Armando pulled up outside Mandy’s house.  She hadn’t seemed like herself and he wanted to double check that she was well.  It was odd that she would have rushed off like she did, especially since she hadn’t bothered to tell Michelle she was leaving the club, and she certainly hadn’t bothered to tell him.  He made his way up to the door to her complex and entered the lower level.  The very fact that he could scared him.  Who had been letting vampires into Mandy’s building?  According to Mandy, there were only two other units with hers.  One had an elderly woman in it, and the other was currently being renovated.  

            Armando’s heard someone cry out—Mandy.  He raced up the stairwell and froze when he heard the cry give way to laughter.  “What?”  

            “Come on, love.”  He heard James’ voice and felt his nostrils flare.  “Oh, that feels good.  Where’d you learn how to do that?” 

            “Ah, hold still, I need to….”  Mandy let out a small moan.  “See, I do have a few tricks up my sleeve.”  

            Armando, no longer able to control the monster within him, let his power flow free.  The door to Mandy’s apartment burst open.  His eyes narrowed to slits when he saw James’ back to him, Mandy, sat on the couch before him.  Armando’s stomach lurched as his rage ripped a scream through his throat.  

            “MANDY!”

~*****~

            Mandy turned James’ hand over and looked at it.  She felt horrible that one of her glasses had shattered in his hand.  He didn’t seem to mind bleeding all over her house. She, on the other hand, did.  She’d managed to convince him to sit still while she cleaned it out.  Amazing, since she was pretty sure that he was hyper.  

            She looked up at him, as he stood before her, and smiled.  “See, I do have a few tricks up my sleeve.” 

            There was a loud bang and followed close by Armando’s voice.  “MANDY!”  

            James grabbed her arms and pulled her up to him.  She barely had time to protest before James was yanked backwards.  “Armando!”  

            Armando stood there looking down at James, who now lay on the floor.  “This was why you would not stay with me?”  His foot went back and he landed a kick in the center of James’ ribs.  

            Mandy screamed and ran towards them.  “What the hell are you doing?  Leave him alone.”

            James groaned, but rolled to his side, springing to his feet in the process.  He snarled at Armando, and Mandy ran towards him.  Armando may have lost his mind, but she’d be damned if she let them both go crazy.  “James, stop it!”

             He cocked his head to the side and looked at her, his eyes wild.  He blinked and his blue eyes settled on her.  “You all right?”  

            “Is she all right?” Armando asked, wryly.  He cast an evil look at Mandy and drew his lips in.   

            Mandy looked at James.  “Go, I’ll be fine, and thank you.”  

            James shook his head slightly.  “I’m not about to walk out and leave you with him.  Not like this.”  

            “James, I’m fine, please go.  I’ll call you when I get back.”  

            “So, you’re going then?” James asked, his eyebrow rose.   

            Mandy looked at Armando and a shudder ran through her.  He looked like he wanted to kill everything in his line of sight.  “Oh, yeah, I’m going.  His little freak out just proved my point.”  

            Armando moved closer to her.  “And, what point is that?”  

            James eyed Armando up, waiting for the okay to strike.  Mandy shook her head  and pointed towards the door.  “It’s fine, James.  I need to speak with him privately.”  She found it ironic that she’d called James over to discuss her feelings for Armando and how to best pursue a relationship with an immortal, only to see a side of Armando that made her sick.

             “Tell you what.  I’ll wait in the hall.  If you need me….”  His words were cut off when Armando snatched him by the neck.  

            “I will tell you what, little vampire.  You will leave now!”  

            “Armando,” Mandy said, running towards him and touching his arm.  He spun around, knocking her backwards in the process.  His eyes widened as she stumbled, hitting the table, and sending the lamp crashing to the floor.  She hit the floor hard with her knee first, then her side.   

            Armando was suddenly next to her, trying to lift her to her feet.  “I am sorry.  I did not mean to harm you in any way.”  

            “Christ man, she goes on and on about how much she loves you and you knock her on her arse,” James said, moving to Armando’s side.  

            “You love me?” Armando asked, shock evident on his face.  

            Mandy’s eyes narrowed and her jaw tightened.  “Get out!  I’m sick of not being trusted by you, and I’m sick to death of your cryptic talk and weird behavior.”  She pushed herself up off the floor, refusing to take either of the hands that they offered.  

            “Mandy, stop and listen to me.  Do you really think I would ever harm you?”  Armando asked.  James let out a snort and Armando shot him a nasty look.  

            “I don’t care!  I’m actually happy that I saw this side of you.  I almost gave up the opportunity of a lifetime to stay here for you.”  

            James whistled and walked towards the door.  “Yeah, on that note, I’ll see myself out.  Mandy, if you need me, call and I’ll come.”  

            “I will, and thanks.”  

            Armando sighed and Mandy gave him a hard push on his chest.  “What in the hell were you thinking, barging in here and throwing people around my house?”  

            He snorted.  “I hardly think of James as a person.”  

            “He’s as human as you, or should I say, inhuman.”  It was a low blow, but she didn’t care.            

            “Is that how you view me, Mandy?”  

            She wanted to say yes and hit him over his thick skull, but she didn’t.  “No.” 

            “Why was James here?”  

            “I asked him over.  I needed to bounce a few problems off someone and he was the only person I could think of.”  

            Armando slipped his dark grey jacket off and laid it on the back of her chair.  He looked like he was making himself at home.  Her cheeks flushed and she felt sick to her stomach at the thought of never seeing him again, but she couldn’t continue on this way.  She’d fallen for him hard and needed to move on.  He wasn’t the right man for her, was he?           

            “Mandy, are you feeling all right?”  Armando moved to her side and guided her to the sofa.  She sat, not because he wanted her too, but because she felt as though she might pass out.  “We should make an appointment with the doctor in the morning.”  

            “Why?” Mandy asked, fearing that his bizarre cryptic talk was about to start again.  

            He sat next to her and touched her cheek gently.  He leaned in and pressed his cool lips to her mouth.  His tongue inched its way over her lip, and she fought the urge to open and accept him.  She put her hands on his chest and pressed firmly.   

            Armando pulled back from her and looked hurt.  “Kitten?”  

            Kitten?  Why did he have to call her that now?  Why couldn’t he just stay mad, like he’d been when he stormed in?  It would be easier to tell him her decision if he wasn’t being himself again.  

            He stroked her cheek again.  “Kitten?”  

            She held her head up and looked him in the eyes.  “I’m going to Chicago to look into a job offer.  I’ll be gone a week, and if I accept it, I will be moving by the end of the month.”  

            Armando’s brow creased.  He shook his head slightly.  “You cannot leave.”  

            “Why?”  

            She expected him to say that her life was here, her friends were here, or maybe that he had some feelings for her too.  What he said instead, floored her.  “I believe that you may be carrying my child.”  

            Mandy tried to talk, tried to say something, anything that would end the awkward silence between them.  The best she could come up with was “how?”  

            Armando let out a small laugh.  “I would like to think that you know how one comes to be in that condition.”  

            She looked at him and pleaded with her eyes for him not to make light of the situation.  “We’ve never done anything.  You and your damn nice guy routine have kept this relationship strictly PG.”  

            “No,” he said, moving his arm around her.  He pulled her close to his chest.  “You are wrong.  I am no nice guy, and we have done many things.”

             “I think I’d remember us sleeping together, don’t you?”  

            “Yes, I had hoped that you would.  But, when you awoke in my home after the bachelorette party, you had no memory of our time together.  I was wrong to take you when you were in that condition, but in all honesty, I did not think you were that bad.”  

            Mandy sat there, unable to move.  “You lied to me.”  

            Armando exhaled and tried to kiss her.  She pushed on his chest to keep him at bay.  “Kitten, you assumed that we had done nothing and I was hurt, no stunned, that you did not remember our time together.”  

            “So you what?  You decided it was best to keep it from me?  We had a moment of passion and you thought it best to lie about it.”  

            Armando shifted on the sofa.  He tipped his head to the side and touched her leg gently.  “Not just a moment, Kitten, five moments.”  

            Mandy’s hand went to her mouth.  For a moment, it was hard to draw in air.  She stood quickly, deflecting his hand off her leg.   

            “Kitten?”  

            “Don’t call me that.  Don’t ever call me that again!”  She glared at him, before striking out hard, and smacking his face.  “You let me walk around, practically begging you to touch me, when all along you’ve had it, FIVE times had it!”  Mandy paced the room.  “How many other people know?  Have you all had a good laugh?”  

            Armando appeared behind her, trying to hug her.  She pushed him away.  “Mandy, you have every right to be upset with me.  I took advantage of you and for that I am sorry.  You said you were fine, that you knew what you were doing.  I…I should have known you were too drunk to think straight.”  

            “Son of a...you think that I’m mad about having sex with you?  I’ve been trying to get you to do that for ages.  I’m hurt that you lied to me, Armando.  If you’ll lie to me about something as big as this, you’ll lie about anything.” 

            “No,” he said, trying yet again to touch her.  “Please understand that I did not intend to lie to you.  For the first time in centuries, I did not know what to say or do.  You do that to me.”  

            Mandy gasped.  “Oh, this is my fault now, huh?  Forget it.  Just get out!  I have to pack.”  

            “Do not do this.  You care for me.  I can sense it.  You do mean what you say.  You are hurt, that is understandable, but to leave now would be wrong.”  Armando said, not budging from his spot.  

            “What happens if I revoke my invitation?” Mandy asked.  

            “You will cause me great pain.”  

            “Figuratively or literally?” she asked, taking a step towards him.  

            “Both,”   Armando said. 

            “I revoke my invitations for vampires to be allowed into my home,” Mandy said.  Her voice sounded flat and foreign, even to her.  

            “Kit-ten!”  Armando screamed out as his body was pulled through the doorway by an unseen force.   

            “So, are you going to take a pregnancy test?” Michelle asked, thinking about the fact that Armando had lied to Mandy about having sex with her.  She shuddered when she thought of how alone she felt when she thought that Dmitri had lied to her and that she might be pregnant.  

            “No,” Mandy said, still thumbing through the magazine.  

            “It would be a good idea.”   

            “If my period doesn’t show up by the time I get back, I’ll call a doctor.  I don’t need to know right now.” 

            Michelle nodded her head slightly and took the magazine from Mandy’s hand.  “You mean you don’t want to know right now.”  

            “It’s not like I can do anything about it if I am,” said Mandy.  Both women knew that abortion was out of the question.  And Mandy would never be able to give the baby up for adoption. 

            “What did Armando say about it?” asked Michelle.  “Did he say he wanted it?  Does he want to be a father?” 

            Mandy suddenly burst into tears.  A man across the aisle looked up and chuckled at the sound.  Michelle glared at him, shooting him dangers as she made an aggressive move to stand.  The man gulped at her dark look and hurriedly moved to a different seat, far away from them. 

            Putting an arm around Mandy’s shoulder, Michelle said, “We don’t need him anyway.  I figure the two of us can raise a baby just as well as any married couple, probably even better.” 

            Mandy sniffed, swiping at her eyes.  “What about this job?  If I am, I’ll really need the bigger paycheck.” 

            “Ah, well, I guess we’ll just have to go to Chicago together.  We’ll get a place, be roomies—all three of us.” 

            “But, your job….” began Mandy. 

            “…will transfer to Chicago.  They already offered me the promotion,” said Michelle.  

“You didn’t tell me that.”  

Michelle looked at the floor and said weakly, “I was going to turn it down.  The good news is that everything happens for a reason and the mail delivery boy didn’t show up to the office today.  The letter is still in my desk drawer.  I don’t have to answer right away. Seems no one wants the Art Department there.  I’ll nearly double my salary.  Don’t worry.  If there is a baby, she’ll be just fine.” 

“But, what about Dmitri?” asked Mandy. 

“What about him?”  Michelle shrugged.  Mandy knew Michelle long enough to know when she was hiding her feelings.  “You’re more important to me than he is.” 

“I know, thank you,” said Mandy.  She dried her eyes, glad that the emotional outburst was out of the way.  She really felt better knowing she wouldn’t be alone.  She’d prefer the baby to have an around-the-clock father, but a girl couldn’t have everything.  “But, I can’t ask you to go.” 

“And you can’t expect me to stay.” 

The boarding call came over the loud speaker.  Michelle stood to give Mandy a hug.  Mandy started to turn before stopping.  Walking back to Michelle, she said, “Thank you.  I want you to know that I understand what you’re willing to give up for me.” 

Michelle said nothing. 

“You love Dmitri and yet you’re willing to leave him to help me.  I will never forget this.”  Mandy lifted her ticket and touched her friend lightly on the shoulder.   

“Only as much as you love Armando.”  Michelle felt tears coming to her eyes.  She didn’t want to move and leave Dmitri.  She did love him.  She was crazy about him, though she wasn’t anywhere ready to tell him as much.  Some things were just better kept quiet.  But Mandy was like a sister to her and family came before friends.  

Mandy started backing up as the final call was made.  “Then we are both doomed.”