“You’re acting a little giddy too.” His cute eyebrows marched to the center of his forehead as he lowered his head.
Oh boy! He was going to kiss her! Her girly parts started doing the wave as she closed her eyes and puckered up. But after waiting for several excruciating seconds, she blinked open her eyes. He was still studying her, like a specimen in his lab. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t smell anything.”
“What did you expect to smell? I brushed my teeth and used mouthwash. Minty fresh, not mediciney. Smell.” She blew a gentle stream into his face.
“Yes, I already did. Thanks.”
“Since I passed the eye exam and breath test, are we ready to leave?”
“I guess.” Ric took the heavy suitcase from Sophie and held the door until she was outside. Her ankle twisted once more when she took the porch steps a little too quick. And this time it smarted something fierce. She let out a little yelp and hobbled to the car.
“I swear I’m not usually this clumsy,” she explained to a worried-looking Ric as she flopped into the passenger seat. “I’m not used to walking in heels, would rather wear a pair of tennies any day, but I figured I should look nice for you.”
“I appreciate the thought.” He shut the door and rounded the rear of the car, tossing her suitcase into the trunk. That minor detail taken care of, he took his seat and started the car. “Okay, off we go.”
“Yippee. I feel like I’m back in college again.” She rolled down the window a crack. Even though Ric’s car was probably twice the size of hers, it still felt mighty cramped in there. Little frissons of awareness skittered over her skin, making her warm. She was thankful for the medicine, which seemed to be working beautifully. “By the way, I figure I can tell you this. I had my very first face-to-face—er, rather face-to-leg—experience with a real-live vampire last night.”
“You did?” He looked surprised, maybe even a little alarmed. His gaze flew from where it should be—the road full of traffic—to her face. “When?”
“When I was sleeping. Eyes on the road, please.” When he returned his attention to where it belonged, she added, “I spent the night over at Dao’s. His icky snakewoman wife sicced some creepy vampire on me while I was sleeping. I’m sure of it.”
“What happened?”
“He bit me, that’s what happened.”
Once again, his gaze flew from the road. “Where?”
“On the leg. It hurt like a son of a gun.” She didn’t add the other part, the part about her having lost all control and succumbing to a bite-induced orgasm. He didn’t need to know about that. No one needed to know about that. Heck, she wished she didn’t know about that.
“Shit!” He slammed his flattened palms against the steering wheel. Hard.
“It’s okay. I swear. Healed up nicely. Though I’m a little scared I might hurt Dao now and I still have the burn marks from where he tied me—” She cut off the rest of the sentence when Ric glared at her. For some reason, she had the impulse to defend herself. “I swear I didn’t enjoy it. Not one little bit. I called him all kinds of bad names but he wouldn’t stop. One of the few people I’ve ever met who actually listened when their mom told them that names don’t hurt. I guess real vampires aren’t particularly sensitive.”
Ric grumbled some incoherent something or other.
“Tim told me I’ll be like the guy’s zombie or something, won’t be able to resist his commands. Do you know anything about that? Do you know anything about vampires?”
“It’s possible. Depends upon how much venom he injected.”
“Venom? Like a snake?”
“Exactly.” He glanced at her again, but only for a split second. “This could explain your erratic behavior tonight.”
“That, or the four pills I took for motion sickness. I get awfully sick when I take long car rides.”
“Ah…so that’s it.”
“Am I acting that loopy?”
“Loopy, no. Clumsy, yes. And you’re being rather…blunt. Whatever you took, it seems to act as a truth serum for you.”
“Oh dear. I’ll have to keep that in mind next time. I don’t know what’s worse, unloading all my deepest, darkest secrets on you or unloading my lunch.”
He grimaced.
“Yeah. I’m with you on that. The lunch is probably more embarrassing and definitely more stinky. Just promise me you won’t repeat anything I tell you to anyone.”
“You have my word.”
“Excellent. Now before I confess anything more embarrassing than my lust for your yummy bod, I think I’d better take a little nappy.”
“No way. I’m having fun talking to you like this. Stay awake and keep me company.” His words were a demand, but his lighthearted tone tempered them. And the smile that accompanied the words, well, that did her in.
“Okay,” she relented on a sigh.
“Let’s see how much we can learn about each other in three hours, shall we?”
“I’m game. There’s lots of stuff I’d like to know about you.” Like what you look like naked. “Can I ask the first question?”
He chuckled like he’d heard her thoughts. Good thing he couldn’t. “Certainly. Shoot.”
She studied his profile for a second. It was a very nice profile. His forehead was neither too heavy like a Neanderthal’s nor soft like a woman’s. His nose was long and straight, his jaw strong. He couldn’t have heard my thoughts. That’s impossible. Then again, I used to think vampires weren’t real and now I know better. “Um…okay, for starters, what’s your middle name?”
“Middle name?” The one eyebrow she could see jumped up an inch or two.
“Yeah. I think a person’s middle name tells a lot about them, sometimes more than their first name.”
“My middle name is Grant.”
“Ric Grant?” she repeated. The sounds kind of got stuck in her throat. “Nothing personal, but that’s a little…I don’t know…short. Hard even. Ric Grant, Ric Grant, Ric Grant.”
“Actually, my full name is Alric Grant Vogel. Grant was my grandfather’s middle name.”
“Alric Grant.” The sounds flowed from her tongue nice and smooth, like his silky hair. Silky like his low, rumbly voice too. Silky like the skin on his chest probably felt too…“Mmmm. That’s better.”
“What about yours?”
“Sophie Elizabeth Hahn. I don’t think there’s an Elizabeth in my family anywhere. Knowing my mother, she picked it because she liked the way it sounded. I’m very different from my mother in most ways, but when it comes to names, the sounds—or specifically how they flow—are most important.”
“Very interesting. So, in what ways are you different from her?”
“Uh-uh! My turn again. No fair sneaking in an extra question,” she scolded. She made sure her tone remained light and playful, though. “Do you have any brothers and sisters?” She lifted her bottled water to her mouth.
“I was the youngest of twelve.”
“Twelve! Ack!” She almost spewed a mouthful of water all over the windshield. “Your poor, poor mother.”
He shrugged, so like a man. No respect for what a toll pregnancy took on a woman’s body. “I had friends in even larger families.”
“Where the heck did you live? Out in the burbs where I grew up, two, three kids tops was the average. My mother had five and we were looked at as the neighborhood freaks.”
“I was born and raised in Germany.”
“Germany? Oooh! How cool! I’ve never been to Europe but I’d love to go there someday. I’ve heard Germany is beautiful.”
“It is. I’ve been there many times. I like to go home a couple times a year.”
“A couple times? Each and every year?”
“Sure,” he said, like it was no bigger deal than going to the car wash.
“Holy smokes! I’d be happy if I got there once in my lifetime. That’s what I get for majoring in psychology in college. Can’t do a gosh darn thing with a psychology degree unless
you have at least a master’s. Do me a favor, would ya, stash me in your suitcase next time you go.”
Ric regarded her with those honey-hued eyes of his and said, “Sure.” His expression was so serious, she wondered if he didn’t mean it. And the way he pursed his lips just so made her wonder a bunch of other things, like what they might feel like skimming along her stomach or inner thigh.
Sophie swallowed a sigh and glanced out the window. It wasn’t dark yet. At this time of year it didn’t get dark until well past eight o’clock. But the sky to the west was a pretty combination of purple and salmony pink. The freeway was bordered on both sides by flat, green farmland. “Um…I lost track. Whose turn is it?” There. The flame burning between her legs was down to a mild simmer. She had a feeling it wouldn’t stay that way for long, though.
“I think it’s my turn,” he said, without looking from the road. “I’d like to change gears. I want to know about your friend Dao.”
“Oh, okay. Let’s see, we’ve been friends since childhood but lost touch with each other after high school. He reappeared my senior year in college, briefly dated my roommate. After they broke up, we stayed in touch. He’s an only child and his middle name is—”
“No, I want to know why you two were never lovers.”
“My, my, you don’t beat around the bush, do you? And you called me blunt. Did you pop a few pills too?”
Ric glanced her way and gave her a very non-apologetic grin. “What can I say, I’m a guy.”
“That you are.” Sophie pushed on his cheek until he was facing front again. “As the guy steering the car, you must look forward, please.”
He humphed her and grumbled, “I was driving long before you were born.”
“How’s that possible?” she asked.
“What’s possible?”
“Your driving since before I was born. That would make you like fortysomething. You don’t look that old.”
“Why thanks. But I don’t have to answer that question.”
“Sure you do.”
“No, I don’t. You haven’t answered mine yet.”
“Darn. Okay, Dao and I agreed a long time ago that it would be icky to sleep together so we haven’t. There. Now my turn. How old are—”
“But you didn’t answer my question; you basically restated it. Why did you decide it would be icky? Forgive me, but icky isn’t a word I’d use to describe becoming intimate with you.”
Awww! How sweet! “I don’t know. I guess we knew too much about each other.”
“Then maybe we should stop the question-and-answer session, yes? I wouldn’t want you to decide you know too much about me too.”
Does that mean he wants to sleep with me? Whoo-hoo! “No! We can’t stop the question-and-answer session yet. Not until you tell me how old you are.”
“Take a guess.”
Not that game. She hated that game. She was always very wrong. Insultingly wrong. She didn’t want to insult Ric. Not when things were going so well. “No, you tell me. I don’t want to guess wrong and owe you an apology or something.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not? Do you have an age hang-up?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Then just fess up.” She lifted her water bottle to her mouth again and took a big mouthful.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Sure I would. You’re a very honest and believable man. I know that already.”
“Fine. I’m three hundred eighty-six years old.”
This time she did spew the water all over the windshield.
Chapter 6
“Three hundred? Did you say three hundred?” Sophie repeated. “How can that be? That would mean you were born…like in the seventeen hundreds.” She laughed because what else could she do? “What a joker you are.”
“Actually, I’m not joking and your math’s a little off. I was born the year of our Lord sixteen hundred nineteen.”
“Yeah. Right. And I’m the queen of England.”
He bowed his head. “Your Grace.”
“Why are you lying to me? I hate liars. I mean, so I was a little pushy. I don’t deserve such blatant teasing. I’d be happy to tell you how old I am. I’ll be twenty-six this July.”
“Hmmm…that makes us three hundred forty years apart in age. Do large age differences bother you?” he asked, sounding serious as death.
She scowled. “Shut up.”
“I’m not joking. I really am three hundred eighty-six years old. Okay, I’m actually three hundred eighty-five. But my birthday is next month and considering my age, a month doesn’t make much of a difference.”
“Are you trying to creep me out? Because if you are, it’s working. How could you be almost four hundred years old? Huh? How is that possible? It’s not. And that’s why I know you’re lying,” she rambled to no one in particular. When he reached out to give her shoulder a reassuring touch, she shrunk away. “No touchy, buster. Like I said, I have a thing against liars.”
Ric steered the car off the road. The tires skidded in the gravel at the shoulder as he brought it to a stop. Then he turned his entire upper body to face her. “This shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for you to believe, considering the story you told me about last night.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“No.”
“Then what are you trying to say?” Suddenly feeling very cold, she crossed her arms over her chest.
“I’m trying to tell you that I’m a member of a very rare race.”
“Huh? What race?” She scooted closer to the door. Suddenly Alric Grant Vogel, stone fox, was resembling a wolf in fox’s clothing. Was he on the bad guy’s side too? Or just a nut job?
“A race of people who have their roots in an ancient place that was destroyed a long time ago.”
“You’re not making any sense. Use some terms I can understand or I’m outta here. This is getting too weird for words.”
“Okay. How about vampire? I know you recognize that word, although it’s not my first choice of terms. It’s really a misnomer. A very general term to describe a number of races, all very different from each other.”
“You? A vampire?”
“Yes.” He looked dead serious.
“Aw, nuts! No.”
“Yes.”
“Darn it! I knew you were too good to be real. Gorgeous, intelligent—”
“Thanks.” His expression brightened.
She smacked his shoulder. “I didn’t mean that as a compliment. There’s an unspoken ‘but’ there.”
“What but? But what?”
“But…but you’re certifiably insane,” she mumbled.
“I assure you, I’m perfectly sane.”
“I’ve never met a nut who thought they were nutty.” She released the door lock.
“Where are you going?”
“I think I’ll take a walk. A long walk.”
“And you’re calling me the nut? We’re sitting in the middle of nowhere, on a long stretch of highway with nothing but miles of farmland all around us.”
“That’s okay. I could use the exercise. I ate a big dinner.” Sophie pushed the door open, but before she could get out of the car, Ric caught her left arm in a grip as tight as a sprung bear trap. She glared at the offending hand, letting anger hide the panic blossoming in her chest. “Let me go.”
“Not yet. Please, let me explain.”
“Let me go. You can explain in the relative safety of the open space outside the car.” She made sure to emphasize the word outside.
“Fine.” He released her.
She stepped out of the car and slammed the door. Darn it! Now what? She had a friend being drained of blood by his wife, a real vampire. She needed the shield and spear to free him from that sticky situation before his wife drained him dry. She couldn’t be trusted anywhere near her friend, now that some other stupid vampire had bitten her. And now she had a traveling companion who was claiming to be a vampire himself—or som
e such thing. What the heck did he mean by race of people?
We are descendents of the Atlantians, his voice said in her head as he rounded the front of the car. A small number of our people survived the Great Calamity but our land and history were struck from the pages of history, a great tragedy to humankind. We were successful in curing a great many diseases that still plague humans to this day.
“You can talk in my head. Does that mean you can hear my thoughts too?”
“Yes.”
“Every one of them?”
“Pretty much.”
That fact made her more uncomfortable than the part about his people being from some place that supposedly never existed.
“I do try to respect your privacy. I don’t strive to hear your every thought.”
“Thanks…I think.” She leaned back against the car, tipped her head until it rested against the car’s roof, and stared up at the starry sky. When had it gotten dark outside?
“Then you believe me? You don’t doubt my sanity any longer?”
“I’m beginning to doubt my own. Yours? Well, that’s yet to be determined, and I admit it’s not my place to decide.”
“But you do believe you were visited by what you called a vampire last night?”
“Yes. But I saw him with my own eyes. He did things to me, things no man has ever done before.”
Ric gave her a wounded look.
Was he jealous? Why did that make her feel all warm and happy inside? “Not pleasant things. Oh no, not the least bit enjoyable.”
“I know you’re lying.” His expression darkening with each step, he walked nearer until his chest was a mere fraction of an inch from hers. She could feel her nipples straining against the silk cups of her bra and thin cotton of her shirt. Traitors!
Down, you two, she scolded. There won’t be any action for you—not now. A shame. I had such high hopes. “And he came to me after dark, like a real vampire. You, on the other hand, walk in broad daylight like it’s nothing. You can’t be a vampire.”
“There’s an explanation for that.” Ric caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger and held it. His eyes dark now, as dark and glum as his expression, he stared into Sophie’s eyes. “He’ll come back for you.”
A Vampire Bundle: The Real Werewives of Vampire County, When Darkness Comes, Real Vamps Don't Drink O-Neg, & Hunted by the Others Page 69