Dead Man's Curves (BBW Vampire Paranormal Erotic Romance) [KOBO ED]

by Ava Lore

  "I wouldn't try standing up for a while," the vampire said. "Blood loss."

  The vampire. He was still here? Chloe whipped her head around and saw the vampire standing on the edge of the roof a few yards behind her. Still as a statue, he gazed out onto the quad. His breath left no trace in the air.

  What were they doing on the roof? “I thought you were going to suck my blood and leave me glamored,” Chloe complained. “At least that way I would still be having a shitty day instead of a disastrous one.”

  Very slowly the vampire turned his head and regarded her thoughtfully. “You didn't seem to think it disastrous when you were mewling in my arms like a virgin taking her first lover,” he said.

  His voice was smooth and calm, as though he hadn't been just as willing a participant in the proceedings. Chloe blushed, or would have if she'd had enough blood left to do so.

  Ooh, she thought as the universe decided to do a lazy somersault. I need to eat something. She briefly closed her eyes and tried to catch her breath.

  “The world has changed,” the vampire continued. “You have been... vocal about my deficiencies and, in fact, seem personally offended by them. Therefore I will make amends by allowing you to assist me in re assimilating.”

  He was joking. He had to be, right? She should make sure. “Are you joking?” Chloe asked.

  “No.”

  Oh.

  “But... you bit me,” she said.

  “Yes,” he replied. “And you liked it.”

  She couldn't exactly argue with that. The memory of the hot suck of his mouth at her breast, a profane and dirty perversion of the nourishment her ample tits could provide, made her breath hitch as what little blood she had left left her brain and traveled to the far nicer destination between her legs.

  “Cars seem commonplace,” he said abruptly, either oblivious to her thoughts or ignoring her suddenly doubled heart rate. “Do you own one?”

  Chloe hesitated for a moment, then nodded slowly. The motion didn't set the world spinning again, though it did slosh about a bit. It was manageable.

  “Good. Where is it?”

  Frowning, she tried to remember. “It's... behind Gilcrest Hall.” At his blank look she pointed across the quad to the humanities building. “There.”

  “Thank you.” He tossed something through the air. It landed with a crunch in the gravel in front of her. Her purse.

  “Where did you get that?” Chloe demanded.

  “I carried you through the building until someone stopped me and asked me what I was doing. I told them you were drunk and I was taking you home.”

  Chloe went cold. “You what? You... you motherfucker!”

  In the dim light, the vampire's eyebrows rose so high they were in danger of wandering off his face and into the jungle of his hair. “Such language.” He tsked.

  Chloe wasn't listening. She staggered to her feet and swayed, suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to cry. “You motherfucker,” she said again. “My job was the only thing I had going for me. I'm going to get fired.”

  The vampire shrugged, as though to say this was not his problem. “The young woman gave me your handbag. And a drink.” The smirk on his face told Chloe that he probably hadn't had a glass of water.

  “Holy fuck,” she said. “Just... god dammit. And how did you get past whoever it was dressed like that?”

  “With your blood I was able to muster my powers of suggestion again. She was amenable.”

  Chloe felt like she was going to throw up. “You dragged my unconscious body around and then sexually assaulted someone else while I was there?”

  The vampire sniffed, offended. “I did not assault her, sexually or otherwise. I merely accepted a drink freely given. She was not as wanton as you. Now, we must go if we are to make use of the night available to us.”

  Chloe grit her teeth. How had she thought he was hot? He was a monster. A very very pretty monster with nice hands, but a monster all the same. “I'm not going anywhere with you.”

  “Yes,” the vampire said. “You will.”

  He blinked out of existence and almost instantly reappeared in front of her. Chloe let out a shriek, but his arms were already snaking around her and with a quick, sharp tensing of his muscles, he launched them into the air.

  Chloe's stomach dropped through the soles of her shoes and if she'd had anything in her stomach she would have thrown it up. Maybe that would have disgusted the vampire enough to leave her alone. Or drop her.

  So... probably a bad idea anyway.

  The world slipped away from them as the vampire rose effortlessly through the sharp night air. Maneuvering like a bird of prey in mid-flight, the vampire angled them over the buildings, in the direction she had pointed, as below them the golden-lit quad turned and tossed like a restless dreamer. Chloe squeezed her eyes shut and clung to the vampire for dear life. She heard him chuckle, a dark, throaty sound, over the whistle of the wind in her ears.

  Just as abruptly as they rose, they began to fall, and her heart hit the roof of her mouth. She had no control over her body, her fingers digging into the vampire's clothes as she scrabbled for purchase, but the ancient fibers crumbled and disintegrated the harder she clung to him, vanishing into clouds of golden dust against the black autumn night.

  Then, gently, they slowed in their descent, like an elevator reaching the bottom floor, and the vampire touched down behind the humanities building, Chloe still firmly molded to his body which was distinctly more naked than before. Pale, matte skin shone through the ever-expanding holes in his fine suit, the linen shirt beneath it wearing away in tatters. The dark ascot knotted around his throat was the only thing that seemed to retain any sort of solidity, a morbid hangman's noose remaining while all else fell away.

  He looked very much like the classical vampire of 18th century literature—a reflection of Lord Byron, with shades of Carmilla and Dracula in the sensuous and hedonistic tinge of red to his lips—than the grotesque ghoul that most traditional folklore described. Part of her found this to be an utterly fascinating piece of information. The other part of her just wanted to run and hide beneath one of the cars like a skittish cat.

  She didn't, but only because she knew the vampire was extremely strong. He'd probably just lift the car up and scold her for running away. He seemed like that kind of guy.

  The vampire set her on her feet where she swayed. He placed a hand on her lower back to steady her, and she fought the urge to arch her spine into his touch.

  "Where is your vehicle?" he asked.

  Swallowing, Chloe looked around. "There." She dug the key fob out of her purse and pressed the button. The car's lights flashed and the alarm beeped. Next to her, she felt the vampire go very still. Perhaps he was startled. He must have died earlier than the fifties. Thirties, perhaps, or even earlier.

  Why wake up now, though?

  He gave her no time to contemplate this, instead recovering in the space of a second. "Let us go." The hand on her back gently but firmly urged her forward and, not knowing what else to do, Chloe did as he bade. Her mind raced as they walked toward the car.

  She had to get away from him. That much was obvious. He'd already sucked her blood, and given his surprising reaction to her she didn't think he would stop at just sticking his fangs into her... even at her protest. If she protested, but she wasn't going to think about that.

  So what were his weaknesses? What had she read about vampires that could be used against him? She already knew that he could use glamour, that he could fly—or something very akin to it—that he needed darkness rather than daylight, that he drank human blood and had fangs and didn't sparkle. Did he need an invitation to come inside a residence? Did a car count as a residence now that she was homeless? There was only one way to find out.

  They reached her car, an early twenty-first century econobox that had carried her quite faithfully through high school, college and into her glamorous career as a librarian. She had only unlocked the driver's side door, so when s
he reached it she let herself in as he traveled to the other side.

  Could she lock him out? Escape? The thought entered her mind unbidden, and for a moment she hesitated.

  Then the sound of metal screaming under pressure jerked her back to reality. Whipping her head around she saw the vampire opening the still-locked passenger-side door.

  So much for resale value.

  "Stop!" she yelled and mashed the power lock. The vampire had the decency to look contrite as he lowered himself to the seat and settled in, and she shoved away the hope that the car—her only residence as of seven fifteen this morning—could stave off the vampire. It either didn't count as a home or he didn't need an invitation. Chewing on her lip, Chloe shoved the keys into the ignition and turned the car on.

  "Where are we going?" she said, her voice clipped. Best to just get things over with and hope he didn't want another snack, though at that thought memories of just how much she'd liked the first snack flared in her head and, cheeks glowing with humiliation, Chloe shoved them away and buckled her seat belt.

  "You said I need clothes," the vampire told her. "Take me somewhere where I may purchase them."

  Chloe threw the car into reverse and pulled out of her parking spot before peeling out of the parking lot with the squeal of rubber on asphalt. A part of her hoped she could scare the vampire into getting out of the car and leaving her alone, but he was unperturbed by her recklessness, and after a minute or two they made it off campus and Chloe reluctantly slowed down. Death probably removed a lot of the mundane fears humanity had to live with, she reflected. Like dying. He probably wasn't scared of that.

  As they drove and Chloe tried to think of a place where she could take him, she studied him from the corner of her eye, telling herself she was looking for a weakness. If she found one, good. If she didn't... well, looking never hurt anyone, right?

  His profile was, if anything, even more striking than his face full on. His strong nose jutted out with confidence, his chin a craggy outcropping in a face that was all high cheekbones and smooth, classical planes. The dark, glossy hair hanging around his forehead and ears took on a golden sheen in the glow of the passing streetlights, and his eyes watched everything passing by the window with alert interest as though he were cataloging each change in the world and filing it away for later.

  Chloe could appreciate that. She did the same thing. Except for today. Today everything had been thrown off balance. The vampire, now that the initial shock of him had worn off, had been the least of it, honestly. He followed rules. She didn't know what they were yet, but she knew they were there. If she could discover them, she could use them. It was comforting.

  After they had been five minutes in the car the awkwardness was unbearable. The campus—Sendhurst College in rural Iowa—was situated in a small town that was essentially the college, a collection of farms, bars, strip clubs and a heavy equipment manufacturing plant. The local Walmart—the only place that could even hope to be open at nine o'clock on a Thursday night—was fifteen minutes down the local two lane highway. The vampire's silence was that of... well, there was no polite way to put this: of the grave. He didn't move and didn't breathe. Only the jostling of the car over the bumps and dips of the ill-maintained highway lent him movement. His clothes were still falling apart, shedding dust all over her car's interior, and it was going to be a long, long drive if they didn't talk.

  "So do you have a name?" she blurted finally.

  The vampire stirred from his stillness, turning his head very deliberately to look at her. "Of course I do," he said. He fell silent.

  "You want to tell me what it is?" Chloe said.

  "I don't mind. You didn't ask what it was," the vampire replied. Ah. Pedantic as well as a meticulous observer. Despite herself, she found herself warming up to him. Dammit. "My name is Gabriel."

  Mm. Gabriel. Of course. He looked like an angel. Why not have an angel's name? "It's nice to meet you, Gabriel," Chloe said, and it was only half a lie. "My name is Chloe Banks."

  "Charmed," the vampire replied. The word buzzed like a plucked cello string in his throat, and Chloe tried not to think about how delicious it sounded.

  Predator, she reminded herself. He's a predator. You are the prey. Stop getting hot and bothered over a reanimated corpse.

  If only said reanimated corpse didn't have such pretty eyes. Hands. Eyes and hands. And legs.

  Chloe tore her gaze away from him and focused on the dark, unlit highway ahead of her. “Where have you been for the past... eighty years?”

  “What year is it?”

  “Twenty thirteen.”

  “One hundred and one years,” he said. “Where have I been for the past one hundred and one years, you mean. And the answer is, rotting in a hole in the ground.”

  Chloe tried not to show her surprise, but she couldn't help but inhale sharply. A hundred and one years? He'd been buried in nineteen twelve? The same year the Titanic went down, she remembered.

  Well. That sort of answered one question: if he'd been shut away for a hundred years, then he was clearly suffering from an extended case of blue balls and the first vaguely female thing he found had set off his long-dormant cock. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course he wasn't attracted to her, he was just glad to find pussy.

  Why did that thought hurt so much?

  She shoved it away and tried to focus on the matter at hand. Which was... oh yes. A hundred years. “If I may ask, why, uh, did you take such an extended leave of absence?”

  “It wasn't my choice.” His voice snapped like whip. “I was betrayed. And now that I have been freed, I will seek my vengeance. After procuring suitable clothes, of course.”

  Whoah, Chloe thought. Common plot device—actual occurrence? It wasn't surprising that a small community of superhumanly powerful immortals would have a bit of drama to keep the centuries interesting. She filed away this tidbit. “Who betrayed you?”

  The vampire was silent, and when she stole a look at him from the corner of her eye she saw, in the dim light from the dashboard, that his rock-hard jaw pulsed with his clenching teeth.

  That was probably a sore spot. Perhaps she should tread lightly.

  Too bad I'm not built for treading lightly, Chloe thought, but she shut up anyway.

  They drove the next ten minutes in silence, and when Chloe finally pulled into the Walmart parking lot she was feeling woozy with tension and bloodloss. Maybe she could grab some apple juice and some crackers or something...

  She looked over at the vampire and tried to think through the wooziness. He sat in her car staring at the huge megastore out of her car window. He was turned away from her so she couldn't see his face, but if the set of his shoulders was any indication he was feeling no small measure of trepidation. He was also more naked than before. His clothes hung from him in ribbons.

  Chloe rallied her braincells. “Um,” she said. “Do you have any money?”

  He turned and looked at her, his eyes lost in shadow. “No. You will be buying my clothes.”

  She scowled at him. “I don't think so,” she said. “I don't have a lot of money.”

  “Nevertheless, you will purchase clothing for me.”

  “Excuse me, I just said I wouldn't.”

  They stared at each other in the dark.

  “Chloe,” he said finally, speaking slowly and distinctly as if she were deaf, “you will procure clothing for me. You will do it now.”

  Irritation flared. “I just said I wasn't going to, dammit. If you don't have another plan... oh.” Realization dawned as he went that curious corpse-stillness that she was starting to recognize as surprise. “Oh, you were trying to glamour me.”

  “Yes,” he said. He did not sound happy. “It did not work. Obviously.”

  Interesting. “Am I immune?” she asked eagerly. Another point of data she could file away.

  “No one is immune,” the vampire said, but he sounded unsure.

  Chloe, for her part, thrilled with glee
at the thought. I'm special! Take that, James and Jenny, you jerks. “Ooooh, this is an interesting twist of events,” she said, unable to help herself. “Am I now the mysterious heroine of our story, no longer the hapless vampire victim, unable to resist the charms of a bloodsucking monster from beyond the grave?”

  “I beg your pardon,” the vampire said stiffly. “I take issue with that characterization. And you are still unable to resist my charms.”

  And to prove his point, he flowed across the space between them and kissed her.

  Chloe didn't realize what was happening fast enough to escape, and, well, there was the issue that she probably didn't really want to escape. When his ice cold lips landed on hers, she inhaled sharply, but didn't have the presence of mind to pull away.

  Her eyes slipped closed. Chill invaded her, but it was a strange sort of cold, the kind that burned as well as numbed. His hands had fastened in her hair, holding her in a firm, unyielding grip, and as his lips worked against hers the same sweet euphoria of his bite began to invade her body.

  Any thoughts she may have had of escaping dissipated with the sensation of his kiss. His mouth was commanding, dominant, but instead of just taking what he wanted, as he had in the library, he teased and coaxed her lips with his, slowly persuading them to open before him. When they did, his tongue, cool and strong, slipped between her teeth and brushed against hers, a light, sweet question.

  Let me in?

  Oh, Chloe thought, yes, please.

  His tongue in her mouth was like nothing she had ever known before. It didn't feel like an invading body; it felt like it belonged there. The stroke of his tongue against her own was insistent but gentle, and she caught a whiff of something metallic. He tasted of blood and wine and fresh-turned earth. Logic flew out the window as she reached out and found his rock-hard body in the dark cramped car. Her fingers curled through his disintegrating clothes, pulling and tugging. They came away easily, revealing smooth, cold skin to her touch.