Chapter 4

I had my face buried in the microscope when Megan entered the lab.

“Was that necessary?” she asked as she stood next to me with her hands on her hips.

“What would that be?” I asked without taking my eyes away from the scope.

“Cynthia is talking about quitting,” she grumbled.

“Now, that’s funny,” I chortled without taking my attention from my work.  “She’ll stay if Joseph turns into a vampire, but she’s threatening to quit because I made her watch me nurse him.”

“We all have our little quirks and you know that she’s got a phobia about nakedness,” my friend snapped.

I sat back and sighed. “I know.  I don’t know what got into me.” Then, with a shrug, I added, “Let her go if she feels she must.  It isn’t going to get any easier in this household.  I can assure you of that.  I can feel the monster taking hold.”

“Fight it,” she urged.

“Easy for you to say,” I mumbled as I returned my eyes to the microscope.  “This is so frustrating.  I get rid of all signs of the virus only to have them return a few hours later.  I just don’t understand.”

“I know for a fact that you can keep that monster subdued,” Megan insisted. “especially since you’re still human.  You’re not a vampire yet, Vickie.  Fight it.”

“I don’t know how,” I admitted.  “I feel like my bones are shaking and my skin is crawling and I just want to hurt someone.”

Megan took a deep breath.  “Amy invited us to her house for dinner. She wants to talk to you about your impending vampirism.  Knowing how you feel about vampires, I wasn’t going to accept, but I think we should go.”

I sat back and looked up at the ceiling while I rolled my shoulders to help relieve the tension that was building up in them. She was right.  I didn’t want to mix and mingle with vampires anymore, but having dinner with her when she’d expressed the purpose was to discuss vampirism was an opportunity that I just couldn’t pass up.  I had a barrel full of questions and concerns.

“You’re right,” I said as I returned my eyes to the microscope. “When?”

Megan sounded hesitant as she said, “She’s eager to get together with you.  I took the liberty of accepting an invitation for tonight.”

I slipped her a look that said far more than words ever could while I struggled to regain control of my wayward emotions. I eventually managed to relax my face and give her the friendliest smile that I could muster.  “You’re only looking out for me. So, thank you.”

“You’ve been through a lot in an extraordinarily little amount of time.  I’d just like to see things lighten up for you a bit, that’s all,” she offered. “If sitting down to dinner with some hated vampires will give you the ammunition you need to endure this trying time until we find the cure, then I’m all for it.”

I twisted my head to look at her with a raised brow. “Clearly.  What time did you commit us to?” 

 “You have time to clean up and dress,” she said as she jutted out of the door.  “I’m off to do the same.” 

I groaned my frustration as I closed up my lab for the night and headed off to my bedroom to get ready.  I resented having to dress for a dinner with vampires. 

The fact that I’d fallen in love with two of them didn’t automatically make me a vampire lover.  In fact, it actually played a major role in why I disliked them so much.  Had I not been exposed to them through Peter and Evan, then I’d probably have gone through life as a human being; growing old and wrinkly alongside my old and wrinkly human husband as we raised my human son and enjoyed our human grandchildren.  Instead, I spent hours of my days that could have and should have been spent with my rapidly growing little boy in a lab while I searched for a cure so that I wouldn’t become one of them.

I decided to soak in a hot bath in hopes that it would ease away a good deal of the angst I felt about attending the dinner.  Although I had no desire to dress for the occasion, I did feel an obligation to show some gratitude and respect to the doctor for the attentive care that she’d provided since I’d started going to her.  Therefore, I decided to go casual nice.  Since it would be acceptable enough to get me into most restaurants without feeling overdressed, I felt that it would be good enough for the evening. 

As I pulled on a pair of faded designer skinny jeans and a black form-fitting designer knit top that was loosely laced up the back with a low V-neck that displayed a good amount of my bountiful cleavage, I gave thanks to the fact that the times had changed, and it was no longer necessary to wear your Sunday best dress when entertaining or being entertained.  The weather was still nice enough to get away with wearing the silver metallic mules that matched the silver-metallic belt that I’d put around my waist while leaving the hem of my top hugging my hips in a smooth and easy manner.  I pulled my hair into a sloppy bun on my head while leaving a few strands down to frame my face and selected a fun pair of earrings to complete the outfit.

A low whistle from the door made me smile as I turned to face my good friend.  She’d dressed in a similar mode, although her jeans and top weren’t quite as form fitting as mine were.

“You look hot, my dear,” she said with a smile as she motioned for me to turn around for her to see all of me.

“You look pretty good, yourself,” I said as I did her bidding.  “I’m so used to seeing the pretty you that I sometimes forget the old bitty that you were when we first met.”

“Yet, you became my friend in spite of my being an old bag,” she chuckled.

“I said bitty, not bag,” I corrected her.

“Is there a difference?”  she asked with genuine curiosity.

“I couldn’t say,” I said as I pulled out a silver studded crossbody clutch and slipped a few essentials into it.  When I’d dabbed a touch of cologne onto my wrists, into the fold of my cleavage, and behind my ears, I asked her if she was ready.

She sniffed the air. “What fragrance are you wearing?”

“Aerin. Garden Rose,” I said.  “Want some?”

“You have Aerin in the linen scent too, don’t you?”  she asked as she headed toward my toiletries.

I smiled as I rested my hand on the doorknob and watched her help herself to my cologne. “Didn’t I get you that as a gift?”

“You sure did,” she said as she dabbed a bit in basically the same areas on her body that I’d dabbed my own cologne onto my body. “All gone. I need more.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” I said as I stepped back to allow her to pass through the door before I followed behind her and closed it behind me. “It does smell nice on you.”

 “I smell and look nice,” she sighed. “You, on the other hand, look and smell enticing.”

“Whatever,” I said with a quick wave of my hand. “No matter.  It’ll be wasted on Amy since I’m not into girls.”

“Especially vampire girls,” Megan emphasized as she giggled her way toward the garage.