The Two Vampires Read Free Page B

in.  The ridiculousness of the situation!  She pretended everything was OK, but it wasn’t. 
    Coming out of her reverie she looked into Daniel’s eyes - he was regarding her closely.  Almost as though he was watching her thoughts.  Sarah shook her head, there was no point dwelling on that now, but she looked down and put some more chicken in her mouth, as tears came to her eyes.  She blinked them back - she would not cry about this again.
    At that point Daniel leant his leg against hers.  Oh my god, oh my god.
    As heat rose up her neck she concentrated on swallowing and looked over at Bea who was now climbing off her chair as Alice tried to clean her with a napkin.  She didn’t move though, she couldn’t move her leg away.  Her leg was tingling delightfully and she had to concentrate to stop herself shaking.  She picked up her glass and took another sip as she looked back to Daniel over it.   He  looked perfectly composed, but just for a moment she had thought she caught a predatory look in his eye. 
    Predatory for her. 
    She felt shocked.  Why would he feel that way about her?  I am a mother.  I’m married.  I live in a small town, and I don’t do anything – don’t even work.  Well, I try to write, but so far I am unpublished.  I haven’t achieved anything.  I am nothing special.
    Trying not to keep thinking about herself, trying to keep things normal, she thought she would take a stab at regular conversation.
    ‘So, where else have you lived in your tour of lots of places?’
    He laughed; a small, but free and heart-warming sound. 
    ‘I actually grew up in the South, near New Orleans, but my father was in the army and we moved a lot.  We lived in a couple of places in America, along with some time in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.  I went to university in England, and since then I’ve spent some time studying at Harvard.  But I wanted a change.  I wanted some peace.  I wanted to try a job I wouldn’t find so taxing so I could focus my time on writing.’
    ‘Oh really, what kind of thing are you writing?’  Sarah was pleased she’d finally gotten him to open up, but was he telling her the whole truth?  Something in his manner caused her to suspect otherwise.
    ‘I’m writing a fantasy story, about vampires and werewolves.’  He looked at her closely, like he was very intrigued to find out how she would take this information.
    ‘How compelling,’ she smiled at him.  ‘I love fantasy, it sounds exciting, I love plunging into a book and exploring different worlds.’
    ‘I plan on setting this book here though, in our world.  I want to imagine how it would impact a community like this if it was besieged by the supernatural.’
    ‘Yes, that would be interesting to imagine,’ she said, yet she shivered, wondering where he was going with this.  ‘You know, I’m also writing a book.’  She looked across, into his eyes, interested in how he would respond.  She was starting to feel more relaxed now they were actually talking, but his knee was still touching hers and she was very conscious of it.
    ‘Really, what’s your subject matter?’ he asked, raising his eyebrows.
    ‘Ghost stories, hauntings and the like.’
    Sarah looked at Daniel, he had just started to open his mouth to reply when they were interrupted.
    ‘Sarah, Megan wants you to go up and read her a story.’
    Sarah jerked her leg away from Daniel, embarrassed as her Dad was looking at them, pushed her chair back and started to rise.
    ‘I think this is my cue to leave.  Goodnight Sarah,’ he said, extending his hand.
    Sarah took it and this time felt a warmth spreading through her body.  She didn’t want to let go, but made herself release his hand and step back.  His attention shifted to the rest of her family as they exchanged farewells and he left the house as Sarah called, ‘Goodbye’. 
    She felt an odd sense of loss.  There had been no word of seeing him again.  But however much Sarah