Page 96 of Saving Her Vampire

“Who was the last person you had in a file?”

“He was doing things to kids that I won’t talk about.”

“You probably saved others from going through that. That’s noble.” I know those kinds of things happen, but hearing how much is disturbing. I admire what he is doing. He has the power to do it, so why should I stop him?

“Noble,” he scoffs. “I won’t stop you from thinking that way.”

“I won’t stop you from doing it,” I assure him.

“Thank you,” he says softly.

“How long does this take?” I ask.

“Not much longer.”

The squish of body parts is making me nauseous. “Good.” I didn’t bat an eye when I killed him but seeing this process is different. I need to work on the badass vampire thing.

***

We blur to the apartment, and I’m anxious to wash off the blood. I freeze when we step out of the elevator.

“Mom? Dad?” I ask in shock. Bash almost ran into my back when I stopped abruptly.

“Marie,” Mom cries. “It’s so good to see you.”

“Pumpkin, we decided to pop over,” Dad says.

“Pop over,” I repeat. “How did you know where I was?”

“Well, we tracked you,” Dad says.

“Tracked me?” I ask, surprised.

“Let’s not get into that now. Are you going to introduce us to your man?” Mom asks.

“Bash, this is my Mom and Dad,” I say weakly. “Robert and Marina.” Bash nods slowly.

“Should we go inside?” Mom asks. “You really should clean the blood off, dear.”

How could I forget we are both covered in blood? “Uh–”

“Being a vampire must be exciting,” Mom says calmly.

“Uh—” What?

Bash takes over and goes to the door, opening it for my parents. I give him big eyes as I pass him, to which he shrugs.

“This is super nice,” Mom gushes, walking around.

My mom looks like she could be my grandmother. Her salt-and-pepper hair is short and fluffed. She’s in a flowy floral shirt and capris. Dad has brown hair that is graying at the temples. He likes to wear shorts and t-shirts. No matter what season it is, he refuses to wear anything else. They are looking around the apartment, seemingly fascinated, as if they didn’t just drop a bomb on me.

“What the hell is going on?” I ask.

“Language, dear,” Mom scolds.

“Please tell me how you know about vampires?”

“Why don’t you both clean up, and then we can talk,” Dad suggests.