Kiss of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Realm Book 2) (3 page)

As I was helping myself from the fully stocked refrigerator, a mortal woman entered the kitchen dressed in only a robe. She was petite with straight black hair, cropped at her chin. Giving a start upon seeing me, she didn’t make a sound. She simply turned around and left the room in a speedy manner.

A few moments later my Cousin Jessie’s giant appeared. He was also clad only in a robe. “Hello, Mr. Wanderlind,” he said with his booming voice and Russian accent. “Velcome home. I am sorry I am not appropriately dressed but I vasn’t aware ve vere expecting you.”

“It’s quite alright, Hugo,” I assured him. “I didn’t tell any of the family I was coming. And I’m not quite sure I’m going to stay.” I glanced at his robe again and wondered if he had to have all his clothes custom made. “Can I assume from your appearance that none of the family is home at the present?”

“They are not,” he said shaking his enormous head. “I must assume that you have not spoken to your family since the holidays.”

“I’m afraid I owe my aunt a very large apology that I’m delinquent on delivering,” I admitted.

“There has been much that has happened since you vere last here,” he told me. His face was grave, but the giant always looked grave as far as I could tell. I didn’t know if that meant there had been trouble or if it was just that Jessie was engaged.

“I’ll reach out to them as soon as I can,” I assured him. “Where have they gone? Budapest?”

“I am sorry, but I am not sure,” he said, continuing to frown.

“That’s fine, Hugo,” I told him. “Go back to whatever you were doing.” I had to assume that the woman with the black hair was somehow involved. “I’ll catch up with my family later.”

“Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Wanderlind?” he asked.

“No, I’m fine. I’ll just take my usual room. You go back to bed.”

With that the giant turned and exited the kitchen. I was left to enjoy my meal and wonder about my family. It seemed to me that Hugo had told me that there was some kind of complication with my family the last time he stumbled across me foraging for food in the refrigerator. That was around Christmas, if memory served. Was the trouble still going on? I had to wonder. It was probably some sort of nonsense with Jessie’s human. Mortals were so fragile. Sometimes it was a challenge just to keep them alive.

The next sunset I filled my belly again, along with a flask for Haley. I had no idea how she was managing to feed herself so I figured it was best to be prepared. I started my search at the house where she lived with her Uncle Kevin. The last time I had seen the property it was in sad shape. The shutters had been practically falling off the windows and there had been piles of junk all over the lawn. But someone had come in, re-hung the shutters and hauled the junk away. The snow was neatly shoveled and it looked like somebody had actually washed all the windows. The man who answered the door after I knocked appeared familiar, but completely altered from the drunk I had previously encountered.

“Uncle Kevin?” I asked, not even sure he was the same man.

“Excuse me?” the man said. “Do I know you?”

Haley’s uncle had really cleaned up his act. He was actually wearing a clean sweater and a pair of pants. His face was clean shaven and his eyes weren’t bloodshot. There wasn’t even the hint of bourbon on his breath.

“I’m a friend of Haley’s,” I told him. “Are you her Uncle Kevin?”

The man squinted at me as if trying to see through a fog. I’d had to use my influence over him a couple of times when I was trying to control Haley after her making, so I probably looked vaguely familiar. “I am,” he told me. “But she’s not here right now. Can I tell her who dropped by?”

That was an interesting question. Did I want to alert Haley to the fact that I was back in town before finding her myself?

“You can come in if you want,” he said, pushing open the screen door. “Haley’s probably at work. But it’s cold out, so you might as well warm up first.”

“Thank you,” I said, feeling a little thrill as I crossed over the threshold into his home. The man obviously had no idea I was a vampire.

“I’m just fixing some supper, if you’d like to join me,” he said, heading toward the kitchen. “You’ll have to excuse me. I have something on the stove.”

I followed him through the house, marveling at the interior. I had Uncle Kevin pegged as a lazy man with a violent temper, but his home was immaculate. The walls had a fresh coat of paint and there were even some flowers in a vase on the dining room table. I noticed some text books stacked there as well. I glance at a cover.
The Principles of Mechanical Engineering
, I read. Was Haley taking some classes? Mechanical Engineering didn’t sound like her.

“Oh, sorry about the clutter,” Kevin said, hustling back into the room, a dish towel hanging off his shoulder. There was absolutely no clutter anywhere to be seen. “I kind of take over the dining room when Haley’s not around.”

“You’re studying engineering?” I asked.

“Trying to,” Kevin said with a modest bob of his head. “But I’ve got to tell you, it ain’t easy.”

“Impressive,” I told him. “When did this start?”

“It’s always been something I wanted to do,” he said, wiping his hands repeatedly on the dishtowel. “But… I don’t know. The dream somehow slipped away from me. Then a couple of weeks ago I just got the urge and signed up for some night classes.”

His explanation sounded way too suspicious. “Did you talk to Haley before you took all this on?”

“Sure,” he said, bobbing his head some more. “She’s been really encouraging.”

I had a feeling that my progeny had been using quite a bit of her influence over her uncle. He’d gotten motivated and pulled his life together way too quickly for there not to be some paranormal powers at work. It wasn’t proper undead behavior, but I couldn’t blame Haley. Kevin had been kind of a hillbilly drunk the last time I had the pleasure of conversing with him. There really wasn’t that much harm in encouraging a man to lay off the booze and get his act together. Haley had probably grown tired of threatening him and decided to figure out a better way to live. I wasn’t sure that the Bishops would fully approve of her interfering with the mortal world, but I felt a little proud of her.

After that I headed over to Darlene’s Diner to see if Haley was working. I couldn’t enter the premises of my own accord. I assumed it was because the owner lived upstairs. I must have looked pretty obvious striding back and forth in front of the diner’s window because eventually an older woman with platinum blonde hair cracked open the door. “You looking for someone, honey?” she asked, her voice raspy from years of smoking too many cigarettes.

“Good evening,” I said to her. “Would you please tell me if Haley Scott still works here?”

The woman nodded. “Sure she does, but she’s not on tonight. She’s probably out causing trouble.” The woman released a small cackle that served as a laugh. Her words sent a shiver up my spine. If Haley was roaming around central Ohio, feeding off the living, then it would cause quite a bit of trouble. “You want to come in for a bowl of chowder?” the woman asked.

I felt the invisible barrier that was blocking me from entering the diner vanish. It must have been the woman who lived somewhere in the building. People in small town America really had to learn to stop inviting me into their homes. I knew for a fact that mortals weren’t nearly as trusting in New York. But then again, the woman didn’t realize she had just given me permission to enter her bedroom while she was sleeping — even though it had been her intent to offer me something to eat.

In frustration I took to the skies. Where in the hell was Haley Scott keeping herself? The town of Tiburon just wasn’t that big. I’d crossed half the planet to be with her and she was nowhere to be found. From the conversations I’d had with mortals, I knew Haley was still around. She hadn’t fled to a larger city. But how did a fledgling vampire feed herself in a small town without causing a commotion? I closed my eyes and just hovered in the air, hoping I could simply sense where she was concealed. I guess I did have some maker instincts because something compelled me to fly two towns over and head to a strip of road that boasted several bars. It made sense; alcohol lowered people’s inhibitions and it was easier to feed off a mortal who didn’t have his guards up.

When I caught glimpse of Haley sucking on some man’s neck in a back alley, my first instinct was to end the stranger’s life without delay. I wanted to fling the man against a wall and snap his spine. But then I caught myself. Haley was simply feeding off of him. It made no sense to be jealous of her food. A man does not wish to fight the chicken his lover is eating for dinner. Now if she had been kissing the man, or he had been pleasuring her in any other way, that would have been a different story.

I forced down my jealousy and alighted in the alley not too far from where the two of them were concealed. I was careful to be quiet. It’s not that I didn’t want to spook Haley’s quarry — I had a full flask of blood to offer her if he was chased away — but I wanted to see how she was handling dining off of a live human, Perhaps there were some pointers I could offer her.

I composed myself against the wall to wait, but then quickly grew anxious. There was some overfeeding on Haley’s part. I had to restrain myself from rushing forward and pointing out the obvious. There was only so much blood a man could give before his heart would stop beating in his chest. Fortunately she caught her indiscretion in time and brought him back to life.

“Is that how you’ve been spending your time?” I asked, once she’d sent the man on his way.

When she whipped her head around to glare at me, it was like something out of a dream. I felt so drawn to her. It was all I could do to stop myself from sweeping her into my arms and kissing her.

Chapter 4

Haley

I couldn’t believe Dorian was spying on me while I drank from the seedy man. It felt somehow like he had caught me doing something intimate that was only supposed to happen behind closed doors, like changing my clothes or having a bowel movement. And he was so smug about it, leaning there against the wall and smirking at me. Dorian Vanderlind was an infuriating combination of charm and arrogance. Half of me wanted to wrap my body around him and never let him go. The other half wanted to ram a sharp piece of wood through his heart.

“Why are you spying on me?” I demanded, deciding anger was much better than me throwing myself at his feet and begging him to love me.

“Not spying,” he said with a shrug. “I just didn’t want to interrupt your meal.”

“Thanks.” I rolled my eyes. “You’re quite the gentleman.

“If you don’t mind, can I offer you bit of advice?” he asked. Then he kept going without waiting for me to reply. “It’s very nice that you gave that man a life’s calling, but you might want to add a little something about how those puncture holes got on his neck.”

He was right, but it was annoying for him to appear out of nowhere and start criticizing me. Hot guys always thought they could get away with anything.

“Thanks,” I said again, making my voice as droll as possible. “I’ll add it to my list.”

Dorian was still ridiculously handsome with his blond hair and piercing gray eyes. He was literally breathtaking, even though I no longer found it necessary to breathe. I had wondered if my imagination had amplified his good-looks over the last few weeks, but it hadn’t.

“Your hair is growing out,” I stammered as an excuse for why I was staring. The last time I’d seen him, he’d just had it cut short.

“I know,” he said, running a hand through his locks. “It never stays short for long.”

I didn’t know what to say after that. The last time I’d seen Dorian was when we’d kissed. And then I’d told him that I wanted to stay in Tiburon instead of having him show me the wonders of the vampire world. I’d spent so many long days stretched out on my bed, staring the ceiling and regretting those words. I was an idiot.

“So how’s the whole revenge endeavor coming along?” he asked, his voice casual and teasing.

I was about to snap at him, which for some reason was my knee-jerk reaction to anything Dorian said, but I managed to bite back on my words. “Slowly,” I finally stammered.

He nodded, looking thoughtful. “Have you taken revenge on anyone yet?”

“No,” I admitted, letting my shoulders slump. “I’m just…” I struggled to find the right words.