Vampire for Hire by J.R. Rain Read Free Book Online Page A

maybe I’m just worrying too much. He’s just sick. A fever. Perhaps the flu.
     
               The electrified air around my son was agitated, the glowing streaks buzzing like so many bees around a hive. I held my son closer and listened to his heartbeat; it beat strong and steady. I monitored his breathing, too, and was certain that, as the hours passed, his breathing was growing more ragged.
     
               Hours later, I kissed him on his forehead and headed out into the living room. Tammy was snoring lightly with the TV playing quietly. An infomercial selling an electric wheelchair was on. The old guy cruising on it never looked happier. I doubted it.
     
               I clicked off the TV and bent down. She was ten years old and weighed nearly as much as I did, that didn’t stop me from scooping her up easily and cradling her in my arms like a baby. Her body was warm, but not alarmingly so. Unlike Anthony. I held her close to me and buried my nose in her hair, inhaling deeply. She smelled of strawberries. Again, unlike Anthony, who had smelled of sweat.
     
               I stood there briefly in the living room, holding my daughter effortlessly while she mewed slightly in her sleep.
     
               Somewhere out there was a little girl named Maddie who would never feel her mother nuzzle against her again. A little girl who knew only fear and perhaps pain. A little girl with the tiniest voice I had ever heard.
     
               With my face still mostly buried in my daughter’s hair, I carried her into her bedroom and eased her carefully down into bed. I pulled the covers up over her and kissed her warm forehead, and then wiped a tear off her cheek.
     
               It had, of course, been my tear.
     
              
     
              
     
              
     
               Chapter Twelve
     

     
              
     
              
     
               You there, Fang?
     
               It was late. Or early. Take your pick. Creatures of the night often get this distinction wrong. Anyway, I knew I would be waking Fang up, but I needed to talk.
     
               I waited in front of my laptop for a few minutes with no response. I checked the time. Nearly 4:30 in the morning. Fang had worked tonight, I knew, which meant he would have gotten off at two- ish .
     
               You’re sleeping, I’m sure, I wrote in the IM screen. Years ago, Fang and I had met online in a community vampire room. I had been curious and lonely. Fang had not only landed a friend, but the real deal. A true blood sucker.
     
               Fang had entered my life when I needed him the most. Funny how life is like that. He was my outlet. My source of information, too, since he was knowledgeable in all things vampiric . We had bonded in ways I never thought possible, and I had revealed my deepest secrets. Fang knew everything.
     
               And now I knew a lot more about him, too.
     
               Fang was a killer. By my count, he had murdered three people. How many more after his jailbreak, I didn’t know. I hoped none.
     
               He had stalked me these past few years. Writing down clues. Saving our IM entries. That means he had confession after confession of my vampirism on record. Stored somewhere. I trusted Fang, but I wasn’t sure what to think about this. He was certainly in a position to blackmail me, if he so chose, but I knew he wouldn’t. I knew, and yes, sensed , that his interest in me stemmed from two sources: his love for vampires...and his love for me.
     
               A strange day today, I wrote. I thought of you often, I’ll admit. And the most prevalent thought was: I kissed Fang! Do you mind if I still call you Fang? I kind of like it when you call me Moon Dance. Coming from you. it just feels right. It feels secretive, too, like spies, and these are our code names. I like that.