Excerpt:

One
When I woke up I was on a big bed; it was like a field of silk sheets. And I was in pyjamas!
“What the hell?” I said out loud. I finally managed to crawl off the bed and find the door. It opened to a hallway that only turned left. “Hello?” I called out. The door nest to mine opened.
A tall woman with raven black hair to her shoulders met me with “Oh, hello there, you woke up fast. It usually takes newbie’s three of four days to awaken again; it’s taken you 8 hours!” She smiled. She was dressed in a red Gucci cocktail dress and this seasons black Jimmy Choo peep toes. “What the hell happened?” I asked. This was all a bit much for me, I swooned. She caught my arm and held me steady. She sure was strong for someone her size.
“Come in to the office and I’ll explain everything.” She stepped out of the door way and ushered me through to a well furnished office. It was very modern; it looked like a picture for an Ikea catalogue. There was a desk in the corner with a computer sitting on top. There were 3 seats surrounding a table in the middle of the room, and across on side of the room there were bookshelves filled with books.
“Please sit” the woman said. “I don’t have a lot of time to explain this, so you’re just going to have to accept this and ask questions after.” “Um, ok.” I couldn’t really think properly. The woman sat down across from me. We were the same height when we were standing, but when we sat she seemed a lot taller.
“This is going to be hard to accept, but you are now a vampire. I know I sound crazy, but it is true. I turned you myself. I saw what happened, when that man stabbed you, and I ran to your aid as soon as he left. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Well that explained a lot, without actually saying much at all. “Ummm… well it’s not all that weird to me” I replied to the woman, she gave me a stunned look, I continued. “I’m a demon slayer. That asshat you saw stab me? That was Tassos, the local demon lord. I’ve dealt with a lot of freaky shit in my time, so you telling me that I’m now a mosquito-human hybrid, is not really big news to me. Actually I’m surprised I haven’t been turned before.” The woman continued to look stunned. “What’s your name?” I asked. “Andréa Christianna Marisol Genevieve Carine Malet” she replied, with a French accent. “Oh. You’re from France? What happened to your accent?” “Honey, I’ve been living in this country since Chris Columbus found it. My accent pretty much disappeared after the first hundred years.”
Geez, for over four hundred, this woman was looking good. I suppose the whole vampire thing helped that. It made me think of what I look like now. I didn’t really look at myself when I left the house last night. It wasn’t like I was going on a date; I was trying to look inconspicuous whilst doing some investigating. I didn’t think I’d find Tassos.
“Where is the bathroom, please?” I wanted to check that everything was still in working order. “Down the hall, first door on the right. I’m going to have to go but my husband, Claude, is still here, he’s still sleeping. When he wakes just ask him to bring you to the bar. Will you be alright?” “I should be, are you sure you want to trust a complete stranger in your house?” “I’ve been alive for seven hundred years my girl, I know when I can and can’t trust someone. See you later.” And with that she just walked out.
I found the bathroom easily, and I was just about to open the door when the thought dawned on me. “Can I see my reflection?” I asked out loud. A deep voice replied “Yeah, it’s just a stupid myth that Bram Stocker started.”
I turned quickly and saw a well tanned man in Blue pyjama pants and no shirt, showing off his well toned torso. His eyes were sky blue, and he had honey blonde curls. “You must be the girl that Andréa turned last night. How are you feeling?” he asked. “Um, Claude I presume?” he gave me a nod “I’m feeling great actually” I wasn’t sure what to say to him; “Hi, Evie Lee, Demon Slayer” I decided against telling him . “I’m Evie. Andréa just left. She said that you’d take me to the bar… What bar?”
“Saints, it’s the vampire bar that Andréa and I own.” “Catchy name.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Thankfully Claude spoke first “Why don’t I let you have a shower, and I’ll take you to Saints.”
He looked at the pyjama’s I was wearing “You can borrow some of Andréa’s clothes; you seem to fit them better than you would mine.” He gave a chuckle and walked away up the hall. He returned with an armful of clothes. “I wasn’t sure what you liked so I just grabbed a whole bunch. You want to pick something dressy though; Andréa likes everyone to look really sophisticated up in the bar.” He gave me a smile that would melt butter and walked into the kitchen.

***

I was standing in front of the mirror admiring myself, thankful that Andréa didn’t turn me when I was bloated, or with major re-growth, when a headache formed behind my eye. Cat was trying to reach me; I must be across town, the further away we get from each other the harder it is to communicate. Like bad phone reception. Evie are you there? Are you ok? I could barely hear her, she sounded really fuzzy. It was weird. Yeah I’m alive, look don’t freak but I’ve been turned into a vampire. I paused waiting for a response. None came. I’m ok, the vamp who turned me is pretty nice, she took me in for the night while I healed. I’ll give you the full story tomorrow night, Ok? I really need a shower. I put up a block just in case she decided to probe my mind whilst I was in the shower.
I turned on the shower and took a look around. Everything was white. The tiles on the floor, the curtain surrounding the shower, the toilet, the towels, even the handle on the door. I stripped off the satin pyjamas and stood in the shower. It felt good, like a warm blanket. I realized that I hadn’t had the urge to go to the bathroom since I woke up, and I still didn’t feel it. Well that was something I didn’t know. I’d have to ask Andréa a lot of questions. I heard a clinking noise, like someone was getting a coffee mug out of a cupboard, then what sounded like Claude humming. I opened my eyes and saw nothing. I could still hear everything. Ok so being a Vampire heightened my senses. I tested every other sense. I sniffed, I could smell the water. Well a mix of a lot of things, I could smell all the chemicals in it. I noticed that when I opened my eyes to the light that it hurt. Like a little headache waiting to happen.
“Hmmm” I said out loud. I turned off the shower and wrapped myself in a towel. It was so soft, I felt like wearing it and nothing else. But then I remembered the clothes Claude gave me. I picked up an item that had a paisley pattern, on it the tag read “DOLCE&GABBANA”. I dropped it really quickly, in shock. Wow this woman had great taste! I went through the rest of it and pulled out designer after designer until I settled on an orange Vera Wang cocktail dress. It fit perfectly. I looked down at my feet. Where were my shoes?
I walked out of the bathroom and listened really hard to see if I could pin point where Claude was. I found the kitchen easily.
“You look nice” he said “does it fit ok?” “Yeah, great. But I don’t have shoes. Do you know where mine went?” I loved those shoes, they were the only designer thing I owned and I paid for them fully on my own! “They could be in the closet in the room you were in. They wouldn’t go with that dress though” I frowned, how would he know? He was male. I know that was a derogatory thing to think, but still. How did a brawny, and may I add very manly looking man with the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen, know if a pair of Jimmy Choo, made of denim, would go with a Vera Wang cocktail dress? “My wife and I have been married for 700 years” he replied to my frown “you pick these things up.” Ah that explains it. “What do you suggest then?” He stood up “Follow me”
He took me down the hallway and into what I presumed would be the master bedroom. But it was a closet. The size of my apartment! And it was full, almost overflowing, of clothes. I gave a little excited girly squeal. Claude just laughed and headed off down the corridor of clothes. I followed obediently until we reached a wall of shoes. I thought I was going to faint, and I said so. “No, you’re not. Vampires don’t faint.” Claude got up on a ladder (yeah that’s right, they needed a ladder to get up to the shoes on the higher levels) and brought down a pair of this seasons Vivienne Westwood pumps. I almost squealed again. “Will they fit?” I asked, I hoped they would, I think I’d cry if they didn’t. “Try them on and we’ll see.” He put them on the floor. I daintily slipped my foot into one and almost cried. It fit perfectly. “Yay!” was all I could manage to get out. Claude looked really uninterested, like a good male. “Good, now we have to go.”
I followed Claude out the front. I could see now that we were on the Upper East Side. “The bar must be doing really well if you can afford a place here. And a car like that!” I said as my eyes met the black Audi TT that had just flashed to signal it was open. Claude chuckled “Saints is one of the most profitable vampire bars in the greater New York area, but we cannot credit all of our money on the one bar, we own several bars and nightclubs around the city, as well as two restaurants. Although Andréa and I are very rarely seen in our restaurants. How are you feeling? Hungry?” Now that he mentioned it I was feeling very thirsty. That got me thinking. Would I have to drink blood from now on? Not the worst thing I suppose if you put in other things the body oozes. Could I drink other fluids? Could I eat solids? What happened if I did eat solids? What about these new vampire senses? What else could I do? Could I fly? My brain was going into overload. I was going to ask Andréa all these questions, but maybe Claude could answer them for me. “Can I ask you a few questions?” I asked Claude. “Of course, you’re probably very curious as to a lot of things now. Fire away.” I asked him almost every question that popped into my head, and he answered everyone whilst navigating through the busy Saturday night traffic.
By the end of the car trip I’d found out that I would have to drink blood for the rest of eternity, but most vamps got their blood from bars, and those bars got the blood from willing donors, who’s blood is taken the same way it was if you were giving blood to a hospital. I could drink other liquids too, including alcohol but I would have to mix it with blood if I wanted to get drunk, and ordinary liquids wouldn’t really quench the thirst I felt. Food was out of the question, unless I wanted to throw up for a week then feel like I had a hangover for a month (Claude said he knew from experience). As for the vamp senses: I could see better in the dark, my eyes would become sensitive to any kind of light. Which is why vamps preferred nightclubs, the lights were little flashes. My hearing had heightened too, which was apparently odd because I was such a young vampire (“Barely 12 hours old” as Claude had said) but I couldn’t fly. “Only certain vampires can fly, you have to be really, really old.” Claude had said as we got out of the car, right out front of Saints.