The Sire

Chapter 25

I.

Chris was sitting with his mother on that Sunday morning in the fashionable Docks café downtown Seattle. The first floor had an amazing view over the Sound though the sky was too clouded that day in different shades of gray. They were sitting at a table by the glass wall from where the immensity of the canal could be observed. A ferry was crossing over to Bainbridge and seagulls were flying around it. The glass wall was thick enough not to let the costumers be disturbed by the sound coming from outside but the scenario was breathtaking, nonetheless. While Chris looked outside as if he was watching it all for the first time, Megan was watching her son. He had called her really early saying he wanted to see her and the tone of his voice was one of someone who's preoccupied. Though he hadn't said anything yet, she could see how he played with the coffee cup he had in front of him. He'd get distracted too many times, not being able to follow a conversation straightly, a sign she recognized of distress. His mind was occupied with something else.

"It's a beautiful view." Megan decided to say and he turned his head to look at her. "I can see why you are so in love with this town." She smiled, trying to quiet him for she could hear his heart so out of tune. "Everything is blue and green... it's a city near water and mountains and lakes."

Chris offered her a smile but it was such a timid one. He looked pale and the halos around his eyes were dark and his eyes sunken. He hadn't had enough sleep, she concluded. The lines around his lips were rigid, tense. His whole-body language showed tension. Megan could read people's thoughts but not her son's and sometimes that frustrated her because Chris didn't always choose to communicate. Many times, he'd recoil to silence, turning difficult any help he could get. She has never been able to change that part of him. It was part of who he was though she wished he'd talk more.

"Did Oli give you a bad night?" Megan asked after seeing how tired he looked. Chris shook his head though.

"No."

"Then why do you look so tired?" Megan reached for his free hand, the other was just spinning his cup of coffee around. "You sounded so worried on the phone and you haven't said anything since you got here."

"I am trying to feel him." He closed his eyes at the same time, taking a deep breath. "He has to be around."

Megan knew that gesture, he was eliminating all frequencies around him and trying to hear vampires. She got confused again. There were other vampires in Seattle. There were vampires in the entire world. She didn't understand why he was suddenly so worried about one. His eyes flew opened the next second and he stared into hers.

"I can't." He sounded frustrated. "I felt him last night and now I can't..."

"Can you tell me what's afflicting you?" Megan almost ordered him. "You are driving me insane, Chris."

"There's a new vampire in town." He told her. "A new vampire is in the surroundings."

"How do you know that?" Megan curled an eyebrow. "I mean why did that get to your attention?" She reformulated the question because new vampires arrived anywhere at any time, and she was sure many new vampires had reached Seattle in the years he had been living in the city and he never showed any interest in it before.

"He is after Iris." Chris rubbed his eyes. "I felt him because he is after her."

"Chris..." Megan blurted his name more as a warning than shock or concern. It was panic maybe. "Chris... no..." Her voice failing.

"Don't give me that look." He frowned. "I could see it. He was standing outside her house. He is after her. He must be watching her and you know what happens when a vampire starts watching someone."