Immortal Chocolate (a vampire novel)

Part 18

Chapter 12

“You okay?” the man asked as I stood staring at the door for way too long.

“Hmm, what? Oh, I’m sorry. What can I get you?” I tried the smile that normally made humans relax, but it probably came out too scary, cause the man’s eyes widened.

“I’ll…umm…” He suddenly looked nervous. “You have allergies? Your eyes are um…” He waved his hand, taking a step back; I could physically hear his heart accelerate. Great. I was scaring the poor guy. I turned my back to him for a moment, trying to get control of my mood—this was not normal—I was not normal. Claud had altered me somehow. Two weeks, remember, Iva? Two weeks of Claud’s nonsense floating around in your head. I carefully concealed my raging emotions and turned back around.

“I’m okay, sorry about that. It’s been a rough morning.”

“Nooo…problem,” he stuttered. “I’ll take a raspberry filled donut.” He pointed at the glass case. I fished out his breakfast and put it in a Sweet Bites bag.

“Anything else?”

“Coffee?” he asked, like he thought I might hurt him for mentioning it.

“What kind would you like, sir?” I could feel a bit of normalcy creeping back into my voice.

“I’ll take a shot in the dark.”

“Alright,” I said. I rang him up and went to go make his coffee as he sat down with his donut. It didn’t take long to make his drink, so I set it on the counter, my body humming with the new information that was running around in my brain. Who was coming? Why did they care that Claud put his blood in me? I was distracted for a few minutes, cleaning the counter, watching as my one customer finished up and left with a nervous wave.

The day slowly passed, slower than normal, and I thought about Moon and Blue, and wondered what was going on at home. Newborns were so unpredictable; I wasn’t sure how they’d react to being cooped up all day. After the last customer left for the day, I closed up Sweet Bites and headed home.

The moment I pulled up into my driveway, I could smell something off. My fangs slid down, my claws sharpening, vampire mode initiated. I heard screeches and loud music shaking the walls of my old house, and irritation flared. What was with me? Normally I was the happy go lucky vampire—not this—moody thing. Claud… I made my way up my front porch, trying to remind myself that my friends had always been party animals, and now that they were newborn vampires their personalities would be blown out of proportion.

I stepped through the door.

Every inch of space was taken up. Music rattled any piece of glass inhabiting my house, there was food, cups, and god knows what else laying everywhere. People were screaming and dancing, and smack in the middle of it all was Blue and Moon, howling like a pack of dogs. What the hell? What was wrong with these two? They weren’t werewolves! They were vampires for god’s sake! Vampires didn’t howl; it was like a cat barking. It was against nature.

The moment I stepped into their little party circle, people stopped moving. Not sure why. Suddenly, I noticed the music had cut off as well.

“I…I…Iva,” Blue said, his eyes darting from me to the crowd, to the crowd to me. My fingers curled into fists. Don’t lose it. Don’t lose it.

“What is going on?” I said.

“Part—”

“I know it’s a party, genius, but why?” I gripped a fistful of his stained shirt, pulling him against me.

“Umm…we were bored?” Blue said with a shrug, squinting his eyes like he hoped I wouldn’t kill him.

“Bored.” I dropped him. He fell in an ungraceful heap. “Bored. Right.” I ran my fingers through my red hair, drawing in a deep breath.

“Sorry, Iva, sorry,” Moon said and started scooping garbage in a pile. “It was Blue’s idea!” She glared at her brother.

“Don’t pin this on me, Miss I’m boooooooored! I just suggested it to keep you from annoying me.”

“Now, you’re annoying me! Everybody out!” My eyes cackled, the itch beginning in my toes, traveling quickly. “Out! Out!” I waved my arms wildly. Humans scattered like scared birds, purses left behind, food spilling as people left in a panic. My body was tingling with the itch, it traveled up my legs. “Did you eat anyone?”

They stared at me blankly, their arms hanging beside them.

“Did. You. Eat. Anyone?” I said again, hoping that they weren’t that stupid.

“Just a bite, Iva, I swear,” Moon said, dropping to her knees, tears coming to her eyes.

“Where?” I demanded.

“In your bedroom,” Blue said so quietly I almost missed it.

“My bedroom?” I was seething, my entire body full of fire. The itch was getting worse now; it had reached my torso. I ran to my bedroom in a blur of unnatural speed and flung the door open. A man lay curled up on the bed, blood stained my bedspread, and he looked dead. Great. I slammed the door shut and leaned up against it. Now, I would have humans on the prowl for this random guy, and he was last seen here. This was a mess.

A thought crossed my mind, and I flung the door back open with a bang. My pictures in the hall rattled, as I walked back inside my bedroom. I went over to the dead man and flipped him over. I leaned my face close to his, hearing a very faint breath. The itch was getting worse, now up in my chest. I would kill him if I didn’t get him out of here now. I had to heal him and fast. I tapped one of my own veins, normally I’d just use my healing touch, but this was a mortal wound I could tell. I put my wrist to his pale mouth and let him drink my blood. I hated doing it this way. But what choice did I have here? He gagged a bit, but he managed to get it down. After a few seconds he stirred, looking bleary eyed at me.

“What a party,” he said in a slur, giving me a sloppy smile. Good, a drunk guy was easier to deal with. I still needed him out of here as the itch traveled up my throat. I picked him up and ran as fast as I could out of my house. As soon as I knew he was far enough away that I wouldn’t kill him, I dropped him, running back toward my house. I did not trust myself in my current mindset—with Claud’s blood running through me—I wasn’t acting like me.

The itch reached my mouth, and my fangs dripped with venom. Feed. A frenzy came over me, and I happened to pass a single human on the way home. I pounced on him, digging my fangs deep into his neck, greedily guzzling, until I sensed that if I kept going he’d be dead. I somehow found the will to let him go.

He dropped to the ground with a thud, rattling me. I looked at his body, the blood still staining my lips. What kind of vampire had I become. This never used to happen to me. I wasn’t impulsive; I was careful, very, very careful every time I fed. If someone found this guy like this, it could cause a lot of trouble for me. I again fed him some of my blood—he was too near death—just like the other guy. After he’d healed up I disappeared, making my way into my house, and slamming the door. Moon and Blue were in the same spot I’d left them.

“This vampire stuff is serious,” Blue said in a drawl.

“Yeah, you idiots.” I think I had to dump the newborns somewhere. With me being this moody and them being as stupid as bricks, we weren’t good together.