Page 4 of Fang Girl

I watched him walk away, and my inner monster was at a low simmer. Ever since the attack that turned me, I’d been fighting to control myself. Was this a bad thing? Would I hurt her?

Might be something to ask Basil about. He'd been a vampire longest, always insisting we could live almost normally, despite our... dietary restrictions.

One of the PA’s crossed to the food table, followed by Ari and her curly haired friend. The heartbeats around me from all the backstage staff seemed to increase in volume, and my fangs ached, though I’d fed well earlier. Ari was reeling me in like a fish, and I was well and truly hooked.

I started toward them, and someone grabbed my arm, pulling me to a stop. Fury whipped up my spine, and I turned ready to attack, and met Basil's placid blue eyes.

His mouth was open as if he’d started to ask a question, but then he studied me. “You need to calm down,” he said evenly. “Do we need to head to the trailer?”

The trailer was where we kept the feeders. I’d been determined when I’d first been turned not to feed off humans, just blood bags, but with our grueling tour schedule, it just wasn’t possible. Still we kept it consensual and regulated. Everyone was there of their own free will, we never took too much, and we kept medics on staff.

My fangs ached, but I’d been well fed before the concert. I was fine…just…

I looked at Ari.

“Victor…” Basil said, frowning.

I swallowed. Basil could be damn scary when he wanted to be. One bad college party had turned me into a vampire forever, and I’d had no idea what to do. Basil had adopted me.

“No, I’m fine. I just want to go see . . .” I trailed off, gesturing to Ari.

Basil glanced over at Ari. “She’s pretty.”

Mine. I didn’t say anything out loud, just nodded, but Basil looked as if he understood.

“She’s the one you kissed on stage?” he asked. “Wasn’t there some other girl Eddy had vetted?”

“Yes,” I forced out. Why was I being so possessive? I’d just seen Ari for the first time since high school, and I was acting like she was my wife.

“Be careful,” Basil said. “Being a vamp…you know it messes with your emotions.”

I closed my eyes, counting backward from ten like Basil had taught me, and tried to relax. When I opened my eyes, I strolled as casually as I could over to the table and to Aria.

“Hi,” I said.

She lifted her eyes and met my gaze. “Hi.”

“I’m Kylie,” her friend chirped. “We’re so excited to meet you!”

“I’m glad you could make it,” I responded automatically, although I only had eyes for Ari.

Basil came over and started talking to the friend, so I could pull Ari away a bit. We stepped around the edge of the table. The loud room narrowed down to just the two of us.

“How have you been?” I asked, trying to ignore all the people running around breaking down our stage.

“I’m good,” she said, nerves evident in her voice.

“Are you in college now?” I asked. “Or working?” These were not the questions I wanted to ask. I was usually a lot smoother than this.

“College,” she said, looking down at the floor. “I’m studying journalism.”

“That’s cool.”

I grabbed her hand and squeezed gently.

She looked up at me.

“That kiss was amazing,” I said, leaning closer.

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