In honour of Valentine’s Day, I’m participating in the Vampire Bites Blog Hop. Back when I joined up, I had no idea what to do for the  hop. Figuring out that I would think of something by Valentine’s Day, I decided not to worry about it. And I’m glad that I didn’t!

An idea came to me as I was writing a submission for the open call “Love, Lust and Zombies” (which BTW, I love my submission for that!) and the story that you’re about to read is something I wrote quite quickly once its premise appeared. I hope you enjoy it and without further fanfare, I give you…

Love Bites: A Valentine’s Day Misadventure

Sitting propped up against the bar, Kyle turned the viscous red liquid around and around the highball glass, his head supported by the expanse of his other hand. Playing the part of maudlin vampire was something he did very well.

Tonight was no different than any other night. He’d made plans to meet Arielle for drinks and then maybe dinner if the mood came over them, but here he was sitting in the bar, still waiting for her after two hours.

Draining the crimson from his glass, he called out to Norm, “can I have another?”

Norm, the stodgy barkeep that kept this place alive despite all of his undead customers came to stand in front of him. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”

“No,” was all that Kyle could answer as his body slumped in utter dejection.

“You can’t keep drinking yourself into oblivion each time one of them fails to show. You’re drinking me out of all of my infused stock.” Norm paused for a moment to fill the glass, “do you know how hard it is to convince drunks to donate these days? So many of them are belligerent and tend to revoke permission when they sober up…”

Norm’s voice trailed off as he realized that Kyle was caught up in his own world. Knowing there was no use talking to him in this mood, he moved on to serve his other, more up-beat patrons.

Kyle continued to slump even lower on the stool, the rejection of the night deflating his normally overlarge ego. Noting the woman seated to his left two stools over, he turned a glassy stare in her direction.

From what he could see, she was a fairly ordinary woman. Perhaps a little plain in the face, she had a strong pulse in her neck that instantly attracted him. Perking up at the thought of salvaging his night, Kyle momentarily forgot about his woes and attempted to look dashing in his black velvet suit jacket, dark jeans and slightly less than crisp white shirt. Mussing his shoulder length chestnut hair, he took a quick glance in the mirror behind the bar to gauge the damage. Satisfied, he turned toward her and smiled.

She didn’t notice.

Continuing to smile, Kyle cleared his throat surreptitiously.

That didn’t work either.

Wobbly standing on his long legs, Kyle moved to the stool next to her. Seating himself with his back to the bar, he leaned far enough back to be in her field of vision. Plastering a debonair smile across his lips, he waited.

For a long time.

“Can I help you with something?” The words, once they were spoken came out in clipped tones.

Continuing to smile despite his frustration at her attitude, Kyle introduced himself. “Hi, I’m Kyle. Would you like to chat? Perhaps let me buy you a drink?”

“I’ve got a drink, thank you.” More of the same clipped tones.

“How about a chat then?” Persistent; you’d have to give him that one.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I would just like to be left alone. Thank you.” Her attitude and demeanour spoke of something lying just underneath the surface, some sort of pain that Kyle wanted to tap into. If he could just get her to talk to him, perhaps he could score.

“You know, when I want to be alone, I don’t really want to be alone. I just say I do. That way people will continue to bother me until I cheer up. It’s funny how that works.” Kyle was grasping at straws by this point.

Gritting her teeth, the next words came out like chewed gravel. “If I tell you what’s the matter, will you leave me alone?”

“Absolutely.” It was an in and Kyle was willing to exploit it.

“My boyfriend dumped me tonight of all nights. Fucking Valentine’s Day and he dumps me. Me! Can you believe it?” The pain of the rejection was clearly written all over her face and permeated her words.

“Aww, Sweets, that’s terrible! What a douchebag!”

“He is a douchebag…” and for the first time that night, she smiled, her face lighting up through the tears that fell.

“Let me buy you that drink, I swear it will get better.” Kyle turned on the charm as he asked the question, hoping that she would agree.

Pausing for a moment before answering, she assessed him. “Sure, I’ll have a Margarita.”

“Excellent, I love the taste of limes!” A little over exuberant, Kyle wondered if perhaps she would figure out his intent.

“Me too! My name’s Anna, by the way.” Her rushed response gave no indication that she thought the comment was a little off.

Throughout the night, Kyle and Anna talked and laughed, each of them happy for the company. At the end of the night, Anna asked Kyle to walk her to her apartment. It was late and she was a little more than tipsy. To be perfectly honest, Kyle didn’t mind. He was hoping to get a little before leaving her to sleep off her hangover. In the morning, she’d probably not remember much of the night or Kyle for that matter, chalking it up the disorientation and dizziness to her alcohol consumption the night before. It was a perfect plan.

Once at the door to her building, Anna turned to him, her tequila infused breath warm across his face. “I know what you are.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Kyle was surprised that she was being so bold. Most people didn’t have the nerve to call a vampire by its name in this day and age.

“You’re a nice guy,” she answered, teetering on the impossibly high heels she wore. “Wanna kiss me?”

Leaning in, Kyle took what she offered so willingly. Anna clung to him as the kiss continued, her legs getting weak and her mind emptying of thought. Turning her neck to the side, she offered him a new area to kiss.

Kyle hesitated for a moment, pulling back to gaze into her face. Her eyes were serious and from the look of her, she had sobered up slightly during the kiss. Her head was still tilted to the side, an invitation to what she knew Kyle truly was.

Nestling his mouth over her jugular, he extended his fangs and sank them into her willing flesh, sucking up the sweet nectar of her blood..

Then Anna uttered the four words no vampire ever wants to hear…

“Are they in yet?”

© 2013 Julianne Snow All Rights Reserved

So if you’ve enjoyed my little story, please leave me a comment – one lucky winner will receive an e-copy of my book Days with the Undead: Book One. It is about Zombies, but Zombies are undead too!

Also, don’t forget to check out what the rest of the hoppers have offered on their blogs! You can find the list by going here.