Fangs for Nothing (Vampire Hunting and Other Foolish Endeavors) by Adrianne Ambrose

all tastefully blocked over with well-fitted pieces of parquet wood in a herringbone pattern. Glancing around, I realized that our cell phones were no longer the only source of illumination. Every few yards, the walls displayed Deco wall sconces with blue and green leaded-glass shades. The music had become very distinct although still not very loud. I scanned the room, trying to make sense of what we had discovered. Further into the refurbished station, there were Edwardian-looking couches upholstered in red velvet and dozens of tables covered with platters of fruit and cheese and half-drunk glasses of wine. “I guess somebody lives here,” Xander observed, pinching a grape from a tray.
    “Don’t eat that,” Rini said in a low, sharp voice, swatting the fruit out of his hand.
    “Hey…” He was about to protest, but then stopped.
    Someone else was in the room. T here had been the distinct sound of another human—a little gasp and then a faint, “Oh.”
    “What was that?” I whispered, wheeling around to face the direction I thought the noise came from. The room was so big with such high ceilings that everything was all echo-y, and it threw off my audio sense of direction.
    Toward the far wall I saw movement. There was a large, ornately carved chair and what appeared to be a couple sitting on it, entwined and deeply embracing. Or maybe they weren’t embracing. They could have been struggling. In the dim light, it was hard to tell. There was another audible female gasp, and I rushed forward several steps, becoming more convinced that the girl was in distress. My footsteps echoed off the floor, and the man looked up, his eyes burning like two embers. His white shirt was open to the waist, revealing his bare chest. Blood dripped from his chin. He released the girl, and she slipped to the ground to squirm on a Persian rug. There was quite a bit of blood pouring from her neck, but it didn’t appear to concern her. She was too busy moaning and writhing in the throes of ecstasy.
    “ Welcome,” the man smiled, the girl’s blood still dripping from some of his very pointy teeth. He rose from his richly carved and upholstered chair. He had thick dark hair that hung below his collar and spiraled into a disarray of curls. “Please forgive my appearance. I didn’t hear you come in, or I wouldn’t have been so preoccupied with…” He waved a vague hand in the girl’s direction.
    I was torn between concern for the girl and fear of the man. H er neck was bleeding pretty profusely. Involuntarily, I took a few more steps forward. The girl’s head lolled to the side, her eyes filled with a dreamy haze. Much to my horror, I recognized her. It was Lydia Sarducci.
    “Lydia,” I blurted. I was about to run to her , but Xander caught me by the shoulder and jerked me back. “Let go.”
    I struggled against his grip. “That’s Lydia . From the market.”
    “I know ,” he shouted back in my face, shaking me as hard as he could. “And that,” he jerked his head toward the man, “is a vampire!”

Chapter 9
     
    I stared at the vampire, my mouth hanging open. I was simply agog. He smiled back, pleasantly enough if you could ignore the gore dripping off his chin and staining the frilly shirt he was half wearing. Though handsome, there was something about the vampire’s skin that was just plain weird. It had a sort of waxy appearance. It was like when you get a jagged cut on your finger and there’s a large skin flap that you mash back down into the blood and wrap with a Band-Aid. You hope the skin will somehow all fuse back together, but when you look under the tape a few days later, the flap has this strange, slightly translucent quality like candle wax, and you know that portion of your flesh isn’t getting any blood. Well, that’s kind of how the vampire’s skin looked. But all over. It was as if his entire body wasn’t getting enough blood.
    It was that thought that broke me out of my trance. I spun around to face