Page 3 of His True Beloved

“Don’t you finish that sentence, Christina Amelia Clarkson.” I snapped my mouth shut, but I kept my eyes wide now, staring at Justin. Justin put his finger to Mom’s lips, turning his body so slowly as if not to frighten me.

Frighten me? Pah! I could take the guy. He had a slim athletic build. He maybe looked five years older than me, which I guess I hadn’t noticed before because I was too shocked by the state of the house.

And the sweet revenge affair.

“What I’m about to tell you, I don’t want you to panic. There really isn’t an easy way to tell you this.” His voice stayed completely calm as I picked up my glass, now sucking the rest of the alcohol down.

He is going to tell me he is after my mom because he’s into cougars.

“I’m a vampire.”

Chapter 2

Christine

Momobservedme,herlips gently parted. Justin looked about the same, but his eyebrows rose above his head, waiting. Not breaking their stares, my lips searched for the bright red straw that hung close to the rim of the glass. My lips finally found the ever-fleeting straw, and I sucked down the rest of my hard lemonade.

The harsh sounds of the glass emptying caught my attention instead. Smacking my lips together, I turned away from the stares, only to glance at the pitcher of lemonade. I shrugged my shoulders.

Oh, hell.

Pouring another glass, they watched me until I began sucking on the straw again. Clearing my throat, I set down the mason jar with a click to the glass coffee table. “I’m sorry, what was that?” Leaning back in my chair Justin just blinked his eyes back to Mom, who clutched his hands tightly.

My hand reached out to grab the mason jar again for Mom to tug it away. “That’s enough, Chrissy.” Her voice stayed gentle. Tutting, I leaned back in the chair. Rubbing my eyes, surely messing up the thick mascara. I groaned.

“Mom, I’m really not in the mood for jokes. It was a long drive, and I’m getting a killer headache.”

“Because you are drinking too much,” she mumbled. Darting my line of vision to her, I wanted to talk back.Well, you offered,my subconscious screamed.

“This isn’t a joke.” Justin now had a thick accent like he was from bloody England.

Ha, see what I did there?

“Mother,” I chastised, which had my mom standing up. She gave me the same stare when she caught me coming home at five a.m. after hanging out with my friends and soap bombing the town’s water fountain. “What?” I feigned innocence.

“He’s serious, Chrissy.” Justin stood up, wrapping his arm around her protectively. Did he think that I was going to hurt my own mother? Taking offense, I stood up to walk to the other side of the room. Mom’s eyes softened, gripping ahold of the lapel of Justin’s suit jacket.

“I…” My voice cracked. “I don’t understand?” Reaching down, I picked back up the mason jar of liquid courage.

“I am a vampire, I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. We’ve been around for a long time, we don’t hurt humans. Most don’t, anyway.” Mom nudged him in the ribs only for him to grip her waist tighter.

“Prove it,” I whispered. The nagging feeling in the back of my head made me question my sanity. Was it the strength of the alcohol that had me beginning to believe what he was saying was true? Cold hands, the house was freaking dark, and his dentist had some freaky magic whitening stuff to make those canines stand out.

“How do you want me to prove it?” He ticked his lip upward. Mom giggled, patting his chest. Stepping forward, his feet clicked with the hardwood floor, having me back up. The back of my leg hit against the side table, and the glass lamp tipped. Reaching for it so it didn’t fall, Justin was already in front of me, and his hand had already placed it back.

“How did you…?” Mom grabbed his hand, pulling him away from me.

“He’s fast, really strong, and yes, he does drink blood,” she whispered. “He drinks animal blood, but also blood from consenting humans.” Mom’s smile did not go unnoticed.

Ew, does she let him eat off her?

“Do you sparkle too?” I snorted, covering my mouth.

“At least she is laughing.” Justin gave a fanged smile. This time, the questionable canines were longer. He let it all hang out as I studied him. For a split second, I thought they could have been stick on fangs. A lot of people did that, right?

Mom shook her head, reaching for the end table drawer and pulling out a brown paper bag. “Oh no, her laughing isn’t a good thing, hun.” I began laughing, laughing so hard that tears welled in my eyes.

This is not happening. My mom is not dating a vampire, and I am not going to call him Dad either.

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