by Anna Santos
“Oh, stop being such an old lady and have some fun!”
Jade was going to answer her, but something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. On the stage, a tall, black-haired vampire stepped forward and with his penetrating blue eyes stared coldly at the crowd. Jade’s heart almost stopped in her chest when she recognized him. He was the one who had tried to flirt with her earlier. He also scared her senseless when he said her name. If he was the sponsor of the party that meant he owned the nightclub and was also the reason why he had a secret doorway in the wall.
Something inside her stomach clenched at the idea that he was going to be part of the freak show.
Jade didn’t realize she had been staring with her eyes fixed on him until Jenna spoke in her ear. “He’s hot, isn’t he? This is so exciting!”
“I really want to go back home,” she mumbled, noticing how his arrival was making everybody go quiet.
Meanwhile, on the stage, the vampire scanned the crowd once, twice. Many girls were holding their breath while Jade was trying to free her arm from Jenna’s tight grip. Jenna was hurting her.
“This is stupid! I’m leaving,” Jade muttered and pushed Jenna away.
She was about to exit when she heard a creepy and authoritative voice say, “You!”
The vampire had picked his new prey. She couldn’t care less about who the poor bastard was. She just sighed, bit her nail, and stared at Jenna.
“Can we go now?”
Jenna had turned quiet and serious as if in shock. When Jade looked at the silent crowd, a bunch of eyes stared back at them. It wasn’t just in her head. They were definitely staring at them.
“Me?” Jenna asked.
Jade was going to lose her best friend to a vampire! What horror would she experience in his company?
“No!” The vampire’s answer sounded like thunder hitting the ground. “You,” he said with a powerful roar that made Jenna stare at Jade.
Jade stared at the stage. Is he choosing me? No way. He had to be kidding. Is this a sick joke?
“Come again?” Jade asked, swallowing hard. The ground disappeared beneath her feet.
“And there you have it, folks. The girl has been chosen,” the host said, sharing the good news with everyone else. The crowd cheered around them and the music started playing again. Jade stopped breathing for a moment and looked at the vampire, terrified.
“Go get her!” the vampire ordered. The camera spotlights followed the two big and muscular men in expensive, gray, Italian suits. They were probably his bodyguards.
“But I’m not even a cute blonde!” Jade cried, not believing what was happening to her. She didn’t have time to think about it because the two men held her by her arms and took her to their master.
Chapter Two: The Contract
There were no cameras or spotlights where Jade was taken. Jenna had followed behind the two brawny bodyguards. They only let Jade go when they put her in front of the vampire who had chosen her as if she were a pair of shoes rather than a living, breathing person.
Jade glared at him, and he stared back at her coldly.
He grabbed her face and studied her. “She will do.”
“She will most definitely not do,” Jade disagreed as she took his creepy, cold hand off her face and stepped back. “She is a person and she doesn’t want anything to do with you.” She crossed her arms, defying him with a fierce pair of hazelnut-colored eyes. “I’m not leaving with you!”
The vampire smirked at her. He wasn’t intimidated. And why should he be? He could smash her into a wall with a flick of his wrist.
“You really need to learn how to deal with rejection,” Jade said. “I’m not leaving here with you. You must be out of your mind.”
The vampire narrowed his eyes, losing his smile. “Did you sign the papers when you came here today?”
Jade frowned. She stared at him blankly, trying to recall what he was talking about.
“Yes,” she answered, pursing her lips. But did she read it? She remembered complaining about signing the suspicious piece of paper to get in, but Jenna had urged her to hurry. Without signing, she couldn’t get in. Well, it seemed that not reading it had been a big mistake!
“Did you use a fake ID to get in?” the vampire asked again.
“No!” she shouted, outraged by his question.
“Then,” he said, leaning his face over hers. His enticing scent hit her, and she swallowed. She had to admit it, he smelled good. Damn good, actually. He looked good, too. Very healthy for someone who was dead. Okay, fine. He was gorgeous, but his arrogance was exasperating. “You are mine for at least a week.” He smirked as if he enjoyed rubbing it in her face.
She started to dislike his pretentious smirks very much.
“You humans should read contracts before signing them,” he said.
Jade clenched her hands into fists and gritted her teeth. If she could kill with her eyes, he would’ve burst into flames. Just her damn luck to be chosen by an insufferable and conceited bloodsucker who thought he knew it all.
“Let’s go. I have somewhere else to be and my time is short.” He motioned for her to follow him like an obedient, little pet.
He moved forward with his small army of bodyguards behind him. Jade didn’t move an inch.
The vampire stopped, noticing she wasn’t following him. He looked sideways and breathed deeply as if he actually needed oxygen. He was probably losing his patience. She couldn’t care less.
“Do I need to drag you?” he asked with a menacing tone.
“I want to read the contract,” she said.
Jenna touched her arm, most likely afraid of what could happen. Everybody knew that defying a vampire was risky.
“You should just go. I can explain to your brother what happened and take care of him. It’s just for a week anyhow,” Jenna whispered in her ear.
“Not before I read the contract,” Jade replied.
“You can read it in the limo,” the vampire said, coming back to get her.
“Goodie, goodie!” a girl cheerfully squealed in excitement next to Jade, catching her attention because she didn’t hear the stranger’s arrival. “I’ll have a new friend to play with.”
Jade recognized her as the girl who dressed like an anime character. She still thought the girl was peculiar but nice. She seemed genuinely happy that she had a new toy, which was a little odd. Jade sucked in deep breaths to disperse her terror. She was already beginning to regret that fateful moment when she had agreed to go out with Jenna.
“You will like us. We are nice,” the girl said with a smile.
Somehow, Jade seriously doubted that. She wanted to run away and get the hell out of this place.
“Complete name?” the vampire next to her asked. He was too damn close.
She didn’t want to touch him, afraid of the coldness and paleness of his skin. Even if he smelled like vanilla with spices, it wouldn’t be enough reason to be next to a vampire. She shivered from the closeness as she stepped away from him. He noticed, and his eyes became darker.
If she didn’t know any better, Jade would think that he was offended.
“Name?” he barked.
“Are you going to pretend now that you don’t know my name?” Jade narrowed her eyes. “You twisted and sick—”
Jenna covered Jade’s mouth, so the rest of her insults were muffled.
“Her name is Jade Sullivan,” Jenna said. “She didn’t lie about it if that’s what you’re thinking.”
The vampire looked at his men. “Go get a copy of the contract to show Miss Sullivan.”
Jade glanced at Jenna and then at the serious vampire, feeling really scared for the first time. “I have a job to go to, bills to pay, and classes to attend. Pick someone else—one of those extra-large boob chicks with nothing better to do.”
“Pick me instead,” Jenna said. “It’s my fault. She didn’t even want to be here.”
“I’m not into blondes,” he said, and Jade r
olled her eyes.
Is he teasing me or just being an idiot? Not that there was much difference.
“Well, I’m not into vampires,” Jade sneered at him, folding her arms.
“You will be. Come. Now,” he ordered, reaching to grab her arm.
She stepped back, alarmed. “Don’t touch me!”
Jenna put herself between them. “Let me talk to her.”
He eventually nodded.
Jenna turned around. “I’ll try to fix this, but just go with him.”
“But, Jenna…”
“There’s no point in being stubborn. He won’t choose anyone else.” Frowning, Jenna glanced over her shoulder at the vampire. “Are you going to pick someone else?”
He answered with a round and certain ‘no’, and Jade gasped impatiently. She felt like growling and telling him to go to hell and rot there for all eternity.
Her best friend put her hands on her shoulders, calming her a little. “I’ll call my parents and tell them what happened. They will take care of Stevie while you…are on a vacation. I’m sure nothing bad will happen.”
“And my job?”
“I’ll call your boss.”
“I don’t like him one bit,” Jade muttered, glaring at the vampire.
“He clearly likes you,” Jenna said, gripping Jade’s shoulders harder. “Some girls would kill to be in your shoes, you know.”
“Yeah? So where are they when I need them?”
Jenna snickered, amused by her sarcasm. “Come on, he looks harmless enough.”
The vampire smiled as if to prove Jenna’s point.
Jade rolled her eyes and shook her head, not believing for a second that he was cuddly and fun to be around. She knew better.
Suddenly, he turned around, touching his ear. “We will be leaving the nightclub soon, Jack. No, I don’t want any cameras outside or inside the limos. Wait for me at the exit. I’m leaving with the girl… I couldn’t care less about what you think.”
“Here is the contract,” a man announced, arriving next to them, breathless and waving a sheet.
“Good.” The vampire stepped closer to Jade. “Say goodbye to your friend and happy reading,” he urged, giving her the paper she desperately wanted to read. “Now,” he added, gripping her arm and giving her the chills. Panic took over her stomach and her breathing grew erratic. “Come!”
As Jade followed him unwillingly, she felt as if everything in her perfect world was crumbling. Her future looked bleak. Who knew what scary and weird things he wanted to do to her?
Jade frowned at him while she sat in the corner of the limo’s back seat, uncomfortable in his presence. He had demanded that they be left alone. The rest of the weird entourage was following them in another car. For the time being, it was just her, the vampire, and the driver. But she was betting that the driver wouldn’t do a thing if that sick being decided to pounce on her throat…or worse.
She loathed vampires. From experience, she knew that they were full of themselves and had no respect for life whatsoever. Being in a closed space with one made her anxious. She was trying to conceal her fear but was failing miserably since he kept staring at her as if she were a rare animal on display.
“So, have you read the contract?” he asked after making sure his clothes were not wrinkled and his hair was in place. He was cocky and knew he was hot, and she would be attracted to him if she were into that kind of guy.
She let him wait awhile for her response. “I did.”
The vampire raised a brow; he didn’t like the delay. The glint in his eyes proved he was daring her to be rude to him.
“Are you going to stay grumpy for the rest of the night?” he asked.
Jade avoided his piercing blue eyes. “It’s nowhere written that I have to be nice to you.”
He smirked as he whispered, “This is going to be fun.”
Jade squinted at him. What is that supposed to mean? She wasn’t sure if she wanted an answer, so she didn’t ask. She simply muttered, “I don’t have to pretend to like you, either.”
“You will,” he teased as he got closer, making her recoil in her seat. “Relax and look at me.”
“What part of ‘I’m not interested in you’ didn’t you understand?”
The vampire rested his arm along the back of the seat. “I’m intrigued. Do you just not like me or is it vampires in general?”
“Vampires in general, and now you.”
He frowned as he studied her attentively. He scooted closer, and she felt his breath against her ear as his cologne hit her nostrils. Her vision blurred. He smelled amazing, and it was making her want to close her eyes and lean into him.
His voice came out husky and enthralling. “Can’t you feel it, Jade?”
“What?” she mumbled. She was fighting the urge to bite her lower lip as she shivered. His voice was soft and sexy when he wasn’t bossing her around.
“The pull,” he whispered, caressing her skin with his warm breath. She gulped and her heart raced ahead. “It’s insane how good you smell…”
Jade held her breath. She realized that he was sniffing her as if she was food. Blood ran cold in her veins. She tried to get away from him, but she was already on the edge of her seat.
His sultry words coaxed her ear. “Relax, I’m not going to bite you unless you ask me to. I have a strict diet, and I’ve already fed today.”
“I don’t give a damn about your diet and there is no way I would want you to bite me, you freak!” she snapped.
With a sly grin, he warned, “Careful, Jade, I might want to make you regret those words.”
The hair on the back of her neck stood up. “Just get away from me.” Jade turned her head to face him and her gaze plunged right inside his blue irises.
He grinned at her, which made him seem devilishly handsome. Okay, there was definitely something wrong with her. She shouldn’t be falling for his looks!
“Why are you afraid of me?” he asked, trying to understand the reason for her panic. Her pulse was racing, her heart was pounding fast, and she was scared, but she was still trying to look brave. “Tell me.”
He played with a lock of her silky hair, noticing how soft and long it was. She had an adorable mouth and a perky nose. She was extremely appealing to the eye and had an attitude—something he always found alluring in a woman.
Grinning to clear the air, he asked, “Did some big and mean vampire do something bad to you or your family?”
Her watering eyes and sad face caught him off-guard. He had struck a nerve, and it angered him. Not at her, but that someone could have hurt her.
Listening to the sudden throbbing of her heart warned him that the darkness had spread to his eyes. He was using his supernatural sight to look for any sign of puncture marks or other lesions left behind. The fact that she didn’t look like someone who had been hurt by a vampire before, or bitten for that matter, soothed his nerves. Even if that made him less tense, it didn’t reassure him. She might have been attacked when she was younger. It could have been a terrifying experience. The desire to protect her grew stronger. He wanted to hold and comfort her.
“Stop staring at me,” she demanded.
He leaned back in his seat, taking control of his feral senses and arguing with his heart for being so impetuous around her. Eluding Jade’s eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes with a sigh.
It was going to be a long ride home.
Chapter Three: I Don’t Find You Sexy at All
Bothered by the silence, Jade asked, “Aren’t you going to ask me what happened?”
His reactions intrigued her, so she dared to look at him more attentively, noticing his pale, flawless skin. Despite his light complexion, he didn’t look or smell like a corpse. He appeared to be about mid-twenties, but it didn’t mean he was that young.
“Do you assume that all vampires are bad?” he asked.
His question brought her back to reality. “I think all vampires are arrogant and self-absorbe
d. You all think you can have whatever and whomever you want. Clearly, you aren’t an exception.”
Mr. Undead smirked as if she had said something amusing. She was sure she hadn’t. “I’ve been having a terrible month. And I thought I would have another terrible night before I found you, but you aren’t making things easier,” he said.
“I don’t understand.”
“The irony is that you hate my guts for something that someone else did to you.”
Jade moved uncomfortably in her seat. “Actually, I hate your guts because I didn’t want to come with you in the first place. You just needed to choose someone else—one of those annoying groupies.”
“And clearly you are one,” he said with a smug grin.
She shook her head.
Frowning, he asked, “You don’t even know who I am, do you?”
“Why, should I?” His furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips indicated that he doubted Jade’s words. “I have better things to do than watching a vampire channel or read gossip magazines.”
He laid his arm across the back of the seat. “I’ve always enjoyed challenges.”
“I’m not a challenge. I’m a person, jerk!”
The vampire eased his body against the seat and crossed his legs. “You really need to stop with the hostility. I’m not going to hurt you, and I’m perfectly aware that you are a person. The challenge is for you to also see that.”
Jade examined him, unsure of how to react to his words. She looked out the window. They were driving fast. “Where are we going?”
“To my house,” he replied.
She blinked several times. “Not to the reality show’s mansion?”
“No, we aren’t going to join the others. I have no intention of leaving the comfort of my home.”
“I don’t really want to be here,” she whispered. “My brother needs me and…”
“Save it, Jade. I’m not going to be moved by your sappy story. We all have our sad stories. I’m not going to tell you mine, so I don’t need to know yours.”
His words came out cold, and Jade lost all the empathy that she could have developed for him. He was a jerk. There was no doubt about it. He was heartless and an idiot. The little display of humanity he had performed before had her fooled for a moment, but that moment was gone.