RED NIGHT ~ VAMPIRE FILES TRILOGY (Book 1)

10

Monsters are real.

I wake in my bed, and my eyes lock on Adam. He's standing at the end of my bed looking down at me. I realize I'm still in my underwear and pull the sheet around me to cover myself. Not like he hasn't gotten an eyeful already. How long have I been unconscious? We study each other.

Adam's a vampire, whatever that means. All I know is what I witnessed with my own eyes, and that was enough to bring my walls of normalcy tumbling down around me. I don't even know where to begin. Universal notions of vampires have one common thread, and that is they all drink blood to survive.

"That night in the garage, were you...?" I don't even know how to ask the question that is gnawing at my brain. I feel as though I'm being rude, like asking someone how much money they make or if they're sleeping with their neighbor.

"...having dinner? Yes, and you interrupted me." He pauses to watch my reaction. "If things had played out differently you could have been my dessert."

There is that underlying hint of a threat behind his words. Yet he hasn't hurt me. I think he's baiting me. I choose to ignore that statement for the moment.

"Would you have killed her if I wasn't there?" I ask, unsure I want to know his answer. I need to hear it, though. My world has been turned upside down, and I'm trying desperately to fit all the pieces back together again. I'm missing important parts.

"It is not necessary for me to kill in order to survive," he says.

"So Rebecca simply volunteers to be your dinner?" I ask, dumbfounded. I need to know how this works. I'm particularly worried about becoming an appetizer.

"That woman, Rebecca, does not recall our meeting. I've told you I can be rather persuasive," he says.

"So you persuade them. Why would they do it? What's their motivation?" I ask, still confused. Why would anyone stand there and let someone hurt them like that?

"Our blood and saliva contain a toxin. My bite causes pain only initially, but it's quickly replaced with something far more desirable," he says. His eyes are smoldering with a light blue glow.

He looks so incredibly alluring I feel like I could be happily lost in his eyes forever...

I feel as though I may have zoned out again. Wait! Was that him trying to use his persuasion on me? Is that how it works? I narrow my eyes at him, and the corners of his mouth turn up a bit.

"Did you just try to do something to me?" I ask, being careful not to look directly at his eyes this time.

"You seem to be immune to my charms. My efforts at using compulsion on you failed, as was apparent when you laughed at me," he says with an amused grin. "I had planned to make you tell me what you witnessed that first night, but I realize now that you either could not discern what I was engaged in, or your mind chose not to believe it. And in answer to your question, yes. You must not blame me for trying. I informed you before, I'm accustomed to acquiring that which I desire. You present me with an intriguing challenge," he says, crossing his arms.

"Don't ever try that on me again. I need to know where I stand with you, or our little sharing sessions are over. And get out of my room so I can get dressed." I'm tired of feeling vulnerable around him.

"Sharing? Are we sharing, Samantha? I've shared my most protected secret with you tonight. What are you willing to share with me?" His words are loaded and hang heavy in the air of my now crowded bedroom.

He moves to the side of the bed and looks down at me. He's ready for something, because his eyes are doing that preternatural glowing thing again. I pull the sheet further up my body and break eye contact.