A Child's Days

by C. L. Quinn

  Okay, Bennie wasn’t wrong. He was flat-out gorgeous. His hair was the color of wheat, full, with bangs so long they scored his baby blues. He was wearing a charcoal gray shirt snug fitting enough to see the results of numerous workouts. Yeah, physically, he was pretty perfect. Though the hard part was still ahead. They had to begin a conversation and find out which one of them bored the other first.

  His eyes had been on her the entire way across the dining area, his smile a promise that he liked what he saw too. Her own copper hair was twisted into a coil cinched tightly against her head, but the smooth hairline emphasized what were classically beautiful features. Her deep green eyes had an intensity that startled people and sometimes made them uneasy. He smiled at her with perfect electric white teeth as she arrived at the table, set down a wine glass, and stood.

  “Zachary?” she asked.

  He leaned forward to take her hand. “Yes. And you must be Punk.”

  She sucked air between her teeth, her own smile slipping just a little. Bennie…

  “Actually, I go by Park. Or P.K. Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

  “Park it is. Please, have a seat. I’ve ordered some wine. A Garrus rosé. Is that good for you?”

  Very expensive choice. He was trying to impress her. She sat down and pulled up to the table.

  “Yes, I enjoy a quality rosé.” Well, that was lame.

  She really wasn’t very good at this. It’s funny how she could be completely at ease around people she knew well, but with strangers she was a social disaster. Yes, this would be her last one. If love ever came to her, it was just going to have to march right up to her house and bite her on the ass. This was her final “date.”

  It went downhill from there. He was charming and amusing, and she had nothing of relevance to say to him. It was just so awkward! What do you say to someone you don’t know? Someone you don’t have anything in common with, which was established pretty early in the evening. She didn’t know how social butterflies did it, but it wasn’t in her DNA. And putting herself through the embarrassment of another failed attempt at romance was just not worth it. Bennie was a sweetheart, but she just didn’t understand the depth of Park’s problem.

  After the third course, Zachary leaned toward her .

  “Hey, I don’t think this is going too well for you. You seem distracted. Is there something, someone else in your life? Maybe a recent breakup or something? I get the feeling you’re somewhere else. Maybe we could even reschedule if that would be easier for you?”

  What a kind man. He deserved better. Park decided to let him go. He didn’t need her and her troubles in his life. He was a gorgeous, athletic, successful man. He could find any number of attractive, smart women out there. And he would. So she leaned toward him too.

  “That’s right, Zach. There is something else, and I just can’t seem to let it go right now. Will you forgive me? I don’t know about rescheduling. I’m sorry, but I think I should go. I really do apologize.” She stood, her luxurious satin napkin falling to the floor. She couldn’t even make a graceful exit. When he started to come toward her, she put up both hands to stop him. “Just…just let me go. I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”

  Park grabbed her bag and walked as quickly as she could from the room, considering she wore four inch heels that she wasn’t accustomed to. As she left the restaurant, she paused and caught her breath. Well, that disaster was over. Nothing like a self-fulfilling prophecy to spoil a good time. Shaking her head to clear her mind, she went left toward her car. She didn’t notice the shadow she’d picked up as she went around the corner to a side street where she’d parked near a coffee shop that had closed for the night.

  When she reached her little Mercedes, which she’d loved and bought the moment she saw it, she got behind the wheel. And just sat there. When was she going to be able to get past those old wounds? No matter how successful she became, no matter how many people told her how beautiful she was, she always felt like that homely little girl her mother used to laugh at.

  She knew the abuse she’d suffered as a child was extreme. No one had ever said anything kind to her, and although she could recognize that intellectually now, she had never been able to put it completely behind her. Tears threatened, but since she was alone, she wasn’t too worried. She would never cry in front of anyone else, but here in the dark, in her car with no one around, it was a safe zone. She could breathe, and she could cry if she wanted to. Just this once, and then she’d be done. She would not be a victim of her childhood. No matter how bad it had been, she was an intelligent adult, and she could compartmentalize those things. As she always had.

  Park put her hand out to the dashboard to pull up the song she played when she felt like this, but it never made it. Instead, it hit a hard body as someone thrust himself into her locked car. It had been locked, and she knew this because she was anal about those things. Her hand always went automatically to the locking mechanism when she got into the car. So how the hell?

  Reaching for her door handle to try to get out, she felt him grab her head and look deep into her eyes. His were dark as pitch with obscenely long lashes. Trapped in extremely powerful hands, she couldn’t even turn her head. An odd sensation seemed to interfere with her ability to think.

  “Drive. Take me to Vancouver.” His voice was deep, hypnotically so, and compelling. He did have the most beautiful eyes…

  What should she do, what should she do…they tell you to never let them take you to a second location.

  “No!” she yelled explosively.

  He pulled back, shock on his face, but he didn’t release her. Still captured in his strong grip, Park tried to struggle free again, but it was impossible. What was happening?

  “What?” He seemed to be processing her answer.

  She could see he was upset that she didn’t do what he told her to do. And now, along with being scared, she was also angry, and since she didn’t see a weapon, she pushed back.

  “I said no! If you want to steal my car, go ahead, but I’m not going with you. And I sure the hell am not driving you!”

  He was so startled he almost let her go, but when she grabbed the chance to try to get out of the car again, he caught her head in his hands once more (she didn’t even see him move), then pulled her close to his. She could smell him, his scent intoxicating. What kind of cologne could he be wearing that was so disorientingly erotic?

  “Let’s try this again.” He caught her eyes with his, held her there. She wanted to look away, but couldn’t.

  “You will drive me to Vancouver. No questions. No complaints. Now.” He waited for her response.

  She didn’t know how far to push him. Don’t let them take you…

  “I told you no! Just let me out, and you can have the freaking car! I don’t even know how to get to Vancouver, anyway.”

  “This is crazy. You cannot refuse me.”

  “Well, I do!”

  “No, you don’t understand. You should not be able to refuse me. This is unprecedented in three hundred years. No one has ever refused a compulsion from me.”

  Now she was really frightened. He was a nut job, and they were too unpredictable. They didn’t have any grip on reality and they didn’t have anything to lose.

  Ah, all right… So, just play along, don’t enrage the psychotic…

  “Okay, okay, I will take you to Canada. Let me just set the GPS here.”

  “That won’t do. You aren’t under compulsion, and I can’t have you running on your own free will, so I’ll have to…” He trailed off and stared at her silently.

  Taking in her overall appearance, nice dress, hair, and make-up perfect, sexy, a gorgeous woman, the type her preferred to compel. He shook his head slowly.

  “Really need to find out what you are…” The man slid forward, the five-speed gearshift digging into his gut, and in seconds he had her in his mouth, his teeth buried, a small amount of warm red blood escaping from the tiny punctures on her neck. He fed, but easily. He wa
sn’t hungry, wasn’t feeding so much as tasting. Ah. Something different…

  He sat back and looked at her in surprise.

  She was not fully human.

  End of excerpt. If you would like to follow Park’s story and her shocking discovery that vampires are real, go to C.L.Quinn’s Forbidden Days on Amazon.com.