Fake dates and fanged mi.., p.1
Fake Dates and Fanged Mistakes, page 1
FAKE DATES AND FANGED MISTAKES
FANGED MISTAKES
BOOK 1
ALICE WINTERS
Copyright © 2024 by Alice Winters
All rights reserved.
Edited by: Courtney Bassett
Proofread by Lori Parks
Cover design by Natasha Snow Designs
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Also by Alice Winters
CHAPTER ONE
JULIAN
Who decided that having children sell candy to strangers was a good idea?
“Hey, Uncle Julian, don’t you think you can do something to make people buy my candy?” my niece Nina asks.
I’m not quite sure what trick she’d like me to perform, and unless it involves packing up and going home, I’m not exactly eager to perform it. It’s dark out, yet here we are still trying our absolute hardest to rope some unsuspecting tourists into paying exorbitant amounts for a candy bar, all because Nina’s convinced that if she sells all the chocolate she has left, she’ll win the top prize. Even though the top prize is likely a piece of junk that cost five dollars—which I would have paid to not have to sit here for three hours—she wants it “more than anything.”
Her head snaps over to mine, her curly auburn hair bouncing as her eyes go wide. “Julian!”
“What!” I exclaim right back.
“What if you shift into a wolf, and then people think you’re a doggy, and then all the people will come over and I’ll tell them they can only pet the doggy if they buy a candy bar!”
Ahhhh, she’s only eight and well on her way to conning people.
“Wow! That’s a terrible idea,” I say.
Nina pouts in response.
That’s when I see two men from the back, both wearing expensive suits and looking rather rich. And maybe because Nina seems to equate “rich” with “they will buy all my candy,” she bolts for them, box of chocolates in hand.
She’s so fast that I don’t even have time to tell her that of all the people on the street, those two will not want her candy… hell, they can’t even eat it.
“Will you buy my mfh—”
The “mfh” at the end was caused by the vampire holding up his hand, which Nina didn’t see until her face smashed into it.
And that is the moment I realize that Nina not only targeted two vampires, she targeted the most prestigious vampire in this whole area. The very man who claimed this city and the surrounding ones as his territory.
And the man who knocked my father down from the position.
He shifts his cold eyes onto her as she slowly looks up, horror crossing her face as realization dawns on her. I rush over, knowing that I need to defuse the situation before it gets out of control, and grab Nina.
“Oh my god, you MONSTER!” I cry, loud enough everyone in the area can hear. “Nina, sweetheart, don’t cry!”
“I’m… not crying,” she says.
“You poor baby, all you wanted to do was sell some candy bars to this kind gentleman in order to raise money for your sad school that enlists child labor so their kids can go on field trips, and this man savagely pummeled you to the ground,” I proclaim.
“I… didn’t fall,” Nina says.
Since I’m crouched to squeeze Nina to me, I have to look up at the man. And even though he really isn’t much taller than my five-ten height, his aura alone makes him seem leagues taller. The frown on his face would put the strongest of men on their knees. The way his cold brown eyes watch me tells me that he’s really not that interested in this display before him. He’s a handsome man with quite the reputation after sweeping into the city and buying up half of it a few years prior. Because of that, I doubt there are many who don’t know who he is, which means that I will play into this for all I’m worth.
“How could you?” I whisper.
“What is even happening?” he asks, a sour look on his face. Then he leans in and sniffs me before cringing, like simply smelling me disgusted him.
“That’s Terrance’s son,” the man next to him says.
I didn’t think a face could sour even more but it sure does. “I see.”
I’m really not wanting them to get off track here because I want to go home, and Nina’s holding me captive until these candy bars find a new owner. “I’m going to have to pay for therapy for her after what you did. But I do know what will bring a smile to her innocent face,” I say.
The vampire weirdly doesn’t look impressed.
“If you bought all of her candy,” I conclude.
Everyone in the vicinity has stopped to witness the man “smash the child to the ground.” And even if the vampire didn’t do that, the humans will eat it all up. They have no idea he’s a vampire, but they do know that Casimir is the richest man in the city and garners a lot of attention wherever he goes. While I’ve never interacted with him, my father has—and deeply despises him after he waltzed in with his vampire crew.
“And why would I do that?” Casimir asks.
“To help pay for the plastic surgery to fix the damage you did to her face,” I inform him.
“I’m pretty sure she looked like that when she smashed her face into my hand,” he says.
“No, she was much cuter before. I promise.”
“I was?” Nina asks.
The vampire scrutinizes the child, then me. “If I give you the money, you’ll go away, right?”
“Far away.”
“Fine. How much is it a bar?”
“Four dollars apiece and we have a hundred here.”
“No, it’s two—” Nina, the sweet soul she is, says until I clamp my hand over her mouth.
Casimir stares at me before smacking the shoulder of the guy next to him. “Give them four hundred dollars.”
The second vampire looks disgruntled by the very idea. “What? Why me?”
“Because I said so.”
The man looks aghast as I try my hardest not to appear ecstatic about this exchange. “You’re seriously going to play into what this dog wants?”
Casimir slowly looks over at him. He doesn’t even have to say anything and the man reaches for his wallet. It’s impressive. If I had that power, Nina and I could have left hours ago!
“Can you give me lessons on how to do that?” I ask, but I am one hundred percent ignored.
“Fucking hell,” the guy grumbles.
“It’s an extra dollar a bar for cussing in front of the child,” I say. “The trauma to her poor ears!”
“You said a bad word yesterday!” Nina announces.
The second vampire hands over four one-hundred-dollar bills and two fifties, so I quickly grab the four boxes, each filled with twenty-five bars, and stuff them in his hands. “I’m so glad we could work this tragedy out.”
The man stares at his four boxes like he’s holding something vile. Casimir, on the other hand, is still scrutinizing me like I’m dog shit he might have found on his shoe.
I give him a wink, grab my niece in an elegant football hold with the five hundred dollars in my other hand, and make my great escape.
“Why’d you charge so much?” Nina asks as I toss her into the car.
“Quick, get your seat belt on!” I say as I turn the key.
“You charged him four dollars! It was two!”
“Yes, Nina, but you see those hundred bars sitting next to you? He just bought those too. You have now sold two hundred chocolate bars.”
She gasps as the wonder of what has just happened dawns on her. Clearly, I’m the best uncle ever. “I’m going to win that Rubik’s Cube!”
I stop what I’m doing and turn around to look at her. “Excuse me? We sat out here all night for a… Rubik’s Cube? You realize those are like ten dollars online? We nearly got eaten by a vampire.”
“You’re the one who nearly got eaten! Not me!” she says. “And it’s not any Rubik’s Cube. It’s THEEEE Rubik’s Cube!”
Children… far too simple.
I hand her the four hundred and then split the spare hundred with her. “This is yours. You can buy yourself five Rubik’s Cubes with it. You can be drowning in cubes.”
She gasps as she holds the fifty like I’ve handed he r a priceless diamond.
“Then I’m going to save this fifty and we can go to the movies and toy store next weekend, alright?”
“OOOH yes!” she says, obviously excited about those plans. And with our mission accomplished, I drive to her house.
When I near the driveway and see that my dad is there, I can’t help but sigh, really not wanting to deal with him on this fine evening. I’m still enjoying my high from conning a vampire, and he’s here to crush that high to smithereens.
“Alright, your grandpa’s here, so I’m just going to push you out of the moving vehicle and run, okay?” I ask.
Nina gives me a look. “No! Not okay!”
“But, Nina, you’ll bounce! Kids are made of rubber,” I tease, and she laughs.
“I won’t bounce!”
“Fine, fine,” I say as I pull into the driveway. “The rest of these chocolates are ours to split. So grab your chocolate and run.”
“Got it!” She throws open the door and immediately trips out of the car, sending the boxes of chocolate bars flying all over the yard.
Dad, who’d been standing on the front porch and might not have caught up with me if I was fast enough, snaps his attention to us and scurries over.
“Fuck…” I whisper before getting out of the car to help Nina.
“Julian,” he says by way of greeting.
“Hey, Dad,” I say as I stoop down to help Nina pick up her candy bars by the light of the front porch.
My father was the leader of this territory until Casimir arrived. He’d ruled since he was about twenty, and for all of those years, he’d kept all vampires out. His pack was strong enough to enforce it until Casimir came along and proceeded to subdue the entire pack and stand as the new leader of the territory. He then welcomed in vampires, but only those who had his explicit permission. Even so, the change resulted in some bloodshed because the wolves refused to back down and the vampires refused to leave. Only recently has there been some semblance of peace since Casimir allowed my father to remain alpha but only under the stipulation that he follows Casimir’s rule. The relationship between the wolves and vampires is so fragile that the smallest thing could snap it.
I’m a werewolf like my father, but unlike him, I have no interest in the feud between wolves and vampires.
With Casimir’s new position, he also prohibited any werewolves from creating more. While most werewolves lock themselves inside on a full moon to prevent unnecessary spread or death, some think it’s their right to run free and don’t enjoy the new rules Casimir inflicted on the territory.
Unlike folklore, we don’t turn into some man/wolf hybrid, but generally look much more like a wolf when we shift, and we can shift anytime we like, though we don’t have a choice during a full moon.
Most of us wolves are drawn to each other, wanting a pack to call home… except for me. I have absolutely no interest in a pack or any of those dynamics, much to my father’s misery. Since I’m the only other family member who’s a wolf, my father has tried his hardest to drag me into his life… which I don’t always want to be a part of. He thinks it’s ridiculous that I’m not part of his pack—which he hopes I’ll take over when he backs down.
Honestly, I have absolutely no plans at all to take over.
“You know you could help prevent your kind from being stomped down by the vampires,” Dad says. He’d probably expire right here if I told him what we’d actually just been doing with the vampires.
“What if I like being stomped down? What if it tickles my fancy to be walked on by vampires?”
Dad scrutinizes me. Honestly, it’s a wonder he even claims me as his son. “Julian.”
“Father.”
He sighs loudly and starts using his extra anger power to throw some candy bars into a box. He’s almost powerful enough to send them through the box and down into hell with the way he’s fuming.
“Will you please just listen?”
“I am listening. I don’t want to be part of your pack or any pack. I’m happy on my own. And… no, I really don’t have any desire to go fight a vampire for some territory we already lost. It really hasn’t been that bad since the bat brigade came out, has it?”
“I wanna be a werewolf!” Nina decides.
“No, no you don’t,” Dad says.
Nina growls in response. “Yes, I do. If I was a werewolf, I’d chase Emily because she’s mean,” she decides before slowly looking over at me. “What are you doing after school tomorrow, Julian?”
“Not chasing an eight-year-old,” I say as I set a box of candy bars in her arms.
“What about a nine-year-old?”
“This whole city is uneasy,” Dad says, ignoring Nina.
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I respond. But let’s be real… I’d rather chase the nine-year-old than deal with his bullshit.
“Why couldn’t your brother have been the damn werewolf?” he complains.
“Go gnaw on him, see how that goes,” I say as I carry the second box up to the house.
The door opens as we reach it and Mel, who’s Nina’s mother and my sister-in-law, smiles at us. “Aww, didn’t get them sold?”
“NO, we did! Julian forced a vampire to give us FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS.”
Dad’s head snaps around so fast that I’m not going to be surprised if he has whiplash. “You did what?”
I just smile away. “We had a blast. Sold all the candy. Super nice guy said we could keep these ones for ourselves! Have fun.”
With a pat on Nina’s head, I rush off to my car and drive home, quite concerned that my father is going to glower a hole into the back of my head.
CASIMIR
“Do you mind explaining why I just gave a mutt five hundred dollars?” Dan grumbles.
“Because you’re too weak to tell me no,” I say as I continue down the street.
The werewolf and the human child are thankfully gone, so I’m free to continue my search after hearing a rumor floating around that a couple of vampires had waltzed into my territory without my permission. Why anyone would choose to do such a thing is ridiculous. It’s like they woke up and decided on death.
To keep things civil, I only allow those who have permission to reside here. The wolves were already here when I arrived, but they are well aware that they don’t have permission to make more or allow more into the area. There are enough new weres made accidentally; to allow them to make more werewolves purposely would leave the city overrun with them.
In order to be fair, that also means that I don’t allow vampires to change humans, and I sure as hell don’t permit new vampires to enter without permission.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with all of this chocolate?” Dan asks, like that’s the concern here.
“Give it away,” I say.
He groans before pulling out a bar and holding it out to a child. “Do you want some candy?” he asks.
The girl shrieks and rushes for her mother.
“I hate children. This is why we should be allowed to eat them,” he decides.
“Don’t eat the children,” I order as I keep walking. A few tourists have gone missing, last seen in this area. While I don’t sense or smell any vampires, it doesn’t mean that there’s not one or two hanging around here, persuading the drunks to wander off with them where they’ll likely dump their body in the river somewhere.
“I’m not going to eat the children… I said I wish we could. They’re so pesky and honestly, downright creepy.” Dan shudders at the thought.
I hesitate, catching a scent that leads me away from the main area and down an alley. As Dan trots after me with his boxes of candy, I make my way over to a run-down building that looks abandoned. The front door is locked, but I see the window on the second floor is open. Glancing around, I don’t see any humans or devices that could track me, so I jump up, grabbing the edge of the brick before scaling my way up the wall and in through the open window with ease. When I land, the smell of rot immediately attacks my senses. And while there are no bodies in the room, I find myself following the scent of the vampires inward to a room that has no windows—no way for light to shine in.
This must be where they’ve been sleeping during the day. Their scent seems a bit old, though, making me wonder if they’ve recently moved on. Even so, I’m going to have some vampires waiting here until near dawn, in case they show.
