Vampire's Tango by Michele Hauf

Author:Michele Hauf [Hauf, Michele]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2010-01-27T00:00:00+00:00

“I was married at the turn of last century,” I began.

Veronica sat on my lap, the two of us facing the gray sky, which had begun to lighten with the threat of daylight. I didn’t worry about escaping. I didn’t want to leave Veronica now knowing how short the days could actually be between us.

“I loved my wife, Maria. But I had to leave her during the day to work the coal mines. We lived in the Yosemite Valley at the end of the nineteenth century. Little mining town I’d grown up in. One evening I returned to find the door off its hinges. I rushed inside and found Maria sitting on the floor, her dress tattered, blood on her hands and face and a dagger stuck in her heart.”

I felt Veronica tense on my lap. Her heartbeats raced mine.

“Maria whispered ‘I love you,’ and then she died. Thieves had claimed the gold locket from around her neck. She had been raped, and left to die. I realized later, she had sat there for hours with the dagger in her heart, hanging on, waiting for my return. And when finally she saw me, she was able to stop her struggle to survive.

“I went on a rampage. I knew exactly who had done it—the Crow gang. Three brothers who drank, stole and tormented all the women in the town. I killed all three of them, and another man who merely got in my way.”

“I was sentenced to hang three days following. For avenging my wife’s death. I didn’t care. Be damned to them all. I could not live without Maria. I went to my death willingly.”

Veronica clutched my tight fists and kissed them tenderly. Her warm teardrops stained my flesh and I remembered Maria’s warm blood seeping into my skin.

I swallowed the desire to shout until my lungs ached, and hugged Veronica desperately.

“I was hanged at midnight. But the rope did not snap my neck, and I struggled, fighting the noose, wishing I would simply die. The crowd left when they thought I was surely dead for I’d stopped kicking. But yet I sensed the world.

“When the moon was high in the sky the vampire arrived and cut me down. He bit into my neck, smirked and pronounced me strong and vital. It wasn’t my time to die yet. He dumped me in his wagon and sought the darkness of an abandoned mining cave. After my strength returned, I fought him. He was stronger. Life without Maria was unimaginable. I tried to kill myself by slitting my wrists. But I was already vampire. And so there you have it.”

“You eventually decided to live.”

“Yes, I accepted what life had given me. It took me a long time to get over Maria’s death. Some days I’m still not over it. Hence my visit to Paris. I thought I could chase away the memory. I have moved on, but the memories stick into my bones as if they were metal spikes.”

“Thank you for telling me that, Alexandre.

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