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

what those death angels had told her when they snatched her. According to the letter she wrote, they told her that she was to gain redemption through this death angel service.”

“Redemption?” Troy was confused.

Rick nodded. “Yeah. Eve is a demon. A vimp.”

Troy perked up. “I’ve heard the vampires talk about that. What’s a vimp?”

Seeing his interest was sincere, Rick said, “A vimp is an impossible demon. It is the result of an ancient witch curse set to destroy the Holy Seven. An ancient coven of witches created a monster to hunt down the Seven in each generation, one born every three hundred years with a three-hundred-year life span. My friend Abey calculated it. Eve is the thirteenth incarnation of the vimp. And he thinks that Eve is supposed to be the last. He also thinks they are supposed to be the last Holy Seven before the End Days. Or rather, he thinks these are the End Days as there are eight in the Seven again, just like in the beginning.”

Staring, Troy felt more shivers. He barely asked, “Is that really true?”

Shrugging, turning down a road, Rick replied as he steered in the morning traffic, “I don’t know about it being the End Days or anything like that, but I do know that Eve is incredibly powerful. I also know she is extremely good. If anyone deserves a chance at redemption, it is her.”

Troy recalled hearing once that Rick had had a crush on this Eve McAllister. Troy had never met her until now, but the rumors of her made him curious. Of course, after Troy had encountered the werewolves of Wolverton and had heard of Rick’s temptation, Daisy, Troy wondered what attracted him to both women as they were complete opposites. Troy had even briefly met the secretly famous Audry Bruchenhaus (a sporty, bushy-haired vegan) whom Rick was trying to protect by staying away from her, but was clearly attracted to. After finally meeting all three women Troy had come to the conclusion that his werewolf friend was simply attracted to women, as all three were entirely different. It was like that earlier crack Tom had made about elves to Rick. Rick had flirted with an elf during a Macey’s Day parade ages go when they were kids at Gulinger. The only girl Rick did not seem interested in at all was Selina Davenport, their classmate and a New York debutante whom most guys would have given his right arm to have interested in him, but she was totally hung-up on Rick. They were in the same social strata, after all.

“She deserves happiness,” Rick muttered, meaning Eve.

“With Hanz,” Troy said, just testing

Chuckling, Rick nodded. “Yes.”

“Even though you like her?” Troy said.

Peeking to him, Rick shook his head. “It was a crush. And she always just thought of me as a friend.”

Troy could hear his pain, though. It was one relationship Rick could not buy, apparently.

“But she is madly in love with Hanz, and he deserves her,” Rick said. He then chuckled to himself, sighing. His thoughts did not seem to be on Eve though. Perhaps his pain wasn’t about Eve at all.

“What about you?” Troy asked. “Find anyone yet?”

Snorting, Rick said, “Back at you, man. I haven’t heard about you with any girls lately. Too much into your research, or are you just not into that?”

Troy blushed. Rick was usually a thickhead about stuff like that.

“Oh.” Rick gripped his steering wheel a little tighter. He then whispered, “Does Randon know?”

Nodding, Troy did not speak. It was embarrassing.

“Does Silvia know?” Rick asked, his cheeks coloring, understanding him.

Troy shrugged, then nodded. “Probably.”

“And Matt and Tom have been keeping it a secret?” Rick murmured as he knew both Matthew and Tom could hear Troy’s unspoken thoughts and temptations.

“They were keeping me safe,” Troy said, admitting. “You know how intolerant some of the guys at Gulinger were just about ghoulie stuff. PE would have been hell if people found out.”

Rick nodded. He then peeked sideways at him and said, “But in high school you…”

“I know,” Troy replied, hands up in surrender. “I’m also attracted to girls. It’s just…”

“Randon was that important to you,” Rick said, nodding, his face now pink from embarrassment on Troy’s behalf. Did he actually think he understood? Could a guy like him understand? He had a she-wolf who would jump into his bed in an instant. Girls who wanted his money would flock to him.

Nodding more, Troy sighed, wishing Rick did not have to be his confidant. “But Randon is as straight as you can possibly get, and I didn’t want to ruin what friendship we had so…”

There was an uncomfortable silence.

“Besides, he is happy with Silvia,” Troy added. “I mean, man, he glows when she is around. They’re great for each other.”

“But you envy her,” Rick said, echoing Troy’s pain as if it hadn’t been his fault for introducing them in the first place.

Troy nodded. Of course he envied Silvia. And Randon still wanted her despite being advised against marrying a witch. “I want him to be happy.”

Rick patted him on the shoulder, then looked at his hand as if he felt awkward. But with a shrug, Rick then ruffled up Troy’s hair the way Tom would.

Troy shoved him off.

“Don’t stress over it too much,” Rick said, putting his hand back on the steering wheel. “Sometimes the best thing to do is to step aside and sacrifice a want for the health and happiness of the people we care about.”

Troy got the increasing impression Rick was not talking about him or Eve. In fact, Troy had the suspicion that Rick was actually long over Eve, his mind on something or someone else. Honestly, he hoped it wasn’t Daisy. Rick’s addiction to that she-wolf Daisy had been kind of freaky. Unhealthy. Nothing good could have come out of that relationship.

When they arrived at the building, Rick pulled into the parking garage underneath. He glanced to the security cameras, sniffing the air for foreign smells. Troy listened. There were only five near heartbeats. There were two further away. Once Andy parked and let out Art and Hanz, both of who were rubbing their eyes and staggering from exhaustion, Rick led them to the elevator. Andy lingered behind them, on guard with his hand on his sword hilt.

Security cameras were everywhere.

In the elevator there was a camera. Troy peered at it when they stepped in. Out loud he said, “Do cameras pick up vampires?” 

Rick shrugged as the doors shut to carry them up.

“Digital ones do. So does the stuff saved on magnetic tape,” Hanz murmured groggily, nearly sleepwalking. They felt their stomachs drop as the elevator lifted them up the floors. “Old film doesn’t, though. According to Eve, the silver in it prevents vampires from being seen. It’s the same with most mirrors.”

Troy looked to him, blinking. Eve had told Hanz a lot. Troy knew about the mirrors, and he had heard that about film. But he was never sure about digital film.

“So…” Troy wondered what he could ask. “She could only be photographed on digital film?”

Hanz leaned tiredly against the elevator wall, exhaling. “Yeah. So when we were getting pre-wedding photos done for the invitations, we had to make sure digital was used. The photographer wasn’t happy, since real film has better quality. Though Eve said there was chance that because she was half imp as long as she was touching me she might be visible, Eve did not want to waste his money or time with the chance that none of them would turn out.”

Troy was amazed. Half imp. He really had no idea what it meant for someone to be half vampire and half imp. He knew Tom Brown as a half-imp, and that was chaos-freaky enough. He murmured, “How did she not know what she was for as long as… what was it? Fourteen years old?”

Hanz glanced once at Rick then said, “As far as I know, according to Eve and her old history teacher who is a former vampire hunter, Mr. McDillan… um, her birth father—who was a vampire—had put a suppressive spell of some kind on her making her mostly feel be like everyone else. Hearing it creeped me out so much, I didn’t really want to know the details.”

Nodding on that, Troy could not blame him. Vampire magic wasn’t just frightening. It was disgusting. It involved a lot of blood.

“Eve lost her shadow and reflection when she was fourteen when it wore off,” Hans mumbled. “She had not even seen or heard imps until that Halloween.”

“Halloween?” Troy felt chills run along his neck and arms. Why did it always come back to Halloween?

Hanz yawned, nodding.

They reached the floor. Stepping out, Rick led the way and unlocked the door to the penthouse. Troy’s mind was a muddle when he went in. He felt as murky-minded as Hanz and Art looked.

“Ok, I’ll get you all something to change into,” Rick said as he turned on the lights. “If you are hungry or thirsty, the kitchen is open. Take whatever you need. The bathroom is into the hall and on the left. I’ll pull the curtains closed to cut out the light. If you need the phone and don’t have one, we have a landline you can use.”

Rick then went into the rest of the house, getting out blankets and pillows from a closet. He then went into a backroom, showing Hanz and Art to where they could sleep. Troy felt his pockets for his cellphone, immediately remembering it had been thrown out a car window. He had no one to call, but he regretted that he had to replace the phone. Troy and Andy remained in the living room, both exhausted, but also too tired to quite move from where they stood. Andy then eyed him and said, “Are you going to be all right?”

Troy looked to him and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Coming in little closer, that tall redhead said, “Those vampires might still be out to get you after this, especially because we interfered. Do you have any way to fortify against them? Do you need to change apartments?”

Stiffening, Troy’s mind rippled with realization that of course his battle with the Order of Blood was not over. It was just taking a break. Those vampires would be looking for him. They would want to see if he died or survived. And if they found out he had survived and was not living as a vampire, they were sure to kill him.

“Where do you live?” Andy asked.

“Valhalla, New York,” Troy murmured, gazing dizzily around himself at the Deacons’ penthouse. It was rather Spartan except for one huge wolf painting on one wall. There were no photos of the family at all, unless that wolf painting was of one of them. “In a studio apartment with lots of windows and… it will reek of garlic.” He chuckled to himself at the irony. How could he go back now?

Andy choked on a laugh, nodding. “Of course. I understand. You were guarding yourself. We can arrange for your friend Randon, and Silvia, to go over and clean out your place. We can have you moved. How much of your research do you have left for your doctorate?”

Sighing, Troy mumbled, “I was…” he shook his head. “I was on the cusp of a crucial discovery. But the way I left the library… I… I broke in to read documents I was not allowed to touch, but needed to handle.”

Nodding, Andy smirked at him as if to say it was customary. That smirk, for some reason, was a lot like Rick’s.

“The parchment itself had secrets in it that could not be photocopied,” Troy explained his illegal behavior.

“Of course,” Andy nodded, clearly understanding. In fact, it amazed Troy that he really did understand. It was weird. “Do you still need those documents?”

Troy nodded, speechless. How did this guy know? How did he believe it so readily? Those in charge of ancient collections were adamant that if he handled them or exposed them to