Free Confessions of a Vampire's Girlfriend by Katie Maxwell

your mind.
    I took a deep breath, my eyes still on Absinthe’s as she made a big push at my mind. My knees almost buckled under the attack. Ben!
    Think of the sealed room, Fran . His voice was so soothing, so filled with confidence, it helped push some of the black panic away. I pictured a room made of stainless steel, all rounded corners, the seams of which were welded together. There wasn’t a crack, wasn’t a space anywhere that anything could get in or out. It was absolutely airtight, sealed, and I stood in the middle of it.
    Absinthe’s hold on me snapped just as if I severed a taut rope. She snarled in German, but I didn’t wait around to see what else she had to say. I babbled something about seeing her later, and ran for my life.
    Ben?
    He didn’t answer. I couldn’t feel him, either. I couldn’t feel anything, not one single thing. There was just me in my brain. Ben, are you angry because I woke you up? I’m sorry if you are, but I wanted to let you know that your idea worked. Absinthe didn’t get into my head. Everything’s okay now. Um. Unless you’re mad at me, and then I guess everything is not okay.
    Nothing. Nada . Not one blessed thing. He didn’t even think angry at me, the way he could think a smile.
    I sighed and looked around. There’re not a lot of places to hide when you’re living in a big, open, grassy meadow with a bunch of tents and a cluster of trailers. I had no idea where I was going, but weaved through the trailers until I arrived at one with Norse symbols painted in gold and black. I knocked on the door as I turned the handle and slid through the door, glancing over my shoulder to make sure that no one saw me going into Imogen’s trailer. “Imogen? You up? I really need to talk to you.”
    The shades were up, sunlight slanting into the trailer, highlighting the remains of a bagel on the tiny little table, so I gathered Imogen was up and about.
    â€œYou getting dressed?” I headed for the closed door to her bedroom. “Listen, I have a question for you—Ohmigosh!”
    It wasn’t Imogen in the bedroom; it was Ben. With a bare chest. Sitting up in Imogen’s bed with a sleepy, surprised look on his face. Until I moved and a tendril of sunlight snaked past me into the room, falling on his bare arm. He yelped and jerked the blanket up, squinting at me.
    â€œI’m so sorry!” I tried to move to block the sunlight, but more came in around the other side of me. “Geez, I’m sorry. I can’t . . . stupid sun . . .”
    â€œGet in and close the door,” he snapped. I jumped into the room and slammed the door shut behind me.
    That was when I realized that I was standing in a tiny little dimly lit bedroom with a naked vampire who looked really, really mad.
    He clicked the bedside light on, pushing the blanket down to look at his arm. At the sight of the blisters that streaked up his arm I forgot all about being embarrassed that he was naked. “Did I do that? Oh, Ben, I’m so sorry. What should I . . . Ice, that’s what you put on a burn.”
    â€œDon’t open that door again!” he yelled just as I was about to go hunt for ice. “I don’t need anything; it will be all right.”
    â€œDon’t be stupid; those are like third . . . degree . . . wow.” Ben stroked his burned arm. With each pass of his hand, the blisters lessened until all that remained were faintly red angry marks on his nummy tan skin. “That’s amazing! You’re a healer!”
    â€œNot really.” He slumped back against the wall. “I have limited regenerative powers. The weaker I am, the less I am able to heal.”
    â€œWeak?” I reached out to touch his arm, realized I had my gloves on, and yanked them off. The second my fingers touched his skin I was filled with hunger, gnawing at me, biting me with sharp, painful stabs, a need building within me to take