Here’s the first chapter of How to Date a Vampire. Please let me know what you think. I hope you like it. How to Date a Vampire will be available November 30.
Chapter 1
How to Date a Vampire rule #1
Sun block as a gift is a nice gesture.
“Hey, dipshit, kindly remove your hands from my boyfriend’s neck,” I yelled.
The brute had Jack in a headlock. “Watch out, Jack, there’s a table behind you.”
Jack Chandler and I had only dated a few times, but I think the fact that he was fighting vampires for me gave him instant boyfriend status.
My skin tingled and hair sprouted over my body. The familiar tugging sensation that accompanied my transformations charged through my veins. There was no way I wouldn’t get involved in this battle. Even if it meant Jack’s ego would end up bruised. It wasn’t fair to allow a human to battle vampires—not when I was a werewolf.
My mother jumped on the brute’s back. Yes, my mother. She should have whacked him with her pocket book—that thing weighed about a bazillion pounds. My father struggled with another goon in the corner. They teetered dangerously close to the grandfather clock. Maybe Dad could tip it over on his assailant. Where was a wooden stake when a girl needed one? Perhaps some heavy silver chains? A crucifix? Throw me a bone here. No pun intended.
A gorgeous female vampire with long dark hair lingered in the corner of the living room. She hadn’t offered to get involved with the tussle. I guess she didn’t want to ruin her outfit.
I’m Rylie Cruz and I hail from a family of werewolves, a long line of them. As if that wasn’t bad enough, there was a curse placed on me…literally. As soon as puberty hit, my mother had sat me down and explained the Cruz Curse. As the story goes, the youngest daughter of the Cruz name was destined to live a loveless life, never to find true love. A gypsy bestowed the punishment upon my ancestors for becoming involved in the werewolf world. The old hag needed to mind her own business if you asked me. She thought it was a sin to mingle with werewolves in any form. It wasn’t as if my ancestors wanted to grow hair and howl at the moon.
I never believed the crazy story, but when my twenty-sixth birthday rolled around, and I was sitting at home on a Saturday night watching Sabado Gigante and eating my weight in beef jerky, I started to believe. How could I not?
“Mama, don’t,” I screamed as I lunged forward.
“Stand back, Rylie. I’ll save him,” she said, as she leapt forward.
Biting a vampire—not such a good idea. I didn’t know the repercussions, but I didn’t want to find out, either. I pulled her off and the goon stumbled backward. Jack climbed up from the floor and braced himself for another attack. Before he made another move though, he placed his right hand on his neck, wiped the blood, then stared at his palm.
The color drained from his face. Without saying a word, Jack tumbled to his knees, crashing to the hardwood floor with such force that a loud thud echoed across the room.
I ran to his side and grabbed his arm. “Jack, are you okay?”
My mother stood beside us, panting from the exertion. She wasn’t the fitness type. Her idea of exercise was lifting a fork. What must Jack have thought to meet my parents for the first time and they were in werewolf form?
“I’ve been bitten,” he choked out while holding his hand to his neck.
Jack met my gaze, a slight panic in his eyes. He still looked gorgeous with his blond disheveled hair and chiseled features in spite of the recent brawl. His six-foot frame and abundance of muscles were probably no match for the vampires, though.
This was not good, not good at all. Could I convince him he’d cut himself shaving? Nope. Surely he’d felt the teeth sink into his skin. How could he not? “Um, it’s a little nick. I’m sure it’ll stop bleeding soon,” I said. “We’ll just stick a little toilet paper on it. It’ll stop oozing in no time.”
Had he read the look of alarm on my face? I mean, as if getting in a fight with a vampire wasn’t bad enough, now he’d been bitten by one. Oh boy. Jack probably had a long list of reasons why not to date me stuck to his bedroom mirror.
Sirens sounded from outside. The vampires stopped their attack immediately. We stared at each other, all in a ready-to-pounce stance. The men wore dark suits impeccably tailored to fit every contour of their bodies. When Jack and I had arrived at my parents’ home, I had barely had time to register the events before things had turned into utter chaos. I’d been talking to my mother on the phone when the hooligans burst through the door searching for my Uncle Ernie. Jack had just accepted my werewolf status as the truth when all of this went down. He probably regretted that idea now.
The female vampire still stood in the corner with a smirk on her face. She was exquisitely dressed in a sexy black blouse and black pants. Large diamond studs dotted her ear lobes and a matching necklace dangled from around her neck. The look on her face was anything but exquisite, though. Her expression said she wanted to rip someone’s head off and drink their blood from a martini glass.
“We’ll be back. This isn’t over.” The men headed toward the door.
My father let out a growl.
The dark-haired woman with more curves than a mountainous highway strolled up to Jack. She stopped in front of him, leaned down, then ran her finger across the blood on his neck.
She licked her finger, then smiled. “Tasty.”
“C’mon, Sophia. Let’s get out of here. The boss’ll be pissed if we end up in jail.” The smaller of the thugs grabbed her arm and yanked her toward the door.
All of this over my uncle’s gambling debt? What the hell had happened to my life? One minute I was running my dating service, Get a Mate, the next I was fending off crazed vampires. Wait. Were there any other kind of vampires other than crazed? I’d never wrangled a vampire before and I didn’t really want to start now. I didn’t like to fight anyone. Sure, I’d do it if I had to, but I preferred to remain civilized. Some of the paranormal folks I came in to contact with made that task very difficult, though. Anyway, I was thankful the fiasco seemed to be over without any dead bodies. They’d be back though. Uncle Ernie needed to settle his debt, pronto.
Once the thugs slipped out the back door, I looked to my mother.
“Where the hell is Uncle Ernie? We should just pay off his debt so they’ll leave us alone.”
“I don’t even know how much he owes.” She let a deep breath.
Jack stood beside us. I searched his eyes for a reaction to what had just happened. He stared straight ahead as if his thoughts were a million miles away.
I touched his arm again. “Are you okay?” He nodded, but didn’t utter a word.
My mother ran over to my dad. The fur had begun to fade from our bodies. I really hated for Jack to see me in this condition, but there was no avoiding it. I also hated for Jack to see my dysfunctional family…ever, much less under these circumstances. I’d probably get the breakup call tomorrow.
“I intend to find out exactly what Ernie’s been up to. Do you know where he’s hiding out?” I asked.
“I don’t know, Rylie.” She shrugged.
“We need to put one of those dog shock collars on Uncle Ernie. Every time he tries to leave the yard it’ll zap him back.” I snorted.
Mama rubbed her temples. “I don’t even know what’s going on. One minute I’m talking to you, then the next we’re all fighting like a bunch of hooligans.”
My father stood, grabbing his pants from the floor. How had he taken the time to remove them before his transformation? I ruined a lot of clothing in the shifting process.
“Are you guys okay?” I asked, looking from my dad to Mama.
“We’re okay. But what about him?” She pointed at Jack.
Jack had collapsed onto the oversized chair next to the fireplace. His eyes were shut, but he still held the side of his neck.
A pounding rattled the front door. “New Orleans Special Shifter Forces,” the male voiced boomed.
I left my parents to talk with the pack police so I could tend to Jack.
His eyes popped open when I reached out to touch his arm. “Those were vampires, right?” he asked.
It would be impossible to fib my way out of this one. “Yes, they were vampires. We don’t normally get into fights with random vampires, you know? We don’t get into fights, at all. Well, sometimes with other werewolves, but only when provoked.” I sat on the arm of the chair.
Jack looked up at me with his widened blue eyes. In a most serious voice, he asked, “Am I going to be a vampire now?”
“What? No. No, no.” I shook my head and looked away. My stomach turned with the thought. I’d done this to him. How would he ever forgive me? I brought him to a home with crazed vampires—not good girlfriend material.
“You don’t sound so confident about that.” He touched my arm.
“I think there’s more to it than just one little bite.” I attempted a smile.
“You think? You think there’s more to it than one little bite? Don’t you know this kind of stuff?” He sounded a bit panicked.
I guess if I were human and bitten by a vampire, I’d be a little stressed too, so I’d cut him some slack.
“I know a little about vampires. But mostly about the mating and love habits of other paranormals, not that kind of stuff.” I looked at his neck.
He closed his eyes again and leaned his head back against the cushioned seat.
“I could make some calls and maybe find out.” He opened one eyelid and peeked at me. “I know a few ‘kind of nice’ vampires.” I used my index fingers and made air quotes. Maybe I should have left out that part. He didn’t need to know little details at a time like this.
After a few more minutes, I decided it was time to get Jack out of there. He’d been through enough for one day. The pack police took a report, but basically told us to find Ernie and make him pay up. Well, duh, I already knew that.
