THE ROUGH MATING OF A VAMPIRE (The Vampire Coalition: A Short Prelude) (4 page)

She dropped Wiggs to the floor lightly and dug through her cupboard for the cat food. She filled the bowl and set it on the floor. Wiggs, who was plump to begin with, devoured the meal like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.

She raised an eyebrow. “Greedy little devil.” Wiggs eyed her briefly with a look she could have sworn was kitty disdain before returning to his gluttony.

Brianna sighed as she plopped onto a stool at the breakfast bar and watched Wiggs make a pig of himself. She was still tired, but filled with a restlessness that she knew would never let her sleep. Truthfully, she didn’t want to sleep anymore. Tomorrow she would be back in the hospital for another transfusion and she wanted to enjoy her one day of freedom.

She needed to call her mother and let her know she was still among the living.
Maybe that was a bad expression to use with Mom.
Brianna decided she would just check in and leave out the black humor that didn’t usually go over well with her concerned parent. She’d just let her mom know that she was doing fine. If she didn’t, her mother would come running over to check on her.

Denial! Denial! Denial!

As Brianna headed for the shower, she decided she really didn’t care if she lived out the rest of her short life in that particular stage. If she only had a limited time in this world, she would enjoy it in any stage she damn well pleased.

She stopped in the bedroom to gather a clean pair of jeans and a shirt, frowning as she caught a glance at her reflection in the mirror over the dresser.

It had been several months since they had tried their last effort at chemo, so her blonde hair covered her head in a short, spiky style, but her face looked haunted and old. Dark circles framed her green eyes like she hadn’t slept in days, whereas the truth was that she slept most of the day.

And night.

But nights haunted her. She felt a yearning for… something. And then there were the night terrors, a time where she felt something evil lurking in the shadows. It might be the fear of her impending demise, but she didn’t think so. She was still in denial after all and it felt more like a dark presence and impending doom. Every night the unknown entity felt closer, more suffocating. Every night it kept her awake longer, making her shiver under several blankets.

Brianna slammed the drawer, angry with herself for giving in to the fear. She’d fight the damn darkness. If she could fight leukemia, she could certainly shake off this feeling that threatened to consume her after darkness had fallen.

As she determinedly made her way to the bathroom for a nice hot shower, she decided that she would enjoy every moment she had left and leave the darkness behind.

She marched into the bathroom, dropping her clothes on the vanity and stripped, knowing she made that promise to herself every day and it always worked… until the sun went down.

*****

Ethan’s Mate is Free on most venues.

All of the other Vampire Coalition books are available individually as well as a complete collection:

The Vampire Coalition: The Complete Collection Boxed Set (Ethans Mate, Rorys Mate, Nathans Mate, Liams Mate, Darics Mate)

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