by
Danny always thought the dark empty house next door was a great place for vampires to live. Even his friends thought it had to be haunted.
But then the neighbors moved in. The very hot neighbors.
They were brothers who, Danny swore, were barely older than he was. And the eldest one, Gabriel, was enough to send Danny to his knees. Literately. Good God, tall, dark and ridiculously handsome, Danny’s vivid imagination ran wild. Gabriel’s devilish smile had Danny thinking some very un-high school- like thoughts.
Yeah, yeah, Danny was still a high school student. Big deal He was eighteen, soon to be nineteen, and days away from graduation.
Then one night, the brothers strangely magically appeared when Danny was being viciously attacked, rescuing him by scaring the assholes off. Really scaring them. Which had honestly been a little weird. Then the next day, those same assholes began spreading the rumor the brothers were something unnatural. Vampires, they whispered around town.
Huh. Vampires. Danny kind of liked the whole idea of being bitten by a sexy vampire. And Gabriel was all kinds of that. Maybe Danny was going to have to do a bit of investigating…
Cover Artists:
Genres:
Pairings: M-M
Heat Level: 5
Romantic Content: 4
Ending: Click here to reveal
Character Identities: Gay
Protagonist 1 Age: 18-25
Protagonist 2 Age: Ageless/Immortal
Tropes: Age Difference, Alpha Character, Badass Hero, Big Character / Little Character, Fated Mates / Soul Mates, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Hurt / Comfort, InstaLove / Love at First Sight, Love Triangle, May/December, Most Mindblowing Sex Ever, Rescue
Word Count: 44,000
Setting: small city
Languages Available: English
The next day at school, thankfully one of the last, Danny expected Bobby and his crew to be all over him. But they weren’t. In fact, the one and only time he saw Bobby was between first and second class. When Bobby spotted Danny, his eyes went wide, his face grew pale, he muttered some obscenities and ran down the hall in the opposite direction.
What the fuck?
Jake, who had been with him at the time, sticking with him the entire day just in case, could only laugh as he recounted it on their way back to their lockers after the last class of the day. “Man, if I didn’t know better, I would think you beat the crap out of them instead of the other way around.”
“They didn’t beat the crap out of me.”
Jake pushed Danny playfully. “Really? Then why the hell do you look like they did, huh?”
“The asshole had a fucking knife!” Danny opened his locker and threw in his books and slammed it again. Fuck, Jake could piss him off.
READ MORE“Hey, calm down. I know. Just giving you a hard time,” Jake said dejectedly.
Danny sighed. “Sorry. Just…”
Jake took hold of Danny’s shoulders and turned him toward him. “Hey. Are you in pain?”
Danny looked up into Jake’s face to make sure he wasn’t still making fun of him and decided Jake indeed looked apologetic and concerned. He shrugged. “A little. It aches. Throbs sometimes. Just hope it feels better by the weekend.”
“How come?”
Danny pushed Jake away and headed back toward the front doors of the school. “The Mac County carnival, asshole. The one we go to every year. Geez.”
Jake fell in behind him. “Oh Shit! I… I kind of forgot about… that.”
Danny stopped again, forcing Jake to knock into him. “Forgot? Are you kidding me? How the hell could you forget? We’ve been going to that carnival together every year since we were kids!”
“I’m sorry, Danny, but I did. I… I have other plans this weekend.”
“Other plans? What fucking other plans?”
“Um… I’m going to the Mac County carnival… with Sara.”
“Jake! You’re going to our carnival with Sara?”
Come on, Danny. She’s my girlfriend and you know the rules. Girlfriends have to come first.” Jake put a finger under Danny’s chin and lifted, forcing Danny to look right into his eyes. “Besides, you had your chance.”
“My chance?”
“To be my girlfriend.”
Danny slapped Jake’s hand away. “Knock it off.” He turned and headed toward the door.
Jake grabbed Jake again and tried to stop him. “Danny, I’m sorry! I honestly forgot.”
Danny batted his hand away. “That’s supposed to make me feel better? You’re a jerk!”
“I’m sorry, Danny. Why don’t you come with us?” This time Jake was able to stop Danny.
Yanking away again, Danny shoved Jake back. “Now that would be fun. Me watching the two of you be all lovey dovey the whole day. Certainly my idea of a great time.”
“Seriously, Danny. Come with us.”
“Sara hates me, Jake. No. I’m not coming with you.” But Danny did think Jake looked pitiful. “But… oh fuck, you jerk. It’s fine. I mean, I don’t have anyone to watch over my mom anyway, so…”
“Ah geez, Danny, now I really feel like a heel.”
“You look like one, too.”
“I’ll make it up to you, buddy, I promise. Hey! How you getting home?”
“Looks like my own two feet. I have to call Jerry’s Towing when I get home and get them to tow that piece of shit out of the school parking lot. Otherwise, I was told the school would do it and charge me.”
“Listen, my football practice is probably just an hour tonight. Hang around and I’ll take you home.”
“Nah, I gotta get home sooner than that. Besides, Sara will be there, right?”
Jake looked even more wretched as he nodded.
“Yeah, so, no. See you tomorrow.”
“Are you going to be all right?”
“I’m going to have to be.” Danny shrugged. He smiled then as he started his journey toward the front doors again. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. Go to practice. You’re going to be late.”
Jake swore as he looked at his watch, waved quickly at Danny and took off back down the hallway.
Danny shook his head as he pushed through the doors and immediately saw one of Bobby’s followers sitting and talking to big-breasted Laura. But when he saw Danny, he let out a small eep and scurried away like a dog with his tail tucked tightly between his legs.
“What’s with him?” Danny asked Laura as he came down the stairs.
Laura turned to him and looked him up and down. “You. Well—actually, from what I can gather, it’s your friends.” Her eyes came back up to Danny’s.
“My friends? What are you talking about?”
“I honestly have no idea. All he told me is that you’re some sort of demon. Or—again—your friends are.” She started down the sidewalk, and Danny fell in beside her. She was walking the wrong way for him, but he really wanted to find out what she meant.
“Demons? My friends are demons? Oh wait. You mean Gabriel and Samuel?”
“I don’t know their names. Just that they, I guess, rescued you last night?” She huffed. “You really pissed Bobby off.”
“Yeah, helping you. Last time I ever do that.”
Laura snorted. “Yeah. Sorry about that. He’s just… well, I like him. I know I shouldn’t. He’s no good. But…”
Danny chuckled. “Love is blind?”
“Love is sick and stupid.”
“So, why are my friends demons?”
“I don’t quite get this but, according to all of them, that one guy, the one with longer hair, I guess his face went all… demon-like. Red glowing eyes and the whole bit. Like he breathed fire or something, grew vampire teeth.”
“Vampire teeth?”
“That’s what they said. They left thinking you were a goner. That those two guys were going to eat you up alive.” She looked over at him. “They were pretty convinced you wouldn’t show up today. But here you are. You even still look human.”
“Human?”
“Yeah. When vampires bite you, you turn into one of them, right?”
Danny laughed again but shivered, too. Something had scared the hell out of Bobby’s crew last night. But vampires?
COLLAPSE
