Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Noise from the living area startled me into movement, and I headed for the bathroom to get ready for bed. I hadn’t been lying to Beau’s parents. The events of the day had worn me out, and my body felt like it was moving on autopilot as I pulled my toothbrush out of my bag. I began to brush and turned in a circle, taking in the room. Everything was pristine. There were plush towels hanging on the wall and a bottle of heavenly-smelling soap next to the sink, but it was the shadow of something big behind the glass shower door that had toothpaste almost dripping onto my shirt.
A claw-foot tub was tucked behind the large shower, its feet resting on the tile floor but far enough back that it missed any spray from the dual showerheads. The thing was absolutely magnificent, and the placement was genius. I stared at it in awe.
“Do you want me to leave any lights on?” Beau called from the bedroom, snapping me out of my adoration.
“You have a bathtub in the shower,” I replied, walking over to the doorway.
“Really?” he asked in mock surprise.
“It’s beautiful.”
“It’s a bathtub.”
“To you it’s a bathtub,” I mumbled around the toothpaste foaming furiously in my mouth. “To me, it’s heaven.”
“Climb in,” he offered.
I was seriously tempted as I turned back to the sink and finished brushing my teeth, but every muscle in my body urged me back toward the bedroom and massive bed that was calling my name. I stripped to my t-shirt and underwear and barely made it under the covers before I was yawning, but my body decided in that moment to send a spiral of heat from the center of my chest to every single finger and toe.
When Beau’s hand crossed the center of the bed and slid beneath my t-shirt, I didn’t resist. The cool pressure of his hand on my belly lulled me to sleep.
I couldn’t tell how long I’d slept, but when I opened my eyes, I was instantly aware that Beau wasn’t in bed with me. His side of the bed was cool, and he’d messily pulled the blankets up and tidied the pillows while I’d slept right through it. Groggy and irritated at the heat pulsing in my abdomen, I shuffled out of the room to find him bent forward on the couch, his elbows on his knees.
“What are you doing out here?” I rasped, trying to ignore the expanse of skin not shielded by his boxers.
“Hey,” he whispered, lifting his head. “Go back to sleep. It’s early still.”
The pallor of his skin was terrifying. He looked gray.
“What’s wrong?”
“Not feeling great,” he replied with an unconvincing smile. “Probably just a bit of anemia. It’s all right. Go back to bed.”
I let out a bubble of laughter that cut off when I realized he wasn’t making a joke.
“What do you mean, anemia?” I asked, heading for the kitchen. It only took me a minute to find the cupboard of glasses and fill one with tap water.
There were two empty bags of AB negative in the bottom of the sink. Bags. Pfft. They obviously hadn’t come from us. We used glass jars.
“We can’t get sick,” Beau said with a sigh. “But anemia can knock us out for a minute.”
By the time I turned back toward him, he’d listed toward the back of the couch and was lying there with his eyes closed.
“How the hell do Vampires get anemia?” I asked, bringing him the glass of water.
“Lack of blood,” he muttered, barely opening his eyes to look at me.
“If you don’t drink blood, you become anemic?” I asked dubiously.
“Basically,” he replied with a small smile. “It’s a little more complicated than that, but yeah. It hasn’t happened to me for years.”
I knew that Vampires needed blood to survive, but I’d never even considered the biology of it all. Racking my brain, I tried to remember anything I’d learned in high school health class about anemia. All I could recall is that it sometimes made the person dizzy or caused headaches.
“Didn’t you just have blood before bed?” I asked, glancing at the sink.
When there was no response, I looked back to find him passed out.
“Beau,” I called, reaching forward to shake his shoulder. His entire body started to slide sideways, and I was unprepared for the panic that tightened around my throat like a vise. “Beau!”
I looked back and forth between the door and the unconscious Vampire, remembering that no one could hear me if I called for help. Less than a second later, I was vaulting over the couch in a move that would’ve made my old track coach proud and throwing open the door to the hallway.
“Help!” I screamed, wondering if anyone would even hear me from their own rooms. “I need help!”