The Vampires' Last Lover (Dying of the Dark Vampires Book 1) by Aiden James, Patrick Burdine

and
not
having you walk
anywhere
on campus to meet him!”
    I avoided eye contact and tried to get around her. “He offered to meet me here, but I preferred he wait for me at the library. Besides, there’s still a little daylight, and it won’t be dark for at least the next half hour.”
    “Have you looked outside, Txema?” She moved over to the window and pulled the drapes back. Only the last vestige of daylight was visible, and the sun had already set below the western horizon. “It’s gonna be dark in just a few minutes. You
can’t
go out there!”
    I understood her worry, really I did. And, she had tried in vain to get us to leave Peter’s townhouse at three o’clock that afternoon. But everyone—her included—was having such a great time in the hot tub that I didn’t want to be the party-pooper. So, it wasn’t until almost 4:00 p.m. that we got out of there. The checkpoints were already getting long so Peter just dropped us off and then turned back around after agreeing to meet me at the library. Johnny split off at Massey Hall by 4:15, and Tyreen and I raced to the fourth floor. You would think she’d cut me a little slack, since I let her win the foot race to our room.
    “I can still see some sunlight beyond the tree line, and it’s less than two blocks from here.” I prayed my smile seemed warm and unpretentious. I also tried hard to keep her from detecting my growing irritation. If we kept arguing, soon enough she’d be right, and there wouldn’t be a way to beat the encroaching darkness.
    “I’ve still got some time before things get creepy outside.”
    There, I said it. I’m sure this was what had her in a tizzy, and by then we had finally learned more about the previous night’s latest victim. The girl this time was slightly older than me and the other victim. She was a graduate student named Mary Pervalus. It took a little longer to notify her next of kin since she was from Nevada and that had delayed the release of her identify.
    “The hell you say!”
    “Just
trust
me, damn it!”
    She stumbled at my outburst. I pushed past her to leave the room.
    “Hey! You really shouldn’t do this—Txema,
wait
!” she called after me as I moved quickly to the elevator. I saw her running toward me, but then Jenny Faye stepped out of the laundry room with her arms full of clean laundry. Tyreen was blocked long enough for me to step inside the elevator and push the lobby button.
    “I’ll be all right—I promise!” I called back to her.
    The door closed as she arrived.
    “Call me!” She yelled through the elevator doors.
    “I will,” I whispered back. The car was already descending so she wouldn’t have been able to hear me anyway.
    I thought about the most recent ‘slasher-killer’ murder, but tried to push it out of my mind to think instead about the night of wanton fun I hoped to have with Peter. I needed it, and prayed he had already finished his physics homework and was ready to deliver.
    On the way outside, I noticed a campus cop standing in the lobby with a Knoxville policeman. No doubt, this was the result of the recent curfew orders. Papa would be happy. At least I could count on no boogeymen jumping out of the bushes on the way to the library, since there had to be other policemen patrolling our campus.
    Turns out, I was wrong about that.
    In the fading daylight, the brisk evening air chilled my face, forcing me to pull on my hood and fully zip my parka up to my neck. Tyreen was right. It was getting dark quick.
    I walked as fast as I could without running. Thankfully, the security lights were on throughout the area, and Hodges Library sat just a block away.
    As I reached the lawn in front of the Tyson Alumni Center, I heard something. It was a growl, low and guttural. The hairs along the nape of my neck stood on end. It sounded as if the noise came from near the Alumni Center’s entrance. I looked over and saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes that studied me from the shaded