Read Rylie Cruz 2 - How to Date a Vampire Online

Authors: Rose Pressey

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Rylie Cruz 2 - How to Date a Vampire (9 page)

BOOK: Rylie Cruz 2 - How to Date a Vampire
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“I guess as it turns out I don’t need as
much sleep as I used to. Do you want to come in?” Jack gestured
over his shoulder, but he didn’t step out of the way for me to
enter.

He was still acting a little dazed and
confused. I looked over his shoulder. Did I ever want to come in?
What was she doing there?

“What are you doing here, Isabella?” I
asked.

Keeping quiet was no longer an option; I
couldn’t stand it any longer. I had kept my mouth shut for all of
ten seconds—I'd make a terrible spy. The enemy would have me
talking in a matter of minutes. I was pretty sure I could be bribed
with a yummy steak sandwich. I gave myself a mental slap to snap
myself out of my food-deprived induced thoughts. Now was no time to
be thinking about food. There was plenty of time for that
later.

Isabella was stretched across his chair as
if it were a fainting couch. Her legs dangled off one end and arms
stretched out above her head.

“What is she doing here, Jack?” I whispered
to him.

I’d failed to mention the note to him—the
time hadn’t been right yet. Isabella had better not think I’d fix
her up with Jack because that was never happening. She didn’t look
my way. Maybe she thought I’d not mention her little visit. She
knew she’d been busted.

“She came to ask me a few questions.
Isabella said she wanted to check on me because she’d heard I had a
fight with some vampires. Apparently she knows who the vampires
are.”

“Exactly, I came to check on my friend to
see how he was feeling.” She stood, and stretched, exposing her
flat stomach when her too short shirt stretched its limits.

I remained at the door like some kind of
stranger. I was almost getting the door slammed in my face as if I
had just handed him a religious brochure.

“I think Jack is feeling fine,” I said,
shooting her venom-laced glare.

Jack still stood in front of the door,
blocking my entrance into the apartment. Isabella moved over behind
Jack. A huge smile spread across her face as if she was a cat who'd
just caught the mouse.

“Jack’s coming with me for a little while.”
She placed her hand on Jack’s shoulder as if staking her claim.
“Isn’t that right, Jack?” She smirked, then gave me a wink.

Jack looked confused. His brow furrowed as
he looked from Isabella back to me again. “Um, Isabella says I need
to go with her to meet some people. I guess I need to go with her.”
It was more of a question than a statement.

What could I say? I couldn't force him not
to go with her, but I knew something wasn't right. Something
smelled funny in the French Quarter and it wasn’t Lily's breath or
even my creepy neighbor’s incredibly offensive body odor. No, the
rancid odor had everything to do with the vampires. And I didn't
think they were playing by the rules. Heck, I didn't even have a
rule book. I’d have to wing it.

“I wish there was something I could say to
get you not to go with her.” I looked at Isabella again. “Why don’t
you tell us what you want with Jack? If y’all are friends from way
back, then I guess you won’t have a problem sharing the details?” I
glared at her. I had to find out from Jack how he knew her.

“That’s none of your business,” she
said.

I frowned, unable to hide my disappointment.
Jack pulled gently on my arm, bringing me into the apartment.

“I'll be fine, Rylie. Don't worry about me.
Like I said, Isabella and I go way back. We knew each other in high
school.”

“Yes, don't you worry your pretty little
head about him. Okay?” She smiled.

I scowled as I stared at her. “This has to
do with the vampires, Jack. Isabella’s a vampire, in case you
didn’t know.”

Funny, she hadn’t told me that. Men could be
so naïve. There was no way I was buying what she was selling. She
smirked at me from behind Jack, exposing her fangs as an
intimidation tactic. Did she forget I was paranormal too?
Werewolves had been known to take down their share of vampires. The
vampires thought they were so great with that blood-draining
bit.

“I don’t trust her,” I whispered to Jack.
I’d explain later about the note.

“Oh, everything is fine,” Jack said.

“Fine. I’ll leave, little puppy dog.”
Isabella sashayed toward the door.

That was it. Vampire or not, customer or
not, she was going down. “Look, you bloodsucking skank, call me a
name again and I’ll shove garlic up your—” So much for customers
always being right.

Jack touched my arm. “Perhaps we should let
her go, Rylie. There’s no need to argue.”

Yeah, well, she had started it, but I was
more adult than that, so I remained tight-lipped. She strolled
past, but paused for just a second to toss a hiss my way. My teeth
would make hers seem like little pieces of candy. She waltzed out
of his apartment without a glance back. I knew I shouldn’t have
trusted her earlier.

“Jack, are you okay? Vampires attacked us
last night. I don’t think she should be in your apartment. What if
the men had shown up?”

“Then I wouldn’t have let them in.”

“So the female vampires are harmless? Have
you never heard of the black widow? Women can be vicious, let me
tell you. You’ve never been shopping on Black Friday, I take
it.”

He laughed. I hadn’t heard him do that since
the fight. It was a good sound.

“Seriously, though. I don’t want to worry
about you when I’m at work. I’m going to get to the bottom of
this.” I paced across the foyer.

Jack walked over to the mirror and studied
his teeth, gliding his tongue over the front of them. “Is it just
me or do my front teeth look pointier?”

My heart pounded again and I felt a lump
from in my throat larger than I’d ever felt before. Maybe I inhaled
a hairball. Nope, just the words I needed to tell Jack that were
stuck in there. It was now or never.

 

 

Chapter Thirteen

How to Date a Vampire, Rule #13:

Never piss off a vampire.

 

“Jack, I think we need to go for a walk. We
need to talk, plus fresh air would do you good.”

He rubbed his hair, making his golden locks
sexily disheveled.

“Sure, I guess I could use some air. Maybe
we could stop for something to eat.”

“Yeah, sure, that would be nice.”
Raw
steak was what he probably wanted.

We made our way onto the sidewalk. Jack’s
elusive scent embraced me as we moved along. Jack’s stride had
changed. He now performed everything at a higher notch on the speed
dial. Good for some things like vacuuming, and bad for other things
like… well, let’s just say it should last more than thirty
seconds.

Darkness had fallen, night settled around
us, the partial moon shone in the cloudless sky, and I made a
conscious effort to avoid looking at it. At least I had a couple
weeks before the next full moon, but even a little peek made me a
tad frisky, and I didn’t need the temptation.

Jack quickened our step by guiding me along
the sidewalk. He reached out and grabbed my hand. It was as if I
held a handful of ice cubes. The book Jennifer gave me had said the
coolness would improve with time until it was barely noticeable. I
guess I had noticed it was already improving slightly. He locked
gazes with me as he caressed my hand. His eyes sparkled under the
glow of the streetlight as he awaited my reply.

“Did you have an okay day? I mean, things
were weird, but other than that, was it nice?”

Other than dealing with crazy vampires, and
crazy Lily, absol-freakin-utely.

He looked so adorable with his naughty,
lopsided grin. My heart rate increased. As we stood there, Jack
wrapped his arms around my waist, and in one fluid motion, drew me
into his hard chest.

He reached out, fingertips barely touching
my skin as he traced his finger along my arm. His wickedly
delicious scent was entrancing. He put his hand against the side of
my face and traced with his finger. Then he tilted his head down
and ever so gently pressed his lips to mine. He slid his tongue
into my mouth. I pressed my body against his hard chest. Jack’s
body was warm, and I was completely lost in the moment.

Jack’s mouth felt soft against mine. There
was urgency to his movements as his tongue met with mine. The kiss
was tender, yet powerful at the same time. The passion from his
touch zinged as he traced the curves of my lips with his tongue.
The feel of his skin mesmerized me and I wanted to savor every
moment of his sweet kiss.

He pulled his lips away and I wanted to tell
him not to stop.

“I can’t resist your lips, your face, and
your body.”

My heart beat a little faster. Please don’t
let him say neck.

We needed to end this chaotic vampire game
soon so that Jack and I could have some quality time together.

As we made our way down the sidewalk, I
said, “I want to apologize again for taking you to my parents’
house. You should have never had to witness that paranormal
debacle.”

“What are you saying? I want to help you,
Rylie. I could never let you go into danger alone.” He met my gaze.
“But I have to say, this whole thing is quite disconcerting, to say
the least. Obviously, I haven’t felt like myself since we left your
parents. I have a panicky feeling. I’m not usually like this. Maybe
I am just being paranoid. Or maybe I’m just coming with something.
The flu.”

Oh, he was coming down with something all
right. It was a bad case of vampireitis, and I didn’t have an
antidote. Now he was in denial.

I cleared my throat. “Yeah, about that…
here’s the thing… I don’t know how to tell you this, but… well, you
know there are other paranormal beings, obviously.” Why did I feel
as if I was giving the ‘birds and the bees’ talk to a tween? I
didn’t want to see what horrified expression would appear on Jack’s
face when he heard what I had to say.

“As you know, I’m a werewolf.” Holy Filet
Mignon, I couldn’t believe I had just said that out loud to Jack.
He’d seen me furry… and my parents, it wasn’t as if he didn’t know.
But it sounded weird saying it out loud, there was no taking it
back when I talked about it out in the open. “Anyway, the people at
my parents’ house were vampires, as you know…”

“Yeah, I remember that. I remember most of
what happened, although I’m kind of foggy about some details.” I
prayed he’d blanked out the part when he saw my buck-naked father
as he shifted back to human.

I let out a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll just
come out and say this. As if I’m pulling off a bandage… I’m pretty
sure you’re a vampire now. I know I said it was just a little bite,
but it’s not. Actually, you’re more of a half-vampire.” Okay, now I
sounded insane.

Jack chuckled. He looked over at me. He
chuckled again, but the laughter faded as he noticed that I wasn’t
smiling. “So now you’re being paranoid. I’ve rubbed off on you. You
know, maybe what I need is a vacation. I have been working a
lot.”

“Jack, please don’t ignore this. I’m so
sorry.”

“It’s nothing, Rylie. You’re just too caught
up in the paranormal world. Everything will be fine. I’ll be fine.
I’ve decided this was all our imagination playing tricks on us. I’m
not a vampire. Not even half a vampire.”

This was going to be harder than I’d
thought. Now he was trying to deny it.

We’d reached the cemetery; it was the oldest
in New Orleans. I referred to it as the subdivision for the dead.
Huge iron gates stretched open with a large iron cross at the top,
welcoming us into its splendor. Eerily beautiful above-ground
crypts filled the space around us. I’d been so consumed in my
thoughts that I hadn’t noticed we’d walked so far. It was as if
Jack had walked straight there on purpose. Talk about a cliché… a
vampire wanting to hang out in a graveyard.

Obviously Jack was in denial, and I don’t
think the gravity of the situation had truly hit me, either. I mean
I was a werewolf and he was a vampire. We were like some ridiculous
Halloween card or something. The last time I’d been in the cemetery
I’d been chased by a couple of crazy werewolves, and yet, here I
was again.

We walked in silence. I didn’t know what
else to say. I thought I’d leave Jack to his thoughts for a while.
When he was ready, he’d talk. As we made our way down the stone
pathway in the middle of the graveyard, a noise sounded from behind
us. I looked over my shoulder and caught a shadowy figure dart
behind a vault.

“Why exactly are we here, Jack?” I asked
nervously.

He didn’t answer, but continued walking. We
turned down another path, weaving around the gravestones, and I
scanned the area for any sign of ghosts. We eased our way through,
careful to avoid the jagged, torn-up pavement.

About midway down the paved path, as I stood
between a couple of ornate vaults, out of the corner of my eye, I
thought I saw a shadow zip by. I didn’t mention the sighting to
Jack—he was stressed enough without the added spooky shadows.

A few seconds later, the shadow appeared
again, and I knew I wasn’t imagining things. The figure appeared to
be wearing a cape. A freakin’ cape? Were they serious? I could
assume that what I saw was ghosts, but I knew better. Had Jack
brought us here because he knew vampires would be present, or was
it the other way around? Had the vampires somehow manipulated
Jack’s mind and forced him to come here? If they couldn’t go to
him, they’d make him come to them? The dirty bloodsuckers.

Chapter Fourteen

How to Date a Vampire, Rule #14:

Get ready for the nightlife.

 

The graveyard was dark. It seemed darker
than usual. The stones appeared more ominous than usual, and a
foreboding feeling hung over the area. That strange feeling as if a
million eyes watched us wrapped around us, as if it were closing
in, ready to squeeze us into its small constraints. A chill
traveled down my spine. The eyes that watched us traveled along
every path with us, observing our every move. I guess in a way
there were.

I hadn't seen any ghosts, but that didn't
mean they weren’t there. I’d seen ghosts in this exact cemetery
before. In fact, I’d seen a few the last time I visited the
cemetery with Jack. Of course, Jack hadn’t seen them, only me. It
was rumored that the spirit of voodoo priestess Maria Laveau roamed
the grounds. But what other ghosts lingered around us?

One thing was for certain, the caped figure
hadn’t been a ghost. I had sensed it. If it wasn’t a ghost though,
then what was the caped figure? Would it find us? How would we get
away from it? I didn’t want it to follow us home.

We traveled through the graveyard, going
further in, through the maze of the dead. The haunting beauty of
our surroundings only added to the surreal sensation of the
situation that I faced with Jack. I glanced over at him. He seemed
to be lost in his thoughts, which was completely understandable
under the circumstances. I didn't blame him one bit.

We turned to our left and I couldn't stop
glancing over my shoulder. It was as if I’d developed a nervous
tic. Had Jack seen the caped figure yet? I had a feeling it would
only be a matter of time until we ran into it. I hoped not
literally. I figured at any moment I'd look up to find the strange
thing standing right in front of us. I knew the haunted cemetery
tour guides sometimes liked to dress in costume, and people who
wanted desperately to be vampires would dress the part, but this
wasn't either of those. Somehow, I knew that it was much darker
than that. I could sense it from this being, as if it emanated a
big black aura.

We'd only moved a few steps when movement to
my right caught my attention. Something jumped out from behind a
tall crypt. We stopped on the spot, almost falling over to keep
from running into this thing. And I did mean thing. It wasn't the
caped figure though. No, I wasn't sure what this thing was. Human
was not on my list of possible explanations as to what it was. This
thing was unlike any I’d ever seen.

He had some human-like features, but they
were skewed. His face was long and extra drawn-out. It stretched
down as if he wore a melted mask. His skin was milky white, but
paper-thin and almost see-through. The top of his ears popped up
toward the sky with pointy skin and the bottoms drooped down. His
nose was pencil thin and his mouth nothing but a straight line. The
creature’s eyes were like coal-black dots. His arms were long and
reached down almost to his knees. He stretched his arm out and
pointed at us.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

His speech was normal like ours, but he was
definitely not normal. I realized even more now since I could see
everything behind him. His entire body was translucent. Was he a
ghost? He wanted to know what we were doing there, but what was he
doing there? Did he own the cemetery? Last time I checked, anyone
could enter the place, no special pass was needed. Sure there was a
warning sign at the gate stating that people should enter at their
own risk, but that didn’t mean it was completely off limits. Maybe
I shouldn’t have ignored that warning, although I hadn’t had much
choice as I followed Jack.

“I'm a soul collector and I'm here to
collect the souls who refuse to come to the other side.” His voice
held a low rumble.

“Are you the grim reaper?”

The little slats which I assumed were
placeholders for his eyes grew even smaller. “I am not the grim
reaper,” he yelled.

“Okay, okay. Calm down. Don't get upset. We
didn't know.” I gestured toward Jack. “We didn't mean to offend
you.”

With his melted face and musty, dirty, dark
suit, he looked scary, and I had to confess if I were a ghost and
saw this guy coming at me, I wouldn't want to go with him
either.

“Do you take them to a bad place?” I paused.
“You know, to hell?”

He shook his head. “No. I do not. Why do you
assume that?”

“Because you’ve come to collect them. If it
was a good place, I think they’d be happy to go with you.”

“Some of them don’t know they’re dead. Some
are really bad at directions. I have to guide them in the right
direction,” he said.

“Kind of like herding cattle?”

He frowned. Obviously, he didn’t appreciate
my humor. Tough crowd.

“We're terribly sorry for interrupting you.
We'll be on our way.” I looked to Jack and he nodded in agreement.
You wouldn't hear any arguments out of him. He looked like he might
swoop me up and run away from this thing at any second.

“You are interrupting the process. How can I
collect these souls if you are disturbing the peace? You are
distracting the spirits. They want to watch you.”

Jack looked over his shoulder. I supposed to
see if he'd catch a glimpse of the spirits. They were not in sight.
The caped figure was nowhere in sight either. And I was grateful.
Maybe it was gone for good. I should ask this soul collector if
he'd had a cape on. Maybe he'd taken it off. I imagine it would get
in the way of collecting all those souls. Regardless, I wanted to
get out of there before he decided he wanted to collect our
souls.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted
movement. I glanced to my right. A woman glided effortlessly around
one of the vaults. She wore a long cream-colored gown and her dark
hair hung below her shoulders in soft wavy curls. She didn't look
our way. All I saw was her profile, then the back of her head as
she rounded the corner. As soon as she’d disappeared, another
spirit formed next to a grave. I knew it was a ghost because the
stone behind him was visible through his body. He looked straight
at us, saw the soul collector, then zipped to the left following
the same path as the woman spirit.

“See, there goes one now. They've been here
entirely too long. You’re wasting my time.”

“We didn’t mean to waste your time.” Why was
I being scolded by this thing? He was wasting my time just as much
and he didn’t hear me complaining.

“I have got to get them all out of here.
It's taking me too long. Now you mustn't interrupt me again. Do you
understand?” he asked.

He shook his head, guiding us to do the same
and give the correct answer. We nodded. I didn’t want to find out
what would happen if we didn’t.

“We won't bother you again. We're terribly
sorry,” Jack said.

If Jack’s open mouth and widened eyes were
any indication, he was stunned by this being and probably in
disbelief.

“Let's go, Rylie.” Jack placed his hand on
the small of my back and helped me get my feet moving. I wasn’t
sure how long I would have stood there in disbelief staring at the
creature.

I kept my eyes on this being as we walked
past. I had to be prepared in case he made any sudden movements
toward us.

“Am I dreaming?” Jack whispered. “Can you
pinch me? Surely, none of this is happening. We didn’t just see a
creature who looked like something out of a bizarre horror
movie.”

“I'm afraid you're fully awake,” I said. I
hated being the bearer of bad news. Especially to Jack. But this
was reality. His reality now. Paranormal creatures were all around
us, all the time. He just hadn’t known it until now. “Now that I
think about it, I’ve heard about those creatures, but I kind of
thought it was just a myth. I guess I was wrong.”

“Apparently you were.”

Getting us out of there before anything else
popped up was my number one priority at the moment.

BOOK: Rylie Cruz 2 - How to Date a Vampire
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