Call of the Vampire Read Online Free

job, along with my friendship with someone as reckless as Blossom, made Mom a little paranoid. She’d been schooling me on how to take care of myself since I could remember. One very important lesson she’d tried to teach me many times over was never let a stranger get you a drink, even if it’s just a coke.
    “Here you are,” the debonair man said, returning with two glasses of champagne, even though I’d said I didn’t want one, and another goblet of wine for himself.
    Blossom took her coupe eagerly, but I said, “No, thank you.”
    “Oh, come on,” he insisted, pushing the drink toward me so that I either had to take it or let it spill on my gown. “Live a little.”
    “Here’s to enjoying life,” the man said, lifting his glass of red wine in the air while looking Blossom square in the eyes. I raised my glass as well and pretended to take a sip, but never actually put my lips on the rim.
    “What’s your name?” Blossom asked, once she had drunk.
    “You may call me Viktor.” The man smiled at Blossom over his goblet. You could tell by the way he pronounced his name that he definitely spelled it with a K.
    It was only a matter of minutes until Blossom became even more wobbly than before we had met the stranger. “Are you okay?” I asked, taking her glass away from her and setting it on a table. I knew she was feeling pretty out of it when she didn’t protest.
    “I could use a drink of water,” she mumbled.
    “I’ll get it for her,” Viktor eagerly volunteered.
    “No, that’s okay,” I said in a slightly elevated voice. If he kept getting the drinks, Blossom would probably end up in a coma. “We’re just going to use the ladies room.” Hooking my arm around Blossom’s waist, I said to her, “Come on.” I was going to get her away from Viktor, even if I had to half drag her.
    “No,” she whined. “I want to stay and party.”
    “I think you’ve had enough partying for tonight.”
    Blossom’s legs started turning into spaghetti, and I was barely able to get her over to a settee before she collapsed. “Oh, my,” Viktor said with false concern. He’d followed us quite happily. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
    “No, you’ve done enough,” I told him in an even louder voice, drawing the attention of some nearby guests, which was actually my intent. “Please, leave us alone!”
    Viktor acted offended. “Don’t blame me just because your friend doesn’t know how to drink.”
    Blossom’s head began to roll from side to side. She was obviously not going anywhere any time soon. I had to accept that we were in trouble and do the smart thing. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed my mom. She was going to be furious, and Blossom’s mom was going to hit the roof, but a parent’s wrath was better than trying to deal with a passed out friend while a predator like Viktor sniffed around. The only problem was my phone wasn’t getting any bars. Every time I punched in my mom’s number, all I got was dead air.
    “There’s no signal,” Viktor explained smugly. “All this stone and no cell tower nearby makes it impossible to get a call out.”
    “Great,” I grumbled to myself. “Now what am I supposed to do?”
    A waiter sailed passed, and I hailed him. “Excuse me, but do you know where the
Vanderlinds have a house phone? My cell isn’t working.”
    “I guess I could ask Mr. Vanderlind,” he replied vaguely.
    “Would you ask Jessie Vanderlind, please?” He appeared to be much nicer than Daniel, and I wasn’t sure which Mr. Vanderlind he meant. “In fact,” I had an idea, “would you tell him that Aurora needs his help?”
    “If I can find him,” the waiter sighed.
    I got the feeling that he had no intention of looking for Jessie, so I quickly added, “If you can bring him to me, there’s a twenty in it for you.” I didn’t have a twenty, but he didn’t know that.
    The waiter might have had his suspicions about me paying up because he said, “Sounds good,”