Immortal Chocolate (a vampire novel)

Part 16

Chapter 10

We got to the party bar and three quarters of my friends had already bought their beers and were slamming them down in the corner booth.

“Iva!” one screamed toward me. I couldn’t keep these guys’ names straight, so I usually just made up a nickname in my head for each one of them. That one I just called Green, because his eyes were super duper green, and he wore green mascara. Where do you even buy green mascara?

“Hey!” I threw up my hand in a showgirl type of way and shoved Ben forward. “This is Ben.”

“Ben!” Green ran over to my new “friend” and threw his lanky arms around him in an awkward hug. Ben squirmed a bit and Green let him down, batting his long green eyelashes at him. “Buy this kid a beer!”

My friends seemed to intermix a lot. Once in awhile I’d recognize one or two, but they rotated or something, because it felt as if there was always a handful of new faces in the mix.

Within minutes we were all slamming beers, chatting about absolutely pointless things, and listening to someone screech at karaoke.

“So, love birds, tell me where you met!” Green said way too enthusiastically, staring at Ben then I. I gave a half laugh, wondering what Ben would say to that.

“Your friend is a vampire.” Ben pointed at me, his eyes wide. Green looked at Ben with a complete blank face then burst out laughing.

“Oh man, Ben, you’re hilarious!” The rest of the group joined in, and I just sat there and grinned. Ben pretty soon joined in too. We drank way too much beer until my eyesight was crazy. I’d almost forgotten about Claud’s blood when the itch started at the bottom of my feet. God no. Not now. What was this? I never ever had the itch when I was hanging out with my friends. It just never happened. Plus, I’d fed on Ben just a few hours ago; I should be perfectly fine. I squirmed in my seat, caught between several of my friends, who I didn’t know the name of. Ben was staring at me, his eyes holding a strange mysterious look. What? The itch spread up my legs way faster than normal.

I needed to get out of here now. I tried to get up, but hands shoved me back down into my seat.

“No, Iva, you gotta stay for another drink! You look tense, girl!” a blond-haired guy said with an accent.

“Listen, I’d love that, but I gotta pee.”

“You can hold it.”

My vision blurred, and the itch got worse, traveling up to my stomach, bursting through my bloodstream way too fast. I looked around the group in slight panic, trying to get up, but getting shoved back down. Why were they so strong? My mind felt messed up—what was going on with me? What did Claud do to me?

“Ben, Ben, you need to leave,” I told him, feeling panic suddenly not for myself but for the human.

“You okay?” He looked pale.

“Hmm…” My head swam as hands held me in place.

“Iva is going to drink a few more with us, you run along home now,” Green said in a strange voice. His eyes were crackled with red. Had Claud changed them? Were they vampires? They were far too strong to be humans. This sickened me. I liked having normal friends.

The itch spread more until it began to fill my chest, traveling up to my throat.

“Run!” I screamed in a voice that was dark with hunger and fear. Ben looked at me in panic then took off running through the back door, my itch now burning into my mouth, my fangs extracting, venom dripping.

“A vampire? Here?” a voice said in a laugh. A man stepped into my view, fully glowing like hot lava. Werewolf.

“Sorry about messing up your friends.” The man stepped into the light, and I could see that he was hairy—like freakishly hairy. His blond hair was bushy around his shoulders, and I couldn’t see where it ended behind his back, but I figured it was long. His facial hair was a full blown bush, so that all I saw were black soulless eyes.

“Dog,” I hissed at him, the itch driving me wild. I thrashed in my old friends’ grasp.

“Hmm…he’s right…you are irresistible.” The hairy guy approached me, bending down inches from my fangs. I could feel the pain of not being able to feed building, and I wanted to whimper.

“Hurts don’t it? The burning desire. Now you have a tiny taste of the torture you’ve put my brother through.”

Brother? My mind swam. Wait, Claud’s brother? Or?

“I can see that your brain is going to explode, so let me lay it out plain for you. Claud is my brother. Now stop trying to pop a blood vessel.” Hairy boy took a step back.

“Now you can clearly know why Claud is so powerful—a mixed vampire-lycan. He’s a bit eccentric, but I can see why he’s so obsessed with you.” He looked me over like I was a piece of property, taking in every detail of my body. I started to buck under the strain of the hands that held me, my entire body lit with fire.

“You really think torturing me will make me desire your brother?” I spat the words, trying to twist out of these once humans’ grasps.

“Iva, calm down,” Hairy Blondie said in a calm tone. “I just wanted to give you a taste of the torture you inflict my brother with on a daily basis.” He squatted down in front of me again, his eyes boring into mine. “If you marry Claud, we’ll both make sure you’re happy. You can have whatever you desire.”

“I don’t want anything Claud gives me! He changed my friends.”

“Oh that was me, sweetheart, they were idiots, and I just made them strong idiots. Don’t worry it’ll wear off, and they’ll be dead in the morning.”

“What!” I twisted harder, my heart piercing with pain for my human friends. “What did you do to them?”

“They need to fully transform, but of course, I can’t have more vampires running around in my city. Especially idiots like these guys.”

I started crying. Not sure what snapped in my head, but knowing that I was the cause of all my friends’ deaths broke me apart. They were idiots, but they were my idiots.

“I will never ever marry Claud.”

“How about we make a deal?” Hairy Blondie said with a twisted grin.

“What?”

“How about I help your pathetic friends, and you give Claud a chance. I’m not saying marry him, I’m just saying give him a fair chance, and in the end we both win.”

I stared at Claud’s brother—feeling the firm grips of my once human friends.

“What are you going to do to them?” I shook, the itch driving me completely mad.

“I’ll let them be vampires, and set them loose on another city. We can’t have seven vampires roaming around town now can we?” His voice was filled with amusement, and I could see how this idiot was Claud’s brother. He was just as controlling and manipulative as Claud.

“Fine, fine,” I agreed. Hairy Blondie came over to my friends and began to whisper strange words to them. They snapped out of whatever the trance they’d been in.

“Iva! You look like you need another one,” Green said and shoved a beer in my hand. I was shaking, clearly overwhelmed by what just happened. And…and I let Ben get away without erasing his memory. That could come and bite me in the butt later.