Rylie Cruz 2 - How to Date a Vampire (5 page)

Jack hadn’t even noticed the man, or if he
had, he hadn’t said anything to indicate that he had.

“So where are you two lovebirds headed
today?” he asked.

Did I really have to stop? We were in a
hurry, but the bright smile on the man’s face wouldn’t allow me to
ignore him.

“We’re just out for a morning beignet. Have
a great day,” I said, letting him know that we couldn’t stay to
talk.

Poor guy. I’d come back later when I had a
chance to be friendlier. Well, if I ever had the chance to be
friendlier. What if I ended up dodging vampires all my life? I’d
have to move to Switzerland, no wait, Fiji. I wasn’t much of a cold
weather person.

The man placed the bottom of the broom in
front of me, forcing us to stop. Jack glanced at the man. I
couldn’t read his expression behind the sunglasses.

“I know what’s wrong with him.” He pointed
at Jack. The smile disappeared from his face and was replaced by a
frown. He wasn’t putting off the friendly guy vibe anymore. What
was his problem?

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.
Now, if you’ll excuse us.”

“I can tell by the look in his eyes. He’s
one of those…” He glanced around and when he was satisfied no one
was near enough to hear him, he continued, “One of those vampires.
I don’t like to even say the word.”

“If you don’t like to say the word, then why
are you even talking to us?” I asked with irritation in my
voice.

This man was making me mad, and I sure as
heck wasn’t worried about being friendly anymore. So much for being
super nice. If he wasn’t careful he’d see something more than a
vampire. He’d get an up close view of a werewolf’s claws. My skin
began to itch as my blood pressure increased.

“I’ve seen them running around. They try to
hide, but I know. I know about them. They roam around looking for
an innocent victim to prey upon. They want to kill all of us.”

“Been watching too many
movies, have ya? Maybe you should cut back on the
True Blood
episodes,
huh?” I rolled my eyes.

What kind of answer did this guy want from
me? I didn’t know what to tell him. There had been vampires around
for ages and they hadn’t annihilated the population. Sure there
were mean ones, but that goes for anybody.

“They’re just waiting for a chance to kill
us.”

Yeah. This guy was one Dr. Pepper short of a
full case. “Okay then, well, good luck with that.” I stepped around
the broom, pulling Jack along with me.

“No. You don’t understand,” he called after
me. His voice grew louder with each word. “What I’m trying to tell
you is that something has changed. There are really bad ones
now.”

I turned around and looked at him. “And how
do you know this?” I asked. I couldn’t help myself.

He paused, then said in a lower tone, “I’m
psychic. And I had a vision about the vampires.”

Heck, maybe he was psychic. Maybe there were
some really mean vampires, but I had enough to deal with at the
moment. After all, they were after Jack, so he had a valid point. I
just didn’t want to think about how mean they could be, not after
what had happened to Jack.

No, I wouldn’t think about it now. Fixing
Jack first was my number one priority. I grabbed Jack’s hand to
hurry him along. With those glasses on, I couldn’t tell if he was
even awake under there. He could be sleepwalking for all I knew. I
didn’t care what this man was trying to tell me, I wasn’t sticking
around to find out anymore about his vision.

After escaping the man with the visions, I
successfully led Jack back into our building. Thankfully, he hadn’t
spontaneously… well, you know. So that was a plus. I guided him to
his office door. He’d taken on that drowsy, clueless look again,
kind of like he needed a nap.

“Are you sure you’re okay to work?” I
asked.

“I’m fine.” He leaned down and kissed me on
the lips. Well actually, he hit the side of my mouth; his aim was a
little off. He was trying to act normal when I knew he knew deep
down that he wasn’t fine. But I’d let him keep up the façade for
the time being. After I made a few calls and tried to sort things
out, I’d have to break the news to Jack that I thought he was now a
vampire. He probably had the same suspicions.

I watched as Jack shuffled into his office.
After a few seconds, I forced myself to leave the foyer and get
down to business. I had second thoughts about leaving him alone,
but I knew I needed a bit of alone time to find out what was going
on with him.

As soon as I slipped into my office, I made
a dash for the phone. First on my to-do list was placing a call to
the craziest vampire I knew, Samson Sanders. As the line rang and I
waited for him to pick up, my thoughts shifted to the person
responsible for the whole mess, my Uncle Ernie. I had dialed
Ernie’s phone numerous times since the fight at my parents’, but
there was no answer. He’d better have paid off that debt by now,
but I hoped he was okay. The vampires had to want something other
than money. Much to my chagrin, Samson didn’t answer. I’d have to
keep trying until I got in touch with him.

I leaned back in my chair and studied my
surroundings. If I wanted little to do with the paranormal world,
then I’d picked the wrong profession. But despite the recent
events, I really did love my job. Especially when I fixed up a
couple and they turned out to be perfect for each other. And I
already had the perfect match for my next client. I’d meet her to
confirm my suspicions, but I had a feeling I’d be spot on with this
matchup.

I tried Uncle Ernie again, but it rang and
rang. I’d barely hung up the phone when a loud knock rattled the
door. The pen flew from my hand and I banged my knees on the desk
when I jumped. What if the vampires had come back? This was crazy.
Worrying about freakin’ vampires. What could I do, though? Call the
pack police again? It didn’t seem as if they could help. I slipped
over to the door. Normally, I would have told whoever was there to
come on in, but under current circumstance there was no way in hell
I’d do that now. I sucked in a sharp breath and eased the door
open, praying for the best. When I saw the woman on the other side
of the door, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Please come in,” I said. “You must be
Danielle Gaines? Please come in.” I gestured for her to enter.

“Thanks for getting me an appointment so
soon.” She hurried through the door as if she’d been set on fire,
her red dress looking like a blazing flame. Her gait was more of a
sprint. “I tell you, I am so sick of not having a date.” She
gestured with her hands. “I finally said enough is enough.” She
stared around the room, taking in my figurines on the shelf next to
my desk. “Cute animals.” She pointed.

“Thanks,” I said.

Danielle plopped down in the leather chair
in front of my desk. Her short blonde curls bounced with the
motion.

I didn’t know much about fairies, but I’d
heard they were full of energy. I was beginning to see a pattern of
me not having nearly enough information about the other paranormals
out there. But I knew one thing, a fairy and a werewolf would be
such a cute couple. I had the perfect werewolf picked out for her.
I’d met him on my recent midnight romp through the city. His name
was Dave Fuentes and he’d given me food when I was starving and
couldn’t go home. Not knowing about other paranormals was only a
minor flaw, right?

“So what hot guy do you have for me? I bet
you have someone perfect picked out for me, huh?”

Danielle shifted in the seat, then crossed
her legs, uncrossed them and crossed them again. She was making me
tired just watching her.

“First off, let me say that I’m so happy you
decided to go with Get a Mate.”

A huge smile twisted her mouth. “Oh, my
gosh. It’s
so
not a problem. Thank you for helping me find a
hot guy.”

Why did I feel as though if I didn’t find
her a male model she’d be very disappointed? Please don’t let this
turn into another Lily situation.

“Well, looks aren’t the only quality I look
for in a potential date for my clients. Of course, I want you to be
attracted to him, but I also want you to have compatible
personalities. Likes and dislikes.”

She shook her head. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I
have faith that you’ll pick someone hot.”

Oh boy. Maybe she wasn’t the right match for
the werewolf, although he was hot. He had dark hair with even
darker chocolate-colored eyes. If she wasn’t the right match for
him, I’d try again. He deserved a great girlfriend.

“I have a few forms for you to fill out,
then we’ll get started. I won’t take up much of your time, I
promise.” I reached for the newly created file and handed it to
her.

She snatched it from my hand and immediately
began writing on the pages. No wonder she couldn’t find a date. She
was so quick that a guy probably couldn’t get near her. Tapping my
fingernails on my desk, I contemplated my match for Danielle.

She filled out the forms, the rhythmic
popping of her chewing gum and the pen scribbling across the paper
filling the silence.

“I think I’m all finished,” she said loudly,
breaking the silence.

When I took the papers, her eyes widened and
she froze on the spot. After a couple seconds, she glanced over her
shoulder. I held my breath for a second, almost afraid of what
she’d say or what she might see. What was she looking for?

“Vampire,” she hissed.

Chapter Seven

How to Date a Vampire, Rule #7:

Joining your undead sweetie in immortality
can be a tough decision. Think about it long and hard before you
allow your veins to be drained.

I took in a deep breath, then followed her
gaze out into the hallway. I wished I hadn’t. The hairs on the back
of my neck prickled to attention. A vampire stood in the hallway.
The same vampire who’d delivered the message to my apartment. She’d
come to look for us.

I tensed at the thought of yet another
confrontation. I needed to get the fairy out of my office
immediately. It wouldn’t be good for business if she saw me
fighting.

“Is she your next appointment? I have a way
of sensing vampires. I don’t like being around them much. I don’t
like sharing my blood if you know what I mean. I listed that on my
file.” Danielle pointed to the papers on my desk.

“Of course, I understand.” I couldn’t take
my eyes off the female vampire in the hallway. She’d spotted me in
the office since my door was wide open. Surely she saw Jack’s name
on his office door. I’d have to tell Danielle that the vampire was
my client so she’d hurry along.

“Well, thank you so much for choosing Get a
Mate. It looks as if everything is in order,” I said, scanning her
forms and focusing on the scene in the hallway. “I’ll call you as
soon as I have everything in order. I’m confident I can find the
perfect match for you.”

Luckily, she didn’t want to hang around the
vampire. She jumped to her feet and hurried to the door. “Yeah,
thanks a bunch, Ms. Cruz.” She slipped out the door without another
word and scampered past the vampire. The vampire hissed; she had
such a lovely disposition.

After Danielle had exited, I ran over to the
door, hoping to move past the vampire and get to Jack before she
did. But when I reached the door, she positioned herself right in
front of me.

She stood with her arms folded in front of
her chest, impatience written all over her face. She wore leather
again, this time in the form of a black mini-skirt with a red
halter-top.

“You’ve kind of got that whole vampire
cliché thing going on, don’t you think?” I gestured at her
outfit.

What was wrong with me? Why didn’t I just
hook up an IV right there and make it easier for her to drain me of
every last drop of blood in my body?

“You look frightened, my dear. It’s not a
good look for you. I thought you were used to dealing with
vampires.” She walked past me and sat in the leather chair in front
of my desk in one fluent movement.

“Why don’t you make yourself at home?” I
smirked.

I left the door open in case she made any
sudden movements. Better safe than sorry.

I moved around to my desk. “I am accustomed
to dealing with all paranormal creatures, but they’re usually not
hunting me down.”

“Who’s hunting you down?” She straightened
and leaned forward in the chair.

As if she were genuinely interested.
Puhlease.

Before I could answer, a tap on the window
drew our attention. I turned around, and as if the day couldn’t get
worse, instantly it did. Lily Friedman stood outside my window. She
motioned for me to open it. Why did she insist on bothering me
while I was working? I groaned and hurried over. It would serve her
right if I let the shades down and ignored her.

“What?” I asked as I heaved the window open.
I didn’t want to have my back turned to the vampire for too long.
They’re just too darn sneaky.

“Look. I’m getting married. No thanks to
you.” She smirked. “I need a wedding planner and I figure you owe
me. So what do you say? I’m thinking I should be a June bride.”

No way. Not in a million years. I’d cut my
wrists and tell the vampire in front of me bon appetit first.
“What? Have you lost what little bit of sense you had? How do you
figure I owe you?”

“You didn’t get it right when you tried to
match me up, so I had to find a mate on my own.”

I glanced over my shoulder and gave a
nervous chuckle.

“Okay, Lily, thanks for stopping by. I’ll
talk to you later about this, okay?” I slammed the window down just
as Lily was about to pepper me with a few colorful words. I yanked
the window shade down, blocking the view of her enraged face.

“Where were we?” I asked, plastering a fake
smile across my face. “I don’t remember your name, by the way.”