“There. How do you feel?” he asked.
“I’m okay.” Oddly, I didn’t feel the least bit weak. As I pulled on my shirt, I watched him put on his boxers before walking out of the bedroom. He came back a moment later with a bottle of vitamins and a glass of water.
“I need you to take six of these now and then two more tomorrow morning.” He reached for my hand and set the bottle in it, waiting. I smiled and opened the bottle, shook out six of the small vitamins and then drank the glass of water, setting the empty glass on the table, before tucking the bottle into my jacket pocket.
“I want to see you again tomorrow night. I won’t need to feed for a while but I’d surely love to see you,” he said.
I smiled at him, nodding slowly as I reached out and drew him to me before kissing him languidly. When I finally pulled back, I had another hard-on and surprisingly, I felt worlds better. I could only wonder if it was the vitamins, though surely, they couldn’t have been working that quickly.
“I’d love to see you too,” I replied. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a business card that Sally had given me earlier that day, handing it to him. “Call me and we’ll make plans.”
Vincent took the card and stared at it. He looked up at me and for a split second I was almost certain I saw his eyes glisten before they returned to normal. “I’ll do that.” He reached for my hand, giving it one last squeeze before I pulled away. I tore my gaze from his and walked to the door of his bedroom. When I turned to say goodbye, he was right there in front of me, separated from my body by only an inch or two. I didn’t even have time to jump back in fright before he reached up to take both sides of my jaw in his hands. When he leaned in and kissed me softly, it was harder to pull away than I thought it would be. I finally did.
“Goodbye, Vincent. See you tonight.”
“Good night, Romeo.” He lifted a hand and waved. “See you tonight.”
I smiled and turned, walking out of the room, down the hall, and out into the night to deal with a murder.
Chapter Six
Prosper Woods Chronicle. Letters to the editor:
“Last night I’m pretty sure someone was lost in the woods. Went to help but heard him talkin’ loudly about politics. Figured it’d be best just to leave him there and save us all grief. Now I’m thinkin’ someone should check on him in case a bear took a bite.” Signed, “Tastes like ass.”
Vincent
Whatever Romeo was about to stumble into was bad. I’d had a feeling that supernatural creatures had settled in the town of Prosper Woods the moment I’d heard howls in the woods. Werewolves. It had to be. The problem with werewolves was that they were pack animals and rarely wandered the world alone. If they were caught in another pack’s territory, they could be killed or invited to join the pack which involved some sort of initiation. I wasn’t sure about the details. One thing was clear. They were here and since werewolves and vampires didn’t get along, I was in for a challenge. I’d have to see how that went.
Being the owner of an antique store had always been good for me. My masquerade as a normal everyday human held up whenever I moved and changed towns, regardless of how large or small they were. I hadn’t had a situation where I’d had to deal with rampant paranormal phenomena or creatures in centuries. I should have guessed a small town like Prosper Woods was the perfect place for other supernaturals to make their home. It was somewhat off the grid and only frequented by the occasional tourist or passer through.
As soon as Romeo got the call that someone had been murdered in the woods, I knew things were about to get dicey. I lifted my hands and scrubbed them over my face, sighing. I really needed to sleep. I already would have been “dead to the world” if I hadn’t fed. I wasn’t like vampires you read about in books or movies. Though mostly nocturnal, because I was older, I could walk about during the day for short periods and needed vastly less sleep than the younger of my species. Still, the less sleep I got, the more often I needed to feed. One had to rejuvenate somehow.
Romeo’s blood… that had been a revelation.
I’d been captivated by the man the moment I laid eyes on him. I was drawn to him in ways I couldn’t describe. At the time, I had no idea why but the moment we shook hands, I felt a pulse of energy surging through him that definitely wasn’t human. He didn’t smell entirely human either. But his blood… I shivered every time I thought of how he’d tasted. My God, it is impossible to quantify how delicious he is.
In the beginning of my vampire life, after I’d first been turned, Robert loved to watch me as I hunted and fed. He had bloodlust like no vampire I’d ever seen since. He loved to hunt, torture, and feed from his victims in the most horrific ways and if I was being honest with myself, I’d enjoyed it. Watching him take a human’s life had been sport for me in the beginning. I’d allowed my humanity to be
