A Fire in the Blood(23)
Hoping it might be him.
She breathed a sigh of relief—or was it disappointment? —when she heard Jilly’s voice. “Tess?”
“Hi.”
“You okay, girl? You sound, I don’t know, kind of disappointed.”
“No. No, I was just . . . just going quietly insane. How are you?”
“I’m a nervous wreck. I asked Luke to spend the night last night because I was afraid to be home alone. Silly, I know, but . . .”
“Not any sillier than me, sleeping with all the lights on.”
Jilly laughed softly. “We’re a pair, aren’t we? Has he called you?”
“No.”
“What are you going to do if he wants another date?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t want to see him again, do you?”
Tessa bit down on her lower lip. Seeing him could be dangerous. It might even be fatal, but . . .
“Tess?”
“Jilly, I know I shouldn’t see him again, but I’ve never felt this way about anybody else.”
“Think about what you’re saying! He’s a vampire, for crying out loud. You’ve got to end it now, while you still can.”
“You’re right. I know you’re right. Anyway, he didn’t say anything about seeing me again.”
“You’ll let me know if he calls, promise?”
“I promise. I’ll see you Monday.”
“I hope so,” Jilly said. And ended the call.
Tessa sat at the table a moment, then went to her desk and fired up her laptop. A Google search turned up over forty thousand hits. According to Wikipedia, vampires were mythical creatures. Such entities—called by a variety of names—were known to have been recorded in almost every culture, going back as far as the ancient Greeks and Romans. Their tales of demons and spirits were thought to be the basis for modern-day vampires, although Bram Stoker was given credit for creating the quintessential vampire in his immortal character Count Dracula, the indisputable inspiration for numerous books, films, and TV shows.
Vampires could turn into mist, scale tall buildings like a spider, read minds, control the weather, move faster than the eye could follow. They didn’t age, were never sick. And how cool would that be, she thought absently, never to have to worry about growing old and helpless.
The idea that she found anything about being a vampire appealing brought her up short. No one wanted to get old. No one looked forward to dying, but it was a fact of life. You were born, you grew up. If you were lucky, you lived a good long life, and then, to put it poetically, you “went the way of all the earth.”
With a shake of her head, Tessa shut down her laptop. She had been scared before she started reading about vampires. Now she was just depressed.
Thinking to cheer herself up, she whipped up a hot fudge sundae and found her favorite comedy on Netflix.
She was just dozing off when someone knocked at the door.
Something—a tingle in the air, a sudden change in the atmosphere—told her Andrei was waiting outside.
She froze, hardly daring to breathe. If she didn’t answer, maybe he’d think she wasn’t home and go away.
Several seconds passed.
And then, just when she was certain he’d gone, he knocked again.
“I know you’re home, Tessa,” he said. “I can hear the rapid beat of your heart.”
Scowling, she added “exceptional hearing” to the long list of vampire traits.
She took a deep breath in an effort to calm her racing heart. Then, her hand visibly shaking, she opened the door.
He looked as handsome, as desirable, as always. Damn him.
“Can we talk?”
Tessa took a step backward. “What is there to say?”
“Hey, it’s your life. If you don’t want my help, fine.”
She chewed on a corner of her lower lip. Then, hoping she wasn’t making a big mistake, she gestured for him to come inside. She didn’t close the door.
“Worried about your reputation?” he asked dryly.
“Worried about my life,” she retorted.
He grinned inwardly, thinking an open door was no protection at all.
“So,” she said, perching on the edge of the sofa, “what did you want to talk about?”
“Can’t you guess? I warned you before to stay inside after dark. It’s still good advice. Unlike older vampires, fledglings can’t go out in the sun. All the vampires who’ve been after you have been newly turned.”
“If my blood is so wonderful, why are they trying so hard to kill me? I mean, no me, no blood.”
“Because they haven’t yet learned to control their hunger. Once fledglings start to feed, most are no longer rational.”