions in LA. You’ve seen them on the news. And you know there are animals that feed on blood. Vampire bats do it. But it was a huge leap from vampire bats to vampire humans. The more likely truth was that he was attacked by coked-out whack jobs with fake vampire teeth…

“Show me,” David demanded quietly.

“David…” Joseph tried to read the other man’s emotional state. David’s heart rate was steady, if a bit elevated. He didn’t smell especially afraid. “Are you sure?”

David didn’t ask again. He just jerked his head towards Joseph’s mouth. His meaning was unmistakable. Show them to me.

Joseph noted that David’s hands were no longer touching his. One was rolled into a loose fist within the other, over his stomach. Joseph opened his mouth slightly, then stopped. “I love you,” he said. David said nothing. Did nothing. Waiting.

While maintaining eye contact, Joseph bared his incisors and allowed his fangs to slide slowly into place. When they were fully extended, he noticed that David was holding his breath. Joseph withdrew his fangs.

“David. Breathe.”

David had no context to process this information. For the last few minutes, until that moment, it had been theoretical. And before tonight, it wasn’t something he’d even conceived as a possibility. He sucked in a breath and suddenly the deep reptile part of his brain that dictated survival told him that he needed to be anywhere else but here.

“Are you going to kill me?” he asked. It was a question that needed asking, but the look on Joseph’s face betrayed such hurt that David had his answer.

“I could never.” He tried to reason through David’s shock. “I am capable of love. And the last time I fed on a person was over two hundred and fifty years ago.” Joseph wasn’t sure if this last piece of information would help or hurt the situation, but it came out before he had a chance to censor himself.

“If I need to leave will you stop me?” David asked, confident enough that he was able to look Joseph in the eye again and not just at his teeth.

“No. I brought you here to protect you, but you can go whenever you want,” Joseph said sadly, trying to be as soothing as possible.

“I need to leave. I can’t be here with you right now.” David pushed aside the comforter and sheets. Joseph stood up to give him room. He even stepped back a couple of paces, wanting to be as nonthreatening as possible.

“That’s okay. I’ll order you a car.” Joseph reached to get his phone out of his pocket. But David shot the idea down.

“I got it. I…” He trailed off while he put on his clothes. Joseph had respectfully left David’s underwear on and folded his pants and shirt in a neat pile on a chair on the other side of the table, shoes arranged primly underneath. “I have a lot of things flying around my head right now, and I don’t want anything from you until I can sort it all out.” David pulled his shirt over his head and tugged it straight. He gave Joseph a look that was not unkind, but also held little affection. “Okay?”

Joseph swallowed his sorrow and anger at the circumstances that led to this. “Mmhmm, yeah. Whatever you need.”

David tapped into the rideshare app and ordered a car. It was late enough after bars closed and early enough to be ahead of morning commuters, so there were a few drivers within minutes. It was the first instance that David got an idea of where they were, looking at the map on his phone. “You live in the Hills?”

“Yeah.” Joseph decided less was more in this situation. Best not to explain how he was loaded but hadn’t wanted David to know until he knew their love was real. What did it matter anyway?

“Hmm,” was all David said. Then, “The Lyft’ll be here in a minute. Where’s the door?”

“Follow me.” It was still dark out, so Joseph led David up the stairs from the bedroom into the main part of the house. He was aware of David’s reaction as he took in the huge space, the interior design, and the art on display. He caught David’s mild fascination at the door that unlocked at a touch of the handle, the large deadbolt sliding open with a heavy but immediate whirrclunk, and saw him notice that there was no handle on the outside.

Outside, the rain had stopped, but everything still had a sheen of recent precipitation. The pair stood silently under the covered entryway, each of them wrestling with the urge to say something but not knowing what words could possibly be uttered in the moment.

David wanted to run. It took everything he had not to bolt from the house. But he also still felt Joseph’s touch. The way he caressed David’s skin (he’s a vampire!) was better than any man ever had. The way they had that instant and effortless chemistry (he drinks blood!), and their shared sense of humor was undeniable. Everything David had experienced showed Joseph to be kind, generous (he’s five hundred years old!), and gentle. But then, of course, he was also a vampire.

For his part, Joseph wanted to profess his feelings, again and again, until David couldn’t help but believe him. He also wanted to beg David not to tell anyone his secret. For both of their sakes. The outcome of such a spilling of information could go a hundred different ways. David could be seen as insane. Or he could be believed. Either were awful to contemplate. Fleetingly, Joseph welcomed a public reveal of his true nature. Bring his tortured existence to an end. Then he remembered the feel of David’s body next to his. The experience of feeling his heartbeat as if it were his own. And his kiss. A quote he once read flitted into his mind:

“It was the kiss by which all the others of his life would be judged and found wanting.”

That was how good David’s kisses were. Never in his five hundred years had he experienced kisses that excited him so easily.

The Lyft pulled into the driveway and the moment was over. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen. When David didn’t immediately step off the stoop and head for the idling Prius, Joseph touched his shoulder gently. “David? Are you okay?” Then, before he could stop himself, “ I meant it when I said I loved you.”

David didn’t answer. Or he didn’t know the answer. Joseph saw him shake his head almost imperceptibly, and he stepped out of the entryway. After a couple of slow steps, he turned back, and Joseph’s heart swelled at the hope that he might not leave. He would give the driver a twenty and they would go back inside and David could finish his soup and they could cuddle and kiss and—

“I won’t tell anyone,” David said simply. He was staring at the ground. “Other than that, I can’t promise anything. Please don’t call. I can’t stop you if you wanted to, but…” He raised his eyes to meet Joseph’s. They were filled with tears. “Please don’t.”

David turned and walked to the idling car and got in the back seat. The driver was a middle-aged black woman, who seemed preternaturally cheerful given the hour. She asked him to buckle up, and a moment later the hybrid pulled out of the driveway and down the curving road with an electric whine. Joseph’s house disappeared behind the hill, but David wasn’t even looking.

“You okay, sugar?” the driver asked. “Y’all lookin’ like you got the world’s worst news t’night.”

“Yeah,” David said, either affirming one question or confirming the guess.

“Mmhmm. I get it. I’m sorry if you’re having a tough night. I got y’all’s destination right here. You just relax, and I’ll get you there safe and sound.” The driver had been doing this long enough to know when not to be chatty. But she also knew some people needed an ear sometimes. “Y’all just let me know if you need to talk. I’m here for ya, sugar. I’m Madeline,” she said with a long ilike fine.

David realized he was holding his phone. He turned it over, looking for cracks, but it seemed unscathed, despite the events of the early evening. He activated it, not really knowing what he wanted to do, but his fingers automatically opened the iMessage app and tapped the most recent conversation. It was Dana. She had said:

<Have fun Romeo! Dnce a jig fr me!>

David typed back:

<Call me asap> Then, <Also, not coming into work Monday>

He turned the phone screen off and looked out the window. From up in the Hollywood Hills, the Los Angeles basin spread out in an ocean of lights as far as the eye could see. David had always loved that view. It had reminded him of the future and possibility and the remarkable things man could achieve.

Now it looked like endless hiding places for a thousand unknown terrors.

David closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the seat. What the hell am I going to do now?