Immortal Chocolate (a vampire novel)

Part 13

Kitty and I ran for another twenty minutes, before I brought her home, unhooked her leash, and lay back in bed.

The next morning I got up, pouring myself a giant cup of coffee. I’d find something to eat later tonight. My stomach was jumping with nerves at the thought of having a civilized conversation with the vampire who drove me insane. I stared out the window of my older than dirt house that I’d bought back when I first moved to this tiny little city. It had all the creepy vibes that I kind of secretly enjoyed, and I guess part of it was it reminded me of home. I visited my parents’ graves every so often, and they were roughly a good two hours run from here—at crazy fast speed anyways.

Kitty and I would take my dad a basket of cupcakes, and my mom a vase of daisies. I’d inherited my sweet tooth from Dad. He’d been the one who’d taught me to bake.

“You hungry, baby?” I asked Kitty, who’d wandered in the room to stand next to me. She stared up at me, her mopey hair covering her eyes. She nudged my hand. “Alright, let’s see what you can eat.” I came toward the fridge and pulled out a water bottle of blood for her. I poured it in her bowl that clearly was marked Kitty and watched her lap it up. “I’m not going to be his vampire whore, if it comes down to that, Kitty, I’ll let Lawrence rot.” The thought of that did make me feel pretty terrible. I’d turned him into that thing—or at least I was the cause of him turning into a, whatever the hell he was.

I got ready for the day, taking a shower, blow drying my red hair, and putting on my makeup. After I was finished up, I sucked in a deep breath. You can do it, Iva. Face the bastard.

Kitty gave me one final nudge as I walked out the door, petting her head.

“Wish me luck, Kitty,” I whispered as I sped off toward Sweet Bites to talk to Claud.

When I got there he was already there waiting, with a freshly ironed suit, perfectly combed hair, and a serious expression on his face. God. I unlocked Sweet Bites, ignoring him completely.

“You smell nice,” he said.

“Shut it.” I opened the door and ushered him inside, loving the smell of chocolate and coffee that permeated the atmosphere of my shop. “Sit.” I pointed to a booth in the corner, making sure no one was approaching before I came over to him.

“You look beautiful this morning,” he said, his enticement on full gear.

“Claud, you know that doesn’t work on me. I need to talk to you.”

“What about, love?”

“For one, don’t call me that.” I slid into the opposite end of the booth, and his eyes grew crackly with desire for me. “Will you tone it down for one second, you horney bastard.”

“Whatever you want, Iva,” he said in his deep voice. I stared at him for half a second.

“What is your deal? How long have you been chasing me? Eighty years?”

“Eighty-three.” He gave a what I think he thought was a sexy smile and leaned back against his seat.

“Okay, yeah, eighty-three, and you still think you’d win me over?”

“Hmm…” He rubbed his chin, a strange smile on his face.

“Anyways, that’s not why I wanted to meet with you. You just drive me nuts.” My mind went back to the werewolf and the club he’d pulled me out of the other day.

“I’m all ears, love.”

I bristled, annoyed at his words of endearment. I began a full description about what had happened with Lawrence, until Claud was leaning forward, his eyebrows flexed in concentration.

“So, what you’re telling me is that you want me to fix your mistakes.”

“Yes.”

“That’ll have a price you know.”

“I know.” I let out a sigh, staring out the window. The sun was starting to emerge, and luckily sunshine didn’t burn me like the legends spoke of. The sun made vampires uncomfortable, but it didn’t burn us. It was more like an itchy wool sweater that gets on your nerves.

“I’ll contact my people,” Claud said, and his smile curled again. “But, you must give into one of my requests.”

“I will not marry you.”

“Not that.”

“Fine.” I eyed him critically, wondering what kind of thing he was going to throw at me this time.

“Drink my blood.” His words set me back, that was a very, very personal thing to do—only the most intimate of lovers did that. When you drank another vampire’s blood it connected your minds and souls in a supernatural way—so that you felt the others pain and desires for weeks sometimes months.

“Wh..h…” I felt a rock drop in the pit of my stomach. Was it worth it—freeing myself of guilt about the human I’d turned into a tortured ghost thing. Drinking Claud’s blood, knowing his pain, his desires, I don’t know. That was a bit deep for me.

“Too much?” he said with a turn of his head, reaching his hand out to brush mine. I pulled my hand away from his.

“Can’t you just want a date?” I snapped at him.

“I want you to realize how deeply I care for you, Iva, this way I can fully show you who I am.” I could tell he wanted to touch me again, but my entire body was prickling with frustration at his request. I thought about Lawrence’s face—his torturous pain—and call me a sentimental idiot—because I wanted to ease it. Even if Lawrence had threatened to kill me when I’d first met him. He was a desperate soul, trying to free himself of torment. I really couldn’t blame him for trying.

“Is it a yes or no?” He held his phone, and I could see every ounce of him was humming with desire for me. Why? What was it about me that Claud wanted? Maybe because I didn’t fall into his arms when he said, I’m the vampire god, hear me roar. I didn’t care if he was Lady Gaga it didn’t impress me if he had all that stuff.

My mind whirled, if I said yes, I’d have months of aftermath from his feelings and desires pumping through my blood. Was it worth it? My dad’s face rose in my mind. What would dad think? Would he want me to right my wrong with the human life I’d utterly destroyed, but lose part of myself in the process? It’s only for a few months. A few months to me wasn’t long at all. Months flew by—years flew by. When you’re immortal it feels like you blink and ten years go by.

“Fine.” I would regret saying that.

“Okay, let’s go.” He stood up from the table.

“First, you call your people; I want to see Lawrence fixed first, then this—.” I pointed at him then myself, annoyance in my voice.

“I’ll call him right now, love.” He walked a few steps away from me, a hum of excitement apparent in his voice. All it took was a few minutes before he came back with a grin stretched across his ancient—handsome face. Or kinda handsome, I never thought Claud was the playboy vampire god that every other vampire made him out to be. He was decent enough, but something dark and slimy about him made me want to puke.

“Ready?” He offered me his hand, and I ignored it.

“Yeah, I’ll show you the place.”

“I send my man over there already. We can watch if you’d like.”

“Yes. I want to make sure you’re not pulling this out your ass.” I walked out the door of Sweet Bites, breathing in a deep breath. What had I just done to myself? This had better be worth it.