Birth of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Realm) Read online

  I realized that I was thinking noble thoughts and had to laugh at myself. I must have been feeling a little drunk on the heady scent of youthful blood that was surrounding me.

  Where young ladies cluster, young gentlemen will soon follow. It wasn’t long until the mortal males started trying to infiltrate the harem that had collected around me. A few of them even had the audacity to get mildly confrontational with me. I let it all roll off me like water while stepping out of the tub. I knew none of them was being intentionally suicidal. I could have easily ripped the throats out of two or three of the boys and enjoyed the delights that flowed so richly under the mortal skin. But a killing spree was a vulgar affair and would have been rather rude to our hostess, not to mention my cousin’s mortal pet, who had been kind enough to include me in the invitation.

  Chapter 14

  Haley

  I was getting pretty embarrassed for some of the other girls at the party. They were all so desperate to catch the attention of the blond Vanderlind dude that they kept talking louder and louder, then tossing their hair around and giggling madly at everything he said. Sheila even started dancing around in front of him in a pathetic display to try to catch his attention. I’m sure if anyone confronted her about being an idiot she would have justified her behavior by saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just felt like dancing,” or something like that, but her intention was pretty obvious.

  I have to admit, the guy was hot. Weirdly hot. I just didn’t see guys that good looking without the aid of makeup, lights, and cameras. He also seemed pretty full of himself—and I guess he had a right to be with all the girls doing backflips to catch his attention. He was trying to play it cool, but I noticed he kept glancing in the direction of Erika and me. I was clued in enough to know that it wasn’t me drawing his notice. Of course he was interested in Erika. He had more expensive clothes, but she was damn close to his equal in hotness.

  “You should talk to him,” I told her, once I’d seen him covertly look in our direction a half a dozen times.

  “No way,” Erika told me. “I’d be afraid of getting my arm chewed off by all the other girls.”

  That made me laugh a little. She was right. It was a bit like watching a bunch of lionesses eyeing each other over a zebra carcass. “They can all try, but I bet you ten bucks he’s interested in you.”

  “No, he’s not,” was her response. She made a face. “A guy like that isn’t interested in someone like me.”

  “Come on, Erika. Why wouldn’t he be interested in you?” Seriously. If he wasn’t going to date someone as pretty as Erika, then who the hell was he going to date?

  “He is gorgeous,” she admitted, gazing at him for a moment too long and catching his eye. She quickly turned her head. “Forget it. I would be too embarrassed to even try to talk to him,” she said.

  “Come on,” I said, walking toward the thick of the crowd. “Let’s just get a little closer and see if he strikes up a conversation.”

  Tommy was still avoiding me like the plague, and I couldn’t just keep standing there staring after him like a wounded dog. Erika had been super kind to me, and if I could help her connect with the weirdly hot guy, then that would at least make me feel a little better about the evening.

  I knew I should have probably confronted Tommy—or at least said hi to him—but I felt like if he snubbed me right in front of everyone I would start crying and make a complete idiot out of myself. It was better to focus on helping someone else out. That would at least distract my brain so I wouldn’t completely freak out.

  As we moved closer to the cluster of girls, I heard Sheila say, “Dorian’s such an unusual name. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before.”

  “Of course, you have,” I said, opening my mouth before thinking. I couldn’t stop myself. It was a pet peeve of mine when girls played stupid as a way to flirt with guys.

  “No, I haven’t,” Sheila insisted, flashing an annoyed look in my direction. “I’ve never even heard the name,” she said, modifying her expression to be properly vacant as she returned her gaze to the handsome blond.

  “Sheila, you might never have met someone named Dorian, but you’ve definitely heard of the name,” I told her. “We just finished that book in English class.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, a tight smile pasted on her face.

  “The Picture of Dorian Gray? Oscar Wilde?” I said, trying to jog her memory. “We had to write a paper on it.”

  “Did we?” Sheila made her eyes look even more vacant and then smiled at the Dorian standing in front of us.

  “Did you enjoy the novel?” Dorian asked, directing the question at Erika.

  She looked startled, glanced at me, and then mumbled, “I’m not in that class.”

  “But you know what it’s about?” he persisted, turning his body slightly to give her more of his attention.

  Erika grew even more embarrassed, repeatedly looking at me for some kind of support. “Not really,” she told him.

  “It’s kind of a sell-your-soul-to-the-devil type book,” I said, mostly so Erika wouldn’t have to stand there feeling like an idiot. “There’s this young guy who’s really hot. He’s had his portrait painted and then kind of jokingly says that he would sell his soul so that the portrait would age instead of him. But then it actually happens. Dorian starts living this depraved life. He stays young and handsome, but for every nasty thing he does, the portrait becomes more and more disfigured.”

  “Oh,” Erika said, looking a little less uncomfortable. “That sounds kind of freaky.”

  “I think it sounds totally awesome,” Sheila said, smiling broadly like she was the hot thing for having such a daring attitude. “I’d love to stay young forever.” She turned to Dorian. “Don’t you think that would rock?”

  The guy shrugged. “I think you might find it grows surprisingly tiresome after the first couple of decades.”

  “What?” Sheila asked him, making a confused face. He did have a weird way of speaking.

  He amended his thoughts to, “You might get bored.”

  “Oh, I don’t think so,” Sheila said. “I know how to keep myself entertained.”

  I knew I should have kept my mouth shut and just stood there, but I couldn’t help but say, “I think enjoying immortality all depends on whether you would continue to grow emotionally or whether your emotional development stayed frozen as well.”

  Sheila gave me an annoyed look. “What are you talking about?”

  I tried to think of a way to explain it that she would understand. “Okay, let me put it this way. Do you like bouncy castles?” I asked.

  “Wh …? Well, I used to,” Sheila said. “When I was ten, I used to love them.”

  “Yeah, but you don’t anymore. Right?”

  “What’s that got to do with it?” Sheila wanted to know, not doing anything to keep the annoyance from her voice.

  “You don’t like bouncy castles because you’ve outgrown them. They aren’t interesting to you anymore. I’ve always wondered if maybe that would be the case if you’re a vampire. Are you frozen at a certain age so you always find the same stuff interesting as when you were human? Or are you emotionally getting older but still trapped in a young body?”

  “That’s why I’m never getting a tattoo,” Erika said, finally feeling brave enough to join the conversation.

  “Oh, I’m getting a yin yang on my ankle just as soon as I turn eighteen,” Ashley said, trying to let Dorian know that she was the “cool chick.”

  “Yeah, but how do you know you’ll like having a yin yang tattoo when you’re thirty?” I asked. “Or fifty?” I went on, “I mean, I was crazy about unicorns when I was eleven, but I’m glad I don’t have one tattooed on my ass.”

  “Exactly,” Erika said, giving me a smile. She turned to Erika. “I think tattoos are great as long as get something you know you’re going to love forever,” she said. “That and find a really, really good tattoo ar
tist.”

  “Well, I’m never going to change,” Ashley said, giving a carefree shrug to show that she was a free spirit. “I like what I like. That’s never going to change just because I’m older.”

  “I’m right there with you,” Sheila told her, raising her hand for a high five. She thought they’d somehow scored points with Dorian, but I didn’t think he was all that interested.

  “If you really believe that to be true, then you’d probably make an excellent vampire,” Dorian said. “But I hope it isn’t true. Only enjoying the same things you like now for an eternity would be a sad waste of immortality. Don’t you think?”

  “I would love to be a vampire,” Tommy said, butting into the conversation. “I could play all the Xbox I want, and it wouldn’t matter because I would, like, live forever.”

  “That’s how you would spend eternity?” Dorian asked, giving him an incredulous look. “Playing video games?”

  “At least the first two hundred years,” Tommy said, grinning and looking to his buddies for support.

  I felt a little ashamed that I was dating Tommy and he was saying something so stupid. Then he smiled directly at Sheila and said, “Hey. How’s it going?” My heart sank. The truth of the matter was, I wasn’t dating Tommy. Not really. I had made out with Tommy a couple dozen times. I’d had sex with Tommy. But I wasn’t dating him. Secret dating didn’t count. That was just hooking up. Until it was made public, I was just putting out. I felt sad and pathetic and alone.

  But then anger flared up inside me. I wasn’t going to let Tommy use me and treat me like a stranger when we had been intimate. I had to stand up for myself. I had to make him follow through with his promise. We were supposed to be letting people know we were dating. But just cowering next to Erika wasn’t getting me anywhere. It was just letting everyone know that I was a loser.

  And I was sick of being a loser.

  “Hi, Tommy,” I said, lifting my chin and trying to appear confident and at ease. I gave him my most intimate smile.

  He looked over at me, frowned a little like he couldn’t quite place me, and said, “Oh. Hey.” A couple of his friends snickered and elbowed each other in that jerky guy way.

  I heard Erika whisper something under her breath that sounded remarkably like, “Asshole.”

  She was right. Tommy was being an asshole. And I was just standing there letting him be an asshole because I was too insecure to do anything about it. I forced myself to say, “Tommy, can I talk to you for a minute?”

  “Sure, go ahead,” he said in a very jock nonchalant voice.

  “I mean in private,” I said, glaring at him.

  A couple of his jock buddies made noises like “Owe!” and “Meow!” I wanted to punch every single one of them in the face.

  “Yeah, well, I was going to get a beer, so …” He gave me an uncomfortable look. “Maybe later.”

  “No. Not later,” I told him, seeing red. From the way the guys were laughing, it was obvious that he’d talked to a few of his friends about me. “Now.” I stormed through the crowd and grabbed his arm. “We need to talk now.”

  “What the hell?” Tommy said after I’d dragged him around to the side of the house and finally released his arm. “What’s your deal?”

  “What’s my deal?” I said, barely controlling my words from coming out as a shout. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m not the one being a spaz,” he told me, as if he had the moral high ground. “Why are you acting like such a freak?”

  “Tommy, do you not remember last night?” I demanded. “Do you at all remember what you said to me?”

  “Yeah,” he bobbed his head. “I said I’d see you at the party. And here we are. What’s the big deal?”

  “You told me you loved me,” I informed him, my voice getting higher and louder. “You said we were going to start letting people know we were together. You promised.”

  Tommy gave me a pained look. “Well …” He sighed, as if I was being irrational and he was just trying to figure out the right thing to say to calm me down. “You’re just ….” His words faded again. “I don’t know. I just don’t think we really, you know. I mean … I’m not sure we’re right for each other.”

  “No,” I told him. “That’s not acceptable. You said you loved me and that we had to be together if we were going to ‘be together’ and now suddenly you’re saying you don’t think we’re right for each other? That’s bullshit.”

  “You’re making too big of a deal about this,” he informed me. “I mean, come on. It’s not that big of a deal.”

  “Yes, it is. It’s a huge deal,” I informed him. “You acted like it was a big deal last night. So what’s changed between then and now.”

  “Well …” Tommy hunched his shoulders a little. “It’s just like … you know … I mean ...” He sighed again. “I kind of forgot that I told Sheila Lavelle that I would take her to Winter Formal and, you know, I’ve kind of had a thing for her for a really long time. So it would be kind of weird if we started dating and then, you know, I took someone else to the dance.”

  I couldn’t believe it. His excuse was so lame it was pathetic. “Let me get this straight,” I said. “So there’s this other girl that you’ve had a crush on for a really long time and you agreed that you would go with her to Winter Formal, but then you kind of forgot about it until after you talked me into having sex with you and then suddenly this morning you remembered how much you like her. So you’re blowing me off. Even though you told me you loved me and promised me that we were going to be together. Am I missing anything here, or is that about right?”

  He squinted at me, cringing a little with his shoulders still hunched. “That’s pretty close.”

  “You are an asshole!” I yelled. “You are a lying, piece of shit asshole!”

  “Calm down,” he said, lowering his voice. “I told you it’s not that big of a deal.”

  “It’s a huge deal,” I insisted. “You’re a lying piece of shit.”

  “Get over it,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I’m going back to the party.”

  I stepped in front of him to block his path. I wasn’t going to let him get away with using me and then trying to throw me away like a soiled wad of tissue. “No, you’re not.”

  That’s when he shoved me. And not just a small shove so he could get past. He shoved me so hard I fell backward, flat on my ass, the palms of my hands scraping against the cement.

  Chapter 15

  Tommy

  What was up with chicks? They were always getting so wound up about everything. I couldn’t believe Haley was getting in my face about us dating. I mean, yeah, I might have said some things last night that might have made her think we were dating or something, but I couldn’t believe she took me seriously.

  I mean, I was horny. I’ll tell just about any chick I’m in love with her when I’m horny. Haley should have known that. And why are chicks all worked up about love anyway? I just wanted to get laid.

  Haley was okay and everything, but it wasn’t like I was going to choose her over Sheila. I mean, come on. Sheila was super hot and popular, and I’d wanted to get with her since the sixth grade. She always acted like she thought she was too good for me or something, but lately she’s been acting all flirty and touching my chest when she talks to me. Stuff like that. So I knew that something might happen there.

  But in the meantime, I didn’t see any reason not to try to get some off of Haley. I mean, she’s not a total dog or anything. And who knows, I might have wanted to date her if the whole Sheila thing hadn’t come up. But I couldn’t believe Haley got all confrontational. I mean, like get out of my face. She shouldn’t have put out if sex was that big of a deal to her. I mean, it wasn’t my fault if I had needs.

  Chapter 16

  Dorian

  I wasn’t sure that anyone had ever compared me to a chupacabra before. I’d been called a lot of things over the years. Satan got thrown around quite frequently—as both an insult and a
compliment. I’d even been called Prince Charming once or twice. But definitely not a chupacabra. I had to admit, I was intrigued. The Eurasian beauty was proving to have a bit of spark.

  Her friend—whom I had not previously taken note of— encouraged her to come closer. I had thought I was being discrete, but the girl had obviously noticed me glancing in their direction. She wasn’t so bad herself. Not a beauty like Erika—as I discovered her name in fact to be—but attractive enough in her own right. She didn’t appear to be artificially sweetened like a lot of the young ladies at the party. And she was bright. Much brighter than I expected. It’s not many young people who think about immortality beyond that they could party for eternity while neatly avoiding the great unknown that is death.

  But there was some kind of little human drama going on between this girl whose name was Haley and one of the boys. She was upset with him for some reason, and he was acting cavalier. I had observed enough interactions between males and females to know that he had somehow promised her something—probably to do with intimacy—and was now attempting to squirm out of his commitment. When Haley dragged the young man off to a corner of the party to have a private conversation, all the other guests started whispering and shooting each other significant looks. I heard one of the dancing girls say the word “slut” and flash a malicious smile. That made the crowd start whispering even more. I’ve always found it a shortcoming of the human race that boys are admired for being with a lot of girls, but girls are labeled as harlots for being with even one boy. It was more understandable back when I was a human, but there was not very effective birth control at the time. It disgusted me that a private conversation between an intelligent girl and a mildly brutish boy would cause such a fervor of gossip and speculation.