Colton's Dilemma (Shadow Breeds) by Dara Nelson

asleep.  When she rolled off of his lap and did an adorable snort in her sleep, he knew that was his chance.  He grabbed his coat and was out the door and on the way to town within thirty seconds.  He ran – it was faster than driving – covering the twenty three miles into town in a few minutes.  He was hanging around in the alley outside one of the local seedy bars for only a few minutes before his first inebriated snack stumbled out.  Colton’s diet for half a century now had been drunk men.  He preferred not to tempt himself by feeding on women.  As the drunk man braced himself against the alley wall, pulled his cock out of his pants and began urinating against the wall, Colton made his move.  He stepped behind the man and in one swift move Colton’s fangs sunk into the man’s neck while his hand pressed against the man’s forehead – erasing his memory as he drank.  The man never knew that anything was happening other than he was peeing on the wall.  As the man shook the last few drops, Colton licked the wounds, closing them – and then stepped back into the shadows – waiting for his next taste.  This was how his feedings went – five or six in a night was usually enough. 
    As his fourth victim stumbled into the alley, Colton stepped up behind him and began to drink.  After only a few seconds though, he suddenly felt something yank on his shoulder.  His head spun around, fist up, ready to strike – but there was no one there.  The man grunted behind him so Colton turned back around and continued feeding and wiping his memory.  Again, the hard yank on his shoulder – this one nearly knocking him to his feet.  He licked the man’s wounds – closing them – released the dazed man from his grasp and stepped back in the shadows to watch.  Nothing.  He saw nothing.  Nobody was there.  Yet something had definitely pulled on him.  Suddenly he was lurched forward into the middle of the alley, startling a couple walking by.  What the hell was going on?  What invisible thing was pulling him?  Suddenly it dawned on him that he had felt this before – a few nights ago when the girl was in the woods in front of his home.  He knew without a doubt then that she had woken up at his home and that she needed him right then.  She needed him and that need was trying to pull him to her.  But that wasn’t possible – not with a vampire.  At least not that he had ever heard of – and he had heard it all in his eight hundred-freaking-odd years on this earth.  “What the hell are you?” he mumbled as he began running towards his home.
                  He burst through the door just as Hansen was halfway up the stairs.   He had heard her screams when he was still a few miles away.  He mumbled, “Go back to bed, Hansen.  I’ve got this,” as he dashed past him up the stairs, dropping his coat along the way.  He stopped just outside the door to take a deep breath and smooth his hair down – knowing that he would then walk into the room looking exactly as he had when he was in there with her before she fell asleep.  By the time he put his hand on the doorknob, the screaming stopped.  He pushed open had the door, and gasped – she wasn’t in his bed….and the window was open.  He frantically looked around the room for her.  He checked the bathroom, under the bed and then began to get a sick feeling in his stomach as he slowly walked towards the open window.  He stared out towards the woods as despair began to wash over him, “Please tell me you didn’t go,” he whispered into the night.
    “You left me,” came a shaky voice to his right.
    He spun around and stared towards the closet.  Should he tell her the truth?  He didn’t want her to be any more frightened than she already was, “I was just downstairs, taking care of a few things, Miss.  I’m sorry it scared you.  I didn’t realize you’d wake up.”
    “I woke up because you left me.  You leave, I don’t