Page 13 of Bitten By Desire (Crooked Point #1)

Sunday

I woke up gasping for air. I grabbed the side of my neck, expecting my hand to be wet with blood.

Zoey sat up with a start.

We’d fallen asleep on the couch watching the local news and the coverage about the maze.

She stared at me wide-eyed. “Are you okay?” she asked.

I shook my head. I knew it was just a nightmare, but it had felt so real. I pulled my hand away from my neck. It was perfectly dry.

“What happened?”

“Nothing, it was just a dream.” I tried to steady my breath. But it felt so real. And I had this sick feeling in my stomach that something really terrible would have happened to me last night if Bennett hadn’t found me in the maze.

“You look terrified. What were you dreaming of?”

“Callum.”

“Callum doing what exactly?”

“That he cornered me in the maze. And that he looked…off. Kind of crazed.” That part had actually happened. It was the rest that was a disturbing dream. “And that he leaned down and bit my neck. Draining me of blood and leaving me for dead.”

“What the fuck?” She looked as shaken as me. “You mean…like a vampire? ”

“Yeah. Exactly like that.” My breathing was still uneven and I couldn’t calm down.

“I’m sure it was just because we were watching the news last night as we fell asleep.

And all those people were dressed up in costumes at the Fall Festival.

I know I saw a kid dressed as a vampire. That must have caused it.”

“You saw a child dressed as a vampire so you had a nightmare that Callum sucked your blood?” She stared at me. “What else happened in that maze, Emma?”

I touched the side of my neck again. I knew it was more than what I’d said that caused the nightmare.

And my heart was still pounding. The dream had felt so real.

“You should have seen the way Callum stared at me last night. He was scary. He wasn’t acting like himself.

Like he was about to snap or something. Like maybe he was… hungry?”

“For blood?!”

“I don’t know! And then Bennett got in my head because he kept asking me not to see Callum again. Basically implying that he needed to be there to protect me.”

“Do they know each other?”

“I don’t think so. Bennett said he didn’t like the way Callum was looking at me.” A chill ran down my spine. “Callum did look at my neck last night. I know he did. And I think Bennett saw him do it.”

Zoey shuddered. “But there’s no such thing as vampires…right?”

“Right.” I was pretty sure it came out as a question. I wanted to calm her down but I didn’t know what to believe. And she looked as uneasy as I felt.

She slowly shook her head. “Definitely not. ”

“On a scale of one to ten, how sure are you of that? Because the more I think about it…the more it kind of fits. Maybe that’s why Callum disappeared ten years ago. Maybe he hurt someone else and had to disappear. And change his name. I never looked up murders at that university.”

Zoey shook her head. “I think we would have heard about someone dying at our rival school.”

“Yeah…probably.” But I was itching to grab my phone and look it up. “And he doesn’t look any older. He looks exactly the same. Like he hasn’t aged at all. That’s a vampire thing, right?”

Zoey took a deep breath. “Vampires don’t exist. You were just spooked last night. You found a freaking hand in that hay maze. Shit, look.” She pointed to the breaking news banner on the TV. She turned the volume back on.

The police had found several severed body parts in the maze last night. And now there were two people who’d been reported missing this morning. They were still waiting for forensics to see if the parts were a match.

“I swear this stuff never happens here,” Zoey said. “There’s no crime in Crooked Point. None. I don’t even lock my front door.”

Well I didn’t love the sound of that. “We should lock it tonight, I think.”

“Definitely.” She grabbed a pillow and held it to her chest. “I can’t believe any of this. It’s horrible. Those poor people and their families.”

“I know.” I wanted to say I hoped the body parts weren’t a match to the missing people. But…they still be longed to someone, somewhere. Or multiple someones. This was horrifying.

We were a both quiet for a moment. And I was wondering if she was thinking the same thing I was… Is Callum responsible for this? He hadn’t hurt me. But what if he’d hurt someone else?

“Okay…enough news.” Zoey grabbed the remote and switched it off.

“That’s probably a good idea.” I didn’t want to have any more nightmares tonight as realistic as the one I’d just had.

“I have the perfect way to distract us.” The smile slowly grew over her face. “House hunting.”

“Zoey…”

“What? You’re smitten with Bennett. You’re obviously staying.”

I wasn’t obviously staying. Yes, I liked Bennett. But it wasn’t that simple. “There’s a murderer loose in this town.”

“And like I said…this never happens here. So it’s probably never going to happen again in our lifetime.”

“Or maybe it’s a vampire.”

“We just talked about this. Vampires don’t exist. And I seriously doubt Callum had anything to do with this. Bennett and I were in the maze too and you don’t suspect us.”

“Fine. But maybe it’s not just a murderer loose in the town. Maybe it’s a serial killer.”

“Why would you say that?” She threw the pillow at me.

“Because it seems like there are already multiple victims. Which means there might be more. ”

Zoey shook her head. “I don’t think so.” She stood up. “Come on, the first open house has already started.”

I groaned. “The first one?”

“Mhm. We have several. I’m determined to find you the perfect house so you never leave.”

“I’m not even sure it’s safe to leave your house right now.”

“Of course it is. Everyone is on high alert. No one else is going to be…mauled to death? Is that the right word?”

I nodded. Yeah, that was probably how I’d put it too. Which was why I didn’t want to leave the house.

“Also, I don’t think vampires maul anything. They bite .” She glanced at my neck.

Even though she claimed vampires didn’t exist, she seemed to be bringing it up just as much as I was. “What else do we know about vampires? Do they have golden eyes?”

“No one knows anything about them. Because they don’t exist. Come on, let’s go.” Zoey walked toward the door.

The only thing worse than venturing out there was staying in here all alone.

I grabbed my camera and hurried after her.

I expected a ghost town outside, with everyone too scared to walk around.

But if anything, it was the opposite. The sidewalks were more crowded than they’d been yesterday for the festival.

“Why aren’t people scared?” I asked. Whether it was a vampire, serial killer, or a normal murderer loose…it was still dangerous.

“I told you, nothing like this ever happens around here. And it won’t happen again. Plus, I’m sure everyone’s curious about what’s going on. ”

We walked past a group of women power walking down the street. They all glared at Zoey like she was the scum of the earth.

“Speaking of being curious,” I said. “Is it just me, or does it seem like a lot of the women in this town dislike you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The power walkers back there.” I pointed over my shoulder. “And the women at the coffee shop a few days ago. They all kind of stare evilly at you.”

Zoey laughed. “No way.”

Was she really not aware of this? “I swear, Zoey. Do you think maybe you’re flirting a little too much with their husbands?”

“I don’t think so. I barely flirt at all. And it’s part of the job. I’m a people pleaser.”

I was worried she was pleasing her clients in a different way. “Just be careful. Those women really seem kind of pissed.” Or did they look hungry like Callum had looked last night? I stared at another glaring woman. Nope, she was just normal mad.

“I feel like you’re exaggerating. I’m pretty sure I’d notice if women were glaring at me at every turn.”

“If you say so.”

“We’re at our first house!” she said, and pulled me through the open white picket gate. The house was pretty much an exact replica of hers. She went straight to the kitchen and started talking about how nice the counters were.

It was weird that all the houses here looked so similar. I was starting to lean toward the serial killer option. This town screamed the perfect place for cookie cutter victims .

I picked up the listing and tried to hide my reaction to the price. How on earth had Zoey afforded her place? There was no way that private fitness instructors made this much money. Right?

“Look at the veins in the quartz,” she said and traced one of the golden lines. “I’m starting to think I need to update my kitchen.”

“Isn’t your house only five years old?”

She nodded. “And it’s starting to show, I think.”

No. No it wasn’t. “Zoey, I can’t afford a place anywhere near this price.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. I’m not a secret millionaire like you.”

She laughed. “I’m not a millionaire. I’m just good at investing. You should talk to someone about that when you’re at the bank tomorrow. Everyone who works there is so good at what they do.”

Okay. “Either way…this is a waste of time.”

“Well, let’s at least go see the other places I picked out. This was on the higher end. But the next one might be just right.”

I followed her out the door we’d just come from and down the sidewalk. We made a turn and came to almost the exact same house. But it looked a little smaller. Maybe? “This house is the same.”

“No it’s not,” Zoey said. “It has one less bathroom. I feel like that’s manageable though. And you can always build on later because the yard is huge.”

“How much is it?”

“Like…$50,000 less than the last one.”

“Zoey! I can’t afford to live in this town.”

“Then maybe you should just move in with a certain someone.” She beamed at me .

“Are you talking about you or Bennett?”

“Bennett. But my offer still stands.”

“I barely know him.”

“That’s not how it looked on the Ferris wheel last night.”

“Hey!” I lightly shoved her shoulder and she laughed.

“I can already picture your wedding.”

I rolled my eyes. It was one date. Kind of two. Or zero according to Bennett since Zoey had tagged along on all our dates so far. “I’m not getting married anytime soon. Just like I can’t afford this house anytime soon.”

“I’m sorry. Every house I found was about this price. But we should still go look at them. It’s so fun house shopping.”

“Is it though?”

“Of course it is! Come on, there’s an older house right off Main Street that I just know you’ll get inspiration from. I think it’s one of the first houses that was erected here.”

That did sound better to me. But there was no reason to get my hopes up, because there was a zero percent chance that I could afford it.

Main Street was just as crowded as it was last night too. The Fall Festival decorations were still up and everyone seemed in good spirits despite the fact that there was a murderer on the loose. How was I the only one upset about this?

“It could be any one of these people who did it,” I said.

“Stop it. Next you’ll say they’re all vampires.”

“Do vampires usually travel in packs? ”

“This way,” Zoey said, ignoring me as she turned down a side street.

A raindrop fell on the tip of my nose. I looked up. “Zoey, it’s about to storm. We should head back.”

“No, you’re going to love this one. We’re almost there.”

More raindrops fell as we quickened our pace.

We turned down one more side street and there was an old Victorian-style house with a for sale sign out front.

It was one of the only houses I’d seen that didn’t have a white picket fence.

The house looked like it was built in the 1800s, but the fresh coat of white paint made it look like it was still in good shape.

The front steps creaked just a bit as we made our way to the front door. Luckily there was a wrap-around porch, because it was starting to rain harder.

Zoey reached out to turn the knob but it was locked.

“Hmm. Maybe this open house doesn’t start until 2?

Let me double check.” She pulled out her phone.

“Yeah, we’re too early. We could go grab a cup of coffee and come back…

” her voice trailed off as thunder boomed in the distance and the rain started falling faster.

“And now we’re stuck here.” I sat down in one of the chairs on the porch. “But at least now we have time to do some research.”

“What research?”

“Vampires, of course.” I pulled out my phone and googled if vampires age.

She sighed.

“They’re immortal. And they’re frozen at the age that they changed.” I pointed to my screen. “That’s probably why he moved away from the school. Someone probably got suspicious of him because he wasn’t aging.”

“Let me see that.” She grabbed my phone from me. She searched something else.

I leaned over to see the screen. She’d searched to see if vampires had gold eyes.

“When a vampire is hungry, his eyes get darker and darker until they’re almost black,” she said. “There. Callum’s not a vampire. And I’m still not convinced Callum is Theo Gold anyway.”

Thunder boomed again and I winced. “That doesn’t mean he’s not a vampire. It just means he’s not a hungry vampire. Look.” I pointed to the screen. “When they’ve fed recently their eyes are whatever their normal color is.”

“And gold is normal?”

“It’s normal for him.” A chill ran down my spine but I ignored it. “What if when he saw me in the maze last night…he’d just fed?”