Preview

Dracula: Hearts of Valor (Book 5)

by

A. J. Gallant

There's just something about vampires that's sexy. It's the same reason why women go for the bad boy - you want them but you shouldn't have them.

Nina Dobrev

This is book 5.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Purchase only authorized editions. This work is entirely fictional. Characters, names, incidents, and places are either the products of the author’s rainbow imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.

PROLOGUE

JENNY WAS ON A CAMEL IN THE LIBYAN DESERT about seventy miles from the great pyramids. The view was nice but the heat was atrocious, about 120 degrees under the hot sun and the shade wasn’t much better. Mile after mile looked the same, with just the occasional rock formation to alter the view. She thought that she could smell something fishy in the air, very slight, reminded her of frogs legs.

A round tent in the distance came into view, too far to make out much detail, not much more than a speck on the horizon; Jenny thought there was a red flag flying on the top of it. She was sweating enough to fill a bucket. Much too hot during the day and then too cold at night. Spotting more camel tracks to her left probably meant that the dwelling wasn’t abandoned. She spotted something in the print of the camel’s foot, small and black. Jenny stopped to investigate, surprised to discover that it was a tiny book, about an inch wide and two inches in length. Upon inspection, she discovered that all the pages were blank. As she stared at it in the palm of her hand it burst into flame and slowly turned to ashes.

Jenny continued in the direction of the tent. Now she distinguished a camel laying in its shadow, and again the red flag blowing in the wind. She hoped she might be permitted to spend a day or two there and then move on, in any case, it would be nice to perspire a little less. Nice to talk to someone besides her camel.

As the sorceress got closer she saw someone inside moving about, couldn’t tell if it was male or female but suddenly Jenny got a bad feeling but was it about the dwelling or maybe someone else in the area? Or perhaps just her imagination? Being Dracula’s daughter who knew what exactly was in her DNA. In general, her feelings were not to be dismissed. Who wouldn’t have bad vibes in this damn heat? But when she was in the area of a hundred yards distant the camel stopped and refused to move forward so she guessed that was her answer. There was danger here.

Jenny got the animal to do a complete turn so that she could see in all directions, making sure that there was no one coming up behind her nor bearing down on her from any direction. Unable to spot anyone else she fixed on the tent, reminded her of a Mongolian Yurt. Only two choices, head for the dwelling or go around.

It was so damn hot that she couldn’t think straight, and that was the problem. An adder slithered by on her right, and earlier that morning she had seen a rodent that would have made a good meal for the snake.

A woman appeared from behind the structure carrying a small black pot with steam rising from it, dressed in white and wearing a veil; she either didn’t see Jenny or pretended not to notice her. Jenny couldn’t imagine having a fire burning in this heat.

Suddenly, Jenny was hit in the left shoulder by a fireball, taking a chunk out, her blood splattering in the sand. About an inch of her shoulder was missing and it burned like hell. She returned fire, launching several ice balls, one struck Ashera in the breast, making it hard to move.

Fireballs and spheres of ice collided, sending fragments of ice and embers of fire into the sand as the witch ran behind her tent. Jenny was losing a fair amount of blood as she got off the camel, the animal ran in the opposite direction. She switched enchantments and sent her own yellow and orange fireball directly at the tent, surprised when it hit and just deflected in several directions, some sort of protective spell.

A grey wolf exited from behind the dwelling, a genuine wolf or Ashera in disguise? Then another wolf and then another. Was she making a pack to attack her? Now there were six in all, one showing her his teeth, or rather fangs. A wolf with fangs? Abruptly she was hit in the same shoulder with another fireball, the pain excruciating.

Jenny turned over in bed and grabbed her shoulder. The nightmare had seemed so real and she was still sweating from the heat of the desert sun.

Chapter One

AT FIVE MINUTES AFTER THREE IN THE MORNING, Dracula gazed out over New York city from his balcony attached to his penthouse. He was dressed in his blood red silk pajamas that had been a Christmas present from Jenny. He had helped to design the place, money hadn’t been a problem. His Siamese cat Ming Meow was sitting on his left shoulder with her tail twitching, she also seemed wary. Dracula had a glass of chilled blood in his right hand and a Gurkha Black Dragon cigar in the other. Most vampires liked their blood warm but the Master, on occasion, liked it chilled. He felt like he was waiting for something to happen but he didn’t know what.

He puffed on his cigar and watched as the smoke vanished. An unease had come over him as he had rolled over in bed and opened his eyes; he thought that his heart was going to beat which only did once or twice a year, but it was something else, and it wasn’t a good feeling. He believed that his sixth sense was sicker than most, just something that he liked to say, but he didn’t know if it was or not. It was as if a guitar string had been wound too tight and was ready to snap.

Dracula was able to sense most vampires in the city but not all; some had spells on them so that they couldn’t be detected. There was more of that lately, magic and spells to aid in one’s dirty work. Magic in the wrong hands was a disadvantage to society. He stood staring out over the city feeling a little like Batman which made him smile. Was it another terrorist attack? If so he would rip their heads off after making them spill every drop of information that they had and kick their heads like soccer balls. Unless they were vampires, no satisfaction in kicking dust. But his instinct told him that wasn’t it.

Last week the Master had had the dream again, waking in a cave after having been born as the first vampire. Some of the revealing dreams had more details than others but the recent one had been rather vague. He wasn’t sure what he could take as fact from the dream; however, they were persistent. They seemed as if they were going to impart some important information as if the universe was trying to show him how he had come to be the origin of vampires.

Dracula wondered what a scan would reveal of his ancient brain? Perhaps he would get one as it could be quite interesting. Maybe his brain had shrunk to the size of a pea. Perhaps it had turned to stone after all this time. Or it might just look like any other ordinary brain.

There were cars going by below though not as many as during the day, but the Big Apple never slept, and there was always something sinister going on after the sun sneaked away, probably lots of good stuff too. The yin and yang of things. Not as easy to identify a face after the sun went down. He wondered what the future would bring? The city patrolled by a million armed drones with blades capable of decapitating vampires?

Dracula appreciated the quietness of early morning accompanied by the New York Times, but that didn’t happen often now that Drake was running around and there was nothing quiet about him. The child was a powerful sorcerer and yesterday morning he had dropped a book on his father’s head to wake him. The idea of boundaries had not yet set into that little mind. He needed to be brought up correctly, but how were parents to discipline a wizard with his reactive personality? Well, at least Dracula was no longer bored nor depressed. No longer wandered through graveyards envying the dead.

Allison was in bed sleeping as was his sixteen-year-old daughter Jenny; he was forced to smile at the antics that had gone on last night with the four-year-old launching spells at his sister and her deflecting most of them. She had spent seven seconds as a raven, thank goodness that most of Drake’s spells were brief, whether deliberately so or not he didn’t know. Drake had also launched a myriad of nerf darts at her and the more annoyed she became the more pleased he had been. When Drake conjured a blizzard into the living room Dracula was forced to show his displeasure. The sofa still wasn’t completely dry.

Jenny had fashioned a wooden necklace to dampen her little brother’s powers, but the little brat had managed to destroy it. She wondered how his magic worked but he was too young for her to get many answers out of him. There were different kinds of sorcerers and she didn’t even know what kind she herself was, never mind the little brat.

Dracula finished his glass of O negative blood and licked his lips. Now that he was out of his deep depression the Master was looking forward to seeing Jenny and Drake grow into adults. He still had mixed feelings about the necessity of transforming Allison into a vampire although she seemed to be adjusting. It had been the only way to save her. She still wasn’t fully accustomed to the reality, especially her speed and strength. Allison broke the door again, had torn it off its hinges for the third time last month. She worried about pulling someone’s arm off or crushing their hands beyond repair. Just in case she would not shake hands with anyone.

What the hell? A strange lavender fog ascended up through the ground, straight columns of mist rising to about fifty feet and then spreading, beginning to cover the city in a purple mist as Dracula observed the phenomenon from his balcony. Ming Meow was even angrier at the sight, her tail flicking wildly. And even with all the years that he’s lived the Master had never seen anything like it. He doubted that it was something that Jenny was conjuring but one never knew for sure. The vampire hoped that his son had nothing to do with it; the power in that little guy was unnerving. Hopefully, they didn’t conjure unconsciously as they slept.

Dracula saw two small dust devils within the purple fog, they were a darker purple than the surrounding mist. He tried hard to see if anyone was visibly conjuring the stuff but wasn’t able to detect a wizard or witch. Dracula blurred inside and quickly returned faster than any human ever could, taking a photo with Jenny’s Canon camera.

How was the city going to explain the mist? They were going to wonder if it wasn’t some terrorist attack but he knew it wasn’t, Dracula’s sense of smell was highly advanced and he knew there was nothing poisonous about it, but what if the damn thing was summoning something? He envisioned the city full of Bigfoots with fangs. The city had had its share of monsters and didn’t need another one. Or might it be something to just affect vampires? Being the king of the castle so to speak it might not affect him at all, but might it do to something a normal biter?

If it continued to get thicker soon he would only be able to see the silhouettes of the skyscrapers because it was rising higher and higher, but no, the mist already appeared to be subsiding. Whatever it had accomplished he imagined that it was done, most likely nothing good.

CHAPTER TWO

THE RED SHERIFF HAD PURSUED THE VAMPIRE to Battery Park, the southern tip of Manhattan Island that faced New York Harbour. The place had been named as such because of the artillery batteries that had been there long ago to defend what was then a settlement. Alexander had been here during those settlement days, but there was no recognizing it now.

The crescent moon hung in the sky as it was approaching one in the morning.

The vampire appeared crazed, eyes that moved erratically as he drooled. Vampires don’t drool. He was talking to himself, arguing with himself actually, rapid-fire slaps to his own face, screaming unintelligibly at the sky as if calling out God for something or other. Now he was pacing, blurring back and forth, tripped over his own feet and fell.

The maniac with the scraggly beard had killed a woman, left her bloodless, fleeing when Alexander, one of the legendary red sheriffs showed up, and Alexander wasn’t about to let him get away. The sheriff had thick black hair, a muscular body that was appreciated by most women, and carried a katana sword and a Glock 40. The sheriff was faster than the killer which meant that there was going to be a fight, and since he had never seen this biter before he wasn’t sure what he was up against.

His German Shepherd Tessy was usually at his side and this day was no different; the dog was also a vampire. Tessy sat seemingly perplexed by this individual, cocking her head at his antics. Alexander was surprised that she had not yet attacked him. Something about the fellow was disconcerting to the dog.

The sheriff looked around and thought that the air now had a slight purple hue to it, a light purple mist was forming? Was someone hitting him with a spell? Most vampires feared red sheriffs to varying degrees, but the bad biters hated them. There were no evil vampires in prison, the sentence was death. Alexander’s red glowing badge on the front shoulder of his black trench coat immediately told everyone that he worked for Dracula, and the evil ones didn’t like it one bit. Damn fog is definitely getting thicker.

The dog sniffed the air detecting the scent of a wolf nearby but wasn’t able to see it. She began growling as she scanned the area. There was something strange about the wolf smell, it seemed to be mixed with something else, and now Tessy was showing her fangs and that made the sheriff feel better knowing the dog was going to indeed be his backup. Nothing like fangs in your ass to make you take notice.

Emmett looked down at the dog and its fangs and would have been frightened if he hadn’t been feeling so odd. He was dizzy, having difficulty controlling his own actions and thoughts. Vampires pretty much never got sick, so whatever was going on was worrying. The dog knew instinctively that she would get sick if she bit him and so wasn’t sure what to do.

Alexander pulled his sword as the outlaw began to stagger around, pulling a chunk of his own hair out and rubbing his face, his fangs were now contracting and then expanding. He had seen a lot of things over the centuries but never this and wondered what Dracula would make of it.

Emmet fell and curled into a fetal position screaming with the pain; his face was distorting and his beard had patches of wolf fur in it. The shrieks were bone-chilling, no question that he was suffering. His bones crunched as they morphed, making the sheriff take a step back. Emmet’s face stretched as a snout began growing out of his face.

“What the hell tessy? Is this vampire turning into a werewolf?”

Alexander was ready to take the murderer’s head, but try as he may he only managed to break his sword on his neck. Sometimes when one was transforming it made them invincible until the change was complete. After a few more bone snaps he thought the change might be finished. But there was more thrashing and screaming until finally, a gray wolf stood in front of Alexander. And it grew until it was the size of a horse. The average wolf’s weight was about ninety-five pounds and this one had to be a thousand pounds. The sheriff had to look up at it. “Oh shit.”

Emmet bared his teeth at Tessy, sensing the enormous power the dog held, he considered that between the red sheriff and the vampire dog they might be more than a match for him, and so the newborn wolf blurred off into the night, too fast for even the red sheriff to follow.

Somewhere a woman laughed but the sheriff wasn’t able to orient on her.

Chapter Three

IT WAS ONE IN THE MORNING DEEP IN THE NORTHERN MAINE FOREST as an owl was making himself known from the top of a maple tree. Mosquitoes were searching for blood but ignored the two vampires. A branch cracked under Howard’s foot. The crescent moon overhead showed through the tops of the trees, surrounded by a myriad of stars, no city lights to dim the cosmos here. Howard looked at the scribbled map speckled with blood and then at Lawrence. It was dark but for the two vampires seeing clearly wasn’t a problem, the hitch was finding what they were looking for in the seemingly unending woods. “I think we might be close if this map is worth anything.”

Harold noticed a shooting star streak across the sky and then fade, wondering if it was a bad omen. Both appreciated the peacefulness of the wilderness though they did prefer urban life. A few vampires lived in the forest, feeding off the animals, but drinking human blood was so much more satisfying. A lot more food in the city.

“Yeah, if.” Lawrence scratched the back of his neck. “I can smell a bear over that way and lots of other animals but I can’t smell her. If he lied to us we’ll never find the witch. She might be in the woods in Virginia for all we know.”

“He was too scared to lie. She probably has some sort of concealing device, but he said once we get within a hundred feet we should see the cabin.” Howard watched as the bear in the distance appeared to be heading in their general direction. He wasn’t sure how the animal would react to vampires. Some critters were utterly confused by them. Probably the lack of a heartbeat that frightened some; additionally, they didn’t smell like a typical human, more like a fresh kill.

“Remember that undernourished guy I drank in New York?” asked Lawrence. “That was the skinniest guy I’ve ever seen and yet he was delicious. I wonder why his blood tasted so good.”

Harold shrugged. “I have no idea. Maybe you were hungry.”

“No more than usual. I used to avoid the thin ones, not as much blood, but not anymore. It would be good to have a warehouse full of humans and feed them whatever the hell that skinny guy was eating.” Lawrence envisioned it.

They were searching for a massive boulder that was supposed to be taller than the two of them put together, but if they weren’t in the proper area they might never find it. And it wasn’t easy to blur with an endless number of trees to bump into. But they were determined not to give up.

This was the second night searching. It was said to be impossible to find the sorceress during daylight hours.

“What if we find her and she turns us into a rock or something?” asked Harold.

Lawrence shook his head. “That would be a pretty fucking boring life, wouldn’t it? I mean if we could still think. Just sitting in one spot forever. But if you didn’t know what was going on it wouldn’t matter. Or maybe the spell would just wear off after a while.”

Their scent was peculiar to the bear, but they were moving so they should make a pretty good meal. This animal was sick, and although it was rare for a bear to get rabies this one had it, and it was experiencing cerebral dysfunction as it was slowly eating away at his brain. The confusion, anxiety, and agitation that it had been feeling the last couple of days had developed into hallucinations and abnormal behavior. It stood up, growled and swiped at something that wasn’t there, disappointed it continued on toward the two. The bear’s vision was a little on the blurry side.

“What the hell is wrong with the bear?” asked Lawrence. “I’m gonna have some fun with it.”

Although vampires were stronger than a bear it was risky to tease them, and there were a few cases of bears killing vampires. Howard thought that he was asking for it. Just because he was faster than the bear the animal could get a lucky shot and even though it would heal pretty fast the wound would hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. If the bear took his head off that was it for him.

Lawrence blurred behind the bear at over two hundred miles per hour; he kicked the sick thing in the ass and then quickly moved out of his reach. The black bear swiped at where he had been, looking confused as it attempted to figure out what happened. It was not happy. And then again Lawrence repeated the action while Howard watched and laughed, the funniest thing he had seen in a while.

“You’re asking for it,” said Howard. “If that monster catches you!”

Lawrence appeared right in the animal’s face, kicked him and then blurred away, making the bear growl and slash the air with its mighty paw as it again stood up.

Howard shouted, “Come on you stupid bear, are you gonna take that from him? Defend yourself!”

The carnivore, still on his feet, again turned and swiped at empty space. Lawrence thought that this bear, in particular, was pretty stupid, but he supposed that bears weren’t all that smart to begin with, guided by instincts rather than intelligence. But people were discovering that most animals were a lot smarter than they were given credit.

Lawrence jumped in front of the animal, then to his right and back to his left. The bear caught him in the face with his big paw and the vampire fell, his head now only connected by a piece of skin.

Chapter FOUR

NINETY-YEAR-OLD ANNIE WAS PLAYING WITH HER PET SPIDER that she called Hairy. She sometimes wondered if it hadn’t been a human that was changed into a spider.

The tarantula was no ordinary arachnid; it was obviously conjured by someone but by who she couldn’t even guess. Alastair wasn’t too fond of it but Annie was quite taken by the thing, and she still loved her butterflies that popped up every morning from a spell that Alastair had purchased for her.

Now that she was a vampire transformed by Dracula no less, she was not one to be messed with and Annie liked nothing better than to defend the defenseless. The old woman had been waiting to die in a nursing home, barely able to breathe when Dracula and other vampires had saved them from evil biters. She had been so brave during the battle that the Master agreed to turn her.

Annie’s husband Alastair, also a vampire, was a handsome gentleman with white hair, sitting at the kitchen island observing Annie as she had taught the spider how to play fetch with dead flies. He told himself that because this spider had been conjured by someone and so not a genuine tarantula, and that’s how he got by living with the damn thing, and besides Annie had already squashed it but it simply returned to life. At times he was even a bit jealous of the thing. It wouldn’t be good for the ego to have a spider chosen over him. My woman left me for a spider did not have a good ring to it.

“Okay, Hairy, fetch the fly one last time and then you can eat it if you like.” Annie looked at Alastair and nodded. “Time for breakfast.”

He watched as Hairy took the fly and headed to the glass sliding doors waiting to be left out. Alastair got up and let the critter into the garden and observed as the arachnid took the fly down into his burrow. “So Annie, what do you want to do today? We should probably go out and do something.”

“I suppose.” Annie took a bag of blood out of the fridge and poured some over her cereal, sat and started to eat. “Maybe I’ll play the feeble old lady game and when someone tries to rob me I’ll kick the shit out of them. Or I’ll see if I can get one of those damn gang members to annoy me. I don’t know why the police just don’t round them all up and throw them off a cliff.”

“By law I don’t think that they are allowed to just throw them off a cliff, although they are always up to no good, making people’s lives miserable,” said Alaistair. “What the fuck is that?”

“There’s no need for that kind of language,” Annie chastised.

They looked out into the garden where a large gray wolf was standing and it was as big as a horse. It began sniffing the air and then started trying to dig the spider out of his hole. A normal wolf could accomplish a lot of damage never mind this beast. Annie blurred outside and Alaistair followed. The wolf bared its teeth and fangs, warning them that it was considering an attack.

She wasn’t sure if it could hurt the spider or not. But it was obviously a magical thing as well. “You stop that! What the hell? It has fangs?”

Alistair wasn’t sure of his subsequent move. “Definitely doesn’t look friendly. Annie, we need to be careful with this thing.”

The wolf looked directly into Annie’s eyes. She saw that it was preparing for an attack, shouted at it to see if she could scare it off but it wasn’t fazed. The hybrid tried to judge which vampire was the biggest threat but couldn’t tell. Because of its size, its growl sounding like a tractor, so deep and almost deafening that it would scare the hell out of any human just by its sound. Alaistair wasn’t sure if they were going to survive the encounter as the morning had taken quite a turn.

The monster attacked so rapidly that Annie wasn’t able to get out of its way, biting into her shoulder and ripping a piece out; Alastair kicked it and sent it flying. The gaping wound healed quickly but it hurt something awful. Alaistair blurred and was surprised when it got out of the way, then those huge teeth snapped noisily in front of his face. The power in those jaws had to be more than five thousand pounds per square inch. This wolf meant business. Annie punched it in the eye hurting it, but the cracked bone healed almost instantly.

The wolf circled them so fast that it was difficult to track it. It was faster than most vampires, perhaps even faster than Dracula for all she knew. It knocked down Alaistair and grabbed him by the chest, chewing almost all the way through as he screamed. She imagined that if it cut him in two he would turn to dust and that would be it although not a decapitation in the traditional sense. Annie grabbed it by the jaw and used all her strength to stop it from killing him, but the carnivorous mammal was stronger than her, and slowly its teeth and fangs were again lowering and it seemed as if there was nothing she could do about it. She wished Dracula was here to kill the beast.

Alastair recovered and kicked it so hard that it flew twenty feet into the air and just before it landed Annie grabbed it by the neck, trying hard to pull off its head, it flung her and she wasn’t able to hold on. It grabbed Alastair’s head entire head into its mouth, again leaving Annie trying to stop its powerful jaws from closing.

Chapter FIVE

PIERS ANTHONY WAS WALKING on his property in Florida, making his rounds for the morning, only this time his author friend Harlan was walking with him and they were brainstorming on how to get Dracula to agree to do his life story for the author. He imagined that it would be beneficial for the Master to go over his life, not to mention educational and entertaining for everyone else.

“Perhaps if you just laid off the subject for a while.” Harlan looked pensive as he observed a woodpecker banging its head against a palm tree. “I mean if he brings it up without being asked then no matter what he says he is interested. But annoy him on the wrong day and you may find yourself inside a vacuum cleaner.”

Piers nodded. “Yes, but that is also the problem. He can see through me as easy as looking through a clean window. And just the thought of the project excites me to no end. I certainly can’t do it without him, information on his life is much too sketchy.” The author’s heart beat making him jump, the last one was almost five months ago now.

Harlan laughed. “Nervous much?”

Piers cracked his neck. “Oh, my heart just beat several times. At first, I couldn’t get used to it not beating, continually checking to see if I had a pulse. It’s surprising I must say.”

Harlan nodded and his shoulder-length gray hair danced. “When you told me you were a vampire I was sure you were full of shit until you took off so fast it was like watching a cartoon character. What made you do it?”

“I was having so many aches and pains that it was difficult to concentrate. In any fashion, it is too late now.” Piers let loose with a bolt as they both watched the arrow hit yet another bullseye. He had targets in many locations, though it was not quite as fun as it used to be and now it had nothing to do with keeping up his strength.

“What is Dracula really like?” Harlan asked.

“To say that he’s a complicated fellow is an understatement.” Piers set his bow down. “When you are sure that he is going to turn left, he goes right. He’s been around for so long that I imagine he’s pretty much seen it all. He told me of a conversation that he had with Plato, how he imagined civilization governed by a philosopher king. But that is common knowledge so was he serious?”

Harlan’s eyebrows tightened. “You don’t actually believe that do you? That would be what? More than two thousand years ago?”

Piers shrugged. “In any case, we could learn much from such a book I am sure. Just seeing a little more about what makes him tick, his past loves and friends. I guess I babble too much on the subject.”

“Yes, you do.”

Piers looked directly into his eyes. “He says he knows the reason for the smile on the Mona Lisa.”

“Oh? Do tell.” Harlan was genuinely curious.

“Gas.”

“Of course.”

CHAPTER SIX

JENNY WAS SITTING WITH GRAY IN FRONT OF STARBUCKS at the Manhattan Mall. He was a handsome young fellow with blue eyes, blond hair layered on top with the sides of his head shaved. Although he tried to hide it, Jenny thought he was the nervous type. And if he was nervous at this age it didn’t bode well for his senior years. Both were drinking coffee and Jenny was playing with the talisman around her neck.

“We’ve been dating for four months now and you were supposed to introduce me to your parents this week.” Gray flicked the hair out of his eyes. Jenny was so beautiful that even after all this time it was difficult to take his eyes off her.

“Parents are overrated. Anyway, they’re so busy these days that it’s hard to get the both of them together.” Jenny wondered if he believed her or not. I can’t really tell him that my father is Dracula. I bet he’d run away screaming.

“Aw yeah? So just introduce me to your mother or father.” Gray took a drink of his decaffeinated coffee which was still quite hot. He thought he might know the reason why she was putting it off but wasn’t sure.

“You’re gonna be seventeen next week, aren’t you? On the doorstep of becoming a man.”

“I’ve been a man since I was eleven.” Gray laughed. “And you’re changing the subject again. A professional subject changer I see.”

“I don’t know what the big rush is to meet my parents anyway. Got an engagement ring in your pocket, do you?” Jenny didn’t like the topic of conversation, but lately, when he got on the subject he was like a dog looking for a juicy bone. Did he suspect who her father was? She thought it unlikely. After all he was still here. Jenny liked him but she didn’t think it was going to be a long-term thing.

Gray studied her face. She seemed defensive. “Someone told me that your father is Dracula. Does he think I’m an idiot?”

Jenny shrugged and gave him a slight smile and then a nod. “So you do know.”

“What? You’re a vampire?”

“I am not.” She felt as though she had dug herself a hole that she couldn’t get out of and Gray was throwing dirt on top of her. Maybe it was time to tell him the truth.

Gray nodded. “Aw yeah. You scared me there for a second. I know that vampires can’t make kids so I don’t know how that would work.”

Jenny finished her coffee. “Actually, a few can have offspring, but it has to be with a regular woman. Can’t be with a vampire.”

This stuff was rolling around in his head like a marble in a glass. “Aw yeah? You can’t really be—I mean Dracula is not really your father?”

Jenny cocked her head. “And what if Dracula is my father?”

“Then forget about meeting your parents ever. What have I gotten myself into? He may as well be the head of the mafia. Gray’s eyebrows tightened. “You’re Dracula’s daughter?”

“I am.”

“You are seriously telling me that Dracula, king of the vampires, is your father? If Dracula were my father I’d never admit it.” Gray looked around just in case he was nearby.

“Well, we don’t have to worry about that.” Jenny was beginning to get annoyed. He wasn’t putting much thought into his words. His train of thought had come off the tracks.

“Does he kill people in front of you?”

“Yes, of course, he eats them bones and all.”

Gray looked pale, more than usual. Wouldn’t there be consequences for dating his daughter? What if Jenny had told him where he lived? “I don’t know! Oh, God! Oh, my God. So, if I break up with you he’ll kill me. If I hurt you in any way he’ll kill me; he’ll drain my blood and then kill me and eat me?”

Jenny shook her head. “My father is not a psychopath.”

“Is there a difference? Not a psychopath she says.” Gray didn’t know what to do. He liked Jenny a lot, but Dracula. “So how strong is he?”

Jenny shrugged. “I don’t know. Let’s just say that you wouldn’t want to fight him. Even with a crowbar or a gun, you wouldn’t win.”

“Okay, So. You know what, I think I would like to meet him afterall.”

“Really?” Jenny was surprised to hear that. “Well, I may as well tell you that my mother is a vampire but she’s newly turned and not quite used to it. I wouldn’t shake her hand she might accidentally crush it.” I best not tell him about Drake; I think he’s had enough for one day.

Gray tried to imagine his parent’s reactions.

“Of course.” I bet he gets the hell out of here soon and I never see him again.

Gray pondered if she was strong like her father though he hadn’t seen it. “Aw yeah. Probably not a good idea. So, do you have fangs or anything like that?”

“Gray, I’m not a vampire.” Jenny saw that he was looking at her differently now, the secret too much for him to ignore. She supposed it was her own fault.

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