She would bet money he was going for a run. But for a switch she didn’t feel like running. She felt like wallowing.
~~~
He was back a while later. He didn’t speak to her as he entered the room. He discarded gym shorts on the edge of the bed and headed for the shower, drenched with sweat and panting.
Kyla had been in bed with the Lestat book. When he came out he walked into the closet and got into a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. He said, “Get dressed and come downstairs to the great room. The room just off the kitchen.” He flashed a smile and then grabbed his phone from the dresser and left.
It dawned on her then that again the phone had been with her the entire time he’d been gone. She could’ve phoned someone for help. She hadn’t. She hadn’t even thought about it the whole time he was gone. She’d worried her lip and did some pacing, yes, but hadn’t been hatching a plan to get away. She’d been wondering what was to come and wondering if he was okay, the way he’d disappeared like that. He’d smiled so that was good news, she hoped.
Kyla jumped up from the bed and put on a pair of faded coverall jean shorts and a black tank top. She walked out of the bedroom and downstairs and then followed voices to the great room. Sam was speaking to Tristan by the door. A blonde girl, around Kyla’s age, sat on one of the big black leather sectional sofas with her hands folded in her lap. She was wearing a very short red skirt and tank top and had red sky-high heels on. She looked normal enough, though. She didn’t look like she was hurt or afraid.
Sam stood by Tristan and they stopped talking when she entered,
“Kyla, meet…” Tristan started and then stopped, searching Sam’s face for the girl’s name.
“Julia,” Sam said, walking over to the sofa where the girl sat.
Kyla looked at the girl quizzically, “Hi?”
The girl looked up and smiled.
“Say hello to Kyla, Jules,” Sam said, looking serious. He put his arm around her and talked to her like she was a small child.
“Hello,” she said. She was a pretty girl with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was busty and wore too much make-up.
“Hey,” Kyla said, hesitantly, then sat on the arm of the large sectional sofa a few cushions away from Julia, feeling very awkward about the whole situation. Sam sat on the other side of Julia, took her chin in his hand and tilted her face to his, “Kyla needs some help seeing how to behave so do me a favour, Jules, take your dress off.” The girl nodded at him slowly.
“Sam---” Kyla interrupted but Sam raised an index finger, then said nothing further. Kyla scampered over to where Tristan stood, by the sliding glass doors.
Julia proceeded to remove her skirt and then took off her top. She was suddenly sitting in her bra and panties, looking unashamed, unaffected.
“See,” Sam said to Kyla, “she just complies.”
Julia didn’t look like a robot, she looked totally comfortable.
“Have some wine, Jules.” Sam said.
The girl leaned forward and lifted up the glass of red wine from the coffee table and had a sip.
“Are you upset that I brought you here?” Sam asked her.
“No,” she said, smiling, bubbly. Sam looked to Kyla with a matter of fact expression.
“You came willingly?”
“Uh huh.”
“I’m gonna bite your throat now, Jules. I’ll be doing that a lot from now until the time I take you home. You won’t scream.”
Sam leaned over and bared his teeth and then sank his teeth into Julia’s throat. The girl let out a little gasp but then went slack and just blinked slowly as the vampire drank from her.
Kyla clutched Tristan’s arm with both hands and held her breath.
“Stop,” he commanded and took her by the shoulders, “You can’t react like that. You can’t react,” his eyes bore into her.
She looked over at Julia’s neck. Julia didn’t react to Kyla’s obvious distress. Sam backed off and his fangs retracted. He stretched his arms out and cracked his knuckles and then leaned back against the sofa and put his arm back around Julia. The girl smiled sweetly at Sam.
“See?” Tristan said, squeezing her shoulders gently, “Everything feels normal to her. She’s fine. Just seems a bit dazed. We’ll keep her around tomorrow and you can continue to observe. Tomorrow you can interact some more and it’ll help.”
Kyla heard noise behind her. The sliding door opened and Joe entered from outside. Suddenly Tristan’s grip on Kyla’s shoulders tightened slightly. Kyla just froze and stared at the ground. It was clear that Sam and Joe were not on equal footing with Tristan and that she needed to fall in line now with whatever behavior would be expected at the conference.