Free vampire for hire 02.5 - vampire nights by J. R. Rain Page B

they don’t just call me a freak.
    They also call me Spider.
    “You need help,” I said, draping an arm over my open car door, letting it support some of my weight.
    She quit looking around and now she held my gaze, and as she did, her heartbeat steadied. She was no longer afraid. Then her eyes pooled with tears, but she did not look away even as the tears spilled out.
    “Yes,” she said.
    “Do you have a ride home?” I asked. I’d learned to never trust tears.
    “I walk.”
    I motioned toward the passenger seat. “Get in,” I said, “And let’s talk.”
    Kindle or Nook
     
     
     
    Also available:
    The Vampire Club
    by
    J.R. Rain
    and Scott Nicholson
     
    (read on for a sample)
     
     
    My name is Andy Barthamoo, leader of The Vampire Club, which meets every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in a small room in the basement of Western Virginia University’s library.
    There are five of us, and we have one thing in common: we love vampires . We love them from the tip of their pointed teeth to the tip of their leathery batwings, devoting much of our pre-adolescent, high school, and college years in search of them.
    You see, we want to become vampires.
    However, we have yet to come across any documented proof that vampires truly exist. Until now....
     
    * * *
     
    On this particular Tuesday night, as I stood before the other four members of the group, I had some interesting news to share. Once all the members had assembled before me, I began the meeting. “Now friends and colleagues, I have asked you this question before and I will ask you again: what is the purpose behind our club?”
    Four hands shot up. I would have expected no less. “Buddy,” I said, pointing to the blond football player in our group.
    Buddy stood, all 215 pounds of him. “To gather evidence to prove the existence of vampires.”
    “Very good, Buddy,” I said, and then paused for dramatic effect. “I believe I have found such evidence.”
    There was a gasp or two. Probably Janice, though she’d never admit it. She had a way of hiding her true feelings, which is why she resisted her no-doubt undying love for me.
    “This past week while doing research in the Virginia Times Library, I came across a newspaper article from the 1820s.” I opened my DayRunner and removed the photocopied article. I cleared my throat and read: “‘Stranger Shot Eleven Times, Dies Two Hours Later—Old man Andrews says he’d never seen anything like that in all his life. ‘Course I’m blind as a bat,’ says Andrews.’”
    “Interesting,” said Juan, pulling at the goat hair on his chin.
    “Now, as you will soon discover, this stranger behaved very much like a vampire.” I looked each member in the eye, stopping a bit longer with Janice and, of course, adding a wink. “And if so, there’s a chance he’s alive today. And I know where to find him.”
    “Where did you get this article?” asked Juan.
    “A weekly newspaper called The Inquireth .”
    “A tabloid!”
    “My assignment didn’t specify what newspaper I had to use—”
    “A tabloid story about a mythical creature. Sure you didn’t confuse it with the Incredible Bat Boy? We can’t accept it as fact, Andy, or anywhere close to the truth,” Juan said.
    “I thought the same thing, until I read between the lines and discovered the writer could not have made this up. He hit too close to vampiric truth. And it was before Bram Stoker, back when vampires were legend and not yet mainstream fiction.”
    “Just read the article,” said Professor L. He smiled and nodded his gray head at me. “And we’ll see what exactly you’ve stumbled upon.”
    Professor L was not only head of the Vampire Studies department, he was its only teacher. This was the only university in the nation that offered Vampire Studies as a major, and it attracted the devout, which was pretty much us four. You couldn’t just spout lines from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to get in. You had to know about Carmilla, Varney the Vampire,