Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (164 page)

She glanced away, as if in thought.
“Sure, but he also walks in the daylight, eats, and feels
warm.”

When she said that, my mind flashed
back to my interactions with Jesse. In the woods, when we’d first
met, he’d gone to great pains to remind me of predators, and he’d
actually mentioned them pouncing on their prey with a fatal bite to
the neck. He’d told me that Max had a natural instinct to hate him.
The mountain lion had been frightened away by him, and he’d told me
it was because of his scent. Likewise, the night of the party, he’d
mentioned that there were many dangerous predators prowling around,
and the party, he’d mentioned the other guys claiming
us.

Thoughts of the party suddenly snapped
me back to the present. “Julie, do you think you were bitten at the
party?”

“
No. Why? I just got hurt
from the vase, when the glass broke.”

“
You assumed that. We all
did. Can you remember anything?”

“
No. I was too wasted. It’s
all a blur.”

“
Try to think.”

She suddenly gripped my arm tight.
“Are you trying to say we walked into a party of
vampires?”

My bottom lip trembled.
“Maybe.”

“
Then why didn’t they kill
us?” she asked, her voice rising an octave.

“
One of them obviously fed
off you.”

She gasped, then glanced down to
think. “Probably the blond chatting me up.”

“
Maybe your blood tasted so
good that he followed us that night to finish you off.”

She gasped. “That’s a horrible
thought, but while we’re talking about it, why didn’t the
werewolves kill us? They coulda jumped through the glass and ripped
us to shreds.”

“
I
haven’t figured that part out yet, but I’m starting to put the
pieces together.” I swallowed hard.
Could
my crush be a vampire, or am I just blowing things out of
proportion?
As I thought about Jesse,
something else dawned on me. “What if Jesse won’t take his shirt
off at the lake because there’s no scar?”

“
There has to be some sort
of scar. He was bleeding all over the place,” she said. “I saw the
wound. It was real.”

“
I know, but he
healed.”

“
Don’t vampires heal right
away?” she asked.

“
Maybe he’s different, not
like a normal vampire. If he can walk in the light and eat regular
food, maybe it also takes him longer to heal.”

Julie slowly touched her chin. “I bet
that’s why he didn’t want to go to the hospital or tell the
police.”

“
When he was shot, he so
sure he was gonna be fine. Anyone else would have been worried,
thinking they were on their deathbed, but he knew better. He knows
he’ll never die.”

She clutched her heart. “This is all
so weird. Just listen to us. We sound like lunatics.” She gripped
my shoulders. “Give me more. Give me something I can sink my teeth
into…uh, no pun intended.”

“
Do we really sound like
lunatics? I don’t think so. Jesse’s mom tries to keep him isolated
for a reason. That’s why he’s homeschooled.”

“
Maybe that’s a flat-out
lie. If he’s hundreds of years old, he doesn’t have to be schooled
at all.”

“
That would be beyond
weird.”

“
What if you’re his bonded
mate, like in vampire lure?”

“
I don’t believe in that.
We just have an awesome connection.” I tapped my chin. “It can’t be
forced or contrived. It’s real. I can feel it.”

“
Are there any other hints
we’ve overlooked?”

“
Hmm. Well, he did compel a
mountain lion. I watched him do it.”

“
You mean when he saved the
kid at the zoo?”

“
Exactly. Also, there’s an
ankh in his tattoo. Do you know what those mean? I know the
Egyptians used them a lot, and Jesse said every symbol in his
tattoo has a meaning.”

Confusion crossed her features. “I
don’t know, but we can Google it.”

Julie jumped on her computer and
quickly typed the word in the search engine. I peeked over her
shoulder and was stunned when I read the screen.

“
Immortality,” she said in
a stunned voice.

I swallowed hard. “I need to see
him.”

“
Are you kidding? What if
he compels you to forget everything? He compelled Max and that big
cat. What if he’s dangerous, Taylor? You can’t just waltz in there
and tell him you know his secrets. What if he kills
you?”

“
What do you think I should
do?”

“
Break up with him before
he a, sips on your vein for a nice, warm drink, b, makes blood your
next drink of choice, and c, just flat out kills you.”

“
I can’t give him up like
that.”

Her gaze narrowed. “Don’t vampires use
telepathy or something to control their victims?”

“
I’m not a
victim.”

“
You’re letting him take
drag you down a slippery slope, Taylor.” She gripped my arm. “What
if these recent attacks were him and not some wild
animal?”

A chill shot down my spine. “I can’t
imagine him hurting anybody. You should see him with the animals at
the zoo, especially the injured ones and the babies.”

“
Does any vampire really
want to be the way they are? They’re bloodthirsty and can’t help
themselves. We need to go to the sheriff.”

“
We can’t.”

“
Why? Because you’re trying
to protect Sir Sucks-a-Lot?”

“
Because they won’t believe
us.”

“
Still, we gotta
try.”

“
They’ll laugh at us. All
it will do is make us look silly and alert any vampire living here
that we know they exist. If we go to the cops, we might be putting
ourselves on a hit list—just like Fred was.”

She bit her lip. “Hmm. I didn’t think
of that. You’re right. We can’t let anybody know about this,
especially when we don’t know who is a vampire and who
isn’t.”

“
And we don’t know who the
werewolves are either.”

“
How did we end up in a
town like this?” she asked.

“
They’re trying to blend
in,” I said, “and they’re doing a really good job. The thing is, if
there are vampires and werewolves here, there should be many more
deaths occurring. They must be controlling the way they eat so they
don’t bring suspicion to themselves.”

“
So
they’re not dangerous because they’re in
Blood
aholics
Anonymous.”

“
Obviously, one fell off
the wagon,” I said as I glanced down to see who had left a text on
my phone.

“
Who is it?” Julie
asked.

“
It’s Jesse. He’s at my
house waiting for me.”

“
Your parents are gonna be
gone all day. You can’t face him by yourself. It isn’t safe. Let me
come with you.”

“
No. I need to talk to him
privately.”

“
Then do it at McDonald’s
or something, in a public spot.” When I didn’t answer, she
continued, “What if Jesse is the killer?”

“
It wasn’t him,” I
said.

“
You don’t know that,” she
retorted.

I reached for my purse. “If he wanted
to kill me, he would have done it already. He’s had plenty of
opportunities.”

“
Don’t confront him like
this, Taylor. You were clueless to his lifestyle before, but now
you know his dirty little vampy secret. If he’s aware of that, he
might take you out with one big, giant bite right there at the
house.”

“
It’s a risk I have to
take.”

“
Fine, but at least take
some precautions.” She turned and left the room.

“
If you’re getting your
father’s gun, I don’t want it!” I yelled.

She returned instead with a Bible and
a wooden crucifix. “Here. Vampire repellents.”

“
Seriously?”

“
Honey, this is just the
beginning. I’m far from done. The Internet has hundreds of tips.”
She ran to the kitchen and came back with cloves of
garlic.

“
Seriously?” I
repeated.

“
I don’t have any holy
water, but I can get some at church this Sunday.”

I tried to hand all the stuff back to
her, but she insisted I take it.

“
You know, we shoulda
figured this out already. Jesse is too hot to be human. Guys like
him shouldn’t exist on this planet, let alone in the middle of the
woods in Big Bear Lake. Who knew that vampires could come in fifty
shades of sexy?”

“
Right,” I
said.

“
Just don’t be seduced by
his hypnotizing eyes. Jesse may be handsome and sexy, but remember
that he’s always out for blood. You shouldn’t invite him in when
you go home. Your house can be your sanctuary, so just stand in the
doorway so he can’t hurt you. Promise?”

“
I promise. I guess it’s
better to be safe than sorry.”

“
Or slurped
dry.”

In spite of her warnings, I didn’t
think Jesse would hurt me. Then again, I wasn’t sure who he really
was or how everything would turn out. All I knew was that I needed
to talk to him.

“
Taylor, you haven’t even
asked what kind of hardware you need to take down that
bloodsucker,” Julie said.

“
I have everything you gave
me.”

“
Yeah, but those are just
for protection. To destroy him, you’ll need a wooden stake to
pierce his heart.”

“
What!? I’m not killing
anybody. Besides, if I did, his blue-eyed coven would come after
me.”

“
Right. I didn’t think
about that. But if he comes after you, you’ll have no choice but to
stake the night-stalker.”

“
He walks in daylight,
Jules.”

“
Oh yeah. But you can’t
just let him suck every single red blood cell out of your body,”
she retorted. “I bet he gets off on it too, the
pervert.”

“
That’s it. I’m
leaving.”

“
That’s it. I’m
coming.”

I sighed, knowing I wasn’t going to be
able to change her mind again. “All right. I guess in this case, I
can use a third wheel.”

“
Let’s find some more
stuff. If we get the lighter fluid from the basement, we can fry
the undead bloodsucker, burning him into a million
ashes.”

“
I suppose that might
work,” I said hesitantly, not wanting to picture it.

I followed Julie to the basement door,
and after she stepped in to head down the stairs, I quickly locked
it behind her.

She pounded hard with her fists.
“Taylor! Let me out.”

“
I can’t believe you want
to fry my crush!” I said.

“
Let me out! You can’t just
leave me trapped down here!”

“
Your mom will be home in
less than an hour. You’ll be okay. I need to do this
myself.”

* * *

Halfway
home, I pulled off the side of the road. I couldn’t stop gasping
for air, and I felt like I was having a panic attack. Since I’d
never had one before, I wasn’t sure. I ran a hand through my hair
and tried to think clearly, trying to come to terms with the fact
that Jesse could be a vampire
. Do I just
have some sick imagination? Am I a mental case?
If he was, in fact, a vampire, I would despise what he was,
and I would never be okay with him killing people.
But is it my right to judge him? Maybe he just
feeds on rodents or shops at a blood bank. Maybe I’m just
completely crazy. Or…maybe my heart is just as lonely as
his.

I wanted to scream, so as
I sat there in my car, that was exactly what I did.

Chapter 20

My chest heaved, and I sucked in giant
gulps of air as I pulled into the driveway. “Keep calm,” I told
myself.

As I walked up the sidewalk, he
smiled.

My heart stopped. “Breathe,” I told
myself.

“
Hey, you,” he
said.

“
Hi, Jesse.”

He wrapped his arms around me and
lowered his mouth on mine. His warm lips were so enticing, so
addictive. His gentle touch was like none I’d ever
experienced.

But my feelings about him were all
mixed up. I was aware of what he might be, but I didn’t care. I
couldn’t stop, couldn’t let go. I wanted to keep moving forward
with him. I wanted him more than my next gulp of air. I felt myself
sinking away from reality. Any normal girl would have run, but I
couldn’t. His lips felt so soft and warm, and I loved the way he
tangled his fingers in my long, black curls. The thought of letting
him go tore at my heart, and I simply couldn’t. I simply
wouldn’t.

Still, I needed answers.

He looked into my eyes, and I was
awestruck, my lips still tingling. “I was thinking,” he said. “Why
don’t I get us a boat so we can go out on the lake, just the two of
us?”