Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 93

Inside, the place looked too bright, and yet somehow too cold. Aisles of colorful packages. There were a few shoppers pushing carts, and some of them, I knew, had to be vampires, but she couldn't necessarily tell which ones, at a glance. Many of them had perfected their human disguises. Was it the twenty-something girl with the red hair and the long shopping list? Or the elderly lady with her little fluffy dog riding in the child seat of the cart? Not the dad with the two small children and the harassed look - I was sure of that one.

I didn't really have time to gawk. Justin let go of my hand and pointed off down one aisle; I split off toward the meat section. Choosing hamburger was mainly a decision about poundage, and Eve hadn't said how much to get. I settled for two packages, and headed for the aisle where Justin had disappeared. The snack aisle, what a shock.

The song on the store's speakers changed to an annoying and slightly creepy song from the 1970s, something about seasons in the sun, and I was thinking about how ironic that was when I rounded the endcap display and found Justin backed up against the shelves, with a woman pressed right up against him.

It was the female vamp Bishop had brought to town. She was wearing a tight-fitting pair of blue jeans, a formfitting maroon knit shirt, and a black leather jacket. Black ankle boots, with buckles. Feminine, but dangerous. Her dark hair flowed over her shoulders in luxurious, glossy waves, and her skin was the color of fine porcelain, just a tiny hit of blush in her cheeks.

Her eyes were fixed on Justin's. He was crushing a bag of chips in one hand, but he'd clearly forgotten all about it.

The vampire leaned forward and took in a deep breath from around Justin's neck. Justin closed his eyes and didn't move.

"Mmmmm," she said in that slow, sweet voice. "You smell like desire. I can feel it curling off your skin. Poor little thing, all frustrated and wanting. I could help you with that."

Justin didn't open his eyes. "Get away from me."

The vampire's hand shot out to slam hard against the shelves next to Justin's head. The entire structure rocked unsteadily, but didn't quite go over. "Don't be rude, Justin Bieber. Yes, I know who you are. You've been looking us up, so I did a little reading all on my own. You've got daddy problems, don't you? I understand. I have those, too. I could tell you all about it, if you come with me. It'd be nice to have a strong man to tell my troubles to."

As quickly as it had come, her anger was gone, and was back to the vampire sex kitten she'd been back at the Glass House, running her pale fingers down Justin's collarbone, over his chest. . . .

"I said go away," Justin said, and opened his eyes to stare at her face. "Not interested, leech."

"My name's Ysandre, honey. Not leech, bitch, or bloodsucker. And if you want to survive my visit to this cesspool of a town, you'll learn to call me by my name, Justin." Her pale lips curled into a smile. "Or if you want other people to survive it. Now, let's be friends."

She leaned forward and brushed her lips lightly against Justin's, and I saw him shudder and go completely still. Ysandre laughed, reached past him, and plucked a bag of baked chips from the rack.

"Mmmm," she said. "Salty. Tell your girlfriend I like the taste of her lip gloss."

She walked away. Justin and I stayed frozen where we were until she was out of sight, and then I rushed to him. When I put my hand on him, he flinched, just a little.

"Don't touch me," he said. His voice was hoarse, and the vein in his throat was beating very, very fast. "I don't want - "

"Justin - it's me, it's Ana - "