The Vampires' Last Lover (Dying of the Dark Vampires Book 1) Read Online Free

only after I shooed him away after demonstrating I was all right. I assured him that whatever illness I suffered from the night before had left me completely. Surely, the frantic scamper around my dorm room to gather my shampoo, soap, and toothpaste helped sell the notion I was fine, as did the occasional pillow or bit of discarded clothing I threw at him.
    Tyreen returned to our room while I was showering and was sitting on her bunk when I came in after I finished. She was already dressed in jeans and her favorite beige pullover, tapping her right foot nervously.
    “C’mon girl, get your butt moving! I’m starving here.” She motioned to the rumpled bedcover of her bunk. “Looks like you worked up an appetite too.” She winked at me.
    I ignored her insinuation. “Hey, I’m sorry,” I told her, as I walked over to my dresser and put my lotion away and tucked my makeup bag under my arm. “I haven’t had a chance to make your bed yet, but I promise to do it right after I dry my hair.” I grabbed my hairdryer and brought it over to the vanity’s mirror.
    “It’s okay, honest… really, it can wait until later,” she assured me. “You seem a lot better. Are you feeling as good as you look?”
    Right then I resembled a drenched river-rat with my hair dripping on my shoulders. Her wan smile told me this wasn’t a joke at my expense. Tyreen often stated her envy of how my hair held just enough natural curl to where I didn’t need to dry it fully. I scrunched the ends to enhance that curl without even thinking about it.
    “I’m feeling much better,” I said, offering a bright smile.
    Maybe I even exaggerated it a little bit, since her foot had begun tapping again. I worked diligently to put my makeup on. “So, did you and Johnny have some fun after you left last night?”
    “We did… although I guess he didn’t care much for my little joke about leaving his ass behind if you needed me,” she said, winking and chuckling for a moment. Then she grew serious.
    There was a slight tremor in her voice as she asked “Did you hear about the murder that took place on the north side of campus last night?”
    “What?”
    I was in the process of securing my earrings when I whipped my head around to face her.
    “When did it happen?” I scarcely believed what I heard. “Was it someone we know?”
    “No, but it was a student,” she confirmed, and then sighed, deeply. “The victim lived off campus, in one of the apartment buildings off 21st Street.”
    Knoxville was far from being a crime-free city but the last murder involving UT students took place a couple of years ago. So this news came as a shock.
    “It was a girl,” Tyreen continued, her eyes misty. “Johnny turned on the news this morning to see how the Cavs did last night and they were showing her picture.” She took a trembling breath. “Txema, she looks just like
you
!”
    She started to weep. I may not have been as softhearted as her, but I did have compassion for others. Especially for her. I rushed over and threw my arms around her. She bawled on my shoulder while I held her tight.
    “Damn it, I really thought something bad had happened to you—that you somehow bullheaded your way into making Peter take you out after all!” said Tyreen between sobs.
    “It wasn’t until Johnny told me her name—some other weird name like yours, but different—that I settled down. I thought I was going to have a heart attack—really, I did!”
    I didn’t know how to respond to this, or even if I could. When I opened my mouth to say something, my throat constricted. All I thought of was Garvan’s warning. Someone waited outside—somewhere on campus, and intended to take my life. How could this killing not be related, especially if the victim looked a lot like me?
    When I awoke that morning, to warm sunlight pouring into our dorm room, my first thought was about the previous night’s craziness and I had tried to make sense of it. Garvan was just some