DISCLAIMER ! ! !
Here I share with you my collection of erotic stories in my keeps. Also can be found at
The contents is 100℅ not from me, but just added some local flavours to enhance the story.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used. All fictional characters are of 18 years of age or older and consenting adults.
The following story contains mature themes, strong language, and sexual situations. It is intended for adult readers.
ADULT CONTENT
FOR ADULTS 18 YEARS AND OLDER
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CHAPTER ONE
I never thought I’ll be dating a vampire. I never even considered it. Of course, up until a few weeks ago, I had believed that vampires were as mythic as the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. That was, until the day I met one, or more accurately, collided with one. It happened in broad daylight on a crowded sidewalk. I had been running late getting back to work from my lunch hour and smashed right into him, dumping my venti, double, non-fat, soy, vanilla latte all over his shirt. I did had it prepared extra-hot (I like my coffee sweet and searing) and he’d jumped back about a foot, holding his dampened shirt away from his skin, like I did just poured molten lava down the front of him. No, nothing about our first encounter made me think he was supernatural in the slightest. That revelation came much later and it shook me to my core. Now I’m starting to wonder about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus…anything is possible.
Apologising profusely on the outside, and cursing silently at the loss of my afternoon pick-me-up on the inside, I shoved my card in his face and told him I’d pick up the dry cleaning bill – his white (of course) button-up shirt and khaki pants had looked expensive, and I was sure he was going to call me and demand that I replace them, for surely my sweet, yummy ruined coffee would never fully escape that once pristine shirt.
I worried about his phone call when I got back to work. Sometimes, like today, I have a lot of time to worry at my job. I’m an executive administrative assistant’s assistant. In other words, I’m the secretary’s secretary. In other words, I’m the gofer who gets all the piss-ass jobs the secretary doesn’t want. I work for a prosperous local accounting firm, so my job involved a lot of paperwork - filing, faxing, copying…daydreaming. While I worried, I hoped one of my assignments today would involve a coffee run for my boss, so I had an excuse to grab another one for myself; an hour after lunch, I could feel my eyelids drooping as I went through stacks of financial documents. It was in this near catatonic state that the phone rang, and I automatically answered with my comatose voice. “Neilson, Sampson and Peterson.” I really hated how the firm name rhymed. “This is Emma, how can I help you?”
A cool voice answered me, “Is this the Emma that dumped her coffee all over my shirt?”
My heart started beating faster as I pictured the surely irate man on the other end. I tried to remember what he’d looked like, but I was drawing a blank, the incident overshadowing his face, although, I thought I remembered dark hair and tan skin. “Yes…I’m so sorry about that. Do you have a bill for me already?” I twirled the phone cord in my fingers and waited for the surely exorbitant figure he was going to spout at me.
He laughed, which took me by surprise. “No, don’t worry about the bill.” I wondered why he was calling, if he wasn’t interested in repayment. I hadn’t wondered long. “I was just thinking…you gave up all your coffee for my shirt, maybe I could buy you another?”
That took me back a step. Did he seriously just ask me out? “Um…sure, I guess.”
“Great. What time are you off work?”
It was at this point, that I had the briefest moment of ‘you’re agreeing to meet someone who could be a serial killer’ panic. If I’d only known… Quickly pushing that fear aside as irrational, I said, “Five.”
“Want to meet at the same place? I’ll have another venti, double, non-fat, soy, vanilla latte waiting for you…extra hot, of course.” He laughed a little at the end of that.
I blinked and stared blankly at the prosaic wall of my cubicle. “Sounds great…I’ll see you then.” I hung up the phone and only then realized that I’d never asked his name. I’d been too caught off guard by the fact that he knew what my drink was – exactly what my drink was. That was my first hint that something was not quite right with this man. It was not my last.
When I met him after work, and he greeted me at the door (in a non-coffee stained light green shirt) with my perfectly recreated drink, he seemed as normal as they come…not vampiric at all. He was around six feet tall, medium athletic build, black hair in a traditional “guy” cut, a lovely shade of sky blue eyes, the ‘I don’t really care about my looks, but I care about my looks’ perfectly light, facial stubble, and a delightful smile, with perfect (and normal) white teeth. Nothing odd about him at all - no fangs, no clammy, pale skin, no Slavic accent, and no aversion to crosses (I’d been wearing one). If I’d been expecting to meet a vampire that day, I would have been highly disappointed.
As it was, I had only been expecting to meet a possibly irate man, so the attractive gentleman before me was a very pleasant surprise. He held his hand out to me in greeting; it had been as warm as any other man’s hand. “Emma? Emma Taylor?” I nodded and he smiled. “Hello, I’m Teren. Teren Adams.”
I blinked. His name was the oddest thing about him. “Teren? That’s…unusual.”
He laughed a little as he handed me my coffee. It was a delightful sound, slightly husky. “You should meet my parents…then you’d understand.” He grinned oddly, like he’d just said something funny, that I wasn’t supposed to understand. And at the time, I hadn’t. At the time, I hadn’t noticed anything beyond how incredibly sexy my surprise date was.
He grabbed his coffee from a nearby table and led me to a couple of comfortable chairs in the back. I think we spent two hours in that coffee shop before deciding we were hungry, and moving to a nearby restaurant for a nice dinner. We both ate. We both had wine. We shared a light dessert, along with hours of pleasant conversation. As he drove me back to my car at the coffee shop, the only thoughts I had about him were pleasant, and as he kissed me good night, maybe a couple naughty ones too.
There was nothing at all that made me think he was anything other than an interesting human guy, that I had literally run into. We saw each other pretty steadily over the next few weeks, and I grew more and more attracted to him. Of course, I did notice oddities, but then, everyone has oddities and truly, vampirism was the last thing I’d suspected. But I did notice that he was strong. He once nearly pulled my front door off the hinges, and it had appeared to rattle him as much as it did me. With a nervous laugh, he’d explained it away as an adrenaline rush from my mere presence. Yeah…I had gagged a little at that too.
He also had disturbingly good hearing. I could whisper our conversations into the phone at work (so as to not get caught by my dried-up old shrew of a boss), and he’d hear every word perfectly. He said he had an Aunt that had been traumatized as a child and spoke very softly, so he was used to it. Uh-huh, sure.
And at times, he was faster than someone ought to be. He’d be running late in meeting me, and then end up there before me. He’d explained that as hitting all the lights just right. I’d have believed that more, if he hadn’t been biking and I’d been driving.
But then, one day…I saw his fangs. Those were a little harder for him to explain away.
We were on his couch. His long, white, comfortable, leather, sit down and you never want to get up again couch. Only we weren’t sitting. We were lying. We were kissing. And if I had my way, tonight we weren’t stopping at second base - we were rounding home; I’d never imagined dating a guy who wanted to go slow, but he’d been procrastinating on this issue for awhile now. He was an excellent kisser, with the kind of kisses you could feel all the way to the bottom of your toes. His tongue was caressing mine and mine caressed his right back, and then it happened.
“Ow!” I pulled away and put a finger to my tongue that felt like it had just been stuck by a needle. I pulled my finger away and a small trace of blood was on it.
He immediately flew off of me, standing a ways from the couch, his hand pulling on his upper lip, effectively hiding his mouth in a nonchalant way. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long day. Maybe I should give you a ride home now.”
Still hoping for that home run, I shook my head. “No, I’m fine. It’s still light out and I’m not the least bit tired.” We’d gone out to dinner earlier at a nice Italian restaurant, and had come back to watch a movie on his big screen with a glass of wine…and promptly started making out instead, the movie playing in the background, all but forgotten. “Come back here and keep kissing me…” I raised my eyebrows suggestively, but he was having none of it.
His hand still hiding his mouth, he said, “I really do have an early day…rain check?”
Now I got up and walked over to where he was standing in the middle of his spacious living room. “You said you weren’t working tomorrow? What are you doing?” I tried to keep my tone light and airy, but he was disturbing my nightly plans…again. I’d even stuffed my toothbrush, a tank top, flip-flops and a pair of easily stretchable yoga pants, in my overly large purse (darn near a satchel), just in case our date turned into an impromptu overnight visit.
He rubbed his lip and I could see the gears turning in his head. That made me suspicious…that made me mad. “Teren…what are you hiding from me?” My tone shifted to definite irritation.
He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, looking very uncomfortable and oddly embarrassed. “Nothing. I have to…go to my parents’ place tomorrow morning, that’s all.” His pale eyes were giving me the ‘just believe me’ look, and I wasn’t.
“Your parents…really.” I exhaled deeply and straightened my tight skirt and the red, lacy top that clung to my curves appreciatively (I was attempting to score, after all). I shook my head, causing my brown locks to bounce around my shoulders. “Is there a reason you don’t want to have sex with me? I thought most men were all gung-ho for that, but we’ve been dating for weeks and…nothing.”
I could see his jaw drop under the hand still over his mouth and his eyes widened. “I…of course I want-"
“Would you stop talking through your hand!” I jerked it away from his mouth and we both stared at each other in shock.
His mouth had been open from speaking, and his fangs were perfectly visible, and to me – perfectly new. I’d seen his mouth plenty of times. I’d run my tongue along those teeth plenty of times. I sure as heck had never seen inch long canines on him before. At first, I didn’t make the connection. I thought he’d slipped them in as a joke. Because really, how often in real life do you see something weird and automatically think – vampire! The brain will always go for the rational explanation first.
“What the hell? Are you role-playing with me?” I cocked an eyebrow and looked at him cautiously. “Because, I’m not into the whole Anne Rice fantasy.”
He shut his mouth and blushed. That’s right, he blushed. “No…I’m not playing.”
“Then what? You had a sudden…dental emergency?” I scrunched my brow, still trying to understand what I was seeing.
He laughed a little, which at the moment, I didn’t find amusing. “No, you got me a little…excited, and they kind of slipped out, and I’m so sorry. That’s so embarrassing.” He ran a hand over his stubbly jaw and I swear his blush deepened.
I furrowed my brow to a deep point, still hopelessly confused. “What slipped out? Teeth, even long ones, don’t just slip out.” I lost my train of thought as what he’d said finally registered with me, well, registered with my body, anyway.
“Wait…I got you excited?”
He twisted his lips, the move looking a little funny around his fangs, and cocked an eyebrow. “You always get me excited.” He looked down my body and I flushed, maybe we’d get to home base after all…but not until he fully explained this new development.
I shook my head and put my hands on my hips. “You’re distracting me from this.” I waggled my finger at his teeth.
He sighed and shook his head. “I can’t hide this from you forever, not with how close we’re getting. I guess you should know anyway.” He started to reach out for me and then seemed to change his mind, letting his hand drop back down to his side. He quietly added, “I want you to know.”
I started tapping my foot - part nervousness, part irritation. “Know what?” I asked with forced patience.
He smiled widely and I watched in shock as his teeth retracted to normal. My hands fell limply to my sides and my mouth dropped wide open - you could have parked a bus in there. “How did you do that?”
He indicated the sofa. “Have a seat. I’ll explain it to you.” I didn’t sit, so much as fall. He clicked off the television and then sat down close beside me, his hands running nervously up and down his gray slacks. He chuckled at my rapt attention to his mouth. “Well…to be blunt, I’m a vampire.”
I couldn’t help it. Any sane person would have had the exact same reaction I did. I laughed. I belly laughed. I smacked him on the shoulder. “Be serious.”
He didn’t laugh with me, if anything, he looked a little offended. “I am.”
My laughter slowly died down as I watched him watch me, his pale eyes relaxing as my laughter drifted off. “Okay.” I bit my lip and forcefully tried to not chuckle. “You’re a vampire. That’s…wonderful.”
He shook his head at my contained amusement. “Well, to be technical, I’m only a little bit vampire.” He relaxed onto his elbows over his knees, seeming to be glad the hard part was over with…at least for him. I was still spinning with the absurdity of everything my, up until this point, seemingly normal, boyfriend was telling me.
“I’m sorry…you’re what?”
Now he smirked and looked about to laugh. “I’m pretty sure you heard me.” He grinned widely as he leaned into me. “But don’t worry, I’m not hungry. You’re perfectly safe.” His tone was even more amused now.
I shook my head, hoping he was punking me, but deciding to play along. “Okay. Let’s assume that you’re not teasing me…or crazy. How does one become ‘a little bit vampire’. Isn’t that kind of like being ‘a little bit pregnant’? Some things, you either are or you aren’t.”
He laughed softly. “Well, it’s confusing…”
I twisted my lips and crossed my legs, as much as I could in my do-me skirt, anyway. “Try me.”
He raised an eyebrow and I startled as I considered the literal way my words could be taken to a vampire. He laughed in earnest at my reaction. “Really…I’m not going to bite you. Not unless you truly asked me to, anyway.” He said the last part quietly, with a sparkle in his eyes and a half-grin on his lips. I wondered if he was serious about that – and then wondered if I was just as crazy as he apparently was, for believing one iota of his tall tale. But then he started speaking, and I relaxed into the couch and listened to his smooth, deep voice, keeping my mind as wide open as I could. He hadn’t seemed crazy before this point - maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt.
“My great-grandmother was turned while she was nine months pregnant.”
“Turned?” I asked softly, wanting to be sure of my vampire terminology.
He smiled at my interest and splayed his fingers out to me as he explained his heritage. “Made into a vampire by another vampire…just like in the movies. Anyway, the change induced Labour, and the baby was born before being…fully changed. My grandmother was born half-vampire, a rarity of our kind.” He paused and sat back on the couch, looking over to me with thoughtfulness in his features. “In fact, we know of no others like us.” He seemed to contemplate that for a second, and then continued while I soaked up his story like a sponge. “Gran married a human and had my mother-”
“Who’s a quarter?” I asked, leaning into him and bringing my legs up onto the couch. His tale was sucking me in.
He put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into him, smiling down at me. “Something like that. Anyway, my mother also married a human, and had me, so…” he held his free hand out to his side, “…little bit vampire.”
“Huh.”
He pulled back and looked me over with an odd, relieved-offended look. “That’s all you have to say…huh?” He exaggerated the way I had said it, and I twisted my lips at him, a little annoyed.
“Well, assuming that that little fable was real, I was just thinking that you should marry a full-blood vampire if you want to keep the trait alive, otherwise you’ll dilute it right out.” That had been the first odd thought that had popped into my head after hearing his story. Well, second thought really…right behind, ‘Is he nuts?’
He blinked at me and then started laughing. Then he grabbed my cheek with his free hand and pulled me in for a heat-inducing kiss. My body forgot his crazy story, forgot his pointy teeth, and focused instead on the multiple sensations coursing through every cell of my now highly sensitive skin. Teren’s reaction to me progressed beyond anything he’d shown so far, and before I knew it, he was lifting me up (with those incredibly strong arms) and sweeping me to his room upstairs, where we went right on rounding the rest of those bases. I guess his lack of interest had more to do with his hidden secret, than anything else.
And that was how I found out my boyfriend was, as he puts it, a little bit vampire.
Afterwards, we laid close together in his cream-coloured, silk sheets, our legs entwined and my arm over his muscled chest. My head rested on his skin and I could clearly hear his evening heartbeat. I looked back up at his face, at the strong, stubbly jaw, the relaxed full lips, and the perfect pale eyes staring back at me.
“I think you’re wrong,” I said matter-of-factly.
He laughed, deep in his chest. “Am I? I’m assuming we’re still on the vampire thing.”
I scoffed at his casualness. “Vampire thing. You say that like it’s only as strange as having a sixth toe or something.”
His eyes widened at that and he got a huge grin. “Do you have a sixth toe?” He looked down at my feet loosely coiled up in his sheets and I kicked his shin.
“No! It was just an example.” I raised my head off his chest to fully look at him.
He laughed again. “Well it’s not strange to me. Everyone in my family is…well, the women are anyway.” His hand on my bare back started tracing circles into my skin.
I shook my head, processing his statement. “Your father is human, but your mother is not?”
He nodded. “Yes.” He said it so easily, like we were discussing his nationality or something.
“So…you drink blood and stuff?” I bit my lip, wondering if I really wanted the answer to that, and thinking maybe I should have asked these questions before sleeping with him. Oh well. I guess I survived it, and while mind-blowingly good, it was pretty standard stuff, so if he does sip a little o-positive, he can at least control it.
He twisted his lips. “You really want to know this?”
I propped myself up on my elbows and stroked his chest. “Yes, I do.” And I realised that I did. I wanted to know everything about him, the good and the bad.
He sighed and his hand stopped its circular motion and dropped to my hip. His eyes watched me for a moment, perhaps judging if I would stay put on his chest once he told me his answer. Finally, he shrugged and told me. “Yes…I do, sometimes. It tastes good to me and I enjoy it, but I can eat regular food too and I enjoy that as well, as you’ve seen.”
I cocked my head at that. I’d never heard of an omnivore vampire before. Of course, I’d never heard of a vampire with a heartbeat before. “Oh, that’s interesting. So your body is…”
He visibly relaxed, since I hadn’t bolted from the room. “Mostly human. I do everything…human males…do.” He shrugged his shoulders and laughed. His hand returned to my back and he smiled softly at me.
“That’s so weird…so, you drink blood on occasion and have fangs…” I looked at him curiously, remembering back to our little tumble not so long ago. “Where did your fangs go?”
He blinked at me and laughed a little. “What?”
“When we were…you know…you were fangless. Why didn’t they pop out when you were excited?” I probably shouldn’t have asked him such a personal question, not that we weren’t quite…personal with each other at this point, but maybe his teeth were something really private that I shouldn’t be bringing up. Like him wanting to discuss tampons or something.
He shook his head and laughed again. “And you say I’m casual about this.” I twisted my lips and he laughed again. “I can control it…most of the time. It’s easier to do now, knowing that you know, and if I mess up, you won’t go running or anything. It takes the pressure off.”
“Weird.” He seemed okay talking about it, so I continued my train of thought. “So…on the couch… you didn’t mean to do that?”
“No…definitely no.” His pale eyes looked down at my fingers on his chest. He still seemed a touch embarrassed about his slip-up.
I brought a finger to his cheek and stroked it, the light hair on his face grazing my skin. He looked up at me and smiled softly. I bit my lip again and asked a question that would probably embarrass us both, but it was one I really wanted an answer to. “And, we’ve waited all this time, because you were afraid of that happening?”
He looked at me with a blank expression. I thought for a moment that he didn’t understand what I was asking, or maybe he was just not going to answer me at all, when he finally smiled and said, “It’s only been three weeks. You make it sound like I’ve been holding out on you for years.” He laughed and grinned a little devilishly. “I didn’t realise you wanted me so bad. I was just trying to be…a gentleman.” He laughed again and the hand on my back tightened to a hug.
I smacked him on the shoulder. “Shut up.”
The last rays of the sun sank all the way down as we talked and the heavily curtained room darkened to blackness. I laid my head on his chest and marveled again at his steady and strong heartbeat. Vampire? If I hadn’t seen the fangs, I still wouldn’t believe it. He seemed too…human.
“Are you really sure?” I asked, as I looked back up to his eyes. My breath caught as I stared at his face. I believed. I fully believed. The room had darkened dramatically as the sun had set and currently the only light in the room was coming from him…from his eyes. They glowed; a phosphorescent glow, like someone had painted the whites of his eyes in glow in the dark paint.
“Oh…wow…that’s weird.”
“What?” The glow narrowed as his eyes narrowed.
“Your eyes…that’s just freaky.” It was also a little hypnotic. I couldn’t turn away from it and I felt my head getting lighter and my face start to relax. I could bathe in those eyes. I never wanted to look away. I’d follow those eyes anywhere…
“Oh, that. Right…yeah, that is kind of weird. It’s like…you know those fish in the deepest parts of the ocean that use light to attract their prey? Kind of the same idea.” I could see his shoulders shrug in the dim light emitted…by him.
I blinked and shook my head a little, forcing myself to look away from those hypnotic eyes, remembering that, technically, I was his prey. “Oh…well, it’s weird and a little…creepy.”
“Sorry, I can’t shut it off or anything. Luckily, it’s barely noticeable unless it’s completely dark. There’s usually enough light pollution in the city that people don’t see it.” He laughed, the glow bouncing with him. “It does make for awkward conversations when I try and go camping in the countryside though.”
I turned on the lamp sitting on his nightstand to bring his eyes back to normal and blinking in the now too bright light, I looked over at him again. “You…camp?” For some reason, the thought of a vampire camping struck me as the oddest thing he’d uttered all night.
He smiled and shrugged again. “Sure…who doesn’t love camping?”
“You’re so weird.” I plopped myself back down on his wonderfully masculine chest, a fresh burst of his light cologne hitting my nose as I inhaled contently.
He laughed lightly and brought his hands up to play with the long strands of my dark hair. “Would you stop saying that…I’m starting to get a complex.”
I smiled as his hand sweeping the hair away from my bare shoulder gave me goose bumps. “Sorry, I’m trying to process this…I’ve never met a vampire before.” I nestled further into his chest, relaxing into his capable hands.
“That’s a very good thing.” He had an odd note to his tone and I looked up to his beautiful (and normal), pale blue eyes after he said that. There was an odd look in his eyes as well, and I wondered if I wanted to know what he meant by that.
Instead I asked, “How old are you?” I propped myself on my elbows on his chest again, suddenly very excited at an idea that popped into my head. “Are you a couple hundred years old? Have you seen the civil war, or the first cars, or thin Elvis? What have you seen? I want to know everything.” I rested my head in my hands and waited for his surely fascinating answer.
He cocked his head at me. “I’m 25.”
I frowned. “You’re 25 because that’s my cover story and I’m sticking to it, or you’re 25 because you were birthed 25 years ago?”
He laughed. “The latter…I really am 25. I’ve seen what you’ve seen.” I sighed and slumped a little on his chest. “Does that disappoint you?” He grinned at me wryly.
I sighed again. “Yes…actually, as far as vampires go, I find you a little disappointing.”
I was abruptly flipped over onto my back. The move was so fast, my mind couldn’t even comprehend it; one minute I was on my stomach and the next I was on my back. My breath increased as I tried to wrap my mind around this new position. Teren was hovering over me and his fangs were out again. My mouth dropped open watching him.
“Am I still disappointing to you?”
I couldn’t even answer him. His presence, his undeniable power – it took my breath away. He leaned over me and very lightly dragged his teeth along my skin. It did oddly wonderful things to my body, but I wasn’t about to let him hurt me.
My speech came back to me in a pant. “If you bite me, it will be the last thing your vampire ass does.”
He laughed and retracted his teeth. “I wasn’t going to. Remember…I said I wouldn’t, unless you asked. I was just proving a point.” He laughed again as I relaxed underneath him. I brought my hands up his chest and laced them around his neck. He chuckled softly. “How exactly were you planning on ending me anyway?”
I twisted my lips as I pulled him closer to me. “I would find a way…you just keep that in mind, buddy. I’m no snack.”
He chuckled again and kissed me gently. “You might like it…”
I smacked him on the shoulder. “Why would I like you piercing my skin…does that sound like fun to you?” Realising what I’d just said, and who I’d just said it to, I rolled my eyes at myself. “Wait…don’t answer that…”
He laughed again and kissed me a bit deeper. I pulled away, slightly breathless. “Does anything else…glow…on you?”
He grinned devilishly. “Why don’t you shut the light back off and find out?”
I laughed and did shut the light off. I searched pretty thoroughly, but didn’t find any other glowing spots on him. And eventually his creepy, glowing orbs closed, and the room was blissfully and naturally dark.
The next day, I watched him carefully over breakfast. He made us bacon and eggs and toast, and he ate like any normal guy. I kept waiting for him to do something…unreal, turn into mist and slip under the door or mentally call forth rodents or bats. I don’t know - something creepy and mysterious. But he didn’t. He made espressos.
He walked around his spacious kitchen with stainless steel appliances at normal, boring human speed. He got food from his fully stocked refrigerator. He put spices away in his fully stocked cupboards. He kissed me on the cheek and asked me what I wanted to do on this sunny Sunday morning. I was a little disappointed again with my very unvampire-like vampire. I had kind of been expecting him to secret away to a coffin last night, after our rousing second romp. But he hadn’t, he’d fallen asleep right afterwards and he’d even snored. It was so commonplace, I was beginning to doubt the entire thing ever even happened.
We sat at his metal kitchen table, sipping our espressos after breakfast. I was wearing my “just in case clothes” and was happy for the fact that I had planned for that little eventuality. I was even happier that the scenario had finally happened, although the night hadn’t mapped out quite like I’d expected. I watched him sip his coffee and read a magazine, wearing a pair of perfectly faded blue jeans and a casual looking t-shirt. He was the perfect sight to wake up to - dark hair, pale eyes, full lips, strong jaw, sexy as all get-out stubble. Delicious…and impossibly human. Last night must have been a vivid dream. One way to make sure, I suppose.
“Let me see again,” I said after another couple minutes of comfortable silence.
He looked up at me, a little confused. “See what?”
I pointed to his mouth as I set down my coffee cup. “The fangs…whip ‘em out.”
He looked a little embarrassed, his eyes darting back down to the cup in his hand. “No.”
“Come on. You don’t have to be shy.” I reached over to him and stroked his forearm with my fingers. “I’ve seen everything on you. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Show me.” I smiled encouragingly.
He met my eyes again. “Why?”
I took my hand off his arm and gestured in the air. “Because I’m starting to think I imagined the whole thing last night.” I gestured to the drink he was still holding. “I mean, you’re drinking a cappuccino for God’s sake.”
He twisted his lips. “What’s wrong with cappuccino?”
“Well, it’s not blood for starters,” I deadpanned.
He smiled widely with perfectly white (and even) teeth. “Well, I have some humans tied up in my underground lair, next to my coffin, being guarded by my hunchback assistant Igor.” He gestured back over his shoulder with his thumb. “Would you like me to have him bring one up so I can devour them in front of you?”
I smirked. “Funny.” I sure hoped he was kidding about that.
He shook his head and went back to his coffee. Apparently, he wasn’t caving to my request for a peep show. I tried a different approach. “You can bite me?”
Without looking up from the magazine he was reading (National Geographic, of all things), he calmly said, “No.” He peeked up at me from under his eyebrows. “I thought that would bring about my end anyway.”
Ignoring his 100% accurate comment, I (as seductively as I could) said, “Oh, come on.” I leaned my head to the side, exposing my vein and stroked my neck with my finger. “It’s a nice, juicy artery.”
He shook his head and laughed. Looking back down to his magazine, he pointed at himself. “Nearly all human remember…that isn’t as much of a temptation as you seem to think.”
I exhaled loudly and slumped back into my chair. “Fine, be all modest on me. I would have shown you mine,” I muttered.
He exhaled loudly and looked at the ceiling for a moment. “God…” He made a fake growling noise, like a five year old would, and looked over at me with his hands raised in the air like claws. He extended his fangs. “I want to suck your blood,” he said in a horrid Dracula impersonation and then immediately retracted his teeth and went back to his magazine. “Satisfied?”
Laughing at his display, I walked over and sat in his lap. He looked up at me with a semi-amused smile. “Yes…that was priceless. Thank you.”
He shook his head. “However I can entertain the human.”
I laughed again and kissed him softly. I was a little surprised at how well I was taking things. I never realized I was so…progressive. Well, good men are hard to come by, and I’d had more than my fair share of duds. If his only…drawback…was a pair of sharp teeth and a penchant for hemoglobin, well, I’d take it.
We decided to spend our Sunday afternoon doing the most vampire-like thing we could – we took his collie, Spike (as in stake - har har), to Golden Gate Park. Teren and I lived in beautiful, sunny San Francisco, which one would think would make it a natural deterrent for vamps, but Teren seemed perfectly happy, and un-crispy, walking hand in hand with me as Spike ran ahead of us for a few feet, before coming back and then running forward again. We walked through the green grass and under a few large trees and I watched the sunlight filter through the leaves to speckle my honey in shadow and light, a fitting metaphor if I’d ever seen one.
When Spike got too far in front of us, Teren put a couple fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. Spike immediately turned to us, his shaggy, multi-coloured coat bristling in the breeze, and loped back to us with his tongue expanding and retracting as he panted merrily. Teren reached down and ruffled his fur, earning him a lick on the cheek. He laughed and kissed his head.
“So, you don’t chow on dogs?” I asked with a small smile on my lips.
He looked up at me and grimaced. “No…do you?” I laughed and shook my head. He smiled and stood, coming to my side and pulling me close to him. “Good, I don’t think I could keep seeing you if you ate dog. That’s just gross.”
I smacked his shoulder while he laughed and Spike ran around our feet. He brought me in for a tender kiss as Spike’s attention was diverted by a squirrel running up a nearby tree trunk. I relaxed into the comfort of his kiss - a wonderful mix of soft lips and scratchy stubble. Abruptly he pulled back from me and I frowned as my comfort was ripped away.
“Come to my parents’ place with me.”
I blinked at him, startled. “I’m sorry…what?”
He half-grinned at my stupefied face. “Now that you know everything…and seem to be perfectly fine with it, you should meet my parents.”
“Today?” My voice came out a little strained and I tried to relax my throat.
“No, I wasn’t serious about that. I do need to go up there soon though. Maybe in a couple of weekends we could go?” His pale eyes sparkled in the sunlight, and I had the odd thought that they were charging in the sun for another glow session this evening. I shook my head to shake away the errant thought.
“Um…I guess that could be fun. Where do they live?” Please don’t say a castle…
He nodded vaguely to the right of us. “They manage a ranch about 60 miles from here, near Mount Diablo.”
I nodded as I absorbed that. “Wait…your family are ranchers?”
He smiled, like he didn’t see anything odd about that. “Yeah.”
I pulled away from him to look at him better. “Your…vampire family…are ranchers?”
He laughed at the look on my face. “Yeah, it kind of makes sense for us, if you think about it.”
I blinked. “What do you mean?”
He took my hand and we started walking through the grass, catching up to his hyper collie that was chasing his tail, ten feet up the lawn. “Well, to the outside world, my family comes from a long line of successful ranchers, but to us…,” he looked over at me walking beside him and grinned devilishly (I kind of wish he’d fanged for me, that would have completed the look), “…to us, it’s more of an open-air pantry.”
I paled a bit as that thought sunk into the ridges of my brain. I envisioned the teeth that he had dragged along my neck, plunging deep into some poor Holstein. “Oh…I’m never going to be able to look at a cow the same way again.”
He laughed and squeezed my hand. We watched Spike roll on his back and frolic in the sun, and I thought about meeting his family…his vampire family. Dealing with his weirdness was one thing - I mean, for the most part, he acted completely human. But he was only slightly vampire. The rest of his family would be even more foreign…and his great-grandmother was a full-fledged mistress of the night. I had to admit that it intimidated me a little bit. Although, it was nice to hear that they snacked on livestock.
“We’ve only been dating a few weeks…isn’t it a little early to bring me home?”
He smiled down on me as Spike ran up to him and licked his jeans. “You got so irritated by the abstaining you thought we were doing, I don’t want to mess up again by making you wait.”
I smacked his shoulder and he pulled me tight. “I really do need to go up there…it’s been too long. And I’d love for you to join me. I’d love for you to meet them, and for them to meet you.” He looked down as we walked, seeming almost shy. “You’re kind of important to me.”
“Oh,” I said quietly.
Before I could respond further, he added, “It’s not every girl who would stick around after hearing what I really am.” He nudged my shoulder playfully. “And you’re really pretty.”
I smiled as he bent down and clipped Spike’s leash back on his collar. We made our way back to his Toyota Prius (yes, my vampire drove a hybrid), and went over to a breezy outdoor diner for a late lunch. At the end of our day and a half date, he drove me home, walked me to my door, and kissed me goodbye like a perfect gentleman.
In the safety and solitude of my cute, Victorian townhouse, I analyzed how much things had changed in my life in the past twenty four hours. Vampires were real. I was dating one. I’d slept with one - twice. He wanted to take me home to his…nest. He thought I was really pretty.
I had a dream that night, once I finally fell asleep, of being surrounded by beautiful, black-haired women with sharp fangs and glowing eyes, and a deep voice rumbled in my head, “Don’t worry…they won’t eat my girlfriend.”
To Be Continued in Next Chapter……
CHAPTER TWO
Monday morning at work I was approached by my rotund boss, Clarice. She had gray hair, with streaks of brown, and she coiled it into a bun so tight that it pulled some of the wrinkles out of her face. She wore “professional” clothes straight from the 50’s, which is when I think she started working here. A shapeless gray skirt that hit her mid calf, with a basic white blouse tucked inside it and as the topper - June Cleaver pearls. She tended to look at my slacks, lacy camisoles and fitted jackets with her lips twisted in a small scowl, like she thought I looked inappropriate. I rebelled in my own small way by almost always wearing my hair loose and bouncy and leaving my jackets unbuttoned, so just a hint of my sublime cleavage showed.
“Emma.”
I smiled warmly at her vapid face.
“Good Morning, Clarice.”
As I smiled, I wondered if my boyfriend wouldn’t mind draining her. If only just enough to keep her home for a few days, so I could try my hand at being Mr. Peterson’s assistant. Being his assistant brought along the more prestigious assignments and of course, the yearly trip to Belize. Being his assistant’s assistant…did not.
She harrumphed at me and handed me a half-foot stack of papers. “I need these copied and collated in triplicate by lunchtime.”
On second thought, I didn’t want her vile blood swimming around his system.
I kept up my fake smile. “Sure thing, Clarice.” Anything for the sea hag. Eventually she had to retire, I kept repeating to myself.
She turned to leave then, almost as an afterthought, turned her thick neck and said, “Gate Magazine sent flowers for you. They’re in the break room.”
My smile became real. “Oh, thank you.”
She turned to face me. “If you’re going over there to work for that Adams man, you should put in your notice.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Thank you, Clarice.” I kept up my smile until she left my cubicle.
My friend Tracey popped her head over the short wall separating our “offices”. She was blonde and beautiful and spunky as could be. Clarice couldn’t stand her, but didn’t have to talk to her much, since she was the assistant for Mr. Sampson’s assistant. Tracey had started working here a week after me, and since we shared a thin wall in our cubicle hell, we’d become fast friends.
“Hey, Emma, Teren send you flowers again? He’s such a good man.” She looked over my desk to Clarice’s office, which was right outside of Mr. Peterson’s office. “The witch had them sent to the break room instead of leaving them on your desk. I think she’s hoping someone tosses them.” She shook her head of blonde hair. “I’m surprised she didn’t toss them herself.”
I smiled as I set the papers Clarice had handed me down on my desk. Teren worked at Gate Magazine, a regional monthly magazine specialising in San Francisco life - places to go, places to eat, events in the area, local news, and stuff like that. He wrote articles for the life and style section which, now I actually found a little humourous. I let Clarice think he was trying to woo me away for a job so she wouldn’t complain about my personal life intruding on my work life. She was irritating that way.
I sighed contently as I answered her. “He’s the best, Trace.” I left out that he was slightly more than just a man. “We finally had our night.” I winked to indicate what I meant.
Her blue eyes widened at me. “All right, bout time.” Her pixyish face relaxed into an ‘isn’t he sweet look’. “Oh, and he sent you flowers afterwards. Ugh, if you don’t marry that man, I will.”
I laughed as I wondered what Tracey would think about him, if she knew as much as I now did. I nodded my head towards the break room. “I better go retrieve my flowers.”
She ducked her head back down as I made my way down the hall to the communal room used for coffee and food breaks. A few men that I passed subtly checked out my chest as I walked by, and for a moment, I wondered if I was setting womanhood back by showing off my “rack”. Or maybe I was showing empowerment - I am woman, hear me roar. Sometimes it was a fine line to walk. I pushed the odd thought away as I reached the room and stared at my arrangement of calla lilies. He did have good taste.
I reached inside for the card and pulled out the small envelope from a local shop. Inside, he had written, “Thank you for a surprising weekend”. On the bottom he’d drawn a smiley face with fangs. I chuckled at his sense of humour and shook my head – his weekend couldn’t have been anywhere near as surprising as mine. I tucked the card into my pocket and grabbing the vase, headed back to my desk. I placed them right on the edge, where Clarice would see them every time she walked by.
Monday nights was kick-boxing at the gym, so after work, Tracey and I headed over there and sweated out our cubicle frustrations by envisioning our bosses as we kicked and punched the air. The music laden class was being subbed tonight by an extremely hot guy named Ben. The usual instructor was a peppy girl named Lita, who made the class amusing with her anecdotal comments, as well as difficult.
Hot Ben didn’t do much for me (my guy was hot and supernatural) but Tracey found his highlighted hair, bulging biceps and chiseled, model-like features distracting. Eventually, he had to come over and help her position her feet correctly for a side kick. As he adjusted her hip, Tracey looked over at me and winked really fast. I rolled my eyes at her as he walked away from us.
They were chatting after class as I waved goodbye, Tracey putting a hand on his shoulder and laughing at something he was saying. I was pretty sure that he’d have her number by the time I got to the dressing room. I showered at the gym (and politely averted my eyes from the flock of eighty year old women who no longer cared who saw them buck naked) and changed into date clothes.
After drying and re-styling my hair, I re-did my makeup and grabbed my gym bag. Slipping into my car, a cute little yellow VW Bug, I headed over to Teren’s house for a late dinner. He met me in his half circle driveway and opened my door. Must have heard me coming. I’d have to remember that his hearing was probably not just good but…enhanced, and I’d have to be careful what I muttered around him, or within a block radius of him. Who knows how enhanced he was.
“Hello,” he said, with a sweet smile and an even sweeter kiss.
“Hello to you too,” I replied, slipping my arms around his neck. “I loved my flowers.”
“Good. I was wondering about that.” He grabbed my hand and we started walking to his house. He lived in a modern looking two-story home, with panoramic views of the Pacific. Unlike my home, which was firmly sandwiched in-between my neighbours, his home was respectively spaced from the houses surrounding it. It was a very nice spread.
I squeezed his fingers as we walked up his steps. “Tracey’s going to marry you, if I don’t.”
He laughed as he opened his wrought iron and wood front door. “Oh good, as long as someone is going to. How do you think she’d feel about…?” He made a prong like motion with his forefinger and middle finger, indicating fangs.
I laughed and put my purse and jacket in his entryway closet, nestled right in-between his heavy winter coat and his “only for special occasions” dress jacket. “You’d still be able to hear her screams.” Spike padded up to me, wagging his tail in clear merriment at seeing me again. I scratched behind his ear while I continued chuckling over the image of Teren fanging Tracey.
Teren laughed with me, and then grabbed both of my hands and pulled me through his formal dining room into the kitchen, where the incredible smells emanating from the stove started making my mouth water. Spike obediently followed us and lay down on the cool tiles in front of the fridge.
“That’s why I like you so much,” he said, pulling me tight to him in front of the oven.
I giggled and twisted away from him to sneak a peek at a saucepan bubbling on a burner - it was thick, white and smelled delicious. “Is that why your weekend was surprising…because I didn’t scream?”
He came up behind me and slipped his arms around my waist as I stirred the creamy goodness and then took a lick from the spoon. It was an Alfredo sauce and it was incredible. My stomach rumbled. “You only screamed when I wanted you to…” he whispered in my ear. I elbowed him in the ribs and he grunted softly. It astounded me a little, that I could make a vampire grunt. He laughed and more seriously said, “You have taken everything surprisingly well.”
I turned in his arms and laced my hands around his neck again. “Maybe I’m just freaking out on the inside.”
He chuckled at that. He kissed me softly and then seemed to remember something. “Oh hey, I talked to my parents today – they’re really looking forward to meeting you. They want us to come up this weekend.”
My face went blank…and surely pale white. “Now I’m freaking out.” He kissed my nose. “You’ll be fine. It will be fun, I promise. You should have heard how excited they were-”
I cocked an eyebrow as I cut him off. “Excited our son is bringing home a girl, or excited we’re having a tasty snack delivered?”
He twisted his lips at me in obvious displeasure. “My family is not going to eat you. That would be pretty rude.”
“Right…well, why are they so excited to meet me then?”
He paused for an inordinately long amount of time… that worried me some. “I’ve never brought a girl home before,” he finally said with a warm expression, and even though his soft smile was genuine, I couldn’t help but think that there was more to the story. “So, what do you think? This weekend?”
“Sure…why not.” If I’m going to be an Adams snack…might as well get it over with.
Releasing me, he finished making our Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo dinner, handing a forkful of sauce-coated chicken to me to test, and tossing a bare chunk of chicken down to Spike, who thumped his tail on the floor appreciatively. As we sat down at his candlelit formal table with our meal and a glass of chilled wine, I forgot all about the upcoming weekend and raptured in the flawless food. For a man who only ate because he chose to - boy could he cook!
He offered me a nightcap at the end of dinner but I politely declined, since it was getting pretty late and I did have to work tomorrow. He walked me to my car and gave me a final hug and a kiss at my door. I narrowed my eyes, intensely studying his. It was late and very dark outside, but we were close to a street lamp and we were bathed in the amber light. Since I was looking for it, I noticed the faint glow of the whites of his eyes, but a person not expecting it, really wouldn’t notice it at all.
He lightly shook his head at me and my fascination. “Do you want to do something tomorrow night?”
“Sorry, can’t. I’m having dinner with Mom and Ash. Rain check?”
“I have an editor’s meeting Wednesday night, but you can come by Thursday for dinner? We can work out the details for Friday night.” I frowned and he laughed as he pushed me gently into my seat. “It will be fine. Promise.” He cocked his head at me as he leaned against my open door. “When do I get to meet your family?”
I sighed. “Let’s just get your family out of the way first…then we’ll talk.”
He laughed, leaned in to give me a final, final kiss and closed my door. I watched him from my rearview mirror, startling a bit that I could see his reflection – that particular myth must not be true then. Of course, my vamp didn’t seem to prescribe to any of the traditional vampire lore. What a rebel he was. He waved at me with one hand, the other stuffed casually in his slacks pocket, and I smiled at my tall, dark and pointy-teethed boyfriend.
I walked into my gray on gray cubicle the next morning and smiled at the arrangement of calla lilies still on my desk. I sat down at my ergonomically correct chair and opened the bottom drawer of my desk, stuffing my heavy purse inside. I had to shove and rearrange the purse a couple times to be able to close the drawer all the way. Apparently, I was becoming a bit of a mobile pack rat. I’d have to dig through the purse soon and toss out all the old receipts, empty packages of gum, out of style lipsticks and semi-melted tubes of chapstick, that were collecting in there.
I adjusted a picture of my mother and sister next to my computer and wondered if I should bring in a photo of Teren. That would dispel the myth that he was trying to woo me away for work, if Clarice ever figured out who the man in the picture was, but it would be nice to look at his handsome face while I went about my day.
I flicked my computer on and opened my emails. I just about shut my computer back off. 36 emails requesting old P&L statements that I’d have to dig through piles and piles of paperwork to find. And each email had the dreaded red flag of urgency. Well, of course, everyone believed their problem was the most urgent thing in the world. Sighing, I started writing down the information that I would need.
Tracey walked up to my “home away from home” and leaned against one of the walls. She looked blissfully happy, a peaceful smile on her peach stained lips, and I was pretty sure why. “So, did you get a date with Ben?”
“Of course!” She shook her blonde head, like it was a ridiculous concept that she wouldn’t.
I smiled and shook my head at her, in awe that she felt completely comfortable hitting on a guy, while dripping with sweat. Personally, there was only one way I wanted a cute guy I liked to see me all sweaty, and by that point, I usually knew him pretty well. Usually - there may have been some poor decisions made in college.
“We’re going on a date Friday,” she finished.
“That’s great!”
She told me all about the fancy restaurant they were going to, and the club she wanted him to take her to afterwards. When her story dwindled down, I told her my plans for the weekend. “Teren is taking me up to his parents’ place for the weekend.”
“Already? That’s fast, he must really like you.” Her blue eyes sparkled at me with genuine happiness for my relationship that was going quite smoothly, and as she had correctly pointed out, was starting to definitely pick up speed.
“Yeah, I think he’s been bitten by something.” My lips curled a little at the corners over my dumb vampire reference that Tracey didn’t get at all.
“And you? What do you think of him?” She walked over to my flowers and smelled one, her blonde hair leaning forward with her and brushing against the lengthy stems.
My smile widened. “He’s like no one else I’ve ever met.” Quite literally.
She straightened and pulled her hair back behind her shoulders. “Are you heading to the gym tonight?”
“No, I’m having dinner with Mom and Ash.”
She nodded. “Oh that’s right…Tuesday.” She put a slim hand over her heart. “Give Ash a great big hug and a kiss for me. I miss that girl.”
“I will.”
I smiled as I continued on with my tedious task, and Tracey disappeared behind her adjoining wall. My smile faded after an hour, and by lunchtime, I was craving a pick-me-up. I skipped out and rushed to get my coffee treat (making sure I didn’t dump it on any more potential bloodsuckers), then settled back into my monotonous work in the records room - finding files, copying them and then replacing them - all with my caffeinated secret weapon tight in hand. Even though by five o’clock, the very backs of my eyes ached, I still managed to get every single piece of paper sent out that was requested of me from my urgent email list by quitting time. I was quite pleased with my productivity as I walked out the front doors.
I smiled as I walked into the cozy café that was Ashley’s favourite place to eat. She always ordered the butternut squash ravioli, no matter what time of year it was, and the staff always added extra gorgonzola crumbles on the top, just for her. They sort of loved her here, which is really the reason why we came here so often. My sister tended to attract attention…and not the good kind.
The hostess greeted me and motioned to a table in the back, where we preferred to sit. I nodded thanks to her and started walking back in that direction. The café was quiet tonight and soothing contemporary jazz played over the sound system. The tables were all set up with a small vase of wild flowers and the hand painted lamps, lightly swinging above each table, lit the area with a soft glow. It was a cozy, comforting place.
I approached a table where a woman with chin length, graying brown hair, was sitting with her back to me. She was plump in the ‘I don’t care – I’m going to fully enjoy this life I was given’ sort of way, and she had a deep, earthy laugh that echoed down the aisle to me. She was laughing with a woman who was facing me. A woman who had the most horrific face you could image. A woman I loved deeply.
The woman stood as I came up to the table. Half of her head and half of her face were covered in a thick patchwork of scars. The side of her head that could still grow hair was a deep brown that bounced in the exact same way that mine did.
“Hey, sis,” she said, as she hugged me warmly.
“Hey, Ash.” I hugged her right back, ignoring the atrociousness of her face. It was irrelevant anyway – her beauty was her heart. It always had been, it always would be.
She sat back down stiffly, some of the scarring over her joints made some movements a little difficult for her, and scooted over, so I could sit beside her. I giggled and snuggled into her side. My sister had been horribly burned when she was nine years old, in a house fire that had claimed the life of our father. My mother had gotten out of the house safely, and Dad had rushed back in to save Ashley; it was the last thing he ever did. I was at a friend’s house that night and had missed the whole disaster. I was equally regretful and grateful for that. But that was 10 years, and for Ashley, several surgeries ago.
Her body was a variegated mix of layer-upon-layer of horrid scarring. It covered over two thirds of her, but that didn’t dampen her spirit. She took the teasing and ridicule she received from the uneducated idiots we often encountered, with grace and aplomb. She was my best friend. She was my hero.
Her light brown eyes sparkled at me playfully as she grabbed my arm. “So, how’s the boy.”
I playfully nudged her back. “The man is wonderful.”
My mother across from the table from us laughed. “When do we get to meet this mystery man?”
I smiled at my Mom as I held Ashley’s hand. My mother had never remarried, in fact she still wore her wedding ring – to chase away the would-be suitors, she says. Whenever I hinted about her dating again (she was only 52 after all), she would sniff and say that she had a husband and he was waiting for her in Heaven. I would always sigh at that and let it go. You can’t make someone do something they don’t want to do. But she was a vibrant, happy woman. Her face had deep laugh lines around her eyes and the corners of her lips, and she was quick to smile and even quicker to laugh.
I laughed at my mother’s question. “That’s kind of funny. Just yesterday, he asked when he’d get to meet you.”
She laughed again. “And you said…?”
“All in due time.”
We ordered our “usual” from the waitress, Debby, who lounged at our table for a few moments, chatting away with us, catching us up on her life - funny stories about her kids, a fight she’d had with her husband, a horrid weekend at the in-laws (which was the precursor to the aforementioned fight). We came to this café weekly. It was our way to stay together as a family and fill each other in on the aspects of our busy, daily lives. We’d been coming here for over five years now, and most of the staff was the same as our first night here. It sort of became a way for us to be filled in on their lives too.
After a few moments of friendly chit-chat, she left to get our drinks and place our orders. Our food arrived only moments later, the cook well aware that we were here, and what we were going to order. Debby chatted with us a few minutes longer while she set down Ashley’s ravioli, my smoked ham Panini and Mom’s Denver omelet. Then she moseyed on to other customers and we ate our meal and talked about what had happened during our week.
Mom and Ashley laughed as they discussed Mom’s ongoing battle with her neighbor’s yappy dogs that kept her up at night. Mom was considering secreting them away to the vet to get debarked. I told her to go for it, but Ashley stuck up for the dogs and convinced Mom to try earplugs first. I smiled inwardly that I could always have Teren stop by for a little midnight snack…but then I remembered his aversion to the very idea of eating dog. Honestly, who’d imagine a vampire being squeamish?
Ashley caught us up on school. She would only say it was going well. I took that to mean that her classes were going well, but as per usual, the relentless staring and whispering wasn’t stopping. She was in the last semester of her first year at the University of California, San Francisco or UCSF. She was taking the nursing course, and had noble dreams of working in the burn unit ICU at San Francisco General Hospital. The students weren’t used to her yet, and she was a constant source of wonderment for them. I was grateful that college students were slightly more mature than high school students, and at least the horrific teasing that used to bring her home in tears had stopped. Well, mostly stopped. She had run into a group of frat boys once that had acted like they ran the school…and were still thirteen. I’d received a tearful phone call after the encounter, and spent the night comforting her with a quart of Haagen-Dazs. Maybe I’d sic my vamp on the frats? Surely he had no compunction about assholes.
I briefly considered telling my family about Teren, about what he really was. Ash would think it was cool…she wasn’t one to chide anyone on being different. Mom…would act like a Mom though, and panic about me dating a man who, like some rabid dog, could turn on me at any moment and drain me dry. I was pretty sure Teren would never do that. But I’d never be able to convince Mom, and she’d only see his vampirism after that, not the amazing, smart, funny, brilliant man that he also was. I decided that maybe at another time I’d tell Ashley, but we’d have to keep it a secret from Mom. Much like the time I’d dated a member of Hell’s Angels. At the time, he’d been 35, covered head to toe in tattoos, and had some questionable extracurricular activities. Like I said, I had made some poor choices in college.
At the end of the evening, I gave my mom a big hug, and she rubbed my back and told me to be safe in the generic way that I knew meant, ‘I love you too much to handle anything happening to you, so lock every door, never go outside after dark, and don’t eat the unlabeled tin can in the very back of your pantry’. I hugged her back and wished her well, then turned to Ashley and gave her an even bigger hug, and a big wet kiss on her bare scalp.
“Oops, I almost forgot.” I gave her one more hug and a kiss. “That’s from Trace, she misses you.”
“Oh, she’s so nice. Tell her we’ll get together soon, maybe next week.” She kissed my cheek and then grabbed Mom’s hand and walked stiffly from the café.
I lingered a few steps behind them, watching the amazingly strong women of my family. That thought brought up thoughts of my upcoming weekend. I hadn’t mentioned it to Mom or Ash tonight. I’d tell them later…after I’d survived meeting the amazingly (and supernaturally) strong women of Teren’s family.
Teren had his meeting the next evening, so I when I got home from my second kick-boxing class of the week, after a long day of Clarice scolding me for not exactly lining up the corners of the pages I’d copied before stapling them (she was a little OCD), I drew a nice warm bubble bath and picked up a nice long book – an Anne Rice book, no less. I may have lied about the whole vampire fantasy thing. I did not lie about the disinclination towards pain though, and biting was still a no-no.
The next morning, I felt refreshed and recharged – and lusty as all get out for some vamp loving. It made the day go by achingly slow, but it had been two days since I’d seen him, and I missed him. The jet-black hair that set off his startlingly pale blue eyes, the just right fitness of his athletic frame, the strong capable hands, the set of his stubbly jaw, the smell of his cologne, the curl of his full lips as he smiled at me…and yes, even his pointy fangs, that he so very rarely let me see.
By the end of the day I was a little riled up, so I had Tracey cover for me and snuck out of work thirty minutes early. Teren usually left, and started, work an hour before I did, so I wasn’t too worried that he wouldn’t be home. Maybe I’d even catch him in the shower. Geeze, I really had missed him.
I pulled into his drive and wondered if he’d heard me. If he did, he didn’t come out. Maybe since he thought I was at work, he assumed I was a neighbour pulling into their drive. I approached his door and, since I felt like after we’d been intimate, I had the right to, and honestly since I was a little anxious to be intimate again, I opened it as I was knocking on it.
“Teren?” The house sounded empty as my voice bounced back to me.
“Come on in. I’ll be there in a minute.” His voice was calling to me from a distance. He had heard me and responded, but I still didn’t know where he was.
I took a couple steps into the entryway and closed the heavy door behind me. The wrought iron and glass door had matching windows on both sides of it, and there were solid looking brass pots before them that were holding sculpted, three foot high mini trees. If Teren ever strung lights on them, the light would show through the windows and the effect from the outside would be quite pretty.
I put my jacket and purse in the closet to my right and wondered where my boyfriend was in this large spread he called a home. An archway to my left led to a formal dining room with a massive mahogany table, complete with six intricately carved high-backed chairs. The chairs at the head and foot of the table had padded arm rests, and anyone sitting in them would feel like the King or Queen of this tiny fiefdom. Continuing on through that room led you to the kitchen.
An archway on my right led to a smaller room with a baby grand piano tucked in the corner. Teren didn’t play (I’d asked), so I wasn’t sure why he had one. Maybe someone else in his family did, which, I wasn’t too excited about the fact that some vamp in his family frequented so often, that he had brought in special furniture to appease them. Or maybe a house this large was just expected to have one…like an extra bathroom or something, it was just built right into the floor plan.
I decided to go straight through the entry way, or was it a foyer in a house this size? It did have a chandelier swinging high above me in the vaulted ceiling. Anyway, I walked straight through the room (passing the first of his four bathrooms) into the living room. The west wall of the living room was all glass and all you could see was the ocean, you could even just make out the Golden Gate Bridge through the very right window. The sunsets from this room were spectacular. In the middle of the glass wall was a sliding door that led to the backyard. The slider was designed in such a way, that it seamlessly matched the windows, and until you saw it opened, you wouldn’t even realize it was a door. Teren’s house was on a slope and you couldn’t actually see his yard unless you went outside and looked off the decked patio. There were a couple of chaise lounge chairs out there, for relaxing, and a 6FT long metal table, with a set of matching, padded swiveling chairs, making a comfortable spot for an evening meal while enjoying the amazing view. Maybe we’d eat outside tonight?
Not wanting to search for him, since he knew I was here and he’d find me, I sat on his long, leather couch to wait. I looked over at the spiral staircase in the corner of his living room that led to a loft upstairs that he used as his office. I wondered if he was up there, working late on an article. His office was positioned over the kitchen and it had bookcases that lined the far wall and looked down into the living room. Following the wall of bookcases took you to another glass wall, with a slider that led to a second-story patio that slightly overhung the first, creating a nice shaded spot on the table below. That patio had a couple more chaise loungers for sunbathing. That’s right, my vamp liked to sunbathe.
As my eyes were still on his office above me, Teren surprised me by coming in through the living room slider. He was still in his nice work clothes - light khakis with a black leather belt, matching black dress shoes and a crisp, navy blue shirt that looked amazing against his dark hair and tan skin. They’d look even more amazing, crumpled on the floor next to his King-size bed. But I was too entranced by what he was holding, to tackle him like I’d wanted to all day.
“What is that?”
He lifted up what he was holding. “It’s dinner.”
“It’s a chicken.”
He smiled widely at me. “Yes…we’re having chicken for dinner.”
“It’s alive.”
The small, white chicken clucked stupidly at me in the mesh cage Teren was holding aloft. Teren twisted his lips and walked through the open space in the wall that led into the kitchen. Insanely curious, I followed him. He set the cage down on a granite island in the center of the spacious area. He looked up at me with his lips still twisted.
“This is how I prefer to buy them. I picked one up last night after my meeting.” I was fascinated. I didn’t even know there were stores where you could “pick-up” live chickens. This city really did have everything. He was still looking at me oddly and I finally realised why he bought them alive.
“Oooooohhhh. You’re gonna…” I pointed at the doomed chicken and he nodded.
“You’re not usually here for this part…you’re early.” He seemed a little disappointed, like he’d have to forgo his snack or something.
I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back against the counter. “Don’t stop on my account…go ahead.”
He furrowed his brow at me. “Are you sure? You might think of me differently after you see this. It’s not the sort of thing you can un-see.” He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. “I could go somewhere else. You don’t have to watch.”
I shook my head and smiled. “I want to see all of the different pieces of you…and this is a pretty big piece.” I made a go-ahead motion with my fingers. “Go on…just don’t spoil your dinner.”
He rolled his eyes and then smiled with just one edge of his lip. It was a cocky, self-assured look and my heart sped up a little. Then he opened his mouth a little wider and his fangs snapped down into place right before my eyes - my heart sped up a lot. I wondered if he could hear that, but got distracted by the thought from him opening the cage door. The stupid chicken didn’t move, other than to flick its head rapidly here and there. What it was looking at, I had no idea, for it certainly was unaware of the danger approaching from behind it. I had a sudden, strong desire to shout at the dumb animal – “Don’t you know that death is stalking you, run!”
I watched in silence though, too fascinated with the hunter vs. prey scenario playing out before me, to make a peep. I held my breath at what the poor chicken didn’t know was coming, but I did. Then, lightening-quick Teren grabbed the chicken (that feebly clucked once) and sunk his teeth into its neck. He drained it in three seconds (I counted). I didn’t breathe for any of those three seconds.
He pulled the chicken away from his mouth and set the lifeless carcass on a chopping block set on the counter. He wiped just a spot of blood from his lip and stared at the dead beast. Then, very slowly, he turned his head to face me. He looked very worried.
“That was…” I struggled for the words to summarise just what I was feeling at that moment, “…kind of hot.”
He blinked at me and shook his head slightly. “What?”
I shook my head too. “Yeah, I know…right? I’m a little surprised too…but, yeah, that kind of turned me on.”
He gaped at me and then shook his head slowly back and forth, as his fangs retracted back to wherever they went when they were hiding. “You’re so weird.”
“Said the vampire who just drained our dinner,” I said wryly.
He laughed and turned a burner on the stove to hot, a large pot of water sitting atop it. “Touché.”
I stepped over to where he was now washing his hands, of all things. “You did that so fast.”
Drying his hands on a towel, he looked at me seriously. “There is no point in needless suffering. I’m not cruel.”
Still morbidly curious, I asked, “How long would it take to drain a human?”
His jaw clenched and he frowned at my question. “I will never drain a human.”
I shook my head and brushed aside his concern with my hand. “Just in theory…how long?”
He looked at me a long time before answering. “I’ve heard it can be done in 7 seconds.”
O…M…G…
“Wow…you’d never even know what hit you.”
He looked over at the chicken, almost like he now felt sorry for it. “Yeah.”
Wanting to lighten his mood, and perhaps actually being serious with my request, I playfully tossed out, “Will you drain my boss?”
His head snapped back to mine and the corners of his lips lifted. “What?”
I slipped my arms around his neck and he relaxed, slipping his arms around my waist. “The shrew I work for…just a smidge…just enough to knock her on her ass for a few days.”
He kissed my nose. “No.”
I ran my hands suggestively down his shirt, and then started un-tucking it. “I’d be most…appreciative.”
He laughed as he watched my hands pull up the fabric. “Are you offering yourself to me, if I suck on your boss?”
I laughed huskily and kissed his neck. “Hmmmm…is it working?”
He pushed me back and stopped the hands that were now starting to unbutton his shirt. He grinned widely. “No…I’d rather go back to abstaining.”
I smacked his chest. “Some vampire you are. I can’t even get you to nibble on a human for some lovin’.” I shook my head dramatically and sighed. “What is the supernatural world coming to?”
He laughed and walked over to the chicken. “You should be grateful I’m not more inclined to ‘nibble on humans’, as you put it.” Holding the feet with a silicone pot holder, he immersed it in the boiling water for a few seconds, then he set it back on the counter. When it cooled enough, he grabbed a leg and started removing feathers.
My stomach churned at the sight. “Ugh, see-ya. I’ll be in the living room.”
He laughed harder and stopped his hands to look over at me. Pointing at the chicken carcass he was plucking, he said, “This…this makes you squeamish?”
I pointed to the feathers in his hand. “Yes…that…that is gross.”
He was still laughing at me as I turned the corner into his magnificent living room and plopped onto his super soft couch. He prepared the chicken and then brought us out a glass of wine (blood red, of course) to enjoy while the bird cooked. We snuggled on the couch and talked over our couple days apart while we sipped our drinks. He talked about his meeting, and how impressed his boss was with his last article - a feature on how to enjoy the city on a tight budget, which, as I looked around his incredible home, made me chuckle inwardly. I didn’t think he had to “budget” for anything. I told him about my mom and sister wanting to meet him and he gave me an ‘anytime you’re ready’ look. That brought the conversation around to this weekend, and meeting his parents.
We decided…well, he decided and I grudgingly agreed, that he would pick me up at my place after work Friday night. I had a feeling he was mainly picking me up, just so I wouldn’t bail on the whole event. He said he could make the 60 mile drive in 45 minutes, if we hit the traffic just right, so we’d be just in time for dinner. I didn’t know what unsettled me more - how fast we’d be going to get there so quickly, or the arriving in time for dinner part. Was that arriving in time to join his family for a meal, or arriving in time to be the meal?
The majority of my brain really wasn’t worried about his family killing me…after all, he was right, that would be a pretty rude way to meet your son’s girlfriend. But I’m only human, and there is an intrinsic fear of knowingly walking into a predator’s den. Like the fear you get when you go to the zoo, and the only thing separating you from the field where the lionesses are basking in the sun, is a 5 FT high fence. I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure, given the proper incentive, that really wouldn’t pose as much of an obstacle as the zookeepers would have us believe.
After finalising our plans and talking over some details, like, they have a pool, so bring your suit (well of course they do, don’t all vampires swim?), we ate our roasted chicken on the patio and watched the sun set, the burnished reds and oranges rippling across the sky and reflecting in the water below it. When we were full and satisfied, he proceeded to satisfy my other hungers as well…and I’d been right - his very nice dress clothes looked much, much better crumpled up along with mine beside his very spacious and luxurious bed.
To Be Continued in Next Chapter….
