Bitten & Smitten

by Michelle Rowen

  NEW YORK BOSTON

  Dear Mom,

  I might be a bit late for cousin Missy’s wedding. It’s been a tough week. Turns out my blind date from hell was literally from hell. Guy bit me. Next thing I know, I’m being chased all over the city by vampire hunters. And did I mention that I got fired, too?

  Bright side—I met a man. Thierry de Bennicoeur. How great is that name? Anyway, he’s sexy, six hundred years old, and a tad suicidal, but no one’s perfect, right? And we have a deal—he’s gonna show me the ropes of the vampire world, and I’m supposed to help him end his existence. Or maybe I’ll just try to convince him life is worth living—no small challenge with the mostly immortal, let me tell you. I’ll admit it’s a complicated relationship. But with any luck, I just might have a date for that wedding after all.

  Hugs and kisses.

  Sarah

  Contents

  Excerpt

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  About the Author

  Excerpt

  As soon as the blood touched my tongue, the pain vanished…

  It was like fine champagne; strawberries and cream; Kahlua chocolate sauce on French vanilla ice cream; ambrosia—food of the gods. Pick one.

  Thierry’s arm was tense for a moment, but he slowly relaxed. I looked up at him. His eyes were dark, and he wore an unfathomable expression on his face.

  “Enough, Sarah,” he said, and his voice was ragged. He squeezed my arm and roughly brought me up to my feet.

  I thought he was going to push me away and leave the room, but instead he grabbed my shoulders to pull me against him and crushed his lips against mine, drinking me in as I’d just done to him. I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed him back, deeply, so deeply that I thought I might drown…

  Okay, maybe being a vampire wasn’t so bad after all.

  Dedication

  To my parents

  for their love, support, and tons of patience

  with a brat like me.

  Acknowledgments

  Many thanks to:

  Jim McCarthy, my wonderful agent. Your insights and encouragement will never be forgotten.

  Melanie Murray, my fabulous editor. You have made my first novel a completely positive experience, and it has been a pleasure working with you.

  And last but never ever least, Bonnie Staring, my amazing friend, beta-reader, and cheerleader, who can Simon Cowell my work any day.

  Chapter 1

  For a dead woman, I felt surprisingly good.

  I figured I had to be dead, since the first thing I noticed after opening my eyes was someone burying me in the cold ground. I was only in a few inches deep, but steady shovelfuls of dirt were landing on my chest, creating a rapidly growing mound.

  The air smelled of moss and worms… and cheap cologne.

  Cheap cologne?

  I craned my neck to look around. An ornately carved gravestone stood not five feet away from my eyes. I blinked. It was dark, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t my name carved on it.

  The next dirt sandwich hit me squarely in the face.

  “Hey!” I managed before I started to cough. I freed my right hand from under the heavy pile to wipe at my face.

  “Oh, you’re awake,” a surprised male voice said from my left.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  “You’re awake and asking questions.” He sounded dismayed. “I was afraid of this.”

  Something sharp and metallic hit the ground behind my head. Sounded like a shovel. Then the owner of the voice crouched down and moved his pale, thin face close to me.

  “Hello there,” he said.

  It was Gordon Richards, my blind date from earlier that evening, although I’d already recognized his voice. And his cologne. Whiny and nasal, it gave the impression of belonging to a very needy person. The voice, not the cologne, that is. The longer the date had gone on, the more I’d realized that the voice didn’t lie.

  “Hi?” I started to squirm around. “Get me out of here, you lunatic, before I call the cops.”

  He frowned. “But the dirt is an important part of the healing process.”

  “Healing process? I’ll give you a healing process as soon as I get out of here.”

  “Sorry.” Gordon began to push the dirt off me, and I struggled to pull myself free of the loose earth. He offered his hand to help me stand, but I ignored it and managed to get to my feet all by myself.

  I attempted to brush the dirt off my new, not to mention very expensive, silk dress and tried not to panic. My three-quarter-length burgundy leather coat could be easily wiped off, but I knew immediately that the dress was ruined. Although, I think it was safe to say that was the least of my problems at the moment.

  This guy was obviously psychotic.

  I took a good look around. Just as I’d suspected, thanks to the big clue of the gravestone, we were standing in the middle of a cemetery. My blind date had just attempted to bury me in a cemetery. Filled with dead people. And bugs.

  I shuddered, then I looked at him standing patiently nearby.

  “Well, thanks so much for the date.” I tried to make my voice as relaxed as possible. Calm, cool, and not ready to freak out. Yet. “I guess I’d better be heading home now.”

  “What exactly do you remember?”

  I forced a reluctant smile. “That I had a lovely time. And that I’ll have to thank Amy for setting this up. Yes, she won’t be hearing the end of this anytime soon. I can promise you that. Anyhow, super meeting you.” I made a move to leave, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back to face him.

  “What’s the last thing you remember?” Gordon asked, harsher now. “It’s important.”

  I swallowed hard. “We had a lovely dinner. Then we went for a walk”—I glanced around—“but not here. Over by the river and the bridge, the Bloor Viaduct. We were looking down at the river, and um… you were saying something…”

  “How lovely you are,” he murmured as he ran a hand down my coat sleeve.

  I gritted my teeth and jerked away from his touch. Why hadn’t I ever signed up for that self-defense course Amy was always begging me to join with her? My eyes narrowed at the thought. Amy. She was so dead for getting me into this.

  “Right.” I tried to turn my gritted teeth into a pleasant smile. “Me being lovely. Or whatever. And then…”

  I frowned as I tried to remember, but things seemed a bit fuzzy.

  “I offered you eternity.”

  Uh-huh. I did remember that part. That was the moment when I decided that the date was officially over. And then—

  My eyes widened as I looked at him. “Then you bit me, you weirdo.”

  Gordon looked very apologetic. “It’ll heal quick. I promise.”

  I touched my neck and then pulled my hand away, staring with horror at the blood left behind.

  “You bit me on the neck? What kind of a sorry-ass vampire wannabe are you, anyhow?”

  I grabbed for my dirt-covered purse that lay by my feet. I kept a can of pepper spra
y in it for protection, or at least I used to. Did I still have it? Did those things have an expiration date? Didn’t matter. If I had to, I’d just use it to bash him over the head.

  “I’m not a wannabe.” He actually had the audacity to look insulted. “I am a vampire.”

  Psycho, I thought. Total psycho.

  “Look,” I said tentatively, “you’ve had your fun. I’m not all that into the role-playing scene, or whatever this is, but the bite doesn’t seem to be too bad. I think. So, let’s just say no harm done and leave it at that, okay?”

  “From the moment I saw you last month at the hot-dog stand outside your office, I knew that you had to be mine, Sarah.” He smiled wistfully.

  His teeth did look a little bit pointy, now that I was paying closer attention, but it was probably just the moonlight playing tricks. Still, unnerving to say the least. Also unnerving was the fact that somebody had secretly watched me getting my near-daily Italian-sausage fix. Creepy.

  “You had to have me, huh?” I stared at him for a moment. “And you couldn’t just do what everyone else does and try to get me drunk?”

  Usually, making a joke made me feel better. At the moment, it was all I could do to keep my voice from trembling.

  “It took forever to get into your friend’s good graces so she’d set us up on this date, but it was worth the wait. Now you’re mine. We’ll be together forever.”

  Without another word I turned and started walking briskly away from him. Still calm. Still in complete control. Just like my panty hose.

  Gordon yelled after me a couple of times and then ran, catching up to me in only two or three steps. He grabbed my elbow and spun me around to face him.

  “It’s rude to walk away when someone’s offering you eternity.” I didn’t like the way he was looking at me now. Not in the slightest. And his voice didn’t sound needy and desperate anymore.

  I yanked my arm away from him. “Keep it. I don’t want it.”

  He grabbed me again. Despite his scrawny appearance, his grip was crushing.

  “Let go of me…” I began, but then he hit me hard across my face with the back of his hand. My vision exploded in multicolor waves and my teeth loosened slightly in their sockets as the impact shook me right to my toes.

  “It’s too late to take it back, bitch.” His snarl showed the full length of his sharp fangs. “The bite on your neck makes you mine. It’s a no-return policy.”

  Then he appeared to come back to his senses. His face relaxed and his eyebrows knitted together into a frown as he reached toward me. I scurried back out of his range, eyes wide, pressing my hand against my stinging cheek.

  “Oh, God, I’m so sorry,” he sputtered as he moved closer to me. “I didn’t mean to do that. What the hell was I thinking?”

  I wrapped my other hand around the cool can of pepper spray at the very bottom of my purse. My eyes were still unfocused, but I managed to yank the can out and spray him long and hard in the eyes. He howled in pain and clawed at his face.

  I turned on my heels and did what any self-respecting girl with a neck wound does when she finds herself in a cemetery after midnight with a crazy guy who thinks he’s a vampire.

  Ran like hell.

  Crazy. Yup. Definitely bipolar, and very likely in need of some serious therapy. It was probably something that happened to him in childhood that had turned him into such a loon. I’d minored in psychology during the year I spent at the University of Toronto before dropping out. Loony. That was the professional verdict. In serious need of help.

  Just like I was at the moment. I ran through the cemetery. Big cemetery. Where the hell was the road?

  Finally I saw the stone entry gates straight ahead of me. I heard Gordon, not that far behind, yelling for me to slow down. Yeah, like that was going to happen. Not bloody likely.

  The three-inch heel on one of my black leather sling-backs chose that moment to snap off. Those shoes had cost me the better part of last month’s paycheck, so it was a little disappointing, to say the least, that they couldn’t take a little pressure. I crashed to the ground in a heap, but sprang up just as quickly, like one of those Bozo the Clown punching bags. The adrenaline coursing through my veins was definitely helpful, but I felt lightheaded. The loss of blood from the bite on my neck was finally catching up to me. Maybe it was more serious than I’d originally thought.

  I pulled off what was left of the shoe, spun around, and threw it in the direction of my pursuer.

  “Ow!” he yelled as the sling back met its mark.

  Since it was impossible for me to run lopsided, I sent the other shoe sailing in the same direction like a small, expensive, Italian-leather missile. That one missed the target, so I hurled a few choice expletives behind it.

  “Come on!” Gordon called after me. “Sarah, baby, we can work this out!”

  I ran through the entrance of the cemetery and straight into something firm and unyielding. I looked up. It was something tall, muscular, and blue-eyed. A street-lamp shone above him like a beacon from heaven itself.

  “Whoa there, miss,” the unyielding stranger said. “Slow down.”

  I was gasping for breath after my sprint. “Oh, thank God! You have to help me.”

  The man’s gaze slid from my neck wound over to my date from hell, who had almost reached us.

  “Don’t worry about a thing, darlin‘,” he said and smiled. His teeth were shiny white in the moonlight.

  Two more men emerged from the shadows, one as thin as a rail with stringy blond hair, the other big and burly with so many tattoos that they peeked out at the edge of his neck past his dark shirt and jacket. I hadn’t noticed anyone else around until they’d moved.

  Hey, the more the merrier.

  The man with the shiny teeth gently pushed me aside. “You wait right there, darlin‘. We’ll deal with you in a moment.”

  I nodded and exhaled deeply. Wow, it was just my luck that these fine gentlemen were out for a walk in the cemetery.

  After midnight.

  I frowned. What the hell were they doing here, anyhow? Seemed like quite the lucky coincidence, if you asked me. But since it was working out in my favor, I kept my questions to myself.

  Gordon skidded to a halt in front of us, blinking rapidly and rubbing his eyes from the shot of pepper spray. There was a small red mark on his forehead—probably from the shoe.

  I had my arms wrapped around myself to keep from shivering. I was dressed for a date, not a jog through a cemetery in late November. If I’d known that was in the cards, I would have at least worn a nice scarf. I felt ill, too: from the fear, from the loss of blood… and possibly from the fajita I’d had earlier for dinner.

  “Why were you running?” Gordon looked confused. “I wasn’t going to hurt you.”

  “Bite me,” I told him. He was so going to get charged with assault. I might even have to put a restraining order on his sorry ass. “Oh, wait a minute, you already did bite me, didn’t you… you psycho!”

  He rolled his eyes. “You’re really going to have to get over that if this relationship is going to have half a chance.”

  Gordon finally noticed that we weren’t alone. “Oh” was all he said as the men approached him. “Look, guys, this isn’t what it looks like.”

  I glared at him and then tried to smile at “White-teeth.” He sure was cute. Maybe my night was turning out better than I’d thought. “Look, if you guys just want to help me find a cab, I’d really like to go home. Make sure he doesn’t come near me again, and I’ll owe you one.”

  White-teeth smiled broadly. “Look what we have here, boys. Girlfriend and boyfriend vampire in a bit of a squabble.”

  “He’s not my boyfriend,” I assured him.

  “I’m not a vampire,” Gordon said quietly.

  “That’s funny. He told me he was a vampire just a minute ago. That’s why he bit me.” I rubbed my neck tenderly. “He’s definitely crazy.”

  “Yeah. Crazy,” White-teeth said before turning to his
friends. “How many is this tonight?”

  The stringy-haired guy piped up, “It’s been a great night. Maybe five? No, six.”

  “Listen, guys”—Gordon looked scared to death— “we can work something out. I have money—”

  White-teeth punched Gordon in the stomach. He clutched at his belly and fell to his knees, coughing and sputtering.

  “Hey,” I said, frowning hard. “I don’t think that’s necessary. Look, all I want is for you guys to help me get home. That’s all.”

  “Shut up,” White-teeth snapped at me. Gordon struggled to his feet, only to get punched again, this time in the jaw.

  That’s no way to treat a crazy person. They need supervision, not violence.

  I marched over to White-teeth and grabbed his arm. “That’s enough. There’s no reason to be such a big bully…”

  He looked at me for a moment, then smiled. “Darlin‘, you need to learn your place.” He pushed me hard enough to make me fall backward, and I yelped in pain as my ankle twisted.

  Something glinted in the hands of my so-called rescuers, catching the moonlight. Some kind of metal. Knives. “Stringy-hair” held a switchblade, and “Burly” had a small ax. I also noticed they had sharp wooden spikes tucked into loops on their belts.

  Then Gordon screamed. White-teeth was so close to him now that they seemed to be slow dancing, shuffling around in a partial circle. White-teeth moved back and I saw the handle of a knife sticking out of Gordon’s stomach.

  “But I told you I had money,” he gasped.

  White-teeth extended his hand like a doctor might, waiting for his next tool. A wooden spike was slapped down into it.

  I opened my mouth to say something, to stop this before it went too far, but the only sound that came out was a tiny squeak.

  “But, vampire, this is so much more fun than money,” White-teeth said and arched his arm upward, slicing into Gordon’s torso.

  I brought a hand to my mouth in stunned horror and scrambled backward on the ground. A bolt of pain went through my ankle as I tried and failed to get to my feet. My heart beat wildly. All three men joined in then, taking turns hacking and stabbing and slicing my date. They were so busy with Gordon that they appeared to have forgotten I was even there. I was beginning to think that was a good thing.