We were sitting on my porch, legs and shoulders touching.
I didn't mind touching Fang. I'd always liked Fang, and even now, I considered him one of my very best friends. What he thought about me, I didn't know. Especially not now, not with his mind closed to me.
He had asked if we could talk alone. And with both kids home, alone meant sitting outside.
"You're looking lovely as always, Moon Dance," he said.
"Why thank you, Fang," I said.
I couldn't say the same for him. Unsurprisingly, he looked gaunt and pale. Unhealthy, at best. It was unusual for him, as he had always appeared the picture of health and vitality. He'd always been a good-looking guy, even back when I knew him only as my bartender.
Now, I found him sickly-looking. His once-handsome face was now skull-like. His cheeks sunken. Eyes dark hollows. Skin waxy. He was, I suspected, a living corpse. No doubt he was very much in need of a feeding.
"You look, um, well," I said.
He chuckled. "Bullshit. I still haven't had my first feeding, and I've only now recovered enough to function."
I motioned to the Cadillac, where Detective Hanner sat quietly. "I assume she will provide you with your first feeding."
"You assume correctly. We're heading to her place now, and then...elsewhere."
I snapped my head around. "Where?"
"I don't know yet. But somewhere not close."
"Why?"
Fang looked down at his hands, which he was opening and closing as if he was getting used to his body all over again. Or perhaps the thing inside him was getting used to Fang's body.
I shuddered.
"She's going to teach me, Sam."
"Teach you what?"
"The one thing you were never taught, what you struggled with daily. What I did my best to help you understand." He looked at me. "She's going to teach me how to be a vampire. Her and others like her."
"What is this place?"
He shook his head. "She didn't tell me much. But it appears to be a sort of coven of vampires."
Coven of vampires? I reached out and took his cold hand. Jesus, is that what I felt like?
"She's going to teach you to kill, Fang."
He said nothing, although he did squeeze my hand back.