A New Year, New Boo Teaser!

Swallowing a large gulp of the delicious drink, I studied my vampire sister carefully.  As always, she did her best to hide the despair living deep inside her.  I’d never been in love, so it was hard for me to understand the bond of devotion that had existed between my sister and her lover, Doc.  But I did know that he’d died to protect my sister and because of that, I held him in the highest of esteem.

“Doc would have liked to see this moment, ya know,” Jill told me, smiling to cover any hint of sadness. “He believed education was important.”

I nodded, swirling my glass a little.  Yes, I knew that about him.  Tina and I had been fortunate because in the year before he was killed, we’d gotten to spend time at the hospital with Jill and Doc and their friend, Charlie.  Certainly, our mother hadn’t provided much of a home for us, so we’d formed a special bond with the three of them.  A bond that was just as strong as—or more likely, even stronger than blood.

“I like to think he was watching,” I told Jill. “From somewhere.” I flicked my hand high as if pointing to the heavens.

Jill shrugged, licking her lips.  A group of drunk college kids walked past us, one of the guys tripping over his feet and falling into our table.  I couldn’t be sure if he’d intended it or if it had truly been an accident because as soon as he caught himself, he shot my beautiful blonde sister a very suggestive grin.

“Hey, you new here?” he asked, letting the rest of his group go on ahead as he lingered to stare down at the peek of her cleavage at the neckline.

“Not interested,” she hissed, then shoved him away. 

He looked a little confused, then made a move like he intended to try again, but this time his eyes met mine.  I gave him a very stern frown and a shake of my head.  Straightening his shirt, he finally decided not to push his luck and weaved ahead to catch up with his friends.

“If there are too many people here, we can go,” I offered my sister, leaning forward to grab her hand in mine.  She yanked her palm away, and I realized too late my mistake.  I shouldn’t have touched her, not at a time like this. 

After swallowing, her eyes met mine, and she smiled.  “I can handle it.  I just fed, so I’m not starving or anything.”

I wasn’t surprised by that.  Charlie kept the hospital stocked with bags of blood so that Jill could get her nourishment without taking from live humans.  But that didn’t mean being in the presence of so many people wasn’t hard for Jill.  She’d never spoken much about it, but I’d done research. 

According to my sources, a vampire could hear the pounding heartbeat and smell the blood of a human just by being in the same room with them. And fresh blood was like a drug to them. If they gave in to that bloodlust, they could get sucked into a dark world that was hard to escape.

My eyes caught movement, and I spotted Tina returning with her drink. Just before she reached us, she got sidelined by a hunky guy in a muscle shirt. 

Typical, I muttered in my mind but turned back to Jill. “Seriously, we can just go back to the hospital and hang there.  Booze will be cheaper by the bottle anyway…”

“This is a big day and we are going to celebrate big.  B. I. G. Big!”

Thanks to Doc, Jill’s lover, she’d managed to fight against the call of the darkness.  They’d both sworn off fresh blood and supported one another in their struggles to keep that vow.  For months after she became a vampire, Jill couldn’t even visit Tina and me because the temptation to feed on us would have been too strong for her to fight.  Even though she’d been “clean,” so to speak, for years, a crowd even this small was a struggle.

Now both of us watched as the beefy man inched in close to Tina’s ear and murmured something that made her cheeks flame.  I could have choreographed what would happen next as she slipped her phone from her back pocket and handed it to him.  She tossed her head back and giggled as he plugged his digits into her contacts.  Instead of putting the phone into her pants, she twisted and presented him with her backside so that he could slide it in for her.

“She’s such a…” I trailed off without finishing, shaking my head before taking another sip of my martini.

Jill began to giggle, then side-eyed me over the rim of her glass. “She really, really is.”