Page 7 of Thirsty
Currently, Lorenzo also could not see it coming, because he hadn’t yet figured out just how he would take his revenge. He was confident, however, that he would think of something devious and awful. Nothing violent, of course; vampires were out in the open now, so killing and nonconsensual biting were sort of faux pas. No, his plot against Charlie would be more in the vein of psychological vengeance. Perhaps he would come up with a way to ruin Charlie’s thesis, or his entire degree. Yes, he would have to think carefully about just what form his vengeance would take; but whatever it was, it would bevicious.
He jumped a little when the doorbell rang. Hesitantly, he cracked open the door, finding Charlie’s earnest, irritating face on the other side.
“Oh,” he said flatly. “Hello.”
“Hi,” Charlie said, with a perky smile that faltered after amoment. “You said to come by at nightfall, and it’s nightfall...I think. I wasn’t sure when that was, exactly. But—the sun’s not out, so...?”
Lorenzo stifled a sigh and stood aside. “Yes. Come in.”
Charlie crossed the threshold, and Lorenzo shut the door behind him. “So I guess that whole thing about vampires is true, then,” Charlie said. “That they can’t come out during day-light?”
“Have you ever seen a vampire in the daylight?” Lorenzo asked.
“I guess not,” he said with a shrug. “You’re the first vampire I’ve ever met. I think.”
“How fun for me.”
Charlie ignored the sarcasm in favor of craning his neck to look curiously around the house. Lorenzo suppressed a smug smile; his home was a far cry from the dilapidated collection of IKEA furniture where Charlie had hosted him and Olivia all those years ago. This house was only a few decades younger than Lorenzo, if local records were to be believed—large and airy, with wide steel windows facing the busy street below and a garden out back. The tenants on the first floor, a tchotchkes and antiques shop, made very little noise and always paid on time. He and his roommates had the second and third floors—well, the third was all his. He thought he’d done a good job over the decades renovating to keep up with current trends; he hated those vampires who just had to live in darkened castles, as if time and all style must remain fixed in the century in which they’d been turned. He’d redone the kitchen a few years ago, but he’d never gone so far as to strip away the bones of the building. Some of the crown molding in the living room had probably been there for centuries.
Still, as proud as he was of his home, he glanced uncertainly at Charlie to see how he would react. He was gratified to see him looking impressed.
Charlie himself looked almost identical to how Lorenzo remembered him from five years ago—he had recognized him in the coffee shop instantly. He had the same short, round figure, the same square glasses and intelligent eyes, the same boy-next-door features, and the same sharp smile. Looking at him now, though, Lorenzo could spot small differences; he hadn’t had this red-brown scruff on his jaw while he was a student, and his clothes had been a little sharper then, more put-together. This Charlie looked a bit worn, like maybe life had not been kind to him since Lorenzo had seen him last.Good.
“Wow, this place is incredible,” Charlie was saying. “Is it pre-war?” As he chattered, he started pulling a notebook out of his messenger bag.
“What are you doing?” Lorenzo demanded.
Charlie froze. “Uh—”
“We have a deal, you and I,” Lorenzo reminded him. “I will only play along with your—thesis...thing—once you have fulfilled certain terms.”
“Alright then,” Charlie said wryly. “So...terms. I guess that means—errands? Things you can only do during the day-light?”
“Yes,” Lorenzo said imperiously, and then came up short as it dawned on him that he had no idea what errands he could direct Charlie to complete for him. He hadn’t put any thought into his supposed reason for agreeing to help Charlie, just the revenge that was his true motive.
“Um,” Charlie said, after the silence had stretched. “Do you need anything at the bank? They’re never open at night.”
“I use online banking.”
“Oh,” Charlie blinked. He seemed surprised. “That’s cool.”
Did he think that vampires couldn’t use computers? Many humans seemed to believe his kind to be idiot technophobes—or worse. Lorenzo narrowed his eyes at him.
“Uh,” Charlie said uncomfortably. “The dry cleaners?”
“I do have a few items that need to be dry-cleaned,” he conceded. “And my preferred shop has reduced their hours.”
“Okay, great.”
“And I need a plumber,” Lorenzo added as it occurred to him.
“A plumber?” Charlie asked.
“Yes, there are some repairs I need made in the en suite,” Lorenzo said. “I assume most plumbers will only come during the day. You will find me one and make the arrangements.”
For a moment, Charlie didn’t say anything.
“What?”
