Chapter 9: Promises and Plots

After wandering the city, high on pheromones and champagne, I return to the apartment well after dark. My sides may be healed but the memory of my attack is still fresh in my mind. As soon as golden hour set in, so did the fear of whatever was in the park.

I feed the snails their organic feast and dine like a king on Saltines piled with peanut butter while watching the sunset with my feet dangling down from the loft. Darkness falls slowly and I fall asleep, finally succumbing after two days without shut-eye.

It’s 3 in the morning when I wake up to a gentle rapping on the skylight. The warm light of the bedside table illuminates Amun’s face, looming over the glass frame, an inviting smile on his face.

Feeling like a teenager sneaking out in the middle of the night, I use the table to open the window. I slip through the opening, Amun taking my hand and helping me onto the roof.

“How do you feel?” he asks, gently touching my sides with both hands.

“I have a feeling that you know already. I feel great. It’s not only my sides, even. Despite the nightmare that happened in the park, today was a dream. I didn’t even need to sleep until sunset. Oh, speaking of an eventful day, I met your friend, Selena.”

Amun frowns slightly. “I asked her to stay away until you get your bearings”.

“She was nice”. I shrug, “She said that you two have been an item.”

Amun groans out loud this time. “It was a while back, Petra. It’s hardly relevant anymore. We’ve both moved on.”

“Don’t worry about it. We all have our histories. And as Selena says, we’re cosmopolitan, evolved.”

Amun smiles wryly and rubs both my arms with his wide hands. “I planned on discussing a lot with you tonight and none of the subjects had anything to do with Selena.” He pauses for a moment. “That’s not true, exactly. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Did you eat dinner?”

“Pretty much,” I answer.

“Pretty much? What does that mean?”

“I ate a sleeve of whole grain Saltines with peanut butter.”

I can see anger and dismay cross Amun’s face like a quick summer storm. “Crackers? You can eat whatever you like and you choose to sustain yourself on crackers?” Amun smiles and shakes his head in disbelief before tossing me a tightly wrapped Bahn mi from out of his messenger bag. “Saltines for dinner. You’re too much like her.”

“Who?” I ask.

“Eat. The who is part of my story. Well, the who is part of my confession, I suppose.”

***

“I’m sure Selena told you that finding the golden rune and bringing it into your hands was not something I did on a whim. She knows how long I’ve been looking for the runes and she knows how long I’ve been looking for you. But she knows nothing of my story.

“She doesn’t know about the vow I made to you and your family more than four-hundred years ago. You see, I knew your ancestors. More to the point, “ Amun takes a breath and pauses to look at the night sky.

“I knew the woman that gave birth to the only survivor of your tribe. In a word, your ancestral grandmother. I met her only days after I was turned. She found me, burning to death in the middle of the desert sun, and saved me. She knew what I was, how dangerous I was and she saved me.

“The man who had turned me, a man considered my father in the view of vampires, meant for me to die. I was a flight of fancy he’d found, lost among the dunes. Once turned I was wild, hungry, and afraid, and no longer to his liking.

“In saving me, your ancestor, Sauska, a powerful woman with magic the world has never witnessed since her violent demise, brought on the ire of my father. It wasn’t only that, she had been protecting the tribes and villages in the region from an onslaught of vampires. They saw her as a threat.

“Sauska, her family, her magic. They’re all gone because of me.”

My hands are at my throat. My eyes feel hot, and my mouth is stiff with emotion. The vision of Amun, mouth full of teeth and hands covered in gore swims in my mind. I clear my throat and ask in a whisper, “Amun, did you lose control? Did you kill them?”

Amun stands and pulls his hair while he stares at the starless sky. When his gaze returns to me his eyes shine brilliant gold.

“No. No, I didn’t lose control. Sauska saved me in that way, too. A story for another time. Petra, I loved her. For twelve years, we loved each other. I thought I could protect her.” Amun kneels back down and puts his head between his knees, pressing the heals of his palms into his eyes before continuing, “If Sauska had let me burn in the desert on that first day, her tribe and her magic could have survived. But saving me was an act that my father simply couldn’t forgive.

“His cohort found a way of attacking during the day. I still don’t know how. When I emerged from my cave, I found our camp smoldering. There were no survivors at camp but I was there when Sauska decided to let her teenage daughter, Amina, train as a healer in a temple on what is now the Mediterranean Sea.

“I left to find Amina, immediately. I had to tell her the news and warn her about my father. I ran on foot across the dunes, for three nights, finally thankful for the physical power my vampire curse had given me. But when I got to the temple, she’d already gone. Warned by a vision, perhaps.

“It’s taken me this long to find a living member from her bloodline. I’ve come close many times. Violence and mystery seem to have followed your ancestry, attracted to the power lingering under the surface of your psyche.

“And now,” Amun takes my hand in his, “you’re here and I finally have a chance to fulfill the vow. The first bracelet is the beginning, it’s released protection upon you and has connected you to your birthright.”

I sigh, trying to comprehend the story and what it meant for me, my reality. Clearing my throat and dusting my hands off, I stand. I walk to the edge of the roof and take in the city lights, nerves clutching at my throat and tightening my spine.

I feel Amun walk up behind me, slipping a tentative hand over my shoulder. “What does this mean for me?” I ask, turning to hug him around the waist and bury my face into his broad chest. “What’s next?”

“The next bracelet is closer at hand than you might expect. There’s a reason you and I were both drawn to the same place. And this is where we’ll need Selena. You see, we’re going to have to rob The Met.”

***

The next night, Amun and I arrive at Selena’s place at midnight. After so many nights awake, I’m beginning to get used to a semi-nocturnal lifestyle. Selena greets me with another wide smile and the classic cheek kiss, skipping the smooch on the lips this time. Without sunglasses, I can see her whole face. Though her smile is stunning and wide, it doesn’t seem to reach her wide blue eyes.

“Amun!” Selena cries with her hands in the air like a cheerleader. “Here we are at the final stretch.”

I can almost see him roll his eyes, even though his back is turned away as he enters the apartment. He answers sullenly, “Let’s not count our eggs.”

Selena’s loft is amazing. Everywhere I look the silicone and glass of modern technology melds with ancient artifacts. We sit on a wide, low velvet sofa and Selena settles herself into a yoga-like position on a leather ottoman across from us, fiddling with her watch.

Without a sound, the coffee table opens and a clear screen rises out of it. Five feet tall and seven feet across, it’s preloaded with graphics of The Met and the next golden bracelet’s location.

Selena and Amun spend the next hour explaining their plan to me. They know everything there is to know about the location and The Met’s security. With Selena’s connections and Amun’s history, it seems they have it all figured out. Except, that is, the one who’s going to go get the bracelet.

When I ask that simple question, both Selena and Amun fall silent.

“Not Petra,”, Amun finally replies.

“You’ve written more papers on the bracelet and its origins than anyone on earth. You’ve made multiple offers to buy it and you’ve been turned down by the donors every single time. You’re absolutely at the top of the suspect list. And you’re saying no to Petra?”

Selena tosses her long black hair and continues, pinning Amun down with her icy blue stare, “You know what you’re saying, right? You want me to risk everything I have to do this. As a little favor? With the standing that I have in society? That’s a waste of resources if you ask me.”

“Listen,” Amun gets up from the couch and begins to pace while Selena remains seated, looking peaceful and nonplussed. “Petra has to wear the runes. If she doesn’t, she won’t get the full effect of the power. If she steals them and wears them, well, she’ll get into trouble fast.”

“That’s a load of bull and you know it. We have ways around that problem. You just don’t want to put your little pet in harm's way”

“Umm, excuse me?” I insert myself into the conversation, feeling heat rise to my face. “I’d really appreciate it if you two didn’t talk about me as if I’m not here. And I’m no one's pet.”

“Well then, Petra, what do you have to say?” Selena unfolds herself and leans, expectantly on her knees.

I surprise myself, unaware of what I’m about to say before the words escape my lips, “I’ll do it.”