THE VAMPIRE: A TALE OF LUST & REDEMPTION

Ep 1: Hearthrob

CASTLEVIEW BOOK 2

CHAPTER ONE

Luca Giovanni.

Tall, tattooed and always wearing the same unsmiling gaze. Whether it was to unnerve the people in town or just to remain a mystery, no one knew. So just like more than half the townsfolk, we’d all fall silent whenever he walked nearby. My curiosity of him seemed to peek every time I saw him, which was probably once a month at most since he arrived in town three months ago. No one knew what job he did or if he had any family. All everyone knew was that, one rainy Friday night, a lone, strange young man arrived into the Graham Mansion, the fanciest house in the whole town. Rumors had it that he bought the house on cash and well, the fancy sleek, Black Lexus L.C did seem to support his acclaimed rich status. Still, he didn’t strike me as someone who would settle in a town like this.

“Jesus! f*****g piece of s**t!” The cussing behind me snapped me out of my mental haze and I quickly turned my attention to Zara, my best friend. She was quite the clumsy mess and so it was no surprise she’d dropped a plate again. She only had two and half weeks left before she joined her family in Canada for a week. They’d moved last year but that had never stopped her from coming by to town every chance she got. This time however, it was different. She was going back to India for the one-year compulsory internship for bachelor of medicine and Surgery. Who knew when I’ll see her again?

“Zara,” I sighed.

“Scott,” Her puppy eyes did not work on me this time.

“I told you to stick to the kitchen. I’ll handle the serving, okay? Anna and Tony should be here any minute now. Speaking of which, they are late by ten minutes. I’m going to fire them at this rate,” I complained.

“And risk your grandpa being mad at you? You know he loves the twins and they co-own this place too,” She laughed, grabbing a broom and dust pan from the kitchen before cleaning up the mess she made.

I groaned in response, closing my eyes briefly before opening them when I heard the bell at the door jiggle. I looked up to find the twins, a.k.a my cousins, treading in as though they owned the place. Technically, they owned two-thirds of it while the remained one-third was mine. If only I could get enough money to buy them out.

“Morning Cuz,” Anna began rather annoyingly.

“The customers will start coming in. Better get your aprons ready,” I said, tightening mine while walking to the table and performing one last round to make sure everything was in place. A satisfactory smile danced on my lips as I glanced at my wrist watch.

“7.15 a.m. Perfect,” With my hands behind me, I fixed my gaze at the door, waiting for the first customer to walk in.

I didn’t have to wait for long before San, the towns happy bug, walked in with his fiancée, the distinguished Mayor of Silver crest falls, Lilian, in tow.

“I couldn’t sleep the whole night just dreaming of breakfast,” he began, his face a mirror of a full-blown smile.

“Trust me, he is always the most active in the morning,” The mayor added as they sat down right after we exchanged greetings.

“Well, the man knows his priorities. The usual?” I questioned, returning the smile.

“You know it,” he wiggled his eyebrows.

“Coming right up,”

As cheesy as it was going to sound, the town’s heartthrob and happy bug, San had found himself irrevocably in love with the staunch, rather quiet and the town’s queen of brains and beauty, Lilian, over their similar love for coffee and Miso Caramel-Apple Danish. They were the town’s it couples and so it was honestly no surprise why their wedding was the most anticipated in town.

And I didn’t even have a date to that.

Sooner rather than later, the diner was overflowing with the town’s folk and it was only around eleven when it slowed down. Hectic mornings and late nights were my routine now but if I wanted to make something out of myself, then I needed to work twice as harder as the twins. I glanced at the figures from the rather old computer on the cashier desk. They were looking pretty impressive today but not yet at the mark I wanted them to be. The doorbell jingled but I did not look up and instead muttered a small welcome while my mind remained engrossed in ways to come up with more money.

“I’m sorry about that. What can I…g-get you?” I had no idea why I stuttered as the last part but I was certainly surprised.

Luca Giovani, who had never set foot inside my diner, was making his way towards the corner booth, dressed like some villain straight out of a drama set. He sat down, his steely gray eyes sweeping around the almost empty dinner before they rested on me. A cold tremor-certainly from the way he was looking at me-passed through the layers of my skin as I stared back at him.

“I got this one,” Anna suddenly appeared by my side, a cheeky smile on her face with boobs pushed up to reveal a little more cleavage than usual.

I sighed. Not the first time it was happening. Every single time, someone remotely good-looking walked in the dinner, Anna would suddenly become productive. I walked to the kitchen where Zara and the two chefs were busy working while laughing about something Zara said.

“I want to laugh too,” I said, grabbing a few spices and helping out with the ribs.

“Oh, we were actually talking about you and how you are more likely to end up alone with a hundred cats like some sad lonely lady,” Her cheeks were home to an amazing set of dimples whenever she smiled.

Here was a little secret about me. I’d had a crush on Zara since we joined ninth grade and yet every single day, she seemed to make boundaries much clearer. From how infectious her smile was, to even the littlest thing like her frowns, always made my heart flutter in strange ways that I loved.

“I’m twenty-three, not fifty,” I countered.

“Years fly by, son,” she patted me on the shoulder and I tried to ignore the way my body heated up at the simple gesture of her touch.

“I will find a good girl when I buy off the twins,” I promised. That was lie. There would never be a girl as perfect as Zara was in my eyes. She was tall, more on the curvy side with an ochre skin-much like the mellow-brown light that bathed the forest on a good day. From her dimpled smile, to her clumsiness and how her dark-brown orbs lit up whenever she talked of something she liked, made it harder for me to see her as just a friend.

“That’s it. For the next eighteen days I’m here, we are getting you a girl. You are seriously the first hot guy I’ve seen who rarely pays attention to the girls,” she shook her head, almost as though pitying me.

“If I’m hot, then date me,” I said, half-joking while half-filled with the anticipation of her reaction.

“I would but you don’t dance. You know, if you moved half as no-a quarter as good as Han, I would marry you in an instant,” she shrugged, throwing me a mischievous look.

Han. Right. The dance king of our high school. Maybe he was hot but Zara could do much better than him. She could date me but of course, we were just friends.

“Hey, I can learn. What is so hard about…um…whatever dance moves he does?” I questioned.

She sighed, this time definitely out of sympathy for me, “Yeah, we really do need to get you a girlfriend,” she suddenly reached forward, dipping her hand in my jeans pocket, whipping out my phone before I could stop her.

“What are you doing?” I questioned.

“I’m signing you up on a dating app. Your password is still Scott&Zara? Dude, that was like ages ago when your grandpa thought we were going to get married,” There it was again- the infectious, airy laugh capable of getting any man transfixed.

“I’m too lazy to change it,” I shrugged, grating the last of the garlic piece.

Or maybe I’m just hoping one day you’ll see me more than just a friend.

“You really need a girlfriend. Oh! First match already? Hmmm…pretty hot, loves coffee and rainy days. Seems like the perfect girl. Wait, she hates cats. Who the hell hates cats? That’s not a good sign. Next!” she remained focused on my phone and I shook my head, ignoring her as I went on helping the chefs. It would only be an hour before the diner flooded once again and I didn’t want anything being out of place. Wait, where was Anna? Still flirting with that guy? What about Tony? I grinded my jaw in anger when I noticed the latter sitting in the office, his eyes on his phone and legs crossed on the table.

If somebody didn’t kill these two for me, then I’m afraid that soon I’d be jail for murder. All they cared about was their looks, stupid phones and their cut-which they insisted to be fair despite their minimal efforts. They barely worked and given that so much money had been used for renovating the place, we couldn’t afford waiters and waitresses at the moment. At least not until we finished paying off the loan at the bank.

“Okay, Tomorrow eight o’clock at Silver Crest Bar and Restaurant,” Zara thrust the phone in my hand. Arguing with her would be pointless.

“She is…pretty,” I mumbled, glancing at the girl. Out of ten, she was a solid eight and any man would even be lucky to be going out with her.

Not as pretty as Zara, of course.

Suddenly Luca stormed into the kitchen, his rather pale features impaled with anger.

“Sir, you are not supposed to be-“ I started but he cut me off.

“Who is the manager here?” His voice was soft but lidded with rage, eyes settling on me.

Great! Now what did Anna do?