Necromance

Necromance: Chapter One

NECROMANCE

By: Rachel Kramer

Chapter One

"You know, I'm pleasantly surprised," I said, taking a sip of my shirley temple. "I was kind of expecting this to be a nightmare."

Gavin, my well-mannered and extremely attractive blind date, smiled at me from across the table. I had feared he might be some jobless, perverted toolbag that still lived with his parents, but so far he wasn't any of those things. Since we arrived at the diner, he'd been nothing but charming, and friendly. Not to mention, he made for great eye candy.

"Definitely," he nodded, flashing me a movie-star worthy smile. "You always hear those horror stories about blind-dates-gone-wrong. In fact, I was tempted to cancel in case you turned out to be a gold-digging, hot-mess with a weird fetish."

I laughed at that. "Yeah? And who says I'm not," I teased.

He shrugged, "I guess I could live with that."

I decided right then that Gavin was just about perfect. At least, in the world of past men I'd dated, he was a catch. I couldn't help the instant connection and attraction I felt for him, and I wondered if he felt the same; I was already looking forward to a second date.

"You hardly touched your food," I pointed out.

Gavin eyed his plate. He had ordered a medium-rare (mostly just rare) steak, but there was still more than half of it left. Most guys I knew devoured their meals, and then some. It was the only flaw I could pinpoint on this guy; not the fact that he ate less than me (though that did bother me a little), but the fact that he liked his meat still dying. I'm a vegetarian, and I'm used to people eating meat around me, but watching him cut into that bloody steak had hindered my appetite a little.

Gavin tucked a strand of his dark hair behind his ear. I didn't normally like longer hair on guys, but he wore it well; just about jaw length, but it wasn't so long that it reached his shoulders.

"Yeah," he said coolly, "I sort of ate before I got here."

Ah. Then I didn't feel so bad about eating more than him. We were both clearly done with dinner, but I wasn't ready for the night to end just yet. "Well, it's still early. Did you want to walk the pier? The weather is practically perfect for it."

He responded with that same movie-star grin and said, "Brigitte...I would be delighted."

We paid for dinner - well, actually, Gavin did - and left the restaurant. It was late August, and the weather was cooling down. There was a light breeze but no clouds; only a full-moon and stars that went on for miles. The crashing waves echoed below us as we strolled down the pier and towards the sandy beach.

We made a pit stop so I could drop my purse off in my car. I hadn't wanted to bring it with me in case sand got in it. Every time I went to the beach, I always managed to get sand everywhere. In fact, I had destroyed three cell phones and a few lip glosses that way. God knows how that happened, since they'd been securely zipped inside my purse every time, but I had definitely learned my lesson.

When we neared the water, Gavin took off his coat, and laid it out on the sand. "Care to join me?"

He offered his hand to me and I felt my heart melt. He was a dream. This whole night was like a dream; I hadn't imagined it would turn out so well. This had to be the best, most romantic, first blind date anyone had ever been on.

"Sure," I breathed. I felt a little silly swooning over a guy I'd just met, but who could blame me?

I took Gavin's hand and he helped me maneuver onto his jacket. It was tricky; my little white cocktail dress didn't make it very easy, but we managed. Gavin joined me once I was settled. He didn't say anything, but I was pretty sure I'd taken up most of his jacket, which meant he was probably half sitting in sand. That only gave him more brownie points. He was racking them up quick.