“The ‘attack’ at the Republican fundraiser…you’ve got to realize that there is something more sinister to it than some ‘terrorist attack’ or whatever they’re labeling it now. The other…people involved are a part of something bigger. The priest who was discovered with an abnormally warm body was a supernatural hunter sent to San Francisco to find me. When I was turned by a man named David Lowell and then used by another vampire to do his bidding, he found out about that among other things and used my kidnapping as an excuse to hunt other vampires here…you see, my real name is Jorja Thompson — ”
“…no way! You were all over the news too!” Michael couldn’t help it. “And David Lowell…wait, didn’t he die — ?”
“You just saw me cut myself, and yet you still believe that he could die from the car accident you saw on the news? Anyway, that wasn’t David, that was another friend of mine,” she said, and remembered the last empty words Kellen spoke before he hung up. She wondered where he was.
“So? What was it you wanted to ask of me?” Michael asked after a moment of silence, expecting a request.
“Well…believe it or not, this is asking a lot more than a $10,000 outfit.”
Michael laughed uneasily and spoke nervously, “This isn’t going to involve me turning into a vampire, is it…?”
“No…but it will involve turning into something.”
Michael cringed. “Turning into what, exactly? A zombie?”
“…something called a ghoul.”
“What?”
“It’ll take three nights,” Jorja continued, “and each night, you will drink my blood.”
“What is this you’re trying to do exactly?” Michael said unabashedly, a look of disgust on his face at the thought of willingly drinking blood.
“Sooner or later, investigators unaffiliated with the FBI and such are going to find out where my friends and I are if we stay here. Assuming they find out we’ve left the area, they’ll eventually look for people who might have seen them last. If we’re going to keep this…sham of a relationship up without risking the lives of both of us, it needs to be done. Plus,” Jorja added, thinking of David and herself as she said this, “ready-made monetary resources will be very helpful.”
After a barrage of other questions, a number of them completely unrelated to the process of “ghouling,” and a few related to how Jorja expected him to just move in three days and leave his stock broker job, Michael sighed and gave up at being able to understand everything he got himself into before the sunrise. At that point, it was almost time for the sunrise, as it was just past 5am.
“So…I guess I’ve got no choice if I’m going to see you at all anymore?”
“Sounds like…but if you want to look at it another way, you do get a few perks, like I said…you can go into the daylight, so it’s not like you totally have to start over,” Jorja said, trying to sweeten going into the deep end.
A pause came between them.
“You know, this wasn’t what I meant by 'you will become my mistress.’”
“I guess this means you’ll have to choose your words better in the future.”
Michael winced a bit. Another brief pause fell upon them.
“Okay. I’ll do it.”
“Good.”
Jorja allowed her teeth to come back out, and she bit her lips just hard enough to bleed and kissed Michael. Startled, he accepted. She would do this for the following two nights.
In the meantime, the two of them packed for the long haul during the night. Michael dealt with things at work, calling them to explaining that he was going on “a long trip” that would eventually help the company bring in some more profit. The second night’s news reported another estate had been destroyed, with no survivors. Jorja walked past the television when she was surprised that she recognized the photo – the Baron.
So whoever is investigating this train wreck of a fundraiser took him out, she thought. It took her a moment to shake her paranoia about being found, but after that she continued to help Michael pack.
As soon as Jorja was done with the ghouling on the third night, her cell phone rang – it was Selena.
“Meet us at our estate tonight,” she explained calmly. “We will be leaving for London in good time.”
“London!” Jorja exclaimed. “I always wanted to go there.”
“Fabulous,” Selena said.
Jorja whipped around at Michael, who looked nervous and nauseous as he sat on his bed, arms resting in his knees, head hanging.
“Michael, we need to get going soon,” she said calmly. Michael looked up at her, looking exhausted. “If you drive, I can tell you where to go. I’ll help you put stuff in the car.”
He nodded, got up slowly and began carrying his luggage out the door. Jorja sighed and smiled. Finally, I’ve started taking care of my own messes.