Blood Bound

Chapter 32: Undead in the sky

"The perks about being an excellent businessman and entrepreneur," Kenji winks as if he had seen my musings from my mind.

"You sure we won't get in trouble?" Sophie asks suspiciously, narrowing her eyes at her friend.

"Have a little faith in me, Sophie," Kenji chuckles, puts on a black jacket and heads towards the door that leads to his garage.

Before following, I look back at Sophie with an imploring look. "It's definitely better than motels," I remind her. "And we get there quicker."

Sophie groans, stuffs her hands in the pockets of her long sweater and enters the garage. Gripping the container of leftover beef stew to my chest, I take one last look at the house and whisper my farewells.

Just like the house itself, the garage is huge, storing two different cars; one dark blue Mercedes Benz convertible and the other a black SUV. Both cars have tinted glass, which doesn't surprise me.

"We're taking the SUV," Kenji says, opening the driver's seat and climbing inside.

Both Sophie and I climb inside the back. The jeep's interior is nothing but black leather. I almost want to point out how uncomfortable those seats become during hot days but then I remember that they wouldn't use it during the day.

"Comfortable back there?" Kenji asks.

We nod and he starts the engine which reverberates into life. He taps a button on his smartphone and the garage door open, slowly revolving up to the ceiling. Kenji drives slowly out of the garage ad then we're out. Out of his home, out of the suburbia with its tall and beautiful houses and trimmed gardens. Despite the cover of the tinted glass, Sophie slinks down in her seat whenever cars pass us and I unconsciously do the same. We slip into downtown rather smoothly as rush hour ended a couple of hours ago. Kenji is a confident driver, turning this way and that as if he's been doing it for a very long time.

"How long have you lived in Edmonton?" I ask him.

Kenji's eyes drift up and meet my gaze through the rearview mirror. "For about three years now," he replies. "I've lived in many places though. You kind of have to do that when you're like us." His eyes glint and I'm sure he's smiling, even though I don't see it. "We move around so people don't get suspicious. I mean, people would start talking when a person who's lived there for a decade looks exactly the same as he did when he first moved."

"What about using the plastic surgery excuse?" I ask. "A lot of celebrities use it to get younger."

"Believe me, we do," Kenji chuckles. "But I'd like to postpone that excuse for a couple more years. Besides, it's helpful for those of us who are not American to slip unseen from the watchful eyes. I doubt the government is going to find anything on me from the Japanese government. According to them, I died in a gang fight in the 1920s."

I do the calculations in my head. If Kenji were still alive in human terms, he'd be around 90 years old. He bursts out laughing when he sees my shocked expression. "You think I'm old, huh?"

"N-no!" I splutter hastily but he keeps on laughing.

"I'm nothing compared to Grigori, though. He was turned during the Italian renaissance and you can imagine what he had to go through to survive."

My eyes widen even further and I round on Sophie. "You never told me your guardian was that impressive." My tone is slightly accusative.

"He's not that special," Sophie scoffs, her chin on her hand as she stares determinedly through the tinted window.

I raise an eyebrow. If I were her, I would have been thrilled if someone like him became my guardian and helped me through the various stages of being a vampire.