Free Drawn to a Vampire by Kathryn Drake

close.  His hands were on me.  My nose was near his neck.  What was it about him?  His blood … it didn’t smell like everyone else’s.  No … it smelled like Adam’s.
    Shite.
    I looked into his eyes in shock.
    “Are you…?”
    He nodded, twirled me around … and then he was gone.
    Shite tripled.  I’d just met another vampire for the first time.  Maybe not all the killings were by Adam.  How many vampires were in this city? 
    As he left I looked the way he’d gone and saw a girl from college.  I quickly turned my back on her, praying she hadn’t seen me, and headed for the exit, where I literally collided with Adam.
    “Hello Marilyn,” he said, smirking.
    I caught my breath when I recognised him.  He looked just the same, except perhaps more smug.  I narrowed my eyes.
    “You’re a bastard, you know that? I said.
    He nodded, smiling slyly.  I wanted to say, ‘Fuck you’, kick him in the balls – and leave – but I figured that probably wasn’t the best way to get him to stop killing people.
    “I need to talk to you,” I said.
    He shrugged.  “Not sure there’s much to say, but sure.  Are you bringing the drinks?” he said, eyeing a young girl walking by.
    “No.”
    He gave a mock frown, and said, “Only kidding.”  I was pretty sure he wasn’t.
    “Can we go somewhere, err, quieter?” I asked.
    He shrugged again.  “Sure.”
    I tried not to roll my eyes, he was ‘sure’ annoying now … had he been like this before, only we’d been in such a lust filled daze I hadn’t noticed?
    We walked out of the club, through a few streets, and then down to the canal.  We walked in silence.  We sat on concrete steps by the path.  It wasn’t completely deserted, there were odd groups walking towards clubs further down the river, but we had the anonymity of darkness in our favour.
    I sat there and turned to look at him.  He stared out at the water.  He was still good looking, but there was something different about his appearance.  Maybe it was just his expression, which was harder.  I wasn’t sure.
    “Did I do something … wrong?” I asked.
    “Ha!  Is this a breakup talk?”  He laughed.  Not in a good natured way.
    “I can’t help but be interested,” I said bitterly.  “Why did you do it?  Why did you take that risk?  And why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?”
    “Are you sure you want to know?”
    “Yes.”
    “After I found out what you were … I was so excited.  I thought it was my way out, so much more than I’d been looking for – a whole new life – a whole new existence!”
    “But how did you know … that what you did … that it would work?”
    “I didn’t, but I knew it was worth the risk.  I was bored of life.  I didn’t want to go home.  I wanted an adventure, and this is the ultimate adventure.”
    “And why didn’t you say goodbye?”
    “As if that isn’t obvious – all your feeding off animal blood nonsense – it was driving me insane.  I knew I needed to feed off humans, and I knew you’d try to stop me.”
    “Too right.  So … is that what you’ve been doing … feeding off humans?  Killing people?”
    He nodded.  He looked sly and proud.
    “You make me feel sick.…”
    “Oh really?  What if I do this?” he said, and he ran his hand up my leg and grinned at me – his eyes twinkling.
    I pushed his hand away.  “You know that shit doesn’t work on other vampires.”
    He shrugged.  “Oh well.”  He stood up.  “I’ll be seeing you.”
    I stood too.  “Hey, you can’t leave!  We need to talk more.”
    He stalked down the paved path by the river.  I ran after him, and grabbed his arm.
    He turned at me and shook my hand off, his eyes blazing red.
    I stepped back.  “You can’t be like this.  Come back with me,” I pleaded.  “I’ll help you learn to feed off animals again.  It really isn’t that bad when you get used to it.  It’s good.  It’s better than this,” I said, opening my