The Eternal Kiss: Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire by Trisha Telep

Author:Trisha Telep [Telep, Trisha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Vampires, Horror, Anthologies, Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9781742745244
Publisher: Random House Australia

Ten

THEY WERE CROSSING Atlantic Avenue on the way to the movie theater when Johannes nudged her with his elbow. “What’s up? You’re pretty quiet.”

“It’s nothing.”

He stopped walking and turned her to face him. “Doesn’t sound like nothing.”

“It’s just … you never texted me back.”

“God. I’m so sorry, Lauren. We had this crazy long meeting with some suits today about the go-head with the building plans for the Navy Yards, and I couldn’t get away. It was so boring I wanted to hang myself.”

“Oh. Sure. Okay.”

“That is not an okay face,” he said, tilting her chin up so that she could look into those dark eyes.

Lauren forced herself to look away. “Okay. Um.” She laughed uneasily. “This is so incredibly crazy that I sort of hate myself. But you remember that first night—the guy tagging the building? Well, he left me a note today.”

Johannes’s eyes widened. “What? Are you okay?”

“Yes. Totally fine, but I met up with him, which I know was stupid, but he’s got this insane idea that you and everybody at Angelus House are … vampires.”

Johannes cocked one eyebrow in an amused fashion.

“Okay. Forget I said anything. Totally stupid.”

“Um, you think? Maybe just a little bit?” He lost his grin. “What’s creeping me out more is that he’s been watching you. Especially with all the murders going on. I wish I knew who this guy was.”

Lauren hesitated for a second, but Johannes’s hand was rubbing her back, and she found she wanted his protection after all. “His name is Antonio Rodriguez. His cousin Sabrina was in your program for a while. He said she died.”

Johannes’s face darkened. “Antonio. I should have known.”

“You know him?”

“Yeah. I do. He’s always blamed us for the loss of Sabrina. She was a tough case, kind of like your sister. Hard to save.”

Lauren flinched at the mention of Carla. “What happened?”

“Antonio happened. Sabrina was ninety days clean—she’d been through almost all her steps—and against our advice, Antonio signed her out. Two days later, they found her at the Farragut Houses. Heroin overdose.”

“He told me she was drained of blood, like those others.”

Johannes shook his head. “Heroin. If he’d let her complete the program, she might have made it.” Johannes looked right into Lauren’s eyes and she felt foolish, like a kid who’d been pranked. “Did you know he’s obsessed with vampires? I mean obsessed. He visits all these sites on the Internet, chat rooms. Sick stuff. Sabrina said he was part of a crew that used to call themselves Los Vampiros, and they would freak people out by pretending to be the undead. It was a gang thing. To prove your loyalty, you had to do something pretty hardcore.”

“How hardcore?”

“Like maybe kill somebody. I don’t like this.” He pulled her close and kissed her head. Lauren’s felt shaky. She’d spent the afternoon talking to the guy without once realizing how dangerous he might be. “Lauren, please be careful. I don’t know what Antonio’s mixed up in these days, or how far his crazy obsession has gone.

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