Dead Skin

Chapter 1

I woke up in that kind of hungover sleep daze you get when you've been awake too close to dawn. I could feel the wetness on the pillow and the drool running down the side of my mouth as I wiped it. Typical. Not pretty.

I rolled over and looked at Reese. "Evening, stud."

He brushed the dark hair out of my face and let his hand graze my cheek. "Goodnight, baby." His eyes were dark and halfway open, and he had a sleepy look on his face.

I am in love with the way he looks when he first wakes up. Like the entire world would stop just to get this glimpse I have of him every incredible evening, when the beauty in him wakes to live another night. I could never get enough of him. It was as simple and complex as that.

"Do I get a kiss, too?" a tired voice asked.

Sam. Seriously?! AGAIN?

I sat up and saw him lying on the other side of Reese. "What the fuck, Sam? I told you this shit has to stop. You are such an ancient toddler."

He sat up too and rubbed his eyes. "Sorry. Eloise and I got into a bit of a scuffle again and she kicked me out of coffin."

"Well, next time, sleep on the floor or something. This is the third time this month," I barked.

He reached over Reese and petted my head. "There, there, Lizzie Lou. Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the coffin tonight?"

I slapped his hand away and narrowed my eyes at him in response. "I'm serious, Sam."

He put both hands in the air. "Hey, I helped build this cozy contraption, the least you could do is show a little gratitude now and then."

Okay, he got me there. He did help build the custom, oversized coffin the three of us were now in, and assist in bringing my vision to light. We were on a king-size bed in here.

Don't laugh. This shit is genius.

In fact, Sam wanted to start our own little business, and so, with Eloise's help, we did. Comfy Coffins. Nothing was ever too outrageous for that girl—Sam included.

He bounced up out of bed and opened the lid to the coffin. "Time for this magician to get to work. First, I must visit the missus and see if that violet vixen is still viciously vexed with me. Toodle-loo!"

Oh that's right. I should probably mention here that Eloise and Sam are together. Who would have thought they would be eternal mates?

Seriously, when Eloise first told me she was "drawn" to Sam for some reason unbeknownst to vampirekind, I almost threw up in my mouth a little bit. It was, shocking. To say the least. But, in some strange way, like the Jerry Springer roll-your-lover-up-in-a-burrito kind of way, they just worked as a couple.

Reese grinned and looked at me. "I didn't have the heart to wake him after I realized he was in here."

I climbed on top of him and closed the coffin lid. "That's part of the reason I love you, you know." I started kissing his lips, then his neck. "Because you have such a big," my hand made its way under the comforter and down his stomach where it rested on what I was referring to, "heart." I wiggled my eyebrows.

He started laughing and grabbed my face, then kissed me and rolled me over so he was on top of me. His eyes were burning yellow now.

You know what happened next. Don't make me say it.

Oh, you probably want all the dirty details, don't you? Fine. I'll throw you some blood here.

I came twice.

The first round.

And I didn't know we were robbed until Violet frantically pounded on the lid above our heads and told us.