“Is all this backed up by real accounts?” he asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

  “They don’t work otherwise,” she informed him.

  Looking at the stack in her hand, he counted six passports. Two were different colors, but all held the same documents. “How can you afford this? These are real?” he asked, not believing his eyes.

  “You’re damn right they’re real,” she grunted. “My law firm got me fakes one time and almost got me in deep poopy.”

  “Your law firm,” he gulped.

  “It’s one of the oldest in New England. They managed one of my estates since 1840 I think is when I started it,” she said, thinking about it.

  Kenneth started getting lightheaded. “One of your estates,” he hesitantly asked.

  “Kenneth, if you live a long time, you collect wealth. I’ve learned a lot,” she said, smiling. “I will tell you what we have to live off of another time, but I want you to ask the questions you want to ask.”

  He suddenly blushed and wouldn’t look her in the eye. “Well yes, but first, could you…you know…put on one of my shirts?”

  Leaning down, she kissed him passionately then vanished, leaving Kenneth still kissing the air. He cracked his eyes open, and she was back in his lap, kissing him, wearing one of his shirts in her bra and panties.

  Breaking the kiss, she leaned back. “I love you,” she said with watery eyes. “You love me with no holding back?”

  “Better believe it,” he said, squeezing her, “and nobody messes with my girl.”

  She pulled her legs up in his lap. Seeing them get cozy, Bonnie and Clyde jumped up to join them. “Yes, I love both of you,” she said, rubbing them.

  “How come you can get around dogs but other vampires can’t?” he asked, hoping they still had an edge.

  “I don’t know. I’ve never been close to a dog that didn’t want to bite me. When Bonnie and Clyde came up to me wanting me to pet them, I almost passed out.”

  “Well, there were also the dogs at the pet store.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know, but they don’t like us. In what you call the middle ages, villagers put dogs around their houses and in their houses to test visitors. I’ve seen more than one person burned at the stake because the dogs barked at them. A few vampires as well,” she added.

  “Before I ask you questions about you, I want to ask you a question about us,” Kenneth said.

  Fearing that question mortal humans always asked, she laid her head on his chest, trembling. “Okay,” she whimpered.

  “I didn’t want you to be that scared,” Kenneth said, rubbing her head. “Will you marry me?”

  Her body became rigid as Besseta’s world came to a stop. “What?” she whispered.

  “Will you marry me?” Kenneth asked.

  Besseta didn’t know what emotion she was feeling, so she just cried. Not sure what he did to make her cry, Kenneth held her, rocking back and forth. Bonnie and Clyde pushed their heads in, wanting to lick her tears away. Kenneth had friends tell him their wives cried when they asked but not like this. They always told him their girlfriends jumped up and down while crying.

  “Besseta, I’m sorry I asked. We don’t have to get married,” he offered, hoping she stayed.

  She looked up with a tear-streaked, splotchy face. “Yes, I’ll marry you,” she bawled, dropping her head on his chest hard, sending out an echoing thump.

  “Ow,” Kenneth mouthed but didn’t say it. “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to,” he said, wanting her to quit crying.

  “I never expected you to ask that,” she wailed.

  “Uh, I’m sorry. What was I supposed to ask?” he wondered.

  She lifted her head. “It doesn’t matter,” she said, wiping her face off. “I look awful.”

  “You? Never,” he said, leaning over, kissing the side of her face.

  “Are you looking at my face or chest?” she chuckled and cried at the same time.

  Coughing, he stammered, “Well, both actually.” She laughed and looked at him. “Hey, you shouldn’t be such a hot babe if you don’t like me looking.”

  “I love it when you look at me like that. I think I’m a girl,” she admitted.

  Looking around, he leaned close to her ear. “I can tell you for a fact you’re a girl,” he whispered.

  She chuckled. “Thank you, and I would love to be your wife.”

  “Whew,” he exhaled. “Had me worried there for a minute. Didn’t know how to drag you to the altar.”

  “Now, ask what else you want,” she said, “but can I ask you a question?”

  “Well yes. You said you would marry me.”

  “Kenneth, I can feel others’ thoughts and hear them in my head. Sometimes, I can feel yours, but it’s usually when you’re mad or excited, but most of the time, it’s just normal quiet,” she said. “How do you do that?”

  “I don’t know. How do you hear thoughts?” he asked, and she just looked at him. “The only thing I can think of I learned a long time ago. If you are thinking about something, it shows on your face. I learned to keep my thoughts pushed back if that means anything,” Kenneth tried to explain. “My mom said I was the best liar ever; I never showed anything on my face. I don’t let them move forward, so they might show on my face.”

  “Extraordinary,” Besseta said.

  Kenneth shook his head. “Like reading someone’s thoughts is common.”

  “Thank you. That has bugged me,” she admitted. “To your credit, you always told me what you thought.”

  “You just had to ask,” he said, smiling.

  “Your turn,” she said, returning his smile.

  “When where you born?”

  “Vampires have two birth dates. I was born by my mother in the year 1368. I was born as a vampire in 1382.”

  “YOU WERE FOURTEEN!” he shouted in her face, sending Bonnie and Clyde running to his bedroom.

  Shaking her head so the ringing in her ears would stop, she said, “Wow, now that was a bellow.”

  “Sorry,” he said, realizing that. “But you were fourteen?”

  “Yes,” she said as the ringing died down.

  “Besseta, you may be small, but you aren’t fourteen,” he said more for himself.

  “Oh, in that, you’re right. There are no baby vampires, or I think the movies called them ‘eternal children,’ and there are no old creepy vampires,” she said. “When you change, your body develops or reverts to its prime. I think I’m in a twenty-one-year-old body, but since I never got there, I don’t know.”

  “Wait, if an old man is bitten, he turns back to his younger self?” he asked, stunned.

  “Yes, I’ve seen it,” she said, “and it is creepy.” She waited until he looked at her, ready for her to continue. When he did, she smiled. “When you’re bitten, it’s the most painful thing you can imagine. The movies got that part right. What they didn’t get right is the change takes time. It took ten days for me. Everyone is different. I know it took ten days because I counted the sunrises. On the tenth day, I didn’t feel like I was dying anymore. Then, over the next few weeks, my entire body hurt as it grew fast. You think I’m little now? You should’ve seen me then,” she said, shaking her head.

  She looked down at her chest. “They came up in one day. I know they aren’t big, but holy crap they hurt growing.”

  Seeing Kenneth was in shock, she waited until he blinked to continue. “Going backwards looks more painful to be honest,” she said. “I knew a girl that was a vampire. Out of all of them, I liked her the most. Her name is or was Tiffany. Nobody’s seen her for over fifty years.” She paused. “Anyway, I caught up to her in Greece in the early 1500s. I smelled a vampire near, and getting closer, I realized I knew her. She had just bitten a man the day before for the change. He was in his sixties. I had never seen one survive, so I stayed and watched,” she said with a shiver.

  “It took him sixteen days for the change to finish. Not an hour went by that he was awake he didn’t beg for us to kill him. Then, he would scream till he passed out. Tiffany got water and a little food in him. She has the ability to move things without touching them: telekinesis,” Besseta said then looked off. “Then, over the next sixty-three days, his body returned to what he later told us he looked like when he was twenty-four. He never asked us to kill him those days, but I don’t think he would’ve minded,” she said and looked at Kenneth. “It’s very painful, lasting a long time.”

  “Why don’t you have, you know, like the teeth, fangs?” he asked.

  “Oh, I do,” she said.

  “Ah, I’ve kissed you, and you’ve—” he stopped as she covered his mouth with the back of her hand.

  “They only extend when I want them to,” she said and opened her mouth. Suddenly, her canines extended. Kenneth gave a little jump, and the teeth shrunk back. “They have muscles that make them do that. For me, it was over a year before they came in. Till then, I had to use my fingernails to feed,” she said, holding up her little hand. Her fingernails barely met the tip of her fingers. As Kenneth watched, they grew out over an inch and looked really sharp.

  “Is that what happened to my back?” he asked as the fingernails eased back down.

  Looking down, she said, “Yeah, I’m sorry. I was excited.”

  “Besseta, can The Strong Hands make the vampires they have make an army?” he asked.

  “Well, they can try. They won’t be the first,” she said. “But very few survive.”

  “That’s some good news,” Kenneth mumbled.

  “In World War 2, the Nazis actually had several vampires in their ranks. They sent one to a death camp. He bit over three thousand people for the change, and none did.”

  “So anyone you bite can change?” he asked.

  “No. First, the vampire has to drink. Then, they bite their wrist or arm, and the initiate must drink,” she explained.

  “Ow,” he said, “bite?”

  “Yes, we heal very fast, and our saliva slows our clotting and healing. On humans, our saliva will heal the bite, sealing it up with no trace. That is why you never find people with punctured necks around the world.”

  “Do you kill everyone you drink from?”

  “No, you don’t have to. We only need a pint to feed. If we do that, we must do it a lot, and we need to feed more often, but as I’m sure you’ve noticed, we also must eat food. Not much, but we must eat. The food gives us what we need for the blood to repair us,” she said, laying her head on his chest.

  Holding her tight and shaking his head, he said, “Man, the books are so screwed up.”

  “Is that all?” she asked.

  “What’s your real name?”

  “Besseta Nicola Rosyth,” she said, smiling. “Anything else?”

  “Well, for now,” he said. “I want to know what you’ve seen, the places you’ve been. I bet you’ve met some interesting people.”

  “Oh, yes. Leonardo was a great person,” she said, looking up.

  “Like da Vinci?” he asked, and she nodded. “What’s the oldest vampire you’ve met?”

  “Tocenu. He was three thousand two hundred when I met him in 1710,” she said.

  “He was around for the crucifixion,” he mumbled.

  “Yeah, but he killed himself a few years later,” she said, and Kenneth looked at her, shocked. “Think about it, Kenneth. You just keep living. It gets tiring. I haven’t got there yet because I’m on a mission. Those that live to hurt others must pay,” she said with a grim face.

  Kissing her forehead, he said, “Yes they do. Let’s continue this another time; we have to get the stuff we need ready. If you don’t mind, I would like to take you in the morning to get married.”

  “Why sir,” she broke into her southern belle, “I most surely would be honored to accompany you.”

  “You must have loved the old south,” he chuckled.

  “Not really,” she said, getting up. “Those damn dresses and corsets hurt putting on.”

  Chapter 14

  After working all night—well Besseta did; she made Kenneth take a nap—they went and picked up Mickey and Maria. Kenneth drove the SUV with Mickey, and Besseta drove the Mustang with Maria.

  Kenneth stopped at a jewelry store, and Mickey helped Kenneth pick out the rings. Kenneth was glad he took money out of his bank because he spent a small fortune. At the courthouse, Besseta was beaming at Kenneth with pride. She had found what she always looked for: a person who saw her. Even knowing what she was, Kenneth just wanted to protect her.

  When Kenneth pulled out the ring with a rock attached, she gasped. With teary eyes, she held out her hand as he slipped it on. “Until the day I die, and then some,” Kenneth told her.

  After a small ceremony and getting their marriage license signed, they all walked outside, and Besseta went over to stand beside Kenneth, wrapping her arm around his waist. “Man, the kids are going to be mad they didn’t see this,” Mickey said with his arm around Maria.

  “We can bring them over this weekend,” Maria said with a content smile.

  “No, guys, we won’t be here,” Kenneth said.

  “Aye, you must go on the honeymoon,” Maria said, laughing.

  Kenneth shook his head. “Guys, we have to leave for good,” Kenneth said, and both of them looked at him in shock. “No matter what you hear, don’t believe it.”

  “Do I need to call my family?” Maria shouted. “My brother just got a new chainsaw.”

  Kenneth laughed as Besseta went over and hugged Maria. “No, Maria, they want to hurt us because we won’t let them hurt others,” she told her.

  Stomping over, Mickey threw his arms around Kenneth. “My friend, if you say, we will start a family war for you,” he moaned, trying not to cry.

  “I know, my friend. Maybe one day, we can come back,” Kenneth offered.

  “I can never repay you for what you have done for my wife’s family,” Mickey said, letting go.

  “Ah, there you would be wrong; we have a favor to ask,” Kenneth said.

  Moving Besseta to her side, Maria put her arm over her shoulders. “What can we do for you?” she asked.

  Kenneth pulled out several sheets of paper. “These are the titles and bills of sale,” he said, pointing to the SUV and Mustang. “We want you to have them, and when they come and ask how you got them, tell them you gave us a thousand dollars for both. If you can, have some of your family discourage them from coming back. Just to warn you, it will be feds.”

  “We will get José to bring his boys over,” Maria said. “You want rites over them?”

  “No, I don’t think that will be necessary. I just want them to think we’re strapped for cash,” Kenneth said.

  “You won’t tell the little ones goodbye?” Maria asked with tears welling up.

  Kenneth shook his head. “We don’t have long. If things go bad, we just wanted to know we were married.”

  Moving over, Maria hugged him. “You gave us vengeance and found my husband.”

  “Mickey found you,” Kenneth chuckled, trying not to cry. “He’s a good man, Maria, and he will probably take crap at work. Stand by him.”

  “Don’t worry; he has a family.” She sniffled and let go. “It took me too long to make him right. I will kill any person that tries him.”

  Besseta hugged both then stepped back. “I’m sure we will see you again,” she said, knowing it was a lie. She could never see them again because she would look just the same.

  “Until that day,” Mickey said.

  “You two need to leave, and if asked, you tell them being a witness to our wedding was part of the bargain,” Kenneth told them, handing over the keys. Hesitantly, they took them and left. Kenneth pulled out his phone, doing what he swore he would never do: call a taxi.

  “That was a good thing,” Besseta said, watching them drive off. “That car alone is worth more than their house. Did it make you feel bad to give it away?” she asked.

  “No, not really. I’ll miss it, but if I had left it, they would’ve destroyed it. Now, that would hurt,” he said, putting his arm around her shoulders. “They need extra vehicles.”

  “In case I forget, thank you for a great day,” she said, pulling him down to kiss him as the cab pulled up.

  Kenneth pulled her inside and held her tight as the cab drove them home. Seeing the empty spot in the garage, Kenneth gave a weak smile and walked over to his Harley. Besseta came over, looking at him then the bike. “And you’re sure this is safe for you?” she asked. “It looks like it could hurt you easily.”

  “Come on; I have to introduce you to some people,” he said, putting on his helmet then handed her one.

  Shaking her head, she said, “You could at least tell me.”

  After she put her helmet on and climbed on behind him, Kenneth took off. Feeling the wind on her face, Besseta was reminded of what it felt like when she ran at night. This was freedom, somewhat like the car but just you and the wind.

  When Kenneth pulled into a cemetery, Besseta caught her breath. Weaving down the different lanes, Kenneth finally stopped and turned off the engine. He climbed off, hanging his helmet on the handlebar.

  “I should’ve dressed better.” Besseta got off, smoothing her shirt, then turned the mirror up and worked on her hair.

  Laughing, Kenneth pulled her along. “They will love you just like I do.”

  They stopped by a large, single headstone with three pictures and the same day of death. Besseta noticed the right end had Kenneth’s name and date of birth but no picture. “Mom, Dad, Amie, this is my wife, Besseta,” Kenneth said to the headstone. “She has made me more blissful with joy than I thought possible.”

  Besseta timidly stepped forward. “Hello. You have a great son and brother. He is a great man, and I will take care of him; that I promise you.”

 

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