Jessica had stopped in her tracks, paralyzed by fear. She’d clapped her hands over her mouth in horror, certain she was about to witness the elderly man being crushed to death. But then she’d caught a flash of movement in the corner of her eye. More of a blur, really. And the machine had come to a complete standstill.
Jessica’s neighbor, the mysterious handsome man who lived across the hallway from her, had stood in the center of the lounge in his customary gray t-shirt and jeans—she had never seen him wear anything else—with his large muscles hardly straining as, with one hand, he caught the vending machine and pushed it back up against the wall. Then he’d reached inside and grabbed the potato chips that had finally fallen free, handed them to the old man, and steered him over to one of the couches. He’d leaned over to say something to Mr. Hambly.
As he’d straightened back up again, he’d caught sight of Jessica standing in the courtyard, her hands still pressed to her lips.
Her neighbor’s eyes had glinted fiercely, and she’d felt a prickle of terror skip up her spine. He’d lifted a hand, almost as if he were waving at her, and he’d stared even more intensely at her, his eyelids lowering as his irises began to glow. She’d backed away across the flagstones, rushed back around the parking lot to her building, scampered upstairs to her apartment, and locked herself inside. She’d never told anyone what she had seen that night. Until now.
“You see what I’m talking about?” she said to Dara and Lucy. “He’s obviously got super-speed. And superhuman strength. I saw it with my own two eyes!”
Lucy gave her a doubtful look. “That doesn’t mean he’s a vampire.”
“Okay, so what if he isn’t? He’s obviously something. Something not human.”
“Which means he could be dangerous,” Dara said. “If you approach him, he could hurt you.”
Jessica gave a dismissive shake of her head. “I seriously doubt that. He knows I’m aware of his secret, right? And he obviously knows where I live. But I must have passed him around the complex a dozen times since then, and he’s always just ignored me! He’s certainly never threatened me to keep quiet or anything like that. And if he’s the type to eat people, why would he go to the trouble of saving some helpless old man and then getting him his Ruffles? To me, that all says he’s not evil. I think maybe he can help us.”
The other two exchanged another glance. They were obviously confused and extremely skeptical, but it was also clear they were both desperate for solutions. Dara was the one to finally say something. “Well, I can’t speak for Lucy, but I know I’d appreciate anything that might help Jason. No matter how weird it is, no matter how crazy.”
Jessica nodded, approving of this can-do attitude, and then she and Dara both looked expectantly at Lucy.
Lucy’s face worked in indecision for a second. “Fine, alright,” she finally grumbled. “If you think it can help Aaron…”
Jessica nodded again, feeling exuberant. “I’ll go talk to this guy right away,” she declared, clapping her hands. She gazed toward the front window, where she could see the sky just beginning to turn an orangish-lavender. “Or…maybe in a few minutes,” she amended somberly, “once the sun’s finished going down.”
Chapter Seven
Less than an hour later, Jessica stood in the hallway outside her apartment, facing her neighbor’s doorway. Her pulse was racing with excitement, and her palms were damp. Lucy and Dara had offered to come along with her for moral support, but she’d told them it wasn’t necessary. She wasn’t afraid of her neighbor, and anyway she was worried he might not admit he was a vampire in front of a couple of complete strangers. She worried he might not even admit it to Jessica, even though he already knew that she knew there was something different about him. Something superhuman.
Okay, come on, girl, Jessica coaxed herself, it’s now or never. Just knock!
She took a deep breath and rapped her knuckles against the door. There was no answer. She waited a minute and then did it again. Still nothing. Creeping closer, she pressed her ear to the door and listened. Not a peep came from inside. No rustlings, no footsteps. Apartment 20 was silent as the proverbial tomb.
Disappointment washed over her. No! she thought, clenching her fists. There’s an honest-to-goodness vampire emergency going on out here and the one person I can turn to for help isn’t even home! Gah!
She was about to back away when the door swung open and Jessica, still leaning against it, nearly toppled into the living room. With a surprised squeak, she caught herself on the doorframe. Vampire Man gazed down at her with curiosity, one hand bunching the ends of the towel wrapped around his waist.
Towel, she thought, her brain scrabbling to make sense of the word. Little sheet of terry cloth. It was all he was wearing.
The sharp, clean scents of men’s soap and shampoo hung in the air. She’d caught him getting out of the shower. Beginning his day. Right after sundown. Because he was a freaking vampire!
“Oh, holy cow,” Jessica blurted, staring goggle-eyed at the vampire’s naked, muscle-bound chest. It was all damp and shiny, glistening with water droplets. She couldn’t help noticing that he seemed to be tan all over—at least everywhere that she could see…which, thanks to the skimpiness of the towel, was almost everywhere—and that this seemed unlikely for someone who was undead. Maybe he’d already been that warm, sun-kissed shade before he was turned, she mused? Maybe becoming a vampire locked in the melanin. Or maybe he went to one of those twenty-four-hour tanning salons. Regardless, he looked awfully tawny and healthy standing there, like some bronzed Grecian god or—
“Hello?” the vampire cleared his throat, calling her attention back to his face.
His incredible face. Jessica had never seen anyone more beautiful. She felt she could take a swim in the dark blue ocean of those deep-set eyes, could likely cut diamonds on his cheekbones. And his lips! Don’t even get her started on those. They were sculpted and masculine, set in a hard line, but with a hint of fullness to them she found utterly enticing. Jessica felt her own mouth puckering involuntarily as she imagined what it might be like to press it against his, to feel his tongue parting her lips and sliding inside—
“Ahem,” the vampire cleared his throat again, more aggressively.
Jessica’s spine straightened like a board, and she gave herself a quick mental slap. “Um, h-hi!” she said, and paused to clear her throat, too. She scrambled to force away the nervous quiver in her voice. “Hi,” she tried again, and smiled widely. “I’m Jessica. Jessica Ramos. I live across the hall there?” She waved behind her.
The vampire held her gaze for a second. “I know who you are,” he said.
Jessica’s head jerked back a fraction. “You do?”
He looked her up and down, a glint of disdain in his eyes. “What do you want?”
“Oh. Um, I was just wondering if I could maybe talk to you for a minute? In private?” She glanced past him but couldn’t really see into his apartment. It just looked dark as Hades in there, like the shades were drawn tight and all the lights were off. Which she supposed shouldn’t have surprised her. How else would he get any sleep during the day?
“What is this about?” he asked.
She looked at him again. “Oh, just some stuff that’s been happening around the area lately. Kind of a, you know, neighborhood watch kinda thingy.”
He shifted his weight, pressing his free hand against the wall, and the towel slid down, exposing another half-inch of dark, damp hair curling just below his navel. “We have a neighborhood watch?”
“No,” she said, blinking innocently. “At least I don’t think so.”
He stared at her some more. “It’s not a good time,” he finally told her.
She watched a bead of water slide out of his wet hair and track down the side of his face. It plinked onto his collarbone and started its slow trek down the plane of his pectoral. Toward his nipple. “No, um, obviously not,” she said with a wobbly chuckle. “Maybe I’ll just…I’ll just come ba
ck later. Sorry.” She staggered back a step.
The vampire looked her up and down again. Annoyance crossed his face, but he snapped out, “Give me ten minutes. I’ll come over to your place. We’ll talk.”
“What?” Jessica practically shrieked. But he’d already shut the door in her face and disappeared back into his bat cave.
◆◆◆
Good news! Vamp was home. On his way over to my place for a tete-a-tete now. Will let you know what he says, k?
Jessica added a cartoon bat sticker and shot off the text message to Lucy and Dara as soon as she got back to her apartment. The girls responded with a flurry of concerned questions and panicked emojis. Was she sure she didn’t want one or both of them to come over and wait with her? Maybe she really shouldn’t be alone with him. Even if he wasn’t an evil bloodsucker, Jessica still hardly knew the guy. He could be some sort of pervert. What if he tried to force himself on her?
Jessica almost laughed out loud at their worries, thinking of how strong she knew her neighbor could be, and how quickly he could move when he was in a hurry. If he’d wanted to, he could’ve grabbed her from the hallway while they’d been talking just now, whisked her inside his apartment, and slammed the door shut in under two seconds flat. He could’ve done whatever he wanted with her in there—she might’ve been gone for good—and no one but Dara and Lucy would have ever even known she’d been there. She texted back:
Pretty sure not a perv. 2 of us alone together when we talked just now, and he was naked. If he’d wanted to jump me, totally could have. But didn’t.
Oops. She regretted the message as soon as she’d sent it. Particularly since that last line made her sound so disappointed.
Dara: What?!
Lucy: He was naked?! Why?!
Jessica: Never mind, you guys. Just…pretty sure there’s nothing to worry about. TTYL.
She added a few smileys for reassurance and slipped her phone back into her pocket. Then she spent the next nine and a half minutes anxiously straightening her already-spotless living area and practicing sitting on various pieces of furniture, trying to decide the most appropriate posture for interviewing a vampire. She wondered how Anne Rice had done it the first time. When a knock sounded at the door, she almost jumped out of her skin.
“Hi!” she shouted, swinging open the door. Just in case the old saw about explicit invitations being necessary was true, she added, “Please! Come in!”
The vampire had changed into his usual jeans, gray t-shirt, and boots. He’d combed his hair. He looked around while she shut the door behind him, and then stood by it with his arms crossed. His biceps bulged. His t-shirt strained across his pectorals. He still smelled like men’s grooming products, which was to say, deliciously intoxicating.
“Thanks for coming,” she said, fighting the urge to sway toward him. “Can I get you anything to drink? I’ve got water, tea, diet soda. Maybe a Bloody Mary? Ha.”
He looked at her funny. “No, thank you. What did you want to talk to me about?”
“Wow, okay, right down to business, huh? Well…why don’t you have a seat?” She waved toward her sofa.
He turned his head slowly, staring into her living area as if he’d rather wade into a murky pit teeming with hungry alligators. Finally, though, he ambled over and settled on the edge of a couch cushion. He kept his arms crossed and his posture rigid. Jessica sat across from him on her love seat, her own back ramrod straight. “Well, before we get started,” she said, “could you, um, maybe tell me your name? It only seems fair, since you already know mine.”
Again, he paused, watching her before answering. “Nathan,” he finally offered. “Smith.”
Nathan Smith, huh? What a normal sounding name for a…paranormal.
Jessica, forcing down nervous giggles, said, “Well, Nathan, there’s really no good way to ask this without sounding crazy, but, hey, you never talk to me anyway, so I guess it doesn’t matter if you think I’m a nutcase, so…” She swept her gaze away from him, briefly studying the floor. When she looked back up at him, she blurted it out. “Are you a vampire, by any chance?”
Nathan’s eyes widened the barest fraction. If she hadn’t been watching him so closely, she would never have noticed it. He tilted his head and looked at her askance. “You believe in vampires?” His tone was disturbingly neutral.
“Well, I wasn’t a hundred percent sold on them before today,” she admitted. “But with all the evidence I’ve seen and heard over the past few hours? Yeah, I’d have to say I’m about ready to invest in some holy water and start stringing garlic bulbs around my windows.” She held up her hands. “Aaand I’m noticing you didn’t say ‘no’ just now, so does that mean…?”
The vampire said nothing, only stared at her with bland disinterest.
The clock on Jessica’s mantel seemed to grow noisier, its ticking suddenly way too loud. She clasped her hands together and chewed on the inside of her cheek, wondering where to go from here.
Just then, a bell tinkled and Jessica’s cat, Wilhelmina, came trotting into the living area from the bedroom. The white Angora froze when she spotted the vampire sitting on the couch, her lime green eyes widening, and Jessica had a sudden worry the cat was about to start hissing and otherwise making a scene. Animals were supposed to be sensitive to the presence of the undead, weren’t they?
“Oh, no, Wilhelmina, shoo!” Jessica cried, clapping her hands. “Back into the bedroom with you!”
Unsurprisingly, the cat ignored her commands. What did surprise her was the way the cat snapped out of its reverie, leapt up onto the coffee table, and went bounding across it to land squarely in the vampire’s lap. Wilhelmina butted her head against Nathan’s chin, flicked her tail, and started purring like a lawnmower.
Jessica gasped. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. She’s not usually that friendly.” In fact, Wilhelmina was never that friendly. Not even with Jessica.
“Wilhelmina, what’re you doing? Come here, you silly girl. Not everyone likes a cat climbing all over them...” Jessica hopped up with her arms extended, reaching to snatch the cat away from him, but Nathan held up his hand to stop her. He rested his other hand on Wilhelmina’s nape, his long fingers curling against her pink rhinestone collar.
“Please, I do not mind,” he said, and gave the cat a few gentle scratches. What might’ve been pleasure animated his expression as he stroked her behind the ears, crooning, “You aren’t bothering anybody, are you, lovely girl?…No, no, not at all…” He looked into Wilhelmina’s eyes, smiling faintly as he seemed to commune with her telepathically. Then he said, “Sit.”
Wilhelmina, to Jessica’s astonishment, moved off Nathan’s lap and curled up right next to him. The cat kept her eyes wide open and trained on him, though, like she was keeping guard over her new best friend. Nathan, oddly enough, seemed more relaxed now, too. He sat back, one hand resting on his thigh, the other brushing lazily through Wilhelmina’s fur.
“Why are you asking me about vampires, Jessica?”
Jessica blinked, startled to hear her name come out of the vampire’s mouth. And still stunned by what’d just happened with her usually surly pet. But when Nathan just kept staring at her expectantly, she sat back down and folded her hands in her lap.
“Well, um, like I said, there’s been some strange stuff going on in the neighborhood lately. There’s this good friend of mine, Lucy, who works at the Acray-Sys campus not too far from here? She’s a totally level-headed girl, one of the most rational people I know, and yet she’s convinced her boss was bitten by a vampire a few days ago. In the alley behind the Red Palm. And then there’s this other girl, Dara, who lives a few blocks over?” She pointed in the direction of Dara’s luxury complex. “She says her husband’s been acting really weird lately.”
“So, he must be a vampire, too.” Nathan’s tone remained impartial.
Jessica forged ahead. “Dara showed me a picture of her husband’s neck. He has two holes. Right here.” She pointed at the spot on her own
neck. The vampire’s eyes tracked her finger, his gaze lingering on the artery she was pointing out, but he didn’t comment. “I know it sounds stupid…” Jessica tried, fishing for reassurance—and wishing she’d thought to ask Dara to forward her the photo of Jason’s bite, so she could show it to him—but Nathan didn’t try to make Jessica feel any better by telling her it didn’t sound stupid. Instead, his bored expression seemed to say the exact opposite, loud and clear. Well. That was annoying. “Look, could you just answer the question?” she asked, her voice sharp with nervous impatience.
He cocked an eyebrow. “You mean, am I a vampire?”
Jessica nodded emphatically.
His delectable mouth tilted up at one corner. “Let’s say I am. What would you want from me? Do these newly-turned friends of yours need…pointers?
“Pointers?” Jessica echoed, confused.
“Advice. On where to find victims. So they can drain them, feast on their blood.”
Jessica frowned, disgusted. “No, of course not! They need to know what to do to stop it!”
“Stop what?”
“The change! Or whatever. They just want to be human again.”
Nathan grunted. “Huh. Good luck with that.”
Jessica’s heart sank. “No,” she said. “No, that’s not what you’re supposed to say. You’re supposed to tell me what we can do to turn these guys back. They’ve got, like, jobs and bills, and CrossFit classes to go to. They can’t just be vampires from now on!”
The Sharpest Kiss Page 6