Once Bitten, No Longer Shy by Julie Steimle (chrome ebook reader txt) 📕

“What the SRA aspires to be,” Tom said with a wicked, crooked grin. It unnerved the three men and the vampire, along with Cameron.

The vampire pointed to him. “You’re not human.”

Grinning, Tom shot back, “Neither are you.” He then took off his glasses revealing his orange eyes. “But I’m not a threat to anyone who is decent and wholesome.”

Troy broke into a snort. Tom’s words were technically true. Imps were not threats to people who resisted temptation.

“What is the deal here?” said one of the three. “Where are the others?”

“In the other room getting orientation packets,” Troy said.

“How do we know that?” one of the men demanded.

“We can bring them out again,” Matthew replied, standing up. He looked to Troy. “These three are also victims. I hear no ulterior motive in them.”

Troy nodded. He then walked to the door and knocked on it. Out came Jessica who nodded with a smile and then said to Jane, “They’ve cleared the room. It’s safe now.”

“Oh, thank heaven!” one of the women inside said.

“But I’m still bleeding,” another called out.

Jessica peered out, taking in the vampire Steve and Cameron. “Well… we do have a few vampires seeking honest freedom out there.”

“Can you trust them?” the businessman inside snapped.

Grinning at him, Jessica stepped out of the room. “Yes.”

They followed her out, less boldly.

Troy took in the entire group, counting heads. Four women, five men, and two vampires—not counting himself or Mr. Lenox. Not bad for a first gathering.

Chapter Thirteen

They arranged the chairs in a circle so they could hold their first meeting a bit like an Al-anon gathering. Mr. Lenox led first by example. He introduced himself and then told his story about how he had become a reluctant vampire—a vegan vampire, he explain to the others. That got him a few chuckles though some of the bite victims eyed him suspiciously. After his story, he led a hand out to Troy for his turn.

“Hi. I am Troy Meecham. And I am sure I told my story already, but here we go again…” Troy said. “I was bitten by my father and mother when I was twelve. They had just barely become vampires, and… believe me, it was a nightmare. I escaped and was living on the streets until I was found by Officer Johnson’s father here,” gesturing to JJ, “who is also a homicide cop who also knows about the supernatural realm.”

Attendees drew in breaths.

“He took me to a safe place where I could grow up protected from vampires. But since, my ambition has been to find the cure for the eternal bleed from the vampire bite.” Troy shook his head. “I’ve been avoiding vampires up until they found me a month ago where they—the Order of Blood, including my father—forced the blood down my throat.” He paused with a look to Matthew and Tom, hardly looking at those from the Seven. “My friends tried to save me, but did not get there in time. And to be honest, when I realized that I was turning into a vampire, I tried to have the sun kill me. I waited for the dawn.”

More in the group drew in breaths.

“I did not want to be a vampire. I didn’t want to live in the darkness, and I certainly didn’t want to drink blood.”

Many nodded, understanding with sympathy.

He led a hand out to the person sitting at his left, indicating they all would go clockwise around the circle.

The man at his left lifted up a hand and said, “Hi. I’m Cameron Ross, and uh, my story is similar to Troy’s, but I am not a bite victim. I guess how it happened was, I was being stupid—because I somehow provoked a pair of vampires while I was out clubbing. When I was waiting for an Uber, they jumped me outside, dragged me into an alley and force fed me vampire blood. But I managed to throw it up. And for the record, I stabbed one with some chopsticks that I had in my bag leftover from dinner.”

They drew in breaths. It wasn’t so much that he kept chopsticks in his backpack, but Troy thought it was weird. Who did that?

“I wasn’t aiming for the heart.” Cameron chuckled painfully. “I never actually believed in vampires until they bit me—and even then, I thought they were just lunatics and…” His voice drifted.

“You’re not a killer,” Matthew said, nodding. “So you weren’t trying to kill him.”

Cameron nodded ruefully. “Yeah…. The thing is, I thought they were these lunatics poisoning me. But after my body changed and I burned in the sun the next morning, I realized it was real. I can still walk in the daylight, but I do have these cravings which, thanks to Dr. McAllister, I can deal with.”

“What did you do to offend those vampires?” Steve the-actual-vampire asked, curious.

Looking to him in earnest, Cameron said, “Nothing really. We got into a debate about music and stuff, and I said something that, I dunno…”

He didn’t say any more. Matthew pressed his lips into a line, repressing a chuckle as Cameron’s unsaid thoughts were clearly amusing, but innocent. After an awkward silence, him looking ‘done’ the curly haired woman at his left spoke.

“Hi, I’m Alexandra Smith.” She then took a moment to formulate her words, thinking while brushing her thick curls from her face. She appeared to be a friendly looking sort of lady, average, about in her late-twenties, early-thirties with toast colored hair, not quite brown and yet not exactly blonde. Somewhere in the middle. Her brown eyes were also a lighter shade. She had that almost forgettable look about her, the kind of girl who could stand in for anyone as an extra in a movie—except that she wore a turtleneck masking a large bandage as well as a crucifix on a chain around her neck.

She finally said, “My friend and I went out at night a lot, sometimes clubbing, sometimes drinking at bars to meet men. Sometimes just to concerts. I didn’t know at the time we were being stalked or how we attracted a vampire. Neither she nor I believed I them. We carried pepper spray, and we were cautious to stay in lit areas to keep away from the creeps….” She sighed shaking her head as her mind went over the past. “But, uh, it was just one mistake—a short cut—”

An audible ‘Oh’ came from a number of them, including Troy. It was just one mistake that seemed to get them all. His was breaking his own rules and staying out late.

“Yeah,” she chuckled painfully. “Real dumb. The vampire who was stalking us cut us off in an alley,” looking to Cameron, “and he attacked me first.” Alexandra closed her eyes. “My friend pepper sprayed him to help me, and he lost it. He let go of me and just sprang on her—” she choked on a sob. “—and tore out her throat. But he was blinded, so he could not see me, and I ran to find the nearest cop. He was gone when police and I got back to where my friend was still lying in blood, but dead.” She sniffed back tears. “And the police, when he saw my bite, took me to the hospital while my friend was taken to the morgue and we informed her parents. The police said it was a serial killer who did it. But at the hospital, they all referred me to Dr. McAllister who treated my wounds and reassured me that what happened was real, that it wasn’t just a serial killer.”

That made sense, and several of them nodded.

She then shrugged to say ‘that was it’, digging into her purse for a tissue, and led out a hand to the beautiful woman sitting next to her. That woman was leaning near her as if the presence of another woman gave her safety. This woman swallowed a breath, nodded to herself and said, “Hi. I my name is Nicole Collins. I was bitten on a date. I was just making out with a guy who I met on Tinder, and it got rough. The next thing I know, he’s biting me and I’m bleeding. I pushed him off and had grabbed my stuff and ran away. I went to the police to report him, and they referred me to the SRA—”

Matthew exhaled with a cringe, and so had Tom and Troy. The others watched but did not react so vocally. She looked to them appreciatively.

“You understand,” she said, verifying it with a nod. “You’ve had run-ins with them, I’m guessing.”

“Several,” Matthew replied, nodding sympathetically. “They’re unscrupulous.”

“Well, they tried to use me to catch vampires,” she said, shuddering. “Like bait.”

“Oh…” Troy could not hold it in. He remembered when they had tried the same thing with him. He asked, “And are they still bothering you?”

She nodded emphatically to him, her gaze desperate. “Yes. They’ve included threats now—something about me aligning with the devil… which I never did. I mean, come on. I was on a date and I had no clue. He was a hot guy I met on Tinder. It was like any other date until it got weird.”

Daniel nodded with a look to Andrew. “Do you have names and contact information of the SRA agents harassing you?”

“Do you still have his Tinder info?” a pale man with nearly white hair standing in the back of the room muttered, listening. Art whispered to him, nodding about something. Troy did not know who he was but assumed he was that man, Semour, who was supposed to look related to Tom.

“We can get them off your back,” Andrew added, explaining. “So they’ll leave you alone.”

“You can really do that?” Nicole asked, likely to weep for joy with the way she nearly bounced in her seat, though her eyes traced to Semour as if to say the vampire’s Tinder account was fake, and she had already gone that route, long past reporting him.

Andrew and Daniel both grinned. Peter smirked with a wink. “Sure can. It is part of our service.”

She settled more comfortably in her seat, pleased with hope.

After a bit, the next person spoke, the first of the threesome of men that had come together.

“Hi. I’m Brandon Turner. I’m here with my new friends, Conner and Josh. Uh…” Brandon, who was probably in his twenties, barely out of college or still in college, shifted awkwardly in his seat, clearly struggling for a succinct description of his plight, as he obviously did not want to reveal too much. No one in there was yet ready to trust the others with their stories. “Um… I guess like Cameron, we stupidly upset some vampires. We were together when we met them.”

“In our defense,” the guy in the middle of them interjected, raising a finger, “We all thought they were weirdo LARPers, like those guys who ran from here.”

Those who had gone to Gulinger cast those three men wan looks. The words of Rick echoed in Troy’s mind quoting his father, Mr. Deacon, “You have to be a special kind of stupid to get bit by a werewolf.” It clearly applied to these vampire victims. Those from Middleton Village, those of the Seven, shook their heads as if calling anybody a