FANGED

Chapter Forty-Three

"Why?" I stepped back, not sure I liked where this conversation was going. Nervously, my eyes darted around. We were standing in the middle of a corridor in an area with no doors. Drat! I had no doubt even if I did try to make a break for it, he would surely catch me. The whole tall, dark and sinister thing he had going on wasn't just for vampy show.

"Please excuse my boldness," he said, giving me a little tight grin. "There have been other experiments before you, but none of those specimens have been so..." he paused, giving me another one of his intense onceovers, "complete," he finally finished.

"Complete?" You got me on that one. I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. After all, I had been turned into a vampire, not built into one like an erector set. I had come into this game fully assembled and therefore, had no missing parts I was aware of. I looked down at my hands and wiggled 10 little fingers and counted 10 little toes peeking out from the toes of my shoes. Yup...all accounted for.

"Yes. The others were less...aware than yourself." A shadow seemed to pass over his face, before it quickly disappeared and the blank slate returned.

I had a feeling he was being overly politically correct in his descriptions, but it did finally ignite the dim light bulb in my head. I had heard mention of these 'others' before. Nico-lame had said it with pure disgust in his voice. Where Sinclair had more of curiosity vibe going on. Either way, it still didn't exactly give me the warm fuzzy feeling to be referred to as an experiment or a specimen for that matter.

"What do you want to inspect?" I asked, suspicion dripping off my tongue as I took another few steps away from the approaching vampire. That's it, I was never leaving home without my spoon shovel again.

"Nothing overly intrusive, I promise," he murmured.

Not waiting for me to actually give him permission, he grabbed my face with both hands and pulled me towards him. He had moved so fast, I hadn't even noticed until it was too late. The fact he could manipulate me so easily, gave me an indication at his superior strength. I tested it a bit by trying to draw away from him, but it was like trying to escape being incased in cement. I was stuck in his grasp and hostage to his whim until he decided to let me go. It was déjà vu all over again. Only this time, at least his hands were warm compared to Nico-lame's cold and clammy touch. Not much of a silver lining, but at this point...I would take anything positive I could get.

Tilting my head this way and that, his eyes scanned every centimeter of my face. Holy Moses on a pogo stick! With as closely as he was looking at me, I hoped like hell I didn't have a pimple, blackhead or booger hanging out of my nose.

"Open," he demanded.

He didn't say it, but I assumed he was talking about my mouth. Deciding it was at least nice of him to sort of ask rather than shoving his fingers into my mouth, I reluctantly opened. But, I swear to God, if so much a pinky finger slips in, I was going to chomp on that sucker like a Cheetos. As if he could hear my thoughts, he removed his fingers from anywhere near the vicinity of my mouth and continued touching my face, examining me like I was a hundred dollar bill he was checking for authenticity.

"You are indeed a vampire," he said at last, releasing me so quickly, I fell down with a plop onto the floor.

"Yay me," I muttered, ignoring his proffered hand and scrambling back to my feet. Wiping off my now sore bum, I glared at him. "Can I get an official vampire stamp of approval or identification card? Maybe a decoder ring or secret handshake so vamps can stop inspecting my person every time I meet one."

His stone faced expression almost cracked with a smile. "Again, my apologies." He ran a hand over his chin and continued to stare at me, his lips twitching as if he was amused with his inner thoughts. "Come, Melanie, let us get you to the kitchens, shall we?"