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

to on a number of occasions. Damn. Art really had kept to himself.

 

Troy rode the subway all the way to the street where Nicole worked, and strolled down the road. The sun was lowering in the sky, not quite set. He got stares. One girl winked and the rest ignored him. When he went into the mall, going up a floor, he lowered his hoodie and peered around, taking in the public smells of the place.

So many hearts beat around him, the nearest ones beckoning to him. It was like calls for dinner. As he strolled up to her floor where the essential oils shop stood, he noticed a pair of lovers making out along the balcony rail, their hearts beating wildly together.  

“Get a room,” a passerby called out to them.

Troy looked to make certain it wasn’t Nicole. Then he chastised himself for thinking that. He found her standing happily on pretty heels with a mini-apron on in the shop, explaining to a customer the benefits of oregano oil. When she saw Troy, she lit up.

Walking out of the shop, once she had signed off from work, they walked together to find dinner, holding hands. She refused to eat in the mall, as it was a place she wanted to be far from once out of work.

“I spend nearly all day there.” Nicole rolled her eyes. “It is suffocating.”

So Troy agreed to go to a sandwich vendor she knew about.  

When they were there, she pointed out Connor and Joshua on the street, who apparently were meeting for coffee.

“Do you see them a lot?” Troy asked, staring after them.

“Similar neighborhood,” she said. “For all I know, the vampire who bit me was the one who threw their party.”

Nodding, Troy thought it was likely. Successful vampires knew how to maneuver their hunting grounds. Matthew was having a difficult time finding them.

But Nicole also knew a lot about those three men.

“Those three guys are a weird set,” she said as they walked down the road, eating their sandwiches. “Brandon doesn’t like Connor much, but the guy has a nose for fun—and Brandon likes fun. Though they became friends after the whole getting bitten together party, it was more like an unholy alliance. They banded together mostly because they didn’t have an explanation for what happened except from ‘crazy’ Dr. McAllister, whom they really didn’t believe until the meeting.”

Crazy Dr. McAllister? The man did not come across as crazy. In fact, the times Troy had been with him, he was a calming, rational voice in the crazy world that was vampirism. He wondered if it was Nicole’s assessment of him, or that of Brandon’s. Clearly Brandon had an influence on her.

“They told you all this?” Troy chuckled, wondering how much she and Brandon hung out.

“Well, this is from Joshua,” she said sheepishly. “According to Brandon, we’re all freaks. Especially you. But according to Dalton, you’re the only sane person here.”

Troy moaned. Now Dalton. Admittedly, he liked Dalton. No way in the world could Nicole resist if Dalton wanted her. He wouldn’t have. But had she been with all of them? He hoped not.

They strolled hand in hand to Troy’s apartment. It was a pleasant walk. The sun setting was beautiful and when they arrived around the time the stars began to poke out, both were ready for some quiet time alone together indoors.

But quiet was not waiting for them in the apartment. Troy had forgotten. Bobo was having a party. And he was not playing jazz.

Altercation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Twenty

 

 

It was extremely rare that Troy missed Art. But he knew that Art would have made quick work of the music choice at this party. And when Troy had come in with Nicole to search out the offending music player to destroy it—or at least change the song—the room was dark with spinning sparkly lights, and there were too many people in the way.

He did not know one of the partiers either.

“Wow!” Nicole shouted over the music, looking around at the crowd. “Your friend Bobo must be really popular!”

Troy doubted that. What was Bobo doing?

Nicole started to dance, rocking with the music, encouraging him to do the same. But in Troy’s super sensitive ears, it was killing—especially the booming of heartbeats. How in the world did vampires stand going into clubs? Was it the pitch of the songs? Or were they actually wearing earplugs? Troy did not mind the jazz, but this techno dance party music was a complete assault on his cochlea.

“Are you ok?” Nicole peered into his face, still rocking to the beat.

“No,” Troy said and immediately searched out for Bobo.

He found him on the roof. People had pointed him that way.

Troy had never used their roof access, and why would he have? Rooftops were dangerous things to bite victims. He had always avoided them. And as a hunted vampire, they were still dangerous—if not more. A vampire did not need an invitation to a rooftop party. He could just sneak in and no one would know the better.

“Bobo!”

“Troy!” Bobo raised his arms into the air, grinning. Next to him was Jandra and a few people from his Green Club, dancing away. Troy recognized that Brooke and that Paula there, both in skimpy dressed. Their aromas and heartbeats were tempting him. “Glad you could make it!”

“What are you doing?” Troy advanced on him, his face pale, as he could not turn red. “A rooftop party? Really? Are you forgetting whom you are rooming with?”

Bobo lowered his arms, confused as he said, “But you said it was cool if I had a party.”

“In the apartment!” Troy snapped. “And what happened to your jazz?”

Bobo laughed. “Are you kiddin’ me? Though I am glad you’ve embraced it, not everyone is as open-minded about the sweet cool tunes of jazz. I had to give into the majority.”

Moaning, Troy clamped his hands over his ears as hearts seemed to beat with the music, compelling him to take a bite. “I can’t bear that noise.”

“You didn’t call it noise before,” Bobo said, peering inspectively into his face. “That kind of stuff played at our school holiday parties.”

Troy begged to differ, sure they played more tasteful music with a lot more meaning, and he could not hear everyone’s heart back then. He looked to the skies then wrapped a careful arm around Bobo’s neck, pulling him away. And though he felt the same pressure around his neck, he did not let go until he had Bobo at the side of the crowd.

Hissing low, Troy snapped, “I’m a vampire, Bobo. Do you know what danger this kind of party is to me?”

“No. Explain,” Bobo said, straight. But the look on his face was not that of an ignorant man. He wanted to hear it from Troy.

Pointing to the sky, Troy said, “A rooftop party is an invite to vampires. Do you really want the Order of Blood to see this party, think they are going to get a small snack and end up finding me? This is like an open invitation to them.”

This time Bobo’s eyes widened. He looked to the skies and swore under his breath. “Damn. And I chose a cloudless night. What I wouldn’t give for rain now.”

Troy nodded. “We have to find a way to bring all these people indoors.”

Bobo cringed, another thought going through him. “Did you say open invitation? Is that a problem we have with vampires?”

Moaning, Troy closed his eyes. “You didn’t…”

Lifting his hands, Bobo was honest in saying, “How was I supposed to know? A party is a party. I invited everybody.”

Groaning, Troy snapped, “Ugh. Bobo. Vampires can only enter a place unless invited. It is the one holy protection people have against them. Home becomes a haven, and vampirism remains a choice.”

Staring at him, Bobo said, “Is that how you see it? Vampirism is a choice?”

Troy nodded. “No one can force you to become a vampire—in most cases. That is why I can still walk in the daylight despite what they did to me.”

“But you put on a ton of sun-lotion in the morning,” Bobo hissed lower.

Troy shook his head. “Sun block will do nothing to save a real vampire. Trust me.”

Bobo looked instantly relieved. Then he dug into his pocket for his phone, as it was vibrating. Troy stared around at the dark sky as Bobo stepped off to take the call, wondering what to do now. He had to guard these people, apparently. Luckily Troy didn’t see anyone who looked even remotely vampiric in the rooftop crowd.

When Bobo came back, he cringed. “I’ll see about moving this party indoors. I’m sorry about the music. Apparently the neighbors are also complaining. That was Rick, and he says this party was a bad idea. We need to break it down before he sends in our friends as cops to bust it up.”

For once, Troy was grateful they were living in property that Rick’s family owned. He went down the fire escape stairs and climbed back into the window to turn the music down so he could announce that someone called the police on them about the noise. But as he weaved through the people once more to find the music player, he spotted Brandon. He was with Nicole. Or rather, he was kissing Nicole, and his hand was on her breast, inside the collar of her blouse. It gave Troy a start.

Immediately Nicole shoved Brandon off, taking his fingers expressly out of her shirt. She hadn’t seen Troy press through the crowds to get to them. “I told you! It’s over!”

But before Troy could dodge past this tall guy with that girl Farrah from Green Club, Brandon had slid his hand up into Nicole’s skirt with a mocking expression. “You’re just saying that because that vampire can bang you harder, and you like rough sex.”

Connor snickered, standing to the side, not interfering on her behalf as he ought.

Nicole slapped Brandon’s hand away.

The man reached more aggressively into her skirt.

Troy grabbed his arm. Twisting it, Troy forced Brandon back from Nicole, then jerked him away, standing in between.

Brandon and Connor paled, both retreating.

“What are you doing here?” Joshua asked from another corner of the crowd, turning from this girl he was flirting with. It turned out to be Alexandra.

“This is my apartment,” Troy said, wondering how in the world these people found it. “How come you’re all here?”

Joshua then looked to where Troy was glaring and spotted Brandon. His eyes widened in shock. He did, however, recognize Connor, as apparently he had come with him. “Some dude invited us at the university. His Green Club was holding it.”

“So you three stupidly stepped into another party housed by a vampire?” Troy bit out. He glared most particularly at Brandon whom he wanted to castrate. “You guys are lucky it was just me.”

Nicole inched close to Troy, holding on to him. She whispered into his ear, “Don’t leave me.”

He nodded back. Then he looked to the closet door. He had a feeling his bedroom might have been invaded and he didn’t want those creeps watch him go up with Nicole there. “Come with me.”

She did, keeping Troy between her and Brandon who glared at him. When he reached the closet, he stepped inside, taking her with him.

In between the shirts and