Hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans, Ethan Parrish strolled the dark streets of Morgan Creek. It had been two months since Rylan Saintcrow turned him into a blood- sucking vampire. Two hellish months, and he was still trying to wrap his mind around the reality of what he’d become, and what he’d lost.

He blew out a sigh. It wasn’t just food and drink he’d had to give up, it was his whole way of life. It was gone. All of it -- his old life, his family and friends, not to mention his job. Damn! He had just received a raise and had been due for a well-earned promotion to Vice President in charge of sales. Well, he could kiss that goodbye, too, along with everything else. Hard to keep a day job when you couldn’t show up until after sundown.

Some people are born to be vampires, Saintcrow had told Ethan shortly after turning him into a fiend. You’re not one of them.

As far as Ethan was concerned, truer words had never been spoken. And yet, the alternative -- walking out into the sunlight and being turned into a living torch -- was unthinkable.

Shit! Fate must be having a good laugh at his expense. He had never liked horror movies, always been afraid vampires were real, and squeamish at the sight of blood.

And now he was a creature of the night, complete with nice, sharp fangs and eyes that turned red with the lust for blood.

Like his lovely cousin, Holly.

He still couldn’t believe she had asked to be turned. Why would anyone in their right mind want to be a vampire? Holly had given him some overly-dramatic sob story about it being the only way she could be with her vampire husband, Micah Ravenwood, forever.

Ethan shook his head. How could anyone willingly give up their humanity? It was beyond his comprehension.

Sure, Holly had told him it wasn’t so bad, that he would get used to it…yada yada yada.

When he reached the bridge that separated the town from the highway, he turned around and started back toward the house he’d chosen as his current residence. Morgan Creek had once been home to a pack of vampires who had kept ordinary people trapped here against their will. Though the prisoners had supposedly been well-treated and provided with food, housing, and entertainment, they had been no more than a ready food source for the vampires. Ethan came to a halt, hands clenching, when he saw Saintcrow sitting on the front porch. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you, too. Kadie and I are leaving. Seems my wife’s decided she wants to go to Scotland.”

From what he’d heard, Kadie had also chosen to be a vampire rather than live without the love of her life. How anyone could fall in love with a vampire, let alone a master vampire like Saintcrow, remained a mystery.

Ethan lifted one shoulder and let it fall. “Good riddance.”

Saintcrow blew out a sigh of exasperation. “I’ve taught you everything you need to know to survive. The rest is up to you.”

“Right.”

“Do you remember what I told you?”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t hunt where I live. Don’t kill my prey. Don’t wait until the pain is excruciating before I feed. If I kill anybody except to save my own life, you’ll know it and you’ll destroy me.”

Saintcrow shook his head. “I think I should just destroy you now and save us both a lot of aggravation.”

“I’ll be good, Dad,” Ethan said, his voice heavily laced with sarcasm. “You and Mom have a nice trip.” He flinched as his sire’s power brought him to his knees. Rylan Saintcrow was a master vampire and not to be messed with. He would be wise to remember that, he thought as Saintcrow vanished from his sight.

Ethan shook his head as he stared at the place where Saintcrow had been standing only seconds before. “Sad to be all alone in the world,” he muttered.

And what the hell was he supposed to do now?

Ethan walked through Morgan Creek under a canopy of stars. The town was, for all intents and purposes, a ghost town, now inhabited by one lonely, fledgling vampire. Holly and her husband had left a couple of days before to continue their honeymoon. Kadie and Saintcrow had left late last night.

Strolling down the main street of the old business section, he passed a grocery store, a library, a restaurant, a tavern. Farther down the street, he spied a movie theater and a gas station. If the place was his, he would have leveled everything except the houses, built a luxury hotel with a pool and a handful of exclusive shops and turned the place into a winter resort.

But it wasn’t his, and he didn’t have that kind of money.

Feeling lost and alone, he pulled his cell phone from his back pocket, then frowned. Who was he gonna call? His parents? They’d want to know where he was and why they hadn’t heard from him in the last few weeks. What could he say? Hey, Mom, Dad. You’re probably wondering why I never made it to Cousin Holly’s wedding, or why I haven’t called. Well, that’s an interesting story…

He pinched the bridge of his nose. How did you tell the people you loved that you’d been turned into a vampire against your will?

And what about women? Sure Kadie loved Saintcrow and Holly seemed smitten with the guy she had married, but Ethan was pretty sure that women who liked vampires were rare…or maybe not. He recalled Holly telling him about some girl… what was her name? Sally? Sandy? No, Sofia. His cousin had told him Sofia loved vampires.

Well, there was one way to find out if that was true. He sent a quick text to Holly, asking for Sofia’s number, then sat on the curb to wait for an answer.