All Souls' Night - Renee Rose Page 0,98

from the club.

Theo turns back to me. “Go home. We’ll see you tomorrow evening for the ceremony.”

I nod and stride to my car, climbing in. I head home, and make it into bed just as the sun rises.

Chapter 7

I click the button on my alarm clock to turn it off and then pull the comforter over my head, blocking out the blazing sun. I’ve maybe gotten about two hours of sleep and they weren’t restful at all. My dreams were terrible; more like nightmares.

I huddle under the blankets, my mind drifting back over the evening I spent with Aaron. It was magical—dancing with him, discovering he wanted me, making love with him… but then it all got ruined. I can’t make up my mind on what I want to do about it, either. Do I still want to be his? Yes. Definitively, yes. But. I keep coming back to that but. The curvy, redheaded BUT. It mocks me in my dreams and in my thoughts.

And the BUT has a name.

Siannon.

Because of course the exotic beauty who is Aaron’s ex has an exotic name to go with her traditional Irish looks. Apparently, she has the temper to match her hair too. I had thought my own temper was bad, but I have nothing on Siannon. And to top it all off, the cherry on the proverbial sundae, she is a vampire. A blood-sucking, human-killing psychopath! And lucky me, I am now on the psycho’s to kill list!

I sigh and flip the comforter off my head. I should have asked more questions last night, but I’d been so enthralled with Aaron, I’d just agreed to everything. “Stupid,” I mutter. I should have at least asked if any of the tropes were true. Like: can he be out during the day? Do I need to worry if Siannon is going to come after me during daylight hours, or just at night? Will garlic hurt her? What about silver? A stake to the heart? Can she even be killed?

For a few minutes, I imagine myself in the role of vampire slayer, a la Buffy style, and Siannon as the easily defeated vampire. Could I do it? Plunge a stake into her heart? I frown. Probably not, and where would I get a stake from, anyway? And what if I miss? Or what if it doesn’t work? That would be bad because then Siannon would be even more pissed off at me.

Funnily enough, I don’t consider killing any other vampires, just Siannon. But for all I know, vampires kill humans all the time. Granted, I’ve known Aaron for two years, and he’s never once tried to bite me—aside from when we made love last night, but that doesn’t count—or kill me, so that leads me to think that maybe at least he doesn’t kill humans. Also, he said that the other vampires would just wipe my memory, not kill me. So, there is that.

I am so confused. I don’t know what to think or do about my agreement with Aaron to become his submissive. I didn’t ask any questions, and I should have. Still, I don’t like the idea of having my memory wiped. I enjoy my time with Aaron, and I won’t ever expose him or the others as vampires. Not that they will believe that.

“Who would even believe me?” I mutter. “They’d lock me up in the psych ward if I went to the police saying a vampire was after me!”

I glance over at the clock as my stomach starts to grumble. It is past lunchtime. With a sigh, I get out of bed, straighten it up, and then go into the bathroom. Seeing my hair, and the mess it is from the night before, I pull out the pins and then jump in the shower to wash and condition it. Once I am done, I put on my swimsuit and a sarong. Instead of wallowing in bed, I’ll go lie by the pool and soak up some sun. I make my way down to the kitchen, fix myself a sandwich and a glass of tea, then go out to the pool to eat in the gazebo.

By the time the sun starts to set, I still don’t know what I want to do. As I return into the house, I hear my phone ring that special ringtone reserved for Aaron. I stare at it for a minute before answering.

“Hello.”

“Clarabelle, are you all right?” he asks. He sounds so concerned that it breaks me.

“I