Sire by Thomas Galvin Page B

hand, but Michael held her away. "Look," he said.
    The wounds on her shoulder and leg were closing. The skin seemed to flow back together like water, and soon she was completely healed. There was no scar, and no pain. You couldn't tell where the blood on her clothing had come from.
    Caitlin touched her leg gingerly, and flexed her calf muscle. Then she rolled her shoulder. Everything felt fine. Better than fine. She felt stronger than she had in, well, ever.
    Michael was staring at her.
    "You're a vampire?" she asked. He nodded.
    For a while, Caitlin just stared at him. Then, finally, she spoke.
    "Holy shit," she said. "That's awesome!"
    ***
    "I'm sorry, what?"
    "You're a vampire," Caitlin said, climbing to her feet. "That's so cool! I mean, oh my God, everyone wants to meet a vampire, and I've met two of them in one night! One of them tried to kill me, but I mean, come on, I'm all right, and you, you're ... wow."
    Caitlin was staring at his naked chest like she was trying to figure out which piece of him to eat first, and Michael suddenly wished he had a shirt to put on.
    "You have to tell me everything," Caitlin said. "How old are you? How did you become a vampire? How many of you are there? Can you walk in the sunlight? What's with the swords? How do you know Liam? Are you two brothers?"
    "Can we leave the evil vampire's evil lair first?" Michael asked.
    "Oh, right, sure. So, how are we going to get out of here? Out the front door, or ...?"
    "Let's go through the window. There's ... the rest of the house is kind of a mess."
    "A mess? Why would that stop us?"
    Michael gestured toward Ugly's corpse. "A mess. A really big mess."
    " Oh. Okay, right, out the window then. I, um, I tried to climb down earlier, and I guess I kinda made it, but it isn't easy. We'll have to—"
    "We're only twenty feet off the ground. I can jump from here."
    "That's nice and all, but I can't, and—"
    "I'll hold you, if you'll hold my blades."
    "Oh, sure!"
    Michael picked up the sword and dagger, and handed them to Caitlin. "Careful. The blades are laced with silver, and they'll burn me if I touch them."
    "Okay, got it. Silver burns vampires. What about him?"
    "He's a werewolf," Michael said. "Was."
    "Yeah, I know. He turned into a wolf when I tried to escape."
    "...And that doesn't, I don't know, bother you?"
    Caitlin put her hands on her hips. "Michael, it is my first night at college. And in the last few hours, I have been hypnotized—"
    "Compelled."
    "—bitten, kidnapped by a vampire, escaped, recaptured, mauled, rescued by another vampire, and healed with vampire blood. A guy that turns into a dog is not the weirdest thing that's happened to me today."
    Michael pursed his lips. "Good point."
    He gathered Caitlin up into his arms. She held the silver blades carefully away from him, and snuggled close to his chest. "Okay," she said, "let's go."
    Michael shook his head and crossed to the window. He pulled it open and stepped up onto the windowsill. "Ready?" Caitlin nodded, and Michael stepped out into the air.
    Caitlin's heart leapt when they fell, but they touched the ground as lightly as a falling feather. Michael set her down and collected his blades. "This way," he said.
    Caitlin hurried after him. "So really, about the sunlight? Can you go out in the sunlight?"
    "No."
    "Do you, you know?"
    Without breaking stride, Michael looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
    "You know? In the sunlight, do you ... sparkle?"
    Michael stopped. "Those God damn books." He shook his head and started walking again.
    "Okay, so that's a 'no' on the sparkling. So, silver burns, and sunlight ... I'm guessing that burns, too?"
    "Brilliant deduction."
    "Okay, silver burns, sunlight burns. Fire?"
    "Yes, fire also burns," he said.
    "Okay, great. So, did you always look like this, or did you get hot when you became a vampire?"
    Michael looked at her, exasperated, and kept walking.
    They reached the wall at the edge of the estate. Michael handed his blades over to Caitlin,