Chapter Five

Monday – Southern Maryland

Summer

I spend the morning busy with work but go out to grab a bite at lunchtime. I’m craving egg drop soup and fried rice, big time. So I decided to treat myself to my favorite Chinese. I give Sam a call and see if she can meet me for lunch, but she is working all week, so I’m on my own.

I notice the black SUV with the limo tint sitting in the parking lot of the Chinese restaurant while I’m inside. I like to people-watch while I eat, and I noticed it was there when I sat down. No one has gotten in or out of it. This is a small shopping center, and the dark car seems very out of place. Most vehicles coming and going are people getting lunch, like myself, or those stopping in at the laundromat next door.

When I think I see the same SUV in my rearview mirror on the way back to the bank after finishing my lunch, I decide I’m just paranoid. But when I for sure see it parked a row behind my car in the parking lot as I walk from my office to the reception counter to grab a printout, I realize there may be something more to it. I pick up my cell when I’m back to my office and call Donnie.

“Hey, Donnie,” I say when he answers the phone.

“Hey, baby? Everything all right?” The tone of his voice tells me he is concerned. “You don’t normally call from work—”

“So, it’s probably nothing,” I cut him off, not wanting him to worry too much, “but there is this car. I think this will sound crazy because it makes no sense at all. But I think maybe someone is following me.”

I don’t hear any response from him for a long time, and I check my phone to make sure the call didn’t drop. “Donnie?” I ask, checking to see if he heard me and is still there.

“I’m on the way.” The line goes dead, and I’m left sitting in my office staring out into the lobby, wondering what in the world is going on.

When Donnie shows up ten minutes later, the SUV is gone. I rush out to the parking lot to meet him as he pulls up. I’m left feeling like a fool who worried my boyfriend for no reason.

“Hey, hun. I’m sorry. You really didn’t need to come here,” I say as I walk up to his cruiser.

“Get in,” he says, pointing to the passenger side. I walk around the front of the car and get in. As soon as I close the door behind me, he starts grilling me to tell him exactly what I saw.

“You're the worst witness ever,” Donnie finally says after ten minutes of questions about the vehicle's make, model, and color. I have no answers to give him. I can only say I saw a nondescript black SUV with dark tint at the Chinese place, then thought I saw it again here at the bank.

“I'm sorry, I told you that you shouldn't have come. It's nothing, I'm sure. There are zero reasons for anyone to be following me. I know you're making this out to be a big thing and going all cop on me. But please, you can go home. I'm sorry, hun,” I tell him earnestly, feeling wrong about the whole thing. My racing heart slows in his presence. I worried him for no reason.

“It probably wasn't even the same car, Donnie. Please,” I say. He is still sitting there in the driver's seat studying me, thinking it through. I can tell by the look in his eyes he isn't going to let it go.

“Summer,” he starts. “I should have been honest with you before now.” I freeze at his words.

“What do you mean?” I ask him, my blood turning to ice in my veins, something about the way he is looking at me, the tone of his voice. I have no idea what he is about to say, but it terrifies me. My calming heart races again and I can feel the sweat under my arms, scalp tingling.

“Summer, baby. Look at me. Do you trust me?” he asks, reaching over and taking my hand in his. The space in the police cruiser seems to shrink, and I feel trapped, terrified of what he is about to say.

“Of course I do, Donnie. What's going on? Is this about the car? Did something happen at work? Are we in danger?” I know he has kept parts of his job from me in the past because either he doesn't want to relive them, or they would be too much for me. But even so, there has never been something that has made him act like this. Maybe someone is after him, someone he locked up is out now and has a vendetta against him? A million different things run through my head. None of them prepared me for the next words out of Donnie's mouth.

“Summer, I'm not what you think I am.” He pauses. I take a deep breath. My pregnancy hormones are getting me worked up and jumping to conclusions. “Summer,” he repeats my name. I turn my eyes back to him. I can tell he is having a hard time with what he is trying to say to me.

“Just say it!” I practically yell at him.

“I'm a vampire.” He says the words, looking directly at me, straight-faced. I don't know what to say. I just stare back at him. I listen to the traffic driving by for a few minutes. Opening and closing my mouth, looking for the words.

Finally, I get it out. “A vampire? You're– They're not– Holy shit, I'm having a baby with a fucking psychopath.” I don't try to flee. I just sit and look down at my hands in my lap, wringing them over and over.

Donnie reaches a hand towards me, and I cringe. “Don't. If you didn't want to have this baby. If you didn't want to be with me. Then why? Why would you move Gus and me into your house to just do this to me now? Why Donnie?” By the time I finish, I am screaming at him in earnest. Tears are streaming down my face, my fists clenched in my lap so tightly I can feel my nails biting into my palms.

He grabs my hands, and I try to pull from his grasp. “No! Don't fucking touch me!”

“Summer, stop it,” he says low, in his most controlled voice. He is trying to bring me back to the moment, trying to calm me down. “Look at me, baby. I know this sounds insane. I can explain everything. But you have to believe me, I'm actually one-hundred and five years old, Summer. I have been thirty for seventy-five of those years. I was attacked in an alley while I was working one night in Atlanta.” I stare, dumbfounded, as he tells me the tale of how he was attacked by a woman he thought was injured. He didn't have back up and went into the alley alone. She bit him. I'm shaking my head. My ears are ringing.

“No. It doesn't make sense. You're lying. This isn't real,” I stammer, but Donnie goes on.

“She turned me into what she was, I found out the next day when I woke up in the hospital, and the burning pain in my throat could only be soothed by one thing, something I craved and couldn't control.” The world around us goes on, but I’m watching mine shatter right before my eyes.

“Stop,” I say quickly, quietly. Praying this will stop, and I will wake up. This isn't real. This is all a dream. He shakes his head.

“Please, baby, hear me out.” I look up at him and nod at his request. Why I do, I'm unsure. But once I do, he continues again.

“I met a man about three years later. He taught me to control the rage, the blood lust. Leo taught me to use it for good. Hunting down those hurting innocents and feeding on them.” I look back out the window as he talks. “I learned more about what I was in the decades after I changed. If I do kill, it is only to protect innocent lives. Summer, look at me.”

I turn towards him, and his eyes flash silver, glowing in the daylight of the car. I shake my head, not wanting to believe it. “You're outside, in the sun. You eat food. We're having a baby!” I screech the last part at him when I realize not only do I believe him, but now I believe I have a vampire baby inside me.

“I can explain some of that,” Donnie says and sighs.

“Some? What the fuck does that mean, Donnie!” I'm starting to panic again, and I feel like I'm hyperventilating. I lean forward to put my head between my knees, breathing deeply. “I… don't… under… stand,” I gasp out between breaths.

“Breathe, baby. I'll explain. Please breathe.” He has unbuckled his seatbelt and is leaning over the center console rubbing my back and shoulders. “Breathe, Summer.”

I pop up in one quick motion. “I can't. I can't do this. I'm supposed to be at work. I can't keep sitting here. I have to go.” I fling open the car door and jump out quickly, making my way back around the car and starting across the parking lot when I feel him grab my arm. I turn and look into Donnie's eyes. They're filled with love, sadness, and fear I can't explain.

“Hey,” I say, turning and stepping towards him. “Hey, look at me. I'm not leaving you. I'll be back. But I can't do this right now. I'm supposed to be inside. Can I meet you at home in an hour? Please? Donnie?” I put my hand on his cheek, and he closes his eyes, turning into my hand.

Donnie slowly nods and then takes my hand and plants a kiss in the center of it. “I love you, Summer. I would never do anything to hurt you. Any of you. But we have to finish this conversation. I'll wait out here for you to complete your shift. Then we’ll get Gus and go home, and we will finish talking. Okay?” I nod at him, then turn and walk to the building.

***

An hour later, I stare out of the windows in the bank lobby at the police cruiser parked next to my car. I’ve put it together in my head and concluded that I honestly do believe him. Pieces have fallen into place, things that didn’t make sense before, do now. He hardly sleeps. It seems as if he is only doing it to appease me when he eats. He has never once eaten any of the lunches I’ve been packing him since I moved in.

But it’s the daylight that’s tripping me up. Aren’t vampires supposed to burst into flames, ash, or some shit? I don’t know what to think, but I know I can’t stall anymore. I have to go out there and face the truth. I called my mom to make sure she could pick Gus up from daycare and that he could sleep over at her house. This way, Donnie and I can have a night for just the two of us to work this out. But I’m not positive I’m ready for what that will really mean.

Taking a deep breath as I step into the night, I tell myself, “Donnie is a vampire, and we’re being followed.” I tilt my head to one side and squint in the fading light as I see what I swear is the same SUV from earlier stop and make a U-turn in the middle of the street, then head in the opposite direction.

“Hey!” Donnie smiles at me, getting out of the car as I move across the parking lot. He takes a tentative step towards me. I can tell he is unsure of how I will react to him.

“Hey.” I wave shyly, unsure how I’m supposed to react to him. I tense as I lean into his arms, but when he wraps them around me, I let out a massive sigh of relief and relax into his chest. This man is mine. He still feels the same, still smells the same. This hasn’t changed anything between us. The answer to my question is right here, I’m supposed to act the way I always have. Yes, I have questions, but the answers will come with time, and we will make this work. Because I love him.

I look into his silver eyes and what I see there truly startles me. The fear of my rejection in his eyes breaks my heart, and I feel the tears well in mine.

“Hush.” Donnie puts his hand on my cheek and kisses me softly. “Let’s go home and talk.”