"Voluptuous," said Miki to her reflection. With her pinky, she fixed the small smear of Supreme Pink Glitter lip gloss. Bubblegum flavor exploded in her mouth, there and gone. "Sensuously pleasing or delightful. Vo-lup-choo-us."

She glanced to the looming computer screen to check; yes, she had the word-of-the-day right. Miki stuck the lipgloss stick in her purse. Twilight had fallen beyond the black-on-black curtains on her window, and she was ready to go.



The bottle-blue car matched her blue-glitter-blue dress in a way that made Miki wish she could pull the top down and cruise the streets. Teenage years and her early twenties had not been kind to her, but she was making changes, she was wearing high heels, and she was hitting the clubs. Two months ago, mousy Mabelle "Drab-Mab" Hanover realized that shyness and clumsiness would only get her so far in her search for meaning in life. So she legally changed her name to the fourth Japanese name the online generator coughed up -- she felt a connection at once -- and dyed her hair black. Blue contact lenses followed soon after.

In the morning, driving to work, Miki listened to talk shows. Driving back, to the tail end of Science Hour. And memorizing the word-of-the-day became a nightly ritual, the online dictionary garnering more attention than Miki's hairbrush ever had. Finishing college was on her to-do list. Right under "marriage".

The roads were empty.

Storm warning, Miki remembered from the morning's newsbite, and for the quiet and sunny town of Spoons, anything resembling a raindrop meant it was time to stock up on flood supplies and huddle in the attic. Having grown up on the coast, Miki had better things to do with her paranoia than worry about a couple clouds.

Like wonder whether Thane  would finally notice her tonight.

Thane.

If her life were an anime -- or at the very least a chick flick -- that name would be the cue for soft music and pink-fluff floating hearts. Thane was the kind of man who had to bend over in half to kiss a girl, and didn't mind! His fingernails manicured and his curly hair falling in golden locks around his broad, Adonis-like shoulders, and that accent, he was a dream. Miki decided that she would touch his hair that night and finally discover whether it truly had that husky-Labrador mix softness.

And then, maybe, he would follow her home.

She had stocked up on whipping cream a week ago.

The wheel jerked in her hands. Tires skidded. Miki gasped, yanking the car back on the road, wheels fighting for traction -

Asphalt. Asphalt again, and the quiet fall of rain. Reality burst the dream bubble with a blast of dropping temperatures and icy splotches on the roads.





The heat blasted over her and the club doors squealed closed behind her. She shook her head, droplets scattering under the flashing lights. Once Miki's eyes adjusted, she saw him.

Thane.

An angel among men. A god among angels. And she really wanted to sink her fingers in that soft hair. Miki's high heeled steps carried her quickly around the dance floor and over to Thane.

"Hey," she said, suddenly shy. But somehow, he heard her whisper even in the pounding music.

He leaned forward and spoke into her ear, warm breath caressing and a few curls brushing her cheek. "Hello!" he shouted, "Are you having a good time!"

Miki nodded, a dazed expression on her face. He wanted to know if she was having a good time. That meant he was the owner of the club! A flicker of a confused frown flickered over his features, a cloud obscuring the golden sun, and he caught her hand, pulling her to the side. The movement was a blur to Miki, and then silence fell. Supernatural silence. They were in a room, and only the murmur of music slipped through the thick door. Thane picked the glass from Miki's suddenly nerveless fingers. When had she picked up a drink? Maybe when she had been walking over to pet Thane's hair?

Thane inspected the drink with evident suspicion. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Oh, oh I'm fine. I mean, I -- " Miki's words stumbled to a halt. He thought someone had spiked her drink. No, just spiked the air around her. Spiked it with Thane!

It was as if Thane read her mind.

"My real name is Thanatos," he said, a kissable smirk playing on his lips.

"Are you a vampire?" Miki asked, putting her palms on his chest -- to keep him away, of course.

"Yes," he told her and leaned in for a kiss.

And what a kiss it was! Half an hour later, Miki fainted and her heart stopped. Thane brought her back with a bit of magic and CPR. And that segued into their first serious relationship conversation.

"Thane, how can we kiss if I keep fainting? This relationship won't be able to survive this."

"You're right, sweetheart. What shall we do?"

"Turn me, my love," Miki announced. "Make me a vampire! Then we can be together forever."

"I've been waiting for you to say that for forever! Months of standing outside your window, watching, longing, waiting!"

"Months of...outside my...nevermind. Why did you wait so long?"

"Well, it would have been kinda weird if you were thirteen or something."

Miki nodded. He had a point. "Weren't you afraid someone else would steal my heart?"

Thane ran his warm dead gaze over Miki slowly and fondly. "No, not really," he said, and then hurried to explain. "You're my soulmate. We're meant for each other. Only each other."

"Oh okay. Will you turn me now?"

"Yes!" Thane said, pulling Miki into a deep kiss. She broke it off the moment she began to feel lightheaded.

"But darling, what about my soul?"

"Your what?"

"My immortal soul."

"Well, you'll be immortal and your soul's immortal, so I'm not seeing a problem here."

"Huh," Miki said, "You're right. Bite me, Thane, oh bite me hard!"

And Thane bit Miki.





Miki came to slowly. The last thing she remembered was the sound of chewing and a fair bit of --

She could still hear the slurping and lip-smacking. Miki sat up with a yelp, arms swinging and meeting thin air. The vampire must have dissolved into Dracula mist to eat her!

The lights came on with a flick of a switch. Thane sat across the room from her, a bag of gummie bears in his hand, still chewing.

"Hallo," he said, in his drop-dead voice, a voice like angels crying. In envy. Over what Miki was gonna get a piece of. Soon. Just as soon as she figured out what was going on.

Miki's hand went to her neck. "Hi," she said, fingering the bandaid.  "Am I a vampire now?"

"Yep."

"Oh. My name's Miki, by the way."

"So do you want to go out to lunch tomorrow?" he said, putting away the bad and leaning forward to pin Miki in place with his dark and soulful gaze. She would have agreed to anything and everything, if only to stay with him and hear his angel-crying voice again. Except...

No, fiery infernos weren't on her "to do" list.

"Uh, I don't know if that's a good idea," she told him. And then rushed to explain, seeing the sorrow cascade in his expression, his dark heart shattering under the weight of this betrayal. "I mean, isn't lunch at daytime. I don't think I'd want to burn up, and all that."

"Burn up? Why would we do a silly thing like that. Vampires don't burn in the sun."

"But..." Miki's voice died, collapsing under the benevolent scorn in the line of Thane's nose's profile.

"You need to read more," he told her.

"You mean...you really...in the sunlight?"

He just gave her a long look.

"Oh." Miki made a resolution then and there to be more open-minded when it came to vampire lore. "Okay, um, thanks for...turning me. I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, meet you at the McDonald's at the corner."

"Okay."

It was only when she had clattered her way down the stairs and out into the drizzling evening that Miki realized that she should have left her purse behind. That was one chance to return and seduce lost. Perhaps forever. Still, there was a chance to make up for it at lunch. Did vampires eat? She hoped they did; otherwise, she bought a can of whipping cream for nothing.

Miki didn't feel any different, but maybe it was like the flu. Took a couple days to get incubated and all that. Filled with romance and the giddiness of being able to finally check off "Become a vampire" and "Get a date" off the to-do list in one sweep, Miki didn't feel the chill or the biting wind.  She was looking for her little notebook in her purse when the blaze of headlights swept across her vision and jerked her attention up and at the road. A blue Toyota was spinning out of control, tires skidding on the iced puddles. Frozen, pen in one hand and half raised in protest, Miki saw the car make another spin and slam into a mailbox, ramming it into a brick wall. Steam rose, or perhaps it was smoke.

There should have been silence, Miki thought, dazed, but the car hissed and groaned like a living thing, the rain kept pattering away its quick bird-like heartbeat on the pavement, and Miki's new and enhanced vampire ears clearly heard a rattle from inside of the car. Someone was alive in there.

Miki rushed over the icy puddles and using her vampire strength, yanked the door open. The driver was a woman, all dressed up to go to some club, maybe even planning to meet up with someone. The woman's head lolled. Miki had a moment of relief when she realized that blood didn't make her vamp out or anything. She grabbed the woman under her arms and dragged her backwards and away from the car -- what if the Toyota blew up like in the movies?

It didn't and Miki stopped dragging the woman. Somewhere down the street she heard shouting. Someone would have a cell phone. Miki just hoped they didn't forget to call the local news too.

The woman's head rolled, her neck and head slick with blood. The airbag hadn't gone off and the face was a mangled mess of purpling skin over broken bones. Mabelle Hanover, 32, was dead.