by Myla Jackson
“A vampire must have gotten you last night.”
“If I am a vampire, how come I can see myself in the mirror and where are my fangs?”
With a chuckle, William shook his head. “The mirror thing is a myth. The fangs will fill in by tomorrow night.”
She turned her head to stare at the sets of puncture wounds. “You sure these aren’t spider bites?” she asked weakly.
His apologetic smile had more of an impact than any words he could have spoken.
That sick feeling in her gut intensified as an image of the dark man with the spiky blond hair blocking her path last night wedged its way into her fuzzy memories. “Does this have something to do with that man I ran into on my way home?”
“Probably. I received word another human got nailed, so I came out looking and found you.” With a nod toward the mirror, William noted, “You see the blood on your lips?”
Her hand rose to touch the dried blood. “What’s this?”
“That would be the vampire’s blood. He made you drink his blood in order to turn you.”
As if burned by a hot iron, she jerked her finger away from the blood and bent over the sink, scrubbing at the spot with clean, cool water. She reached for a towel.
William turned her toward him, towel in hand, and patted her face dry. “Do you remember what he looked like?”
Julie squeezed her eyes shut and thought hard. “White-blond hair, very tall and I remember this…he had red eyes.” She opened her eyes and stared at William. “You think he did this to me?” Was she really a vampire?
“Sounds like one of the rogue vampires we’ve been looking for.”
“One?” Julie shook her head. “You mean there are more?”
“Yes, there are hundreds of vampires in Houston. Ever since Hurricane Katrina, they’ve spread from New Orleans to other major cities across the U.S.”
No, this couldn’t be true. “I’m not believing this. Vampires don’t exist in real life.”
“No, but they exist in death.”
“And I’m a vampire? A real live vampire?”
“Ahem,” William cleared his throat. “Not live. Not really. You’re considered one of the living dead.”
“But what about my life? My job. My family?” She stared up at him as she realized how all the threads of her former existence were unraveling around her.
“It’s totally up to you what you do about your family and your job. You may choose to disappear and start over somewhere else or continue on as though nothing’s different.” He held up a finger. “With some exceptions.”
“Exceptions.” The world was crashing around her ears and William was talking about exceptions. She had trouble even focusing on what he was saying.
“You can’t go out in daylight or you’ll fry into a crispy critter and die.”
“No more sunrises, or sunbathing in the nude.” Not like she’d get up early enough to watch a sunrise. But she’d always dreamed of sunbathing on some Greek island absolutely naked. Then again, when would she make enough money to go to the Greek Islands?
William droned on. “Avoid falling on or being pierced with sharp wooden objects, silver knives or bullets. Any of these items through the heart are deadly to a vampire.”
“What if I stab myself with a pencil?” she asked, not sure it was really her voice.
“As long as it’s not through the heart, you’re okay. But if it makes you feel better, use pens or mechanical pencils. It’s best to feed at least every other day to keep up your strength.”
“Feed? As in sucking blood from other people?” Her stomach churned. “Ewwww.”
“Yes. But the upside is you’ll have superhuman strength. You’ll be stronger than Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vin Diesel put together.”
“Really?” Perhaps there was an upside to this vampire thing. She could quit worrying about putting her back out when helping patients in the hospital. “My job! What about my job?”
“I suggest you put in for permanent night shift to avoid daylight hours.”
“I can keep my job? They won’t fire me or anything?”
“Not unless you tell them you’re a vampire. In which case, they’ll commit you to the psych ward or give you over to science to dissect.”
“Immortality spent in a padded room?” Julie laughed, her world was spinning around her completely out of control and she was making jokes. Hell, the joke was on her!
“Exactly. We in the vampire community keep knowledge of our identity to ourselves and a limited few we can trust.”
Huh? “So, you’re a vampire?” And all this time she’d never even suspected. “How?”
“I was turned over a century ago by a lovely lady in Boston.” He sighed. “She truly was a beauty. Dark hair and brown eyes that could melt you on the spot.”
“What happened to her?”
“Someone ratted on her and they staked her.” A flash of something, pain maybe, crossed his eyes before he turned his attention back to her. “You’ll be okay. And I’m just across the hall if you need anything.”
“Like?”
“You might need some help with your first feeding.”
“Do I really have to bite someone? I can’t imagine walking up to a stranger and saying, ‘Excuse me, could you spare some blood?’”
William laughed. “It’s not quite done that way.”
“Then how?” She really was clueless, and if she wanted to survive, she’d have to learn. Wow. Was she really buying into all this? Julie Taylor? A vampire? Never to see the light of day again? “Who did this to me?”
“By your description, I’d bet it was a two-hundred-year-old vampire named Luke Hester. He’s been a bit out of control over the past couple weeks. Gives the rest of us a bad name.”
“Luke Hester?” A shudder snaked its way down her spine as the memory of that big man in the alley surfaced from the fog of the previous night. “But he had red eyes? Why don’t you?” She spun toward the mirror and breathed a sigh of relief when the reflection still showed green eyes. “Or me for that matter?”
“The red eyes come from turning bad. He came over from England before I was turned and basically has been causing trouble since. But lately more so than usual.”
“So Bob Marley wasn’t crazy.”
“Bob Marley?”
“He said he was a vampire hunter. When they brought him in, he was talking nonsense about vampires on the rampage and how he was determined to kill every last one of them. We thought he was on drugs, but he tested clean. So we committed him for psychological evaluation. Poor guy was right.”
“Good thing you have him locked up. He could be dangerous to the good vampires as well as the bad ones.”
“You mean there are good ones?” she asked.
“Eh-hem. Excuse me. There is yours truly.” William spread his arms wide. “The majority of the vampires live among the humans. It’s vamps like Luke who make problems for us all.”
“Should I be worried about this rogue vampire? I mean, he’s already done the damage.” She turned her head to the side and stared at the wounds.
“Only if he comes back for you. Sometimes, when a vampire turns you, he can claim you as his mate. That hasn’t happened in a long time. But I’d stay away from Luke if I were you.”
“No problem.” If memory served her correctly, he was a pretty scary kinda guy. “Won’t my superhuman strength help me out where he’s concerned?”
“Some. But he’s been at it longer. He’ll be twice as strong as you.”
Julie snapped her fingers. “Damn.”
William pushed a hand through his wavy blond hair. “I’m beat and it’s about time for some sleep. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Thanks. I don’t know what I’d have done without your help out there.”
“You’d have fried.”
“Yeah.” She stood and strode for the door. “I guess I’ll get cleaned up and get some sleep. That’s what vampires do during the day,
huh?”
“Pretty much. Although some get around in their day jobs with a lot of prior planning and S.A.T.s”
Julie’s mind whirled with the new terminology and rules. “S.A.T.s? What are those?”
“Sun avoidance techniques.”
For the first time since she’d known William, she noted the closed blinds and drawn drapes over the windows. Why hadn’t she noticed before? “They really can get around during the day and hold a job?”
“Yeah, but I don’t recommend it for the neophytes.”
“Okay.” She hated to step out the door. All this was new to her and William was her only ally in a world gone bizarre. “Thanks again.” With nothing left to say or any reason to stall, she stepped across the hallway and into her apartment.
Sunlight streamed through her windows and she squinted, her eyes burning. First things first, she’d have to close all the blinds. After accomplishing that task with minimal scorching, she headed for the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror examining her neck. The puncture wounds were already healing, but still visible.
Damn. She was a vampire. Tears welled in her eyes and slipped down her cheeks. Damn.
How was she going to tell her folks? Her boss? Kim?
The phone rang.
What should she do? Should she answer like nothing out of the ordinary? She could say, “Hello, this is Julie. I’m dead. How are you?”
On the third ring, she grabbed the receiver with no idea what she was going to say to whoever was on the line.
“Hey, beautiful.”
Oh geez! “Roger?”
“You sound surprised. Did I wake you?”
“No!” What should she do? What should she say?
“I just got off work and remembered we didn’t set a time.”
“Time?” What was wrong with her? Did becoming a vampire take away her brain capacity?
“For our date?” Roger chuckled. “You didn’t change your mind did you?”
Change her mind? She wanted to shout, “Hell no!” But, given the circumstances, shouldn’t she cancel? “Hell no!” she said before she could think beyond those two words.
“Good. For a moment there, I thought I’d lost you.”
For all intents and purposes he had. She was a dead woman. He was a living, breathing, vegetable-and-ice-cream-eating human. What the hell did they have in common after the events of this morning? Nothing! “No, you didn’t lose me.”
“I’m glad. Because I have plans for a special dinner followed by dessert at my place.”
Dinner? Oh God! Hey, could she say that? Wasn’t she one of the damned? Would God ever forgive her? Was she going to hell when she died? Oh wait, she was already dead. Would she go to hell when she got dusted?
Thoughts tumbled in Julie’s head, refusing to take root, become coherent. With a decided yank, she pulled her mind back to dinner. What the hell could she eat? She scribbled on a pad by the phone, “Ask William what vampires can eat besides blood and am I going to hell?” Both questions made her shiver.
“So I’ll pick you up at six?”
“Sounds great.” No wait. What was that one rule? “Will the sun be down by then?”
“I don’t think so. Why?”
“Uh, no reason.” Six was not an option. “Could you pick me up at seven? I’m thinking I could use an extra hour of beauty sleep.” The sun should be down by then. The days wouldn’t get longer until closer to June.
“Not that you need the extra hour. You’re beautiful just as you are. But I’d be happy to pick you up at seven.”
“Oh and Roger?” Should she tell him before the date? That way he had a choice as to whether or not to go out with a dead woman.
“Yes, gorgeous?”
Her toes curled at the endearment. Maybe telling him now wasn’t such a good idea. A subject like “I’m a bloodsucking vampire” might be better broached in person over a glass of wine. “I can’t wait to see you.” Make that an entire bottle of wine.
“Me too. Finally.” He laughed again. “I thought we’d never actually have a real date.”
“Me either,” she said, a flicker of guilt growing into a major head-banger. They still wouldn’t be having a real date. But Roger didn’t have to know that. Not yet, anyway. She’d waited too long for this date, she’d be damned if she missed it. No wait…she was damned. Again, Roger didn’t have to know that. Not yet.
“And, baby, we’re not going to let anything get in our way of a good time.”
“Right. See ya tonight.” Oh boy, was she in for an interesting evening. Last night, she’d only been thinking about how she could seduce Roger within the first five minutes of their date. Now, she wanted him more than ever, but her thoughts would be tied up with how to be a vampire and not blow it! She needed to talk to William before she went out.
But first, sleep. Apparently, being immortal didn’t mean you could go without sleep. It just meant always sleeping during the day. No change there. Especially having worked the night shift for the past three months. Just because she was a vampire didn’t mean her life had to change, did it?
Chapter Three
After the third ring, Julie’s answering machine picked up, “Hi, this is Julie. Leave a message.” A beep and then—
“Answer the phone for Heaven’s sakes!” Kim’s voice erupted with a mechanical twang.
Julie buried her head beneath the pillow and moaned. “What’s Heaven got to do with it, anyway?”
“I know you’re home, so don’t ignore me. It’s six-thirty and you haven’t answered your phone all day. Did you and Cop Candy find each other last night? Want me to go away? Okay, I’ve made enough inane conversation. You’re probably in the shower anyway. Call me.”
Before Kim could hang up, Julie’s hand shot out from beneath the covers and snatched the phone. Where had that little burst of energy come from? Oh yeah, vampires are speedy. “I’m here.”
“Julie?”
“I think so.”
“What’s wrong? You don’t sound like yourself.” Kim smacked her gum into the receiver. “You sound like death warmed over.”
“You got that right.”
“Don’t tell me you’re sick and can’t make your date?” With a snort, Kim said, “I thought nothing short of death would keep you and Badge Boy away from the sheets tonight.”
If only she knew. “No, I’m fine, just slept in. What time did you say it was?”
“Six-thirty, Sleeping Beauty.”
“Six-thirty!” Julie flung the pillow, blankets and half the items on her nightstand halfway across the room as she leapt from bed. “Crap! He’ll be here in less than thirty minutes and I haven’t even had a shower!”
“You can thank me later,” Kim’s smug voice sounded over the line.
“How should I fix my hair? What’ll I wear? Hell, what’ll I eat?” Julie’s voice rose as she listed the questions jumbled in her mind. Number one being how could she pull off the biggest lie ever. “I have to go.”
“Relax, girlfriend! You’ll do fine.”
Julie could picture Kim rolling her eyeliner-ringed eyes. “Easy for you to say.” You’re not the dead woman.
“By the way, before you hang up on me, I thought you’d like to know. That psych case your boyfriend brought in last night walked out of here sometime after you left.”
Kim’s words penetrated Julie’s panic and made her grip the phone until she was sure the plastic would crack. “He did? How? I thought we had him pretty well sedated.”
“Apparently not. He wasn’t nearly as sedated or secured as we thought. He slipped through the restraints and waltzed out of here when no one was looking.”
Great. Just what she needed. Along about the time she was trying to get used to the idea she was a vampire, the vampire-slayer-psycho-dude was on the loose in the city. What else could possibly go wrong?
Her doorbell rang.
I had to ask.
All the way to her front door Julie muttered beneath her breath,
“Please don’t let it be Roger thirty minutes early…pulleeeze!”
When she’d crossed the living area and pressed her eye to the peephole, she let go of the breath she’d been holding. William bent and looked back at her through the tiny opening.
“Julie? Is that you?” The door shook.
Before he could shake the door again Julie flung it aside, grabbed his arm and jerked him inside slamming the door behind him.
“Nice to see you too.” A smile quirked the corners of William’s mouth.
“I have thirty—” Julie glanced at the clock on the wall and gasped. “Make that twenty minutes before my date arrives.” She grabbed his arm in a death grip. “What do I do? How do I get around? What do I eat? Are there any other side effects to being a vamp?”
“Whoa! Hold on a minute.” William held his hands up to ward off her barrage of questions. “One question at a time.”
“One question at a time? Don’t you understand? I have a date with a man!” No, that didn’t sound good. Desperate, more like. Julie sucked in a deep breath and rolled her shoulders. There. Now that she had a grip…she grabbed William’s arms and shook him. “What do I do?”
William’s rich laughter filled her apartment. “It’s okay, Julie. All you have to do is act natural. Other than being a vampire, you’re still you.”
“Other than—are you freakin’ out of your mind?” She threw herself away from him and stomped across the room and back. “I’m a stinkin’ vampire!”
A frown settled between William’s brows. “I resemble that.” Before she could turn and walk away for her second pass at pacing, he placed both hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “Julie, most of us didn’t ask to be vampires, but you can’t undo what was done. You have to learn to deal with it.”
The intensity of his blue eyes poked through the bubble of extreme anxiety pressing in around Julie and she nodded. “Okay. But you have to help me.”
“I’ll do all I can.” He let go of her shoulders and clapped his hands together. “Shoot.”
“First question, what should I do about my date? And speaking of date, I have to get a shower!” Julie dashed for her bathroom, grabbing fresh black lace panties from her dresser along the way.
