"Do you need a lift-off?" I asked.

He roared. He screamed. He said terrible things about his mother and his upbringing. He gave up. Stood. Glared at me. Then held out his fist for a bump followed by the asteroid explosion that makes life worth living.

"You're the real deal," he said with a shake of his head. "Man, you gotta tell me what you're on."

"Teenage hormones," I said.

He wandered away, cursing and mumbling. A few other muscle-bound dudes grumbled to themselves. I could make out most of what they were saying despite the mournful howling of a country singer on the ceiling speakers. What in the world had Stacey done to me?

"We're not done yet," Victoria said, face glowing redder than her hair. She marched me down a hall, into a private office, and sat down on the corner of a desk. I sat opposite of her. She looked pissed. "What kind of joke is this?"

"It's not a joke."

"You come in here weak as a lamb the other day, now you're pumping more iron than should be humanly possible. Look at you! You're chunky, not muscular."

"Thanks. I appreciate that."

"Something's going on here and you're not leaving until I get some answers."

My eyes settled on the ghostly vapors hovering around her. Without thought, I latched onto them just like I had the woman in the grocery store. Victoria's scarlet face paled. Her eyes widened while her mouth formed a shocked "O". I stood. She jumped up from the desk and attacked me with a sloppy wet kiss. Then it was a tangle of limbs and clothes as we made out on the desk.

My second brain demanded I rip off her clothes and go all the way as a hand ran up her bare calf, her toned thighs, and further onward to glory. The hopeless romantic in my other brain told me to resist. I wanted her so bad I couldn't take it anymore. She was apparently gripped by the same notion because her hands fumbled with the knotted drawstrings on my shorts as a war of thoughts raged in my mind.

Rip off her clothes. Pull her hair. She is yours. Dominate her!

What about true love? What about saving your virginity for the perfect woman? This is your gym instructor, for goodness sake! Snap out of it!

The hopeless romantic part of me was right. I was about to blow my virginity on a woman I hardly knew, much less loved. Katie was my true love. Even if she hated me. Even if she thought Brad was the one for her.

I knew this wasn't right but my body refused to listen. Victoria had a death grip on my shorts. I tried to think about baseball. No good. I focused on Katie, the love of my life. For a second, I thought it worked. Then my hands moved to help Victoria with my drawstrings. I was going to lose my virginity to a woman I didn't love and there was nothing I could do about it. What teenage boy wouldn't trade places with me right this moment? What kind of a moron was I? Wasn't this what I really wanted? To have women want me? Why else had I asked Crye—Elyssa—to help me?

Elyssa.

Her fiery violet eyes flashed in my head for a brief second. My body froze up. Victoria laughed in delight as she pulled loose the knot. I targeted the door to the office and bolted for it, spinning around as Victoria's death grip on the drawstrings pulled them clean out of my shorts. I stumbled out the door, back into the gym proper and bowled over a guy who was warming up with stretches. After apologizing and pulling up my shorts, I casually walked for the exits as if I had not almost had sex with my trainer and dropped my drawers in front of a strange man.

Despite my frayed nerves, I felt recharged and better than ever. I felt as if I were taking a part of Victoria with me. I had read in Cosmo losing your virginity was like that. Technically, I hadn't lost my virginity, but I could have if I'd really wanted to, and wasn't that almost as good? I faced the rows of treadmills lining the entrance to the gym and pumped one fist in the air—since my other hand was holding up my shorts.

Startled looks greeted my burst of post-almost-sex enthusiasm. I didn't give a crap. I stepped outside, barely resisting the urge to skip like a child with a lollipop to my car. I felt the skin on the back of my neck prickle and my improved senses interpreted this information. Something female but not quite human approached from behind. Entering the dark parking lot with little more than my almost-sex with Victoria on my mind had been a mistake. The hot sensation burning between my shoulder blades felt alien compared to what I'd sensed from the women inside the gym, but something about it seemed very familiar. I spun around in time to see Stacey's delicate white fingers reaching where my back had been.

I grabbed her by the shoulders and jacked her against a windowless black van with a theme that hovered somewhere between the A-Team and child molester. She let out a surprised cry. Her eyes widened in delight. Thankfully, the elastic band on my shorts managed to cling to my waist instead of dropping to the ground.

"My little morsel. You've changed." She smiled prettily and with a touch of innocence.

"Don't try your tricks with me. What are you?"

Her irises, swirling amber pools of hypnosis, tried to draw me into their depths. I shook off the effect and reached for the hot sensuous vapors that swirled around her, as I'd done with Victoria. They slipped away from me like steam in the wind. Stacey flashed a wicked smile and purred. Abruptly she jerked her arms free, spun us around and pinned me to the van. Then she licked my face and peppered me with hot kisses.

"You." Kiss. "Are." Kiss. "So." Lick. "Desirable, my tender little morsel."

I tried to push her off me but despite my newfound strength, she had leverage and was in better shape. I wasn't entirely helpless, though. I ducked under her arms and crawled away on my knees. My shorts chose this moment to fall down. She clutched her ribs and burst into hysterical giggles.

"What's so funny?"

"You are a true delight. It's such a bloody shame I cannot drink you in." She inhaled a deep breath and regained her composure, though a radiant smile lit her face. "I could still offer you a great many physical pleasures, however. You are the first of your kind in many, many years that has tried to lure me into his embrace. How intoxicating."

"First of all, I didn't try to lure you," I said, standing up and covering my tighty-whities with my shorts. "Second of all, you have fangs and a very scratchy tongue. Are you a vampire?"

Her full red lips curved into an alluring smile. "You have no tutor to educate you in the ways of the Overworld?" Her delighted laughter filled the parking lot. "Perhaps I shall take you under my wing. You must promise to keep me happy. Very happy. We will have such fun, my dear."

"The Overworld?"

"Consider my offer, little lamb, and you shall have your answers."

"How am I supposed to find you?"

"Worry not your pretty little head," she said and pecked a kiss on my cheek. "I will find you." With that, she dashed away into the darkness, her legs a blur.

Yep. She was a vampire all right. And this did not bode well for me.

Chapter 11

School seemed so unimportant I almost didn't go. But I dragged myself out of bed and got ready anyway. After my make-out session with Victoria, the urge to fling my virginity to the wolves of desire burned like hot coals in my tender bits. I'd taken certain "precautions" but I was worried about another complete loss of control. I was about to dive headfirst into an ocean of hot feminine hormones the moment I stepped foot inside the high school.

But I had no choice.

Crye smiled at me the moment we made eye contact as I walked into the gymnasium. She wore full Goth battle gear complete with a spiky chain from her ear to her lip. I couldn't reconcile this Goth creature with the cute girl at the hair salon. It was like seeing a cheerleader at a heavy metal concert. The incongruities blew my mind. Others apparently didn't care for the garb either as her general vicinity on the bleachers remained clear of students. I walked up the stairs and sat next to her.

"Where are Nyte and Ash?" I wondered if their real names were something innocuous like George and Fred.

"Running late." She yawned. Fatigue underlined her eyes in dark patches that overwhelmed her attempts to cover them with makeup.

"Something wrong?"

"No, just tired. I'm so sick of school you couldn't possibly know."

"Seems like a waste of time. Maybe we should do homeschooling."

A giggle erupted from her. It reminded me of the cute girl in pink, not this Goth chick with scary makeup.

"You look much better today," she said, looking me up and down. "There's something else different though. What is it?" Her nostrils flared slightly and her pupils dilated noticeably.

I looked down. "Maybe it's the clean underwear."

She snorted. "No, it's something else." An apple clocked Crye in the back of the head. "Ouch." She rubbed the back of her head and flicked her gaze behind us.

I grabbed the apple and looked up the bleachers. Nathan and a group of his football buddies were red-faced with laughter. I growled and stood. Crye grabbed my arm and tugged me back down.

"Let it go," she said. "I'm used to it."

"Those assholes hit you," I said.

"And what are you going to do? Be my valiant knight? Go up there and get your butt kicked by the entire football team?"

"I can't just sit here and let them do that to you." I glared up at the guffawing jocks. "Besides, it's only half the football team."

She looked at me with those pretty violet eyes for a moment and touched my hand gently. A smile warmed her gaze. "Thanks."

Heat flushed my face. "Sure," I said. "Uh, no problem. I say words a lot and never back them up with action."

She laughed again. I liked the sound of it.

"I know this is going to sound kind of mean," I said, "but why do you cover a perfectly pretty face with all that Goth stuff?"

I could see her blush even through the makeup. "You think I'm pretty?"

Not only had I caught her off-guard with that question, but myself as well. It was far bolder than what I'd meant to say. I looked away shyly and forced my gaze back to hers. "Don't let it go to your head or anything."