Night World 1 by L.J. Smith Read Free Book Online

about me.”
    â€œJames…” Poppy could breathe now, but she didn’t know what to say. As far as she could tell, James had gone crazy. In a way, if everything else hadn’t been so awful, she might have been flattered. James had lost his consummate cool—over her. He was upset enough about her situation to go completely nonlinear.
    â€œYou really do care,” she said softly, with a laugh that was half a sob. She put a hand on his where it rested on the bed rail.
    He laughed shortly in turn. His hand flipped over to grasp hers roughly; then he pulled away. “You have no idea,” he said in a terse, strained voice.
    Looking out the window, he added, “You think you know everything about me, but you don’t. There’s something very important that you don’t know.”
    By now Poppy just felt numb. She couldn’t understand why James kept harping on himself, when she was the one about to die. But she tried to conjure up some sort of gentleness for him as she said, “You can tell me anything. You know that.”
    â€œBut this is something you won’t believe. Not to mention that it’s breaking the laws.”
    â€œThe law?”
    â€œThe laws. I go by different laws than you. Human laws don’t mean much to us, but our own are supposed to be unbreakable.”
    â€œJames,” Poppy said, with blank terror. He really was losing his mind.
    â€œI don’t know the right way to say it. I feel like somebody in a bad horror movie.” He shrugged, and said without turning, “I know how this sounds, but…Poppy, I’m a vampire.”
    Poppy sat still on the bed for a moment. Then she groped out wildly toward the bedside table. Her fingers closed on a stack of little crescent-shaped plastic basins and she threw the whole stack at him.
    â€œYou bastard !” she screamed, and reached for something else to throw.

CHAPTER 5
    J ames dodged as Poppy lobbed a paperback book at him. “Poppy—”
    â€œYou jerk! You snake! How can you do this to me? You spoiled, selfish, immature—”
    â€œShhh! They’re going to hear you—”
    â€œLet them! Here I am, and I’ve just found out that I’m going to die, and all you can think of is playing a joke on me. A stupid, sick joke. I can’t believe this. Do you think that’s funny ?” She ran out of breath to rave with. James, who had been making quieting motions with his hands, now gave up and looked toward the door.
    â€œHere comes the nurse,” he said.
    â€œGood, and I’m going to ask her to throw you out ,” Poppy said. Her anger had collapsed, leaving her near tears. She had never felt so utterly betrayed and abandoned. “I hate you, you know,” she said.
    The door opened. It was the nurse with the flowered blouse and green scrub pants. “Is anything the matter here?” she said, turning on the light. Then she saw James. “Now, let’s see; you don’t look like family,” she said. She was smiling, but her voice had the ring of authority about to be enforced.
    â€œHe’s not, and I want him out of here,” Poppy said.
    The nurse fluffed up Poppy’s pillows, put a gentle hand on her forehead. “Only family members are allowed to stay overnight,” she said to James.
    Poppy stared at the TV and waited for James to go. He didn’t. He walked around the bed to stand by the nurse, who looked up at him while she continued straightening Poppy’s blankets. Then her hands slowed and stopped moving.
    Poppy glanced at her sideways in surprise.
    The nurse was just staring at James. Hands limp on the blankets, she gazed at him as if she were mesmerized.
    And James was just staring back. With the light on, Poppy could see James’s face—and again she had that odd feeling of not recognizing him. He was very pale and almost stern looking, as if he were doing something that required an