Urban Vampire

Chapter 9

"We don't need a car to travel."

Can I fly? Or did I turn to mist ... Oh no, not a bat! I didn't want to turn into a winged rat! "Tony, I'd rather just take the car." Tonight I simply didn't think that I could take another revelation.

Tony shook his head. "Can't. There's no time. We couldn't drive to my house from here before dawn. I don't live in the city."

"So … how are we … going to get there?"

"Don't worry, I'll do all of the work."

He took hold of my arm, and I would have pulled back except I didn't want to end up falling through Never-Never Land. "Relax," he said.

I shivered at the masculine tone of his voice so close to me. How could I relax when I was going off somewhere with a man, vamp—whatever! -–who had just tried to kill me?

I wondered if I was making the worst mistake of my undead life.

~*~

We were moving.

No, the world around us was moving.

I was getting a serious case of vertigo.

I felt as if I was on the verge of stumbling except I didn't because Tony's steadying hold on my arm. Okay, so maybe his hold on me wasn't possessive, but I still didn't like it. I tried to look around, but lights and sights sped by me too rapidly to make sense of them. I can't say how long it lasted, but thankfully not long and we came to a standstill with a swish of air. I was no longer on my front stoop but was standing in front of a converted modern building.

"Okay?" he asked.

I looked at him and nodded. "So I'm going to be able to do that, too?"

"With some training."

Wow…There was so much that I wanted to know. What else would I be able to do? So far I had the ability to hypnotize, I could move superfast, and I had super strength.

"Nice condo," I said.

"This is not a condo. This is my house."

My mouth made an O. "Oh." Some Vampires had money. The Vampire who had made me didn't seem to be rolling in the dough with his unkempt appearance and Blaxploitation Superfly attire.

Tony led us up the walkway of the modern mansion. It was chromed out with lots of glass. Hmmm. Glass meant sun. Odd. When we got to the big metal door it swung open on its own just as it had at the Council meeting house. Tony walked in as William had, knowing that it was going to open.

"Tony, did you open that door using telekinesis?"

He glanced back at me. No. Mei Wah opened the door."

I saw a little Asian man standing inside the doorway. How embarrassing.

"Mei Wah is my assistant. Vampires do have a psychic link with their assistants." He glanced at me with a slight smile. "Don't worry. We'll discuss it later."

I nodded.

Wow. From the entryway I could see light marble floors with a lot of dark wooden pieces. It was beautiful.

Tony handed my bag to Mei Wah, who promptly disappeared with it. "Let me show you around. We won't have time for a complete tour. But I'll get you acquainted with where things are." He gestured for me to follow him.

"Um …" I stopped inside of the entrance. "You're going to tell me more about your house than I know about you?"

"Ah, well, let me correct that." He waited for me to follow him into a living room decorated in earth tones but with splashes of crimson and cobalt blue. His style was decidedly African with strange wooden masks on his walls and sculpted figures of nude men and women. I even saw pieces that appeared to be sculpted of real ivory.

He sat in a wingchair with a huge back that reminded me of a throne.

He crossed his legs and stared at me.

"How long have you been a Vampire?" I asked, tearing my eyes from his sexy mouth. Could he tell the effect that he had on me? Damnit. I stared at him defiantly.

Tony watched me for another second or two. "Since 1929."

My eyes bulged. It was difficult to imagine that this man was nearly 100 years old!

"I'm relatively young. Especially for a Council member."

"You'll have to tell me more about the Council but not now. I want to hear more about you. You were in Harlem during the renaissance?"

"I was a teenager during the Harlem Renaissance. By the time I was twenty-nine I was a partner in a nightclub." He smiled. "It wasn't the Savoy—we did more Lester Young and Charlie Parker than Dizzy Gillespie. Dizzy was like R and B where Lester Young was like hip hop."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Tony, it might surprise you to know that I love jazz, from Miles Davis to Coltrane. But I like the new jazz, too, like Boney James."

He nodded.

I relaxed and listened to Tony talk about life in Harlem back in the '20s and '30s. He had worn a zoot suit and had conked his hair. He regularly saw Billy Holiday, who hung out at the Harlem Opera House, and was friends with many poets I'm ashamed to say that I've never heard of. Tony became less scary to me since I could put a history behind him. He was no longer Tony the Vampire but Tony Yates from Harlem. He was more than a Council member with a handsome face. He was a man who had a history.

He stood. "Shall we continue the tour?"

I nodded and followed him out of the room. We moved into a dining room large enough to accommodate a party of twenty-five or thirty. It was tastefully decorated with touches of tribal and African artifacts. The table was already set with gold plates and crystal glasses. I didn't know why since apparently we didn't eat or drink.

"Tony, why all the windows?" Both rooms had floor to ceiling windows that were the focal points of each room.

"Ahh, the magic of modern science. They are special windows that block the harmful rays of the sun."

"But you're asleep by the time the sun comes up. Why windows when you can't even see out?"

Tony looked at the window. "Right before sleep takes me I can see, for just the briefest moment, dawn's first pink glow." He shook himself. "We have too much time talking about me. I should show you to your rooms or we'll be asleep right here in the middle of the floor."