Vladira let out a little purr of contentment and spun back around. "Did you rent a movie?"
"I…uh…"
"I've got some movies in my backpack!"
Tammy blurted out anxiously.
"Please don't kill me! You can have them!"
"Those are my movies," Justin noted, to which Tammy shot him about the dirtiest look a mere mortal could be expected to conjure up.
Vladira snapped her fingers without removing her blood-drunk gaze from Alaric's eyes.
"You have ten seconds to put the movies in my hand, girl. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five—Very good!"
Tammy was back behind the counter before Vladira even looked at the films in her hands.
"Let's see. Evil Dead 2. Army of Darkness. Twilight—"
"That one isn't mine," Justin quickly inserted.
Vladira studied it, her brow raising with curiosity the longer she stared.
"It's a vampire and human love story?"
"It's…really bad," Tammy warned her, her voice still trembling along with her entire body. "Super cheesy. But the actors are all hot."
"It'll do. Good job, minion," Vladira chirped.
"Congratulations on the new job, darling."
Even Alaric was intimidated by her bravado and her sheer madness. His penis was as hard as the tip of the Longinus Spear, and if
Vladira pressed her body any closer to him, he wondered what control he'd have over his
faculties.
Why was this cruel insanity working for him?
"Th-thank you," he said at last.
She stood on her tiptoes and pressed her forehead against his lips. "Kiss me here," she said.
To his horror, he obeyed, his hands squeezing her waist as he did so.
Her skin was cool but not cold, and he wondered how much that had to do with
the fact that she'd just fed.
"I will clean this mess up," Vladira said, turning to Justin as sirens started blaring in the distance outside.
"And I will handle the police and magically
repair the windows immediately afterwards."
"Thanks for that," Justin murmured, just staring blankly, clearly traumatized.
Alaric couldn't blame the man. He was on the brink of madness himself. "Uh. Alaric, right?"
Justin was looking at the monster hunter now, his leery gaze filled with tension that could crack at any moment.
"Yes," Alaric grunted, pulling his hands away from the vampire in front of him as though he'd suddenly sobered up.
"That is my name."
"Welcome aboard, I guess. Do you have a bank account?"
"Oh. No, actually. Is it possible to pay in cash?"
Justin frowned. "Well, actually—"
Vladira hissed and flashed her fangs at him in warning.
"I'm sure we can find a way to make that work," he said.
"You'd better go," Vladira moaned in Alaric ear.
"As hot-blooded as I am right now, I won't be able to focus on cleaning up if you're here."
"What hours do you prefer?" Justin asked
Alaric, and to his own amusement, the warrior found himself looking to Vladira for her suggestion.
"Hmmm. We don't want you working all day while I'm asleep because then you'll be tired all night when I'm awake. And we don't want
you working all night while I'm awake and then sleeping all day."
Tammy chimed in, her breathing sounding less ragged but still obviously frightened.
"How about he works 11 AM-7 PM? I usually work night shifts, so it won't change my schedule much if he, uh, needs to avoid me."
"Good blood bitch," Vladira purred, clapping her hands together. "How about that, Laric? I typically only get up around 6 PM anyway, so you can spend at least five hours with me every night before you need to sleep."
"Can we…talk about this later?"
"I'll plan 11-7 for you then," Justin grunted, eager to be done with this.
"Just let me know if it changes, uh, ma'am."
"I like this era. These mortals learn quickly who's in charge," Vladira giggled as she turned back to Alaric.
"Why can't you be as easy as them to bend to my will?" She jutted out her lip in a flirty pout, but her eyes were still blood red, and her fangs were still out.
Somehow, though, Alaric didn't find himself repulsed.
His priorities were shifting rapidly. Right now all he could think about was what her skin tasted like, as good as she smelled. He wondered at how warm her insides would feel once he impaled her—and not with a weapon.
He turned and cast a defeated look at the only other living man in the room and sighed.
"What is it about crazy, evil women, Justin?"
The blond man with spiky hair just shrugged sympathetically. "I don't know, man. I wish I could tell you, but I do get it."
————
When she finally returned to the motel room, she found herself a little embarrassed at just how aggressively flirty she'd been in front of the mortals.
She half-expected Alaric to have lost his attraction to her in the space of time that they'd been separated.
She had sent him home so she could use magic to clean the blood and bones out of the Pump N' Go, and then use her powers of mesmerism on the cops to make them go away.
She then used the same powers on Tammy to make her physically unable to look him in the eye or touch him without feeling like her skin was set on fire.
Admittedly, she'd used a bit too much magic for that, but it was worth it, just in case.
As she stepped into their room at the Weekend Inn, she didn't immediately see Alaric, but the TV was on, and he had already set up the DVD player she stole from another room and put Twilight on.
It was still in the menu screen, the cursor highlighting the "Play Movie" words, ready to
go.
She smiled with relief at that. "Alaric, Darling?" she called out. "Are you home?"
"I'm in the bathroom," he said. "Drying up. I took a shower."
She bit her lip as excitement bubbled up inside her. He freshened up! For her! This could only be a good sign.
She looked down at what she was wearing—a blood-splattered plain white v-neck T-Shirt that hung down to her thighs.
It wasn't at all date attire, but it did give off a cozy, cute impression. But she needed to be more aggressive.
There had been progress in the Pump N' Go. He had been into her then, even going so far as to kiss her forehead and squeeze her waist of his own free will.