The Artist of Ruin by Matthew S. Cox

Author:Matthew S. Cox [Cox, Matthew S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Horror | Vampires | Humor
ISBN: 9781949174106
Publisher: Division Zero Press
Published: 2018-06-13T04:00:00+00:00

15

Rebecca

Consciousness returns the next afternoon and leaves me momentarily confused as to why I have a girl’s arm across my face. Once I remember I’m in Portland, hanging with a couple of Lost Ones who are friendly if a little ‘wild’ for my taste, I push myself onto my side and peer down off the mattress to my iPhone on the floor.

It’s 2:14 p.m. Cool. I can slip out, grab the doll, and probably get back here before they notice me gone. Not that I need to be sneaky or anything, but the faster I get home, the happier I will be. I gingerly extricate myself from the tangle of limbs and slide off the mattress to all fours before sitting back on my heels and gathering my hair behind me.

Being a vampire saves a lot of time. I don’t need use the bathroom—good thing too as there isn’t a toilet down here. I don’t need breakfast, or really even a shower. Because of the Innocent thing, my body still sweats enough that I do need to wash every so often, but I can go at least a week before any smell is noticeable. Considering the sharpness of my nose, it would likely take two or three weeks until a normal person noticed my extreme laziness.

And thinking of vampire BO, I glance over at Emilio and Kara, wondering exactly how sex works with a boy vampire. Like does stuff still come out? Since she didn’t run off to clean up, I’ll guess that’s a no.

Anyway. Eww. I have better things to worry about at the moment.

I’m about done getting dressed when I feel watched. All four of my hosts are up and staring at me.

“How the hell are you awake?” asks Kara.

“What she said,” croaks Mick from the other side of the basement.

“Something wrong?” Emilio forces himself to sit up, but he looks like a damn zombie.

Eek. All three of them kinda do. Grey, drawn skin, sunken eyes, and stiff limbs.

“No. You’re safe. I just wake up early. It’s normal for me.”

“Oh.” Kara passes out.

The guys also evidently get the feeling they’re in no immediate danger, and collapse unconscious once again. I guess someone being in their sanctum and moving around while they sleep scared their subconscious enough to prod them awake.

Before I do something amazingly stupid, I double check the weather app on my phone. Sure enough, it’s raining here. Good. That means I can go outside. I make my way upstairs into an annoyingly warm house. It’s not really that hot, it’s only the sun telling me I’m burning energy to tolerate it. It’s probably in the lower sixty-degree range, but it feels like it’s in the nineties. No sign of any mortal occupant. The professor who owns this house is most likely at the school. Not like universities shut down totally for the summer. I borrow an umbrella from a bin by the front door and step outside into a downpour.

This presents another problem as I don’t really fancy walking a few miles in the rain.

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