Chapter 1 : Part 2

Fanged & Fabulous
by Michelle Rowen

(Page 2 of 6)

He kicked the icicle out of my hand. It hit the ground next to me and shattered. I blinked at it.

I held my shaking hands up in front of me. "Look . . . Chad, just walk away now. You do not want to mess with me." What was I going to do to get out of this alive? To defend myself? I'd go for the groin. Always a good place to start. And end.

"Let me tell you a little something . . . " he paused expectantly and raised his eyebrows.

"Sarah," I offered, without thinking. Stupid.

"The only reason you're still talking, Sarah, is because I'm allowing it. I might not look it, but I've dusted over a dozen vamps, this year alone."

I swallowed hard and felt a trickle of perspiration run down my spine.

"Well, if you've killed that many," I said, even less confident now if that was possible, "you should know it's not really dust. It's more like goo."

"Whatever." He looked down at the stake, ran his thumb along the sharp tip, and then glanced over at me. "Now let's get this party started."

Hell, he looked fairly harmless what with the Dockers and all. Guess you can't judge a man by his casual, stain-resistant pants anymore.

I turned and tried to run farther into the park along the snow-covered, cobblestone path, but before I got more than a few steps, I felt his hand clamp down on my shoulder, stopping me in midflee. He spun me around, then shoved me so hard that I stumbled back and fell to the ground in a heap. I scrambled back a few feet on my butt and looked around frantically. We were all alone. Why were we all alone? Where were innocent bystanders when I needed them?

"I'll make it quick." Chad winked at me. "If you stay nice and quiet for me."

Yeah, like that was going to happen. "Are you aware that you're the bad guy?"

That stopped him, but his stony expression didn't change. "What?"

I shuffled back a little more, feeling the cold snow against my bare hands. "Vampire hunters are evil, homicidal bastards who kill for the fun of it. They're the bad guys. Vampires are completely harmless. Like adorable, pointy-toothed bunnies."

He laughed a little at that and stepped closer. "Yeah, right."

I held a hand up in front of me to stop him from getting any nearer and slowly and shakily rose to my feet.

Keep him talking, I told myself.

I tried to smile and felt my cheeks twitch nervously. "Let's talk big picture here, Chad. Do you know what you'd be doing if you murder me?"

"Slay, you mean."

I shook my head. "Don't try to make it sound all Hollywood. You'd be murdering me. Just because you think I'm a monster. But I'm not a monster. I'm just a little dentally different than you."

He studied me for a moment, his expression growing uncertain. "You drink blood, don't you?"

I made a face. It sounded so gross. "This is true. But it's provided by willing donors. There's kegs of the stuff, hopefully sanitized and homogenized or whatever they do to make it clean and disease-free."

"You're an undead creature of the night." He frowned and jabbed the stake in my general direction.

I looked up and pointed at the sky. "Sun's still up, isn't it? And I'm breathing. Heart's going all pitty-pat. Seriously, you need to read up a little on the topic. Take some notes."

Chad sighed heavily. "You're saying that everything I've been told all my life - everything I've ever believed - has all been a lie. That I haven't been doing my job as a protector of mankind by ridding it of bloodsucking monsters, I've actually been killing innocent people."

I nodded enthusiastically. "Bingo!"

He stared at me for a moment and then snorted. "You're funny. That's almost enough for me to let you live, but you know what? Not going to happen."

Bingo denied.

I tried to scramble away from him, but he grabbed my fuchsia-covered leg and pulled me back until he was completely on top of me, pinning my arms under his knees so all I could do was thrash from side to side like a wounded seal. He grabbed my face and squeezed, making my mouth open up so he could inspect my fangs. He ran a thumb over one of them.

"I usually take these from the young ones I slay. Got myself a nice necklace now."

Copyright © 2007 by Michelle Rowen

About the Author

Michelle Rowen was born in Toronto, Ontario. As a child she decided that when she grew up she would become a flight attendant, a jewel thief, or a writer. One out of three ain't bad. She is a self-confessed bibliophile, the proud owner of an evil cat named Nikita, Reality TV junkie, and has an unhealthy relationship with all things Buffy the Vampire Slayer.