Page 22 of My Blind Date is a Vampire

Going back home had been a bad idea. Mom took one good look at the shadows under my eyes and my greasy hair and assumed that I was finding my life in Mystic Cove more miserable than I’d imagined. Eventually, I caved and gave her an abridged version of what had happened between Landon and me, brushing over all the paranormal bits and telling her that I’d fallen head-first for him only to find out that he wasn’t what he seemed and left the rest to her interpretation.

I’d thought spending some time among loved ones would help pick up my mood. I’d packed my bags Thursday afternoon after Rachel and Beverly both came knocking on my door—both of whom I’d ignored. I was still not up to talking to them yet. A part of me felt as if they’d taken me for a fool. That they’d all had a good laugh behind my back—the poor naive human who’d fallen for someone who could snap her neck without batting an eye or eat me alive. I didn’t even know if Landon’s feelings for me were genuine or if he was just passing the time. Maybe he’d agreed to that blind date just to get Beverly off his back. I mean, what did an immortal vampire want with a plain human like me? I’m sure there were vampire women out there who suited him better, women who understood him, who’d been alive almost as long as he had been, whose stomachs did not turn at the thought of drinking blood. How was our relationship going to work in the first place? Obviously, the secrets Landon had not been ready to tell me were about his vampirism, and I didn’t blame him for that. You don’t reveal something that huge and life-changing to just anyone.

But say our relationship did work out and he finally trusted me enough to let me in on the secret. What then? Did he expect to turn me into a vampire? Or was he going to stand idly by as I aged and he remained forever frozen in time? I wasn’t sure if I was willing to give up my mortality for a lifetime of drinking blood, even if it was in the name of love. These headache-inducing thoughts ran in a loop in my mind without a break and were driving me crazy!

Frustrated by my moping and unwillingness to talk, Mom dragged me along to shop for Kimberly’s—Bas’s fiancé’s—wedding dress. My sister-in-law Sarah was also present, and all three women tried their best to lift my spirits while also making sure that Kimberly was the star of the day. As we tried the second wedding boutique, Mom finally lost her patience and dragged me outside, away from the excited bride-to-be and Sarah.

“Sweetheart, I know you are going through some stuff right now, and as your mother, it pains me to see you hurting like this, but there’s nothing I can do for you unless you talk to me, let me help with whatever is troubling you,” she began, holding her palm up when I opened my mouth to tell her that I did not want to talk about it.

“I realize that you don’t want to talk about it, and I want you to know I’ll always be ready to lend an ear and a shoulder for you to cry on when you are. But I would also like to remind you that you are not the center of everyone’s world. I am not telling you to pack your feelings away. Just…if you don’t want to deal with your issues right now, then you could at least focus on someone else. Your brother is getting married to the sweetest girl ever and I haven’t seen you make a move to really get to know Kimberly. I didn’t bring you shopping with us just to get you out of the house. I wanted the two of you to bond over something special, but not once have you shown an interest in Kimberly or the wedding. So, I’m giving you a choice—you can either go home or you can get in there and help your future sister-in-law pick out a dress. One day, she’ll hopefully return the favor to you,” Mom implored, her green eyes pleading with me to make an effort. I could see that she was worried about me and was trying not to pry and push me to open up like she usually did, so I relented.

She must have seen the capitulation in my face because the tension around her eyes melted away and she gave me a small smile before turning to go back into the shop. My hand involuntarily reached out and grabbed her by the wrist. “His name is Landon. We’ve only known each other for about two weeks, but I already care more for him than any man who came before him. I thought that he could be the one, but now, I don’t even know what to think,” I confessed in a quiet whisper, my eyes trained to the SALE stickers on the boutique windows over her shoulder.

“Did something happen to change that?” she asked gently, threading her fingers through mine and walking us to an empty bench in the middle of the crowded mall.

“I found out something about him…a different side of him that is terrifying and possibly dangerous and I don’t know how to feel about that.”

Mom tensed up when I said that, wariness creeping into her eyes. “Baby, did this man hurt you? Is that why you came back home with that haunted look in your eyes?” she asked in an alarmed tone. My eyes went wide once I understood what she was talking about, and I was quick to reassure her.

“Landon would never hurt me, Mom. Not intentionally, at least. He is a gentleman through and through, and maybe I misspoke when I said he terrified me. It’s more like…there’s a side of him that I did not expect, and it’s something that he can never change. If I want things to work out between us—” and God knew there was nothing I wanted more than that. “—I’ll have to accept that side of him and learn to love him despite it.”

“And you’re not sure if you can accept and love him after what you’ve learned?” Mom completed my train of thought. I nodded and waited to hear what she had to say.

“My dear girl,” she began, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. I shifted closer to her and laid my head on her shoulder as she played with my curls. “It sounds to me as if you’re already all the way in love with him and it’s just that your head has yet to catch up with your heart.

“But I will say this, love is all about compromises and sacrifices. Accept the things you can’t change, change the things you can’t accept, and have the wisdom to know the difference. My mother told me that when your father and I had a huge blowout that almost destroyed our marriage. It was about two years before we had you, and except for Charlies, your brothers are too young to remember, but we actually lived apart for three months. It was the most miserable time of my life, but we both realized that we loved each other too much to allow something that, in hindsight, turned out to be trivial in the grand scheme of things to separate us. You need to make that same decision now. Is this thing that caused you to run away from him so unforgiving that you would risk losing him?”

CHAPTER 26

I felt like everyone was staring at me on Monday, even the students. The pity and curiosity in their eyes made my skin itch. More than once a person tried to talk to me about what happened at the gallery, but I was not about to provide more fodder for the Mystic Cove gossip machine. When the last bell rang, I bolted out of my seat like I’d been sitting on hot coals, ignoring West calling out for me as I rushed out to my car.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I found Landon waiting in front of my car looking gaunt, unlike his usually put-together self. He was dressed casually in jeans and a tight-fitting T-shirt, his beautiful eyes hidden behind his mirrored sunglasses.

My steps faltered and I looked around the parking lot for a route of escape. My mother’s words echoed through my head, but I wasn’t ready to confront him or make a decision.

“Please don’t run. I just need you to listen to what I have to say and then I’ll be on my way,” Landon pleaded, taking a step toward me and freezing when I took one back. I realized too late what I’d done and how that single gesture came off to Landon. It was a good thing his eyes were hidden behind his glasses because I don’t think I would have been able to take the look in his eyes.

“Julia, I promise you that I will never hurt you. You don’t need to be afraid of me. I just want to talk, that’s all.”

I gulped down the lump of emotion lodged in my throat and forced myself to speak around it when it refused to go down. “I-I know you wouldn’t, but…I need time to process things on my own before we talk. I’ll hear you out eventually, but I just—” I trailed off as more people spilled out of the school building.

Landon’s facial muscles went taut as he also looked around at our audience and he gave me a brisk nod. “You know where to find me when you’re ready to talk,” he told me and walked away, taking a piece of my heart with him. Something inside me screamed at me to call him back, to let go of my stupid pride and insecurities and follow after him and be with him. I let out a soft gasp when I felt an actual physical pain somewhere in the vicinity of my chest. It was in no way incapacitating, but it did steal my breath away and continued to throb as I made my way home.

* * *

Two more weeks passed in which I avoided pretty much everyone. Every time I went to the store and locked eyes with someone, I couldn’t help but wonder if they were a vampire or something else. I had dozens of messages from Landon that went unanswered, and I knew that I ran the risk of losing him forever if I kept ghosting him. I just needed to bite the bullet and go see him. As things turned out, it was Beverly I ended up having a confrontation with first. She was one of the people on my hit list and I had been actively avoiding going to The Book Coven for weeks. But when the third book in a series I loved came out, I had no choice go to the bookstore since the e-book and audiobook releases wouldn’t be out for a couple more weeks and I did not want to be spoiled.

With Beverly the only one ever manning the counter, there was no way to sneak in and out with her being none the wiser. My face was a blank mask when I stepped up to pay and my lips were sewed shut.

“Is that how our relationship is going to be from now on, nothing more than strangers? If so, I pity you. This is a small town, so you’ll be seeing my face everywhere. I’d hate for you to waste so much energy being angry for nothing.” Her flippant tone made my blood boil.

“What do you mean angry for nothing? You knowingly set me up on a date with a vampire!” I yelled, catching the attention of the other customers in the store. Luckily, they were all locals, so they likely knew what I was going on about.

“So? Landon never did anything to make you feel unsafe, did he? He’s a gentleman through and through. Not to mention he’s loaded and handsome. What more could you ask for?” Beverly asked, stepping out from behind the counter. “Besides, I thought it was every young lady’s dream to be whisked off her feet by a handsome, brooding vampire.” She nonchalantly fingered a stack of vampire romances on the counter.

“This is not a joke, Bev!” I slapped my hand down on the surface of the counter. “How could you not tell me? That’s a huge secret to keep from me. What if the date had gone horribly wrong and Landon bit me or something?”

“Landon is not a novice who goes around attacking helpless young women, so do not insult him by making him out to be some mindless beast.” She frowned at me, fine lines flaring out from the sides of her mouth.

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