Vampire Dreams_Int.indd (6 page)

“But he bit you. Why did you live if he bit you?”

“If he drank all of my blood or killed me outright, it would have been over and that would have been that. I wouldn’t be 48

Christina Moss

with you today. Instead he drank a little blood and simply left.

I became infected, then the infection spread.”

“Then what happened?”

“It took several days to painfully transform into what you see before you — a being cursed with eternal life.” He turned away and looked across the water. “A hateful entity roaming the earth and having to live on the blood of the living.”

Zoe was silent but felt his sorrow and found it profoundly disturbing. She said softly, “I don’t fi nd you hateful. Please don’t talk that way.”

Alexander saw that his own misery over what he’d become had upset her deeply and it pained him to see her upset. “I’m sorry, I won’t talk like that.” He changed the subject. “Look, Zoe, isn’t the full moon beautiful?”

She glanced up and absently said, “Yes, I suppose.”

“What are you thinking, Zoe?”

“You’re different, Alexander. I know you are, and you know it too. You only kill those who hurt others. Like the man who killed my parents and tried to kill me. If it weren’t for you I’d be dead now. And if it weren’t for that vampire you’d be dead now. Don’t you see how important you are? Something horrible happened to you but instead of becoming horrible yourself, you use it to make things better. You haven’t been cursed with eternal life, you’ve been
gifted
with eternal life.”

49

Vampire of My Dreams

“That’s how you think of me, Zoe?”

“Yes, of course. There’s no other way to see you. That’s exactly who you are.” She put her arms around his waist and rested the side of her head against his chest. Alexander wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “Alexander?”

“What, Zoe?” He brushed the hair from her forehead and rested his hand along the side of her face, then he leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. “What would you like to say to me?”

“I just want to be with you.”

“And I with you. Now I’m your family.”

“Kiss me again.” He reached down and kissed her once again but longer this time and more meaningfully. When the kiss was over she whispered, “Forever.”

“Forever, what?”

“That’s how long I want to be with you.”

His eyes became heavy with sadness. “Don’t think of it. I couldn’t possibly do that to you.”

“But you have to, Alexander,” she whispered calmly. “It’s the only way.” He didn’t answer so she continued. “How old were you when you were turned?”

“Thirty-one.” He studied her face and ran his fi ngers through her hair.

50

Christina Moss

“And you’re still thirty-one?”

“Forever.”

Zoe reached up and put her hand on the side of his neck.

“You’ll be here forever and I want to be with you.”

“I just can’t.”

“You have to. I’ll suffer too much if you don’t.”

“I won’t let you suffer.”

“You won’t be able to stop it. I’ll suffer every day with the knowledge that I’ll die someday and leave you alone forever.

It hurts to think about it.”

“Stop talking about it. You’re asking me to take your life away just because I’m dead.”

“Why do you say you’re dead? Because your heart doesn’t beat? Because you won’t grow old?”

“Yes, that’s exactly why.”

“When I called your name last night, where were you?”

“Standing right here where we are now.”

“Yet you heard me. I was in my bed, with my head on my pillow. I called your name and you heard me. Did you hear me with your ears?”

He shook his head. “Of course not.”

“If you’re dead, how did you hear me?”

51

Vampire of My Dreams

“My body’s here and you can see it but in a sense it’s an illusion.”

“But you perceive me and I perceive you. Do you love me, Alexander? Is that real?”

“Yes, Zoe. Don’t have any doubts about my loving you. It’s more real than anything I’ve known.”

“But isn’t that what life is? I don’t think you need a heartbeat to be alive. You exist now and you’ll exist forever. Isn’t the worst part about loving someone the fact that someday you’ll lose them? Do you want to lose me?”

“Of course not.”

“And you won’t lose me when I become like you because I won’t really die at all.”

“Zoe, I have to kill people to exist.”

She smiled. “Just the bad ones. It’s wonderful actually. You and I will do things differently. We won’t be like the others at all. Think of how much we’ll accomplish together. We can travel all over the world.”

“But Zoe, it’s so painful to transform. I don’t want you to go through that.”

“If you’re with me, I’ll be okay.”

Alexander, still holding her close, looked down at her with a neutral expression.

52

Christina Moss

Zoe waited.

After a time, he broke into a smile exposing his sharp eyeteeth. Then he picked her up like she weighed nothing at all. Zoe put her arms around his neck and said, “Where are you taking me?”

“Dinner. It’s your birthday. And you’re hungry.”

“How do you know that?”

“I can tell. Would you like wine with your dinner?”

“Will you have wine?”

“Yes.”

“Then yes, wine sounds perfect. But what will we do after dinner, Alexander?”

“Then we’ll go to my hotel.”

“And then?”

“Then I’ll make love to you.”

Zoe laughed. “Of course you will. And then what?”

“And then we change you.”

With Zoe still in his arms, Alexander walked towards his car.

“Alexander?”

“What?”

53

Vampire of My Dreams

“Thank you for saving my life eleven years ago.”

“Zoe! Thank you for saving mine!”

“Wait, Alexander! Look!” Zoe said. Alexander stopped and turned before reaching his car. Silently they admired the picturesque Boston skyline in the distance and the full moon above refl ecting a shimmering glow against the Charles River.

“Wow,” he said and then he looked down at her.

“Beautiful!”

† T h e E n d †

54

Christina Moss

Here is a sneak peek at the fi rst novel
by author, Christina Moss

Intwine

I
had a secret and I intended to keep it that way — at least for the time being. My choice would impact millions of people, but they’d learn of it in due time. Besides, it would have been wrong of me to tell anyone before
she
even knew.

I stood in the kitchen before the sliding glass doors that led to the back yard. The green grass and lush privacy vegetation that lined the yard reminded me of my home planet, but I wasn’t in any hurry to return — far from it. Recent events had not only infl uenced my desire to stay, they meant my future would be going in a direction I hadn’t anticipated. It was, however, a future I was very much looking forward to, but there would be many barriers to overcome.

55

Vampire of My Dreams

My mother sat out back on an iron-scrolled chair with thick cushions, sipping tea. She was to be my fi rst obstacle since I needed her agreement on my sudden change of plans.

I looked down at my black guard dog standing by my side. “This is all your fault,” I told him but he didn’t seem to care.

I pushed the handle and the door glided open easily. She turned and smiled at me. “Seth! Finally, all is in order! We’ll leave on the starship tonight. Your father misses you and your brother, and you know how uneasy he is when I’m away. I believe everything’s worked out quite well, don’t you?”

“Yes, very well. But Matt wants to stay on Earth for the summer and I think I should stay here with him.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Why would your brother want to stay?”

“To help Uncle Marcus with his research. It’s Matt’s fi rst time here and I don’t mind staying . . . for him.”

She looked skeptical. “I do adore you, my son, but to be frank, you’ve never been in the habit of putting the wishes of others before your own. Besides, don’t you have obligations this summer?”

“No one needs me until September.”

She studied my face. “Have I told you how much you look like your father?”

56

Christina Moss

“Yes, Mother, many times.”

“You have his dark green eyes.”

“Weren’t we talking about something else?”

She ignored me. “It’s really no wonder the girls like you so much — just as they liked your father when he was younger.

Of course, your birthright might also have some bearing on your popularity.” She smiled at me again. “So, my son, why do you really wish to stay?”

I tried to sound indifferent. “I told you why. It’s because of Matt,” I lied. I wasn’t about to tell her the truth — not at that point anyway. I couldn’t tell her how everything had changed for me just a few days before when I fi rst saw Juliette. All she and I did was look at each other, but so intense was that moment words weren’t necessary, and my life had suddenly changed. No one had known the truth — prior to that instant I had had no desire to claim my birthright. I’d planned to give it all to my younger brother. But when I looked into Juliette’s eyes, my future unfolded, and I beheld for the fi rst time, my true place in life and that future included her.

My mother wasn’t buying the lie. “Seth, if you cannot be genuine with your own mother, what’s the point?” She grinned at me. “Of course, until you are, you haven’t a chance of my approval anyway, so you may as well — how do they say it on this planet

— ‘fess up’?” I smiled at her and remained silent but I could see that she had become impatient. “So?” she prompted.

57

Vampire of My Dreams

I looked beyond her at the mountains that were turning purple from the angle of the sun. It was frustrating. I wasn’t ready to reveal myself, but she had me cornered. “I owe amends to someone here.”

“Oh, no! What have you done now? You just fi nished restitution for —”

“It’s not that bad. Apparently I’ve upset the girl.”

“The Earth girl? What did you say her name was?”

“Juliette.” I sighed. “She’s very sweet and I was too . . .”

“ . . . too much yourself?” She looked amused. I wasn’t.

“I suppose.”

Her eyes lit up and then she laughed her soft laugh. “Sit down, Seth.” She turned to the sliding glass door that I’d left open.

“Charles!” she called. “Seth will take tea with me out here!”

“Yes, ma’am,” came the answer from inside the house. I sat on the edge of the chair that was positioned next to hers.

“I don’t really want tea,” I said but she didn’t seem to care.

“So, it bothers you that you’ve upset a girl?” she asked with more interest than I was comfortable with.

How could I tell my mother that I’d fallen in love with an Earth girl — a girl with a life expectancy of only eighty years? I avoided answering her question directly. “Her art is exquisite — I’m sure you’d love it.”

58

Christina Moss

“And?”

“And she argues with me.”

“But no one argues with you, Seth!” Again she laughed.

I didn’t.

“Well, I guess no one told her that,” I said dryly.

She put her elbow on the arm of the chair, rested her chin in her palm and looked at me for a few seconds. “Well, this is quite a change. I spoke to your father last night. Would you like to know what he said about you?”

“No, not really.”

“Your father said, and I quote, ‘Seth is given to regarding girls in the way one regards paper towels — use once, then discard.’ It’s nice to see that you care about one of them enough to make amends.” She sat back and sighed. “I do pity these poor Earth people who age so unnaturally fast. Do you think anything can ever be done about it?” Once again she’d changed the subject.

“Mother?”

“Yes, Seth?”

“I’d like to stay here, with Matt, through the month of August,” I said evenly.

She looked at me carefully, paused for a few seconds and said, “All right, Seth. You may stay.”

59

Vampire of My Dreams

Finally! My fi rst obstacle had been overcome, but just when I thought that things were beginning to go my way, she added,

“But there are certain conditions . . .”

(INTWINE can be purchased through Amazon.com and the author’s website: ChristinaMoss.com.) 60

Contact Information

Visit the offi cial Christina Moss website: www.ChristinaMoss.com

Read her blog:

Christinamoss.wordpress.com

Become a Fan on Facebook:

Christina Moss, Author of Science Fiction & Fantasy