Read Online Fangtabulous by Lucienne Diver - Free Book Online Page A

for miles. Thank goodness they were currently covered up, along with everything else, by her Pilgrim suit. Sorry, Puritan . Only her dress was red. My signature color. All my secret insecurities rose to the surface. So I was short—no way around that. But I’d always fought frumpy and overlooked, tooth and nail, even before said weapons became instruments of crass destruction.
    Kari’s eyes lit up when she saw me. The redhead’s eyes skimmed over Ulric, saw and dismissed me, and moved straight on to Bobby, where her gaze caught and held. Bobby seemed equally gobsmacked, to the point where I had to nudge him in the ribs— hard —to get him to blink.
    “I’m so glad you’re all here. Gia, this is Rebecca. Rebecca, Gia. The boys will take the first two groups. Rebecca, Gia’s going to take you out and show you where it all happened so you can get in some practice before the filming tomorrow.” As always, Kari was way too cheerful about everything. At some point, I’d apparently gotten in touch with my inner goth, to the point where perky was now painful. Or maybe it just came with the whole creature-of-the-night gig.
    “I am?” I asked.
    Rebecca’s gaze slid toward me, as if now that she realized I was important she had to size up the competition.
    “Hi,” she said, doing a halfway convincing impression of friendly.
    She held a hand out to shake, and I’d love to say that it was clawlike with hangnails, calluses, and critically cracked skin, but it was perfect, just like the rest of her. She had the kind of hands they used in lotion commercials. Her fingernails were all buffed, shaped, and shined but without color, probably in keeping with her Puritanical role. When I looked from that hand to her face, she was just painfully pretty. Her skin could survive cosmetics commercial close-ups. Her uptilted green eyes were almost as bright as mine.
    But I had two things on her. My glittering green eyes were framed by long black lashes most women would kill to possess, and while she might be a long stretch of highway you could handle full throttle, I was a cool, curvaceous road, like San Francisco’s Lombard Street, that needed serious time and attention to navigate.
    “Sure,” Kari said, oblivious to any undertones. “You said you got stage fright, so Rebecca offered to step in.”
    “I’m a drama major at Boston College.”
    “Of course you are,” I mumbled.
    “What was that?” Kari asked.
    “I said, ‘Bet you go far.’ ”
    Rebecca gave a million-kilowatt grin. “Thanks.”
    “Don’t mention it.” I mean, like, ever . “Come on, I’ll show you what happened.”
    “Don’t be long,” Kari said. “I need you to lead the nine o’clock tours.”
    “Will do.” I’d have her back by eight.
    We were barely out of earshot when Rebecca asked, “So, what’s the story on the new guy?”
    “He’s taken,” I said, shortly.
    “Taken?” Rebecca’s steps slowed and she turned to me, eyes wide. “You mean, you and him?” She looked me up and down, which didn’t take long considering my height.
    “Yeah, is there a problem with that?” I asked. I hadn’t meant to seem so defensive, but somehow, tall and leggy (at least I presumed there were legs and not, say, a serpent’s tail under that costume) drama majors brought out the worst in me.
    “Oh, no,” she answered, but not with conviction. “I just … didn’t realize.”
    Moving right along. “Kari gave you the lowdown? You’re wearing a cross or some type of protection? A crucifix saved me yesterday.” And today my hair was arranged so that no one could see that it had also scarred me for life.
    “Yeah. I’ve got protection.” She patted her chest, which I took to mean she had a pendant hidden under her costume.
    “I’m not sure hiding it away is gonna help. The crucifix didn’t do anything until it touched whatever attacked me.”
    Rebecca looked vaguely uncomfortable, which was interesting. “I’m pretty sure my religious symbol