“Are you sick?”
On cue, Mom sniffled. “I think I’m getting a cold. I have a tickle in the back of my throat and my nose has run all day. I thought I’d nip it in the bud.”
I loved her rationale for drinking. According to Mom, drinking alcohol, which has been scientifically proven to actually lower the immune system, is the answer to warding off a cold. Of course, I had to give her credit. She was rarely ever sick, unless it was Smirnoff-induced. I didn’t think many germs could live in a pure grain environment, which is what undoubtedly flowed through her veins.
“Have you eaten? Do you want me to fix us some supper?”
“That’s sweet, honey, but I think I’ll drink this and go to bed early.”
“Okay.” I was turning to walk to my room when I remembered what she’d originally said. “What was the news?”
“What?” Mom swung around to look at me, clearly puzzled. “Oh, right.
One of my clients is the new Professor of Mythology at USC. His name is Sebastian Aiello— Doctor Sebastian Aiello—and he’s looking for a sitter for his daughter. Just for the occasional evening and maybe some weekend work until the holidays. He asked if you’d be interested.”
“Since when do I babysit?”
“Since someone offered to pay you twenty dollars an hour to babysit.”
“Oh,” I said, perking up. Suddenly, babysitting didn’t sound so bad.
“That’s what I thought,” Mom said, a knowing look on her face. She turned back to her bubbling libation. “He said there’s some kind of function that he has to attend tomorrow night and he’d like—”
“I have a late practice tomorrow night.”
“—and he’d like for you to come over about 7:30, after your practice.”
“Oh,” I repeated. “Okay. Where does he live?”
“In Mont Claire. The address is on the back of the envelope I put on your dresser.”
Mont Claire. That was a ritzy neighborhood. Of course, I have no idea how much college professors make, but it must be good money. At least I’d be babysitting in style. Plus, I’d be padding my bank account for…well, for whatever happened after graduation. I used to save for life at Stanford, but now I had no idea what to expect out of the future. Heck, I didn’t even know what to expect from the next ten minutes sometimes.
Life sure has gotten a lot more exciting and unpredictable since I met Bo, I thought.
Before I left the kitchen, I looked back at my mother. She sniffed again.
“Thanks, Mom.”
“You’re welcome, Ridley.”
I took one last look at her back, one last longing look at the person I wish I saw every day, rather than the one that I cleaned puke off of once or twice a week. I almost wanted to hang around and enjoy her, but it would make the return to status quo that much more painful, so I left.
********
Something woke me. My heart leapt as soon as my mind came fully awake. I had been eagerly anticipating the next time I’d catch Bo in a visit. I knew he came, but I hadn’t talked to him, touched him, felt him since that one amazing night when he’d held me in his arms and kissed me like he couldn’t help himself.
I inhaled deeply. A sweetly fresh smell set off a series of alarm bells somewhere in the back of my mind. Even if my nose hadn’t detected it, my body already knew that my visitor was not Bo. My muscles were tight with apprehension and my pulse throbbed in fear. Thanks to the burst of adrenaline, my vision was crystal clear, even in the dark. Not that it mattered. I couldn’t make out anything.
My visitor was invisible. That meant that my visitor was a vampire, and by the smell, I assumed it was a female vampire.
I sat up and scooted back until my shoulders were flush with the headboard.
My breath came in quick pants and my ears strained to pick up the slightest indication of where the vampire might be in relation to my bed.
Other than my nose, my senses picked up absolutely nothing until a low growl split the quiet just before something hit me from the side, knocking me over on the bed.
Someone was on top of me, someone incredibly strong and incredibly determined. My arms were bent at the elbow defensively, my forearms covering my face. I struggled ineffectively against the vampire and those few seconds felt like an eternity to my battered body. Then I felt the brush of hair at my shoulder.
Instinctively, I pushed at the face that now hovered at my neck. I heard the snapping of teeth and I leaned as far away as I could get from that mouth.
I squelched the scream that crouched in my throat. I couldn’t risk my mother’s life by alerting her to the danger that I was in. I kicked and flailed as much as I could without exposing my throat to the razor sharp teeth that I knew were bared. I didn’t have to see them to know that they were there. The fact that the vampire was invisible told me that she hadn’t fed recently. That meant she was most assuredly after my blood.
She wrapped her fingers around my wrists, easily subduing me.
“Shhh,” she hissed. “It will only hurt for a moment.”
I struggled all the more. Her answer to that was to turn me onto my belly and stretch out on top of me, all in one smooth motion that happened so fast it made my head spin.
My arms were pinned beneath me. My legs were completely useless against her. I bucked my hips, but she held me down with what seemed like no effort on her part whatsoever.
She brushed my hair aside and curled her fingers around the collar of my tshirt. I heard the ripping of cotton as she yanked, tearing my shirt open nearly to my waist.
I felt the tickle of her hair as she leaned forward. I held my breath, waiting, knowing that I was completely at her mercy. In my head, I screamed out for Bo, wishing that I could somehow call him telepathically.
The sharp sting of her teeth entering the tender flesh just above my left shoulder blade assured me that it was too late for help, even if Bo did somehow hear me. I felt the separation of muscle from bone as she pinched the tissue between her four teeth and closed her jaws. Within seconds an intense burning sensation began to seep into the skin and muscle surrounding her fangs.
I was frozen in fear.
Much sooner than I expected, she rolled me over onto my back again. She must not have drunk very much because she was still virtually transparent. Now, though, I could make out the faintest of outlines, just enough to determine that my attacker was, in fact, a woman. A very petite woman.