My Vampire Kidnapper by Lillith Devero (general ebook reader txt) 📕

He was taking her out to dinner.
At least she had gotten to relax with Alex for a while, or as much as you could relax with Alex. She had been practically shoved out the door when she had told her that Xander wanted to take her on a date.
Where in the hell do vampires go to eat dinner… no wait… Where in the hell do relatively civilized vampires go to eat dinner? Nope that didn’t help at all. Probably they go to exactly the same place and hang out together.
Now she was nervous. She was sitting in a café with a coffee that, to her, tasted terrible; she was probably going to go on a date with her ‘boyfriend’ (weird) that would involve killing people and lots and lots of blood (which sounded extremely appetizing at the moment); and to top it all off she was still wearing her tank top and yoga pants! Not to mention the terrible ponytailed state that her hair was in.
Jean sighed. Oh well, it probably can’t get much worse can it? I mean, I’m already dead.
“Oh my God. You have got to be kidding me…” She whispered. A jet black Murcielago that could only belong to Xander had just pulled up; and sure enough, as he rolled down the window he called out to her, “Come on! We have a reservation and we need to get you into your dress!”
As she walked up to the vehicle she said, “Seriously? And you wouldn’t let me tell bat jokes? You’re riding in one!”
“I thought that you would find it amusing.” Xander smirked as he got out of the car and opened the door for her, gesturing inside. “Nice outfit by the way.”
She nervously chuckled and said, “Yeah…”
“I left your dress at your house. We’ll stop by there so you can get changed.” He said as he slid into his leather seat readjusting his tux. Wait. Tux?
“Okay.” She was even more nervous than she was originally, knowing that he had 1) bought her a dress and 2) they were going somewhere that had a dress and tuxedo dress code. At least that should mean that they weren’t going to go around killing people but who knows.
They sat in silence until they hit the highway to her house. Jean kept running though complex/insane situations that they could run into.
Xavier reached over and grabbed her hand in his, rubbing it with his thumb. “Hey. It’s okay. I would never do anything to hurt you.” He whispered to her.
“What about when you slapped me?” She asked, tears beginning to form in her eyes, as she turned her head away, not pulling from his grasp. She liked the comfort that his hand brought, even if she was angry with him.
“That was the biggest mistake I have and will ever make in my entire life and I apologize with all of my being and soul.” He let go of her hand to carefully turn her head to look at him; which revealed all of her carefully concealed tears.
“Then why did you do it then?” She whispered, trying choke back her cry.
“I had just fed, my adrenaline was in overdrive, when I sensed you nearby I only thought the worst. I thought that my beloved baby sister had betrayed me and taken you from me, which she just ended up doing later. I was scared for your life. And when I found you I was still in that state of despair, I-I lost control, only for a second, but that was the second worst moment in my entire life…” She saw one lone tear blaze a path down his beautifully sculpted face and she knew that he was telling the truth. She had let down the guards to her mind when she lost control of her tears, and since she could get past mental blocks when she made contact (and that he had probably lost control of his barriers like she did) she could feel his truth inside her mind.
He then let go of her chin to grab onto her hand, and without the mental contact for that second made her feel frighteningly alone. “What was the first?” She said still trying to regain control of her emotions, and failing, because he was crying too. Staying connected with his mind and feeling all of his pain and love for her was almost too overwhelming.
“When I saw my brother point a gun at you… and I thought that I was going to lose you forever…” He, like her, was trying to choke his tears into submission.
It was at that point that he somehow had maneuvered into her driveway without her realizing it. He stopped the car and looked over at her. For several moments they just stared into each other’s eyes. Jean wanted to comfort him in some way, just as she wanted him to comfort her.
He must have read her mind because right after the thought left her mind she reached over and hugged her. It was the warmest, secure hug that she had ever been a part of. With his woodsy scent surrounding her she felt more in love with him than she ever thought she could be. When he pulled her tighter to him she knew that he felt the same way, and that he read her thoughts again, but she was beyond caring at that point. In his arms she felt no doubt at all, how could she when he smelled that good anyway?
After too short of a time he pulled away, nearly breaking her heart in the process. He said, “I… I promised you dinner.” He obviously didn’t want to let her go, because soon after he broke the hug he grasped her hand firmly, but gently; silently implying that he wouldn’t let her go.
“Yeah…” She said as he led her into her house.
“I left your dress on your bed.” He said, reluctantly letting her go so she could get dressed once he led her to the door of her bedroom.

Once she walked in the room he almost gasped. He had picked out the dress especially for her but nothing could compare to how she looked as she shyly stepped into the living room. He had picked out simple but elegant earth toned sandals with lavender accents, noting that she really hadn’t liked heels, and he wanted her to feel as comfortable around him as possible. The bottom of the dress reached all of the way to the floor and looked like flowing lavender water as she moved making it look like it was many different shades of purple. Accented around her waist was a small sewn-in belt of real diamonds. The top of the dress was simplistic but elegant also, it had a spaghetti straps that he made absolutely sure wouldn’t dig into her shoulders and draped around her shoulders was the matching see-through shall, which in reality was just a long piece of fabric. But none of that was the best part. She had curled her hair and pinned it all up except for a small curl that hung down the left side of her face; she had also accented her eyes with eyeliner, mascara, and a slight silvery eye shadow which expertly accented her eyes in a way that anyone would be jealous. They shined even brighter than he had ever seen them; the lighter colors from the dress brought them out even more. To top it all off she had even glossed her lips.
He stepped closer to her and she shyly asked, “W-What do you think?”
He didn’t give her a reply. Instead he kissed her lips, lightly but deeply all the same. He could only quickly kiss her for his fear that he might go farther than she would want him to.
When he pulled away she seemed upset, but she then smiled when he took his hand in hers and led her out to the car.

The dinner had actually ended up being fantastic.
Jean and Xander had ended up getting extra rare steaks, since they couldn’t order a fresh cow, and she had also discover why Gregor enjoyed fine wines so much. You could actually taste all of the separate components that made it and it was still actually enjoyable. Not as enjoyable as blood, mind you, but enjoyable all the same.
Dinner seemed to end quicker than she would have liked but the night was still young. Xander then took her out ballroom dancing, further explaining why he had kind of forcibly taught her how to dance.
She had had a great time but he still had one surprise for her and he wasn’t about to spoil it.
“Oh come on! Please? Where are we going?” Jenn asked, almost jumping in her seat partially from joy. She and Xavier could finally be themselves, away from prying eyes.
“Nope. You’ll find out when we get there.” He smirked mysteriously at her before turning back to the road. They had been driving for a while down various dirt roads and back ways. If she had known that they were going to be driving out here right on the edge of nowhere, she would have insisted that they took her car, but she hadn’t and she couldn’t convince him to turn around.
“Are we anywhere close to it? Or are you taking me out here to kill me?”
“Yes were close and what do you want me to say? ‘I vant to suck your blood’; will that do?”
She laughed at his imitation of Dracula, and his creative use of irony. She screamed in mock horror, “Oh no please! Don’t kill me!” He laughed along with her. It was nice that they could both laugh about pop culture vampire imitations. It was then that she noticed that he was wearing a ring on his right index finger that looked like and ‘X’ with ribbon type designs on it, but she put it out of her mind.
After a few minutes of listening to the radio, Xavier finally announced, “Annnnd… We’re here!” He pulled the car over where they were, which was still what looked like the middle of the forest.
“Are you kidding me?”
“Not at all.” He unbuckled both of their seatbelts and opened his door, got out, and then proceeded to open her door for her.
She then clasped his outstretched hand and, as gracefully as she could, she pulled herself to her feet. Sadly that grace was wasted because she slipped and almost fell, but Xavier caught her.
As they walked down the uneven path he kept his arm draped around her waist, keeping her close to him. Jenn didn’t mind at all, in fact, she liked having him nearby. He gave her a warm sense of security, like nothing could ever happen to her when he was near. Which made her want to be with him at all times; never away. Ahead, not too far in the distance, she could see the glimmer of the full moon on a body of water. A lake. She immediately remembered the terrible trek through the tunnel to safety underneath Lake Adalsteinn