Love Bites

Chapter 4

I’m riding in a car with a vampire who seems to have a death wish.

Not only that, but I have no idea where I’m going, and I’m now a murderer. Oh God, poor Colin. The police didn’t seem all that upset that I killed him, focusing more on the fact that I was an undocumented vampire. My shiny new ID is sitting in my purse, which was returned to me when I was released.

Zane drives like a lunatic, and honestly, I’m surprised we haven’t crashed. I suppose that’s the benefit of vampire reflexes. I’m hoping that we’ll arrive at the halfway house soon, and I won’t have to fear for my life any longer. He attempted to start up a conversation when we got into his black luxury sedan, but I was so lost in my own thoughts that he simply let me sit in silence. After that, I was so terrified of being flung out of the car that I’ve been bracing myself in the seat and praying that we get there soon.

A buzzing in my lap makes me jump and slam my hand down on whatever terrible beast is trying—a crunching sound greets me, and with a wince, I glance down to find my mobile now a smashed pile of electronics. Fantastic. I pick it up gingerly and pray to whatever god might be listening that it still works. Tina’s name is on the cracked screen, but when I try to accept the call, nothing happens other than the screen slowly going black.

Something flashes in front of my face, and I flinch away from it, my new reflexes so fast that I smack my head against the window in the process. Cursing, I rub at the pulsing spot on the back of my head, and I slowly realise what I’m looking at. His pale hand is extended, and in his palm is a mobile.

“Here, use mine.” Even though he’s facing straight ahead, I can still see the smirk on his face. He finds my pain amusing.

Looking at him with suspicion, I slowly take it from his hand like I’m afraid he might bite me. “Thanks…” I’m not sure why he’s being nice to me. This is a stranger who clearly didn’t want to mentor a baby vampire, yet his attitude seems to have done a one-eighty.

My phone isn’t responding at all now, but thankfully I know Tina’s number by heart. Quickly typing it into the keypad, I press call and bite down on my lip as I wait for her to pick up. I’m feeling pretty guilty that I’m only just thinking of calling her now, but that is cut off as the call connects.

“Yes? Emmy?” Tina’s voice rings out, loud and laced with panic.

That breaks me. Hearing how upset she is and how much she cares for me causes all of my defences to fall away. “Tina!” I cry out, my eyes stinging with tears that won’t fall.

“Where are you? Are you okay?” Her voice hardens as she gets down to business, always putting my safety first. “I called all the local police stations and none of them had any record of you, so I figured they took you to a special vampire prison or something.”

This is a typical Tina response. She is so organised and practical. I would have been freaking out so much if the situation were reversed and not have the first clue where to look for answers. Knowing that she always has my back fills me with warmth. Even when I murdered my boyfriend in our flat and turned out to be a vampire, she’s still there for me.

Now that she’s asked the question, though, it opens a dam of emotion within me, the words surging from me without control.

“I was arrested for being undocumented. Did you know that I have an ID card now that tells everyone what race I am? I’m a freaking vampire, and because I killed someone, I have to go to a halfway house for training and to learn the rules. They only let me go because I’m an orphan and I didn’t know anything about vampires. My social worker is a troll, a literal troll, and I can’t cry!” Finally taking a breath, I lean back against the seat, resting my feet on the dash and pressing a hand to my face.

“Oh, Emmy, that’s okay, you’ll cry when you’re ready.”

She attempts to comfort me, but I just laugh, no real humour to the noise. “No, Tina, I literally can’t cry.” I poke my eye, trying to invoke some sort of reaction, but other than it hurting, nothing happens.

“It’s a vampire thing,” Zane comments, looking uncomfortable at my show of emotion.

“Wait, was that a man in the background?” Tina asks, her voice suddenly a much higher pitch than usual as her natural protective nature comes to the surface. “Who is he? You sound like you’re in a car. Are you going to this halfway house now? Where is it? I want to see you.” She lists off her questions at a pace so rapid that I almost can’t keep up.

“They won’t let a human into the halfway house,” Zane comments, listening in on my conversation again. “I can’t believe one of your friends is a human. You know we eat humans, right?”

Turning to glare at the handsome vampire, I place a hand over the speaker of the phone. “You can shut your mouth and stop listening to my conversations.” Returning back to my talk with Tina, I take a deep breath and try to remember what Dorine told me. “I have to be assessed to see how much of a threat I am. The voice you hear is Zane. He’s my nosy vampire mentor.”

From the corner of my eye, I see him grin and glance in my direction, but I refuse to look at him. Instead, I flip him off and try to hide the goosebumps on my arm as his low chuckle fills the car.

“They won’t let you in to see me,” I continue, hoping my voice doesn’t betray me and let on that the gorgeous vampire gets under my skin. “However, I’m going to do as I’m told, and I’m hoping I’ll be released after a couple of days.”

There’s a long pause as she absorbs everything I tell her, and I let her without interrupting. None of this is easy to wrap your head around. I am still struggling to believe it, and I’ve been living it. I hear her sigh, followed by her soft footsteps as she pads through our apartment.

“Emmy,” she starts, and I brace myself for whatever hard hitting question she has for me. “You really have a troll as a social worker?”

Laughing, I tilt my head back and stare up at the ceiling, unseeing. “Girl, you would not believe the night I’ve had.”

“This isn’t a social call. We’re almost there.”

I can practically hear him rolling his eyes, and I know I’ve tested his patience long enough. “Tina, I have to go. I’m so sorry about everything. I’ll hopefully see you in a couple of days.” A thought suddenly occurs to me, and my eyes widen with horror at the realisation. “Oh, what do we do about the body?”

I am a terrible friend. I left a dead body in our apartment, and I didn’t have a second thought about how Tina must be dealing with it. She never liked Colin when he was alive, and I’m sure she likes him even less now that he’s decomposing in my bedroom. Currently, I’m going away and leaving her to sort it all out.

As though she can sense my spiralling panic, she calls out to me, breaking through my thoughts. “Emmy, don’t worry. That hot policeman arranged for it all to be sorted. I don’t know what they used on the carpet to get the bloodstain up, but you would never even know someone died there,” she replies, ever practical. “Anyway, you tell that fanged freak to look after you, or I’ll be coming for him.”

I agree and quickly end the conversation, knowing that the “fanged freak” can hear every word she says.

“Thank you,” I say tartly as I put his phone on the dashboard between us. Honestly, I feel so much better now that I know Tina is okay and everything has been sorted. Now I just have to survive the next couple of days. The car begins to slow down, and I glance up to see that we are pulling up in front of an old school. It looks like something out of a horror movie. The brick building is made up of two stories, and while there is nothing in it that makes it look like a prison, like barbed wire or fences, it has an unwelcoming aura around it.

“What is going to happen to me in there?” My voice quivers slightly, and I attempt to hide it with a cough, but I know Zane sees right through it.

Sighing as though this is way more than he signed up for, he twists in his seat to look at me. When I meet his gaze, I don’t see any of the frustration I was expecting.

“They just need to ensure you’re not dangerous and make sure you know how to control yourself because this is all new to you,” he explains, his eyes flicking across my face to gauge my reaction. “Look, they don’t care if you break human laws. You can pretty much do what you like, as long as you don’t bring attention to the supes.”

I had pretty much already picked up that vibe from the officers at the station, but something about what he said confuses me.

“Soups? Why wouldn’t they want me to bring attention to soup?” Blinking, I tilt my head slightly as I wait for him to answer my question, but he just stares at me, apparently dumbstruck.

“You really know nothing, huh?” Groaning, he rubs his hand across his face, muttering something in a low voice about baby vampires and liberties. “Supes, as in supernaturals. The creatures that go bump in the night. Look, never mind, let’s just get you inside.” He looks me over and seems to realise something as he frowns at my lap. “Is that all you have with you?”

Following his gaze, I see that his focus is on my purse. I hadn’t had time to grab anything when I was arrested, and since I hadn’t been allowed to go home after I was released, this is all I have. “Yes, maybe I can get Tina to—”

“No, they won’t let her anywhere near here. Plus, there is a spell on the building to deter humans, so she’ll never even be able to find the place. Don’t worry about it, I’ll sort something out.”

Before I can even think to reply, he’s out of the car and opening my door for me in the blink of an eye. Startled, I lean back, heart pounding in my chest. That is going to take some getting used to.

The corner of his lips lifts in amusement, but he says nothing, simply offering his hand. While I don’t need his help to climb out of the car, there is something mildly comforting about it, my skin tingling at the touch. Once I’m out of the car, he moves his hand to the small of my back and gently leads me inside the building.

We step through the arched doorway, and I’m immediately surprised by how much bigger it seems on the inside. Is this another spell, or just a clever design? Looking around what can only be described as a guarded reception, I start feeling overwhelmed. Sensing that I need a moment to collect myself, Zane directs me to the row of plastic chairs on one side of the room and walks over to the barred reception desk, ignoring the security guard who stands menacingly behind the woman there. She sits behind the protective barrier and looks as though she would rather poke pins in her eyes than help me, but she seems to relax a little when she sees the handsome vampire on the other side of the plexiglass.

The back wall behind her is pretty much made entirely of glass, showing a large entrance hall. A grand staircase made of dark wood takes up a huge portion of the room, splitting into two and following the wall around as it leads up to the next floor. There are several denizens who are floating around, passing through space on their travels, and so far, they are a mixed bag, but all of them have an edge to them that makes me anxious. I’ve not been able to identify what any of them are yet, but one large male had a huge pair of feathered wings protruding from his back.

“Emmy,” Zane calls, and I jerk my stunned gaze from the feathered male on the other side of the window and find my mentor gesturing for me to join him. “The lovely Rachel here has managed to move a few things around and get you a single room.”

Turning my attention to the receptionist, Rachel, I give her a shaky smile, but it’s clear she only has eyes for Zane.

“It was no trouble,” she coos, a large smile on her blood-red lips—a smile that quickly disappears when her eyes dart to me. “You’re low risk, so you’ll be in the Blue Wing.” She gestures to her left before sliding a large brown envelope across the desk, quickly pulling her hand back like touching me might give her some sort of disease. “The rules are in here, along with your timetable for the next few days. After your assessment, it will be adjusted if they decide you need to stay longer. The only visitor you can have is your mentor, and you can’t leave the building until assessed.” She smiles up at my mentor, then rolls her eyes back to me, her expression suggesting that she doesn’t think I actually have any friends.

After the night I’ve had, I don’t have the energy to respond to her snark, so I just take a deep breath and nod. We turn towards the door that will lead me inside, and Zane and myself have to wait for Rachel to buzz us through, the door slamming behind us with a resounding clang.

Zane gives me a quick tour, but it is more just him standing in the entrance hall and pointing in different directions while listing off rooms that I am going to instantly forget. He does take me over to the laundry, though, where I’m able to pick up some simple clothes, towels, sheets, and blankets. With my arms laden with fabric, Zane gestures for me to follow him up the grand staircase, and once we reach the top, I see two signs pointing in opposite directions. To the left is Blue Wing, which is classified as early intervention and low risk rehabilitation, and to the right is the Red Wing, which is the multiple crimes and flight risk unit.

“There’s another unit downstairs that houses the supes who accidentally committed a crime, but their powers are more dangerous than most, or they are mentally unstable,” Zane explains, leading me towards Blue Wing. “That’s a locked unit, Yellow Wing.”

After scanning my key, the door swings open to let us in, and I’m led down a long corridor with many doors on either side. It reminds me of the dorms from college—not that I ever went, but I’ve watched a lot of TV. Zane leads me towards the last door at the end of the hallway, explaining about my key card as we go.

While I’m able to come and go from my unit, the others can’t enter, only having access to their own space. This comforts me a little. The last thing I want is a violent werewolf or some other creature attacking me in the night—although that’s probably what they think about me too. The card doubles as an ID and the electronic key to my room.

I’m dying to lie down and get some sleep. I’ve been awake for over twenty hours, and although I feel physically powerful, I’m exhausted. As soon as my door swings open, I burst through and look around expectantly. It’s tiny, only big enough to fit a small desk, a single bed, and a small en-suite bathroom. This is to be my home for the next few days. My eyes sting with tears I can’t shed.

Zane seems to have some sort of radar that allows him to know when someone is crying, because I can feel him awkwardly shifting his weight from foot to foot behind me. He clears his throat. “Now that you’re in your room and have everything you need, I should leave you to settle.”

I spin to look at him and shake my head. I don’t really know him, and we’re definitely not friends, yet he’s the only constant at the moment, and the idea of being alone is terrifying.

“Don’t leave.” The words leave my mouth before I can stop them, and for once, I don’t care that I sound needy. All I know is that I feel like my life is falling apart. He seems so confident, knowing his place in the world, and I’m just floundering. It makes me want to cling to him, which is the excuse I use to explain why I feel so drawn to him.

Something seems to pass over him, his body becoming still as he stares down at me, his expression serious and intense. It causes my breath to catch in my throat, even more so as he closes the distance between us. A slight frown pulls at his brow, and he looks at me as though he’s trying to work out a puzzle. Slowly, he raises his hand and brushes his fingers along my cheek. “You’ll be fine, and I’ll return in the morning.”

The touch leaves tingles in its wake, and had I not been holding a pile of clothes and blankets, I might have done something stupid like throw myself at him. Swallowing the lump at the back of my throat, I remember one very important thing that I need to ask.

“What if I need to…” I trail off but expose my fangs, which are still extended.

I must look ridiculous, and his expression confirms it, his laugh filling the tiny room. “You fed pretty deeply from the sound of it, and your cheeks are flushed, meaning you shouldn’t have to feed for a while.” Stepping back, he turns to leave but pauses in the doorway. “Oh, a word of advice, stay away from the wraiths.”

I blink rapidly as he leaves my room, taken aback, before hurrying to the threshold and staring at his retreating figure. “Wraiths? They are real? Is there anything from my fairy tales that isn’t real?”

He doesn’t reply, but I know he heard me from the slight shaking of his shoulders. Well, I’m glad he finds all of this amusing.

Sighing, I back into the room and bump the door closed with my hip. I don’t want to meet my unit mates just yet, and I need to feel safe behind a locked door.

Alone, I drop my blankets and assigned clothes onto the end of the bed and lower myself down, taking in my home for the next couple of days—hopefully. I’m happy to have my own space and not share with anyone, but it’s so impersonal and small that it makes me feel even more isolated and alone. Even in the jail, I felt more like myself, but here, I feel more like a prisoner than before.

With nothing else to do, I open the envelope the receptionist gave me and flip through the paperwork.

So you’ve been incarcerated. A practical guide on surviving being locked up— Halfway House Edition.

Snorting, I place the pamphlet to the side, but I’m sure I’ll end up reading it later when the reality of this sinks in. The rest of the files contain a thick booklet on the rules and regulations of the unit, and an explanation on the various rehab programs they offer here. There is also a map of the centre and a timetable with instructions on when I have to be somewhere.

From what I understand, if I pass my assessment and am allowed to go home, I will have to come here as a day patient to check in and continue with my lessons. Eventually, I’ll be discharged once the therapists and my social worker agree I’m safe to fully return to the community.

I drop the paperwork on top of the pile of clothes and start to pace the length of the room. I can only manage six steps before I have to turn back the other way, but it helps me think. Looking at the bland walls, I scrunch up my nose before heading over to the tinted window above my bed. I look out, surprised it’s taken me so long. A quiet gasp escapes me, and a smile curves my lips.

If I’m going to be here for a while, then I’m going to make it more comfortable, and I know exactly how to do that.