The Meridian Gamble Read online

  Suddenly, for a split second, I find myself in a different place. I’m in a basement with sandy walls and a dirt floor. I see myself wielding a weapon, a long stick. And I can’t shake the feeling that someone is training me to kill.

  The vision is so real that I become empowered by it. In desperation, I look around the rooftop for something to swing at him.

  “Wow, you’re plucky,” Adam says, seeming impressed.

  “What? Why are you saying that?”

  “You’re about to take a run at me,” he says. “I like that spunk.”

  “I’m not. I have never run … at anything, ever,” I say, flustered.

  “Trust me, I’ve been doing this for thousands of years. I know when someone’s about to attack. But, that’s not a bad thing. You have every right to defend yourself. In fact, I can teach you some self-defense techniques, if you like.”

  He steps forward slowly, moving as though he doesn’t want to scare me.

  “Just don’t ever think that I’m going to hurt you, Meri. Because that will never happen.”

  I back away, until I can feel the ledge pressing against my big Latina butt, the one I hope he isn’t attracted to anymore. Somehow, his saying that he isn’t going to hurt me makes Adam all the more frightening.

  “So, you’re not going to bite me?” I say, turning back to face him. “But isn’t that what vampires do?”

  “Not always,” he says, softly. “And you don’t ever want to let a vampire bite you. It’s how they control you. And being trapped in that grip can be a very difficult thing to break.”

  Oh my God. He has a whole little fantasy world of what it means to be a vampire built up in his mind. And I can’t help but to wonder what has made someone so gorgeous break from reality so severely. Has he read too much bad goth lit? Too much teen horror romance? It would almost be fascinating, if he wasn’t about to strangle me.

  “So, why exactly do you believe you’re a vampire?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I think these things might have something to do with it.”

  Adam opens his mouth, and two of his perfectly white front teeth pop out, like the fangs of a snake.

  And suddenly, I feel weak in the knees. My world begins to shift and tilt, as though someone is tipping it on its end. And I can’t believe that what I’m looking at is real.

  A sudden wooziness comes over me. I realize I’m about to faint, but I struggle to fight off the sensation. The last thing I can afford to do is to fall unconscious and find myself at his mercy. Adam moves forward, ready to catch me, but I wave him away. I breathe heavily, slowly regaining my composure.

  “So those aren’t some fake teeth you’ve had surgically implanted?”

  “No surgery in the world can do this. There’s only one way to get them, as far as I know.”

  “Then you did lie to me,” I stammer. “You did come up here stalking me.”

  “I didn’t lie to you. I’ll never lie to you, and I’ll never hurt you,” Adam says. “I do come up here all the time.”

  “Which means my apartment building is owned by vampires. Which might be even worse.”

  “Well, there is that …,” he says, trying to hold back a laugh.

  “But back at the bar. Were you on the hunt then?”

  “No, it’s not like that. I haven’t hunted in a very long time. I was bored. I’m very old, and believe it or not, I sometimes look for diversions. And when I saw you there, you intrigued me. The way you were putting up with those two buffoons, and how the bartender wouldn’t bring you your drink. It amazed me that he couldn’t see how spectacular you are. I was going to approach you, but you seemed so nice. I figured, why muck up your life by bringing vampires into it?”

  “So you took off when I came looking for you?”

  “You came looking for me?” Adam says, hopefully.

  “Well, I …”

  And I want to kick myself. I try to stop talking, but now it’s too late.

  “There is the slight possibility that I might have been foolish enough to want to address you again,” I say.

  I look away stupidly. This is going from bad to worse. I should be running away, screaming, not flirting with him.

  “When I came up here and saw you, I just had to approach you. It was one of those coincidences in life that you have to take notice of, the kind that mean something. Like you’re being guided by a higher influence. And I’m the type of guy who tends to listen to his intuition.”

  I nod my head in a daze, as if I agree with him. But I slowly realize that I actually do. Adam’s words ring true; they sound like something I would say. I’m always talking about listening to my intuition, and looking for meaning in the coincidences that unfold before me. But now I’m not so sure I like the coincidences anymore, because they’ve led me to a dark place.

  Geezus. Vampires are real. Monsters are real. And I wonder what else? Fairies? Leprechauns? It’s hard to even wrap my head around it.

  But even though Adam is some kind of scary creature of the night, I realize something else is going on. Despite everything, I have to admit I’m still drawn to him. He’s absolutely fascinating, and wildly attractive, unless that’s part of his vampire powers, that he’s manipulating my mind to draw me in. But it doesn’t feel that way. I do listen to my gut instincts, and for some reason, his words seem sincere. And no matter what his intentions are, I can’t quite pull myself away from him. My curiosity is too great. I mean, how often do you get the chance to talk to a vampire?

  “So tell me something. If you don’t bite people, how do you survive?”

  “It’s complicated. Killing people or even hurting them gets old after a while. It’s too much of a burden, after centuries, to have all those deaths on your hands. We have donors now, people who give us their blood. We pay them for it.”

  “Wait a minute. Are you kidding me? You pay people for their blood? Like a blood bank?”

  “Something along those lines. Only it’s less noble, and far more lucrative. We’re very rich, we pay quite well.”

  “So I could, like, pay my rent this way?”

  “Or more. We have a tank that people go into. They give us a month of their life, and earn more than your job pays you in a year.”

  A month of my life, to earn more than my annual salary. How much of my time is wasted in a year at a meaningless job? It has to be more hours than a solid month spent filling the reserves of a vampire blood bank. I try to do the math in my mind, but I’m too nervous to even attempt it. And a chill runs down my spine when I contemplate the exchange. As much as I like money, the idea of floating in some vat sounds horrifying, like a scene from a torture chamber.

  “It doesn’t matter, because that’s not something I would ever let you do. But if you’re curious about the vampire lifestyle, I’ll tell you anything and everything you could possibly want to know. If you have dinner with me,” Adam says, smiling.

  “Dinner? And I won’t wind up the meal?”

  “No, of course not,” he says, laughing.

  I should slap myself. I can’t believe I’m actually considering it. And it’s even more pathetic that it’s the best offer I’ve had in a long time, including the advances of the mail boys and Staci’s ad execs.

  “Wait a minute, is that it? Are you doing this because you want to turn me into a vampire, like you?”

  And his face drops. Adam’s smile fades, and his beautiful dimples disappear. For the first time, he moves away from me and drops his gaze. And I know I’ve offended him, or hurt him, somehow.

  It feels strange to worry about the feelings of an immortal monster.

  “I can’t ever do that. I’ve lost the right to grant the eternal life, because of something I did in the past. So I’m sort of wrecking your chances for immortality by hanging out with you. Because the others will never approach you.”

  And now I’m the one who’s moving closer.

  “Hey, it’s okay that you don’t want to change me. At least it tells me you’re
sincere. And I’m pretty sure you’re the only vampire I’ll want to hang out with on a long term basis.”

  “They’re not all as nice as me. And not nearly as charming,” Adam says.

  I stare at him in amazement. This strange creature is real, and he’s somehow taken an interest in me. Yet, it’s more than just an interest. He wants me, physically, in some way, if not to drink my blood, then something else. The attraction is palpable. And it’s so typical in life, to have everything you could possibly want handed to you in the worst possible way.

  He’s still standing close enough. And I can’t stop myself. I reach out to touch his face, to make sure I’m not imagining him. I stroke my hand against his cheek, and Adam presses back gently, seeming to hunger for my touch. I run my finger along his lips, the ones I already know taste delicious, reminding myself that they feel just like those of a human male.

  But not everything is the same.

  “Show them to me,” I whisper. “I want to see them again.”

  And instantly, he pops out his fangs once more.

  They’re mesmerizing. And lethal, but I have to do it. I run my index finger down one of his teeth, which gleams a dazzling shade of white, like those of an actor’s perfect smile. I’m almost afraid to touch it, that it might be sharp like a knife, but it only feels solid, like one of mine. And I press the pad of my finger into the tip, testing to see how much pressure it would take to puncture the skin.

  Adam begins panting, heavily. He doesn’t even realize it, and I can tell he’s getting turned on.

  “Be careful,” he mumbles, almost goofily. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

  I run my other free hand over his chest. I can feel his hard pecs and the ripples of his abs through the flimsy T-shirt, and now I’m the one getting turned on. He’s the perfect physical specimen, just as you’d think a vampire would be. And again I feel the warmth I had noted before. I wasn’t imagining it. His body burns hotter than normal, which must be a vampire thing. I wonder what it would be like to nuzzle up against him in bed, if I would feel like a lamb curling up in the paws of a jungle cat.

  I run my hand lower. It feels slutty and cheap, but I begin to stroke a rather promising bulge that begins to form in his jeans. It’s fascinating, that he can get excited in the way a normal man does. And I wonder if he still makes love as normal men do, if he can get a woman pregnant.

  Adam slides his hand under my T-shirt. I haven’t worn a bra tonight, and he caresses my breast. With his other arm, he pulls me close, just the way I like it, kissing me ferociously.

  And that’s when I know I’ve gone insane. This isn’t safe. He’s dangerous, a killer. And yet, Adam is so wonderfully sexy, and it’s been a long time since someone has touched me in this way.

  He pulls away from my mouth, and begins kissing my neck, running his tongue over it hungrily, the way he would if he was about to devour me.

  Adam lied. He does want to eat me. I can tell he wants to clamp onto my neck, and is struggling with every ounce of his will to stop himself. And a part of me wants it too, to know what it feels like to be under his control. A part of me wants him to consume me, so I can become one with his beauty. Yet, another strange thought enters my mind.

  “Kill the vampire.”

  A voice whispers the words in my brain. A thought comes into my head; I’m so close to one of them, I could claw at his neck and finally kill a vampire for my people. But what the hell does that mean? I don’t know who my people are, and I certainly don’t want to kill him. And I brush my latest strange thoughts aside.

  As he runs his lips along my neck, I look over at the young yuppie couple, who are covertly staring at me, laughing quietly. To them, I’m just another slut on a rooftop, letting a man grope me. They have no idea what I’m truly going through.

  It all becomes too much, and I finally push Adam away.

  “I can’t. I can’t do this …”

  He stares at me, still filled with passion, and I can tell he’s equally overwhelmed by his feelings. But Adam stands still, and slowly gets his breath under control, calming himself.

  “I don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to do,” he says. “All you have to do is ask me to leave and I will. I’ll never come back. I’ll never bother you again.”

  “You will? It’s all that simple?”

  “Yes, but I’m serious. Never means never. If you say the words, you won’t ever see me again.”

  It all happens so quickly, before I can even think, or stop myself.

  “That’s what I want. Leave here, please. Just go.”

  I can see the pain on his face over what I’ve just said, even though Adam tries to be strong, and I immediately regret my words. He seems sad in a way I can’t quite comprehend, and I feel like I’ve wounded him. I’ve driven a stake through his heart, and I want to take it all back, but I can’t quite bring myself to speak.

  “All right, Meri,” Adam says. “But I’m going to miss you.”

  He walks away into the darkness of the rooftop, and I feel a strange mix of relief and regret. For a moment, I think about following him, to try to see where he went. But he seems to have just disappeared over the edge of the building. Or maybe he jumped, and flew away.

  My eyes fix on the little light that hangs over the door to the stairwell. And finally, I do what I should have done in the first place. I run.

  As I get to the door, I can hear the yuppie couple laughing in shock at my panic. But I don’t care about them anymore. Let them get eaten by vampires, for all I care.

  I run down the stairwell, and the sound of my sneakered feet echoes lightly against the walls. This place has always reminded me of something out of a horror movie.

  And now, it is.

  I slam the door of my apartment, locking the chain as I pant. And I look around at the bland little one bedroom I struggle to pay for every month. It still doesn’t have enough furniture to fill the place, despite the fact that I moved in two years ago. But that may be a good thing, because I will probably be moving again soon. Maybe Staci will let me sleep on her couch for a while.

  Because my building is swarming with vampires. God, maybe some of them are tenants!

  Even the locks are of no use, since I rent from the bloodsuckers, which means they have keys for the door. So I look around for a sturdy chair. Luckily, I bought some chunky seats to go with the kitchen table, instead of the really cheap ones I would normally get. I prop one up beneath the handle of the front door, to make it more difficult to open. And it’s completely ridiculous to think it will stop an immortal creature of the night.

  Now I’m wishing I had asked Adam more questions, if garlic and crosses and holy water really work. Or maybe for some of those self-defense lessons. But, of course, the price of that knowledge is going out on a date, which is more than I’m willing to do.

  So I sit on the sofa with the television on and stare straight forward in shock. And my brain reels over the knowledge that I’ve survived my first vampire attack.

  I wake up face down on the couch the next morning, still wearing my grungy sweats from last night. It always feels gross to wake up in your clothes from the night before, and even worse, it’s late in the morning. The clock on the end table reads 10:00 a.m. I never sleep this late, even on a Saturday. The last thing I remember is sitting in my living room in a panic, watching the first rays of sunrise come through the window, wondering if a vampire was about to break through the door. So I suppose my body needed some sleep.

  I take a shower, and put on another pair of sweats, my cute Juicy ones that are pink with the logo scrawled across the butt. I look adorable in them, but it doesn’t matter, because the last thing I want to do is leave my house today. But after taking one look in the fridge, I realize I’m kidding myself. There isn’t much left from my work week, other than a few stale English muffins, which I toast to a point that makes them somewhat edible. And as I gnaw on my breakfast, I wonder if I subconsciously dressed in s
omething appealing because I knew I would be going out after all.

  And that someone might be watching me.

  Going to the market starts to seem like a better and better idea. That way I can hole up for the weekend in a fully stocked place. And won’t it be safer to go during the day? Vampires can only come out at night, can’t they? That’s when I met Adam, but then again, maybe the whole fear of sunlight thing is another false notion, like the idea that they clamp down on people’s necks to survive. It’s another question I wish I had asked him. But it’s too late for that now.

  Never means never.

  I grab my reusable, canvas shopping bags, the kind all the good, eco-friendly yuppies carry around to save the planet, and I go downstairs. It’s a beautiful day, with the sun shining down in a way that warms me. Usually, I would want to spend a morning like this shopping, maybe call up Staci to hit the stores for a while, but at least I’ll get to enjoy being outside for the few shorts blocks to the local upscale supermarket. But as I try to soak up some Vitamin D on my way there, I can’t help but to look at the people on the sidewalk and wonder how many of them know that vampires exist. And I wonder why no one has told me about this before. Then again, I’m not exactly screaming the information on the street corners myself.

  I usually try to get to “The Gourmet Shop” early in the day, before too many people arrive. The aisles are fun to walk down, if you don’t mind fighting for treats with aggressive, well-to-do New Yorkers. They have beautiful produce that’s lined up in bright stacks, and a bakery section filled with vegan treats, though I usually select the non-vegan ones with extra fat and sugar. And they have an especially nice prepared food bar, though when I go up to it, two old bats with walkers are parked in front, sampling the dishes at their own slow pace in a way that blocks everyone else. And I wonder how the store makes any money with shoppers like these.