Holland realized that Naomi was mouthing off a lot of vampire propaganda that she’d gotten from Ryan. But unable to resist Naomi’s penetrating gaze and her hypnotic voice, Holland released a sigh and nodded in agreement. Naomi smiled in triumph and threw her head back and opened her mouth wide.
Holland shuddered as she anticipated the death bite. She felt the pressure and heard the crunch of Naomi’s oversized canines breaking the skin, but oddly, it didn’t hurt. It was more like a tingling sensation as Naomi’s sharp teeth slid through neck tissue. Naomi surrounded the fresh, spurting wound with her mouth, her lips tugging on Holland’s punctured vein.
Holland felt paralyzed as Naomi greedily sucked the life force from her body. Weakened, her knees buckled. Her arms flailed as she tried vainly to push Naomi away. The room grew dim and she realized she was dying.
Death was speeding toward her. Too soon. She was only sixteen; she wasn’t ready to die.
But wait. This wasn’t a final death; Naomi was turning her into a vampire.
Nooo! I don’t want to be a vampire.
In the midst of slurping hungrily, Naomi suddenly made a painful, gurgling sound. She pushed Holland’s weak body away from her and began vomiting blood.
Unable to stand upright, Holland slumped down into a chair, watching with horror as Naomi doubled over, throwing up her guts.
“It’s burning,” Naomi cried in a mournful voice that sounded like her pre-vampire self.
“What’s burning?” Holland asked in a hoarse whisper.
“Your blood!” Naomi shrieked. “Your goddamn blood is like acid, burning me from the inside. What did you do to me?” Naomi writhed and howled in agony as her pale skin turned red and quickly became covered in hideous boils that popped and then oozed yellow pus.
On the floor, Holland’s mother stirred.
“Mom!” Holland cried.
Using the arm of the sofa, Holland’s mother pulled herself to her feet and then staggered over to her daughter, hugging her and crying, “Are you all right, Holland?”
“I think so. Naomi bit me.” Holland pointed to the wounds on her neck. “She bit me the way Zac bit you, only she wasn’t going to stop until she turned me into a vampire, too.”
On the other side of the room, Naomi let out a long, agonizing wail. Huddled together, Holland and Phoebe gawked at Naomi in revulsion as layers of skin peeled away from her face, her arms, and her legs. They watched in amazement as Naomi’s hands became distorted with blisters and then began melting. Resembling candle wax, her skin turned into a thick, white liquid that poured down between her fingers and dripped off the ends of her fingernails.
Loud crackling sounds and the acrid smell of sizzling hair filled the air as Naomi’s light brown curls caught fire.
“Help me, help me, Holland.” Naomi extended a pleading hand, and attempted to rush toward Holland, but she became stuck in place when the soft flesh of her feet began melting. Bubbling, liquid flesh poured out over her sandals, leaving lava-like, steaming puddles on the floor.
In less than five minutes, Naomi’s entire body had turned into a fetid pool in the middle of the living room floor.
Tears fell from Holland’s eyes. “Poor Naomi. She couldn’t help herself. Her new boyfriend changed her. I told you there were vampires in Frombleton, but you wouldn’t believe me, Mom.”
“I know, I know. I’m so sorry,” her mother soothed, stroking Holland’s hair while grimacing at Naomi’s remains.
“Zac and Ryan aren’t the only ones—there’s a horde of blood addicts lurking out there! We have to keep them away from us!”
CHAPTER 30
Jarrett’s girlfriend wasn’t home and she wasn’t at any of the places where she usually hung out.
Zac glared at Jonas. “This plan of yours is failing miserably. The hunger is on me, and I can’t see any reason why I should spare this here no-account boy.” Zac pointed to Jarrett, who sat quietly in the back seat.
Jonas shook his head. “Draining him would be a big mistake. He lives in that big house and his parents must be people of means. They’ll alert the police. So far, you’ve fed without repercussions. But if you continue leaving blood-drained victims, the authorities are going to hunt you down. And in a small town like this, I’m sure they’ll find you. They’ll find us! We’ll both be brought to justice. They’ll bury us alive!” Jonas added passionately.
Zac didn’t respond, but he winced when Jonas mentioned being buried alive.
“Take the boy home,” Jonas appealed to Zac. “We can cruise around and find someone else. But you have to promise me there won’t be any killing.”
“I promise,” Zac said grudgingly. He turned the car around and returned to Meadowbrook Drive. “Where’s your ma and pa?” Zac asked Jarrett. “If you invite me into your house, it’ll save me a lot of gas and driving around time.”
“My parents are out for the evening,” Jarrett said dully.
“Dang!” Zac shook his head in frustration. “Listen here, boy, I want you to go in the house and eat yourself a big ol’ meal. You need to put on some pounds so you can get your blood flowing right. Your blood used to be sweet and thick as molasses. But here lately, it’s gone sour . . . and it’s thin like water.” Zac’s turned his mouth down in complaint. “Get going, boy,” he hissed and hit a button, unlocking the back door.
Jarrett got out of the car and took slow, faltering steps to his front door.
“I thought that big, strapping lad would keep me supplied with blood on a regular basis, but he turned out to be nothing more than a puny weakling,” Zac spat as he watched Jarrett moving with a slow, unsteady gait.
As Zac slid the gear into reverse, Jonas noticed a car approaching. The car, a Mercedes sedan, came to a stop next to Zac’s car. The tinted window of the Mercedes slid down. The driver was a thirty-something man, dressed in a tuxedo. Though handsome, the man had eerily pale skin, cold blue eyes, and jet-black hair. Seated next to him was a beautiful woman with skin as white as alabaster. She also had raven-colored hair. Her glossy mane streamed down her back. Her strapless evening gown showed off pale, well-toned shoulders. A teenage boy sat in the back of the Mercedes. He had the full lips of the woman and the icy blue eyes of the man.
“Good evening, Zacharias.” There wasn’t a trace of a Southern accent; in fact, the man spoke in the manner of a refined British nobleman.
Zac did a double take; his astonished expression suggested that he’d seen a ghost. Rendered speechless, Zac’s mouth opened and closed wordlessly.
The elegant gentleman chuckled. “I heard that you were back in town, but assumed it was a baseless rumor. After all, I personally condemned you to spend eternity in the ground.”
They’re vampires! Jonas thought, his mind racing and panicked.
Zac cleared his throat and said, “You ain’t got any jurisdiction over me, Constable Sullivan,” Zac hissed. “Not any more. I’m a self-taught man and I’ve done a heap of learning since we last met. You violated my rights when you had me tossed in that hole in the ground.”
“According to whose law?” Constable Sullivan said belligerently. “According to today’s laws; now, back off of me!”
“We don’t abide by mortal law and order. We live by the vampire code.” He waggled his long, white finger. “Now, I don’t know how you were able to crawl out of the grave we put you in, but you were sentenced to spend eternity in the earth, and I’m going to see to it that you serve out your sentence. You mark my word, Zacharias Hamilton!” The window of the Mercedes glided upward, and the family of vampires drove off into the night.
“What was that all about?” Jonas asked.
“It ain’t any of your concern,” Zac said snidely.
Instead of pulling out of his parking space, Zac sat behind the wheel with the motor idling. Jonas noticed that the vampire was shaking and sweating.
“You seem upset, Zac. And from the sounds of things, your fellow vampires are going to be coming after you. Maybe I can help.�
��
Zac looked at Jonas and arched a brow. “Maybe so. If we work together, we might be able to find a way to lure those blasted vampires together in one place.”
Jonas nodded. “That’s something to consider. I’m surprised that you bumped into someone from the old days. I thought you said that all the vampires here in Frombleton were of a new breed?”
“That’s what I thought. But that annoying, uppity constable is still alive and kicking. His wife and son, Ryan, seem to be thriving as well. The Sullivans are one of the oldest and most respected vampire families in the nation. I thought ol’ Martin Sullivan was long gone.” Zac let out a weary sigh.
“You were buried by your own kind—how come? What was your crime?” Jonas pried.
“Maybe you should ask Mrs. Sullivan that question,” Zac said with a telling wink.
“Pretty lady,” Jonas acknowledged.
Zac grunted and pulled away from the curb. “So, are you gonna help save my hide?”
“Sure. We don’t always get along, but we have to stick together. It wouldn’t give me any pleasure for you to get overpowered by an angry, vampire mob.” Jonas fought to control his thoughts; keeping his mind off Holland wasn’t easy, and so he chattered endlessly.
“We need to hatch a plan, but I can’t think on an empty stomach. It’s time to go hunting. Are you ready to chow down on some human flesh and blood?”
“No! And I advise you to stick to the agreement. You’ll drink enough blood to stave off the hunger, but you won’t kill anyone,” Jonas ordered, stern-faced. Jonas was feeling the pain of hunger as well, but he refused to hunt down human beings.
Taking unpaved, back roads, Zac drove to the outskirts of Frombleton and made his way to Tulley’s Tavern. Rosie’s white van was parked in the lot.
“I guess she got her job back,” Jonas commented.
“Looks that way.” Zac parked and turned off the ignition. “Do you think those drugs are out of her system yet?”
Jonas shrugged.
“Coming in?” Zac asked.
“No, I’ll wait in the car,” Jonas said.
Zac sauntered toward the bar, and Jonas was relieved to have some space from Zac. With Zac inside the bar, holed up in some dark cubby slurping blood from Rosie’s neck, Jonas was free to think about Holland.
Relief turned to pure delight when Jonas spotted a pay phone outside the bar. Digging in his pockets for change, he raced to the phone.
Holland’s phone rang only once. “Hello?” she said breathlessly.
“Holland, it’s Jonas.”
“Where are you? Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, God, what a relief. I thought you’d been hurt . . . or killed.”
“No, no, nothing as drastic as that,” he said with a light chuckle. “I’m fine. Sorry I didn’t call earlier, but I’ve been delayed with Zac.”
“You were right, Jonas,” Holland said in a hushed voice. “There really is a vampire swarm here in Frombleton. And tonight, something terrible happened.”
Jonas felt his heart clench. “What?”
“My friend . . .” Holland’s voice cracked. “My best friend, Naomi, was bitten by some vampire kid named Ryan. She came over here and tried . . . ohmigod, it was so unreal . . . I can’t bear to talk about it. I wish I could get the image out of my mind.”
“What happened?” Jonas asked, his voice raised in panic. The name Ryan rang a bell. Jonas nodded in recollection; Ryan was the teenage son sulking in the back seat of the Mercedes.
“Naomi bit me,” Holland blurted. “She wanted to turn me into a vampire so we could be together forever, but she got sick during the process. Right after she drank my blood, her skin started bubbling and peeling, and she was screaming that my blood was like acid.” Holland paused. Sniffling and whimpering, she cried softly. “My mom wants to call her parents, but I’m so scared, I don’t know what to do. Ryan’s parents may have gotten to them.”
Jonas recalled the Sullivans sitting smugly in their car. Had they been on their way home after their nightly kill? The wife, Olivia Sullivan, had primly blotted her lips, and now Jonas suspected that it wasn’t lipstick that had left a red stain on the tissue.
“Mom wants to call the police, but I begged her not to . . . I don’t think they’ll be able to help.”
Jonas’s heart thundered inside his chest. His worst fear had been realized. A vampire had gotten to Holland’s best friend and used her to go after Holland. He thought about what Holland had said about her blood . . . that it burned like acid. What was that about? Jonas wondered.
“I need to see you, Jonas. I’m so scared. Can you come over?”
He’d been worried about keeping Zac away from Holland, and now he had to worry about an entire swarm. Holland was in danger, and Jonas had no idea how to protect her. But he knew for a fact that he was willing to risk his life to save her.
“Listen to me carefully, Holland. I’m outside the city at the moment, but I’ll be back in Frombleton as soon as possible. In the meantime, I want you to stay inside. Don’t go out for any reason, and for God’s sake, don’t invite anyone over—not friends, not Naomi’s parents, not the police . . . no one! According to Zac, you have a special scent that attracts vampires.”
Holland gasped and brought her arm up to her nose and began sniffing deeply. “What kind of scent?”
“Very pleasant; makes you irresistible to vampires.”
“Oh, God, you’re really freaking me out, Jonas. My scent draws vamps like a magnet?”
“Yes, I’m sorry to say. But you need to know. The good news is that a vampire can’t cross your threshold without an invitation.”
“Other than Naomi, the only invitation I’ve extended is to you, Jonas,” Holland said sincerely.
“Then you have nothing to worry about.” From the corner of his eye, Jonas saw Zac emerging from the bar. “Look, I have to go. Don’t be afraid, Holland. You’re safe as long as you stay inside.”
Seeming to possess renewed zest, Zac walked jauntily to the car. Jonas hung up the phone and walked across the gravelly parking lot. He opened the passenger door and slid in.
“Checking in with your sweetheart?” Zac said with a sly grin.
Jonas nodded warily, and instantly began masking his thoughts, exchanging thoughts of Holland with mental pictures of hunting possum in the woods.
“Judging by your thoughts, you didn’t catch any critters while you were out here waiting for me.”
“No, there’s more of a selection in the woods near the hotel.”
“All those warm bodies in the bar and you want to hunt possum. Now, that’s a daggone shame.” Zac shook his head and sneered.
“It’s my choice, and I’m okay with it.”
Zac rubbed his stomach. “Me, myself . . . I’m full as a tic. Rosie must have cleaned herself up, because once I got to sucking on her warm blood, it was so dang tasty, I couldn’t stop.”
Zac backed out of the lot, and zoomed down the road. “I left her for drunk, slumped on a chair in a dark corner with a drink in her hand. By the time someone discovers her bloodless body, I’ll be in a deep sleep, dreaming about the sugary taste of your sweetheart’s mother’s blood.”
“You killed Rosie?” Jonas asked, astonished. The wisecrack about Holland’s mother didn’t go past him, but he chose not to address it.
“Didn’t mean to, but hey . . . shit happens.”
“And what about Hugo?”
Zac broke into a wicked grin. “It was a slow night at Tulley’s. Hugo seemed bored, so I asked him to neglect his bouncer duties for a minute and join Rosie and me. I had myself a ménage à trois with those two. Rosie’s drained dry, but Hugo might have about a half pint of blood left in him.” Zac let out a guffaw, slapping the steering wheel as he shook with laughter.
CHAPTER 31
Holland had raced to her bedroom when her phone chirped. She felt let down when Jonas had suddenly ended the call. My scent attracts vamps. Ew!
“Was that Naomi’s parents calling?” Phoebe inquired, looking worried when Holland returned to the living room.
“No, it was a friend of mine . . . a boy named Jonas. He’s going to come over and help us figure this out.”
“We don’t need help from a teenage boy. We need a sorcerer, a SWAT team, or a priest!” Holland’s mother was shivering and visibly upset.
A sudden popping sound drew Holland and her mother’s attention. They crept across the room and gaped down at the heap of fizzing remains that used to be Naomi.
“I should have warned Naomi. I feel so responsible for what happened to her.”
“It’s not your fault, hon.” Phoebe put an arm around her. “You have no reason to feel guilty.”
“Yes, I do! I knew there were vampires out there, but I never suspected her new boyfriend was a vamp,” Holland uttered in an anguished voice.
“And I never suspected Zac was a vampire. But now that we know, we have to call the police.”
“No!” Holland shook her head emphatically. “What can we tell them? That Naomi bit me and had a bad reaction to my blood? Mom, they’ll think we’re both psychotic. Or they’ll suspect that I killed my best friend. We can’t involve the police.”
“Well, what do you suggest, Holland? We have to call Naomi’s parents; they deserve the truth. As a parent, I know they’re probably worried sick, wondering where she is.”
“I’m not so sure about that. Naomi’s parents were supposed to be attending a formal fundraiser with Ryan’s parents—”
“Who’s Ryan?”
“The vampire kid that bit Naomi. I’m pretty sure his parents are vamps, too. And that means Naomi’s mom and dad have been bitten. We can’t reach out to them; they could be as dangerous as Naomi.”
No longer bubbling and spitting like hot lava, the pile of sludge on the living room floor seemed to have cooled off.
“We need to clean . . . uh . . . clean up Naomi.” Her mother’s voice cracked with emotion as she gazed at what was left of Holland’s best friend.
Midnight Cravings Page 19
