Molli Harper - Nice Girls Dont' Live Forever

For Brandi Bradley,

Long Live the Dead Virgins Club

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to my husband, David, for putting up with a sleep-deprived and occasionally cranky spouse who has conversations with people that dont really exist. To my mom, the onewoman maternal marketing machine: I would not be here without you. To my dad: many fathers wouldnt know what to with a daughter who writes this sort of thing, so thanks for showing me how proud you are every day. To Russ and Nancy, who probably didnt expect nearly this many vampire-related family dinner conversations when I married your son: thank you for all of your support.

And finally, the Jane Jameson books would not have seen the light of day without the enthusiasm, patience, and subtle prodding of my agent, Stephany Evans. My endless gratitude, darlin.

The worst thing you can do in a relationship, vampire or otherwise, is actually telling your partner that you dont trust him. Even if its true.

Love Bites: A Female Vampires Guide to Less Destructive Relationships

My life didnt begin until I died.

Pre-vampire Jane worked Saturdays and holidays and any other days that no one else on the library staff wanted to work. I had never done anything for myself. Id never traveled. And now, I was my own boss. Id had the opportunity to kiss foreign soil. Actually, it was the tile in Heathrow Airports Sunproof Lounge on the very first stop of our tripLondon. I think my worship of solid ground embarrassed my sire/boyfriend, Gabriel Nightengale. And the pickpockets were able to peg me as a tourist right away. But I was really, really happy to be off that plane.

I have claustrophobia issues.

Id never had a healthy adult relationship as a live girl. Then again, Id just abandoned my 150year-old boy-friend in a hotel room in Brussels, so maybe this one didnt count, either.

Im pretty sure it was Brussels. Wed made quite a few stops since London.

My round-the-world romantic getaway with Gabriel turned sour early on, right after we checked into our first hotel in London. There was a note waiting for Gabriel at the front desk, fancy linen paper addressed in spidery black ink. Whatever it said, it put him in a very foul mood. The minute wed settled into the exceedingly posh room, he put his flowy black coat back on, said he had to make some phone calls, and disappeared for most of the night. My newly purchased trunkload of lacy underthings took this very personally. When he returned, he gave me a cursory kiss good night and collapsed into sleep. I managed to say, What the hell? in about fourteen languages.

You know how after youve hung around a person for a while, you can tell when theyretryingto have a good time? Well, this phenomenon was just frightening in Gabriel. He was like a Carlson Wagonlit agent on crack, manically planning all-night excursions to museums, the opera, beer gardens, fancy intimidating parties with his fancy intimidating friendsanything that would keep us out of the hotel room from dusk till dawn. Gabriels credit-card company put a fraud watch on his accounts as we switched hotels on a whim, two or three times per city. Each time we checked in, a creamy linen envelope was waiting for him at the front desk. And each time, his eyes got just a little more Manson-ish. Charles or Marilyn, take your pick.

His cell phone rang incessantly, and every time it did, he either let it go to voicemail or whispered, Business, and took the call outside. I tried to ignore the warning signs. I tried to give Gabriel the benefit of the doubt, but a girl can only bury her head so deep in the sand. He had told me months before that he was having issues he couldnt tell me about. There were frequent business trips during which I couldnt reach him by phone. And Id found out that on several occasions, hed lied about where hed been. Hed assured me that it wasnt another woman, despite the fact that the name Jeanine had popped up on his cell phone several times.

Never had I wished so much that my stupid, inconsistent mind-reading powers worked on my sire.

Even though I still had (raging, screaming) doubts, I had chosen to believe him. And now, I was starting to feel like one of those women at whom people yell, How stupid can you be? when they inevitably appear onDr. Phil.

I suppose one should expect a certain amount of drama in a relationship that started with one party dying in a muddy ditch off a dark country road. I dont like talking about the night I was turned. All young vampires eventually get drunk with their buddies and share war stories about how they became undead. I do not partake in such revelries. Why?

The short version is this: I was (unfairly, unceremoniously) fired from the library and replaced by my supervisors barely literate firebug stepdaughter. But instead of getting a severance check, I got just enough of a gift certificate to get rip-snorting drunk at Shenanigans. I met Gabriel, flirtation ensued. I sobered enough to drive, but as a result of unfortunate circumstances, my ancient car, Big Bertha, died halfway home. I was spotted walking down the road by the town drunk, Bud McElray, who mistook me for a deer and shot me. I was left in the ditch to die, only to be found and turned by Gabriel.

You dont become a vampire just by being bitten. Vampirism isnt a germ or a curse or karmic justice for overtanners. To make a childe, a vampire will feed on a human until he or she reaches the point of death, then feed the initiate as much undead blood as he or she can take. The process takes a lot out of the sire, which is why a vampire will only turn a handful of children in his or her lifetime.

Gabriel being my sireandmy boyfriend caused some complications in our relationship. It was his job to lead me through the transition to vampirism, but since I rarely listened to him, that didnt work out so well. And confrontations between the two of us tended to get sort of violent and naked. So, instead of indulging in accusations of infidelity and undead Johnny Depp hotel theatrics, I bit my tongue. Hell, I bit a hole through my tongue. Fortunately, I had vampire healing, so it grew right back. But then we checked into the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Munich, and a linen envelope was waiting.

The look on Gabriels face made a bellboy cry.

Our itinerary became even more packed. I was frequently left alone with Gabriels strange Eurovampire friends as he held urgent business meetings. I occasionally woke up at dusk and couldnt figure out where Gabriel was. Of course, we switched locations so often, a few times I woke up and couldnt figure out whereIwas. But that didnt make me feel any better when Gabriel crept into the room with lame excuses about running out for a newspaper or a fresh bottle of blood. Even my white lie acceptance level has limits.

When Gabriel was in the shower one night, I happened to peek into the wastebasket, where hed left the torn remnants of his latest note. I saw words like bloodmate and love you.

I swear, it wasnt my fault that the basket tipped over and those little bits of paper somehow managed to reassemble themselves perfectly into their original order. OK, fine, I abused my jigsaw-puzzle skills. But if Gabriel didnt want me reading the note, he probably should have burned it. My vision tinged red as I made out phrases like Remember what we are to each other, Remember what we have, The woman youre with cant satisfy you like I do.

Satisfy you like Ido? In the present tense? Gabriel had recently been satisfied by this woman? I fell on my knees, stunned by an explosion of pain in my chest. If my heart beat, I would have sworn Id blown an aorta. Hed promised. Hed sworn that he was faithful to me. And, like an idiot, Id believed him.

The phone rang. With numbed fingers, I knocked the phone off its cradle and heard the voice of my best friend, Zeb. I launched into a paranoid diatribe on cheating boyfriends. I ignored all attempts on his part to make me think like a normal person or believe that all of this could be a very complicated coincidence.