Vampire Games by J. R. Rain Page A

Anyway, long story short, I cut my finger pretty deep.”
    “ I see that,” I said, the words coming out sounding guttural, and not my own. “And, yes, I have a...problem with blood.”
    “ Oh, geez. I’m sorry,” she said sympathetically enough, but she was looking at me oddly. I didn’t blame her. I suspected I looked like a complete freak, staring pale-faced, my voice barely intelligible.
    Samantha Moon, ace detective at your service.
    She went to the bathroom and returned with a Band-Aid. She was watching me as she returned. I knew she was watching me, but I ignored her curious stare. Instead, I was openly staring at her finger like the hobgoblin that I am.
    “ I’m just going to put this Band-Aid on. Do you want me to do it in the other room?”
    “ No, here is fine,” I said, perhaps a little too quickly. I leaned forward a little in the process to get a better view of her finger.
    God, help me, I thought.
    Allison continued watching me as she sat across from me on the coffee table. She was Hispanic. Very toned. Lean muscles undulated with each movement. She was wearing short white shorts and a tight tank top. She looked, if anything, like the girlfriend of a world-class boxer. I knew from Romero that she was a personal trainer and competitive body builder. I didn’t doubt it.
    Except I wasn’t looking at the way her muscles rippled or flexed. I was closely watching the way she removed the Band-Aid from the wrapper. She next peeled away the protective backings, exposing the sticky underside. I noted the way her blood continued to fill the open wound. It really was a nasty cut.
    I began sweating.
    What the devil was wrong with me? But I suspected I knew. I hadn’t had human blood in a few weeks, and I was missing it terribly. I didn’t want to miss it. In fact, I had made it a point not to think about it.
    But to see it now...right in front of me...triggered something in me that I was having a terrible time controlling. Or dealing with.
    I looked away, breathing hard.
    “ Boy, you really do have a problem with blood,” said Allison.
    I think I nodded. Who knows. Maybe I drooled like ghoul. I kept looking away, breathing slowly through my nose, focusing on the thing that was in front of me, which was a magazine with Katie Holmes on the cover. She looked happy and unencumbered. The words above her said: “Freedom.”
    “ I can go in the bathroom if you want,” said Allison.
    I was about to tell her to please do so, but there was something in her tone. Something...challenging.
    “ No, don’t,” I said. “I’m okay.”
    “ You don’t look okay.”
    “ I’ve been...sick,” I said, using my old standby excuse.
    “ I’m sure you have,” she said, her words surprising me. “I’m sure you’ve been very, very sick.”
    I looked at her sharply. She had quit playing with the Band-Aid, which now dangled from her finger and thumb. She was squinting her eyes a little. Squinting them at me.
    “ You’re here to find out who killed my Caesar,” she said. She lowered her wounded hand in front of me.
    “ Yes,” I said. The word was barely understandable to my own ears. The significant wound along her finger had begun bubbling over again with fresh hemoglobin.
    “ You are here to help us find answers,” she said.
    I nodded again, this time unable to speak.
    “ And you’re also a vampire,” she said.
    I looked at her sharply, and her eyes narrowed further still. I said nothing. She said nothing. Blood was now dribbling freely down her finger. I swallowed hard. It was all I could do to not lunge forward and seize her finger.
    She leaned toward me and held her finger in front of me. Like a carrot. “And you’re very, very hungry, aren’t you?”
    I flicked my gaze from her wound to her eyes and found myself nodding.
    “ Then drink, Samantha Moon.”
     
     
     
    Chapter Twenty-five
     
     
    It was after.
    I hadn’t drank much, but it was enough to feel good. No, great. To feel that special surge