Kiss of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Realm Book 2) (16 page)

I had learned not to believe my mom about any detail of my father’s existence, but claiming he was a vampire really caught me off guard. She was just too casual about it, too glib in her acceptance of me as a member of the undead.

“Seriously, Mom?” I asked.

“Oh, yes,” she assured me. “I wonder if you’ll meet him someday. I have to assume he’s still alive, although he was at least a hundred and fifty when I met him.”

I tried to think back to all that I had pieced together as fact about my father. I knew that someone sent my mother money sometimes. It never came as anything steady, like a monthly child support check, but there were lumps of cash randomly deposited in a bank account. And there was also someone who paid for her frequent stays in facilities like Sterngrove. Mental illness was not cheap. So someone had to have at least some money that they were willing to dispense with irregularity. But I didn’t know if the money came from a trust or a lawyer or anything. And even if the money did come from my dad, that didn’t necessarily mean he was a vampire. It could have just meant he was an asshole.

“Um… Mom?” I began. “If my father is a vampire, then why is this something you haven’t mentioned until now?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t think you’d believe me. I do have a reputation for being crazy, you know.”

“And what proof do you have that he’s a vampire? How do you know?”

“He told me,” she said, as if that explained everything.

“Yeah, but you told me he was killed in Viet Nam,” I pointed out.

She thought about it. “I’m pretty sure that’s where he told me he died.”

I felt a headache coming on. “And do you have any way of contacting this man, who is my father and also supposedly a vampire?”

Mom squinted at a patch of wall behind my head. “I don’t think so,” she said slowly. “But maybe through the bank or something. Quite honestly, I’ve never tried.”

“Why wouldn’t you try?” I asked, a bit flabbergasted.

“He obviously knows where I am,” she said. “If he wants to talk to me, he can call.”

Great
, I thought to myself. My mom was treating her relationship with my father like she was a pouting middle-schooler. “Mom, did it ever occur to you that I might want to know my father? Or at least know something about him?”

Frowning, she asked, “What does he have to do with you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because he’s my dad. Does he even know I’m alive?” I was losing my battle to keep my temper.

“Well you’re not actually alive,” she told me with a laugh. “Not anymore.”

“Mom!” I was really getting angry. Visiting her was obviously a mistake.

“Oh, let’s not fight,” Mom said, holding her arms open wide to me. “Come here and let me hug you some more.” I made absolutely sure not to sniff her as she wrapped her arms around me. “This is going to be so fun,” she said, giving me a squeeze. “First you’ll be my daughter, then my granddaughter, and then my great granddaughter, if I last long enough. Won’t we have fun tricking everyone?”

I had to laugh and squeeze her back. It was typical of my mother to look at me being turned into a vampire as some kind of game.

And then suddenly everything felt alright. I could handle being a vampire and I could find a way to either make Dorian love me, or learn to live without his love. For absolutely no reason, I just felt better. It was the magic of my mom, I guess. I don’t know if she had this effect on anyone else, but she sure had it on me.

We chatted for awhile, still hugging. Mom told me all of the Sterngrove gossip. I told her about my maker. “He sounds hot,” she said. “Try to bring him by so I can get a look at him.”

“I’ll try,” I told her. “He’s really stubborn, so don’t get your hopes up. But I’ll try.”

After awhile I felt a weird sensation. It was hard to define, but it was kind of like a prickling at the back of my neck. And then I felt a little light headed. Not as bad as when I’d almost fainted at the castle, but enough to make me woozy. “What time is it?” I asked, looking around for a clock.

“About five-thirty,” she told me.

“Oh.” It was going to be sunrise soon. “I’ve got to go.”

“You can’t go now,” Mom said. “You’ll never make it back to Tiburon before the sun rises. You’ll be burnt toast.”

“Then I’ll have to dig a hole and sleep in the ground in some neighboring woods,” I told her.

Mom gave me a funny look like she was questioning my sanity. “Why don’t you just sleep in my closet and stuff a towel under the door?”

Chapter 19

Haley

Sleeping in my mom’s closet turned out to be rather nice. The lingering scent of her permeated her jackets and sweaters. I found myself sinking into a deep state of relaxation. It wasn’t exactly sleep, but it was the second best thing to being in Dorian’s arms.

I left at the next nightfall to fly back to Tiburon. I felt better in some ways and more confused in others. I was glad my mom had accepted me as a member of the undead — pretty much without batting an eye — but I really had to wonder if my father was actually a vampire, or if that was just more crazy talk from Mom. It was so hard to tell. If it was crazy talk, I had to give her points for creativity. Nothing like messing with your kid when she’s vulnerable.

As I was closing in on Tiburon, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. My new cell plan apparently had much better coverage than my old one. “Hello?”

“Haley, it’s me,” a male voice told me.

“Me who?” I asked, playing it cool.

“It’s your boyfriend,” the guy said. And then just to be clear he added, “Tommy.”

“Yeah, I don’t think we’ve ever discussed our status as boyfriend and girlfriend,” I told him.

“Oh, come on,” he whined. “Don’t be like that.”

I hated when guys said stupid things like, “Don’t be like that.” What they really meant was, “I just want you to give me my way and I’m going to kind of be a baby about it.”

Instead of saying, “Don’t be like what?” and starting a weird fight, I said, “I’ll be ready in twenty minutes. Come pick me up at my Uncle Kevin’s.” And then I hung up. It was so much easier dating a guy when I hated his guts.

Tommy took me to White Castle to meet up with some of his friends. The mortal me would have loved this. I would have been thrilled to be out in public with the cool kids. The undead me didn’t care. I’ve never been a fan of fast food, so being in a White Castle didn’t bring on any phantom food cravings. I did recently learn that White Castle was the first American-style fast food restaurant. That made it a little historically interesting at least.

At first everything was going fine. I ordered a few of their mini-burgers, some fries and a coke. There was no way I could choke down any of it, but I had a feeling Tommy could easily vacuum up the extra portions. The Maybe-Lauras were there, staring daggers at me and texting on their phones so quickly that their thumbs were practically blurs. About ten minutes after everyone had settled into their chairs and horked down their food, Sheila came storming in.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve!” she yelled in my face.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, sitting up and gripping the Formica table so that I didn’t rip her face off.

“Tommy was on a date with me,” she said, getting right up in my grill. “What the hell is he doing here with you?”

“I don’t know, Sheila,” I said, forcing myself to stay calm. I could smell her breath. She’d maybe had a slug of some type of alcohol, probably something she snuck from her parent’s liquor cabinet. “I was home and Tommy dropped by. He asked me to go with him to grab something to eat and I said yes. He didn’t mention you at all.”

“Well we were on a date at that stupid diner where you work,” she said, and I could tell she was fighting back tears. “Then he got up to use the bathroom and never came back. He just left.”

“What do you mean, ‘He just left’? Like, he just left you sitting there for a really long time or…?” I was playing innocent. It was a bitchy thing to do, but nothing compared to how Sheila had treated me.

“I mean he just left the damn diner,” Sheila said, her voice catching a little. “And then I get a bunch of text that he’s here with you.”

“I’m not sure why you’re mad at me,” I told her. “I mean, it’s not like I have some magical powers and cast a spell over Tommy or anything.”

“Then why the hell did he just ditch me?” she demanded.

I’ve never understood why, when a girl finds out that a boy is cheating on her, she confronts the other girl. Why not confront the guy? He’s the cheater. But for some reason that wasn’t how it usually worked. I gave Sheila a shrug. “I’m not sure,” I told her. “Why don’t you ask him?”

Sheila winged around to stare at Tommy like she hadn’t even realized he was there. “Why the hell did you ditch me?” she demanded, her voice definitely warbling.

Everyone at White Castle was watching our little drama play out. I could hear some kids snickering in the background. I had thought I would feel great, arranging for Sheila to be humiliated publicly, but it actually didn’t feel good at all. She was a bitch, but it turns out bitches have feelings too. You never think they do, but actually it’s true.

Tommy looked uncomfortable. He was usually so full of bravado that it was kind of weird to see him deflate when confronted by an angry, slightly tearful female. “I don’t know,” he mumbled. “I just… I just don’t think we should see each other anymore.”

“Why not?” Sheila demanded.

The football hero was having trouble meeting her eye. “Sorry, I’m just not into you that much anymore,” he told her. “Your boobs are kind of saggy and I’m sort of in love with somebody else.”

“They are not saggy,” Sheila insisted, her voice overly loud. Then she instantly regretted it when she realized that the whole restaurant could hear her.

I’m not sure if I felt my revenge against Sheila was complete, but it was all I could take. Yes, I was a vampire, but it still went against my nature to kick someone when she was down.

“Come on, Haley,” Tommy said, getting to his feet. “Let’s get out of here.”

“I’m sure your boobs are perfectly fine,” I said in a low voice while pushing back my chair. Sheila covered her face with her hands and began to cry. “High school boys are just jerks,” I told her. “Always have been. Always will be. But that doesn't’ mean we have to be jerks to each other.”

“Get away from me, you bitch,” she snarled.

So much for offering a small olive branch.

Tommy grabbed my hand and towed me out of the restaurant.

“Can you believe that Sheila chick?” Tommy asked once we were in the car and heading down the road. “I mean, come on. She’s kind of hot and all, but she’s nothing compared to you.”

I felt a fresh rush of revulsion toward Tommy, and pretty much every male on the planet. They were always comparing us and setting us against each other. It made it so that we females were always scrambling to be the prettiest and putting each other down. I was over it. I’d been an idiot about guys for the first seventeen years of my life, but that was it. I was drawing a line. I wasn’t going to spend eternity competing with other women for some stupid man’s attention.

I had been so consumed with pondering the foolishness of the sexes that I hadn’t paid much attention to where Tommy was driving us until he pulled over. We were parked on some isolated back road with trees all around. I gave a silent moment of thanks that I was a vampire. I didn’t want to be isolated anywhere with Tommy anymore. But at least as a vampire I had no reason to be afraid. I could easily take Tommy on, or whatever weirdoes happened to be lurking in the woods, if I decided to get out of the car. There was a certain convenience to being undead. I no longer had to fear the living. I wouldn’t have to tolerate Tommy or cajole Tommy just to get back into town. There was a certain safety to being a vampire, at least a safety from mortal men.

“You know I meant what I said,” Tommy began, turning toward me and leaning in a little.

“What?” I’d been so caught up in my own thoughts I hadn’t been paying attention.

“I think I’m falling in love with you,” Tommy said before leaning in for a kiss.

I’m sure it played out romantically in his head, but I wasn’t buying. I remembered the last time he told me he loved me. I’d been dumb enough to believe him. And that whole incident pretty much ended with my death after a huge amount of humiliation.