The first thing that came to mind as Amy waved the smelling salts beneath my nose was that the very creatures that I professed to despise and wanted nothing to do with were now holding me a prisoner. I aggressively pushed her hand away from my face as I sat up and snarled.  She may have been a vampire, but I wasn’t afraid of her.  Not like I was of the fiery eyed beast who’d just commanded that I become their prisoner. She felt too familiar to me. Partly because Megan professed her to be a good friend with a kind heart and partly because she’d been my family physician since before Joseph was born.“I can’t believe you’d do this,” I said as I glowered at her. “How could you do this to Joseph?  He’ll be looking for me soon for a feeding and you know it.  Megan has nothing but praise for you. Does she know this side of you, I wonder?”She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. &l

Amy’s bright smile left her face almost immediately when she entered the lab. “What’s the matter?”I opened my mouth to display my altered teeth. “It’s too late. I’ve turned.”“Too late for what?”  she asked. “You knew that this was going to happen.”“I was researching for a cure,” I lied; although it wasn’t really a lie, since it was common knowledge that I’d been actively trying to find the cure.  I just didn’t mention that someone else had found a preventative and now it was too late for me to take it.“You feel that you might have found it if you hadn’t been forced to do this research, don’t you?”  she asked, sympathetically.  When I nodded, she sighed and said, “That’s possible. Then, again, you could still be struggling for the cure.  As it is, you’ve found a cure for a debilitating

Lucile was a delightful middle-aged woman who was human with absolutely no fear of anything supernatural. She seized every opportunity between courses to babble on about the supernatural families that she’d cooked for over the years. Although most were vampire families, she’d worked for a werewolf and a witch household as well. She made sure to point out that she much preferred the vampires.Dinner was vegetarian, which had been my preference before I became a vampire and was most definitely a must now that I was one. There was something about the protein in red meat and poultry that didn’t settle with a vampire. They could eat it, but the odds were that they’d suffer for it. Since the main staple for survival was blood, and food was a secondary item, most vampires chose to avoid foods that they knew wouldn’t settle well, no matter how delicious it might taste.  I was no exception.Jasper sat so close to me at the dinner table that I

Being a bit superstitious myself, I insisted that we not go somewhere that I’d gone with Max or Evan.  We looked at the list of states that had no waiting period for marriage. Jasper suggested Vermont. I think I would have preferred a warmer climate, but, although cool, the weather was still fine.  So, while I called Megan to explain what we were up to, Jasper hired a private plane to take us there.Megan didn’t express the excitement that I’d expected from her, but then, she’d been a bit subdued since I’d returned from imprisonment. I tried on several occasions to have a private conversation with her about it, but, somehow, we were always interrupted; either by Cynthia or Jasper.  I made myself a promise that I’d insist we talk when Jasper and I returned.I was no longer nursing, so I didn’t have to worry about getting home to feed Joseph.  Even so, I wasn’t comfortable being away from him for too lon

I insisted on going alone to the private airport to pick up Megan and my son. Jasper wasn’t happy about it, but, since he was technically the host, his Southern, aristocratic upbringing required that he stay with his guests. I assured him that I’d return in no time, grabbed the keys, and headed out the door.  I was so muddled by the events of the night that I had to swallow my pride and turn back inside to put on a pair of shoes.Peter came out of the bedroom at that time with Eliza hot on his heels.  Even if we hadn’t heard her moans and cries of erotic delight, just the sight of her would clue anyone in on what had just occurred.  I could smell the sex on them as they passed by me to join Jasper and Thomas at the bar and was mortified to realize that was also the scent that greeted them upon their arrival. Placing Eliza in front of him, Peter seized the opportunity to graze the back of my neck with his fingertips as he walked by while I focu