“I hope I can see you again. Can I get your number?”
Oh, shit. What do I do? I actually wanted to see this guy again. Target or not target, he was hot and I could use a little sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll in my life. And by drugs, I meant blood.
Fuck it.
“Sure. Gimme your phone.”
He slid it from his back pocket and handed it to me. I quickly sent myself a text and handed it back to him.
He grinned at the text I’d sent him, which read “Dani the Groupie”, and re-pocketed the phone. “Are you really a groupie?” he asked.
I pushed the button to start the car and shook my head. “Absolutely not.”
Laughing, he said, “Have a good night.” Then, he closed my door and I drove off with a stupid-ass smile on my face.
4
Judson
Dammit. That was not supposed to happen.
Vampires were evil, soulless creatures that needed to die. Not hot brunettes with long legs, nice tits, and serious self-control.
I opened the door to my apartment and then closed and locked it. Eyeing the flask of holy water I kept on the small table next to the front door, I was glad I hadn’t needed to use it on Daniela.
Truth was, I knew she was a vamp from the first time I’d caught her practically eye-fucking me in the crowd at the club while I’d been onstage. I had always wondered if they knew their eyes reflected silver in fluorescent lights. I mean, they’d usually been alive so long, one would think they’d know these things and stay out of clubs. Or maybe they did know but didn’t pay it any mind. After all, if a human were to say anything, they could just play it off as a trick of lighting.
Or just use that fucking vampire hypnotism on them.
I tried hard not to think about the night I first learned about vampires, but unfortunately, it was never avoidable.
Six months ago, Audrey and I were coming out of Bash. With my arm around her slender shoulders, I was on a high better than any cocaine I could have ever snorted. It was Innubis’s first night onstage and we absolutely killed it. The crowd loved us, and we were taking photos and signing autographs well past two a.m. Audrey had always been my number-one supporter when it came to being in a band, and the smile she’d beamed from ear-to-ear before, during, and after our set had made me feel so proud. As my twin, we didn’t always see eye-to-eye, but she did support me in everything I did.
All of that ended after we left Bash and were heading toward my bike. I was going to take her home before going back to my apartment to try to get some sleep.
“I am so happy for you, Jud. I always knew you’d be successful”—she played air-guitar—“but to hear you and see you perform in front of hundreds has totally made my night. My month. My year! I’ll never forget tonight. You’re gonna be famous. I just know it.”
“Thanks, sis. I’m just so stoked Adam took a chance on us. He could have told us to fuck off.”
“Adam’s a smart business owner. Just look what he’s done with Bash. He knows talent when he sees it.” Audrey winked at me.
As we exited the alley, a scruffy man with greasy blond hair and crazed ice-blue eyes seemed to have come out of nowhere. He smiled freakishly as he hopped in front of us, and then froze, like something out of a horror movie.
“What the fuck?” I said, immediately pushing Audrey behind me.
The man hissed at me but continued to smile. It was then I noticed the fangs. I relaxed slightly and shook my head. “Listen, there’s a goth club about two blocks from here, you might wanna try that one. Now go away.”
He moved his gaze from my twin to me, and his smile fell. “I don’t know what goth is, but I have no interest in clubs. I only know the hunger.”
What the…
I turned and screamed at Audrey to run. She flicked her gaze to the freak then back to me.
“Now!” I snapped and watched as my sister went running the opposite direction down the alley. Thankful I had my switchblade in my pocket, I pulled it out and flicked it open. “Get the fuck out of here, freak, before something bad happens to you.”
He narrowed his eyes and hissed at me once again before taking off down the alley toward my sister. He moved so fast I couldn’t see him. I wished I had known then what I know now—that vamps were like wild animals. Run, and they live for the chase.
Watching him give chase to my twin lit a panic fire in my chest.
I had never seen any man or animal move like that, and the dread that settled in my stomach made me want to vomit. What in the ever-loving hell was this thing?
Screaming at him to stop, I ran as fast as I could after him. But he had disappeared from sight and so had my sister. I slowed down to look down alleyways and around corners, but I couldn’t see either of them. My heart was pounding so fast I thought it might explode out of my chest. Stopping to catch my breath, I had both hands on my knees, wondering what I was going to do. Deciding I didn’t have any other choice, I pulled out my phone to call 9-1-1 when I heard the bloodcurdling scream that continues to haunt my every waking moment.
I took off toward the sound, but the dread that pooled in my stomach was already there because I just knew this night, that had started as a dream, was going to end in a nightmare. But nothing could prepare me for what I saw when I turned the corner into an alley. Audrey’s prone, bloody body
