Call of the Vampire Read Online Free Page B

eyes lit up for a moment and then narrowed. “Where did you learn to do that?” he asked, gesturing toward me.
    “Do what?” I looked down at my gown, not quite sure what he was talking about.
    “No. With your hand to your cheek.”
    “I don’t know.” I studied my hand as if it held the answer. “I’ve always done it, I think.” When I looked up again, Jessie was staring at me, almost transfixed.
    “You just remind me so much of someone I used to know many years ago,” he breathed, reaching up to caress a lock of my hair.
    “It couldn’t have been that many years ago,” I joked, uncomfortable under his gaze. “You can’t be much older than me.” I had just turned seventeen a week earlier and he didn’t look a day older than that.
    “I’m older than I look.” He lingered with his hand in my hair, lost in his own thoughts.
    “Do you have a phone I could borrow?” I asked, verbally nudging him out of his reverie. “I’d better call my mom to come get us.”
    Remembering himself, Jessie quickly lowered his hand. A part of me ached for him to touch my cheek, my lips, my neck, but I fought that longing. It was no time to indulge in a crush on a hot guy. He slid a gold pocket watch out of his jacket’s breast pocket and regarded the time. “How long would it take your mother to get here?”
    “I don’t know. Depends how long it takes to get a hold of her and what she’s doing,” I explained. “Maybe twenty minutes. Maybe longer.”
    Jessie frowned at his watch before closing it and slipping it back in his pocket. “It’s too close to midnight to take any chances. You’d better just stay here until the morning.”
    “I can’t stay here all night,” I told him. “My mom will freak.”
    “Better to have her worry for one night than to always wonder,” he said, half to himself.
    My adrenaline level, which had been lowering since Viktor left, began to rise again. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “It means that you and your friend snuck into the wrong party. The smartest thing you can do is stay in this room; keep the door locked and the windows closed.” He made his way toward the door. “Your friend should be fine by morning, and then you can leave. In the meantime, do not come out under any circumstances. Do you understand?” he asked as he stood over the threshold.
    “Why? What’s going on?” I wanted to know. There was no way in hell I was going to stay locked in a room in some creepy castle all night.
    He shook his head. “I cannot tell you. You’ll have to trust me when I say it’s for your own good.” With that, he closed the door and was gone.
    The instant he made his exit, I sprang forward and threw the lock. What kind of party was it, and what the hell was I going to do?
    I knew I couldn’t leave Blossom, even if it was to go get help. I was sure Viktor would be on her the instant I snuck out of the room. It was the law with girlfriends: if your friend passed out, you never left her alone—even at a party where you were friends with all the guys— because you just never knew. Not really. Being a good friend might ruin your evening, but being a bad friend might ruin her life. Blossom had acted like an idiot, but I was not about to leave her as prey to whatever letch happened past. I would just have to stay awake all night and deal with my mom in the morning.
    A clock on the mantelpiece quietly ticked, keeping my mind on the time. The party grew louder and more raucous as the time inched toward midnight. The guests had filtered upstairs. Every once in a while, someone tried the handle of the door to our room, but finding it locked, quickly moved on. Blossom was breathing but, besides that, showed no signs of waking up any time soon. I became distinctly aware of my bladder. The bedroom we were in had no adjoining bathroom. What the heck am I supposed to do? I wondered. The hands of the clock met at the top of the dial, and it chimed out twelve beats. The party grew