Love Nip

by Mary Whitten

  “How did you sleep?” I asked, plopping down on a stool.

  She looked over at me with a ‘you’ve got to be kidding’ expression plastered on her face. The bags under her eyes were twice the size of my own. She continued stirring something on the stove.

  “You want some help?” I asked willingly.

  “Sure, can you cook?” she asked.

  “Define cook.”

  She laughed. “All right, well can you work a toaster?”

  I stood and walked over to the toaster. I played around with it for a minute and made a few pieces of toast. The first two ended up burnt, but after turning down the temperature the remaining two turned out perfect. I opened the fridge and searched for butter and jam. I placed the two, and the toast, on the table. After grabbing two plates and silverware I set the table. By the time I finished breakfast was done. We sat silently and ate our food. I placed the dirty dishes in the sink and walked into the living room to watch TV for a little bit while I waited for Hessley.

  “Hello, my dear. I need to go out for a bit, is there anything you need?” Hessley asked as he walked into the living room.

  I smiled sweetly at him. “Now that you mention it, there are a few necessities I need.” A few minutes later I sent Hessley away with a shopping list that would make even a dead vampire blush. You know, the items that normal females need; shampoo, conditioner, tampons …

  As soon as I was sure Hessley was gone, I ran into my room and slammed the door as hard as I could. I waited a minute and opened the door.

  “Rocko, Bullwinkle, I need help,” I yelled loudly down the hall. I heard the fast approaching footsteps before I saw them appear.

  “What’s wrong?” Rocko asked frantically.

  “Something is under my bed,” I whispered, pretending to be terrified.

  He shook his head and walked into the room. “Don’t you think you are a little old to believe in monsters?”

  I smiled innocently.

  “My name is Buster, not Bullwinkle,” Buster fussed, walking past me.

  I waited in anticipation as they knelt next to the bed. They reached out for the bed skirt and held it up. As they peeked under I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Suddenly a giant spider leapt out from under the bed and attached itself to Rocko’s face. Buster let out a girly shriek, swatting at Rocko. The spider crawled down the front of Rocko’s shirt and down to his pants, resting just under his belt. It seemed to happen in slow motion; Buster tightened his fingers together, forming a fist. As his hand flew through the air, the spider abandoned ship, jumping to the floor. Buster’s fist connected with Rocko’s man junk.

  Rocko’s expression was priceless. He fell to the floor, his face scrunched in agony. His hands cupped his groin area and he rolled back and forth in pain. Buster got down on his knees next to him, begging for forgiveness. Rocko sat up slightly and punched him in the face. Buster went down hard. The two vampires rolled around on the floor, each with an injury that was not part of the plan.

  The plan! With everything that had gone on I had almost forgotten about the plan. The spider was only a diversion. I ran over to Buster and knelt behind him. He was so afraid of Rocko’s next move, he never saw me coming. He let out a loud roar as my teeth sunk into his neck. I pulled cool blood into my mouth for a moment before I let go. Crawling across the floor, I took Rocko’s arm in my hands and bit into flesh as hard as I could. I sucked in some blood just in case. Better safe than sorry.

  “Maggie, now!” I yelled out as I stood and took a few steps back. I wiped the blood from my mouth as I waited for her. She ran in a few seconds later, book in hand. The sight of the vampires made her stop in her tracks. I had to give her a small push to her spot.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “Um ... there was a slight change of plan,” I said, shaking my head.

  We sat down in the circle, connecting our hands. She began to chant aloud from the book. I watched as the two vampires began to fight each other. Rocko’s shirt had been torn off. Buster sent a full open hand slap directly onto Rocko’s bare chest. Never in my life had I seen one man slap another man. Buster apparently lacked a few male genes, especially the ones that taught how to fight. Rocko stopped in his tracks and looked down as a single red handprint began to appear just above his nipple.

  “How dare you,” Rocko yelled and then punched Buster in the nose.

  Buster’s hand shot up to his nose and his eyes squeezed shut tightly. A moment later blood began to seep from between his fingers. “You bitch! You know my nose is my best feature, now it’s broken.”

  “You dummy, we’re vampire’s. It will heal,” Rocko argued.

  “We need to speed this up before they kill each other or notice us,” I whispered frantically to Maggie.

  “I’m trying, it’s not working,” she called out, alarmed.

  I was confused. “What do you mean it’s not working?”

  “I’ve done the spell over and over, they should have disappeared by now,” she answered.

  “Disappeared? Geez, you mean business. Okay, we will figure this out. Are you sure you’re doing the spell right?” I didn’t want to kill anyone or make them disappear from the world. All of the planning we had done, I never once asked what spell she had in mind.

  “It’s a transportation spell, they would disappear here and end up on the other side of the world. And yes, I’m doing it right,” she snapped.

  I regretted saying anything. “Okay, so try another spell and quickly! I don’t know how much longer they are going to keep fighting.” I looked over at the guys while she desperately searched for a new spell. Rocko had Buster in a headlock; it looked as if Buster’s head would pop off his body.

  I saw a black hairy stick appear on Rocko’s shoulder. I had to slap my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming when I realized it was the spider. Rocko noticed the spider from the corner of his eye; he did a double take and jumped up screaming. He hopped up and down as he flapped his arms around. The dance he performed was a mix between river dancing and swimming. The spider leapt from his shoulder unto Buster’s stomach. I would like to believe that Rocko had good intentions when his foot connected with Busters stomach. Buster doubled over in pain while he muttered every curse word in the book.

  I turned back to Maggie for an update. “How’s it going, Mags?”

  She shook her head. “I’m doing every spell correctly! It should be working, but it’s not. Something is not right, they are still vampires.”

  “What in hell is going on?”

  My heart dropped the moment I recognized Hessley’s voice. Maggie moved fast, sweeping her hands over the book until it disappeared. We both stood and turned to face Hessley. Rocko and Buster both rocked back and forth on the floor in agony. I decided to be the first to answer. I carefully walked over to stand next to Hessley in the hallway.

  “Hessley, there was a giant spider in my room and the guys were trying to kill it when they started to fight each other,” I explained.

  Hessley stared at me in disbelief and amazement. He strolled into the room and stood next to the men. Suddenly he stomped his foot down next to Rocko. He then reached down, grabbed both of his men by the back on the neck and helped them to their feet. Hessley looked at Maggie, and then to me, wearing a confused but suspicious look. He began to leave, but stopped a foot in front of me.

  “We will discuss this later,” he warned and then walked out. Rocko and Buster followed close behind, their heads down in shame.

  I studied them closely as they left. Once I knew they were gone, I shut the door and sat on the bed. “Something did go wrong,” I started to explain, “the bite marks on their necks were completely healed. Ezra’s bite mark didn’t heal right away, that’s how we knew something was different with him.”

  Maggie sat down next to me on the bed and looked deep in thought. “Maybe Ezra was just a fluke.” She shrugged.

  I pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs. �
�Where did the spider go?” I asked as I searched for the creepy crawly.

  Maggie laughed. “Hessley squished it.”

  I gave her a look of disgust. “When did it shrink?”

  “The only way for the spell to be broken was for a counter spell or the sound of Hessley’s voice,” she answered.

  “You’re a genius.”

  She shrugged with pride in her eyes.

  “So what now,” I asked, hoping she had a plan B.

  “I have no idea.”

  ****

  I sat on the couch a few hours later when Hessley walked in with a drink in each hand. He handed me one and sat down on the couch. I reluctantly took the drink, now wasn’t the time to argue. I took a sip of the cocktail; it had a sweet peach taste to it blended with some sort of alcohol.

  “That’s good, thanks.” I decided the best thing to do was to play innocent.

  “So, what happened today?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “I already told you.”

  He took a long sip of his drink and thought for a moment. “You see, what I don’t understand is my men saying that there was a giant spider in your quarters.”

  Busted. I felt like an idiot. I didn’t take into the account that dumb and dumber would mention the spider. I gave Hessley my caught face. “Okay, yeah, that happened, too.”

  “Let’s start over. What exactly happened?”

  I sighed and finished my drink. The alcohol tickled the back of my throat as it slid down. Licking my lips, I began my tale, “We were bored. We decided to play a trick on the guys. It was just for fun, Hessley, I never thought they would fight. It was only a joke, I’m sorry.”

  He thought it over for a minute. “And how did you do the spell on the spider?”

  Shoot, I was caught again. My brain went ninety to nothing as I tried to come up with a lie. “Hessley, you know who my father is, right? He is a warlock, and I’m a strong witch. I don’t need a spell to do magic.” Man I was good, sometimes I surprised myself.

  He nodded as if he understood that. He looked at me curiously after a moment.

  “You don’t believe me?” I asked. I didn’t give him time to answer. I stood and quickly left the room, empty glass in hand. I returned with the glass filled with water. I sat the glass on the coffee table and looked over at Hessley. He looked over at me, I could see the excitement in his eyes. I reached out and touched the glass as I thought about the night I found Charlotte’s body. I could feel the cold from the glass before I saw it turn to ice.

  Hessley sat up straight and leaned forward. He reached for the glass and picked it up, flipping it over and inspecting every inch of the cup. “How did you do that?”

  “I told you, I’m very powerful.” I didn’t believe a word of what I said. I stood and walked out, wanting to fill Maggie in on my lie just in case he asked her. We needed to be on the same page with this. It would not look good if she came up with a completely different lie. I found her on our bed, staring at the ceiling. She looked defeated. I sat down next to her and rubbed her arm.

  When she smiled gently at me, I noticed the tears in her eyes. “I just thought if we could get out of here everything would be okay. It’s only a matter of time before he decides he doesn’t need me anymore. Then he’ll get rid of me like he did Charlotte.”

  “Hey, we’re going to be fine. I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise. We will keep trying,” I said, trying to comfort her with my words.

  She shook her head back and forth; she didn’t buy it. “We can’t try again. If we get caught Hessley will kill us.”

  “About that, I told him that we were just playing a trick on the guys and I’m so powerful that I made the spider huge with my mind. Just go with it,” I blabbed.

  She smiled. “Tell me again how it happened with Ezra.”

  I hated the thought of replaying the experience. “Well, it’s kind of embarrassing, but he was feeding on me.” I could feel my face redden. “I felt like I was soaking in his power. Then I had this unbearable urge to sink my teeth into him, and then I bite him.”

  She continued to stare at the ceiling, deep in thought. Suddenly she loudly sucked in air and sat up straight. “That’s it!”

  I jumped. “What?”

  She smiled evilly. “Emily, you’re bite doesn’t turn a vampire into a human. Their bite does.”

  I thought about it for a minute. “Oh Mylanta! You’re brilliant.”

  We tried to stay awake that night for as long as we could. Plan B was coming together, but this time we had a little more at risk … my life. Since sleep the night before was short, we were extremely tired. Our words began to slur together. We finally decided to give in, since it was taking us longer to form a correct sentence than it was worth. We bid each other goodnight and slept hand in hand.

  Morning came and I was too excited to eat. Maggie must have felt the same way because she had already prepared breakfast smoothies. I thanked her for the yummy drink and gulped it down. Rocko and Buster walked in and sat down at the table.

  “We are sorry for the way we acted in front of you ladies,” Rocko apologized.

  I nearly choked on my drink. This had Hessley written all over it. “You don’t have to apologize. It was really our fault, and I’m sorry that we tried to play a trick on you guys. I really didn’t think it would go that far.”

  “Yeah, it was just supposed to be a joke,” Maggie offered and smiled at me.

  “Either way, we should have behaved better in front of you two,” Buster smacked his lips.

  I studied Buster closely. His hair was gelled perfectly. His clothes were impeccable. If I were a betting woman, I would say that he ironed his underwear. “Buster, can I ask you a personal question?”

  He looked over at me with his big blue eyes. “Sure,” he said slowly.

  I tried to contain my smile. “Are you gay?”

  Shock overtook his face. “What? I-I … why would y-you … th-that’s outrageous,” he stuttered.

  “He is,” Rocko piped in.

  Buster’s eyes began to fill. “How did you know?”

  Rocko chuckled. “You pluck your eyebrows, you yell at me when I wear white after Labor Day, and you fight like a girl.”

  “What?” Buster acted appalled at the idea. He finally sighed, giving up. “You’re right.”

  I laughed loudly. “I knew it!”

  Rocko wore a look of pride and patted Buster on the back. “You’re still the same great vampire I’ve always known. Don’t fret over it.”

  Buster shook his head in defeat. “Don’t tell Hessley.”

  “Buster—” Rocko started.

  “He already knows, doesn’t he?”

  Rocko smiled and nodded. Buster lay his head down on the table. “Stake me now.”

  I looked between the two vampires that sat before me. To an onlooker it would seem as if we were all friends. The reality of the situation was disenchanting. Maggie and I are being held under the thought that we were keeping our family and friends safe. I couldn’t trust Hessley and I would do everything in my power to get away. I didn’t see Rocko and Buster as much of a threat, so I wasn’t sure if I would be able to hurt them if it came to it.

  We all decided to play a game of poker to pass the time. I had never played before so the guys quickly went through the basics. Being an only child growing up I didn’t play games that required more than one player. Solitaire was the only card game I knew how to play. For some reason, beginner’s luck was on my side.

  “Hey, do I win if I have three of the king cards?” I asked as I flashed my cards.

  Both of the guys and Maggie all groaned at once, slamming their cards down on the table. Evening was approaching and I couldn’t keep my mind from wandering. It was hard to pay attention to a game of cards when all I could think about was what Axle was doing.

  “Em,” Rocko called out, “it’s your deal.”

  I looked up. They were all staring which told me it wasn’t the first time my name was
called. “Sorry! Okay, how many cards do we get again?” I asked for the third time since the game had started.

  “We’re playing with five,” Rocko answered, eyeing me suspiciously.

  “What’s on your mind, Em?” Buster asked.

  “I miss my boyfriend,” I admitted as I threw them all five cards.

  “The hot werewolf?” Buster asked.

  I simply nodded and looked down at my cards. Two fives, and three aces, I no longer needed to ask if that was a good hand to have. They gave me the number of cards they wanted to switch out. I exchanged the cards and waited.

  “You want to call him?” Buster asked.

  “Buster,” Rocko scolded.

  Buster threw his hands up. “What? If I was in her shoes I wouldn’t be so nice. She hasn’t tried to run away or fight us in any way. I think she should at least be able to call her boyfriend to check in. Plus, Hessley made a deal with her, why can’t she check in to make sure he’s keeping his end of the bargain. That goes for you too, Maggie. You can call Charlotte if you want to.”

  I quickly looked over at Maggie. Her polite smile hid the truth. Buster’s speech told us that Hessley was the one that killed Charlotte. I felt slightly relieved. I was quickly growing close to Rocko and Buster, they seemed like good guys. I felt as if there was a story for the reason why they worked for such a terrible guy like Hessley. Buster stood and walked out of the room. He returned a moment later with his cell phone.

  “I’m trusting you, Emily, please don’t prove me wrong,” he said as he sat the phone down next to me.

  I stared at the cell phone for a moment. The thought of hearing Axle’s voice made my knees weak.

  “It’s not going to dial itself,” Rocko joked.

  I was thankful that he was finally on board with the idea. They took a huge risk by letting me even see a phone. If Hessley found out what they did he would kill them both. I took the phone in my hands and stood, wanting to be alone but I didn’t think that was an option. I couldn’t look everyone in the eye when I spoke to Axle. I dialed his number carefully from memory, walking around to the other side of the wall. I felt like a prisoner getting my one phone call. It rang two times before my eyes began to fill with tears. It didn’t cross my mind that there was a chance he wouldn’t answer.