Kiss of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Realm Book 2) (15 page)

Other young people joined Haley and her date. There seemed to be some kind of small drama playing out between Haley and another girl who looked familiar. I had probably seen her at the mortal Christmas Eve party. I couldn’t tell exactly what was going on, but there seemed to be conflict over Tommy. This perplexed me greatly. Were things really so desperate in the small towns of Ohio that a philistine like Tommy was considered a prize? It was a sad commentary on the modern world.

Eventually Haley and Tommy had to leave because the other girl was causing a scene. There was some shouting, but I wasn’t exactly sure why. I followed Haley and her date as they drove out of town, heading for an isolated road in the woods. The remoteness of the location made me uncomfortable. I couldn’t decide if I was more anxious about Haley trying to kill him or Tommy trying to kiss her. Either way, I had no intention of letting it happen.

After Tommy pulled the car over and turned off the engine, I crept up on them so I could try to overhear their conversation. I knew I was crossing the line into stalker territory, but I tried to justify my actions by pretending that I was concerned for the mortal’s wellbeing. Nothing could be further from the truth, but it was a convenient excuse.

Even with my excellent night vision, I couldn’t exactly see what was going on inside the car. Thanks to the light cast by the moon Haley and Tommy appeared more as silhouettes sitting side-by-side. The boy kept leaning in and then Haley would gently push him away. I felt my hands ball into fists. But at least she wasn’t eager to kiss him. That would have been horrible to watch.

Eventually the brute kind of lunged for her. On a rational level, I knew Haley could easily subdue him. She was a vampire, after all. But I wasn’t exactly thinking rationally. Tommy was just a plebeian. He was a flea on a dog’s butt cheek. He wasn’t good enough for any young lady, let alone a member of the undead. And Haley wasn’t meant to be with him. She was destined to be my mate. I just had to convince her first.

I thought maybe I could keep it together. They were just kissing. Haley ostensibly had some kind of plan. But then the brute climbed on top of her and I saw red. Before I knew what I was doing, I had peeled back the roof of Tommy’s car like I was opening a can of sardines. Shattered glass rained down from the sky like someone throwing fists full of confetti.

Chapter 18

Haley

I really had no idea what to think of Dorian. What do you do when it turns out your dream man is just a big old slut? I wasn’t into slut-shaming or anything like that, but where did you draw the line? Was it once the guy crossed over into triple digits?  Quadruple digits? How many women had Dorian been with over the years? I wasn’t sure. Maybe he wasn’t even sure.

In his defense, Dorian was a vampire so he’d had a lot more time on his hands to play the field. But at a certain point it just got kind of gross. I knew vampires couldn’t get pregnant, but could they spread VD?

The truth was I was actually kind of hurt that Dorian had been with a lot of women. I’d only ever been with Tommy that one time. If I ever actually did get together with my maker, how would I compare to the fleet of females in his past? In my fantasies, when Dorian and I finally got together, it would be something truly special. At least it would be for me. But how could it be special for him if I was just one more name on a very long list?

I was just so confused over everything in my life after death that I didn’t know what to think. I just really wanted someone to confide in. And then I experienced a longing that I had been constantly fighting to suppress for my entire life. I wanted my mom.

My mom was crazy. I know a lot of people think their mom is a little nuts, but my mom had the paperwork to prove it. She’d been in and out of different mental health facilities my whole life. But there were also times when she’d been there for me. She’d kissed me and cuddled me and made me feel loved. Those times had been fleeting, but maybe that’s why they were so sweet. And after everything that had happened to me in the last couple of months, I desperately wanted one of those good-mom moments. It felt like the only thing that would make the world feel better.

My mom was currently staying at a place down near the Kentucky border. Evergreen? Evergrove? Evercrazy? I couldn’t remember. But I knew how to get there. I didn’t have a car, but I figured I could fly down there by just following the highway. The only problem was time. It was pushing two in the morning. I had become better at flying, but I wasn’t super speedy. If I flew as fast as I possibly could, and didn’t get lost, I figured I would arrive at the facility at around four-thirty. I was pretty darn sure that wouldn’t be in time for visiting hours.

Even if I did get to see Mom, what would I do about getting back to Kevin’s house before sunrise? There was no way I could make it in time. But there had to be ways that vampires hid from the dawn when they were travelling. I just didn’t know what they were. It would have been really helpful if Dorian had explained a few of these tricks. Or at least given me an instruction manual, or something.

But then I remembered what Dorian had done after he’d turned me into a vampire. He’d dug a hole in the ground and pulled the dirt in over both of us. I didn’t know if he’d done that because it was part of the process of making a vampire, or if it was just something to do in an emergency when you couldn’t find a light-sealed room. Either way, it would be handy if I couldn’t find a spare janitor’s supply closet at my mom’s facility.

I quickly changed into pants. I’d worn my plaid mini and black tights for my date with Tommy, but I didn’t like to wear a skirt if I was going to fly. I knew most people didn’t look up beyond the streetlights at night, but I didn’t want to feel like I was flashing half of Ohio. So I slipped into my best pair of jeans. They still weren’t very good, but they were the best I had.

Not for the first time, I wished I had vampire money. Then my wardrobe would have definitely expanded. When I was first changed, I’d used my influence a few times to buy some clothes at a huge discount. But I didn’t feel good about it so I stopped. It felt kind of like shoplifting and that just wasn’t my thing. So I guess I was going to keep on being the worst-dress vampire in America. At least for awhile.

As soon as I stepped outside and made sure none of our neighbors were out having a smoke or walking their dog, I took to the skies. I was so glad Dorian had shown me how to fly properly. It was just so exhilarating to have the ground drop away from my feet as I soared through the air. I wondered if vampires ever did any kind of cross-country treks, like flying across America. That was definitely something that I would like to try. After I made some undead friends, of course. Flying across America was kind of like going to the mall to get your ears pierced. It really felt like something you should do with a friend.

I was surprised by how easily I found my mom’s care facility. I arrived at a few minutes after four. It turns out the place was called Sterngrove. Not sure where I came up with the whole “ever” thing. Sterngrove was a large structure made out of sandy brick, not gorgeous but not ugly. It had a few architectural details that let you know it was older, but not super old.

I circled the building, trying to remember where my mom’s room was located. I knew it was on the second floor, but things looked much different on the outside of the building than they did on the inside. I had a bit of luck with the fact that my mother was actually awake and had her light on. I hovered outside her window for a few minutes, just watching her. She looked sane. And actually kind of pretty, in the dim glow of her reading lamp. I wondered if that meant they’d be letting her out soon. How was I supposed to handle telling her that I was a vampire?

I had assumed that the doctors at Sterngrove were going to hold onto my mom until after I turned eighteen. Then I would be considered an adult in the eyes of the government and I could leave home without being considered a delinquent or anything. My plan was to send her money and visit her as much as I could before it became too obvious that I wasn’t aging like everyone else. I had to wonder how most vampires handled taking care of their loved ones after their undeath. I had absolutely no idea. I knew there were insurance policies you could buy to help with the expense of a funeral, but I’d never seen anything advertised for the undead.

My mother suddenly looked up like people do when they have the feeling someone is watching them. I froze in mid-air, thinking that she probably couldn’t see me in the pitch-black of night. But she smiled and got to her feet. I could see her lips form the word, “Haley,” and she walked directly over to the window.

“What are you doing out there?” Mom asked, opening the window. I’m not sure that would have been the first question I would have asked if I’d found my daughter hovering in mid-air while outside in the middle of the night. But Mom doesn’t actually process a lot of things in the same way that most people do.

“I just missed you so I thought I’d come down,” I said, rather sheepishly.

“Well get on in here and give me a hug,” she said, pushing the window open.

I crossed over the sill and set my feet on the floor. “I thought that all of the windows here were supposed to be sealed shut. How come yours opens?” It was a facility for the mentally ill, after all. There were safety issues to consider.

“I’m mentally ill, sweetheart,” she told me. “Not stupid. I can figure out how to unseal a window. This place was built before they considered things like blocking people’s access to committing defenestration.”

I blinked at her, just waiting. I was used to my mother using words that she darn well knew I didn’t know, but she usually ended up defining them for me if I was patient.

“But you’re not worried about someone chucking you out a window anymore, now are you?” she asked with a sly grin.

“No,” I told her, without further elaboration.

She gave me a big mom-style hug and I breathed in the scent of her while saying a silent prayer of thanks that I had dined on a stray dog before approaching Sterngrove.

Eventually she pulled away from me and gave me the once over. “When did this happen?” she asked, waving a hand at me to define what she meant by “this”.

“Christmas Eve,” I told her. Or maybe it was Christmas. I wasn’t exactly sure. I would have to check with Dorian. It would figure that my maker’s day would coincide with one of the biggest holidays of the year. I was sure it would probably be the same as when someone is born on Christmas. No one would be free to celebrate it with me because they’d all be focused on the holiday. I knew a kid in foster care who was born on Christmas. He ended up telling everyone his birthday was in July just to avoid being completely overlooked.

My mom looked me over again with a more critical eye. “It suits you,” she said.

“So you’re not upset?” I had thought telling my mother that I was a vampire would be at least as challenging as for a gay man to come out to his family.

“Well…” She thought it over. “I was looking forward to grandchildren, but I guess that’s never going to happen.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

“And I guess it’s too late to do anything about it now,” she went on. “It’s not like there’s a laser tattoo removal for the undead. Is there?”

I was confused for a moment, but it was a very Mom thing for her to say. “No,” I told her. “I think the only way to stop…” I faltered at using the V word. “I think the only way for me to change is if I… you know… died.”

“But you’ve already tried that,” she said, as if I’d tried smoking or something. “Did you enjoy yourself?”

I remembered the last few seconds of my life, after I smashed through the windshield, but before I slammed into the tree. “No,” I told her. “That part was very bad.”

She hugged me again. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

For a few moments I felt like I was in some kind of weird dream where I had this ideal parent who was supportive of everything I did in life, or death.

“You’re father is a vampire, you know,” she said, casually.

“He… what?” I stammered.

“Yes,” she went on. “He is a member of the undead. He told me that I couldn’t get pregnant, but I guess it’s kind of like the pill; it’s only effective ninety-nine percent of the time.”

I used to get sucked in when my mother told me crazy things about my father. For a long time when I was very young I believed he was killed in Vietnam. Until a neighbor pointed out that the war had ended a couple of decades before I was born. When I confronted my mother about this gross miscalculation in time she said, “I never told you he died during the war, I just said he was killed in Vietnam. It is a country, you know.”