Birth of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Realm) (24 page)

I couldn’t believe the jerk was planning to stab me with a pointy stick. “Why the hell do you want to stake me? You’re the one that turned me into a vampire in the first place.”

“Because you won’t listen,” he said. “This isn’t how things are supposed to be. The bond between maker and progeny is supposed to be almost as strong as that between a mother and child. Or at least it’s supposed to exist.”

Great, I thought to myself. He was having a temper tantrum. I wasn’t acting the way he wanted me to act, so he was having a temper tantrum. It was so nice to know that becoming a vampire didn’t make a guy any more mature.

“Why did you even become a maker in the first place?” I demanded.

“It’s complicated,” he said with a sigh. That didn’t sound like much of an excuse. Turning someone into a vampire was a pretty drastic thing to do.

We started bickering a little over the stupidity of his actions until a group of kids walked past on their way to the parking lot. “Watch out, dude,” one of the guys called to Dorian. “She’s a bleeder.” Everybody
laughed.

That was the last straw. There was going to be blood, and none of it was going to be mine. As I turned to lunge across the parking lot, Dorian wrapped his arms firmly around me again. “Let me go,” I told him. “There’s somebody’s face I want to rip off.”

“No,” he said, all authoritarian-like. “I am your maker, and I am commanding you to stand down.”

“You what?” I couldn’t help but laugh. The guy had a serious ego on him. “You’re commanding me?”

Dorian frowned as he released me, his eyebrows knitting together. “Do you truly feel no alliance to me as your maker? Do you not feel compelled to obey me?”

I had to tell the guy no. Since being turned into a vampire, I honestly didn’t feel compelled to obey anyone.

“And you feel no connection to me at all?” he pressed.

“Not really,” I told him, although I wasn’t sure if that was completely honest. I thought he was hot. I’d enjoyed kissing him in the gym. But I was pretty sure that wasn’t the kind of connection he was talking about.

“I accept that,” he said, his handsome face very grave. “But I still feel an obligation to help you as my progeny.”

I wasn’t sure I was all that excited about being called somebody’s progeny. It sounded weirdly patriarchal. “Don’t worry about it,” I said. It was nice that Dorian was concerned about me and all, but I was more focused on the kids that were now sitting in one of the cars. I could tell by the smell in the air that they were smoking something they shouldn't have been. I wondered who they were. I decided that terrorizing them for a while might be fun. Especially the smartass with the big mouth. He could probably survive without a few pints of his blood.

“Are you happy here?” Dorian wanted to know. “Working the night shift at a small-town diner, sucking on raw meat, and foraging for animals in the woods? Wouldn’t you rather come with me and experience all the pleasures the world has to offer?”

I gave it some thought. Vampire pleasures might have been a good thing. I didn’t know. I had no reference point to tell me if it was something I would enjoy.

“Haley,” he said, grabbing me by the shoulders. “Do you want to come with me? Or do you want to stay here and be miserable?”

Dorian Vanderlind really was a gorgeous creature. And kissing him had been pretty damn spectacular. But he was being naive if he thought I was going to leave town. That was no longer part of my plan. I wasn’t going to let a bunch of puny mortals get away with bullying and insulting me. There were quite a few people who needed an attitude adjustment. Someone had to make them pay for their crappy behavior. And I was just the vampire to do it. The thought made me happy.

“I want to stay here,” I told Dorian, smiling quite gleefully. “But I’m not going to be miserable. Not anymore. I’m going to make everyone else miserable.”

The End

Thank you for reading
Birth of the Vampire
, the first book in
The
Vanderlind Realm
series. Look for book 2 in the series on September 1
st
, 2014.

If you are reading
on a Kindle device, then when you turn to the last page of this book you will be given the opportunity to express your thoughts on Facebook and Twitter. If you’ve enjoyed the story, would you please take a moment to click that button and let your friends know? I would very much appreciate it.

Craving more books about the exploits of the Vanderlind family? Want to learn more about the handsome Jessie Vanderlind and his mortal love, Aurora? All three books in
The Vanderlind Castle
series are available on Amazon right now:

Call of the Vampire

Heart of the Vampire

Fate of the Vampire
 

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