Vampires Need Pedicures Too (A Paranormal Romance) (2 page)

“Hey, peach jacket, am I right or am I right, huh?”

She grinned; he did cut quite a figure as they used to say
in the old movies she so enjoyed
.

“I dress pretty hot most of the time,
I’m just saying,
but I’m really a casual guy, really.  But, hey, want to know a secret?”

Holly
leaned in conspiratorially.

Tim glanced right and left and then leaned in closer, “I’m rich. 
I got money comin
g out my ass -
oh yeah, I’m wicked rich.
”

“And?”

“And nothing, I’m just saying, that’s all.”  He winked.

“How wonderful for you,” she grinned
, happy with her quip.

Tim winked
again
, “Wonderful for us
maybe
, j
ust saying.”

Holly
smiled again, handsome, charismatic, well spoken, sharp dresser and
not that she cared about money, but he was
rich
too - bonus. 
And he seemed interested, t
his was going much better than she could have ever imagined.

“So you are what, twenty seven? Tim asked.

Holly
leaned back in her seat in surprise, “Yes, just this month, how did
you know?  Lucky guess
?”

“Some luck, some practice.  I used to work at a carnival and guessing people’s ages was one of my tricks.”

“A circus?  That must have been fun.”

“Yeah, it was, it was.  But hey, that was a long time ago, just after the war.”

“Iraq?”

“No,” Tim laughed softly, “the big one, W-W-two.”

“No way, you can’t be over thirty
!
  You
’re
pulling my leg.  My uncle used to say that.”

“Uncle, huh?  Well, nope Uncle Wheeton, not pulling any legs, least not right now,” he
smiled as he
glanc
ed
down at her
breasts.

Holly
crossed her arms to cover her cleavage, put off by his f
orwardness, but excited just the
same.  Their eyes met again and that tingle returned and then she dropped her hands back to her lap.

Tim glanced around again and motioned her to come closer with one hand, “
I got
another secret.
”

“Yes, please.”

Tim looked around with a dramatic flair and then leaned back into the conversation, “I’m three-hundred and thirty-seven years old.”

She giggled and covered her face politely, “
Now you are being silly.”

“No, no,
no
, really.  Look it, I got one more really big secret,
and it’s
like huge.”

Holly
pushed the candle center piece off to the side and leaned even closer.

Tim looked at her then pulled back, “Not sure I can trust you with this one.”

“You can, you can trust m
e, honest!” she
pouted
.

“Okay, so here it is, I’m just saying,
you sure I
can
trust you?”

“Yes, you so can!”

Tim once again made a show of looking around to see if the coast was clear and then motioned with one finger for
Holly
to come closer.  She leaned over until their faces nearly touched and she tilted her
head
sideways slightly
and tucked her hair behind a
sapphire
studded ear.  She felt his breath, first on her cheek, then on her neck and then warm moist caresses on
her ear - the tingle was almost paralyzing.

“I’m a vampire,” he whispered.

Holly
’s eyebrow
s
shot up in surprise;
not in shock or amazement, but
much as she would
have had
he said he was a dental hygienist.

She slowly pulled away from that wonderful breath and faced him
questioningly.

“No shit Nancy, the real deal.
  I
f I’m lyin
g
I’m dyin
g. 
No,
no, no, really -
an
honest to God vampire.  I’m not talkin
g
about some fuck
-
nut who got som
e plastic teeth down at the mall
and has a medicine cabinet full of eyeliner, black lipstick and nail pol
ish.  Nope, real deal here babe
.

“I was reborn,
so to speak, outside of Boston, back before the colonies were
really
even colonies.
  Those were the days.
”

Holly
was enthralled, could it be true?  Could he really be a vampire?  She looked up into those emerald green eyes again and knew it was true.  Tim was a vampire.

“Will you tell me about those days?  Sometime?”

“I think I will, someday.”

A silence settled over the table, not an uncomfortable one, rather a
familiar one
- a
lull
between friends.
  Tim look
ed
into her
eyes
and for the first time really noticed them
, golden and amber flecked brown,
large and
luminescent in the candlelight.  He paused, considering
and remembering
.  He
pushed the thoughts away
, it had been too long to go back, but the scent from her neck and her hair lingered.

“What’s it like?  That what you going to ask?”

“Yes,”
Holly
responded, thinking for a moment
, “
What
is
it like?”

“Fucking amazing is what!  No shit Sherlock, being a vampire has been the best thing that ever happened to me in my whole life, well - life,” he chuckled.

Holly
found herself smiling
with him
again
,
“
Okay, seems you want to talk about it, so i
s it true, all the things they say in the movies and books?”

“No, not really, I was just being silly,” he said without much conviction, a sliver of regret for his earlier words and actions was already
taking root
, those
long
absent thoughts unwilling to remain pushed
aside
, tethered by that haunting scent
.

She just looked at him blankly as if to say, “I’m waiting.”

“
Okay, so
I
probably
know what you’re
thinking;
it would be exciting to think that all of those taboos and all were real.
  I know. 
S
o let me
help you out a little bit here.  A
lmost everything you think
you know
about us vampires is crap.  All that pop culture stuff,
yeah, it
’s just not true.”

Holly
folde
d
her hands under her chin and gave Tim her undivided attention.

“For example, know what happens when we go out in the sunlight? 
I’ll give y
ou
three guesses.
”

Holly
perked up
,
worried, “Oh no, is it true, you
…
” she
began fearfully.

Tim laughed softly to reassure her,
“
Nope, we d
on’t burst into flames
.
”

“Oh, good! 
Then…”
  She
had been
hoping that he woul
d ask her out to a lunch date
, and if he burst into flames and burnt to a cinder that would certainly spoil everything.

“
N
ope
,
we don’t glitter
either,
like some two-bit stripper.  Thank
s for that by the way Stephanie,
”
Tim said as he glanced toward the front doors.

“
Hey, I loved those books!
  T
hen what happens, you don’t sound worried about it?”

“
Nope.  Know what happens when we go out in the sun?
”

Holly
shook her head
, eyes wide and curls
bouncing.

“
We fuckin
g
tan that’s what
!”  He laughed uproariously and banged the table with one palm, “I
t’s th
e f
ucking sun!
”

Holly
leveled a patronizing smirk, almost
like they were old friends reminiscing
, but not quite like it had been a few moments earlier
.

He took one of the linens and dabbed an eye, “Am I fucking funny or what?  I’m just saying.”

“Funniest guy you know I’m sure.
  Just saying.”

Tim
slowly stopped laughing, un
settled to be the only one and glanced away -
those damn memories
would be his undoing.

“
Anyway. 
Okay, what else?  What
do
you want to know?”

Holly
focused on his eyes again as she thought about the question, they were pretty green, but not the burning pools of emotion she had seen before - a trick of the light perhaps,
“Okay,” she thought for a moment, “what about reflections?”

“Yep,
we have
reflections just like anything
else, not some invisible man bullshit, how do you think we shave?
”

“Shave?  I never thought about vampires shaving,” she
grinned
at the thought.

“Uh, yeah, see
the thing is
-
we’re not
dead
or undead
for that matter
, no
t exactly.  It
’
s more like we
age real, real slow.  But the whiskers still grow, finger nails too. 
And we got to brush the fangs and all
-
right?  H
ygiene is very important
, even to vampires
and
breath mints
can only take
you
just so far.
”

Holly
couldn’t stop smiling,
remembering his soft intoxicating breath on her ear
, a ghost of a memory now, did he really whisper in her ear?

“
What about being invited in?  I always thought that sounded, off somehow
,
”
she asked.

“
Clever girl, you’d be right.  W
e don’t need to be invited in
or any
bullsh
i
t like that
, we can come in and kill you in your sleep whenever we want.  Bust right through a door or window
.”

Holly
pulled back, a tremor of fear touching her eyes.

“W
e heal real fast
though -
still hurts
, but
,
o
h, you meant
-
sorry
.

“W
e don’t do that so much
,
not anymore.  I mean the police can still cause trouble
.  A
nd
to be honest I like my apartment here,
I kind of like watchin
g
TV
too
, so movin
g
around all the time sucks.
  No police, which means not killing folks in their sleep.  Feel better?”

Tim felt that
old
familiar
gnawing;
it seem
ed
important
t
o put
Holly
’s mind at ease
with his words
, not
his mind
.

“Okay, some.  I mean the whole thing is a little scary,” she grinned again
nervously
, “exciting, but still scary.”