Boys That Bite by Mari Mancusi Page A

royally suck. Especially since I was just thinking about how sexy he is in that outfit. Trying to shield my mind and think random non-Magnus thoughts about Marc Jacobs shoes and the square root of pi, just in case he does have some kind of mind-reading abilities, I grab a chair from a nearby table and take my seat. "Urn, hi, I'm Sunny," I say to the girl on my left. "Nice to meet you," I add, holding out my hand to the one on the right. "Do you guys come here often?" The girl stares at my hand, but doesn't take it. She also doesn't answer my question. What's her problem? Is she a mute or something? Or just incredibly rude? (Judging from whom I've met so far in the vamp community, I'm betting on the latter.) "It's okay, Rachel. You can talk to her," Magnus says, oh-so-grandly giving his permission. Jeez. He really does get off on this all-powerful-vampire thing, doesn't he? Then again, people let him get away with it. Like this Rachel chick, for instance. I mean, Magnus commands and both girls suddenly light up like those animatronic characters at Disney World. What's up with that? Are they trapped under some kind of Magnus mind control or something? Or are they just your typical obsessive Goths, like my sister, willing to do whatever the big bad vamps command? "Greetings, oh honored one. I am Rachel," says the girl on my left in a reverential, way overly dramatic tone. "And this is my companion, Charity." "Hiya, Sunny," says Charity, in a surprisingly squeaky valley-girl voice. Wow. I hadn't expected that to come from her blood-red-lipped mouth. "We've, like, heard so much about you." They have? They've heard about me? That would mean Magnus talks about me. Talks about me to his friends even. Which is interesting, of course, but certainly no reason to have my heart start beating like crazy. Trying to regain control of my once-again traitorous body, I study the girls more closely. Both have long, impossibly straight black hair, soft blue eyes, and china doll skin. Hmm ... I wonder . . . "Are you guys . . . ?" I trail off, not quite sure of the PC terminology. Would a vampire be considered mortally challenged? "Are you . . . ?" "Vampires?" Rachel fills in. My face heats. "Uh, yeah." Okay, guess they're cool with the V-word here. "No." Rachel says, shaking her head. "Unlike you, we are regretfully still attached to this mortal coil." "We wish, though," Charity chimes in. "That would so totally rock if we were." "Indeed," her friend agrees, solemnly. "To be a creature of the night would, as my dear friend so eloquently puts it, totally rock." O-kay, so they're not vampires. But they know about vampires. They're like vamp wanna-bes. Maybe they're part of the training program Rayne was in? "Actually, we're Donor Chicks," Charity informs me. "Donor—?" I scrunch my eyebrows. Then realization hits me like a ten-ton truck. I stare from one to the other. "You're Magnus's blood donors?" Wow. Magnus had told me that vampires contracted willing humans to provide them with their blood supply, but I didn't think about the fact that these donors would be very attractive young women. Dinner for Mag boy must be a real gourmet treat. "Yes." Rachel nods enthusiastically. "We are bound to serve Lord Magnus," she says, smiling over at the vampire in question, looking prouder than a peacock. "Offer him our blood sacrifice so that he may sustain immortal life." I roll my eyes. What a drama queen. "So what you're saying is you, like, willingly let him suck your blood? Why the heck would you sign up for something like that?" I'm trying not to be judgmental here, but seriously! "Are you kidding?" Rachel frowns, her expression telling me that I've just asked the stupidest question known to humankind. "It is an honor to provide sustenance to such a powerful being," she explains. "By doing so, we too are indirectly taking part in immortal life." "Plus it's great pay!" Charity interjects. Rachel shoots her an evil look, like it's rude to bring up the more