Heartless

CHAPTER TWO

My hands trembled as I ran them rhrough my hair, which had long fallen lose from the precarious bun it had been previously arranged into. The cool bite of the air felt particularly cold against my feverish skin. I couldn't get his proximity out of my head. 

How could I not notice?

I had been drinking, flirting and dancing with a vampire. Gosh, I was on the verge of doing a lot more than just that. If he hadn't shown me those fangs, who knew where this could've gone? And all of this why? Because he had pretty eyes? 

This was so unlike me.

Could vampires control minds? Because he had felt pretty effin' warm for a walking corpse. His skin had been tan and he was so very alive... Was this all an illusion?

Suddenly, the back door burst open and I jumped away from it, expecting the vampire, his fangs bared, coming to finish what he'd started. But instead, it was Leah's frantic eyes that met mine and she was followed by Becca and Pat, both looking around cautiously. Party mode was clearly off now, and they all looked like what they all were -hunters.

"Thank God!" Leah exclaimed. "You're alright." She gave me a quick once over, double-checking, and only once she was positive that I didn't have even a scratch on me did she relax slightly. "What did he look like?"

"Tall, dark hair, violet eyes. He was tan."

"Tan?" she repeated, one eyebrow raised. Vampires were corpses. They were pale, sometimes almost greyish, but none of us have ever heard of a tan vampire.

"Yeah," I said softly. 

"How did you know he was a vampire, then?" Becca asked, and I noticed that she was completely relaxed. My eyes wandered over to Pat and I saw her resume a similar relaxed posture. I frowned.

"He showed me his fangs," I said.

"You're sure? Maybe it was just a trick of the light?" Pat asked and Leah exchanged knowing looks with Becca.

"Woah, woah there!" I raised both hands in a halting gesture. "I know what I saw, alright? There was a vampire in there and we need to do something about him!"

Leah took a step toward me. "Look, babe, we all know that breaking up with Joshua was hard, but-"

"What the fuck does he have to do with any of this?" I snapped.

"Well, your father told us that you might be fragile after what happened-"

I shook my head vehemantly, disgusted. "I can't believe this. Why are you bringing Joshua up? I saw a vampire, he was there and he was dancing with me. I know what I saw!"

"You were dancing with him?" Leah asked.

"Well, he asked me to dance and I said yes."

"So you danced with a vampire and the frigid cold of his skin didn't clue you in?" Becca said, trying to keep a straight face, but a small smile creeped onto her features.

"Well-"

"You were dancing with a tan, warm-blooded vampire. And he flashed his fangs at you," Leah summarized. 

I realized how it sounded only when she voiced, but it didn't convince me that I've been wrong. I saw his fangs. They were long and sharp and deadly. 

"I'm not fragile. And I didn't imagine it. I'm going home," I said dejectedly, stepping away from them. 

"Maybe it was too soon to take her out," I heard Becca tell Leah and I shot them a cold glare. Leah was looking at me with concern.