House Wyndham Vampires: Half Light Part 26

"One, you are home by two. I know that's not a usual curfew but since you're a vampire, you have to start your evening later than everyone else."

I thought my smile was going to crack my face. "And two?"

Father smirked. "You take Craft."

Wha-? I shook my head. "Wait you mean I take two dates?"

"No, not really two dates. Craft is to go with you to make sure you don't..." he shrugged. "To make sure you behave yourself."

"Wait a minute-" I stood up and noticed Craft looking more like a deer caught in the headlights. That told me this was news to him as well. "You're telling me Craft's going to protect-Brandon?"

"I'm afraid so," the Baroness said. "In case things get a little...heated. Craft can make sure you don't...over-indulge."

The blush that crossed my face made me break out into a sweat. And vampires don't sweat. I was soooo embarra.s.sed but I stood my ground. Jared was laughing and rolling around. I kicked him. "So...what did Brandon say?"

"He said yes. And I'm pretty sure he's going to make sure you're going tonight when you meet up," the Baroness glanced at the grandfather clock near the door to the kitchen. "Oh, you'd better go get ready so you're not late."

I was mortified...but I was also floating on a happy cloud as I ran to each of my family and kissed and hugged them. When I got to Craft, I knelt down beside him and slipped my arms around his neck. Again I marveled at how comfortable I was with him. He made me feel safe, and at home.

Was it blood speaking to blood? I didn't know. What I did know, was that I was the happiest I'd been since my father used my ancestor's blood to reform me into a creature of immortality, and love.

DUSK.

excerpt.

"Do you have to walk in with us?"

I winced inwardly at the irritation in Brandon's tone.

"Yes." Craft's own voice wasn't any better. The two had been bickering since we got in Brandon's car. Now that we were getting out of the car and getting ready to go into the dance, things were reaching a frustrating height.

You might ask why I was going to the Homecoming Dance with two guys. Brandon Fleetwood was my date and Craft Hood was my- Wow. Yeah it does get a little complicated.

Craft is several things to many people. To my Grandmother and Father, he's my bodyguard. To the humans milling around the parking lot, and the gym in front of us, he was going to be a huge chunk of gossip.

But to me...Craft is my Ghoul.

It's a long story so if you're just tuning in, I'm a vampire. And I inherited a Ghoul, which by definition was a servant. My servant. And I fed him blood.

Brandon's my human boyfriend and yes he knows what I am, and what Craft is. And the only way my Father was going to allow me to attend this dance was in the company of Craft. Brandon had asked permission to take me and he'd actually agreed to Craft coming along, but once the reality hit that he and I weren't going to be alone, he wasn't as excited anymore.

I thought he would back out, until I told him I had a dress, my Grandmother the Baroness had paid a lot of money for it, and if he didn't take me I'd go alone with Craft-even though neither of us actually went to this school.

That seemed to snap Brandon back to his senses.

I might be a vampire but I'm also a young woman. And being escorted between two good looking men was enough to make me feel...awesome!

Brandon was tall and dark haired, with dark eyes and a beautiful face. Craft was also tall, maybe an inch taller than Brandon, with shorter hair and blue eyes. They were like opposites in every way. Craft was a 500 year old human. Brandon was just past 17.

And me...I was more worried about my dress than whether the two of them were going to stare each other to death. My Grandmother-not my genetic grandmother but the one that reformed my Father into a Vampire-took me shopping yesterday. The day before the dance. It took a full day to find out the dance had a theme-Whimsy!

So what did that mean? I was clueless, and I was also pretty sure the stores would have been cleaned out with no real choices. And I'd been right. I also discovered that most girls wore shorter dresses to the Homecoming. But I didn't want short. I wanted long.

Grandmother commissioned her personal seamstress-a Ghoul-to make me a dress. I have dark, long red hair and blue eyes. So she decided my dress should be a deep, midnight blue. "A blue to rival the most exquisite of sapphires," were her exact words.

And it did. The creation was beautiful and unlike any of the dresses I'd seen walk by our car so far. Twinkling dark blue branches moved over my left shoulder and down my left arm to my wrist. A few of the branches wrapped around my middle finger. The material beneath the branches was flesh colored, so I looked nude under it. I'm not a prude, but I was pretty sure I was going to get flack from that fact.

The branch pattern covered my chest and pushed my b.r.e.a.s.t.s up into an almost embarra.s.sing height. I didn't know I had good sized b.o.o.bs!

The branches moved down my waist, hugging me tightly and then it all sort of disappeared into a skirt to my ankles, the same color of midnight blue. My shoes had a small heel and were made of the same blue sparkle as the branches. Grandmother had had my hair coiffed into an upsweep with little branches of the same color woven into my curls.

My Father always called me Princess. So did my brother Jared.

And when I'd looked in the mirror, I finally believed I was a Princess.

The look on Craft's face when I came down the stairs was priceless. He actually knelt in front of me, a Knight to his Lady. But the kicker had been Brandon's expression when he arrived and couldn't speak. On my Grandmother's direction, he had a corsage made of light blue roses and white ones, the flowers of my Family's crest.

My Vampire family's crest.

But now that we were out of the car and the dress flowed behind me and around me, I had a sudden, cras.h.i.+ng sense of stage fright.

Brandon put his hand in mine. "Come on. I want a picture of us together. I want to capture you in that dress forever."

"I-I can't move."

He looked a little confused.

Craft asked, "Is the dress too tight? I think it's too tight. And it's showing too much of your back-"

"Can it, Hood," Brandon said. "I'm about ready to stuff your a.s.s in the trunk."

"I'd like to see you try, human."

"You are not going in there with us."

"Yes I am." Craft smiled. "And I plan on having my picture taken with Carly as well."

"Guys!" I was ready to ditch both of them and run screaming into the night. I looked at each of them for a few seconds before I pulled my hand from Brandon. "Please do not screw this up. I've never been to a dance before and I want Brandon to have a good time." I looked at Craft and said to him silently, Please?

A smile pulled at the side of his beautiful lips and the small soul patch beneath his lower lip. It made him look edgier than Brandon. As you wish. I will be close by. He took my hand, kissed the back of it, and walked toward the gym, alone.

We can do that-talk to each other with our minds. I can't do that with Brandon.

"What's he doing?" Brandon watched Craft and then looked back at me.

"What I asked him to do." I offered Brandon my hand. "Let's go enjoy the dance. Please?"

Brandon's dark eyes flashed and he took my hand in his again. "You're beautiful, Carly. And I feel like I'm the luckiest guy here." He kissed my hand just as Craft had, but when Brandon's lips touched my skin, I felt a tingle move through my body.

We walked slowly over the asphalt to the brightly lighted gym. I'd never been to the school before. In fact I'd never been to any school. When I was human my Father had home schooled me with the best private tutors. High school was a mystery to me, a right of pa.s.sage I'd never experienced. This was my first dance. Excitement made my stomach twist and I glanced at Brandon as we got closer.

"Hey Fleetwood!"

He turned and waved at a few guys. They all gave him a thumbs-up signal and his smile widened.

At the door he produced two tickets and the girl taking them smiled and then looked at me-"Wow Carly! You look great!"

It was June Star, the little brown-haired girl I'd met at the football field a week ago. She'd been the one that loved vampires. "Hi June. You look wonderful too."

"Not like you." She stood up and I admired her soft pink dress. It moved through the air like smoke behind her as she moved around the table. She had me hold out my hands and turn. A few of the other girls around the table stepped up and bombarded me with questions.

"Wow...what boutique did you find that in?"

"Oh no man that's tailor made, isn't it?"

"That must have cost a fortune."

"It's perfect on you!"

"I think she looks like a blue tree."

All eyes turned to the blonde standing to the left of the door. It was Heather Cobb, Brandon's ex girlfriend and my new nemesis. She was dressed in a blood red dress that left nothing to the imagination. Her hair fell in curls to her shoulders. She was on the arm of Jack, one of the ex-football players and one of Brandon's former friends.

Then Paoli, another of Brandon's former friends stepped up from behind Heather and Jack. His gaze lingered on me until his own date appeared beside him.

I gasped when she turned to look at me.

It was Dockal, my now dead fiance's little Childe and the Babineaux Hunter. I'd killed her Sire a few days ago and no one knew where she'd vanished too.

She smiled, revealing her fangs behind ruby red lips. Her eyes were red as well and I heard her unspoken threat.

Children take revenge on those who kill their Sires. I will take everything you love from you. Starting with the Ghoul you stole.

To be continued in DUSK, available early 2014..

About the Author...

National Bestselling author Phaedra Weldon is a writer and mother of one. Phaedra was raised in the lush, green southern tropic of Georgia and grew up on southern ghost stories told while eating marshmallows around campfires, or on the back of pick-up trucks in the middle of cornfields on chilly October nights. She worked as a Graphic Artist for over twenty years in the publis.h.i.+ng and sign industries until she became a full time writer in 2009. Phaedra currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

This work and everything in it is the sole property of Phaedra M. Weldon. Any copying or reprinting will be prosecuted to the furthest extent of the law.

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