Free Sweet Blood of Mine by John Corwin Page B

breath.
    "You smel delicious."

    I smiled and prayed my shirt was covering up my body's reaction to her touch. "Yep, it's a great time of year." We were walking toward the side parking lot of the building. I wondered if maybe I should ask her to go with me somewhere to grab a bite to eat when something like warm wet sandpaper rasped up my arm and to my shoulder. I snapped my focus to the aforementioned shoulder.
    Stacey was licking it.
    "What are you doing?" I asked and jerked away from her. It wasn't that I minded a girl licking me, but something was just plain wrong with the way she was doing it and the way her tongue felt.
    Her eyes stared into mine. Her verticaly-slit pupils widened into deep black swirling pools. I felt myself losing a grip on consciousness. My vision snapped again and I staggered backwards, thankfuly breaking the hypnotic embrace of her eyes.
    "Your kind is so luscious," Stacey said in a low purr. "So sweet. But so hard to convince."
    "My kind of what?" I said backing away as tendrils of cold fear spread through my stomach and into my chest.
    "Sweaty fat boys?"
    She bared her teeth like a lion about to pounce.

    She bared her teeth like a lion about to pounce.
    I ran.

Chapter9
    Usualy I wouldn't flee from cute girls, but this time I was wiling to make an exception. Something was seriously wrong with this chick. I huffed and puffed and made a frantic beeline for my car near the back of the dark parking lot. I looked behind me. Stacey was nowhere to be seen.
    I stopped and doubled over as an acute hitch stabbed into my side.
    My legs felt like molten rubber. I cursed Victoria and her hardcore workout. I cursed my terrible physical state. As I panted like a dog in a heat wave, I scanned the gym parking lot for any sign of Stacey. Was this a joke?
    Was one of Katie or Brad's friends punking me? Anger scoured the fear from me. I clenched my teeth. I was wiling to bet by the time I got home, there'd be a YouTube video of chubby me fleeing from a girl. Those butt sphincters! I looked around one last time but Stacey—if that was her real name—had vanished. I clutched at the stitch in my side and hobbled for my car.
    A warm hand touched my neck. I shrieked like a little girl in a helium factory. Stacey stood behind me. Just great. Now they'd have video of me screaming too.
    "You think this is funny?" I yeled. "Who put you up to this? Katie? Brad? Harry? Nathan?"
    Stacey's ful scarlet lips stretched into a languorous smile. Her pupils resembled vertical black slits in a sea of sparkling amber. Whoever had done her makeup had done a great job. I realy needed to get them to help me out for Haloween.
    "I am unacquainted with these people of whom you speak. Perhaps we could continue this conversation at a more comfortable location." Her British accent was even more clipped and proper than before, making her al the creepier.
    "Ha, ha," I said, using the ful brunt of my extreme wit. "Nice act, but you're not fooling me anymore." I turned to walk away.
    Something like hot steel clamped onto my arm and spun me around. Stacey opened her mouth in a broad grin.
    Correction: She bared her teeth. She pressed me against a black SUV. I struggled uselessly in her iron grip. This wasn't right. Her smile widened to reveal long sharp canines. Was she a vampire? She sure as hel wasn't a mermaid.
    Also, I was almost a hundred-percent sure someone wasn't punking me now. This chick was for real and I was about to die or become fataly anemic.
    "You smel divine," Stacey said. "A pity I couldn't convince you to accompany me to my home. I would so enjoy taking my time with you. Your kind is exceptional, so much better than ordinary kine. So raw and emotional."
    I didn't know what in the world "kine" meant. It wouldn't matter shortly. My track record with women was about to get markedly worse. Or maybe being sucked dry by a vampiric hottie was a decent way to go. Except I wouldn't be around to brag about it, which was kind of