A Girl's Guide to Vampires

"Oh, God, he's sooo gorgeous! I just knew they'd look like that! Joy, are you looking at him?"

I mumbled that I was. Dominic and Tanya were still playing to the crowd, she simpering as he pawed her in a manner I'm sure he thought was shocking and erotic, but was really only faintly tawdry as he nibbled with those doctored teeth on her long white neck, generally hamming it up. I dismissed them as uninspiring and focused my attention on the man who had moved farther along the bar to resume his conversation with the bartender. Raphael had taken off his jacket, and the long line of his back held me spellbound as he leaned forward to speak in the bartender's ear. Like Dominic, he was also in black, but on him it looked elegant and intriguing and…

"Virile," I breathed.

"You can say that again," Roxy agreed, her eyes on Dominic.

Everyone's attention was on the show Dominic and Tanya were presenting as he suddenly whirled her into a waltz around the room, his skin paper-white in comparison to the black of his pants and silk shirt, carelessly unbuttoned to expose half his chest.

"Probably uses pancake as well. And shaves his chest," I said softly.

"You think?" Roxy asked, her eyes alight as the couple swept past us, Dominic's teeth bared for full effect. She gave a lustful sigh. "It sure does look good on him. I wonder if Miranda couldn't have got the Goddess's messages mixed up, and I was supposed to find a Dark One as my perfect man. I could go for a man like that!"

It was on the tip of my tongue to say Dominic wasn't even as remotely intriguing as his companion, let alone a vampire, but as my eyes turned back to Raphael, I was stunned to find him watching me. He held a drink nonchalantly in one hand, his head still bent to the bartender, but his strangely colored eyes were on me. Our gazes met and locked. Instantly I was swamped with emotion: rage, stifled but still an awesome force to deal with; loneliness, such great loneliness that tears came to my eyes in sympathetic response; and finally despair, great waves of it that rolled over me and sucked me under. Almost as soon as the emotion washed over me, it was gone, leaving me feeling curiously bereft if extremely confused.

"Oh, God, I'm in trouble, serious trouble," I moaned, dragging my eyes away from the man who was everything Miranda warned, and so much more. My skin tingled and burned where it was exposed, as if just his gaze had the power to scorch me.

"What's wrong? You feeling faint again?" Roxy studied me with a worried eye.

I shook my head. "No. Just suffering delusional episodes. Nothing to write home about."

She frowned. "What are you babbling about now? Are you feeling OK or aren't you? If you want me to help you up to your room, just let me know."

"I'm fine," I reassured her and flashed Arielle what was bound to be a frighteningly insane smile. "Maybe just a bit tired, but OK. Just ignore me while I have my breakdown."

She leaned back against her chair and gave me a "wait till I get you later" look. Her attention was quickly pulled to other, more interesting things when Dominic strutted over with Tanya on his arm. I wanted to turn my head to see if Raphael was coming our way, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't need any more episodes of the sympathetic whatever-it-was I felt around him.

"Roxy," I leaned across the table and hissed through my teeth as Dominic made a production of sweeping Tanya's chair with (what else) a black handkerchief.

"Huh?" She turned reluctantly to look at me. "What?"

"Is he heading this way?"

Her eyes wandered over to Dominic, who had turned to answer a question from someone at a nearby table.

"No, not him, the other one. The big one." I almost said the real one, but stopped myself in time. I did not believe in vampires.

Roxy's gaze swept the room, then settled on me. "Why do you ask?"

I tried to shrug, but my skin still felt burned. "No particular reason."

"He's tall."

"So?"

"You're tall, too."

"Did you take all your medication this morning?" I asked snidely.

She grinned. "I was just asking. I thought maybe you might have a thing for him."

Me? With a possible bloodsucking monster? "Not on your tintype, Nelly! I don't even know the guy!"

Her grin widened. "Awfully vehement, aren't you?"

"Stop it."

"OK."

She kept smiling at me. I glared at her.

"Hey, Joy?"

I decided to ignore her. I'd take just a peek, one little itty-bitty peek and see if he was still staring at me. If the burn on my skin was any sign, he was.

He wasn't. He wasn't at the bar counter, he wasn't anywhere I could see at all. Damn.

"Joy?"

I casually turned to look in the other direction. Dominic was handing out flyers to the tables nearest us, but there was no sign of a big, dark man who could potentially, if I wasn't insane or drugged, be a vampire. Vampire, my mind echoed in an extremely annoying fashion.

I decided insanity was the better choice.

"Joy!"

"What?" I snapped, looking back at her.

"He's right behind you."