Out in the Cold

Vicki spent many evenings wandering around the old cemetery beside her Victorian home when Henry went out alone to feed. They had mutually agreed that spending too much time together was almost as bad as not spending enough time in each other's company. He liked the freedom of being alone to feed how he pleased and Vicki liked exploring to see the things that she had missed when her eyesight was failing. As she walked from headstone to headstone reading names, dates and in some cases, clever epitaphs, she liked to imagine what life had been like a hundred or even two hundred years ago. While Vicki walked, she sensed that there was someone close and recognized the scent of one that lived close by. She knew she was being stalked and being vampire kept her from being afraid. Sometime soon she would confront the stalker and put real fear into his miserable life. Until then she was content to know where he was even if she was unsure of what he wanted.

Brent had watched from his bedroom window as Henry and Vicki moved into the old Victorian early in the fall. He had used binoculars to watch the wedding ceremony in front of the fireplace and knew she was what he needed. The husband obviously didn't appreciate her beauty because he left her alone to walk around the community and even old cold graves. He didn't know Vicki was aware of him. For weeks he had watched the beautiful woman as she moved about the house and came out at night to walk among the graves. He spent days looking at the same headstones and tried to figure out what fascinated her. Brent would see Henry and feel jealous as Henry touched her with possessiveness. His rage increased when he watched them kiss. Brent knew he needed to eliminate Henry and then Vicki would see how perfect he was for her.

Henry came home earlier than expected, saw Vicki walking in the cemetery and joined her.

She held out her hand and asked, "Did your dinner go well?"

He smiled, remembering his dinner guest and nodded saying, "It went well enough. It's better with you."

Vicki tilted her chin in question saying, "What's better, dining on me or my going with you to dine together?"

Henry looked a very old grave and said, "Both."

Vicki smiled wickedly, licked her exposed fangs and said, "I had a quick bite of dinner myself, would you like to share some dessert?"

Henry's fangs grew to match hers as he said, "Since its you that's offering, dessert sounds like a wonderful idea. But before we go in, would you please tell me what's so fascinating about these graves?"

Vicki made a wide sweeping gesture, "It's history. The size, shape, style of headstones change through the years. What's important to remember about each person changes through the decades. Very old headstones have great sayings, the Victorian years are big monuments with family names deeply carved, the modern ones are smaller with just names and dates engraved. Now the newest ones have etchings of the person's face."

Henry looked around him as though he were noticing the place for the first time, "So which do you like better?"

Vicki nodded her head as if agreeing with herself, "The ones with wise cracks and bad puns. They're the best. If I had a headstone, it would have a bad joke and a question mark. No need to remind people of anything else about me."

Henry nodded saying, "That suits you." Then he started laughing and said, "speaking of puns."

Vicki lightly tapped him on the shoulder while barely controlling the laughter choked out, "Don't say it."

Henry rarely listened when Vicki had that tone to her voice, "Everyone one gets their just desserts. More than likely you'll never have a headstone."

Vicki put her hands on her hips in mock anger, "Why not? You have a grand tomb in a church with hundreds of tourists a year to photograph it."

Henry said, "But I'm not in it." Then he moved in closer and whispered in her ear, "We're being watched."

Vicki turned her head slightly and kissed his lips saying, "I know. I'm being stalked. He's been watching me for the last few weeks."

Henry's eyes turned black, "Why haven't you told me? I wouldn't have left you alone knowing someone was near."

Vicki placed a restraining hand on his arm and used her shoulder to hide the changes in Henry's face, "Don't. I can handle him. Let's go in the house. Maddy's waiting."

Maddy found she enjoyed working for Vicki and Henry and asked if she could stay on after the wedding. The job was easy and she had the freedom to work on her own online business while they slept. Other than keeping the house clean and being available in the daylight hours to handle household business there wasn't much for her to do.

Maddy was at the back door as the two vampires came through the gate that opened between the cemetery and the garden. She gave a shallow wave and pointed toward the street. Henry and Vicki nodded, acknowledging the signal. Henry pulled Vicki close, gave her an enthusiastic kiss then said in a booming voice, "Mrs. Fitzroy, I love you."

Vicki laughed, gave him a little shove back, ran for the door shouting, "I love you more, Mr. Fitzroy."

He raced after and they tumbled through the door together.

Brent stood seething. Fitzroy had kissed his love and she dared to declare her love for someone other than him. How dare she? It was time to get even and show them the real master of this community.

Henry stopped laughing when the door was closed. He looked at Vicki and said, "Your sure you don't want me to get rid of him?"

Vicki looked out the window and watched Brent disappear into the bushes. "I can take him if he gets too close."

Henry frowned but said, "If you say so, but I don't intend to go off on my own until I'm sure he's gone."

Maddy waited until they stopped talking before she said, "He came to the door looking for you Vicki, the day before yesterday."

Henry spoke more sharply than intended, "What did he want with Vicki?"

Maddy startled momentarily said, "He didn't say. I've seen him standing across the road watching the house for the last few weeks. Actually, I was planning on speaking to you tonight."

Vicki said, "Do you feel threatened? We'll take him out if necessary."

Henry looked at Vicki and asked, "Since when have you become so vicious?"

Vicki took a step back and said, "Not vicious, but I won't stand around and see someone I care about being threatened."

Maddy spoke honestly, "He gives me the creeps, but I'm not exactly defenseless. Uncle made sure I knew martial arts and had weapons skills. He said it's necessary for our family, because your kind seems to attract unsavory characters. The Augustus family has always been prepared to be of service to vampires."

Vicki stood thinking like a police officer for a few moments before saying, "I'm calling Mike. He can look deeper into this and if necessary contact the police. If he's hanging around me, chances are he's done something like this in the past."

Henry looked rather surprised by her remarks and said, "My Vicki not putting her nose into a mystery? I'm astonished."

Vicki looked at Henry and said, "Don't tempt me. It's not like I'll get anything out of hunting him down and since we have no influence in the daylight, it's better Mike puts his nose in this pile."

Henry turned to Maddy and said, "If you would feel more comfortable, have a friend come stay with you during the day."

Maddy nodded in acknowledgment and said, "It won't be necessary. As I said before I'm not defenseless, but I will call Uncle. He can have the family do some investigating also."

Henry began to pace, "I'm beginning to think I haven't lived as independently as I thought over the centuries."

Maddy said, "As long as you maintained contact with an Augustus, your daylight hours were watched over." Maddy then added, "If you don't mind I think I'll go to my part of the house for the rest of the night. Morning comes early and I want to be well rested."

Henry said, "By all means. Vicki and I will be paying close attention to what goes on around the house and yard from now on."

Henry watched Maddy head to the back of the house and when she was out of site he snagged Vicki's arm asking, "You're serious about keeping your nose out of the investigation of your stalker?"

Vicki looked at her beloved Henry and answered, "Actually I am. Investigating is not as much fun when vampire makes it so easy to get the truth from people just by staring at them. Now that we're talking about it, why didn't you use your powers more when I was a lowly PI?"

Henry looked at her and smiled, "You were having such fun proving how much smarter you were than Mike and I. I didn't want to spoil your fun."

Vicki started sputtering and Henry kissed her. As he removed his lips from hers she started sputtering and trying to work up a good mad while laughing. Finally she gave up, gave him a hard shove and marched up the stairs to their bedroom. He followed close behind saying, "It's no use, Vicki. You can't stay mad at me." He entered the dark room and tripped over her foot.

She landed on top of him with her eyes silver and fangs showing, "No, but I can get my just desserts." She bit down on his neck as he bit her ear. Both vampires felt the other's love and passion as they tasted blood. In a frenzy to feed and love, clothes ripped as fangs raked tender flesh. Tongues licked and wounds healed. Out of breath and satisfied Henry helped an equally happy Vicki to their bed for the day.