Chapter 5 Chapter 5

Connor came running up thankfully carrying my clothes. "Get off him. You're too old to be a cougar." I quickly jumped up to get my clothes on. I wasn’t body conscious, like all vampires, my body had burned all its fat during the changing process, but I had learned over the years that humans tend to get agitated over naked people in parks children frequent.

I'd lost count of how many times I had run naked from cops chasing me because they came across me shortly after becoming solid again. So annoying! Scurrying into my clothes, I realized that once again something had been forgotten. At least it was just a sock this time. Last time he'd forgotten a shoe. I still haven't figured out how you don't notice you're only carrying one shoe. Hello, they come in pairs. Plus it was my favorite pair. I still owed him payback for that come to think of it.

"So which part made you run? Your grandfather or my name?" I asked calmly.

"I don't have a grandfather!"

"Oh? So you think your father was found in a cabbage patch?" He gave me a sullen look. I rolled me eyes. Just what I needed. A pouty teenager. Dude, Jeremiah had really screwed me with this one. I sighed deeply as I stared at the teen standing in front of me.

"Dad's never mentioned his parents. The packs have left us alone all these years. Why is he interested in me now?" Oh so now we had gone from sullen to difiant. Great. I was too old for this shit. Oh how I wished I could just nope out of here. But nooooo. His grandfather had the goods on me.

I took a deep breath, had to tread carefully here. "Your grandfather, Jeremiah Lobo, has asked that we show you the world your father left behind.”

He kept giving me a scared/confused look. He took a deep breath and got a good whiff of me. His blue eyes turned into dinner plates and he paled. The smell of fear coming off him roused my inner predator. I felt my fangs descend at the scent. Oh dear. This was not going well. I took a deep breath and retracted them. I gave him what I hoped was a friendly smile.

"What are you? You smell of death." He was slowly edging away from me.

"I'm a vampire. Don't worry. You taste like wet dog. I'd have to be on the verge of starvation before I'd go anywhere near your blood." That seemed to calm him down a little. His heart rate lowered. "So, as I said, I'm Nicole Pearson. Most people call me Cole." I saw something flash in his eyes at my name. Made me wonder if he'd heard my name somewhere.

The kid looked up at the sky and looked at me. Silently I groaned. I had a feeling I knew where this was about to go. "If you're a vampire how can you be in the sunlight? Shouldn't you be like sleeping in a coffin somewhere? "Tristan asked with teenage attitude.

I cleared my throat before I answered him. "First lesson, ninty percent of what you have learned about the supernatural world is wrong. Vampires can walk in sunlight. We don't like it because it's freaking bright.” I gestured towards my sunglasses. “We sleep in beds not coffins. Garlic won't hurt us. You can't be turned just by being fed on. There's more that you will need to learn but that's a good start." I nodded towards Connor. "This is my partner Connor Echolls. He's a wizard peacekeeper. " Another blank look. “Peacekeepers are like cops.” I waved a hand at Connor. “Show him your badge.”

Connor handed the pup the little wallet that held his shield and identification. After looking it over carefully, Tristan handed it back. “Do you have a badge?”

Connor coughed on the laugh he tried to hold in or maybe because I thumped him on the chest a little harder than I intended when he snickered. “I don’t need a badge.”

He was looking thoughtful. Time to wrap this up. I waggled a finger towards Conner’s breast pocket. Taking the hint, he handed the kid his card and mine. I didn’t bother carring cards given the high possibility I would misplace my clothes. "If you decide you want to know more about the world you came from, give me a call." Connor and I turned and walked back into the woods.

“You know those are men’s sunglasses right?” My observant partner asked.

“Duh. I have to make up for the fact that you are wearing women’s jeans.” No way was I admitting that I hadn’t noticed. Of course that did explain the lack of rhinestones.

Once we were safely out of sight of onlookers, I reached up and ripped a portal back to my place.