Marie shook her head. “Somewhat. He was a brilliant craftsman. He built all the shelves in the shop, actually. He was a good guy. You two would have gotten along,” Marie said, then wondered why she had said it at all. It wasn’t as if she and William were dating. Still, she stole a glance at him, taking in his good looks and imagined a life where maybe he wasn’t a vampire with a death wish.
Moments later, William broke her out of her reverie. “I wish I was good at something. I can’t fix cars, or write music, or...” he shook his head, trailing off.
Marie put a comforting hand on his knee as he drove, wanting him to feel better. “You’re a good road trip companion.” She held up the candy and offered him some. “And you like Red Vines, so you get points for that.”
He laughed. “Yeah, give me one of those, will you?”
After an hour of driving and getting to know each other more, they both noticed it at the same time. Rain.
“It’s totally cold enough outside. Why isn’t this snow?”
“Look, it’s freezing rain, mixed with sleet,” William said, slowing down. He had been going eighty miles per hour.
“We have a few more hours to go.” Marie grabbed her phone and checked the weather in Salem. “Shit. It doesn’t look good.” She looked up from her phone and out into the night, scanning the weather when she saw something ahead, off to the side. William saw it, too.
“William, you have to pull over. She’s still alive.”
A deer was lying on the ground. William did as he was asked and pulled up next to it. He shut the engine off.
“I have to see if I can help her,” Marie said, getting out of the car. William was behind her. The rain was loud as it hit the road before them. William had been right. It was freezing rain and sleeting.
Marie bent down on the ground, touching the deer’s hoof, trying to assess the damage. The deer made heart-wrenching sounds. Clearly, she was in pain.
“She’s badly injured,” Marie said.
“I bet she made some dent in the car that hit her.”
Marie placed a hand on the doe, talking softly. Rain was falling down hard. William couldn’t hear what she was saying.
“William, she’s not going to make it.”
William nodded. They both knew what he needed to do.
“Get back in the car. I don’t want you to watch.”
“William, I know you’re a vampire. I can stay and comfort her while you do what you have to.”
He nodded, not wanting to argue in the freezing temperatures. He took his already soaking wet jacket off and threw it in the car, not wanting it to get muddy. He crouched down and could feel his fangs emerge from his teeth. He placed his hands on the doe’s neck and dug his extended razor-sharp fangs into the still warm flesh.
Marie turned away, but kept one had on the doe, calming her. Within moments, it was done. The deer was no longer in pain. William stood up slowly, wiping his mouth. He held out a hand for Marie. She grabbed it and he held open the car door for her to get back inside of the car.
Marie closed her eyes, feeling a weight on her shoulders from the experience. She felt William’s reluctance to feed, despite the fact that they were releasing the doe from further pain and agony.
“Let’s call it a night and find a place to stay. We’re both soaked,” William said, his voice quiet.
Marie nodded, she was cold, too.
“Good news is, I won’t have to drink for about three weeks.” William was trying to keep the conversation light.
Marie took a deep breath, trying to shake the feeling of dread coming over her. “I’m sorry about your upholstery,” she said, checking to see how wet the seat was. She was as soaked as he was.
William smiled easily and turned to her. “What does it matter? It’s not like I plan on sticking around to care enough.”
Marie shook her head at him and looked out the window as he drove to the nearest hotel. She was trying not to shiver, but it was hard not to when she thought about William and the life he led before coming to her. She wanted to erase it all for him and replace his bad memories with happy ones. With thoughts of loving another and being loved, but she knew she couldn’t. She remained quiet as William continued to drive.
Fifteen minutes later, he found a small motel. Marie was still shivering and was wet from head to toe. William put his arm around her shoulders as they walked inside.
Inside the lobby, the man at the desk had fallen asleep. William cleared this throat loudly and the motel clerk woke up, startled.
“My wife and I need a room,” William said.
The man rubbed sleep from his eyes. “Well, we have one vacancy open, but I’m afraid the heater in that room isn’t working,” he said. He mentioned it because they looked like they could use one.
“You only have one vacancy?”
“The weather last night prevented a lot of travelers from going on. With Halloween being today, a lot of people are trying to go to Salem or Boston.”
William looked at Marie. “It is Halloween today, isn’t it?”
She nodded but was too cold to say anything.
William took his wallet out and slid a debit card across the desk. “We’ll take it. We need it for two days.” He always booked a room for an extra day because he was usually fast asleep during normal check-out times.
The clerk slid a key over to him and told them where to find the room. William nodded. It was still raining outside. He handed Marie the key while he went to unload the car.
Inside the cold room, William set the purchases down and took one look at Marie. “Let’s get you out of those clothes,” he said, rushing to help her. He sat her down on the bed, starting with her boots and helped her unzip them. Her socks thankfully were dry, but his weren’t. Still, he helped her first. Her jeans were the hardest to get off. They clung to her body stubbornly. She had to lay down while William struggled to get them off of her. Her legs were frozen to the touch. She took her jacket and sweater off. Her white bra was wet, too. In her underwear, Marie, asked for the bag of clothes she had purchased for him and took out a cream-colored buttoned-down dress shirt, which would have looked amazing on him. Instead of giving it to him, she threw it over her body without unbuttoning it and took her bra off from underneath the shirt. She then opened up a package and took out a pair of boxers, shivering the whole time. She handed the other pair to William.
“Thanks,” he said.
Marie got into bed as he shed his clothes. She was still shivering but watched with a blank expression as William hung their wet clothes. When he returned, he got under the covers and didn’t hesitate to try to warm up Marie. Her body was cold against his. He got on top of her, covering every inch of her body with his.
“Ssssh, it’s okay. I’ll help you get warm.”
She looked into his eyes, not sure if she trusted him to be this close.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, reading her mind.
She nodded, knowing she had to trust him. She placed her hands around his back. “You’re so warm.”
“It’s because I fed.”
She held onto him as her breathing slowed, and she started to sound more normal. The sun was going to rise in under an hour. In no time, Marie and William both fell asleep, their bodies linked together.