Forever.
He stepped out of the shower and ran his fluffy towel over his body, taking a moment to focus his hearing on the room next to him. He could still hear Ana's music playing, and he could hear her occasionally shifting around on her bed. Excellent. She'd likely remain in there for the time being and give him the alone time that he greatly desired.
He spritzed a little of his favourite cologne onto one collarbone, and then the other. He took a moment to slick his wet hair back, hoping it would dry that way, and he threw back a little mouthwash for a few seconds as well.
No sense in tasting like stale blood.
Within the hour, there was a light knock on his bedroom window. It caused him to jump slightly and quickly whip around to face the panes. He smiled in relief to see a pretty blonde shivering outside of the window instead of the return of the child menaces. "I told you to be secretive, but this is a bit insane!" Michael chuckled quietly as he opened the window.
The blonde placed her gloved hands onto the sill and pushed herself upward, leaning her head inside and allowing the warmth of the house to envelop her cold cheeks. "You said to be secretive, so I'm being secretive," she said matter-of-factly.
Michael wrapped his hands around her biceps, helping to guide her inside. The toe of her boot caught on the lip of the window, and she let out a slight yelp and stumbled her way the rest of the way into Michael's room.
Michael laughed and caught her in his embrace. "Careful!" he warned. "I'm not imagining our excitement to be a hospital trip."
"Shut up!" the woman teased back. She tipped her head up and gave him a kiss on his plump lips. "Merry Christmas, love."
Michael swooned and kissed her back. "Merry Christmas." He pulled away momentarily and reached around her to close the opened window, using the back of his hand to dust away the sprinkled snow from his windowsill. He then whisked himself to the other side of the room and locked the door. The last thing he needed was for Ana to barge in unexpectedly; she could knock if she needed something.
Turning around, he noticed that the woman had taken a seat onto his bed. She busied herself with pulling off her gloves, having already kicked off her snow-dusted boots onto the periwinkle-carpeted floor. Michael smirked at her. "So, Lady Savannah..." he leaned forward and crawled onto his bed with his hands and knees, scooting slowly over to her. "What brings you to the home of a Vampire on this snowy Christmas morning? Isn’t it a bit past your bedtime?"
Savannah blushed slightly and turned to face him. "So, I'm a lady now, eh?"
"Of course."
She chuckled. "That's not the term you were using for me a few nights ago."
Michael nuzzled his face into the side of her neck, breathing in her sweet scent as he did so. "The holiday mandates that I be a gentleman tonight," he told her. "So, you are my lady."
"Can a Vampire truly be a gentleman?" she continued to tease. "Or are you just pulling my leg?"
"I know something else I'd like to pull..." he pressed his lips against her neck, allowing the tip of one fang to tickle lightly against her skin. He rocked his head up and down, allowing the fang to drag back and forth as he did so.
Savannah moaned softly. She loved this part, the flirt with danger. Not only was his daughter across the hall, but here was a full-fledged Vampire having to show restraint with his fangs at her throat. "So, show me," she mused back to him.
Michael drew back his fang and kissed her on the neck. He swooped one of his long legs around to straddle her and glanced into her eyes. "Do you trust me?"
"Not exactly," she replied, "and that's what I love about you."
Michael pressed his mouth against hers, more forcefully this time. She used the tip of her tongue to trace each of the four sharp fangs inside of his mouth. When was the last time he had fed? When did Ana last feed? Was either in need of a donation?
A sacrifice?
Or would her role as mistress continue for yet another snowy day as just that? A mistress? No strings attached and no blood needed.
Michael placed his hands atop hers and pressed against her bosom with his own chest, using it to push her down onto his mattress. She smiled pleasantly as the back of her head became cradled within the fibers of his comforter. "Why would you not trust me?" he murmured playfully.
Savannah reached up with one hand and placed a finger at the top of Michael's flannel shirt. She hooked her finger into the shirt and let it bounce on the top button for a few times before using it to undo the top button completely. "I don't know," she said with a sigh. "Why don't you show me why I should?"
Michael reached up and swiftly undid all of the buttons on his shirt until his bare chest was exposed. Savannah used her core to propel herself up and wrap her arms around his neck. She kissed him on the chest a few times before deciding to suck gently on one of his pecs. Michael reached around and pressed his own hands into the small of her back, hugging them there for a few moments before allowing his fingertips to slide down the back of her pants.
Savannah gasped quietly at the sensation of his cold hands as they caressed the flesh of her buttocks. She arched her fingers and used them to dig the tips of her nails into the back of his neck. The sensation of her pointy acrylics tickled him, causing him to shiver slightly with the feeling.
She slipped her hands down to his shoulders and used the back of her palms to lift his shirt from his body. She slowly peeled the shirt down his back, until it was just dangling against each of his forearms. He pulled her up to a seated position and quickly flipped his hands upward against her torso, seamlessly lifting her shirt over her head. She wiggled the rest of her way out of her top and allowed him to toss both of their shirts into a pile onto the floor.
"You've been naughty," he decided.
"I've been naughty?"
"But of course." His slender fingers began to fiddle with the button at the top of her jeans. "You've broken in to the home of a married man on Christmas."
"Yet you're the one being a ho-ho-ho," she countered.
The button undone, Michael began to slip her jeans down her curvy thighs. "It sounds to me like someone needs to be punished."
"Oh, really? And what kind of punishment can a gentleman possibly dole out to a supple lady like me?"
Michael reached forward and slipped his fingers into the top of her panties when suddenly a sharp pain radiated from the top of his back. He cried out in pain and arched forward, dropping to his knees.
Savannah saw something move from behind Michael and screamed. "What the hell are you?!"
Michael clawed his way onto his bed, fully revealing the black-eyed boy from earlier in the evening to Savannah while she pressed herself against Michael's headboard in horror.
As Michael came closer to her, she could see a metal cross stuck against his bare back. Red streaks of pained flesh emanated from the cross while Michael continued to cry out in pain. Savannah outstretched a leg and kicked off the cross, sending it flying across the room. Michael collapsed onto the bed for a second in relief. Savannah reached onto the nightstand table and grabbed for Michael's alarm clock, chucking it at the horrifying boy currently staring down at her with a wide grin of supernatural proportions.
A frantic knocking began on the door. "Dad?!" Ana's voice rang out. The knob jiggled a few times before the knocking started again. "Daddy?!"
"You son of a bitch..." Michael growled, pushing himself up and glaring directly at the boy. His lower jaw contorted as he spoke until his long, thick fangs emerged from his mouth.
Savannah screamed again as she saw the black-eyed girl child slither her way in through the window. The window that was now opened just enough for two small figures to slip through.
She scrambled off of the bed and rushed to the door to let in Ana, while Michael lunged forward at the boy. The boy sidestepped, causing Michael to nearly crash headfirst into his closet. He skidded his feet across the floor and pivoted, hurling his body into the boy again. His hands had stiffed and his nails had lengthened
, turning into yellow daggers ready to pierce the flesh of any surrounding enemies.
Yet again, the boy dodged, this time affixing another cross to Michael's left cheek.
Michael howled and smacked at his cheek with his hands, leaving scratches on his own flesh from his claws and small burn patches on his hands from his futile efforts. Ana lunged forward with a shoe and smacked the cross off of her father's face.
The transformed appearances of the Castrogiovannis—with their grey eyes now glowing amber, their fangs unhinged from their mouths, and their hands turned into dangerous weapons themselves—had left Savannah temporarily paralyzed from fear. The black-eyed girl teleported her way over to Savannah and paused directly before her. Her mouth was twisted into a pout, and her deep eyes seemed to hypnotize Savannah, rendering her even more paralyzed.
The black-eyed girl vomited a dark matter into Savannah's mouth, breaking the trance and causing Savannah to fall backward, clutching at her throat. She gasped for air, the matter clogging her windpipe, while the black-eyed girl continued to stare down at her in silence.
Ana lunged for the black-eyed boy with her father close behind. The boy teleported as well, this time maneuvering onto the bed. He raised up his hand quietly and shook a finger at the Vampires. A vial shot out of the boy's pocket and shattered against Michael's right arm, sending water splashing across the limb. Michael howled in pain as the skin on his arm immediately bubbled and steamed from wherever the water had touched it, as if he'd just been doused with a boiling liquid.
Ana wrenched her hand around her father's left wrist and pulled him out of the room, both of them leaping over Savannah's struggling form as they did so. They raced down the hall. Ana flung open the front door, the wood smacking into the living room wall as they dashed for Michael's car in the driveway. "I've got the keys!" she announced.
She dove into the driver's seat as Michael became the passenger. Skin hung from his burned right arm, exposing the reddened flesh underneath. The burn on his back was clearly illuminated in the darkness due to his lack of shirt.
"Go!" he demanded as the black-eyed girl appeared at the front door.
Ana smacked the shifter into reverse and peeled sloppily out of the driveway, before shifting again and sending them careening down the street.
Chapter 3
"Who are those kids, and who was that woman?!"
Michael winced against the pain afflicting his back, his face, and mostly his arm. "Just drive, and I'll explain later!" The car continuously slid and swayed as his unlicensed daughter attempted a getaway on the snowy roads. "Get to my brother's place."
Ana growled, her eyes still glowing amber. "No, Dad!" she snapped angrily. "What the hell is going on?!"
"I don't know who those kids are. That woman was a co-worker."
"So, you're cheating on Mom?!" her voice reached a new pitch.
"We aren't having this discussion right now; keep your eyes on the bloody road!"
Ana swerved the car once on purpose, forcing Michael's body to smack against the passenger's side door. He howled as his tattered arm folded into the door panel. "Jesus Christ!"
"You're a monster!"
"I don't know who they are!"
A few angry tears raced down Ana's face as she sped around a corner. "Then, why were they there?"
"I don't know!" Michael said, taking advantage of the grouping of 'they'. "Now's not the time, Ana!"
"Why did you let them in?!"
"I didn't! They snuck in through my window!"
"And so, you locked the door because?!"
"Watch out!"
Ana screamed and swerved the car around the black-eyed girl that had just appeared ahead on their path. The back wheels fishtailed, sending the Prius spiraling across the snowy road. Michael dug the claws of his left hand into the seat as the car launched through the air and plummeted directly into the ditch on the right side of the road, jostling both Vampires wildly upon impact. The front of the car folded in like an accordion, and the engine died swiftly with a horrible wrenching noise.
Michael’s anchored left hand kept him in place in the vehicle and prevented him from being ejected, but he screamed as he felt the bones of the arm snap as his body lurched around. His world spun. "Ana?!" He could hear Ana weeping softly. "Ana!"
Ana took a moment to get her bearings, blood streaming from a wound on her forehead where it had smashed against the steering wheel. "Dad?!"
"Get out of the car!" he demanded. "Leave me, and get out of the car!"
His statement horrified her. "What?!" she squeaked. "No!"
"Get out now!" With both of his arms rendered useless, Michael knew he would be more of a hindrance than anything. "Run!"
Ana looked at her father through her foggy vision and sobbed, with his right arm disgusting and his left arm deformed, scratches raked across his face, and his bare back blistered in the shape of a cross. She gripped her hand around the door handle and pushed on it...
Only to realize it was jammed.
"No!" she gasped. She looked behind her and undid her seat belt. The rear doors were their only hope. She winced against the soreness in her own body and grappled her way into the back seat, landing on the seat with a thump. She wiggled forward on her stomach and reached out for the rear door handle.
To her relief, it opened. She continued to push herself forward, her body outstretched to where her feet were still resting on the car's center console while her left hand was already dangling out of rear door. She pushed herself further along like a snake and leaned her head forward until gravity took over and caused her to tumble out of the car.
Ana landed into a mound of snow below, and she rolled slightly backward in the ditch from the momentum. She coughed out the fresh snow that had lodged inside of her mouth during the fall and looked up at the sky.
The black-eyed girl stood beside her, looking down menacingly. Ana snarled and whipped her body around for a better attack position, but the girl simply dropped a cross onto Ana's bare hand instead. Ana screamed and flailed her hand, but the cross held tight, burning itself into her flesh just as the previous ones had done to her father.
A shadow suddenly flashed in front of her, knocking the black-eyed girl to the ground. Ana looked up and noticed a man to her right. He was crouched on all fours, with his amber eyes shining like beams of light against the darkness of the night. His fangs were bared as he snarled in the direction of the downed black-eyed girl, and his features closely resembled those of her father’s. Only more muscular. Scarred. Aged.
"Uncle Salim?!" she gasped.
"Get your father," the newly-arrived Vampire ordered simply before roundhouse kicking out his leg and using the tip of his boot to punt the cross from Ana's hand.
Ana scrambled to her feet while Salim launched himself through the air and dodged the vial of holy water being thrown by the black-eyed boy, who was hunched nearby in a tree. She rushed to the crashed Prius and tugged open the passenger's side door. Michael—who had been leaning against the door in agony— tumbled out into his daughter's arms, pained and pissed. "I told you to run!" he snapped.
"I tried!" Ana insisted, her hand throbbing from the blistering burn. She looked around and noticed that both black-eyed children were now focused on Salim Castrogiovanni, the Grand Vampire responsible for turning both his younger brother and his niece to the dark side. "Did you summon him?"
"Get me to his house," Michael said instead. He nudged upward with his head. "It's right down the road."
"We need to help him!"
Michael shook his head. "We run."
Chapter 4
Jodi Castrogiovanni was already waiting anxiously in her front yard when she caught sight of Michael and Ana heading her way. She swore under her breath and quickly hopped back up the steps of the front porch to lock the door before dashing down the road, the soles of her boots slipping slightly with each step. "Give him to me, give him to me!" Jodi urged.
She quickly twisted her body unde
rneath Michael's torso and pressed her back against his chest. Michael grunted and hopped up onto her back with an assist from Ana, and Jodi carefully wrapped her hands around his biceps to steady him while his damaged arms dangled helplessly on either side of her head. "Hurry," she said simply to Ana before speeding off back toward the house with Michael still affixed to her back.
Ana stayed on her heels, the frigid air stinging the sides of her face as she ran. She spun around as she reached Jodi's front steps and looked behind her for any side of Salim or the black-eyed children while Jodi jammed her house key into the lock and popped the door back open.
The trio hurried inside, and Jodi slammed the door closed behind them and locked it tightly. "Shouldn't we wait for Uncle Salim?" Ana asked.
Jodi smirked slightly. "Like Salim would ever have trouble accessing his own house," she said cryptically in return. She walked over to the nearest couch and motioned for Ana to come over. Together, they gently sat Michael down on the soft cushions.
Jodi and Salim's home looked like any other this time of the year. A giant Christmas tree stood in a corner of the living room, affixed with twinkling pastel lights and a plethora of various ornaments. Underneath the tree were several wrapped gifts, mostly intended for their young son Onix. Vampire or not, Jodi loved any opportunity to be festive.
And to shower her only child with gifts of love.
The television played softly adjacent to the Christmas tree. The Hallmark Channel. Her guilty pleasure. Jodi knelt down and finally got a good look at Michael's injuries. "What on earth attacked you?"
"Demonic children," Michael said simply in return. Both of his arms felt as though they were on fire, and his face and back weren’t far behind. He groaned. "Bring me something so that I can regen faster."
Holidays Bite: A Limited Edition Collection of Holiday Vampire Tales Page 93