One Night Burns (The Vampires of Livix, #1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

stopping distance?”
    I flounced down on the park bench crossing my arms, “Those nice seat covers hide a lot of blood and gore.”
    “All cars have some pain in them. You cannot escape it.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Cars are made of steel and plastic and aluminum. Hundreds of chemicals and elements. Thousands of parts – somewhere over twenty five thousand parts in a regular vehicle.”
    “So?”
    “So, because of their size and cost, they are one of the most highly recycled devices on the planet. Every winter storm where you hear someone ‘totaled’ their vehicle and really did smash it beyond most repair then that car gets essentially melted down and turned into new cars. Or even into your new metal deck chair at The Garden Store.
    “The problem with that though, is to remelt steel you’re talking close to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. A lot of energy. Melt it down, then keep it hot to roll it out into sheets, cart that coil to a stamping plant and put oil on it to form easier between the dies of a thousand ton stamping press with huge motors that make the jaws go up and down. Then an army of workers to do the remaining steps of the process from welding to painting in producing that new fender.”
    “Or you take the usable parts off three killing machines and make one good one.”
    “Yes … The other thing that car does because I know the history of its parts, parts I extracted and reassembled myself; it’s a reminder that keeps me from foolishly drinking and driving.”
    “Is that a problem?”
    “No, not a problem.”
    “That’s good.” I sat in silence, “I guess you aren’t going to ply me with beer out here or anything …”
    “A popular high school and college pass time, right? I didn’t grow up that way. Never understood it. More of a European outlook on drinking from my mother so not so mysterious and rebellious that I needed to do that in school.”
    “I didn’t see it either. But you know. Some do.”
    He sat next to me again. Not close but not far away either.
    The light of the moon brightly illuminated the lawn, the car, and us. But the edge of the moon touched the bank of clouds hanging above us like a billowy blanket blotting out portions of the sky.
    He gently lifted my hand to his lips and kissed the inside of my wrist. Like a butterfly landing, soft and cool. The sensation traveled around my body alighting my nerves in anticipation. I reached over with my other hand and touched the side of his face bringing his eyes into mine. He leaned forward and kissed me lightly on the lips. The surge at my nerve endings rose and crashed like a far off ocean surf. I opened my eyes seeing his beautiful eyes of blue and onyx glistening in the moonlight. Studying me. He leaned back.
    I asked, “What’s wrong?”
    “ ‘O! She doth teach the torches to burn bright!’ ”
    “Plying me with Shakespeare!” I brought my hand back to my lap but he held my other carefully in both of his strong fingers. I looked at the moon. A quarter of it remained free of the clouds.
    “There, I can see that smile. There it is. You have a nice smile you know.”
    “Thanks.” I knew I blushed from the heat rushing about my broadening smile. We sat there for a while watching the moon disappear. As the last sliver of it quivered at the edge refusing the anxious clouds, he shocked me.
    “I have something to tell you. Something you need to know about me.”
    “What do you mean?”
    He sat silent. His eyes brooding over the town. He looked at me and then back to the distance.
    “I … I …” he hesitated and struggled with the words and the way to say them, “I’m a Vampire .”
    “Yeah, right. It’s almost Halloween … in three months. You bring me out here far from the city and other people, kiss me, feed me Shakespeare, and then tell me you’re a Vampire. To frighten me!”
    “No, not to frighten,” His eyes burned red, red pupils ringed thinly with those effervescent blue irises. His lips curled