Moonlight Calls (Demon's Call Series Book 1) (7 page)

I popped two
Tylenol, not that they would do a bit of good for the headache, and then
shuffled out to the kitchen to make myself a cup of my world famous instant
coffee.  Once there was a hot mug in my hand, I started to head for the living
room, but thought better of it.  I really didn’t want to think about last night
yet.  I changed course and headed for the patio.

I peeked out the
front window as I passed; noting that Ailis’s beat up V.W. bug was
conspicuously absent.  She’d told me she didn’t have to work today, but I’d bet
good money I wouldn’t be seeing her.  She said I needed time to think.  I guess
she meant it.  I tried not to wonder what kind of super secret vampire business
she was out on today.  Maybe she had someone else to stalk.

I pulled up a
plastic chair and plopped down with my coffee and a novel.  It was a nice safe
one about U.F.O. sightings.  Not a single mention of vampires.  I wouldn’t be
reading a vampire book again anytime soon.  I flipped the pages without seeing
what was written there, and finally gave it up as a lost cause.  I really
didn’t care about reading.  I was too focused on figuring out my messed up
life.  I glanced across the yard, seeking some sort of comfort from the view. 
Instead I saw the dog loping up to my door.

I sighed and
stretched as I watched him approach.  He parked himself in front of the patio
door and cocked his ears forward curiously as his big tongue lolled out of his
mouth. I knew that look.  It was horse-dog for “feed me.”  I shuffled into the
house and pulled a leftover pork chop out of the fridge.  Swapping my slippers
for flip-flops, I made my way back outside.

 I opened the
patio door and stepped outside, handing off the pork chop to the dog’s maw.  He
settled down on the ground with his prize and happily gnawed away.  I flopped
down on the grass beside him and scratched the silky fur between his ears. 
“And what kind of wacky beast are you?”  I asked sarcastically, “Did the
vampires send you to spy on me too?”

The dog stopped
his gnawing and looked up at me.  He whined and licked my hand before returning
to his meal.  He finished with the meat and began to crack through the bone.  I
hated that sound.  I glanced at him one last time as I turned to go inside and
noticed something glinting in the fur around his neck.  I stooped down to get a
better look, finding a wide golden chain.

 “Where did you
get this?”  I asked, lifting it lightly and letting it drop.  The chain held a
small medallion with some sort of Celtic symbol on it.  The dog stood up and
whined again and I patted him on the head.

“Don’t worry,” I
said laughing.  “I won’t tell your owners about the treats.”  I went inside,
leaving the dog to its bone.

I tried my best
to put the whole vampire thing out of my head.  No matter what I did, it didn’t
work.  I did all of my chores for the day and tried to read a book or watch TV
but I just couldn’t stop pacing.  I found myself running my hand through my
hair in agitation as I gazed blankly at the magazine in front of me.  After
trying to distract myself by watching a movie, only to end up staring out the
back window gnawing my nails to stubs without any recollection of how I got
there, I gave it up.  Heaving a sigh, I slipped on a pair of sneakers and
dragged a brush through the fluffy tangle I’d made of my hair.

 I grabbed my
car keys and my wallet off the counter and rushed out the door before I could
give myself time to think about what I was doing.  I threw myself behind the
wheel and flew down the street with my mind whirling.  If Ailis really was a
vampire, then there must be others.  Surely I would have noticed by now.  I
needed to find a public place, somewhere with crowds of people.

I was driving so
distractedly that I almost flew by the mall without a second glance.  I slammed
on my breaks and maneuvered into the turn lane at the last moment, almost
getting rear-ended in the process.  The driver behind me honked, but I barely
noticed.  I pulled into a parking space and killed the engine.  I sat where I
was for a moment, clutching the wheel and taking a deep breath as I stared at
the green cardboard tree dangling from the rear-view mirror.  I don’t know what
I was so keyed up about.  After all, it’s not like I really believed that my
roommate was a vampire.  Or that I had some kind of latent abilities that made
her master want to own me.  Nope.  Not buying it.

I tucked my keys
into my jeans pocket and walked into the mall.  I relaxed a bit as I took in my
surroundings.  It was the same old shopping mall that it had always been. 
There wasn’t much to do in Gwinn and the surrounding areas, so the mall was
usually pretty busy with people from the surrounding area, for whom the drive
was worth the distraction.  Groups of teenagers meandered here and there,
trying to look cool.  Harried mothers pushed strollers and wrangled toddlers. 
I smiled wryly as I saw a young couple peering into the display of engagement
rings at the jewelry kiosk while an oily salesman kept up a steady stream of
nonsense.

I walked the
length of the mall, letting myself unwind.  I was relieved that no one had
auras today.  I peered into the chocolate shop and sighed at the aroma of fudge
that drifted out the door.  I soaked up the rock music that blared from the
clothing stores that I passed.  A sales clerk gave me a hopeful smile and I
shook my head.  I hadn’t been cool enough to shop there as a teenager, no way
was I going to start now.

I finally found
myself drawn to the fountain in the center of the mall.  I sat down
cross-legged on the ledge in front of it and just watched the people around
me.  It was all so normal that the night before was feeling more and more like
it had been a dream- more vivid that usual, sure, but a dream all the same.  I
let my eyes wander around me, smiling at the busy way the adults rushed around
and the lazy way in which the teenagers lounged in the seating area.

A couple of boys
caught my eye.  They were leaning against the wall across from the fountain, in
a display of cool angst.  They looked to be in their late teens or early
twenties, it was hard to say.  They carried themselves like adults, but had the
baby smooth faces of boys.  One was a preppy looking blonde and the other had
slightly longer, darker hair and a leather jacket.  As I watched, a petite,
blond, cheerleader type bounced over to them and began to talk animatedly to
the blond guy, gesturing to a nearby store.  She tugged on his sleeve and he
rolled his eyes and shook his head, making shooing gestures.

She gave him a
pouty look that said he would hear about this for the rest of the day and
marched off in the direction of the store.  I smiled.  Hopefully she didn’t
have his credit card, or he was in trouble.  The shorter boy glanced my way,
meeting my eyes.  I looked away, embarrassed at being caught people watching.

It was hard to
keep my eyes off the boys.  I had an odd sensation in the pit of my stomach
when I looked at them.  If I concentrated really hard, I could see a faint halo
of color around them.  Both auras were dark, one a deep purple, the other a
dark red.

 I watched the
water splashing away in the fountain for a moment before glancing back their
way, curious.  I was a bit surprised to find the dark haired boy still staring
at me.  My eyes met his and I couldn’t look away.  All of the sudden it was
very obvious to me that he wasn’t human.  Neither of them were.  The blond one
looked at his friend questioningly and he nodded his head in my direction and
smiled.  I glanced around, but no one else seemed to notice.  I wondered how
anyone could miss the utter stillness in their eyes, or the way they moved like
dancers.

I looked away
again, trying not to stare.  When I looked back the girl had returned. The
blond vampire had his arm around her and she was leaning into him, flirting.  I
closed my eyes and said a quick prayer to whoever was listening.  She wasn’t a
vampire.  I don’t know how I could tell, I just could.  She didn’t have a ring
of color, no matter how hard I squinted.  The blond vampire stroked her hair
and I clenched my teeth.  The two of them began to drift away, but the dark
haired one stayed behind, ignoring their urging to go.

He began to head
my way and I panicked.  Ailis had said that my newly developing powers masked
me from the vampires when they were trying to keep tabs on me.  Apparently, it
didn’t work if I went looking for them first.

I slid off my
seat.  It looked like it was time to get out of here.  I paused to glance
around.  Staying in the crowd was probably safer than running off on my own. 
When I turned around, I let out a startled gasp.  The boy was suddenly right
there, inches from me.  He smiled and looked at me with a puzzled expression.

He reached out,
but stopped just shy of actually touching me.  “You know us.  What are you?” 
His voice was soft and melodious, oozing charm.  I took a step back.  Yep. 
Vampires definitely existed, and I was an idiot. 

The blond
vampire and his snack had joined us without my noticing and I jumped as he
spoke.  “Are you coming or what?” he asked impatiently.

The dark haired
one looked my way again.  “Come with me and we’ll have some fun,” he offered,
one corner of his mouth lifting into a smirk.  For just an instant, he didn’t
bother to pass, and I saw a hint of fang.  Then his illusion slipped back into
place.

I wondered what
would happen if I screamed.  I darted into the crowd around us, trying to hide
myself in the flow of foot traffic.  They could probably follow me easily, but
the mall was crowded, and I was hoping they wouldn’t want to make a big scene. 
From what  I’d gathered from my little heart to heart with Ailis, her kind
tried to keep their existence a secret.  I heard the dark haired boy curse
softly, and it was all I could do to keep from breaking into a run.  If I ran,
it would draw attention to me and make me that much easier to follow.

I worked my way
over to a decorative pillar and leaned back against it, hiding.  I risked a
glance back to see that the vampires were still standing by the fountain, calm
and relaxed.  Just a couple of young guys hanging out at the mall, their
searching gazes the only sign that they were looking for me.

I tried to look
calm and smile casually at the people who passed.  I’m sure to them it just
looked like I was hanging out, not hiding from vampires.  My heart was
thundering away so hard it felt like I was having a heart attack.  It seemed so
loud in my ears that I wasn’t surprised when a passerby stopped suddenly and
looked my way as if he could hear it.

I pressed myself
closer to the pillar as he and a friend strolled my way.  They were both quite
tall, good looking, and walked with a sense of confidence that was hard to
miss.  They reminded me of people with authority- police officers, or
something.  One was broad-shouldered with wavy brown hair and one thin with
jet-black hair.

They had auras
too.  I had to try really hard to see them, and even then I was never really
sure
that I was seeing what I was seeing.  It occurred to me that they might be
vampires, but something about them just wasn’t the same.  The first man, the
one with the broad shoulders, paused and reached out to put a hand on my arm. 
I flinched and he dropped the hand, a concerned expression on his handsome
face.

“Are you okay,
sweetheart?” he asked softly.  “You look terrified.”

I took a deep
breath and nodded quickly, avoiding his brown eyes.  They weren’t vampires. 
They didn’t give me that restless sensation I seemed to get around Ailis and
the pretty boy back there.  Maybe if I convinced them I was okay, they would go
away.  I didn’t need to draw attention to myself.

The thinner man
stepped closer and pulled his baseball cap down, shielding his eyes and turning
his head to the side so that I couldn’t get a good look at his face.  I
wondered what he was doing for a minute, but then I noticed that he was now
standing directly between me and the vampires, blocking me from casual view.

I snuck a glance
between his tall frame and the pillar, noting that the vampires were still
there, but they were moving away.  I let out a sigh and the broad-shouldered
man followed my gaze.  Sudden understanding washed over him.

“Were those guys
bothering you?”  He asked, anger coloring his voice.  I shook my head.

“Not anymore,
thanks.”  I slid out from behind the pillar and began to move in the opposite
direction from the vampires.  “Thanks for being concerned, but really I’m
fine.”  I gave the pair a fake smile and turned to go.

“Don’t worry
about them anymore,” the thin one said, his voice a deep rumble.  “We’ll take
care of it.”

I didn’t like
the undertone in his voice, it spoke of imminent violence.  Great, just what I
needed -a knight in shining armor.  These good Samaritans thought they could
take the two youths out back and deal with the problem.  They didn’t know that
they weren’t dealing with your average human punks.  I stopped and returned to
them.

“Really,” I
pleaded, holding out my hands in a placating gesture.  “They didn’t do anything
to me.  I’m fine. 
Please
don’t do anything macho.”

The brown-haired
one laughed.  He flashed me a dazzling smile.  “Don’t worry about it,” he said
cheerily.  “We know those guys.  We’ll handle it.”