That got my full attention. Jerking my head up from its food induced stupor, I turned wide eyes towards Drake who continued to hold up the sink with his sexy bod.
"A threat?" I squeaked.
He looked up and stared at me with a piercing gaze. "Yes," he sighed. Turning away from me, he tossed the kitchen towel up on the counter. "Come into the living room, we need to talk. Do you want more wine or coffee?"
"Why? Is this going to be my last meal or something?" I asked in a huff, crossing my arms across my chest. My attempt at humor fell flat. There was nothing funny going on here. I very much doubt there were any hidden cameras around, but even so...I did a quick scan of the environ just to make sure Ashton Kutcher wasn't lying in weight somewhere. I was in no mood to be Punked.
"Don't be ridiculous, Red."
"Oh...excuse me. The last thing I want to be is unreasonable." I slipped off the stool and grabbed the opened bottle off the counter along with my goldfish goblet. Flicking my hair over my shoulder, I did the Barbie stomp into the living room.
Plopping down on the white sofa, I topped off my half gallon glass. Taking a healthy swig to settle my nerves, I looked around. White sofa, white deep shag rug...lots of glass and chrome...it was very hoity-toity for a vampire lair. I sniffed. You'd think they'd be a little more Blade Runner and a lot less Stepford Wives.
Fang finally moseyed into the living room and eased himself down on the sofa next to me. I rolled my eyes at the graceful way he positioned himself. Figures the man wouldn't do your typical flop and "man spread". I snorted. The least he could do, was pull an Al Bundy and stick his hand down his pants.
The manila envelope he had pulled out earlier, he set on the glass top of the chrome coffee table. The thing was positively spotless. I had a sudden childish desire to lick the glass and leave smudgy fingerprints everywhere.
"May I?" He indicated the bottle.
I shrugged. "It's your booze."
Shaking his head, he picked up the bottle with his long fingered hands and filled the glass. The fact he didn't spill a drop, pissed me off even more. "You can lose some of the hostility, Red."
"Isn't that what a threat is supposed to do? Be hostile?" I snapped. "And seriously, dude...I'm not the one who blew up your house. So, I would definitely rethink the whole who's a threat scenario in this equation."
Bringing the glass to his lips, he looked at me over the rim for a few second before he took a sip. "The demise of your house was unavoidable, as you well know," he said, setting his wine on the table and picking up the mysterious envelope.
"I'm sure they said the same thing when the government accidently bombed Dickens, Nebraska," I muttered under my breath, remembering the story I had read on-line.
The little town was set in-between two practice bombing ranges in 1943 and was mistakenly targeted during two military practice bombing runs by flight crews. That was one hell of a whoopsie. At least the government apologized. All I get from Fang is his too bad, so sad...crap.
"Excuse me?" Fang stopped flipping through the papers to raise his icicle eyes at me.
I resisted rolling mine...barely. For such a fanged fossil, I'm surprised he wasn't flying the plane that did the actual deed. It would certainly explain his predilection to blowing things up.
"Never mind," I said grumpily. "Can we just get on with it?" My apprehension was making me edgy and irritable and sitting next to him wasn't helping the situation.
"Very well, have it your way." He smiled at me with absolutely no humor.
My hands shook, making the wine slosh a little in my glass. Not wanting him to notice my nervousness, I brought it to my mouth and took a gulp.
"Do you know this man?" He laid out a grainy photo in front of me.
Looking down, I stared at the bespectacled goofy blown up driver's license grin of Harry Potter. Well...not thee Harry Potter, but his doppelganger scientist version who had mowed into my table at the mall. Picking up the photo, I brought it closer for a better look. Yup, it was him. Right down to his pocket protector.
"Harry Potter?"
Fang heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Be serious, Red."
"I am!" I threw the photo onto the coffee table and pointed at it. "Seriously, you don't think he looks like Harry Potter?"
Drake gave me a look that implied he didn't think the man remotely resembled the famous wizard. "His name is Doctor Jurrian Kleinroseboom."
A giggle burst out of my mouth. "You're kidding right?" Dang...Harry Potter would have been a lot easier to pronounce and spell.
"No, I'm not. He's a Dutch scientist who was kidnapped over a year ago by Stoker and kept captive to create a secret serum."
A chill ran down my spine. Poor Harry. No wonder he had looked so haggard. I glanced back down at the photo. "I really don't know him." I drew a bracing breath. "I mean...not personally. I only ran into him at the mall. Literally. The man smashed into my table and sent Kung Pao flying all the way to the Build A Bear sweatshop." I looked up at Fang. "I shared a Diet Coke with him, but that's all I know." I shrugged.
"This isn't you then?" He pulled another picture out of the file and tossed it in front of me.
"What? Not enough work for vampires these days you had to become a part-time paparazzi to make ends meet?" I asked with a touch of snark.
"Just look at the photo, Red," he said coolly.
Sticking my tongue out at him, I turned my attention back to the coffee table. This one was a blurry security camera shot of two people pressed intimately against each other in the dark corner in what appeared to be a lover's tryst at the mall. I groaned. The bright orange Superpumper shirt was a flaming neon sign, but I have to say...my hair looked fabulous in this picture despite it being slightly blurred.
"Yes, that's me," I muttered.
"It appears to me you knew Doctor Kleinroseboom very well," he said drily, arching that superior brow at me.
"You might want to grab a parachute for those assumptions you're jumping to before you crash and burn." I hissed.
"The camera doesn't lie, Red."
"Well this one does!" I shot up and started pacing. "One minute he was sitting there and the next thing I knew, he had me shoved up against the wall, slapping his hand over my mouth." I shuddered at the memory and pointed to the photo. "Get your bifocals out, grandpa. You can just see the tips of his fingers on the side of my cheek."
Fang growled at my slur against his age, but I really didn't care. I was tired, frustrated and...dammit...his scent was driving me wild.
"Did he say anything to you?"
"What?" I spun around from my marching procession around the living room.
"Did he say anything to you?" Fang slowly repeated, not looking up from the photo.
"I...um..." My mind drew a complete blank. The hamster had abandoned his post at the wheel. "I don't remember."
He glanced up. "Try."
The theme song to Jeopardy started playing in my head, as I resumed my patrolling at a much slower pace. I'll take I don't have a clue for a 100 dollars, Alex.
I was so deep in thought, I didn't see Fang get up from the couch until I ran smack dab into his chest. His hands reached out and steadied me before I toppled over on my butt.
"Whatever you can remember will help your case with the Elders," he urgently told me, giving me a little shake as if that would rattle the missing pieces loose.
"Elders?"
"They are the highest members of the ruling counsel," he murmured. "What they say is final, Melanie. If we don't think of a way to persuade them you are not a threat to the Colony...," his voice trailed off, sadness coating his eyes, dimming them.
"They want to kill me, don't they?" I gulped.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight against him. "Yes."
I burrowed into the comfort of his arms. "Why?" I mumbled against his shirtfront.
"Because they see you as unnatural."
Now I was pissed, again. I stepped back, placing my hands on his chest and giving him a shove. "Like any bloodsucker is natural," I scoffed.
Fang fell back a few steps and smiled, his teeth catching the lamp light. "In your world no, but you are part of ours now, Red. There are people out there that would sell their soul to be in your shoes if it meant they could have eternal life."
"Yippy-skippy," I snorted, plopping back down on the couch and fanning my body across it. "Since I got infected with vampire-itis, it's been nothing but one big disappointment after another." I started clicking off points on my fingers. "First, I get sicker than a dog. Then I can't go out in the sun. Then I got shot at. Then my house got blown to smithereens and now, I have a bunch of moldy oldies who want me dead. Excuse me if I don't jump up and down for joy."
"Elders," he corrected.
"Whatever," I sighed, throwing my arm over my head, I frowned at him. "It's not like I hit the Lottery or anything."
"I'm sorry it's been so unbearable for you," Fang mocked, rolling his eyes as he looked down at me with his hands on his hips.
I jerked up as if I had been tazed. Something he said made the neurons in my head start to flicker to life. Unbearable...Harry Potter had said that to me. My forehead dropped into a frown. The hamster started running, spinning the wheel so fast I was surprised I didn't smell smoke.
"I pray eternity is not unbearable and it ends with you. Nobody should have the power over God," I said, jumping up from the couch. "That's it! That's what he said, right after he jabbed me with the syringe thingie."
Now it was Fang's turn to pace. Not that I was complaining. I had a spectacular view of his butt.
"It ends with you...," he muttered quietly. He turned around to face me. "That could only mean he created just one vial." He brought his finger to his lips and tapped them while he continued to think. "One dose which he injected into you." He narrowed his diamond eyes at me. "Can you think of anything else he said?"
"He said something about being out of time and the secret is within my blood." I snapped my mouth shut, my eyes popping wide as the rest of his warning blasted into my head. He had told me I should remain hidden. That I needed to protect it at all costs. Slowly, I backed away from Fang.
"What is it? Did you remember something else?"
I shook my head, breaking eye contact with him. Reaching for my glass of wine, I looked over at the black trench coat and winced. The men in black. It was Fang and his crew who were chasing the poor man. I took a long drink and slowly put the empty glass on the pristine top. Harry Potter was right. I wasn't safe.
"I am not your enemy," Drake said tightly.
His words angered me. "How do I know?" I snapped, putting the couch between us. "I don't know anything! All I know is some kook in the mall nails my ass with some kind of hocus pocus and now I have fangs and a severe allergy to sunlight! On top of all that," I waved my hands up in the air erratically, "a bunch of vampires who stepped out of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, are chasing after me wanting me dead!"
I moved around the bend of the couch and scooped up my spoon shovel. "And let's not forget this Stoker asshole who is responsible for making me, according to your kind, a freak of nature." My chin bobbled as I sucked in a sob. "So you'll have to forgive me if I don't believe your declaration of friendship right now!"
Fang dropped his chin to his chest and started to count to ten. In Russian, I believe. He went through several counting gigs in many different languages before he raised his eyes to look at me.
"You are a newly turned vampire and are in grave danger. You don't know any of the rules or any of the circumstances surrounding your turning. The way I see it, Red," he crossed his muscly arms over his chest and glared at me, "I'm the only shot you have of staying alive. You don't have a choice but to trust me."
I shoved the spoon shovel in his direction when he took a step towards me. "The way I see it...Fang," I snarled, "is that I was doing just fine until you came into my life. It wasn't until you showed up that all my troubles started."
"You would have died back there if it wasn't for me," he shouted.
"So would have you!"
He ran a hand through his black locks and for a minute I was jealous. I wanted to do that.
"Look, we need to discover why you are so different from the rest of us," he said more calmly.
"I'm no science experiment, bucko."
"I never said you were. Stop putting words in my mouth," he growled. "And put down the fucking spoon. I've already told you killing vampires with wood is a myth, not to mention you proved it when you stabbed me with a damn toothpick."
"Oh...I know it's a myth." I smiled sweetly at him.
"Then why are you still trying to threaten me with it," he sighed in exasperation.
Walking over to a heavy, white vase sitting on a spindly, fancy chromed stand, I swung like Babe Ruth knocking one out at Wrigley Field. Demolishing it in one fell swoop. Blowing out a satisfied breath, I turned to him. "Any questions?"
Oh-oh! Mel is on the warpath...who will win??
Stay tuned for the next installment of FANGED to find out .
Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it. If you liked it please give it a vote and comments are always appreciated. If you don't see any updates here...check out my other two stories Bending Steele or When Roses Collide.