“Sunrises are a vampire’s favorite,” he said. “While the world sleeps, we are here to greet it and admire its miraculous colors like no other species.”
I bet the early bird would disagree.Also bats, racoons, scorpions, bandicoots, catfish, fireflies, night monkeys, the wiry-fingered aye-aye, and every other nocturnal critter that went to bed at the crack of dawn.
“Yes,” I said, gritting my teeth, “it’s nice.”
With little time to spare, we arrived at my suite. Stark let me inside but remained on the walkway. Hewas cutting it close.
Good. Maybe he’ll sizzle.
“I hope you are not offended if I sleep in my own room,” he said, “but I do not think it appropriate we share a bed while you’re in such a suggestive state. Just know, I commanded you to enjoy the evening because I wished you to experience what life could be like if you stopped fighting and accepted vampire ways, but I would never defile your body. To me it is a sacred temple.”
Oh, but you’d drug me and make me smile, greet your friends, and pretend I was having the time of my life all night long?I’d say he’d taken a big hot dump on my temple.
“Sleep well, Masie. When you wake, you will be free from my commands.” He kissed the top of my hand and left in a speedy blur.Dang it.He was probably going to live.
Exhausted both physically and mentally, I kicked my heels to the tile floor and crawled into bed, not bothering to remove my little black dress. I hadn’t realized it, but I was also wasted. Room spins, hot flashes, nausea.
Oh no.I sprang from bed and ran for the bathroom. After heaving champagne and moonshine, which I’d had both throughout the night, I finally felt better.
I rinsed my mouth and returned to bed, praying my new vampire genes would save me from another hangover to end all hangovers. So far, though, vampirism hadn’t given me squat. It had onlytaken—my trust in Stark, my love for him, my freedom, and a human life I’d adored.
This wasn’t living.
This was hell.
I was beginning to see why new vampires didn’t make it past the first month. Simply put, there was little motivation to even try.
I drifted off to sleep, dreaming of swimming at the beach Stark had showed me tonight. Only, it was daylight now, and the sand felt warm and soft between my toes. Above me was the most pristine blue sky I’d ever seen. In the distance, the sounds of squawking seagulls mingled with the gently breaking waves. Behind me, swaying palm trees lined the shore, giving way to lush foliage that ended at the base of an enormous jagged cliff. Beyond that, a snow-covered mountain.
I sighed, soaking in the impossible beauty of this moment, of this place.God, I’m going to miss this so much.Sunshine, green trees, and blue sky.
Suddenly, a man wearing a white guayabera shirt and black slacks came walking toward me, holding a pair of grabbers and a trash bag.
“Why are you out of uniform?” he asked. “The day-shift guards will fire you if they see you on the cameras. Then the night shift will use you for food.”
“Food?” I said. “I doubt I’m at risk for that. I’m a vampire.”
He gave me astrange look.
“What?” I said.
“Uh…if you were a vampire, you wouldn’t be standing in the sun.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I wish I were human. Do you know how lucky you have it? You get to wake up to this every day.” I swept my arms toward the shoreline. “But no… I had to get mixed up with Montgomery Stark, and now my life is fucked.”Sorry, Mamma. I’ll keep trying.
His expression turned bleak. “Did you say Stark? Are you…Masie Kicklighter?”
“I sure as hell hope so since this is my dream.”
The man looked like he was about to drop a brownie in his shorts.
He pulled a radio from his waistband under his shirt. “Ms. Tennison, this is Albert. We have a situation.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
As I sat in a fancy air-conditioned office with leather chairs, a mahogany desk, and a framed map of the island on the wall, my bullcake meter was blaring,Qwonk. Qwonk. Qwonk! Situation does not compute.
It reminded me of that time in high school when my boyfriend Thomas Rowland—now known as Sherrif Idiot of Leiper’s Fork—told me hewasn’tpeeved after I’d ended a heated make-out session.
