Blood Born Read Free

freaked out as I was.
    “I just meant that most people would have had some sort of reaction to finding out they had just been bitten by a vampire.” His voice regained some of the confidence it held earlier. “Most people would’ve reacted to finding out vampires are real .”
    “I’m not most people,” I threw back.
    Chance smiled. “No, you’re definitely not.” The anger building in me quickly dissipated, leaving a calming peace in its wake. I suddenly felt like myself again, whatever that meant. I walked away from him, once again feeling embarrassed and out of place. I crossed the cemetery and stood next to the gaping mouth of my open grave.
    “So I’m a vampire,” I said with conviction. Hearing those words out loud almost made me laugh. I mean, if ever there was a sentence you didn’t expect to say, that would probably be it. “What happens now?” Chance stared at me, unmoving. “Do I have to give up garlic? Wear SPF 5000 to go out during the day? Trade burgers for blood?” That last one felt the most accurate. I didn’t know too much about vampires—or if I did I couldn’t recall anything—but I knew they had to drink blood to survive.
    “I don’t know.” Chance’s words surprised and confused me.
    This time, I was the one who initiated our close proximity, moving to stand next to him. “You don’t know?” I repeated. “Why don’t you know?” The scent of his blood was making me lightheaded.
    “Why would I know?” he asked, confused again.
    “Because you’re the one who did this to me!” I stepped away from him then, suddenly furious that he was denying what he did.
    “You think I bit you?!” he snapped back, smiling and very close to laughing. “You think I’m a vampire?”
    “Aren’t you?” I couldn’t tell if he was lying or not. At that moment, it really didn’t matter.
    “Can’t you smell me?” he asked, his voice much calmer and softer. “Can’t you smell my blood?”
    “Yes.” One simple word. That was all I could eke out as Chance moved forward, stopping only inches from me. He was doing it on purpose. I cleared my throat and tried to ignore the pulsing vein in his neck. “Yeah I can smell it.”
    He smiled wickedly. “Then I’m human,” he said, almost whispered. “So no, I didn’t do this to you.” With that he moved away and I felt my body shudder in his absence. I was mad at myself for letting him get to me so easily. I made a quick vow to put a stop to that ASAP.
    “How is me smelling your blood proof that you’re human?”
    “Because if I were a vampire, you wouldn’t have looked at me that way.” His eyes were like knives, carving their way into me with fierce precision. I wanted to look away but couldn’t.
    “What way?” I asked, getting madder by the second that he was being so smug.
    He flashed that crooked smile again and said, “Like you wanted to bite me and have a taste.”
    I did want to taste him. He was right. And he knew it. That really pissed me off. “Don’t worry your pretty little head,” I snapped. “I wouldn’t bite you if my life depended on it.”
    “No? Well, we’ll see how you feel if that time actually comes.” The tone with which he said the words scared me, almost like he knew that one day I would, in fact, have to drink his blood to survive. The thought both made my stomach turn and my mind swim in dizzying euphoria; I disgusted myself.
    “So if you didn’t do this, then who did?” I had to move the subject away from the idea of me biting into his muscular neck. My life, or un life, already had enough problems; the last thing I needed was to attack a stranger, hot or not. I caught a glimpse of Chance’s eyes as he turned away from me. A tiny sliver of fear was hidden there. It left as quickly as it came, but it was there nonetheless.
    “I can’t tell you,” he said, crossing the cemetery away from me.
    “Why not?”
    “Because it’s not my place.”
    “Not your place? Not your place! ” I was