Page 29 of Road Trip with a Vampire
“Maybe you’d find someone in those places who knows you,” I suggested. “Someone who could fill you in on the missing pieces.”
He shook his head. “Most of the places in my journal are too remote to access without a car. I don’t own a car. I don’t even know if I know how to drive.”
I have a car, I thought.
I can drive.
Wait a minute.
I forced myself to count to ten before speaking again. Because the beginnings of a plan I would almost certainly regret later were taking root.
Zelda—the mild-mannered yogi, the person who didn’t leap into anything without thinking it through first—wouldneversuggest something like this.
But the person I’d once been would have jumped at the chance for adventure.
Peter peered at me, his brow furrowed in confusion over my sudden silence.
The words just slipped out. “I could take you.”
Whatever Peter had expected me to say, it wasn’t this. “What?”
“I could take you,” I repeated.
Unlike most half-baked plans, this one mademoresense after I said it out loud.
This could work.
For both of us.
We both needed to leave town for a while. I had a car, and he needed transportation. And while I could take care of myself if trouble arose while I was away, I couldn’t tear out someone’s throat with my teeth if the occasion called for it. The handy thing about traveling with a vampire was that theycould.
And as much as I didn’t want to admit it to myself, the idea of someone being totally cut off from who they used to be, sufferingall alone as they traveled towards an unknown and potentially dangerous destination…it didn’t sit right with me. Not if I could travel with them and lighten the load.
“Butwhy?” he asked, confused. “I’m a stranger to you.”
I hesitated. Opened my mouth, then closed it again.
Showing vulnerability had never come easily, and I was tempted to deflect with snark. To tell him I was overdue for a vacation and his huge wad of cash would let me stay in fancy hotels if I traveled with him. As Peter looked at me, though, it felt like his warm brown eyes saw straight through me.
He might have amnesia, but he noticedeverything. He would definitely know if I was lying.
Maybe that was why I told him the truth.
“I’m…having some trouble with my magic.” The words wanted to stick in my throat. I forced them out anyway. “It’s been too long since I’ve used enough of my powers, and that’s causing…problems.”
He looked thoughtful as he processed this. “Like this morning’s fire?” Peter’s question was curious, not accusatory.
“Like this morning’s fire,” I confirmed. “No one was hurt, but…” I shook my head. “I need to do some experiments to see how much magic I can safely use going forward. I can’t do those experiments here.”
I expected Peter to have a barrage of questions. Why wasn’t I using my magic now? And why couldn’t I conduct these experiments in Redwoodsville?
He asked nothing, though. Said nothing. Simply took what I told him at face value and accepted as much of the truth as I was able to give.
“Well,” he said after a long moment. “It would be nice to have some company.”
We sat in silence, the ambient sounds of the coffee shop filling up the space where our conversation had been. Before I could talk myself out of doing it, I reached across the table and covered his hand with mine. He flinched a little in surprise but did not pull away. His hand was so cool to the touch. It was always a little unsettling just how cold vampires were. No matter how many times I’d touched them over the years.
I looked down at our hands, my fingers curling around his. A gesture of affection from one lost soul to another. I squeezed gently, fingertips brushing against the calluses that ringed his palm.
