The Vampires' Last Lover (Dying of the Dark Vampires Book 1) (8 page)

That got Tyreen. Or, it was more like it nailed Johnny’s interest and he practically begged her to forgive him and say ‘yes!’ to Peter’s offer, dropping to his knees next to her seat.

“How about it, baby? The hot tub could be a helluva good time, you know what I’m sayin’?” said Johnny, lowering his voice to just above a whisper.

“Isn’t your roommate kind of stuck up?” she asked.

“Stephen just sent me a text while you two were going at it. He’s getting an early start on his trip back to Nashville,” said Peter, smiling wryly. “That’s how I knew to look on the web and see what was up. He mentioned the curfew restrictions would be in place before his original planned departure at six o’clock.”

“All right,” she agreed, glancing at all of us. “But if this shit gets any worse, then we immediately come back to the dorm. Okay?”

“Sure,” said Peter, looking over at me. “We won’t let anything happen to either of you—I promise!”

The two guys shared mutual looks of relief so obvious that they may as well have been high-fiving over the table. This had been their plan all along. Tyreen noticed it, but let it go, as did I. We all could use some fun while the sun was still shining. With only five hours left before it got dark, we would have plenty to worry about, soon enough.

Peter checked the time, surely realizing we didn’t have as long as we would’ve liked. He called the server over and asked for boxes and handed over his credit card. The rest of us protested and offered to give him some money to cover our food, but he just waved us off.

We agreed to meet at Peter’s car, parked in the library parking lot after getting our swimsuits. Our suspicions about this being a setup between the boys were soon confirmed. Johnny just happened to have his trunks in his backpack.

hat afternoon at Peter’s is one of the memories that I most cherish from those days, despite my own feelings that there was almost a desperation to our merrymaking. The hot tub was the perfect temperature and watching the steam rise into the cold air gave the whole afternoon the feeling of a dream. We ended up walking back to campus from his place because the checkpoints were already such a pain. We were being young and wild and carefree in the face of death. This made us oh-so-cool but also oh-so-naïve.

“I told you that you should have just taken an extra set of clothes when we went over there.” There was enough concern in Tyreen’s voice to keep it from being too nagging.

“I didn’t want to get ready for our romantic night at his place. It feels too, I dunno, domestic?” I shrugged.

“I think you took too long getting ready.”

Tyreen stepped in front of the door to our room as she said this, for the moment effectively blocking my escape from our dorm room. I had already showered and changed into my favorite jeans. They were torn on both knees from excessive wear, but I just couldn’t let them go—besides, they made my butt look perfect—and bundled up in the warm knit sweater Peter bought me for my birthday. He wanted to buy me something flashy and expensive, but I told him that I felt it was too early in our relationship for that sort of extravagance. Besides, I had plenty of jewelry, and the sweater would serve me well on a night where the temperature was supposed to dip into the low teens.

“I’ll be careful, I promise,” I assured her, picking up my duffle packed with everything I’d need that night and in the morning. I grabbed my backpack and threw it over my shoulder. “Peter will meet me at the library, and we’ll walk to his place together.”

I offered her a warm smile to sell my confidence.

“All the way to Laurel Ave, huh? Are you both out of your
frigging minds
?” Her concern shifted easily to disgust. She looked so much like my mom right then, with her arms folded across her chest. “Peter should be picking you up right outside the dorm tonight in his car and
not
having you walk
anywhere
on campus to meet him!”

I avoided eye contact and tried to get around her. “He offered to meet me here, but I preferred he wait for me at the library. Besides, there’s still a little daylight, and it won’t be dark for at least the next half hour.”

“Have you looked outside, Txema?” She moved over to the window and pulled the drapes back. Only the last vestige of daylight was visible, and the sun had already set below the western horizon. “It’s gonna be dark in just a few minutes. You
can’t
go out there!”

I understood her worry, really I did. And, she had tried in vain to get us to leave Peter’s townhouse at three o’clock that afternoon. But everyone—her included—was having such a great time in the hot tub that I didn’t want to be the party-pooper. So, it wasn’t until almost 4:00 p.m. that we got out of there. The checkpoints were already getting long so Peter just dropped us off and then turned back around after agreeing to meet me at the library. Johnny split off at Massey Hall by 4:15, and Tyreen and I raced to the fourth floor. You would think she’d cut me a little slack, since I let her win the foot race to our room.

“I can still see some sunlight beyond the tree line, and it’s less than two blocks from here.” I prayed my smile seemed warm and unpretentious. I also tried hard to keep her from detecting my growing irritation. If we kept arguing, soon enough she’d be right, and there wouldn’t be a way to beat the encroaching darkness.

“I’ve still got some time before things get creepy outside.”

There, I said it. I’m sure this was what had her in a tizzy, and by then we had finally learned more about the previous night’s latest victim. The girl this time was slightly older than me and the other victim. She was a graduate student named Mary Pervalus. It took a little longer to notify her next of kin since she was from Nevada and that had delayed the release of her identify.

“The hell you say!”

“Just
trust
me, damn it!”

She stumbled at my outburst. I pushed past her to leave the room.

“Hey! You really shouldn’t do this—Txema,
wait
!” she called after me as I moved quickly to the elevator. I saw her running toward me, but then Jenny Faye stepped out of the laundry room with her arms full of clean laundry. Tyreen was blocked long enough for me to step inside the elevator and push the lobby button.

“I’ll be all right—I promise!” I called back to her.

The door closed as she arrived.

“Call me!” She yelled through the elevator doors.

“I will,” I whispered back. The car was already descending so she wouldn’t have been able to hear me anyway.

I thought about the most recent ‘slasher-killer’ murder, but tried to push it out of my mind to think instead about the night of wanton fun I hoped to have with Peter. I needed it, and prayed he had already finished his physics homework and was ready to deliver.

On the way outside, I noticed a campus cop standing in the lobby with a Knoxville policeman. No doubt, this was the result of the recent curfew orders. Papa would be happy. At least I could count on no boogeymen jumping out of the bushes on the way to the library, since there had to be other policemen patrolling our campus.

Turns out, I was wrong about that.

In the fading daylight, the brisk evening air chilled my face, forcing me to pull on my hood and fully zip my parka up to my neck. Tyreen was right. It was getting dark quick.

I walked as fast as I could without running. Thankfully, the security lights were on throughout the area, and Hodges Library sat just a block away.

As I reached the lawn in front of the Tyson Alumni Center, I heard something. It was a growl, low and guttural. The hairs along the nape of my neck stood on end. It sounded as if the noise came from near the Alumni Center’s entrance. I looked over and saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes that studied me from the shaded alcove. Or, maybe it was just some weird lights, and my heightened uneasiness made them look like something alive and dangerous.

But then the strange yellow lights disappeared, and I saw a hulking form move out onto the lawn, hovering near the hedges by the center’s walkway. It seemed careful to avoid the bright security light high above, on the building’s exterior.

I was less than twenty yards away and starting to freak out a little. I couldn’t afford to keep guessing whether or not the thing was real or just some trick played by my imagination.

So I ran. Ran like hell. Ran like hell despite lingering stiffness from my September injury and a muffled scream stuck in my throat. I may never know for sure if the thing pursued me, but I could’ve sworn I heard something scampering across the lawn, its clawed hands and feet tearing at the frost-covered grass already dead from the coming winter.

I didn’t chance a look behind me as I sprinted across the street to the library. No cops, neither campus nor Knoxville’s finest, were in sight. And most everyone else had the good sense
not
to be outside. Just one dumb ass: me.

Thankfully, Peter was there. His Camaro sat in the parking lot. He must have decided it’d be better to drive—at least one of us had come to our senses. Two if you counted Tyreen, but I was still mad at her so she didn’t count. The custom cherry-red paint and white racing stripes glistened under the streetlights. I started to slow down, but something else joined the chase from my other side.

I saw this one, at least peripherally. And I did scream. Something huge and hairless loped on all fours as it pursued me. Its eyes were orange, like two burning fires, and long fangs protruded from the sides of its mouth like a saber-tooth tiger.

I thought it might veer toward me and try to cut me off, but the head start I had proved enough. I raced up the stairs to the entrance, which unlike the Alumni Center was well lit. Before I stepped through the front door, I looked back at the parking lot. It was deserted. A cool breeze brushed against my face as I listened carefully. But, I heard nothing beyond my labored breaths and thudding pulse.

I was still listening intently when someone grabbed my arm. I lashed out and my fist connected with flesh. I drew it back for another swing.

“Whoa! Hold on there, girl!”

Peter rubbed his shoulder and gave me an exaggerated look of pain. I hit him again, harder, and he grimaced for real.

“Serves you right for sneaking up on me!”

“Hey, I thought you were just standing here, waiting for me to finish my physics research,” he said, backing up in case I hit him again. “I just now came downstairs, since everybody else has already left for the night.”

“You scared me, asshole!” I scolded him, sort of playful, sort of not.

“Well, are you ready to get going? What in the hell were you looking at anyway? Were you running?” He looked out into the parking lot.

“It’s nothing. I’m ready to go.”

I took a cautious step down the stairs. There was still no sign of my pursuers. Maybe it was just a couple of wild dogs on the loose (although larger than any I’d ever seen), and the rest of what I saw had been added by the wild thoughts circling around in my head the past few days. I offered a silent prayer that it wasn’t predatory mutant vampires searching for a certain female of unusual Basque descent.

“Would you mind if we took your car to your place, instead of walking?”