B008DSVE7O EBOK Read online

  “I don’t even know what day it is,” I said.

  “It’s Friday.”

  Okay, only two days had passed.

  “I don’t know your last name.”

  “Ward. My name is Benjamin Ward.”

  “Where are we?”

  “My home in Coral Gables.”

  “And where are my clothes?”

  Benjamin removed his arm from my waist and lifted my chin with his fingers so that I was looking up at him. I wanted to kiss him and snap his neck, all at the same time.

  “Ugh! I hate your stupid, sexy face.”

  Benjamin laughed. The melodic sound made me even angrier. His eyes, best described as “bedroom eyes” sparkled, and his face wrinkled in all the right places when he smiled.

  “My clothes?” I reminded him.

  “Yes, sorry about that. Your clothes were destroyed during the... incident.”

  “My little black dress? Really?”

  “I’ll buy you a new little, black dress,” he said.

  I pushed Benjamin away, throwing my hands up in outrage. “No, you won’t! I can buy my own things.”

  “See,” he said, rocking back on his heels, “the thing is… you are my responsibility now. I am obliged to share my wealth with you from now on.”

  “Well, no thank you,” I said, feeling insulted. Was he trying to buy me off? “I’m not some floozy barfly you picked up. I have a career and my own resources.”

  Benjamin looked at me apologetically and I felt my stomach sink.

  “What?” I asked.

  “As a vampire, you must sleep during the day and wake only at sundown.”

  “I can’t keep my job,” I said, plainly. Isn’t that my luck? Turns out that some legends were true.

  Benjamin rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Well?” I asked, trying to look as menacing as I possibly could in an AC/DC t-shirt.

  “Yes?” he asked, his eyebrows rising.

  “I don’t know. Don’t just stand there. Say something!”

  “In about a week, you’re going to start craving blood. You’ll need to start feeding on humans.”

  I was already pacing around the room, but I paused mid-step and turned to face him.

  “Eww! Are you kidding me? Wait, you know what? I don’t want to know. I’m leaving.”

  “You will need to drink blo—”

  “Stop right there. I don’t want to hear it!” I started for the door. I was going to walk home bare-assed, if necessary.

  “Olivia, wait,” Benjamin said, grabbing me by the shoulders.

  “Pants!” I demanded, staring down at my bare legs.

  He gripped my upper arm, his fangs descending. A warning that I’d better start paying attention.

  “Do you think this is what I wanted? Whether you or I like it or not, I’m responsible for you now. There are rules. I can’t just let you go out on your own. There are things you need to learn about being a vampire.”

  “Stop calling me a vampire,” I said, snapping my fist back and delivering a hard blow to his jaw.

  Benjamin went flying into the bedroom door. The wood splintered and cracked. Before he could get up, I lunged at him again. He was too fast. He grabbed me by the waist and swung me around, bringing me crashing to the floor. It was amazing how I felt no pain. Sure, I felt the force of it all, as well as the pressure, but not necessarily pain.

  Benjamin pressed his knees down against my thighs to keep me from getting up. He held my arms above my head. Eventually, I stopped struggling. He was right, I was stronger than I’d ever been, or thought I could be, but he was much stronger.

  “Pants. I want some pants, now.”

  “Are you going to relax and stop resisting?” Benjamin asked, his face hovering just a few inches above my own.

  “Yes,” I said, nodding slightly.

  “Clothes are in the top dresser drawer. I had to guess your size.” Benjamin pushed himself up from the floor. Offering me his arm, he pulled me up.

  “I’ll be in the living room when you are ready,” he said before closing the door behind him.

  I stared into the mirror, checking my teeth for pointy fangs. Remembering what it felt like when Benjamin sunk his teeth into my neck, I shuddered. My tongue slid against my perfectly straight teeth; and after deciding they looked exactly as they always had, I went about finding clothes.

  Of course, the clothes were beautiful. I sifted through the drawer, hoping for just a t-shirt and some sweats, but there were gorgeous pants and tops. I settled for a pair of painfully expensive blue jeans and a cornflower blue, sleeveless blouse. Somehow, he’d gotten my size four perfectly right. This man obviously had a good eye for fashion. The bedroom had its own private bathroom and I took the fastest shower known to man. After towel-drying my hair and dressing in my new clothes, I combed my hair into a low bun at the base of my neck, using a comb I found in the drawer.

  A new pair of strappy, casual sandals were waiting by the door, so I put those on as well. I was ready to leave the room and face the world as a vampire. Then, my courage fading, I crumbled to the bed. While my mother was alive, she tried to teach me many important virtues. Like, the importance of empathy; and how time always passes, so what’s important is how you spend that time. One of the most critical lessons she taught me, however, was that when life gets you down, when something terrible happens, it’s okay to cry. Only once, and for no longer than a minute. After that, you have to get over it and move on.

  So, I cried. When I was finished, I stood up, walked over to the bathroom, washed my face, and patted it dry with one of Benjamin’s thick, cotton towels. I took a deep breath (out of habit) and stared into the mirror.

  “So you’re a vampire... things could be worse, right?”

  Benjamin was waiting for me in the living room. From what I could see, his home was beautiful. I would have imagined a vampire’s residence to be dark and cold. On the contrary, Benjamin’s home was warm and comfortable. His furniture was exquisite, but utilitarian. At a quick glance, it appeared to be a one-story house with probably three bedrooms. The kitchen was off to the right, near French doors that led to a patio. There was a living room and dining room, and that was it—absolutely gracious, but not at all over the top. I already knew from the clothes I found in the room that he had good taste.

  Benjamin sat on the large, oversized, tan leather couch. Sitting so regally in his home, I was reminded of why I found him so attractive in the first place. It wasn’t just his face or his body, though that would certainly have been enough. It was the way Benjamin carried himself. It’s one thing to carry yourself as if you’re the living end, and it’s entirely another to carry yourself the way you do because you just can’t help it.

  Benjamin couldn’t help it.

  “Feeling better?” Benjamin asked.

  “Yes. Thank you for the clothes. Do you have my handbag?”

  He nodded, standing up from the sofa, carrying space and time along with him as he strode across the room. He opened a hall closet and retrieved my purse. Handing it to me, I looked for my cell phone. But realizing the battery had probably drained two days ago, I asked to use his phone.

  “Olivia, you shouldn’t leave. There is plenty of room for you here. I’m the only one who lives here.”

  I laughed. The same laugh that apparently only came out when I was speaking to Benjamin. “That’s exactly why I’m leaving. I can’t deal with you right now. You killed me. Do you get it? Do I need to be any clearer? I want to get away from you because you lured me to your hotel room, drank my blood, and turned me into a vampire. Call me a cab so that I can leave. Now.”

  “I’ll drive you,” he argued.

  I shook my head, and felt the anger rage within me. While Benjamin called a taxi, I wondered if becoming a vampire had heightened my temper somehow. Or, I was just that mad at him.

  Benjamin returned from the kitchen with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “I charged your phone, The
car will be here in ten minutes.”

  “Ten minutes?” That was unheard of for a cab in Miami.

  “It’s my own car service. It never arrives later than ten minutes.”

  “Your car service...”

  “Stop being difficult and use the car service.”

  “Difficult? How am I being difficult?”

  “By not allowing me to explain the general rules of being a vampire. I’m not supposed to just let you out on the world without ushering you into this new lifestyle. Contrary to movies, vampires are not usually made. You’re probably the newest vampire in the past hundred years.”

  Okay... so that was surprising.

  “You have ten minutes,” I said, sitting on the long sofa.

  “You will burst into flames if you’re out in the sunlight.”

  That sucks. “And you live in Miami, because?” I asked.

  “We’ll get to that later.”

  “Okay, what else?”

  “You will live forever so long as you do not catch a stake through the heart or get your head torn off.”

  “Why would anyone stab me through the heart or chop my head off?”

  “They would, and they will try.”

  “Who are they?”

  “Anyone and everyone in the history of the world who has ever felt threatened by the existence of vampires.”

  I planned to revisit that bullet point for further review. I couldn’t imagine anyone ever wanting to decapitate me. I was voted “Most Liked” in my senior yearbook.

  “Olivia, I know you don’t want to hear this, but you will have to drink human blood to survive.”

  And there was the dreadful truth.

  I cringed at the thought. “Honestly, Benjamin, I think maybe you did something wrong during the whole vampire conversion mumbo jumbo because I feel fine. I definitely do not feel like drinking anyone’s blood.”

  “You will. And when the craving kicks in, it will be unbearable. It’s best to get the first feeding out of the way before it turns into desperation.”

  “Ewww, feeding? Please don’t call it that.”

  “What would you have me call it, Olivia?”

  I scowled just as there was a knock at the door. I leapt from the sofa.

  “Can’t say it was nice knowing you, Benjamin,” I said, heading for the front door.

  Benjamin watched me from the living room. I opened the door and greeted the driver.

  “James,” Benjamin said, from the living room. “Please take Ms. Dahl anywhere she wants to go.”

  Of course, he knew my last name. He’d probably been through my purse.

  “Olivia,” Benjamin said as I walked out the door, “I’ve programmed my information in your phone. If you need me, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.”

  I left without a proper goodbye, and I wasn’t exactly about to thank him for his hospitality. There was a small, rational part of me that was well aware I wasn’t thinking clearly. I didn’t know the first thing about being a vampire. I just couldn’t deal with him at the moment.

  Frankly, I was hurt.

  Benjamin Ward was the most gorgeous man that had ever talked to me. I am the reigning queen of the fix-up date. Anyone that even mildly knows me has tried to fix me up at some point with his or her eligible male friend. Obviously, none of them panned out.

  And then came Benjamin, buying me a drink, speaking intelligently to me about business, music, and travel. I thought I hit the jackpot. It was all like some unbelievable fairytale. Lucky me, it was all just a ruse to get me alone and drink my blood. He drew a bead on me in that bar and I fell for it.

  James, the driver, held the door open for me and I gave him my address. The sleek, black town car was comfortable and I was pleased to be driven all the way downtown. I didn’t think I could muster up enough concentration to drive myself anywhere.

  As we left Coral Gables, I snuggled into the cushy leather seats. Once I opened my purse, I was surprised to find that indeed, my phone had been charged to full capacity. I had seven messages from work. I listened to the last one informing me that I had been fired. All it took was inexplicably missing two days of work without calling. There were two voice messages from Laura and about twenty text messages. Yes, calling Laura was number one on my list of things to do.

  Glass separated the back seat from the front seat. I wasn’t planning on telling Laura that I’d been turned into a vampire right away, but I wasn’t sure where the conversation was going to take me. Hell, for all I knew, James was a vampire too. Would I be able to spot fellow vampires?

  “Where the hell have you been?” Laura asked, her voice booming out of the phone.

  “Hi, nice to hear from you too.”

  “Seriously, Liv. I’ve called you a million times. I called you at work and I went to your apartment. I was two hours away from filing a missing person report. Okay? This shit is serious!”

  I leaned my head back against the seat. “Geez, Laura, I’m really sorry. I got food poisoning,” I lied. “I couldn’t even answer the phone or make it to the front door.”

  “Food poisoning?” she repeated. “You’re such an asshole, Liv. You could have called.”

  “I know and I’m sorry. I don’t think I’m ever going to get sick again, so you don’t have to worry about me. Ever. How about I buy you a drink? Meet me at my place in thirty-five minutes and we’ll walk to that bar that’s only a block over.”

  “Fine, but I’m getting something expensive.”

  “Yes, please! Something with the word 'tini' in it!” I said, desperate to reconnect with something normal in my life. Preferably, something with a heartbeat.

  “Bye, Laura.”

  “I’ll see you in thirty,” she responded, ending the conversation.

  We were already pretty close to downtown. The giant, brilliantly lit buildings were coming into focus. I scrolled the contact list in my phone until I found the name, BENJAMIN WARD (VAMPIRE).

  I had to laugh a little. “Not very subtle, are you?” I said to myself. He provided me with every possible way to get in contact with him. Cell phone number, house number, address, and e-mail. My thumb hovered over the DELETE button for fifteen seconds, just enough time for me to acknowledge that I might need him one day. I hoped that I wouldn’t. It was wrong to be so attracted to the man that, well, let’s face it... murdered me.

  Unfortunately, we hit traffic before making it into downtown. Laura was already waiting for me in the lobby of my building.

  When she saw me, she frowned.

  “You do look a little pale,” she said. “Pretty, but pale. Nice jeans.”

  “Thanks, they’re new.”

  “Come on up,” I said. “I need to check on the cat.”

  As we rode up the elevator, I crossed my fingers, hoping that my cat was not dead. It had been forty-eight hours since I’d fed him and I didn’t want to find his lifeless corpse in the bedroom.

  “How’s work?” Laura asked, after we entered the apartment.

  “Oh, right,” I said, dropping my keys on the counter. “Meowser? Here, kitty, kitty!” I walked into the living room, bracing myself for a morbid scene. “I quit my job, today.”

  Laura’s face scrunched up into one of mass confusion. “I didn’t know you got another job.”

  “I didn’t. I just, uh, didn’t like how they handled my being so sick. They weren’t, um, understanding of my needing a couple of days off. So, I quit.”

  “You got fired?”

  “Fired? Yes, I guess I did get fired. But only because I didn’t show up.”

  “That was stupid of you,” Laura said, astute as ever.

  “Not much I could do about it, I’m afraid.”

  Out of sheer habit, I breathed a sigh of relief when my cat came trotting in from the guest bedroom. The large Russian Blue looked as happy as ever; and not at all behaving like he hadn’t eaten in forty-eight hours. Meowser’s food dish and water bowl were still almost full. In the guest bathroom, it looked as thoug
h the litter had been scooped clean.

  “Laura,” I said, walking back into the living room. “You don’t have a key to my apartment. Do you?”

  “No, you never gave me one. Which had me thinking yesterday. We should have keys to each other’s apartments just in case one of us goes missing.”

  So if Laura wasn’t in my apartment...

  “Why are you looking for an antiques dealer?” she asked, poking around in my kitchen.

  I was putting on a fresh layer of lipstick before leaving. “A what?” I asked, gathering up my purse and keys from the living room.

  “This business card on your fridge,” she said, pointing.

  I walked to the fridge and got a look at the mystery business card for myself. I had a feeling about whose card it was.

  BENJAMIN WARD, ANTIQUES DEALER

  So, he’d been in my apartment, fed my cat, and scooped the litter. That last part, I had a hard time picturing. He probably hired someone to check in on my place.

  Well, I wasn’t about to thank him, that’s for sure.

  Three

  Neither Laura nor I had ever been to this particular bar, but it was within walking distance and I’d noticed the clientele growing in recent weeks.

  “Who names a bar, ‘The Pub’?” Laura asked, sitting on a high stool.

  “I’m sure the owners were trying to be clever.” Seeing the extensive beer and wine options behind the bar, I started to panic.

  Can I drink any of this stuff?

  I didn’t dare admit to myself just yet that I shouldn’t have ditched Benjamin.

  “I’ll have a glass of merlot, I guess,” I said, unsure. “House is fine.” There wasn’t any need to buy expensive wine until I was sure I could drink it.

  I took the first sip when Laura excused herself to the ladies’ room. I almost spat the stuff right out the moment it passed my lips. Yuck! Just to be sure, I ordered a new glass of a wine, one which I was sure I’d enjoyed in the past. Unfortunately, my experiment yielded the same result. The wine tasted repulsive to me. It was like drinking horrible cough medicine as a child. I didn’t want Laura to ask questions, so I forced myself to drink tiny-sip-by-tiny-sip.