Free Rule of Vampire by Duncan McGeary Page B

Sylvie was driving away.
    “I don’t want to spook Jamie,” Terrill said.
    Clarkson glanced at the two huge black SUVs and shook her head. “You’re up to something, but whatever it is won’t work. You’re coming back to London with me. I’ll give you one more day.”
    Sylvie was getting more and more anxious. They spent another day driving up and down the roads, as if they expected Jamie to magically appear. Since the sun was shining brightly, that seemed unlikely, but Terrill didn’t say anything, because Sylvie seemed to need to be doing something, anything, to find her sister.
    He grunted a couple of times when they drove directly into the sun, and she glanced at him curiously. “You OK?”
    “Yeah,” he said, gritting his teeth. “Must be something I ate.”
    She accepted that explanation. Terrill had still been trying to learn what, when, and how to eat human food, and sometimes he’d gotten it wrong. A little too much grease or a little too much spice, and his human stomach had rebelled.
    The cross on his chest burned. It was as painful as when it had first burned into his vampire body, and this time the pain didn’t fade. He’d taken off his bloody shirt the previous night, thankful that the weather was cool enough for him to cover the wounds with a sweater. His skin was red, raw, and festering.
    “You’ll always feel the pain,” Michael had said. “It will always be a reminder of what you are.”
    Not that there was much chance Terrill would forget it. His strength and speed were returning. Sylvie had knocked a salt shaker off the table at the diner during breakfast that morning, and his hand had shot out and caught it before it fell more than a few inches. Thankfully, she was looking out at the ocean at the time and didn’t notice. After that, he’d purposely tried to move more slowly, trying to mimic the way he had moved when he’d been human.
    He had so much energy that after he and Sylvie made love that night and she drifted off to sleep, he got dressed and went for a run. When he returned, it was as if he hadn’t exerted himself at all.
    But there was one thing that didn’t come back: the fading of human concerns, the loss of conscience, the constant vigilance, and the hunting for weakness in others––the soulless part of being a vampire.
    He still loved Sylvie as much as ever. He still felt no desire to kill humans or feed upon them. On that second afternoon, he managed to get away for an hour and buy some raw meat at the local butcher shop, and he ate it for the fuel, trying to ignore how good it tasted, trying to ignore the memory that living flesh tasted so much better and human flesh tasted best of all.
    By the end of the third day, it was clear that Jamie wasn’t coming back. She’d disappeared. The Escalades followed Sylvie and Terrill back to their motel. He wasn’t surprised when he heard the knock on the door later that night.
    “I’ve given you all the time I can,” Clarkson said. She didn’t seem upset, but it was clear that there would be no argument.
    “Please,” Sylvie said. “Give us one more day.”
    “I can’t. If I don’t report back, they’ll only send someone else, and I assure you, whoever they send next won’t be so patient or gentle. You agreed to come with me after ten days, and your time is up.”
    “I’m not going,” Terrill said. “Don’t be too eager,” Michael had warned him. “React just as you reacted to me.”
    “You have no choice,” Clarkson said.
    “Yes, I do. I can’t go with you if I’m not alive.”
    Sylvie looked alarmed. “What? What are you saying?”
    Terrill turned to her and took her in his arms. “I swore I’d never be part of that world again,” he said softly. “I’ve been happy being with you, Sylvie. But I’m mortal now, and my time will come sooner or later, and I’d rather stay the way I am for a short time longer than risk becoming one of them again.”
    As Michael had predicted, Clarkson’s