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

I think everyone in life should have a code name. I won’t mention your real name here, but I definitely don’t see you as an Eli, either. You are Fang to me. Always Fang.
     
               I paused and reached for a pack of cigarettes sitting next to my computer. Recently I’d discovered that I could smoke. I don’t recommend this to anyone but vampires, since smokes can’t kill us. There are precious few things that I can ingest into my body without cramping up in pain, and smoking is one of them.
     
               I’ll take what I can get.
     
               I lit up and exhaled a long plume of roiling gray smoke. The smoke cloud hovered briefly in front of me, then dissipated, and with the cigarette hanging from the corner of my mouth, I continued typing:
     
               I’m not sure about the kiss. I’m not sure about anything, really. You know that I’m kind of involved with the attorney. He and I had a moment last week that I will never forget, although I won’t go into it in any detail here. Let’s just say it’s hard for a woman to forget an experience like that (sorry if that hurts your feelings). But it’s also hard for me to forget our kiss last night. So, tell me, what was it like to kiss a vampire? I’m sure my lips were cold. I’m sure my breath was cold, too. Isn’t that a turn-off?
     
               I was babbling, I knew, but these were thoughts that had been plaguing through my mind for years, and since my relationship with Fang had gone to another level, a physical level, I could ask him these questions.
     
               I continued: It was a turn-off for my husband. Once he vomited. No joke. He tried to lie about it, but I heard him retch and could smell the vomit on his breath. It’s always nice when your husband vomits when making love to you. That was early on in my vampirism, of course. He never touched me again. Well, not in an intimate way. I never touched me, either. Transference, I believe the psychologists call it. I was unlovable in his eyes and so therefore I was unlovable in my own eyes. Yes, I know, I put too much weight into what he thought, but what was I supposed to do? I didn’t know what was happening to me? Everything was all so new. His love meant everything to me. I needed it so bad and he wasn’t there for me.
     
               I stopped writing and sat back. Ashes from my cigarette dropped onto my blouse. I always forgot to tap off the ashes. Smoking was still new to me. I wasn’t sure how much I liked it, but it was at least nice to do something with my hands.
     
               I guess I’m here to tell you that I don’t want to lose what we have, Fang. But I’m not saying no to anything more, either. I guess I’m just not in any place to make decisions right now...and now my poor son is sick, and every alarm bell I have is ringing loudly. Something is wrong with him, Fang. But maybe that’s just me worrying. Just a mom worrying.
     
               I dashed out the last of the cigarette and looked at the blocks of words that filled the IM screen. Fang would have some reading to do once he wakes up.
     
               The sun was coming. I could feel it. A deep tiredness was setting in and I stumbled to my room where my shades were always drawn tight, and collapsed in sleep.
     
               The sleep of the dead. Or undead.
     
              
     
              
     
              
     
               Chapter Thirteen
     

     
              
     
              
     
               I need an alarm clock—a very loud alarm clock—if I want to awaken any time before sunset. Left to my own devices, I awaken naturally just moments before the sun actually sets.
     
               It’s a nice system...unless you have kids.
     
               It’s very rare that I awaken on my own. But I did so now, and I awakened to find my son sleeping next to me. It