Club Vampyr

Chapter 18

"Sooooo," Tim said, sitting on the couch beside Kerry. His word trailed off and it didn't seem like he had anything further to follow up. Instead of alleviating the discomfort between them, it elevated it.

"So?" Kerry repeated, knowing there wasn't really anything to say until they cleared the air. She also knew she wouldn't be doing any explaining to Nathaniel's father. Talk about AWKWARD.

"You and Mike really hit it off, eh?"

Kerry managed to hide her displeasure at him calling Michel 'Mike'. She would never be able to see him as someone with such a common English name. It just didn't fit. She wasn't even sure how she could have believed he was an Ethan. "I guess so," she responded. They resumed the smothering silence between them. "Is he going after Nelle?"

"Yeah. She's his responsibility."

"Is she okay?" Kerry was more worried about her friend's safety than wondering about the fact that she was Michel's responsibility.

Tim looked across the couch, weighing whether or not he should tell her. Kerry knew the look. "She's fine."

"But?" One thing she hated was being deliberately left in the dark in such a way that it was obvious that facts were being kept from her. If someone was going to keep things from her, they may as well just lie right off the bat. At least that way there was a chance she would believe them. A very slim chance, but a chance nonetheless.

"She's become a source of amusement for our boss. Michael was trying to hide her, but I doubt it will be possible anymore."

"Hide her?" Kerry asked. "But didn't he make her?"

"Michael or the boss?"

"The boss."

"No."

Kerry frowned, her mind starting to plot again. "They're upstairs, right?"

Tim didn't respond.

"Would we be able to watch on the surveillance?" She asked, picking up the remote. Tim threw her a startled look. Then his gaze turned thoughtful as he allowed her to turn on the screen. Kerry flipped through the channels until she picked Michel up in the elevator.

"I know you haven't known Michael for very long, but I can't see him just telling you about this." The question was implied: how did she know?

Kerry was slightly surprised that Tim hadn't come across the fact that Kerry and Michel went farther back than a few days. She was about to tell him the truth, sure that Nathaniel would say something at some point in the near future, when Michel moving in the elevator drew her attention. He stared right at the camera, his image never wavering like it would on shoddier images. His blue eyes seemed to look right at her, and his head shook slightly. No, he seemed to say, somehow warning her without being in the room. Kerry jumped slightly, unnerved by his omniscience. But she took his advice. "I don't understand what you mean," she responded, playing stupid. She wondered if she would get a nod of approval from Michel this time.

"You really are enchanted aren't you?" Tim asked, watching her watch the television.

"He's a great guy," Kerry responded.

"Michael doesn't suffer fools easily. He'd more likely kill you than let you in."

This time, Kerry turned her attention fully towards Tim, still unsure of what to say. She let her eyes get wide and hoped he mistook the beating of her heart as fear. What she was really thinking, however, was that she and Michel had already been down this road years ago, and she must have passed some test because she was still alive. Once again, a potential threat from the man she had fallen for years ago wasn't enough for Kerry to fear him. She didn't think she would be truly scared of Michel until after he killed her. "This isn't a potential marriage," Kerry told Tim, dismissing his warning. "It's only been a few dates."

Tim looked unsure, as if he disbelieved her. Kerry ignored him, squashing down a small bit of guilt as she turned her attention back to the television. Michel was no longer on camera. Kerry's eyes widened and she frantically flipped through the channels, her eyes scanning the crowd of people gathered in Club Vamp. She couldn't find him within the hordes of writhing dancers and drunken patrons, but her eyes did spot her best friend lounging seductively against the bar. She was talking in hushed whispers to a man who Kerry couldn't quite see. She wasn't sure why his face was swarthed in shadow, for the camera angle was good and there was no one in the way of the image.

Warning bells went off in Kerry's mind, and she realized that this man must be the boss. Her fingers clutched around the remote and she barely noticed the plastic digging into her palm. Tim's look became darker, and he frowned with his discomfort at the situation. Though Kerry was aware in the back of her mind that Tim wasn't someone she should trust a hundred percent, her estimation of him as an ally plummeted. "Who is that with her," Kerry mused. "He looks familiar."

"You've met him?" Tim jumped visibly, and Kerry wondered what was making him so nervous.

"I don't think so," Kerry said slowly, taking more of an interest on the man with Nelle instead of on her friend. "Maybe it's just the way he's sitting," she mused with a frown. "Does Michel sit like that?"

"Uh…" Tim hedged.

"You know what I mean. That boneless slump he does that appears both insolent and aware at the same time."

"I think you see him differently than I do." Tim looked uncomfortable again. Kerry wisely shut her mouth, knowing that what she was describing spoke of far more familiarity with his person than Kerry had admitted to.

"Probably," she muttered.

"He is an attractive man," Tim mused, and Kerry wondered how they had gotten on the topic of Michel's good looks. She thought that maybe Tim was deliberately guiding the subject away from the image on the screen. "He looks so young that sometimes I forget that he's really…" Tim broke off.

Kerry's heart was pounding as she mentally urged Tim to continue what he was saying. Almost! She was soooo close to finding out Michel's real age after all these years. It was Michel's greatest mystery, and Tim was about to just blurt it out like it was nothing. She'd been wondering how old Michel was since she knew him as Ethan!

"Has he told you his age yet?" Tim asked.

She hesitated for a moment, seeing Michel saunter on to the monitor screen. She wasn't sure if she should lie to Tim and see if he would inadvertently tell her the truth, but once she saw Michel walking on camera, she knew she couldn't do that. The only person she would be happy hearing it from was him. "No, he never told me."

Tim wisely kept his mouth shut, watching Kerry as she stared at the television screen.

Kerry didn't notice his attention, she was too caught up watching the vampire in her life calmly walk up to his boss. Even in the crowded room, she could see his air of confidence, and she could pick him out of the crush of people with an innate ability bred from familiarity and something more. He walked leisurely, like a man who was approaching a few friends, and even knowing what she did, Kerry could not pick out a single weapon hidden on his person. She wondered if the vampire boss could.

"Can you tell where he has his weapons hidden?" she asked Tim, curious to a fault.

"Yeah."

"Really? How?"

"The gun leaves a line in his clothing. The blades are far harder to detect, but he has to watch the way he moves while wearing them, so if someone knows where to look, they are also noticeable."

"Does your boss know where to look?" Kerry asked, staring at Michel with a new sense of worry. Usually, she figured he could take care of himself, but that didn't stop her from hoping nothing happened to him.

"You forget that Michel's job is to be armed. It would look strange if he wasn't carrying."

Since Kerry thought he looked strange when he was, she wisely kept quiet about the whole thing. Turning her attention back to the monitor, she now felt Tim's appraising glance at the side of her head and she wondered if he actually did know about her past with Michel. Something was off, and it was causing irate butterfly wings to beat against her stomach. She felt as though she were observing a suspense thriller movie, and couldn't figure out the ending. While it was a great thing to do on a slow Saturday night, applying it to her life was just frightening.

Michel paused in front of the bar, and the angle of the camera afforded Kerry a glimpse of Nelle leaning against the seated man. She still couldn't see the man's features, though there weren't any obvious obstructions to her line of view. It was bathed in shadows, like a dark veil over a widow's face, and Kerry could only hope the image distance and the flickering faux-candles were at fault. She knew this man was the boss because of the deference Michel's posture held as well as the fact Nelle was burrowed to his side.

"I'm glad Nathaniel's not here," she said conversationally to Tim.

Time grunted.

"Can you see his face?"

"His back is to me just as much as it is to you. Just because I'm sitting at a different angle doesn't mean there is a 3-D effect going on with the screen."

"Not Michel! The other guy!" Kerry seethed, but she was starting to wonder if this was Tim's form of defense to get from telling the truth. Michel lied easily and swiftly, and Tim deflected with an insult so the other person was too furious to remember the initial question.

In the club, Michel pulled Nelle to his side with a sharp tug, causing her to stumble forwards. He leaned towards his boss, saying something he emphasized by shaking Nelle's wrist. Michel nodded his head curtly, turning to move away, but Nelle dug her heels in and refused to move, screaming something with her face contorted in fury. Michel jerked her back towards him, hissing something in her ear.

"Does this thing have sound?" Kerry asked, completely riveted. It was like watching The OC on mute.

"Yeah, but it would take a team of highly specialized audio-techs weeks to isolate that one conversation from the rest in the club."

Kerry sighed, and then was struck by an idea. "Can you read their lips and tell me what they're saying?"

"No."

"Vampire skills not that good yet?"

"Oh," Tim said, sounding slightly surprised she had misunderstood him. "I can read their lips. I just can't tell you what they're saying."

"Thanks," Kerry responded with sarcasm, staring at Michel's mouth. As far as she could discern, the words emerging from it were 'blah blah blah', but she kept watch anyway, feeling slightly perverted.

"You have to stop being so obvious about what you're thinking."

"What?" Kerry turned her attention away from the TV. "Why?"

"Do you remember Samantha from Sex and the City? How about Brian from Queer as Folk? Michel thinks of relationships in terms of one-night-stands and short-lived affairs. If he sees you giving him moon-eyes, he'll run away quicker than you'll be able to blink."

"I barely even know him. I'm not about to fall in love in only three days." With a sense of irony, Kerry turned her attention back to the television. Her mind was whispering soft hopeful words about how even Samantha and Brian ended up in falling for a single person, and with a strong sense of self-preservation, she squashed those optimistic thoughts. Michel was no longer on screen, and after a few quick flips she picked him up again heading towards the rear of the club, past the privacy rooms, and towards a back elevators. One of his hands was still firmly wrapped around Nelle's wrist, and though Kerry's friend looked reluctant to be following, she trailed behind with subdued obedience.

Once in the elevator, Kerry had to scramble through the channels again. Finally, the two of them standing inside the metal box filled the screen. Michel stood in silence, seemingly relaxed, but Nelle had her arms crossed over her chest and one hip cocked. It was her angry, confrontational stance, and Kerry had enough experience with it that she didn't need to see the deep scowl across Nelle's face to know what was going to happen.

In the elevator, Nelle whipped around, her long hair snapping with her, and drilled her pointer finger at Michel. He said something back to her calmly, his serious eyes steady on her face. Nelle slapped him and he whipped her around, pushing her face first into the wall and holding her there. Despite the fact the motion hadn't been as brutal as he could have made it, Kerry still winced, feeling distinctly uncomfortable as Michel leaned against Nelle's back and whispered something in her ear. His hand strayed against her neck as he brushed her hair away with a conspicuous softness, and Kerry could feel a bitter jealousy welling up inside her chest at the sight.

It was a good thing she didn't love him anymore.

Tim wisely kept his mouth shut, but he still watched her reaction more than he looked at the screen. Kerry schooled her features into a blank mask worthy of any vampire, but she couldn't take her eyes away as Nelle shot Michel a look of hatred, pushing past him as the doors to the elevator opened, allowing a spill of light to enter the small box. Michel raised his eyes, shooting the camera a shrewd look before exiting after his charge. Kerry blushed, her hot blood pooling beneath the skin as she thought of him knowing her that well, and mocking it. Frantically, she pointed the remote-control at the television and turned it off, sitting demurely on the couch with it clutched in her cold hands. She paused for a moment, then turned the screen back on, changing the picture back to the original feed.

"It doesn't matter if you cover it up. He'll still know you were spying."

"I know," Kerry said. "Are you going to tell him?"

Tim grinned at her, the smile so much like Nathaniel's that they looked to be twins for a moment. Of course, for the true effect, Tim would have to dye his hair green or whatever the choice du jour was. "Naw. Just don't be surprised if he knows anyway."

Kerry knew that. No matter how much she liked to think she had a handle on Michel's character, he always would surprise her. This was one instance, however, that she had a pretty good idea of what he knew. She also thought that maybe he wanted her to watch and had set it up so she could. Why else would he have allowed her to find the security feed? What she couldn't figure out was WHY. Did he want her to see the trouble he was going through for Nelle? Or was it something else?

Fifteen minutes later Michel returned to find Kerry sitting at his computer playing solitaire. She was a bundle of nerves wondering what, or who, he could have been doing during that time. It was difficult to convince herself that she wasn't jealous of Nelle when she wanted to go search them out, and the moment she saw him walk through the door, Kerry had to war against her instincts to jump up and demand to know where he was. Tim was a source of strength at her back for the sole reason that she refused to make a fool of herself with someone else in the room. He kept saying things like '7 of diamonds on 8 of clubs', but she knew he was really ensuring that she didn't go digging in the confidential files surely stored on the computer.

"How's Nelle?" Kerry asked, almost choking on the words. She had never considered that her best friend and Michel would now be together for a possible eternity. She had been so happy that Nelle was alive, and she still was, but now reality was intruding on the joy. She should be worried about her best friend, not worried her best friend was now boffing Michel. With a deep sigh, Kerry tried to expel all her negativity and focus on the real issue.

"She's safe for the moment. Unfortunately, she's caught his attention now." Michel and Tim exchanged looks, and Kerry watched the mutual understanding between them, even though she didn't understand what it meant. She felt a sense of foreboding, instinctively feeling that life was about to get even more complicated.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing you need to know," Michel said curtly. Since it wasn't often he completely shut her out without at least making up a decent story beforehand, Kerry simply nodded in response to him. His eyebrows rose as she assented, obviously prepared for a fight or further questions.

Those would come later, Kerry told herself. She wasn't going to let go of the issue that easily. He'd be a fool to believe it.

Michel turned his attention to Tim. "Make sure that Nelle is put under the care of Amelia," he said in low tones, but not low enough that she couldn't hear. He then said something softer, and she couldn't make that out at all. If she thought leaning forward would help, she would have completely lost face to find out what it was he didn't want her to hear, but she knew that even if she was standing beside them, she'd still have trouble hearing.

Tim nodded, politely saying goodbye to Kerry, then left.

Being alone with Michel was far more awkward than Kerry had expected. When he had left less than an hour before, she expected their reunion to sizzle, for him to grab her and kiss her, and other adolescent fantasies. Instead, she watched out of the corner of her eye as he ignored her, opening a hidden filing cabinet in the wall of his office. Kerry sighed, winning at solitaire. Quickly glancing at him again and finding him pouring over the papers in front of him intensely, she minimized the game window and quickly clicked on the My Documents file icon.

"Solitaire is safer for your health," he said without looking up, and suddenly they were talking about more than a game.

Kerry's eyes flicked guiltily to him. "Heartbeat?"

"Barely hitched. You're getting better."

"Oh goodie," Kerry snarked. "Soon I'll be a master liar like you."

"Unlikely. I'll still have years on you."

"Because you're an old man."

"And don't you forget it," when she didn't smile as he did, Michel finally put down the papers in his hand and turned towards her. "Ok, what's up?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying," she lied. "Weren't we just through this? How can I lie if you know when I'm lying?"

"You can't! Which is how I knew you were lying."

"Are you deliberately being confusing?"

"No, but you're deliberately complicating the subject. WHAT is the matter?" He stood, stepping towards her. She frowned at him and he paused with his palms up in an innocent, reconciliatory gesture. "Come here," he said.

"No way," she turned her attention back towards her game, sensing him move because of her dismissal more than seeing it. Suddenly, he was in her face, his blue eyes piercing painfully into hers, a torture which made her wish to confess all her secrets. He moved forward to kiss her, and she jerked back, blurting out, "Are you having sex with Nelle?"

"Where did you get that idea?" he asked with his stupid, meaningless smile.

Liar! She screamed mentally, hating his eyes. "Are you, or aren't you? I'm sick of the way you deflect my questions."

"Kerry," he said softly, as if this new answer explained everything. "I changed her."

©RelenaFanel.Oct12.2007