Page 21 of Big Enough to Bite
“He sent me,” she says through a tight throat. Her eyes are void of fear, and she stares into mine as if asking me to end her life.
Letting go, I step back. “What is your name?”
“Tilda.” A hint of an Austrian accent is noticeable. Disappointment or sorrow shines in her eyes, and they gleam in the moonlight like crystals. “Tilda Shwan.”
“What does he want you to do now that you’ve found me?”
“I’ll call him.” She looks at a family of humans heading toward the center of town—the young are excited about ice cream.
“Were you supposed to talk to me?”
“No, Maria, I was curious about a woman who could make him scour the earth for over a century.” She scans me from head to toe.
I’m wearing jeans and a pink blouse. It’s the only item of clothing in this color that I have and was a gift from the Mannings. I’m growing fond of it. “I go by Mari now. I don’t know why he has always been obsessed with me. I hated him from the moment he took my life and made me choose being a vampire or death. I’m sure you know what I mean.”
“Mari.” She tests it out. “It suits you. I have to tell him where you are. I’ve delayed as long as I could. Now he’s coming to find me. It will be better if he knows I found you.”
Fear.
I can smell it.
“How long ago did you find me?” I can’t help my terror at the idea that Pierre is about to cage me again. I swallow it down and keep my focus on Tilda.
“Over a month, but he grows impatient. You could run. You’d have a day to get as far away from here as you can.” It could be sympathy in the soft tone of her voice.
“You could run, too.” In the back of my mind, I’m already calculating how long it will take to pack a small bag and find a taxi to take me to Syracuse. I can be lost in the masses and fly from there to New York.
She shakes her head and rubs behind her ear. “He knows where I am. He always knows where I am.”
“Who is your new friend, Mari?” Sam’s voice comes from my right.
I was so caught up in Tilda and how to get away from here that I didn’t notice his approach. “I have to leave.” It comes out as a cry. Tears push through my tight hold and run down my cheeks.
He looks from me to Tilda. “I see.” He looks at her. “I guess you’re a friend of Pierre’s.” There’s bite in his voice.
“I wouldn’t put it that way.” She lets her shoulders slump but keeps her gaze on Sam. “But I can see why you would.”
Quickly assessing the response, Sam nods. “I don’t think you should run.” He looks at me. “Either of you.”
Sam
Before I can make my argument, the blonde vampire uses her speed to blur out of sight. Maybe she thought I would try to hurther, but she’s gone before I can ask her to come back to the house and talk about options.
Taking Mari’s hand, I look into her frightened eyes. “When you didn’t come home at the normal time, I came to find you. I thought you’d be in the tower or cemetery.” My heart is breaking from what I overheard. “Don’t leave me, Mari.”
“Pierre is coming. I have to go.” She holds my hand tighter and makes no move to get away.
“Come home. We can figure this out.” My rage at Pierre has to stay bottled up. The terror he’s instilled in the woman I love is more than enough to warrant my seething.
“I don’t see how I can do anything but run as far and as fast as possible. He’ll take me back by force if he has to.” Even though she’s making an argument for running, she walks hand in hand with me to the house we’ve shared for the past month.
My phone pings with a text message.
Determined to get Mari home and behind a door where a vampire has to ask to be admitted, I ignore the message.
There’s another ping and another as we arrive at the house. I hold the door for her and bolt it once we’re inside.
The text lists a phone number with a European country code.
