“Larger bodies of water are actually easier, in some ways. Anytime we’re overly stressed like that, if we have to make a long ocean crossing or get stuck on consecrated ground—basically, we fall into a deep sleep.
It’s like hibernation, I think. The trance protects us. What you have to watch out for are humans finding you while you’re unconscious. We don’t have pulses, and we can’t awaken easily; it’s a good way to end up being taken for dead. As in, really dead. Once you’re buried in consecrated ground, forget it.”
“Or cremated.”
“Exactly. But if you’re on a ship, you can hide for a few weeks.
You’ll wake up hungry, but it can be done. On a plane, they assume you’re asleep, and you usually come to not long after the plane’s above land again. Don’t get me wrong—it’s no fun. But at least that way you sleep through the worst of it. This—there’s nothing but the shock wave.” I thought about all the stupid vampire movies I’d seen on late-night TV, with black-caped Romanian counts making the sea voyage to England as they lay sleeping in coffins. Now I realized that those legends were based in truth; the safest way to ensure that you got where you were going was to ship yourself as a dead body. Who knew that even horror shows could tell me something real?
The river shimmered slightly in the moonlight, and I felt a chill of dread. “Can’t we get it over with? It wasn’t too bad on the last school weekend, because we took it fast. Maybe that’s better.” Balthazar turned toward me, eyes watchful. “You felt it, too, last time?”
“Oh. Uh, yeah.”
“You’re starting to feel more of what we feel. You’re becoming more of a vampire.” He sounded sort of excited about the idea.
“I want blood more often, too,” I confessed. “And I’ve started thinking about, well, killing things. Squirrels.”
“Have you killed anything?”
I felt so ashamed. “A mouse, once.” Still I remembered its pitiful little squeak.
“It’s all right. We all want living blood now and then.”
“I keep telling myself that it’s not really any worse than eating a cheeseburger that used to be a cow.”
“It’s not.” Balthazar paused before he asked, “Have you told Lucas this?”
“Yes,” I lied. I hadn’t revealed everything, but I’d hardly had a chance. I also wasn’t going to tell Balthazar about the vampirelike powers Lucas felt in turn.
“Does he understand that you’ll be a true vampire soon? Is he ready to deal with that?”
“I won’t be a true vampire until I kill a human being, and it’s going to be a while before that happens, okay?”
“I’ve never met anyone like you, Bianca. Anyone born to be a vampire, I mean. But as I understand it, you can’t put it off forever. Sooner or later, you’ll have to kill.”
“There has to be a choice,” I insisted. “Do you know what would happen if I never killed anyone?”
“No.” I didn’t doubt that he told the truth. “Do you?”
“All I know is that Lucas loves me regardless of what I am.” Balthazar pressed his lips together and put the car back in drive.
“Let’s get this done,” he muttered, and he stomped on the gas.
When we pulled up outside the movie theater, Lucas already stood there, hands in his coat pockets. He lifted his head and smiled—then saw Balthazar. His entire body went still, instantly on guard. I smiled to show him that nothing was wrong. He didn’t look reassured.
“Hey,” I said, as I ran toward him from the car. “It’s okay. Balthazar is helping us.”
“And why would he do that?” Lucas’s eyes narrowed.
Balthazar folded his arms. “You’re welcome.”
“You guys stop it,” I said. The marquee lights flashed in a pattern, and the poster on the wall showed Bogey and Bacall, To Have and Have Not. I kissed Lucas lightly on the cheek, which finally made him stop glaring at Balthazar. “Lucas and I are going to talk for a second. Okay, Balthazar?”
Lucas didn’t look thrilled that I’d just asked Balthazar for permission to do anything. I hurriedly took his arm and walked him toward the side of the theater. Balthazar simply leaned against the car, eyebrow raised.
As we got to the corner, I whispered, “I can explain.”
“Of all the people in the world you could tell about this—”