Page 92 of My Vampire Plus-One

I started with Frederick’s claim that they liked to stage blood bank break-ins the morning following stadium concerts, Googling firststadium concerts worldwide since 2015and thenblood bank break-ins worldwide since 2015. I got two different enormous lists of hits, most of them containing links to local newspaper articles. I had zero confidence either list was complete, and didn’t know what I would even do with them if they were. But it felt good to be proactive.

I desperately needed to email the Wyatt Foundation confirming our upcoming meeting. I’d gotten no work done while I was in Wisconsin, and this was time sensitive. After that was handled, I’d start cross-referencing these Internet lists and see if there was a pattern I could put together from the results.

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“Are you sure it’s okayif I drop by?” I asked when Frederick called to tell me his ward-casting friend had left.

“Please do,” he insisted. “Cassie made photocopies of the sections ofThe Annalsrelevant to The Collective. And God’s thumbs, please take Reginald with you when you go. He’s been here ever since leaving Wisconsin and he’s annoying me.”

Frederick and Cassie’s apartment wasn’t hard to find. It was in an affluent part of Lincoln Park close enough to the lake that it was buffeted by winds in both winter and summer. Temperatures had mellowed after the blizzard that had hit Wisconsin, butby the time I got to Frederick’s fancy brownstone, the wind chill was enough to make me pull my scarf more tightly around myself to ward off the cold.

I hesitated when I got to the third floor and stood facing their apartment. Suddenly, the idea of entering a vampire’s home had me on edge. Reggie would never hurt me, and if Frederick posed a threat, Sam wouldn’t be as okay with Cassie living with him as he seemed to be. Even still, now that the moment was here, I was nervous.

What if I interrupted them while they were eating or something? Reggie had made oblique references to eating, and I knew they drank blood. I’d been okay with it in theory. But seeing it in person?

I didn’t think I could handle that. Not even if they drank their dinners from blood donation bags.

In the end, my desire to see Reggie won out over fear.

I knocked on the door.

Cassie opened it.

“Amelia.” She smiled at me, though I couldn’t tell if she was happy to see me or not. We’d never been close, and although I’d never said anything to her about it, I’d always assumed she knew I hadn’t thought much of her when we were younger.

It was immediately obvious that she’d changed over the past several months. Her stance was confident, poised. For the first time since I’d known her, she looked like someone who believed in herself. I didn’t know if it was from Frederick’s supportive influence or from the new teaching job Sam had mentioned she’d just started. Whatever the cause, it was a good look on her.

“It’s nice to see you, Cassie,” I said, smiling back at her. I hoped she read the sincerity in my expression. “Is, uh…is Reggie here?”

She opened the door wider and motioned for me to come inside. “He’s in the spare bedroom, working on his bullet journal.”

“Working on his what?”

Cassie’s smile grew. “His bullet journal. It’s something we suggested he try when this whole mess started to process his feelings. It seems to be helping a lot. Have you ever tried bullet journaling?”

I shook my head. “I don’t even know what it is.”

“Oh, I think you’d like it,” she said. At my skeptical look, she said, “Reginald was skeptical, too, at first. Now he’s hooked. Even Frederick has decided to give it a try.”

For one mad instant I thought to ask her what it was like, dating a vampire. Living with one. Loving him. I thought she might be about to volunteer this information without my asking, but then in the next minute, she was making her way into the kitchen, leaving me to find Reggie on my own.

It was just as well. This whole situation was already strange enough. I didn’t think I was ready for a heart-to-heart about it with Cassie Greenberg.

The apartment was like someone had taken an antique, formal living space and splashed it with multiple coats of Disneyland. The living room featured an ornate Oriental rug, matching leather couches, and dark mahogany furniture, as well as several framed landscapes to which neon-painted beach trash seemed to have been glued. One of the couches, which looked like it must have cost thousands of dollars, had a bright green Kermit the Frog throw draped across the back.

Even before I knew Frederick was a vampire, I had a vague recollection of Sam telling me that Cassie and her boyfriend had little in common. The decorative evidence suggested that their differences went far beyond diet.

When I got to the end of the hallway, I knocked on the door to what I assumed was the spare bedroom.

“Go away,” Reggie shouted from within. “I’ve finally got the stickers where I like them.”

Stickers? “It’s me.”

A pause, and then the unmistakable sound of a person trying to shove a bunch of things underneath the bed. “Just a minute!” he squeaked.

When he threw open the door several awkward moments later, his hair was standing nearly on end, as though he’d spent the whole time since I’d last seen him tugging on it with anxious hands.

I hadn’t even realized until that moment just how worried I’d been. Without thinking about it, I reached up and tried to gently smooth some of his hair back down again. It was a lost cause, but Reggie didn’t seem to mind. His eyes slid closed in reflexive pleasure at my touch. I took in the way he was favoring his right leg, and the bandage that covered a good portion of his right forearm. “Are you all right?” I asked, alarmed.

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