Scent of a Vampire
Book One in The Evolved Series
by Jude Stephens
Chapter 1
"Hot monkey sex!" I mumbled under my breath.
Six months ago on the night my divorce was final my best friend Janel had taken me out and got me smashed. Smashed for me meant three glasses of wine. We made a pact. Knowing how shy I am, she made me pinky swear on my parents lives if I didnt get myself out in to the dating world in six months time, we would travel to Atlantic City from our home in Buffalo, and I would let Janel hook me up for a night of hot monkey sex.
Turning towards Janel I gave her an annoyed look, "Why did we come all the way to Atlantic City? Couldnt you have picked up a man for me in the nearest bar back in Buffalo?"
Janel used her look on me...the one she uses on patients at Saint Vincent Hospital, where we both worked. She has the face of an angel; she can get any patient to open up and take foul tasting medicine, she can quiet the most upset, disgruntled family member and get me on a crowded bus, headed to the last place on earth I wanted to be.
Janel gave me an impish grin and said, "Now Orenda, I told you before, I dont plan on spending too much time in the casino. The plan is to find some very cute, fun, high rollers and go to dinner and then dancing and some...well, whatever floats your boat. You know the men back in Buffalo are boring. Theyre the same old, same old. Besides, you know you need a break from the hospital. You work way too hard. And definitely dont play enough."
She was right; I hadnt had a vacation in a while. Working at a hospital, short staffed was the norm of the day.
"Fine then, Ill float my boat, but you better stop calling me Orenda. You know how much I hate that name."
5 "Cripes, okay I promise never to use Orenda again, but really, its so much cooler than your middle name. Olivia is nice, but its not unique and mysterious like Orenda is."
Janel just couldnt understand what using that name conjures up for me. My parents are what some would call free spirits and others would simply call hippies.
My mind wandered back to my high school days and my parents coming to one of my track meets dressed in their organic clothing and wearing love beads, sitting in the bleachers, cuddling and kissing while the other parents stared at them.
The taunts of my classmates were even worse. The guys would ask, "Hey Orenda, do you believe in free love? Cuz if you do I got some for you right here."
While the girls would snicker and make up rumors saying I did indeed believe in free love. Theres nothing like being a teenage girl with a bad reputation and a freaking virgin all at the same time. Since the time I turned fifteen, Ive made everyone; even my teachers call me Olivia.
I let my mind wander through my painful high school days. I had to admit to myself my feeling of being different from everyone else is not just due to my unconventional parents, but to something inside me. Ive always felt a step out of sync with the rest of the world.
I sat back on the hard scratchy seat, let out a long sigh and glanced over at Janel. Compared to Janel, I am generic. When the two of us are together Ive literally been pushed out of the way by men wanting to get closer to her.
While Janel is tall, Im on the short side at five foot five. Janel has a body that could compare to a runway models. My body isnt bad, most would say I was average. I had no big assets that would make a man look twice. Janel has gorgeous blue eyes and straight blond hair, which is the envy of every woman we know. My eyes are hard to
6 describe. Some have described them as silver, but at the DMV they stamped "gray" on my license.
My chestnut brown hair which I wore shoulder length, has a mind of its own and not a great mind either, more what Id call scatterbrained.
Janel is what people would call vivacious, a gregarious extrovert but not in a pushy way. People love to be around her.
I, on the other hand, am such a huge introvert I have trouble talking to myself. Im the type of person people forget two minutes after were introduced. I intend to seek therapy the first chance I get; I thought to myself and not for the first time either.
Ive known Janel since our college days. Thats also where I met my ex-husband Brian. He had been very charming and swept me off my feet. I should have known something when Janel and he didnt hit it off. Looking back, there were signs he wasnt the guy for me. He constantly tried to change me.
He would say things like "Olivia you should wear your hair up in a more sophisticated style. You really should have gone for your masters degree; youd be earning twice what youre making at the hospital."
Too late, I realized I wasnt the woman he needed me to be. It seems a woman who worked at his office turned out to be the woman he needed. I caught them having sex in his office one night when he told me he had to work late, and I stopped by to bring him dinner. He didnt apologize. He didnt try to explain. He actually tried to blame me for his cheating.
"You dont know what I need, you dont try to understand my desires, and you dont know how to let go in bed."
Six months later it was over; I found myself single again, but with no real longing to date again. I think part of me was worried Brian had been right. I really dont know
7 what the hell men need!
A half hour later, we were pulling up in front of a brightly lit hotel named Platza del la Viva. The hotel obviously tried for the Roman flair as the doormen, who were not unattractive, stood all manly like in their white togas guarding the entrance.
Much to my mortification, Janel took one look and marched right over to start talking to the Roman gods.
As much as it embarrassed me, I stood there wishing I could be the type of girl who could throw caution to the wind and strike up a conversation with a stranger.
Walking over to Janel, I overheard her giving them her cell number and telling them to give us a call later.
"What did you do that for? Those guys could be ax murders or perverts or sex fiends."
Janel smiled and said, "One can only hope."
I loved Janel to death but sometimes I felt like she had no sense whatsoever! If I ended up dead tonight by being bludgeoned to death by two Roman hunks, I am so going to kill her. Opening the heavy glass door a blast of cold air and the scent of death hit me at the same time.
Stopping dead in my tracks, as the now sickly sweet familiar scent filled my nose, Janel saw the look on my face and said "Oh no, tell me its not the smell again."
With a look of concern, she pulled me to the side of the lobby.
"Can you tell where its coming from?" She asked.
"No I cant"
Glancing around the enormous lobby, I let my gaze wander over the people milling about. To our right, a group of six people mingled and appeared to be checking out. From their appearance they seemed to be here for business, as most of them wore suits and had laptop bags with them.
Straight across the lobby, a couple stood with two teenage children. Please not them, I thought to myself.
Another younger couple was next to them, and to
8 my left I saw two men, one with dark hair wearing what surely was a suit worth more than my entire wardrobe and a blond man who stood in sharp contrast to the other man.
The blond man wore faded blue jeans and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up his muscular arms. I noticed two things about them simultaneously. First, both men were absolutely gorgeous, what Janel would call man- candy. And two, they seemed to be arguing.
The dark haired man gave the other man a fierce look. One that would surely have me shivering in my boots. The blond man seemed to be holding his own. While I was staring at them, they stopped talking and glanced our way. I quickly averted my eyes and pretended to admire the scenery.
Janel brought me back to the problem at hand by saying "Olivia, who do you think it is?"
"I dont know. I dont think Im close enough."
That can be a problem with my so-called gift. The first time it happened about two months ago, I had gone up to the floor where Janel was working to see if she wanted to grab some lunch. At the nurses station they told me they believed she was with a patient in room 512, so I went to find her.
When I peeked into the room I didnt see her but there was an elderly man in the bed who saw me and called to me for some water. I ran to get his water, and when I started to walk closer to him I smelled something earthy with a touch of musk. I had never smelled anything like it before. At the time I thought maybe it was a cleaning product or sometimes even a new piece of equipment can have a strange newly manufactured smell.
Janel came into the room and said, "I see youve met my favorite patient Mr. Saunders."
I smiled at him and he gave a weak smile back.
While Janel and I were walking to lunch she told me that that Mr. Saunders was in bad shape and not
9 expected to live too much longer.
I saw the sadness in her eyes as she spoke and thought to myself, as I often did, that she is a good nurse and a good friend. I never gave the scent I smelled that day another thought.
At least not until the following week when I was working with a patient in physical therapy. While doing some mobility exercises with him, I smelled the musky scent again.
"Do you smell something? A sort of musky scent?" I asked him.
He shook his head no and once again I dismissed the unusual scent as just one of those strange things and got back to work.
The next day while waiting for my two oclock patient to be brought down, I got a page from the unit clerk informing me my patient would not be coming because he expired that morning.
Looking at the daily schedule, I saw it was the same patient from yesterday who I had asked about the strange smell. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, a tingle went from the base of my spine up to my scalp. It unnerved me for some reason.
At first I told no one what happened, not even Janel. Not until it happened again. A few weeks later I attended a neighbors birthday party, and his favorite aunt from Ohio had come for the event. When I stepped forward to be introduced to the elderly woman, the dreaded musky scent filled my nostrils and I started shaking. I quickly told my neighbor that I wasnt feeling well and left the party as fast as I could. Two days later, coming home from work, I saw my neighbor just entering his house and he waved me over.
He asked me if I would be able to take in his mail for a few days because he had to go to Ohio to attend his aunts funeral. He said she had passed away suddenly right after returning home the day before. I nodded, mumbled
10 my condolences and fled.
I decided I had to at least tell Janel about what was happening and when I did, I didnt get the skeptical reaction I thought I would.
"Well, that is odd, but you know there are a lot of odder things in the world than this. Yesterday I read a story, while in line at the supermarket, about a never before seen pink lizard being found in the South American jungles. Imagine a pink lizard! Hmmm, I wonder if there will ever be blue cows. Imagine the gorgeous leather handbags we could have.
Why are you looking at this as a curse? What you need to do is find a way to make this into something positive. Maybe this isnt a bad thing. You have to look at this from another angle. Im sure you can find a way to make this into something good, and maybe one day we can have blue leather handbags baby!"
I realized she was right. I can take this and figure out a way to do well with it. Damn me if I couldnt!
So, for the last few months, Id been finding ways to turn a curse into a blessing. Whenever the musky scent assailed my senses, I investigated where it came from. Once I found an elderly woman lying in a bed. I didnt need my gift to see she was dying.
I went over to her and asked her name. She told me her name was Mae. She had no children and her husband had passed away five years ago.
As a girl, she lived by a lake and more than anything she liked to watch the sunset on the lake. So, when the sky started turning a deep blue, I helped her turn in the bed toward the window so she could see the sunset.
I held her hand, and she closed her eyes and died peacefully with a slight smile on her face.
That was when I started to embrace what I had been given. I didnt question it anymore. My parents have always told me to everything there is a reason. Turn. Turn.
Turn. I grew up in a house where music was always playing, and sometimes without being aware of it, Id start singing. The only problem is. I couldnt sing for crap.
Janel had been right, maybe this is a gift of some kind, and I was given it for a purpose that I was as yet unaware of.