Were

Chapter 2

  The vampire-trainee frowned in concentration and shifted his hands behind the girl’s neck. He opened his mouth wide and …

  Got slapped on the back of the head.

  “Idiot! It’s not a hunk of rawhide. You’ll bruise it if you just masticate it.”

  “Masticate?”

  “Chew, you moron. What do they teach you in schools, nowadays? Anyway, you must treat it like a very ripe fruit. Just let your fang slide into the jugular and let the fluid flow to you. We are not savages … like werewolves.” The last words were snarled.

  The newly Undead obediently lowered his head to the exposed white neck. As he approached the juicy, throbbing vein, a pool of drool leaked from his mouth onto the pearly skin. He braced himself for another head slap.

  Instead, the captive girl began weakly struggling.

  “You’re losing her,” the Master said. “Get your glamour back.”

  “My what?”

  Another slap, “Your glamour!”

  “Oh, that hypnotizing thingy?”

  The old vampire sighed. “Yes, that ‘hypnotizing thingy.”

  He thought ruefully that young vampires were like green belts in karate. They have the talent, but their lack of control made them dangerous.

  The young vampire leaned over the girl’s face and stared into her eyes. The void of his black eyes seemed to draw the blue from her eyes like a mini-black hole. Her lids drooped as she relaxed again.

  “Very good, young cub, now back to the feeding.”

  Excitement mounting, the young vampire leaned in at an angle that popped his neck vertebra. As his lips gently kissed the young girl’s velvet skin, sharp white fangs grew to nasty lethalness and slid into her neck.

  Suddenly one of her hands shot out, slammed into his face and she bolted upright.

  “Jerk! We’re just practicing! You aren’t supposed to really bite!”

  “I’m sorr-rry,” he stammered.

  Winifred smoothed her dress, “Do you know how hard it was to make my blood pump like a normal human!”

  “I said I was sorry,” the vampire wouldn’t meet her eyes.

  She turned to the old vampire, while peeling the blue contact lenses from her eyes, “Seriously, if your little boys can’t control themselves, you can just find yourself another ‘victim.”

  With an athletic move that would have earned her at least a bronze in the Olympics, she vaulted to her feet and stormed out of the room, her walk somehow managing to combine predator and sexiness in delicious amounts.

  The Master and his protégé were mesmerized by her swaying departure. They might be dead, but they were still guys.

  She went into a room and the door slammed behind her.

  The two vampires stared at the spot, imprinting the memory. After the moment was exhausted, the Master held out a banana.

  “What’s that?” the young vampire asked.

  “A banana. You will practice on this.”

  “Aw! That’s gross. You know I can’t eat normal food anymore.”

  “The better to make sure you are careful in your lessons, young cub. Try not to bruise it.”

  With that, the Master vampire faded to mist.