Immortal Chocolate (a vampire novel)

Part 9

“Hmm…we wouldn’t want to disappoint them now would we?” I purred the words, and he went nuts with desire, I could see it written on his face. My voice has that lovely effect on the poor human mind. Love is such an odd thing for us vampires—we love in a way humans never can grasp. Our love is almost scary desperate—feeding some raging hormone we can’t seem to satisfy in our bodies—that’s why Claud was so obsessed with getting me.

I’d had a few boyfriends over the years—but every time I’d break it off before it got too serious. Most of my human friends were together, even if they weren’t official, or married, but they were still a very touchy-feely, swap boyfriends and girlfriends type of group. This was Casey’s attempt to make amends I’m assuming, or maybe this was her revenge. I barely knew Casey, but from what I did know, she wouldn’t throw me her handsome brother without a reason. Obviously, this guy was a giant player, and he just wanted a one night stand with me.

I wasn’t sinless myself, and had on occasion left a broken heart behind me, but one night stands to me were so…last year. It was easy to commit to one night—now if you went on a few dates that was a different story. Because I was just curious, I fed into little boy toy’s desires.

“I’m wearing black,” I said, and that sent him over the edge. This was terrible of me, I shouldn’t do this to poor guys like him—even if he seemed like a womanizer.

We finished off our drinks, and he grabbed me by the hand, leading me out of the bar, and into the parking lot where his motorcycle was sitting. This was getting more and more cliché by the second—I had to grin at that. I mean what were the odds? He fished for his helmet, then handed me one with a dashing smile.

Amused, I slipped on the helmet and settled onto the back of the bike. He started up the engine, and I wrapped my arms around his toned chest. Ollie was buff—good for Ollie. I could really care less. We sped off, the wind tangling my hair a few times, the moon cascading shadows around us like a dance party.

When he came to a stop, we were in front of a dump. I mean a dump—dump. You know how you see those little metal shacks on TV of third world countries? It was pretty much like that. This had my interest completely screwed up—I was curious—and weireded out all in one. He got off the bike and reached for my hand to help me. He pulled his helmet off, his face a mask of mystery.

“This isn’t a five star hotel,” I said, and my lips twisted into a smirk. “What are you playing at?”

He put both helmets back on the bike and walked over to the shack. I was tempted to just head back to the bar and forget about the guy—this whole thing was strange. Instead I followed him as he walked across the dirty patch of land, the shack standing before me like a mocking face.

When we stepped inside, my brain exploded with confusion. I’d seen some odd stuff in my lifetime, but never anything this insane. Inside, the place was a mansion, a crystal chandelier hung; a winding clear staircase traveled all the way upward to where a balcony was overlooking the bottom floor. This. Was. Insane. What was he a witch?

I turned to him in wonder and a bit of horror mixed in.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Um, yes, but, what the hell?”

He gave a loud laugh, sweeping his hands open in a dramatic wave.

“This—is where I take all beautiful women.” Something changed in his voice, me being me, heard the slight change—enticement. I knew it right away—I did it myself on humans all the time. He had no fricking idea what I was—and yet was he a vampire then? I inhaled his smell, but still that dog/human smell was there.

“Would you like a glass of Champaign?” Again enticement filled his voice, and I had to play along to see what would happen next. This was the most interesting thing that had happened to me in years. Playing human had it’s fun perks, but being enticed by a dog-thing was a whole new ball game for me.

“That would be lovely,” I said.

He left the room for a moment, and I was left to gawk at the beauty surrounding me, it was almost like this place sang with its own heart. That sounds strange and bizarre, but it felt like the room was alive somehow—but that was insane, houses didn’t have a heartbeat.