Holidays Bite: A Limited Edition Collection of Holiday Vampire Tales

by Laura Greenwood

  With her infectious smile, Cicely clapped her hands together. He felt the witch’s magic vibrate the air around them. “You’re here! We’re having a grand party, you must stay.” Cicely’s voice had grown excited. “Come with me. I’ll find you something to wear.”

  Mila stepped back, shocking him that she was able to resist the witch’s enchantment. Interesting.

  “Look,” Mila said with strength in her voice, “I don’t know what's going on here, and I'm not going to judge or shame anyone. What's their kink is fine, but I’m not interested in participating in any of this.”

  “Kink?” Finn asked.

  “The blood-drinking in there?” Mila gestured to the room and then touched her own neck.

  Haskel butted in before Finn had a chance to figure out a response. “That’s not kink. It’s just a vampire thing. Completely normal. For our kind, anyway.”

  “I mean, it can be a kink, sometimes.” Cicely purred to her husband.

  Mila turned green and took another step back.

  “Both of you, enough,” Finn said, trying not to clench his jaw. He reached for her, silently begging to let him explain. He’d be pissed if, after all the scant time they’d had together since he found her, she’d be too scared to want him around. But he had only himself to blame.

  She nodded toward the ballroom. “I can see that's what they’re pretending in there, at least.”

  His brother narrowed his eyes at Finn. “Doesn’t she know?”

  Finn shook his head. This was beyond repair. Any other human in this situation would have their memory hijacked and found themselves waking in their car on some deserted road with no knowledge of how they got there or their last twelve hours. But not for his Mila.

  He had to show the woman he loved that this was the truth and then accept her response. If she wanted to run, he’d let her—after he wiped her memory.

  Finn took the bag from her and set it on the ground. He gathered both of her hands in his, brushing a kiss over the dainty fingers. “Mila, it’s not pretend,” Finn said. To demonstrate, he let his fangs grow, which also contorted his face into a longer, more sinister version he didn’t want her to see.

  His love squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “A trick,” Mila replied, though her voice sounded unsure. At least she hadn’t run away screaming. He would have to do more to convince her. He turned on his charm and motioned for her to move toward him. She did as he commanded, her face taking on a glazed expression.

  He led her to him and had her drape her arms around his neck. She smelled of lavender and vanilla. His favorite. He tangled his fingers in her silky hair and inhaled deeply again. His arm slid around her waist, pulling her tightly to him. All his dreams of her didn’t compare to the real body. The real person. The real blood pulsing through her veins. The sweetness he could almost taste on his tongue.

  His own pounding heart rushed need through his limbs. He thrummed with want, desire of the woman who was so unlike him and his people. He had to snap out of it, or he'd lose control.

  He pulled back his fangs and let go of the charms, and she stood confused in front of him, slowly taking her arms back. Her musky arousal mixed with her fear.

  “How did you do that?” she asked.

  “Vampire,” he whispered. Now she would understand. She’d see what type of creature he was. This would be the last time he’d ever see her, smell her, touch her.

  * * *

  “Come on,” Cicely put her arm around Mila. “Ignore Mr. Drama Queen. He’s let his feelings for you make him stupid like the man he is. Let’s find you something to wear to make you his Cinderella.”

  This time, Mila went with Cicely, though she turned back to gaze at him as they walked away.

  “My baby brother has finally brought a paramour home?” Haskel patted Finn on the shoulder. “And what an interesting one, a human.”

  “Shut it,” Finn replied.

  “She wasn’t even dressed for the ball. One would suppose that she wasn’t really your date at all, but an average delivery person, except for the way you hovered over her. You want her to be yours.”

  Finn growled in response. If anyone, including his family, thought they would lay a hand on what belonged to him, they’d find themselves missing a head.

  Haskel softened his tone, turning from teasing to sympathetic. “It must be tiring to be a lonely bachelor for century after century. Something must be special about this woman because you obviously like her.”

  “I should have stopped going to that store,” Finn replied, staring down the empty hall where Mila and Cicely had disappeared. “Each time I indulged myself the chance to see her, to speak to her, my feelings for her grew. I should have known better than to allow that to happen.”

  “Store?”

  “Yes, she works at Dittmar’s downtown.” Finn held up the bag he’d set on the floor.

  “Dittmar’s?” Haskel raised his eyebrows. “That’s not the kind of store you’d shop in. In fact, you’re not the kind to shop at all.”

  “No, I’m not, but I walk past it on my way to the satellite office.” He went there every-other Thursday to check in with his investment team there. “She caught my eye one day, and I was enthralled. A while after staring through the windows like a creep, I finally started going in to talk to her.”

  “And what, buying random goods instead of just being brave enough to ask her out?”

  “Yeah, like this,” he lifted the brightly decorated sack. “You can give this to Cicely if you want. It was my cover story.”

  “No thanks,” Haskel replied, pushing the bag back at him. “I can buy my own wife presents.”

  “I didn’t want to ask her out,” Finn said with an edge to his voice. “I didn’t want to ever pull someone into this life.”

  Haskel nodded, understanding where Finn's worries came from. “I didn’t want to bring Cicely into this either, but I underestimated her, and look where we are now.”

  “But Cicely is a witch. She had an awareness of the supernatural world.”

  “And your Mila, you’re absolutely sure she’s unaware?”

  Finn nodded. “Yes, over the months, I dropped hints, and she never picked them up. I waited for some look of recognition in her eyes. I’m sure she’s completely unaware.”

  “So then you take a chance. You introduce her to our world, and you see how she does. If she can’t handle it…” Haskel didn’t finish the thought. All vampires knew how to wipe human minds.

  “And that would probably be for the best. I’ll erase myself from her consciousness completely, and I’ll find a new route to the office.”

  “Which means, until then, you allow yourself to indulge in some fun.”

  Finn smiled slightly. “I guess so. I just don’t know why I let this happen at all. I’m never affected like this.”

  “Which means she’s special.”

  Finn turned to the ballroom, looking over his guests. “She is special; I’ll protect her.” The other humans at the party were either under the protection of another vampire, as their guest, or were volunteer donors to offer their blood to the vampire guests.

  “And if you claim her, protect her, then you won’t be able to stay away from her after you wipe her mind. You’ll be responsible for her forever.” Haskel’s words had an ominous tone.

  “I can watch her from a distance,” Finn replied, determined to make it okay.

  Chapter 4

  Mila followed Cicely into a large room and sat on the bed in a daze while the woman peppered her with questions about her dress and shoe size. Was it true? Did Finn have feelings for her? She’d dreamed he had, but she didn’t know for sure. Her heart flipped and double-timed.

  Cicely opened a door to reveal a closet large enough to be a second room—large enough to have walls of dresses and shoes, and a display in the middle with all sorts of jewelry twice the size of her store’s selection.

  Thoughts of vampires were put aside as the enormity of the collection t
ook center stage in her mind. Mila gasped. “Is this all yours?”

  “Nah,” Cicely replied, roaming the room as though looking for something in particular. “I mean, sort of. They belong to the family, so anyone can wear them. But at the moment, I happen to be the only lady of the manor, and the only person taking advantage of these specific items.”

  * * *

  Mila left the bed so she could peer closer at the outfits. Lining the walls were dresses of all colors and styles, from tight-fitting bodices and large skirts of renaissance attire to sleek regency wear to flapper-style short dresses with sequins and fringe, to more modern looking ones.

  “You all must be really into costume parties,” Mila mused.

  “Oh, these aren’t costumes,” Cicely replied. “They’re all legit.”

  “What?” Mila snatched her hand back from touching a dress that, if real, must be hundreds of years old. “That’s some kind of collection.”

  “Well, the family has been collecting over centuries.” She chuckled a little. “When I met Haskel, he was a pirate, and there are a number of treasures here that he collected in not-so-respectable ways, if you know what I mean. Nowadays we receive them from friends. Which we have a lot of.

  “We’re the rich and powerful, and to most, we’re the key to immortality. Some are from patrons who didn’t have heirs to leave them to, and they didn’t want them to go to the state, or those who had heirs but didn’t want them to have them either.” While Cicely seemed happy to prattle on, Mila found it hard to focus on every word. She’d moved on from the dresses and was awestruck at the necklaces, bracelets, and tiaras.

  I’m not so sure that bangle is going to dazzle Cicely. She thought of the gift she’d helped Finn choose.

  Cicely continued on. “Can you believe a few had even planted fake replicas for their family to find when they died? Imagine, they’d rather make a fool of them and let them think they never had the jewels to begin with than to let them get their greedy paws on them!” Cicely laughed but turned somber when she turned and saw Mila had backed out of the closet, her expression now grim. “Oh.”

  The temporary distraction from the dresses had faded once she had to reconcile their source. “Vampires,” Mila said in response. “You’re all really vampires.”

  “You really didn’t know? Like, at all? Ever?”

  “From movies and books, but that’s it.” Mila traipsed back to sit on the bed.

  What did she know about vampires? Some movies had them as villains. Monsters who fed on humans and cared nothing about mankind. Others had them as misunderstood, just simply different than humans.

  But if vampires really existed, why hide? Didn’t hiding mean they were dangerous?

  Or maybe they hid because they knew humans would reject that which they didn’t know. Maybe the danger wasn’t from the vampires, but from the humans.

  While she grappled with her new reality, Mila felt one thing more than the rest: curiosity. And she’d never find out anything if she backed out now.

  Cicely followed her, a dress in hand. “So, how are you doing, then? I guess it must be a shock. Honestly, I’ve never dealt with this. I mean, helping a human come to grips with a reality they never knew, so I don’t really know what you need me to do or say to help you.”

  Mila couldn't think of anything Cicely might do to help. Acceptance—or not—would have to be her own decision. “You could tell me this, should I be afraid? Should I be running out of here? Finn doesn’t seem dangerous. Is he dangerous? Are you dangerous?”

  “From what I witnessed, Finn is not a threat to you. Quite the opposite, I’m guessing. And I wouldn’t say I’m dangerous, at least to you. To our allies. But if you crossed us, watch out.” She winked, so Mila didn’t take it as a direct threat, but Mila also wasn’t up to joking about it yet.

  “Will he bite me? Am I here because he wants to drink from me?”

  “He’ll only do that if you ask him to, and no, I highly doubt you’re here because he wants to feed from you. For one thing, he’s very old and doesn’t drink often. And another thing, we have plenty of willing volunteers he could use if he wanted the real stuff and not his usual synthetic option.”

  Real stuff? The image of the crazy old man at the fridge in the kitchenette popped into her head. He’d taken out a bag that looked to be filled with liquid. A snack, he called it. Was that–

  “These should fit you, and here, put this on.” Cicely pushed a dress and pair of shoes into her hands.

  The floor-length gown Mila held was heavy from the sequins and crystals covering the front of the bodice. It was a simple, form-fitting red dress but beautiful and couture. Who knew how much this quality was worth—far more than she’d ever be able to afford on her salesperson pay.

  Mila carefully changed into the gown Cicely handed her, amazed that the woman had been able to find something that fit her perfectly. “Were you born a vampire?”

  “Oh, no, I’m not a vampire. Not exactly. Haskel is a vampire, and as his wife, I’m tied to him. I get the immortality of a vampire, but I don’t sustain myself on blood, I don’t have fangs, and I don’t have their magic. I have my own magic, but that’s because I was a witch before I met Haskel, and I kept my magic after we bonded.”

  Cicely’s prattled rolled around in her head as she looked at herself in the mirror and immediately panicked at the sight of her skin exposed by the off-the-shoulder neckline. Wasn’t that like advertising to a vampire? What was Cicely doing dressing her up like a juicy steak? Wasn’t that dangerous? She steadied herself against the dresser. “I don’t know what I’m doing here. I feel like I’m dreaming this all up. I should just go home.”

  “You're being silly,” Cicely responded, stepping behind her and zipping up the back. “We're having a party, and any friend of Finn's belongs here with us tonight.”

  “We're not exactly friends.”

  With that, Cicely stopped and turned Mila around to face her. “You wouldn't be here if you weren't Finn's friend. He doesn't give our address to just anyone. We have people who can pick stuff up for us. He would have sent someone to get whatever it is you delivered. It means something that he invited you here, even if it was under the guise of a delivery.”

  “He didn’t invite me. I offered to drop it off.”

  “Same. Damn. Difference. He gave you our location. He wants to see you. Do you have any idea when the last time he was interested in a woman? So, you can leave because the vampire thing is too weird, or because you’re scared, but don’t you dare leave because you think you’re not a welcomed guest.”

  Mila mulled over those words as Cicely pinned her hair up. She’d known Finn for months, and while she hadn’t known the whole story about him, would she really let the unknown scare her off? In all the interactions she’d had with him, she’d never had a bad feeling around him. The opposite was the truth of the matter.

  No, she wouldn’t be scared. She would approach the night with an open mind, being ready to accept people who happened to live a little—okay, a lot—differently than she did. Meanwhile, she’d allow herself to be thrilled at the fact that she was being all dressed up to go to a lavish party with the man she’d been crushing on.

  Chapter 5

  By the time Cicely draped a lavish string of jewels around Mila’s neck and topped her head with a tiara, they’d already heard the warning bell that Cicely explained was the signal to be seated for dinner.

  “Dinner?” Mila asked hesitantly. “But don’t you all drink blood?”

  “Them,” Cicely corrected. “Not me. I eat food–hamburgers, green beans, apples. So do the human guests. We keep meals as regular as we can because we have to eat.”

  “Oh.” Mila didn’t like the idea of blood-lusty vampires staring at her while she ate. Wouldn’t it be like people watching a turkey eating its last meal before it was cooked?

  Cicely must have sensed her unease. “Don’t worry, they usually talk and keep themselves occupied while we enjoy the feast.
”

  “Okay,” Mila replied. She took a deep breath, willing herself to believe that Cicely wouldn’t lie to her. With her courageous face set, she followed Cicely back the way they came. They met with Finn and Haskel at the bottom of the stairs. Both men—vampires, Mila reminded herself—offered their arms and led them toward the crowd filtering from the ballroom into the dining room.

  “Are you okay?” Finn asked as she approached him.

  “Yeah, I think so.” She placed her hand in his when he reached for her, and she went weak in the knees when he leaned down and pressed his lips to her fingers while looking at her with soft eyes.

  “You look beautiful. You’ve made me believe that this world is worth living in once again.”

  She was a puddle of goo. Could he be any more romantic? Despite the weirdness of the situation, she still felt the attraction to Finn that she’d had for months. Her mind was trying to wrap itself around the vampire information, but her heart still pounded for him.

  She blushed. “Thank you.”

  He placed her hand on his arm, and the two of them followed Cicely and Haskel into an enormous dining room with a table long enough to fit a small army. Even so, Mila was a party crasher, and she might be taking someone’s spot. “Will there be space for me?”

  “Yes,” Finn replied. “The number always fluctuates on how many invites we send out. We make sure there are extra chairs.”

  Feeling reassured, Mila took in the table spread, her mind-boggling at the offering. Just a few hours earlier, she’d planned to go for takeout after work for her dinner, and now in front of her were platters of sliced turkey and ham, dishes full of mashed potatoes and stuffing, boats with gravy, containers of cranberry sauce, bowls of veggies—more food choices than she’d ever seen in one meal.

  Along the back wall, desserts were displayed. The sight of pumpkin pie, Christmas pudding, yule log cake, trifles, and fruitcake made her mouth water even more.