My Vampire Bromance

Chapter 23: Thomas Langerty

Monday rolled around quicker than I wanted it to. And even though Saturday had been a bust due to certain circumstances, Sunday left me feeling more elated than usual.

Victor was everything I'd ever dreamed of...except for his cooking. His cooking was atrocious– and the fact that he was a vampire. I still had a hard time believing that, but every night I was constantly reminded of just what he was as red mist came flowing through the cracks of my window, followed by the appearance of him decked out in his usual gaudy fashion.

How had I nabbed him? I hadn't even tried. That was a lie– I had watched him like a creepy stalker in the bar for months. And while I eventually summoned up the nerve to speak to him... I never expected this– whatever this was. I'd suddenly been catapulted into a whirlwind romance, except this wasn't any ordinary romance with any ordinary man. Victor was a vampire– more Dracula than anything else, yet he was less dark than I expected him to be. A pushover when in came to love, and though I couldn't understand it, he seems set on loving me. I just don't know how this will work out, he is immortal, and I am...well, I'm not.

"What's got you all hot and bothered?" a voice rolled out like a thunder drum above my head. I'd been looking down at my world literature book, studying for Tuesday's final, fingering the bookmark Victor had given me in my hand. I looked up from my reading to see none other than Thomas Langerty staring at me. He slammed a copy of Operatic Tragedies of the Romantic Era down in front of me. I steeled myself.

"Hello, checking out?" I responded, ignoring his question. I looked his face over once, quickly. There was only a faint mark of pink scarring on the side of his face. In the same place I'd burnt the vampire from the Thursday before. Sure as I ever was, the vampire that attacked Brinley had to be him. But if he was a vampire, how was he out in the middle of the day?

Thomas clicked his tongue, then leaned down on the counter. "Yeah, sure, whatever." He folded his arms across the marble expanse, cocking his head to the side at me. "So, tell me. What's in that textbook that's got you all messed up? Is it something romantic? Sexual? Did someone get murdered?" I looked up into his dark blue eyes. They were so different than mine. Shaking my head, I pushed up my glasses, then picked up the book he put on the counter.

"Can I have your student ID?" I would not talk to him more than was necessary. I wanted nothing to do with him.

"God, you're a real piece of work. You know that?" Thomas pulled a tan leather wallet out of his pocket. His fingers worked expertly to grasp his ID from it. He handed it to me, sneering as he did so. "Why won't you answer my question?"

"I'm at work."

Thomas straightened, looking offended, "Being at work didn't stop you from flirting with that girl the other day."

"I was on lunch. We were setting up a time to study." How blasé could I be before he eventually gave up.

"And the girl at the coffee counter?"

That got me to look up. Thomas stared down his straight nose at me. He looked like one of those actors from television that plays a Greek hero, yet I knew he was far from it. "Brinley? She's my coworker. It's terrible what happened to her."

"Ha!" Thomas leaned his side against the counter, one hand out as if to accept his ID back. I gave it to him. "Lucky girl. She would have been killed if you hadn't run in to save her. By the way," he eyed me sideways, taking too much time watching my mouth, the way my clothes wrinkled– the small of my neck. I had seen this facial expression before. Thunder rolled outside, and the pattering of rain began to fall on the library roof. It spattered the windows, making me aware of how dark and cloudy it was outside, despite being early afternoon. "Did you see him?"