I knew by now what would happen as I dreamed, so when I opened my eyes to find myself somewhere else surrounded by strangers, I wasn’t too surprised. A pretty blonde woman who I judged to be in her late thirties, wearing a stylish business suit and high heels, stalked back and forth in front of me. I couldn’t turn my head, but out of the corner of my eye I recognized the person standing next to me as the other officer from my apartment: Kevin’s partner.

The woman stopped her pacing in front of me and regarded me with narrowed eyes and crossed arms. “What do you mean he was spotted at the police station?”

“I got a ping that someone accessed the file from the bullpen downtown. I called a contact in the building, and that’s the description they gave me,” I said in a deep, male voice.

“That’s not possible. Fredo said he’d shot him through the heart. He’s dead,” the woman snapped. Her face was twisted up in a scowl so deep it was cracking her expertly applied makeup.

I mentally facepalmed. A disguise might have been a good idea. Too late now.

“I don’t know what else to tell you, Lady Ann.” I shrugged and put my hands out in a placating gesture. “My contact is on his way to round them up. You can ask him yourself once they bring them in.”

“′Them’? He isn’t alone?” Lady Ann’s scowl turned to puzzlement.

“No, he’s got some Indian guy with him. I told my contact to scoop them both up.”

“Interesting he has allies I didn’t know about.” Lady Ann tapped her foot. “I’ve been keeping close tabs on him. I wonder…”

I exchanged a long glance with Kevin’s partner as Lady Ann stalked over to her desk and opened an old book that sat on top. The pages were stiff and yellowed with age. She was muttering, mostly to herself, but loud enough I could hear it.

“First Rom, now Fredo. I trust them both. They wouldn’t have lied to me. Perhaps he used it?” She flipped carefully through the book’s pages until she found what she was looking for, then ran a finger down the page and tapped something I couldn’t see. She opened a day-planner and compared it to the page. “Impossible. The new moon isn’t for a few more days…”

My cell phone pinged. I looked at Lady Ann, still muttering to herself while looking at the book and the planner. “Ma’am? It might be my contact.” “Go ahead,” she said without looking up.

I pulled the phone out of my back pocket and turned it on to see a text message. I read it out loud to the room. “Everett escaped, but they got the guy he was with. They’re bringing him to the warehouse.”

“Hmm. Could be worse.” Lady Ann closed the book and grabbed the day planner. “Maybe he can answer a few of my questions.”

***

I woke up to the buzz of an alarm. I’d set it for an hour before sunset, so I’d have time to shower and freshen up before seeing Jack. I shook off the weird memory of Kevin’s and got up. All and all, I preferred Hubbs’s orgies to Kevin’s intrigue.

At least I knew what Lady Ann looked like now, though I wasn’t sure how I could make use of that information.

The shower stall proved to be as tight as it had looked on initial inspection. I was not a big guy; I’d even been referred to a few times when I’d passed in the gay bars as a “twink”, which simultaneously sent thrills of joy through me and pissed me off. It wasn’t like I could help being short. Yet my shoulders almost brushed the sides of the shower. Sadly I didn’t have any other clothes to change into, so I had put back on the dirty T-shirt and bullet-hole-filled, blood-stained pants that I’d worn the day before.

Once I was ready, I climbed the basement stairs to the kitchen door, but the door was locked. I knocked on it, but no one answered. I waited for a bit and knocked again. Still no answer, so I went back downstairs and flopped on the couch.

Bored, I turned on the TV using the remote I found on the side table. It showed an ad for a moment before cutting back to two news announcers.

The woman announcer smiled and began speaking. “Welcome back to KATU Evening News. In local news, Portland residents are urged to keep their eyes out for Everett Boesch, who is wanted by police in the murder of her roommate, Lindsay Spakes.”

I cringed and leaned forward, both repulsed and curious about what else they had to say.

The camera moved to focus on the male newscaster, and my picture appeared to the side. It was the one taken by the museum for my work badge, so not only did the yellowish lighting make my skin look sallow, it was from before I started hormones. I winced.

The newscaster began speaking. “Citizens are urged to call 911 to report sightings of this individual, who police say is armed and dangerous. In addition to attacking an officer at his home last night, Everett is also suspected of stealing several valuable pieces from the Portland Art Museum. Everett Boesch, also known as—”

I flipped the TV off in disgust, then leaned forward, putting my head between my knees and wrapping my hands around the back my head. My breathing became shallower and I felt like crying. I recognized the start of a panic attack.

Not only was I being accused of murder, but I’d just been deadnamed on local TV. I wasn’t out as trans to many people, especially since I’d been able to pass fairly well before hormones, at least until I opened my mouth.

And hormones had taken care of that problem.

Although I supposed as a vampire, my old life had already been lost.

As the initial burst of dread and panic wore off, I started to realize I didn’t really have much in my old life that I would regret losing. I’d already lost my best friend and my family when I’d come out.

That sent a renewed burst of panic through me that sent me bolting straight up. God, what if my parents saw this? They were going to think I was a thief and a murderer. Well, I was a thief, but it wasn’t like I wanted my parents to know that. In fact, I’d been hoping that after a while they’d cool off, and we could reconnect, but that wouldn’t happen if they believed the news report.

In the silence, the creaking of the floor above could be heard clearly. I jumped to my feet and scrambled back up the stairs to pound on the locked door. “Jack! Jack!”

Jack’s shoes squeaked on the linoleum as he came over to the door.

“Everett? What’s the big emergency?” His voice was muffled, but audible.

“The door’s locked!” I jiggled the knob for emphasis.

“Yeah, because it’s not safe for you to come out yet. Give it another fifteen for the sun to finish setting while I put these groceries away, then I’ll unlock it.” His shoes squeaked as he retreated for a few steps before coming back. “Oh, and Zoe dropped by some food for you too. I’ll warm one up and send it down in the dumbwaiter. I’d feel better if you drank it before you came up.”

“Dumbwaiter?” I repeated, thinking I’d misheard.

“Yeah, you know, it’s a little elevator for sending food and drink up and down floors. I think the door is next to the couch down there.” Jack’s voice faded, and a moment later I could hear him rummaging around in the kitchen.

I stomped back down the stairs and looked around. There was a small, square, wooden door set into the wall. I’d opened it last night before bed while exploring the apartment, and just figured it was an empty cupboard.

Rather than sitting back down on the couch to wait, I paced the living room, trying to think. I needed to get a message to my family, explain what happened, that I wasn’t a murderer. But how?

I sat on the couch and turned on the tablet. A quick internet search on how to send anonymous emails directed me to a helpful website that would send the message on my behalf, so it wouldn’t reveal my IP address if Lady Ann’s IT thugs intercepted it. Perfect.

I couldn’t remember my mom’s email address, so I flipped over to another tab and signed in to my online email client. I figured that would be safe enough. I hadn’t been able to check my email in days, and my account showed over two-hundred unread messages. I was going to ignore them, but the subject line of one of the newest emails caught my attention.

“EVERETT, PENDANT TONIGHT OR PARENTS DIE”,received just fifteen minutes ago.

“Shit, well, that’s straight to the point,” I muttered to myself as I flipped back to the anonymous email website and deleted most of what I’d already written into the message body box.

There was a rattling noise and then the cupboard dinged helpfully. At almost the same time Jack yelled, so muffled I barely heard it, “Dinner!”

I rolled my eyes and tapped out a new message to my mom. “Mom, this is Everett. I didn’t kill anyone, and you and Dad are in danger. Get somewhere safe, NOT the police. They can’t be trusted. Love you. Everett.”

I hit send before I could overthink it and then closed the tab. I left my email open for now so I could show Jack the threat.

I opened the dumbwaiter door to find a microwaved bottle of steaming blood—ick—and, praise Jack’s name to the heavens, a new set of clothes in my size. I choked down the blood before changing into the fresh clothes. They were just cheap Walmart brands, but tasteful. The shirt was button-up in a color that went with my lighter skin tone, and the jeans had a simple, straight leg.

I heard the click of the lock disengaging as I finished dressing. I grabbed the tablet and the empty bottle, then jogged up the stairs and burst into the kitchen.

Jack sat at the kitchen table, about to take the first bite of a freshly made sandwich. He set it down without taking a bite and gave me an amused look as I pulled out a chair and sat down across from him.

“Early bird gets the worm is not a motto for vampires to live by. Sunset is no joke. Get the timing wrong and you’re toast.” Jack picked his sandwich back up and took a big bite.

“You need to see this.” I set the empty bottle aside so I could turn on the tablet, then flipped it around to show Jack the threatening email.

Jack finished chewing and swallowing while he glanced at the screen, then he sighed. “You weren’t supposed to get into your email, Everett. No contact, remember?”

“I didn’t send anything from it!” I protested, lowering the tablet to lay flat on the table. “I thought it would be okay to at least look at it. She’s going after my parents, Jack.”

Jack sighed again and let go of one side of his sandwich to put a hand over mine. “She’s just trying to flush you out, Ev. If you don’t try to contact them, she’ll leave them alone. No reason to get her hands dirty if she doesn’t have to.” He pulled his hand away and went back to eating.

I chewed on my lower lip, letting Jack eat in silence. I thought watching Jack eat would make me hungry. After all, I hadn’t had anything to eat but blood for days, but strangely, while watching Jack did make me want food, the smell of the turkey and cheese from the sandwich wasn’t appealing at all, and actually made me wrinkle my nose. I fiddled with the tablet, trying to ignore the smell, and impatiently waiting for Jack to finish eating.

As he ate, Jack kept glancing at me, his frown deepening between each bite. When he finished, he pushed the plate away and laced his hands together on the table, giving me a hard look.

“You tried to contact them, didn’t you?”

“I needed to warn them! I sent it through an anonymous web service, so it didn’t come from my email. She can’t use it to trace back to my location, so it’s fine, right?”

I cringed at Jack’s narrowed eyes and deepening frown as I blurted out my confession.

“No contact means no contact!” Jack yelled. He pushed back from the table so hard his chair almost fell over, stomped a few paces away, then turned his back on me with his fists clenched at his side. He blew out a deep breath and turned back around, crossing his arms. “Everett, sending the warning, even anonymously, means that you saw the threat and it got to you. If you didn’t respond, she wouldn’t know if you even saw the email, and that if she killed them, she’d lose potential leverage over you later. It doesn’t matter if she can trace it back to you. Now all she has to do is stake out your parents and kill you when you show up.”

I frowned. “So I just don’t show up.”

Jack shook his head. “Then she’ll kill them. If she doesn’t now that you’ve acknowledged the threat, she’ll lose face. Let me see the email again.

Is there a time limit?”

I brought the email back up. “Yeah, 2:00 am.”

Jack took the tablet from me and clicked on the screen, growing thoughtful. “This was sent just after sunset. And the time limit… Vampire hours.” He scrolled back through my unread messages. “Look, here. She sent you other messages over the last few days, mostly during the day. But tonight, she waited until dark. Did she somehow figure out you’re a vampire now?” He was speaking low, mostly to himself, but I decided to respond as if he’d asked me the question.

“I don’t know how she would have. I doubt she’s part of the supernatural community.”

“True. If she knew about the supernatural world, I wouldn’t have been able to escape from her thugs the way I did. Still.” Jack shook his head and closed my email. “It’s suspicious.”

I shrugged, but my hands were shaking. I clasped them together and put them in my lap. “What do we do now then?”

“First, we don’t panic. I’m going to make a few calls, see what we can do from here.” Jack grabbed the phone handset. “C’mon, let’s go to the living room. Better seating.”

I stayed sitting where I was, trying to hold back tears. I could tell it was time for my T shot by how emotional I was getting.

Jack came back and crouched down next to me. “I shouldn’t have yelled, I’m sorry. I should have been more explicit in my instructions and explained why no contact was so important.”

“It’s okay,” I mumbled. “I should have known better. Seeing myself all over the news and then the email, I panicked.”

“News?” Jack frowned.

“When I first found the door locked, I was bored. I turned on the TV, and the news was on. They were all but calling me a murderer, and then they outed me, misgendered me, and deadnamed me.” Remembering this the dam burst, and I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore.

“Goddess damn it,” Jack muttered and leaned forward to wrap me in a hug, letting me sob into his shoulder. “Yeah, I can see why you were on edge. I’m betting that was part of her plan to flush you out.”

“Well, it’s working.” Feeling a little better now, I sat back and dabbed at my eyes with my shirt collar.

“She’s had a while to study you. To have contacted you that quickly after you had to drop out of school… She’s had her eye on you for a while. Longer than you’d think. She’ll know all the right places to apply pressure, like with your roommate.” Jack rocked back to his feet and then offered a hand to me.

I took it, and allowed Jack to pull me up and lead me into the living room. “But why go after my parents? We’re estranged. I haven’t talked to them since the day I came out,” I protested as we sat down together on the sofa.

Jack gave me a patient smile. “Have you tried to contact them since then?”

“Of course! My brother, Michael, he works at Dad’s shop. I talk to him fairly often, ask him to pass on messages. But they never call me back.”

Jack made a finger-gun and pointed it at me. “Bang. She’s got you. She knew you’d care if she threatened them because of those calls.”

“How’d she…” I paused. Mobster. Crime boss. “She had my phones tapped?”

“That’d be my guess,” Jack agreed, lifting the handset. “Now, what city do they live in? I’m going to ask the office to do a welfare check.”

“Hood River.” I gave Jack their address and phone numbers from memory. “But do you think it’s a good idea to call Stacy for help?”

“It’s dangerous for you to leave the house.” Jack finished dialing and lifted the phone to his ear.

“Do you have to tell Stacy what I did?” I pleaded with him while the phone rang. “I’m already embarrassed enough about it. We’ll just pop out there and make sure they’re safe, and Stacy will never have to know.”

“You know I can’t do that, Everett,” Jack said, putting a hand over the receiver. “Her voicemail just came on; she must not have gotten to the office yet. I’ll leave a message, and she’ll call us back when she gets in.”

***

Stacy called back about fifteen minutes later. Jack answered and put the handset on speakerphone mode.

“Hi, Jack. I got your message.” Stacy’s tone was sharp. I bolted upright. “Then, you can send someone to—”

“No,” Stacy cut me off. “This is a human matter. We can’t get involved.”

“Can’t or won’t?” I growled, leaning down close to the speaker. “It’s my parents!”

“Fine, won’t. Your parents, who are still human, are being threatened by a human. Therefore, this is a human matter.” I tried to speak again, and Stacy talked over me. “You didn’t go through the normal process for new vampires, so I wouldn’t expect you to know this, and perhaps Jack didn’t know this either, still being relatively new to the community, but before a human is allowed to become a vampire they are expected to fake their death and then cut all ties with their old human life.”

“What?” I sank back into the couch, stunned, and glanced at Jack, who looked just as confused. “But why?”

“This is exactly the reason. You are tempted to use your newfound abilities to run to your parents’ rescue, I can hear it in your voice, but what happens then? Someone sees you and word gets out about us.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Jack said, shaking his head. “Obviously my circumstances are different. I’d been reported shot in the throat in full view of witnesses, but normally shapeshifters can go right back to their human life like nothing happened.”

Stacy’s tone softened. “But you age only slightly slower than normal humans. How would you feel if you had to watch your loved ones fade away and die of old age while you remain the same? Trust me, it’s easier this way.”

I frowned. Living forever hadn’t even occurred to me yet since I was just trying to just survive till tomorrow. I shifted uncomfortably. “So I’m just supposed to let them die?” I whispered in disbelief. I felt numb. I’d always thought that they’d come around and I’d reconcile with them. That couldn’t happen if they were dead.

Jack slipped an arm around my shoulder and hugged me close, offering silent comfort.

“But, the person after them is the same person after me,” I said, trying another tack. “Doesn’t that make it a matter for supernaturals?”

“You know this for certain?” Stacy asked.

“Who else would it be?” My voice raised at the end and I sat forward. I knew I was starting to panic. I even felt my fangs trying to come down. Jack tugged me back down and I closed my eyes, silently counting to ten while doing deep breathing exercises to calm myself. Meanwhile, Jack began gently rubbing my shoulders.

Stacy’s sigh was audible over the speaker. “Jack, Everett sounds a little on edge. Any worries he’ll attack you?”

“No, he’s fine. His fangs came down, but he caught himself.” Jack sounded relaxed and jovial, but I noticed he didn’t stop rubbing.

“I still can’t believe he is less than a week changed,” Stacy said. “Now, as to the matter at hand of the person or persons after you, Jack’s earlier voicemail explained the situation. I’ll bring the matter up to the council on what is to be done about your unique situation. This matter is urgent enough that I’ve scheduled an emergency council meeting for tomorrow night—”

“Tomorrow?” I yelled, appalled. By then it would be too late for my parents. Jack pulled his hands back and frowned at the phone.

“Do not cut me off. The council members are busy people. You’re lucky it is happening so quickly. What is that modern expression?” She paused and I could hear a pencil tapping. “Ah, yes, beggars can’t be choosers. In the meantime, you are safe enough where you are for the moment, so just sit tight.”

“But—”

Stacy tutted, her voice hard as steel. “Do you think I like being down a staff member for another two nights? Jack has to stay in hiding too until this has been resolved, since you’ve already managed to involve him in this madness by getting him kidnapped.”

The line went dead. I reached over and turned off the handset, then rested my head in my hands with a groan.

“How did you do it?” I asked Jack without looking up. “Leave behind everything and start over?”

Jack sighed, and he sat near enough that I could feel him fidgeting. “I’m still not sure. I don’t know if it helps or hurts that I regularly get on social media to look at updates of their lives. I’m probably not the best person to talk to about letting go. They think I’m dead, better to keep it that way.”

“What would you do, in my situation then? If you knew that they were in mortal danger, but were told not to do anything about it?” I finally lifted my head and glanced sideways up at Jack. He looked lost and sad.

Jack stared down at me in silence for a long moment, then turned away and crossed his arms over his chest. “I wouldn’t do anything.” His voice was tight and his shoulders tensed as he talked. “I’d let them go. Mourn them.”

“Would you? Really? You wouldn’t try to save them?” I sat up, focusing on Jack’s profile and the clench of his jaw.

“No.” The muscle on his jaw jumped. He was lying. “It would hurt too much to see them knowing I’d have to disappear on them again. You should listen to Stacy, she knows what she’s talking about. Even if you do save them, once things settle you’ll have to fake your death and never see them again anyway.”

“I’d rather have them alive and thinking I’m dead than have them dead.”

“That’s a little selfish, don’t you think?” Jack turned back to face me, eyes bright with unshed tears. His arms were still tightly crossed.

I narrowed my eyes at Jack and crossed my own arms defensively.

“Selfish? How do you figure that?”

“You’re okay with them alive and mourning you, but you aren’t willing to be the one alive and mourning them!” Jack yelled. He uncrossed his arms and stood, walking a few steps away, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides, then he whirled back. “You want to have your cake and eat it too. I’ve had to watch from afar as grief drove my father back into alcoholism and broke up my parent’s marriage. My faked death tore my family apart. You think your death won’t do the same to your family? Yes, it’s a sham, but they don’t know that.”

I rocked back, feeling as though I’d been punched. I jumped to my feet, feeling flush with anger, and yelled back, “Of course my death won’t tear my family apart. They’ve been pretending I’ve been dead for most of this last year already. Not going to make much difference if there is a coffin and a headstone now to make it official!”

“So why do you want to save them so badly?” Jack asked, his voice so quiet I barely heard him.

I stammered, not sure how to put my complicated feelings into words. My shoulders slumped and I felt as if I were deflating. I hugged myself and turned my back on Jack, trying not to cry. “I don’t know. I guess I don’t want them to die with us still estranged like this.”

Jack sighed and wrapped me in a hug from behind, resting his cheek on the side of my head. His solid presence helped me to center myself and I closed my eyes, choking back my tears.

“Alright, I’ll help you.” Jack said it so quietly I thought I’d misheard.

“You, what?”

His breath tickled my ear. “I’ll help you warn them. But—” He held up a hand as I broke free of his embrace and turned to face him with wide eyes. “—only what we can do without leaving the house. It’s too risky to be on the streets of Portland for you right now, especially since it seems your would-be killers might know about your little secret.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I just hope it’s enough to save them!”

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Continue on to Chapter 17

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