Chapter Four
Kyra opened her eyes. It was morning judging by the strip of sunlight bleeding through the break in the curtains. She stretched her limbs, surprisingly not at all stiff. Her eyes focused on her surroundings – her bedroom. She sniffed. Something smelled wrong. Kyra couldn’t place it. She rubbed at her face, and sat up to give her room a once over.
Nothing seemed out of place though definitely messier than usual. Huh? Maybe Reina left some pizza crust behind and she’d find it when she cleaned up. Kyra sighed and pushed the blankets off, cleaning up sounded like a task for another day. Maybe embracing vacation wasn’t so bad after all? She popped out of bed with the sudden urge to pee. The reflection in her bathroom mirror stopped Kyra in her tracks.
“What the fuck?” Kyra clawed at her face, “what the fuck? What the fuck?” A brownish substance was caked around her mouth, down her throat and – holy hell – all over her clothes. Kyra flicked the water on and scrubbed at her face, scratched the residue with her nails until it came away from her skin. It was stubborn, whatever it was.
Kyra looked into the sink for some clue but instantly wished she hadn’t. Red tinted the water, angry and grotesque as it swirled down the edges of the white basin leaving watery streams behind. Kyra instantly recognized the foreign smell in her room. Everything clicked into place and she backed into the wall, and her hand flew to her neck where the twin bumps had once been. Now her skin felt smooth and supple under her fingertips.
“No.” Kyra protested to the empty bathroom. Shaking, Kyra moved toward the mirror and opened her mouth to examine her teeth. She clamped her mouth shut and collapsed on the floor. “No.” She whimpered into her hand. No possible way could this be happening. Kyra pinched her thigh. It didn’t hurt. For a minute, she believed in the dream, just a middle grade nightmare she could laugh about later with the girls.
She stood and leaned back over the sink and splashed cold water in her face. Kyra looked into the mirror and grinned. Her canine teeth were different, longer and pointed. Like fangs. She touched one with the tip of her finger, tapped at it with her nail. This had to be the most realistic dream ever. Kyra pinched her arm. Nothing. She peeked into her room but it looked the same as before. How do you wake up from something like this? Kyra flashed through her memories of all the cheesy movies she’d seen over the years but nothing seemed to jolt her awake.
Kyra’s cell phone rang and seriously diminished her hope of being trapped in a dream. She searched around her room and finally found her phone beneath the pile of pillows. Reina’s name flashed on the screen. Thank the Gods! “Rey! I need you.” Rey didn’t argue, just said she’d grab Bree and they’d be over in “two shakes.”
The idea of a dream world faded more with each passing minute. She remained confident that with Rey and Bree helping, it would all work out. Kyra took a deep breath and undressed, tossed the ruined clothes she’d worn the night before and slipped into the first comfy clothes she could find.
Her skin felt strange. Hell, who was she kidding, everything felt strange. Kyra could see every pore in her arm. She could hear Bree and Rey walking up the steps to her flat. They whispered their concerns about her but Kyra could hear every word. Maybe she was dreaming, just projecting what she thought her friends would say. Maybe. Kyra opened the door before they could knock and ushered her friends into the apartment.
“What’s going on?” Bree sputtered as she practically tripped over Reina when Kyra nudged her a little too hard.
How to start? Shit. What do you even say? Kyra stood there, staring at her friends while they sized her up, looking for an injury or some sign of insanity. She opened her mouth to speak, forgetting what sparked her whole issue to begin with. Bree and Reina gasped in mutual shock. Kyra slapped her hand over her mouth again – panicked.
“What the hell?” Bree broke the silence. “Kyra, did you get fangs?”
“No, where would she get fangs.” Reina argued back. “I hardly think that’s something you can get done on a whim.”
“Wait, what?” Distracted, Bree glanced at Reina. “Is that a thing?”
“Well, yeah. I met a guy once who had it done. He was into the whole vampire thing.” Reina’s head bobbed as she told the story. “I felt really bad for him when Twilight came out and ruined it all.”
“Huh. Weird.” Bree rolled her gaze back to Kyra, “so no to the cosmetic fangs. Come on, let me get a look at you.” She gestured for Kyra to sit on the couch. “Rey, open the curtains and get some light in here.”
Kyra flopped on the couch and opened her mouth. Bree knelt beside her, poised to examine. Light flooded the room as Reina pulled the curtains back.
“Let’s see. Open up, buttercup.” Bree peered into Kyra’s mouth and began poking around. “Holy shit! What the hell are those? What did you do last night?”
Kyra’s arm felt warm. Really warm. Too warm. It actually felt like the worst sunburn of her life and it seemed to be getting worse by the second. “My arm feels weird,” Kyra mumbled around Bree’s probing fingers. “It hurts.”
“Huh?” Bree withdrew her hands and pulled back.
Reina screamed. “Kyra! You’re on fire!”
Kyra leaped off the couch and ran to the kitchen. She jammed her arm under the faucet and turned the cold water on. Flames were indeed licking across the flesh of her arm, her hand already blistered and raw as Kyra extinguished the flames there first. Her friends gaped at her, horrified. What just happened?
“Kyra.” Bree formed the words carefully. “Your arm just caught on fire.”
“Yeah.” Kyra nodded numbly.
“How did your arm catch on fire?” Bree sounded like a little girl asking her mom about sex for the first time.
“I don’t know.” Kyra sighed. She thought things but couldn’t bring herself to say the words.
“I just opened the curtain and let the sun in.” Reina reasoned. “I don’t understand.”
“This can’t be happening.” Bree began to pace, her response of choice, counting off her observations on her slender fingers. “Kyra has been acting unusual. She apparently has non-cosmetically enhanced fangs. Her arm just caught fire when exposed to sunlight.”
“And I had blood all over my clothes and face this morning.” Kyra chimed in. Why not go hog wild with the facts while they were racking up the reasons to have her committed?
“You’re a fucking vampire. Is that what you’re saying?” Reina folded her arms over her chest, daring Kyra to deny it. She looked like a character in a movie with the sun at her back shining through her wild hair. This would be a movie moment if ever there was one. Kyra laughed. She couldn’t stop.
“What’s so funny?” Bree asked.
Kyra couldn’t respond. She fell back against the cabinets, clutching her stomach with her unwounded arm as she laughed. Kyra slid down the cabinets to the floor, laughing so hard her stomach ached. Bree and Reina peeked over the counter at her. Kyra looked up at them and laughed even harder. Her friends just stared at her, incredulous.
“K?” Reina tested as Kyra’s laughter subsided. “Are you okay?”
Kyra collected herself and wiped at her eyes. “I don’t think so.”
“Kyra?” Reina again.
“What?” Kyra hated the edge in her voice but couldn’t control it. “What am I supposed to say?”
“Kyra, your arm is healed.” Reina pointed at the arm that had been blistered and raw just moments ago. Now it was just a little pink, like a scar that hadn’t quite healed all the way.
“If this is some prank,” Bree swore, “I will never fucking speak to you again.”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?” Kyra looked up at her friends with a macabre grin, baring her new fangs.
“Are we seriously talking about Kyra being a vampire?” Bree sounded skeptical. “I mean, maybe she has been acting unusual lately but I’m sure everything can be explained.”
“Right. Like, she’s a blood-sucking, super strong, can’t-be-in-the-sun,
creature of the night.” Reina argued. “Come on, she’s not kidding with us, Bree. It seems silly to deny the most obvious answer.”
“No way.” Bree fought back. “Vampires are fiction, myths or legends at best. They do not exist.”
“Look at her, B.” Reina replied. “Let’s just accept what we know and go from there.”
“I’m right here.” Kyra grumbled. “And I can’t think of a better explanation as much as I hate to admit it.”
“You are not a vampire.” Bree bit out her denial.
“What if I am?” Kyra muttered and hung her head again. “This can’t be happening. I mean really?”
Bree settled on the floor beside her, looping her arm around Kyra’s shoulders. “I don’t know what’s happening, but I know that we will figure it out. ‘Kay?”
“Hell, yeah we will.” Reina settled on Kyra’s other side. “It’s about time you fly a freak flag like the rest of us.” She curled up and rested her head on Kyra’s shoulder. “You aren’t going to bite us, are you?” Reina whispered.
Kyra frowned. “I don’t know what the hell is going on but no, I don’t feel the urge to bite you or anything like that. God! Really?”
“Hey, I don’t want to become allergic to the sun - I look terrible without a tan.” Reina smirked as Kyra and Bree shot her daggers. “What? Kyra’s the only one who can laugh about this? Come on. I’m just trying to wrap my mind around it. I mean, my best friend is a vampire. It sounds like a cheesy teen flick.”
“My Best Friend is a Vampire.” Kyra mumbled. “Catchy. Who do you think would play me?”
“Hmmmmm….that’s a tough one.” Reina tapped her fingers on Kyra’s thigh. “Maybe that girl who plays the new Wonder Woman? She’s hot.”
“Too tan.” Kyra shot back. “I think my golden bronze days are over.”
“Will you two be serious?” Bree snapped. “Kyra is not a vampire. I am sure there is a perfectly logical explanation for all of this.”
“What am I supposed to think?” Kyra shrugged. “If the shoe fits, wear it, right?”
“No.” Bree jumped up and scolded. “No, I will not listen to this. I can’t believe you are just going to give up and pretend you are a vampire.”
“Would it really be so bad? I mean, we usually go out at night anyway. And what am I supposed to do?” Reina looked up, but nuzzled closer to Kyra, “pretend that this isn’t happening? Act like I didn’t just watch her arm catch on fire in the sunlight and then completely heal in a few minutes? Come on, Bree, I think it’s better if we just accept what’s in front of us and figure out how to deal with it.”
“Maybe he can fix me.” Kyra didn’t realize she’d spoken her thoughts aloud at first.
“What? Who?” Reina pulled back and looked at her quizzically.
“Him. The guy who did this.” Kyra sighed. “It was the guy at the club, the one I left with the other night. It had to be him.”
“Whoa.” Reina nodded. “He’s hot.”
“Like that matters.” Bree rolled her eyes.
“It always matters.” Reina chastised.
“What exactly do you think he did to you, Kyra?” Bree still clearly sought an alternative answer.
“Duh.” Reina rolled her eyes now. “He bit her and made her a vampire like him. Remember the two bumps? Now we know what they were! Come on, B, how many vampire movies have we watched?”
“This isn’t a movie.” Bree glared. “This is reality and I just don’t believe that Kyra is a vampire or that some guy from a club made her one after a one-night stand. It’s ridiculous.”
“Seems about my luck, doesn’t it?” Kyra pushed off the ground. “There was a good reason I gave up the party life and turned in my toga.”
“This clearly is not the same thing.” Reina responded softly. “But I understand.”
“But it is the same thing, isn’t it?” Kyra argued. “I got out of control at a party, had a one-night stand and nearly messed up my whole life. Only this time I succeeded.”
“A lot of women go through what you went through. Everything turned out alright then and it will be okay now.” Reina coaxed. She touched Kyra lightly on the arm. “We were there for you for all of it.”
“This is different.” Kyra responded levelly.
“Maybe a little.” Reina shrugged, “but we are here to help you through and we’ll figure out just like we always do. Have a little faith.”
“Okay almighty optimistic one, what do we do?” Kyra mocked.
“I don’t know. Planning is not my thing, I’m just the cheerleader and sometimes minion.” Reina grinned.
“You said the guy at the club did this to you?” Bree interjected.
“Yeah, had to be him.” Kyra nodded.
“Then, let’s start with him.” Bree squared her shoulders. “We’ll confront him at Blade tonight.”
“I already tried that.” Kyra hung her head, ashamed. “I went to the club last night after what happened at – holy shit! I made a scene at the restaurant last night! I am so sorry!”
“Oh, honey, you’re already forgiven.” Reina threw her arms around Kyra. “Besides, I would have paid to see you punch that bitch, Heidi. I wish you could have seen her face after you broke it.”
“Can we back up to Kyra going to Blade last night?” Bree face wore that disapproving expression that they both hated. “We’ll discuss the scene at the restaurant later.”
“I went. They let me in. I confronted him. He denied it and told me to get the hell out and never come back.” Kyra summed up the highlights and left out her attraction to the man.
“We’re going back tonight.” Bree’s eyes flashed. “We’ll figure this out, whatever he did to you, we’ll get answers.”
“Yeah.” Reina beamed. “We’ll make that hot piece of ass talk to us one way or another. Or,” she added deviously, “at least Bree can get something out of the sexy lady manager!”
Bree glared at Reina. “Har. Har.”
“What? We need answers and I bet that platinum blonde waif would spill the beans after a few short minutes with you, B.” Reina purred. “You’ve got mad skills.”
Chapter Five
“You can do this, Kyra.” Reina nudged her lightly in the ribs with her elbow. “We’re right here with you.”
Kyra surveyed the outside of the club as she stood there, arm in arm with her two best friends, just like they had a few nights prior. But everything seemed different now. Hell, everything was different. The club looked less uniform than it had the other night. The developer had not done as good of a job restoring the warehouse as she’d thought, there were sections that were definitely made of new brick and mortar that she hadn’t noticed before.
It sounded different. She could hear the buzz of the neon lights over the thumping techno of the club inside. Most importantly, as Kyra stood flanked by her best friends, the club smelled different. A mixture of sweat and sex and most alluring, blood. She still didn’t feel the need to bite her friends, not even when Reina leaned over her to put the finishing touches on her makeup.
Not even when they rode together, smashed into the back seat of the cab, so close that she could not just smell her friends’ blood, but feel their pulses. Hello, weird world of newbie vampires, thy name is Kyra Donovan. She smirked at her inner commentary as the trio approached the VIP entrance.
“You’ll have to wait in line.” The gruff dismissal of the linebacker sized bouncer drew a haughty sigh from Reina.
“We didn’t have to wait before.” She pouted flirtatiously with the mountain of a man.
The bouncer avoided making eye contact as if expecting the attempt and fearing he’d succumb to it. “I wasn’t here before, I am now. You wait with the rest.”
Bree started to lead Kyra and Reina toward the long line of faceless wannabes when a somewhat familiar voice intervened. “Wait. Let them through.” Kyra peered around the meaty gatekeeper to find Liv peeking out the door at them. She winked at Kyra and opened the door wider.
The bouncer bowed his head to the tiny woman and allowed Kyra and her friends to pass. She thanked Liv as they scuttled past her into the club. Liv caught up with her, took her by the arm, and led the way to the VIP room. Kyra tried to ask questions on the way but Liv ignored her. Once safely inside the quieter sub-room, Liv finally responded. “He’s at his usual table. I’ll keep your friends company but you’re going to have to keep it low key. I don’t want to be repairing any more walls.”
“Fair enough.” Kyra nodded her assent and made for the back table. She glanced back once to see Liv engaged in conversation with Bree. Reina had been right after all.
“I told you not to come back.” His words drifted across the room before she’d even made it to his table.
She slid into the booth across from him. “I guess I don’t listen very well.”
“You should have listened this time.” He glared at her, lips barely moving.
Kyra had a flash memory of what those lips felt like, a shiver went down her spine. Dammit, keep cool she thought. “You did this to me.” Kyra accused. She dug her nails into her palms to settle her electrified body. “You at least owe me some answers.”
“I owe you nothing.” His jaw clenched.
“You did this to me,” Kyra repeated. She tried desperately to remember what she’d practiced with Reina. It was hard to think with him so close.
“No, I didn’t.” He countered, “just because you got mixed up with some bad people who apparently did things to you does not mean you can come in here and accuse me of being the villain.”
“There’s been only you, asshole.” Kyra felt her anger flare and struggled to get a handle on it. What the hell was going on with her emotions?
“Trouble handling your feelings, girlie?” His words were filled with mirth. She loved the way his eye danced, crinkled in the corners as he tried to suppress his amusement.
“What did you do to me?” Kyra attempted another approach.
He took a gulp from his glass and gestured to the bar for more. “Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that I did something to you. What is it that you think I did?”
Bitten By The Bad Boy: A Bad Boy Vampire Romance Page 4
