Page 7 of Hungry for the Vampire

"I take the compliment," Roman said, "but you should not want to be attacked by those creatures, even for me."

"F-forget I said that," I stammered, but when I looked over at him, he was smiling. Like, for real smiling. With an impressive, gleaming set of teeth that sent a tingle down my spine.

How could looking at his face make my blood run hot and my bones turn cold at the same time?

Chapter 5

Roman's apartment was further off campus than mine. Not technically student housing, but it was mostly people from our college that lived in this little complex, so I knew the place.

"Thank you for the ride, Jared." Roman got out and stood, towering over my car before opening the back door to bend in and grab his rolled-up cape. Then he leaned back down through the open passenger window with his phone in his hand. "I think we should stay in touch. Give me your phone number?"

"Oh. Sure, sure, yeah." I told him and watched him punch it in.

"I'll message you once I'm inside so you have mine. Then you can call me if you need anything."

"Um, yeah." I gave him a smile, hoping that I was acting normal, fearing that I was doing anything but. "Have a good night, Roman."

"And you." He stood, leaving me to stare at his torso before he turned and walked toward his apartment building.

I made myself drive home instead of just sitting there in my car and staring. I just wanted to get inside and get into bed. It had been a long night, and I was exhausted in more ways than one. My mind felt ragged, like it had gone for its own rough trip through the woods.

My place was tiny, but I had it to myself, so I could shamelessly strip down to my boxers and flop into my bed. The upside of living in a studio apartment that could be mistaken for a closet if it had different wallpaper.

I thought I might lie there awake for a while, thinking about Roman, but in the end I fell asleep before I could even get the covers over myself. He was the last thing I thought about before I drifted off, though. Big, strong Roman in his vampire costume, beside me. Watching over me. With a look on his face that I couldn't quite understand...

Saturday morning hit me in the eyes with stabbing rays of light. I'd fallen into bed without bothering to close the blinds. Groaning, I rolled over with my eyes closed and felt around for the pull cord, yanking it and making one side of the blinds come down while the other side stayed up.

"Mrrph," I grunted into my pillow. "Fine. I'm up."

I went to the bathroom and chugged a cup of water, then another, and then a third. Half-asleep, I went through the motions of showering, grateful that I hadn't decided to pick up a shift on campus today after all. I had known it would be a bad idea after the party.

Still, I had a couple of things to take care of, some running around to do. I got dried off and dressed, and when I looked at my phone for the first time today, I saw a text.

Roman.

Right. He had said he would text me so I had his number. A man of few words. I added him to my contacts, parts of last night coming back to me. You would think it would be me almost dying that came to the forefront of my mind, but it wasn't. It was sitting on the couch with Roman. Being in the car with him. Seeing him smile...

I was forgetting to breathe again. I sucked in air and put my phone away. I needed to drop off some stuff at the library, and grabbing some groceries couldn't hurt, then if I could squeeze in an hour at the gym...

I muttered these plans to myself as I left my apartment, heading down the stairs to the first floor. But when I opened the door to go out to the parking lot, all my plans disappeared.

The wolves were back.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing at first, but no matter how much I rubbed my eyes, they were still there. Three wolves, just like last night, surrounding my car. Prowling around it, actually. Sniffing, circling, and waiting. Waiting...for me?

I whispered, "What the fuck?" and slowly retreated back into the building. The hedges lining the sidewalk had obscured me from their view. Even if they saw me, the door would keep them out. Right?

I went back upstairs and into my place, my breath coming thin and short. I was being hunted. We were miles from those woods, miles, but they were here. It had to be the same wolves. They had my scent. They were pissed at me for being in their territory. They wanted revenge. Fuck, was that something wolves did? Were they like crows, holding grudges?

I actually had my phone open and ready to search the internet for information on wolf grudges. I clearly wasn't thinking right, I was panicked, and I needed to slow down. No internet article was going to help me here. I needed to...to...to call animal control. Or the cops. Or...

I called Roman.

"Jared," Roman answered, after just one ring. "I hope you..." He paused. "You're breathing hard. Is something wrong?"

"The wolves," I burst out, my heart pounding in my chest. "They're back. They're at my car, it's like they're looking for me. I don't—I don't know what to—"

Roman swore. At least, I was pretty sure he swore, a vicious sound in a language I didn't understand.