George screamed and tried to pull away from me but I held on tight. I was so freaking thirsty and I'd never had any idea how unbelievably delicious he was.
"Sarah, what the hell are you doing?" he managed.
I ignored him. Honestly, the guy talked too much for his own good.
I faintly heard voices around us of other couples on the dance floor.
"What is Sarah doing to Jim-Bob? I thought she was here with somebody."
"Poor Jim-Bob! The woman is obviously a tramp."
"She's giving Jim-Bob a dance floor hickey! That is so hot!"
After a moment, I felt strong hands clamp down on my upper arms and I was wrenched away from George's neck. He stared at me with wide eyes, with his hand now pressed against the side of his throat.
"Sarah," Thierry said sharply into my left ear. "We must leave."
Without another word, he forcibly dragged me off the dance floor, pulling me through the gymnasium and then out to the bright hallway. After another moment I felt the cold night air as we left the high school to go outside to the parking lot. I glanced back over my shoulder at the interior of the high school I'd spent four years at. I was still thirsty. What was going on? Why wasn't I back inside?
"Sarah," Thierry said, gently shaking me. "Sarah! Snap out of it!"
Slowly, as I breathed the fresh air, my head began to clear. My heart drummed in my chest, making me aware again of my still-tender stake wound, as I reflected on the last five minutes of my life.
"Oh, my God." My eyes widened and I looked up at Thierry's concerned expression. I touched my hand to my lips. "I have no idea why I did that."
The doors creaked open and Claire and Reggie joined us. Behind them was George.
"I'm so sorry!" I managed. "George, I don't know what happened in there. I didn't mean to hurt you!"
"It's fine," Thierry said.
"It's fine?" George held a hand up to his neck. "She bit me! In public! I am traumatized!"
Claire approached, with a frown, and studied me. "I take it you don't normally bite a lot of necks?"
"I've never bitten anyone before. Ever. I have a total no-bite policy." My bottom lip wobbled. I felt ill. "It's never even occurred to me before, but it's like I couldn't control it.
I didn't even plan to do it until it just happened."
"This witch in the washroom," Thierry said. "She did something to you. Perhaps it was a spell to make you attack a human and create a scene to ruin the reunion. You didn't. There is no harm done."
"No harm done?" George protested. "Hello? Vampire with a neck wound over here!"
Thierry stroked a tear away from my cheek and then pulled me against him. "It is fine, Sarah. It's over."
I buried my face in his black shirt, breathed in the light scent of his cologne, and slowly began to feel normal again. That had been so incredibly strange. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before.
Although, I suppose that wasn't exactly true. The day after I was sired, when I still thought that nothing was wrong, my boss at the time had cut her finger during a meeting with me. I'd temporarily lost my mind and attacked her finger to suck the blood off it. She fired me thinking I was a finger-sucking freak. My fledgling vampire tendencies had kicked in and I couldn't control them. A very unfortunate situation.
But that had been the only time anything remotely like this had ever happened. At least, until tonight.
Talk about a wake-up call.
"She wanted revenge," I said. "Stacy did. And I guess that's what she was saying in Latin.
For me to bite somebody. I'm so embarrassed."
"Nobody noticed anything strange," Reggie said. "There were other people making out on the dance floor, and they figured you and Jim-Bob were just doing the same."
"Jim-Bob is not happy!" George exclaimed.
I pulled away from Thierry to tentatively approach George. "Is it bad?"
He pulled his hand away from his neck and I cringed when I saw the raw-looking, dark-
red bite marks. "Bad enough, but it'll heal."
"I'm sorry. Seriously. I never would have done that if I wasn't all screwed up by the glitter spell."
He nodded. "I thought you looked sparklier than normal."
"So you forgive me?"
"Of course I do. Just warn me if you're going to go for the jugular again, okay?"
The thought made me feel sick to my stomach. "I didn't exactly plan to do that. Other than feeling a bit overheated, there was no warning at all."
"That's not very comforting."
"I think we should leave," Thierry said.
I nodded. "I think that's a good idea. Can't go back in there. They think I've just compromised Jim-Bob's integrity."
"So you're feeling okay?" Claire asked.
I concentrated. Other than my elevated heart rate and an overall feeling of weirdness, I felt fine. "Yeah, I'm okay."
She pulled pen and paper out of her purse and scribbled something on the paper. "If you need me, you can reach me here."
I squinted at the name and number. "What is this, a motel?"
"My basement apartment was recently condemned due to a minor demonic outbreak, so
I've been staying with Reggie there. Call me if there's anything I can do to help you. Hell, call me if you want to hang out sometime. Niagara Falls isn't that far away."
"Thanks, Claire." I gave her a quick hug.