Chapter 19

Jennie stared at Jisoo, her mind reeling. The head editor had caught her in the hall just outside Taehyung's office and stopped to tell her that she had just gotten off the phone with Lisa. She wanted to discuss the possibility of doing a book-signing tour, but she wanted Jennie to fly to Jeju  to explain the particulars.

Jennie couldn't believe it. She didn't believe it. Why was she sending for her? Perhaps the Manoban blood bank had run out of blood, some bit of her mind whispered snidely, and she winced in pain. It didn't matter why she wanted her to go to Jeju. She couldn't do it. She wouldn't survive another encounter with her. At least her heart wouldn't. She wasn't at all sure it had survived the conference. It was still battered and bloody.

"I'm awfully busy, Jisoo. Couldn't Taehyung fly up there in my place? Maybe he could take over Lisa altogether, in fact," she added hopefully. "It would probably be for the best. I don't think I can handle Lisa."

"The hell you can't!"

Jennie whirled around as Jimin moved up the hall to join them.

"If there's a possibility we can get the woman to do that tour, you're going. The expense of your flight there and back is minuscule compared to how much that book chain was willing to put out for this tour. And the opportunity for publicity is incredible. It means articles in newspapers of every city the tour hits, maybe even television interviews. If you want to keep your job, you'll get your tail on the next available flight and convince Pranpriya to do this tour."

Jennie didn't bother correcting Jimin about Lisa's real name. She was too busy considering quitting. Unfortunately, she couldn't afford to quit. She had bills to pay. Taking her silence for acquiescence, Jimin harrumphed and turned to stalk back up the hall to her office.

"It'll be fine," Jisoo assured her with a pat on the arm. Then she too went back to her office.

"So, Lisa is finally sending for you."

Jennie turned to find Taehyung standing in her office doorway, smiling.

"Just to discuss the book-signing tour," Jennie said in dismissal. He headed for her office.

Taehyung snorted with disbelief and followed. "Yeah, right. Like Lisa Manoban will do a book tour. Forget about it. She wants you."

Jennie sat down at her desk with a sigh. "Close the door please, Taehyung. I don't want everyone to know about this." She waited until he had closed the door, then said, "She doesn't want me."

"Are you kidding? The woman's crazy about you."

"Yeah," Jennie muttered dryly. "I could tell that by the way she's been calling and sending me flowers."

Taehyung sat on the corner of the desk and shrugged. "Hey, you're the one who sneaked out of our suite like a thief. You've gotta figure she might hesitate, maybe think you're the one not interested."

Jennie stiffened. That thought hadn't occurred to her. Hope reared its pitiful head. "Do you think so?"

"I'd stake your life on it."

Jennie blinked, then gave a half smile. "My life, huh?"

"Yeah." he grinned and shoved himself off her desk, walked to the door. "Well, I'm ninety-nine percent sure, but I'm not suicidal. Better you than me if I'm wrong." Then he left.

Jennie watched the door close behind him, then peered at the paperwork on her desk. The conference had put her behind. She'd tried to catch up on returning, but was so distracted she seemed to just be slipping further behind. She wasn't going to get any further ahead now, either. Not till she found out where she stood with Lisa.

Grabbing her purse from under her desk, she stood up. It was time to stop moping and being miserable, and to sort this out. Especially if there was a chance She didn't finish the thought. She already had too much hope building in her.

Taehyung stood in the hall, glanced back with raised eyebrows when she left her office. "Where are you going?"

"To catch a plane," Jennie answered.

"Oh." he watched her walk past, then followed saying, "Shouldn't you call or write and let her know you're coming?"

"Like she’d answer the phone or read the letter." Jennie snorted. "No. It's better this way. She wants me in Jeju. She's got me. I hope she's ready."

"Uh, lady? Did you want to get out here or not?"

Jennie tore her gaze away from the front of Lisa's house and forced an apologetic smile for the taxi driver. The man was twisted in his seat, watching her with concern. He was being terribly patient. She had paid her several minutes ago, but then instead of getting out, she had sat staring fearfully up at the house.

"I'm sorry. I" She shrugged helplessly, unable to admit that while determination had carried her this far, it was starting to flag and terror was taking its place.

"No, hey, that's okay, lady. I can take you somewhere else if you want."

Jennie sighed and reached for the door handle. "No, thank you."

She got out and closed the door, then stood to the side of the driveway as the taxi backed out. Since she had caught a ride straight from the office to the airport she hadn't even stopped to pack she had come with nothing but her purse. She now gripped it with both hands and struggled to keep her breathing regular. She couldn't believe she was actually here.

"Well, you are, so you had best get it over with," she told herself.

Somewhat emboldened by her own firm voice, Jennie walked up the sidewalk and crossed the porch. She raised her hand to knock at the door, then paused as she realized that it wasn't yet noon. It was bright daylight outside. Lisa would be sleeping. Jennie let her hand drop with uncertainty. She didn't want to wake her up. she might be really cranky if she woke her up. It might get this whole meeting off to a bad start.

She glanced at her watch. 11:45. There were a good six hours or more until dark. She considered sitting on the porch and waiting, but six hours was a long time. Besides, she was rather tired. She hadn't slept a full night since leaving the conference. She wouldn't mind a nap. That way, she would be refreshed and wide awake to meet her.

Jennie turned and looked at the street, then sighed. She didn't have a car or any way to call a cab, so she couldn't go to a hotel. And she wasn't napping on her porch like some displaced street person. She turned back to the door again, hesitated, then reached for the doorknob. Turning it slowly, she was surprised to find that the door opened. She hadn't locked it. What kind of an idiot left her door unlocked? Anyone could walk right in and stake her. And she had already seen someone do that to her, so she couldn't claim no one would. She would just have to talk to her about that.

In the meantime, she couldn't just walk away and leave her door unlocked. She would just go inside, lock the door behind herself, and nap on her couch. It was for her own good. Jennie smiled at her reasoning. It might not hold water, but it sounded reasonable enough. Almost.

Jennie had closed and locked the door and made it almost to the living room when she heard a clank from the kitchen. She turned abruptly, prepared to hurry back outside and knock, then grew still again. What if the noise from the kitchen hadn't been made by Lisa? she should be sleeping and she had left the door unlocked so that just anyone could walk in and rob her. Jennie lived in Seoul; the crime rate was high there. Jeju was supposed to be a big. Crime was probably rampant here, too. She had to see about the noise. She would just peek into the kitchen door. If it was Lisa, she would slip back outside and knock. If it wasn't Lisa, she would slip outside and run to a neighbor's house to call the police.

Turning back, Jennie moved carefully up the hall, walking as quickly and silently as she could. Once at the kitchen door, she paused to take a bolstering breath, then eased the door open a crack and nearly shrieked in alarm. It wasn't Lisa in the kitchen. It was a stranger, a woman, a cleaning woman, judging by the bandanna on her head and the mop and bucket in her hand. What had alarmed Jennie was the fact that the woman was halfway across the kitchen to the door and moving fast. Jennie would never get back up the hall and out of the house before the woman appeared.

Unable to think what else to do, Jennie let the door slip closed and plastered herself against the wall behind it. She closed her eyes and held her breath for good measure. The door creaked open. Jennie waited. She heard footsteps move past, up the hall away from her; then she opened her eyes, hardly able to believe she hadn't been caught. She stood there for another heartbeat; then, suddenly overcome by fear that the woman would turn back and spot her after all, Jennie slid into the kitchen.

The door was just slipping closed when Jennie saw the cleaning woman stop outside the living room and snap her fingers, then turn around. Almost hyperventilating with panic, Jennie glanced frantically about the kitchen, spotted the door on the other side. Rushing to it, she pulled it open to find stairs leading down to a basement. She hesitated, but the footsteps were now audible from the hall. The woman was coming back.

Jennie stepped down onto the first step. Pulling the door almost closed, she left it barely cracked so that she could see. A heartbeat later, the kitchen door opened and the cleaning woman came back in. She moved to the sink and out of sight, then came back a moment later and left the kitchen. Jennie almost stepped out again, then paused and decided to wait just in case.

She stood in the near total darkness, feeling the yawning black pit at her back, aware of every single creak the house made for approximately thirty seconds before her cowardice urged her to find the light switch. She flicked it on, and the dark was immediately chased away. Jennie released a relieved breath. That was better. She was just standing at the top steps to a basement.

Her thoughts stopped as she glanced nervously down the stairs. The end of a shiny mahogany box could be seen from where she stood.

"It's not a coffin," Jennie told herself firmly. Moving down another step, she tried to see more of the box. "It's some kind of hope chest. Oh, I hope it's not a coffin."

She had to go almost all the way down the stairs to see all of it, though she knew long before that it was indeed a coffin. A sense of betrayal overwhelmed her. Lisa had said she wasn't dead and didn't sleep in coffins. Or had she just assumed she didn't sleep in coffins? she had said she wasn't dead, though. But if she wasn't dead, what was the coffin for? Maybe she just hadn't wanted to upset her, so she had lied about the dead part.

She'd been right. She was upset.

"Oh, dear God," she breathed. "Sleeping with a woman six hundred years older than me I can deal with, but a dead woman?" Her eyes widened with horror. "Does that make me a necrophiliac?"

She pondered briefly, then shook her head. "No. Lisa isn't dead. she had a heartbeat. I heard her heartbeat when I rested my head on her chest. And her skin wasn't cold. Well, cool but not cold," she pointed out. There might not be anyone to hear, but she felt better convincing herself. Until she heard her voice say, "Mind you, her heartbeat also stopped at one point."

Jennie groaned at the reminder of the night Lisa was staked. Then she muttered, "Surely dead guys can't get the wonderful arousals Lisa did. There would be no blood flow."

She'd become quite happy with that reasoning when her voice betrayed her again."Just open it," Jennie muttered to herself in disgust. She had slowly eased her way to the side of the coffin, arguing with herself as a distraction. She continued to talk to distract herself as she reached out to open it. "There's probably a logical explanation for all this. Lisa probably stores things in it. Things like a cello, or maybe shoes, or a body." That last possibility came out as a squeak as she finally lifted the coffin lid and saw the woman lying inside. Then her eyes blinked open, she grabbed the sides of the coffin and started to sit up. That was when the lights went out. Jennie began to shriek.

Lisa sat up, her eyes popping open. She thought she’d heard a woman scream. When the sound came again, she catapulted out of bed and rushed for the door. That shriek had been one of terror. She couldn't imagine what was happening downstairs. It sounded like someone was being attacked. she charged down the hall, then the stairs, and peered into the living room where one of the cleaning crew stood frozen. The woman was pale, her eyes wide with fear.

"What is it? Why did you scream?" she demanded.

Apparently unable to speak, the woman merely shook her head. Turning away, Lisa continued up the hall. Despite the woman's frightened appearance, there hadn't appeared to be anything wrong with her. Besides, the screaming had seemed to come from the back of the house rather than the front. Another shriek pierced the silence as she rushed for the kitchen, proving she had guessed right. But this time she could tell that it hadn't just come from the back, it had come from the basement.

Cursing, Lisa crashed through the kitchen door. she had specifically told the cleaning company that her basement and upstairs were to be left alone. No one should be in the basement.

"Jesus, how many of you people are here?" Lisa snapped when she spotted the woman frozen by the basement door. She was staring at it as if it might explode at any moment.

"Two of us, sir," the woman answered, then immediately cried, "I just turned out the light. That's all I did. The door was cracked open and the light was on I just turned it out. I didn't know anyone was down there."

Lisa ignored her and dragged the door open, then flicked on the switch. The screaming did not stop, though it was growing hoarse. Lisa was halfway down the stairs when she heard Seulgi saying, "It's okay. It's just me. Really, it's okay."

When Lisa reached the bottom step, she saw her sister standing to the side of the stairs, hands held up placatingly.

"Seulgi?" she barked her question and Lisa's sister half turned, relief on her face. "Lis, thank God. I didn't mean to scare her this bad. I mean, I heard her muttering about your arousals and coffins, and knew she was going to open the lid, so I closed my eyes to give her a little spook, but I didn't think"

Lisa wasn't really hearing her sister. Her gaze, her entire attention, was focused on the woman she could now see standing in her basement. Jennie. Her Jennie. Her gaze was locked with hers, and while she had at first been pale and trembling, she was regaining her color along with a spark in her eye that she hoped was passion and happiness at seeing her.

"Jennie," she breathed. Smiling, she held out her arms as she rushed to her, ready to welcome her into her embrace and her life. But Jennie didn't exactly rush into her arms. She more or less shoved past her, snarling, "You said you didn't sleep in coffins." She started to stomp up the stairs.

Hmm. The spark was anger, not passion at seeing her. She hurried to trail her up the stairs.

"We don't. I have a bedroom," she assured her. she found herself a tad distracted as she was face level with her upside-down-heart-shaped behind, and she was unable to tear her eyes away. I really should have more stairs in my home and follow her up them at every opportunity, she thought vaguely. This was a delightful view.

"Ha! Then what was she doing in that coffin? Thinking?" she asked sarcastically. She burst out into the kitchen.

"Well, yes. Actually, I was," Seulgi announced from behind Lisa as she followed them. "I find that the dark and silence afforded by a coffin allow me to work out some of the difficulties I run into in programming my games."

"Coffin?"

They all turned to stare at the cleaning woman still standing in the kitchen. Lisa was debating whether to blank the woman's mind when Jennie made a distressed sound and rushed out into the hall.

Lisa took a step to follow her, then paused and turned onher sister. "What did you do? She's furious."

"I just She" she grimaced. "I heard her coming down the stairs and was at first worried it was one of your cleaning crew, but then I heard her talking and recognized her voice."

"Who was she talking to?"

"Herself," Seulgi answered promptly. "She was trying to convince herself to open the coffin and that you wouldn't be in there."

"And what did you do close your eyes, then pop them open and sit up to scare the life out of her when she did build up the courage to open it?" Lisa asked with disgust. It was a trick Seulgi had pulled on all of them at one time or another.

Her sister winced, but nodded apologetically.

Lisa cursed under her breath and started to turn away, but Seulgi caught her arm to stop her. "I didn't mean to scare her that badly. I mean, she half-expected to find someone in there anyway. She shouldn't have been this startled, but then the lights went out. She caught just enough of a look to know it wasn't you in the coffin, but didn't get enough of a look to recognize me before Ms. Energy Conserver over there turned out the lights."

They both paused to glare at the cleaning woman, who shrank backward, bumping into the wall under their combined irritation. The front door slammed. Lisa started to hurry from the room again, but Seulgi stopped her. "Wait. I don't think all her anger is about the coffin, Lisa."

"What do you mean? What else could it be?"

"Well, she was saying some pretty weird stuff as she tried to talk herself into opening the lid."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Er well, she seemed to find it distressing enough to sleep with a six-hundred-year-old woman, but the idea of sleeping with a dead one"

The cleaning woman gasped. Lisa scowled at her. "Leave," she said.

The cleaning woman was off in a flash. Lisa sighed and turned back to her sister. "I am not dead."

"Well, duh." Seulgi rolledher eyes. "I know that. She doesn't. And she's kind of creeped out, wondering if that makes her a necrophiliac or something."

Lisa batted the hand away, her irritation returning. "And whose fault is that? Seulgi, I don't know why you have to sleep in that damned coffin, anyway. You have a warm, loving wife at home waiting in a nice, comfortable bed. What are you doing in a coffin in my basement?"

"I'm having problems with Blood Lust Three and needed to think. Besides, Irene isn't home. She had a staff meeting to attend at work."

"Well, next time I suggest you work out these problems somewhere else, because I am getting rid of that coffin first thing."

"Ah, come on, Lisa," Seulgi began, but Lisa turned and left the room.

She strode down the hall, muttering under her breath. " A necrophiliac? Where does she come up with this stuff?"

The two women from the cleaning crew had their heads together in the living room and were whispering fiercely in panicked tones. They fell silent as she passed the doorway, and Lisa could feel their fearful eyes upon her. she ignored them and walked straight to the front door. Pausing there, she tugged the blinds on the side panels aside, wincing as bright sunlight hither eyes. It took a minute to adjust to the noonday sun. The moment she did, she spotted Jennie. She was standing on her porch, staring forlornly out at the road like a puppy that had been abandoned.

Of course, she had arrived by taxi, she realized. But the cab had left while she was in the house, and now she was trying to decide what to do. Obviously, coming back into the house to call for another taxi wasn't something she wanted to do.

Sighing, she let the blinds drop back into place and pulled the door open. "Jennie?"

She stiffened where she stood on the edge of her porch, but didn't turn.

Lisa sighed. "Jennie. Come back inside so we can talk, please."

"I'd really rather not." Her voice was strained, and she still didn't turn to look at her.

"Okay." she pulled the door wider and stepped out onto the porch. "Then I'll join you."

Jennie eyed her warily as she joined her. "Are you now going to age before my eyes and burst into flames?"

She gave her an annoyed look. "You know I don't burst into flames in the sunlight."

"I thought you didn't sleep in coffins either."

"I don't. Seulgi does. She's well, she's the weird one in the family."

"Thank you very much."

They both turned to stare at Seulgi, who stood in the shadow of Lisa's front entry with the door open.

"I'm going home. I'm sorry I scared you, Jennie," she said solemnly. Then Lisa's sister turned to her and added, "Please clear up the necrophilia issue. It will bother me until you do."

Jennie flushed, apparently embarrassed at her words having been overheard. Turning away from both of them, she moved to the side, apparently expecting Seulgi to leave by way of the porch. When she closed the door but didn't walk past them, she glanced around, suspicion entering her gaze when she saw that she was gone. "What did she do? Turn into a bat and fly away?"

"No, of course she didn't," Lisa snapped. "She's gone through the house to the garage. She wants to avoid the sun."

"Hmmm." She didn't look as though she believed her, so Lisa just waited. A moment later, they both heard the muffled sound of a car starting; then Lisa's garage door opened and Seulgi's little sports car with its blackened windows pulled out. The garage door closed automatically behind it, and Seulgi roared down the driveway and down the street.

Lisa waited a heartbeat, then took a deep breath and said, "Jennie, I told you. It's nothing like that nonsense Bram Stoker made up. We are not related to, nor do we turn into bats. We don't sleep in coffins anymore except for Seulgi, who swears it helps her get in the mood to come up with new ideas for her games. I am not dead. You are not a necrophiliac."

She flushed at her last words, though whether with embarrassment or pleasure she didn't know. She suspected a little bit of both. Her posture became a little less stiff, her shoulders easing from their military stance, but she also sighed unhappily as she turned to her.

"You want me to believe you're just like everyone else?"

"I am," she assured her. Then, to be scrupulously honest, she had to add, "Well, other than the blood hunger and living hundreds of years and never aging or getting sick and" she grimaced and stoppedher honest admission right there. It wasn't going to win points with her.

"Normal men do not control other people's brains, Lisa," Jennie pointed out.

"No. Well" she sighed. "Look, it isn't some mystical power. Our infected blood makes our bodies more efficient. We're stronger and have more endurance than the usual person. I can lift things ten times heavier than the average man my size, run longer, hit harder. I've never really questioned my ability to read and control people's thoughts, but I would assume that's just another enhanced characteristic. They say humans don't use their entire brain. Well, it would appear my kind's blood makes sure that we do. Or, at least, we use more than the average person. It's probably a survival necessity like the teeth."

Lisa allowed her to digest that, then added, "Does any of this really matter, Jennie? The fact is that I am different in some ways. But I love you, Jennie. With all my heart. Can't we get past this and find a way to be together? I'd like to marry you. Spend the next hundred years or so with you."

There! Now I've done it, Lisa thought. she’d fought her own dragons, put her pride and fear aside and told her how she felt. Now her heart and her future were in her hands. And for one moment she thought everything would be all right. Tears came to Jennie's eyes and joy to her face, and she started to move toward her. Then the front door opened and the two cleaning women sidled out. They were eyeing Lisa as if she were a mad serial killer. Or a vampire.

Lis scowled at them for interrupting at such a critical moment, and they both flinched and slowed. Then one of them grabbed the other's wrist and blurted, "We quit! We've already called the company and told them how weird you are. They're canceling your contract. You'll have to find another company to clean this place."

Lisa sighed as they broke into a run, charging off her porch, down her sidewalk and to their car with the company logo, which they'd parked on the street. They left in a squeal of rubber that made her sigh again.

Forcing a crooked smile, Lisa turned back to Jennie. "See, you have to marry me. I seem to scare off all the help."

Jennie smiled slightly, then ducked her head to peer at her fingers. They were tangling and untangling themselves nervously. she felt the first arrow of fear hit her. "Jennie?"

"I How could we be together, Lisa? You'll live another couple hundred years or so, never aging, and I"

"I could turn you, like Seulgi did Irene and Mina did Momo," she interrupted quietly. she had thought she understood that. Apparently, she hadn't. She also hadn't said she loved her, she realized.

"Turn me?" she repeated, sounding distracted. "I'd be with you, live forever? Never age?"

Lisa was relieved to note that being with her had been the first thought, and not the living forever or not aging. For a lot of women, the last two points were temptation enough to fake love.

"What about my family? How would I explain ?" She paused when she clasped her hands.

"You would have to disappear in ten years or so. The fact that you wouldn't age would be noticed, and you couldn't explain it to them without risking the lives of my entire family," she admitted. It was something she had hoped to keep to herself until after she had turned her and bound her toher side.

"Give up my family?" she whispered, obviously not happy with that point.

"Jennie, come inside please?" her hands slid up her arms, caressing her. She wanted to make love to her, convince her with her passion. She knew how heady and addicting it could be. She wasn't the only one who experienced the double pleasure. she did, as well. Even as Lisa shared her excitement with her, Jennie had opened instinctively and shared her own with her. It was a rare experience, one borne of the trust and love they shared. At least she thought it was. She had never experienced it with any other woman. But she still hadn't said she loved her.

She didn't care, Lisa decided. She wanted her, she needed her, she loved her. Her pride be damned, she would take her any way she could get her, and would use every trick she knew to do it. Tipping her chin up, she claimed her lips, kissing her with all the passion she possessed as she fitted their bodies together. It was as if she had been made for her. She was soft. Lisa embraced her tightly and groaned as she ground her body against hers. She had missed her presence, ached for her body, and longed for her smiles and soft laughter. She couldn't lose her now. And for a moment, she thought she would win.

Jennie yielded against her with a sigh, her arms sliding up around her neck and holding her just as desperately as she held her. Little moans issued from her throat as her hand found and cupped one breast but then she pushed too fast.

Breaking the kiss, she caught her wrist and pulled her toward the front door. "Let's go inside."

Jennie resisted, the passion disappearing from her face and something akin to fear replacing it. She shook her head. "No, I can't. I need to think."

"You can think inside," she insisted, pulling her toward the door.

"No. You'll make love to me and bite me and my brain will turn to mush." She pulled her hand free and backed up to the edge of the porch. "I need to think, Lisa. You're asking me to give up everything I know, everything I love."

"Everything you love?" she asked softly, pain on her face.

"No. I love"

Lisa held her breath. If she said she loved her, too, nothing on earth would stop her from dragging her into the house and claiming and turning her. But she stopped short of admitting it, her expression wary. Shaking her head, she backed up to the edge of the porch. "I have to go home and think about this. I have to decide"

Jennie whirled away and started down the stairs, but she hurried to catch her arm. She turned frightened eyes on her, and Lisa knew she feared she would take the choice away. For a moment, she was terribly tempted. But then she recalled those words the psychic had said, and she knew she couldn't fight this dragon for Jennie. She had fought her own dragons, bypassed her pride and fears and placed her heart in her hands. Now she had to trust that she was strong enough to keep it safe. She let go of her arm and said, "I'll call a cab for you." Jennie relaxed, a grateful smile tipping her lips. "Thank you."