Page 35 of Shut Up and Bite Me

Their eyes go blank at my question. They have no idea, which is fair, I suppose, because they look like they are barely seven or eight years old.

“I’ll take the whole wagon, then.” I smile as their faces light up with uncontainable excitement.

“Really?” the little girl with dark hair squeals.

“I’ll be right back,” I tell her before walking inside to grab my wallet.

“Girl Scouts?” Greyson smiles sweetly, and I roll my eyes.

“Yes, Girl Scouts. I love…”

“Definitely not the cookies.” He laughs.

“Their morals and the empowerment they give little girls.” I lift my nose at him as I stride past him and grab my wallet before heading back to the happy entrepreneurs.

Besides, I can’t help but recall the dreams I once had of being a mother. The backs of my eyes burn, but I blink the wetness away. That dream isn’t entirely impossible for vampires, but only under rare conditions can a vampire conceive. I don’t know if there are any documented human-and-vampire-born children. Regardless, those options aren’t possible for me. If I won’t keep anyone around for fear of their life, I certainly won’t bring a child into the mix.

Opening the door, I find them haphazardly stuffing the tens of boxes into bags. “How much do I owe you?” Deciding to help them out with the math part of this transaction, I grab the clipboard and calculate it myself.

Each box is six dollars. And I’m getting…one hundred and twenty-three boxes. I do the math in my head. Seven hundred and twenty-eight dollars.

Taking ten hundred dollar bills from my wallet, I hand it over. “Here’s one thousand dollars. Keep the change, and have the best trip ever!”

“Are you sure?” The blonde girl beams with happiness. “We raised the most out of any group now!”

“Awesome! I’m glad I could help.” I grin and start grabbing bags from the ground. “Is one of your parents here?”

“Mom!” Little blondie calls out, and a brunette woman emerges from behind the tall hedges left of my walkway, her head popping out so quickly it nearly startles me. And I laugh at the fact that a human caught me off guard with her quickness.

“Right here!” she cheers. “How are we doing?”

“This nice lady is buying all of the cookies! She gave us a thousand dollars!” she squeals.

“Wow, Anna! Great job, you two!” She speaks to them in that tone of voice reserved just for kids before turning her attention to me, her voice now normal. “Thank you so much for purchasing so many boxes. It means the world to these girls. Can I get you anything else? Need help carrying them inside?”

Grinning, I flash her a smile. “I think we’ll be okay. Thank you though. And I’m happy to help. Let me drop these inside. I’ll be right back.”

“Of course!” She beams.

Rushing back inside, I drop the armfuls of bags onto the kitchen counter while Greyson eyes me, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Need a hand?”

“Nope,” I huff, fighting back a laugh.

The mom is gone when I return, and I grab the rest of the cookies. “Thank you guys for bagging these up for me.”

“You’re welcome,” they say in unison.

As I turn to walk back inside the house, I glance once more at the two cuties for one last smile goodbye. But that happiness pouring off them is quickly replaced by bone-chilling fear.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, rushing back over to them and dropping to my knees.

They jump back and point at me, and the dark haired girl gasps. “You’re a monster!”

My heart drops. “W-What?”

“Y-Your e-eyes a-a-are r-red,” she gasps, her voice almost inaudible.

Shit.

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