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. I hurt too much, my skin felt tight, and I was jumpy.Killing helped me focus, but it didn t last, and snapping at Uncle Phil was not an option.He andDad had come to an agreement last year when Dad had killed Uncle Roger and the demon Uncle Roger had been in league with.It s a long story,but the short version is that Uncle Roger tried to kill Dad, steal all his money, and eat his soul.The demon tried to use Dad to get a magic rock, theStone of Aeternum, from Uncle Phil.Bad career move all the way around.The demon wound up getting eaten by Talbot and Uncle Roger s soulwas trapped in a fisheye marble, which is now on display in Uncle Phil s apartment.When Uncle Phil s in a good mood, we play catch.It drivesUncle Roger into wild fits of silent screaming.Pretty funny stuff. Can I put the top down? Even with the power convertible top, putting the top up and down on Fang was a pain in the butt before histransformation.Now, he handles it all himself.Fang s top popped up and back, folding itself away and allowing sheets of cold rain to wash over myskin, each drop stinging as it hit.I laughed at the chill, at the newness of the sensation, and at the lengths to which I was willing to go to try anddistract myself from the ache underlying everything now that Dad was so far away.I thought about my cell phone a little too late, the corners of mymouth making a downward turn as the screen died.What message, I thought to myself, smiling up into the rain.I never got any message.My cellphone got rained on.I turned across from the newly restored Pollux Theater and left Fang in the no-parking area in front of the completely rebuilt Demon Heart.A newversion of the same old heart-with-horns Demon Heart sign flashed on the roof, but now the sign beneath it said, All Nite Bowling in bright blueneon.Dad had wanted to build a memorial to Old Mom.He picked a bowling alley.Dad s a little weird, but vampires are prone to eccentricity.On the right, near the entrance, a picture of Old Mom as a young woman hung in a locked display case.Below it was a small metal vasecontaining what we d been able to find of her body (mostly chunks of bone).A bronze plaque was mounted to the base of the case, dedicating thebuilding to her memory.I resisted the urge to smash the case.Old Mom had slept around on Dad.If I d known that when she was alive, she wouldn thave had time to get blown up.New Mom had slept around on Dad too, with Uncle Phil no less, but they worked it out before I had to murder her.She s so easy to kill, too, for a Vlad.I pushed open the Demon Heart s double doors like I owned the place.The scent of junk food assailed my nostrils, my rain-slick blond hairmatted to my neck and shoulders, and my soaked white T-shirt, not just wet but blood-stained, did not go unnoticed by our patrons.The onlycontestant in an unannounced horror-themed wet T-shirt contest, I curled my upper lip and struggled to keep my fangs in.It was a busy night and Iwanted to eat all of them, to drain them dry and suck the marrow.Sizzling funnel cakes went into the fryer behind the snack counter; it was too loud.Gladys smiled at me from behind the counter, but Cheryl s eyes widened and she shooed me away.Backing out of the Demon Heart, I turnedand ran across the street to the Pollux.Fuck Cheryl! With trembling fingers, I typed the security code wrong twice before I got it right and the doorsunlocked.I heard Cheryl jogging across the street after me, but I slammed the doors in her face.The hole in my brain, where Dad s presence usually was, yawned empty in my mind, my heart, my stomach.I sank to the floor of the foyer andscreamed.The emptiness crept further into my belly; my hunger spiked.It was all Dad s fault.He was too far away and I couldn t feel him.Hisabsence was physical pain, like some strand of whatever passed for my soul was stretched from Void City, all the way to Paris.Magbidion andErin, two of Dad s thralls, admitted that his absence was uncomfortable, but neither of them felt it as strongly as me.Talbot walked down the grand stair and looked at me with pity.He s huge.Not that I m short.I m a good six feet tall, but Talbot picked me up andcradled me like a child.Dad had left him behind, too
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