Un2Dead (Book One of the Un2Series)

Reese had spent the past couple of hours meditating in complete darkness accompanied only by the sound of squeaking leather upholstery. She had been trying to convince herself that she had the ability to excrete venom. She had to be able to excrete venom. Whoever was holding her assumed she was capable of doing it and was coming back soon to milk her. She never imagined being a vampire could put her or any of her family in danger. She always viewed it as a way for her family to live forever. It was the sole reason she had pushed Wit to turn her.

The final weeks of Reese’s pregnancy were spent reorganizing the nursery and adjusting the predetermined schedule of baby duties. Raising a child was something they had planned on as a team effort. Now it appeared they would have to split the duties with very little shared time as a family. The thought of never having to get up in the middle of the night to tend to a fussy baby was, on one hand, appealing to Reese while deeply saddening on the other. Wit was very upbeat about the whole situation. He relished the thought of being a dad.

Reese went into labor late in the afternoon and was able to hold on until Wit rose at dusk. He stumbled into the kitchen still struggling to shake off the day’s slumber. When he finally raised his head and opened his eyes he was greeted with the sight of Reese standing before him holding the overnight bag they had packed together a week ago in one hand and the keys to the car in the other.

“They’re five minutes apart,” she said as she tossed Wit the keys. The realization of what was happening hit Wit faster than Reese thought it would.

“Baby, you should have waked me up sooner.”

“We still would have had to wait until dusk to leave. I wasn’t going to leave without you.”

Wit took the suitcase from Reese and gave her a hurried kiss. The soon-to-be parents were in the car and en route to the hospital moments later. Wit reached over and took Reese’s hand and gave it a squeeze. She looked at him and began to speak but stopped herself.

“What? Are you okay? Is it another contraction?”

Wit’s focus jumped back and forth from his driving to Reese and back again.

“I’m fine. Just worried about you. Are you going to be okay?”

“Why worry about me? You’re having the baby.”

“You’re not going to panic and get all vampiry on me? You know how emotional you can be. I hope you can keep it together. I want you there. I need you there.”

“I promise you that I will be in total control. I want to be there when ‘Baby Girl Witmoore’ is born.”

“Sunny.”

“What?”

“I want to name her ‘Sunny.’ We can’t spend our days together anymore. She will be our sunlight.”

“That is beautifully sappy and I adore you for it.” Wit placed his hand on Reese’s belly. “Sunny.”

“I hope Joey doesn’t mind. He had his heart set on ‘Puddles’.” Reese replied as she placed her hand on top of Wit’s.

The rest of the delivery was as boilerplate as Wit promised it would be. There was groaning, pushing, the eating of ice chips and the ever popular ‘I will never let you touch me again’ speech followed by the breaking of water and the healthy cry of a newborn baby. Fingers and toes were counted and a slew of

other census data was added to the birth certificate along with the baby’s full name, Solange Danielle Witmoore.

Wit’s stint as a stay-at-home dad was short-lived. Baby hours and vampire-dad hours didn’t exactly mesh as well as he had hoped they would. He and Reese were going through their savings like water and it became clear that he needed to work. Joey found Wit a bartending job through his network of night dwellers. The money was decent enough to allow Wit to start building a downpayment on a house. With Joey’s help the four of them moved to a nice place with a picket fence in the suburbs that was both babyproof and sunlight-proof. All that was missing was the dog.

Although Sunny kept Reese busy, she missed Wit terribly. The few hours they managed to see each other each week passed much too quickly. She longed for the way it used to be. After much deliberation she approached Wit with her idea.

“Danny, come here and sit with me. We need to talk about something.”

“What did I do? Whatever it is I didn’t mean to do it.” Wit was familiar with the overtly sweet tone in Reese’s voice.

“You are fine. It isn’t like that. I want to ask you to do something for me.”

“Okay, anything you want.”

“There are two things. One, I want you to turn me into a vampire.”

“But . . . .”

“And two, I want my parents to move in with us.” Reese winced like she was waiting for a balloon to pop.

Wit sat silently, closed his eyes and gathered his thoughts. He had learned that it was much better to say everything he wanted to say one time in his head before allowing it to pass through his lips. “Having Reese by my side again would be wonderful but who would take care of the baby? Okay, that’s where the in-laws fit in. But Reese’s dad pretty much hates me. He wasn’t crazy about us getting married in the first place. He sure as shit ain’t gonna like his daughter being a vampire. I can see it now, waking up to see him hovering over me with a wooden stake. Just great! This makes no sense whatsoever. That’s it. I will tell her there is absolutely, positively no way I can go along with this.”

Wit opened his eyes and looked at Reese sitting across from him.

“Sure thing, Baby, whatever you want.” Wit caved.

“Yay! When can we start? What do we need to do?” Reese was elated.

“Whoa there, little missy! We need to really think this through. You realize that if you are turned you will technically be dead. Everything about you freezes right where you are in life. Your hair, weight, muscle tone will all stay as they are. Are you ready for that? Are you prepared to go through eternity with your butt just the way it is right now?”

“Are you saying I have a big butt?”

“No, definitely not! What I am saying is if I had known I would be like this for all of eternity I might have done a few more sit-ups. This is the last shot you have at being satisfied with how you look. You will look this way forever. I’m just sayin’.”

“I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been. I’m in better shape than I was before the baby.”

“There’s another thing. As a vampire you will never be able to have another baby.” Wit added sounding somewhat apologetic.

“And who am I supposed to have this future baby with? It’s not like you can have another one.”

Wit’s face immediately dropped and his eyes watered over. He hadn’t thought about not being able to father another child. Reese felt horrible.

“I didn’t mean it that way. I meant that I would never have a child with anyone but you and since you can’t . . . I’m not making it better, am I? I just want to be with you forever. That is one thing I am absolutely sure of.” Reese brushed the hair back from Wit’s eyes.

“What do we tell your parents?”

“We’ll tell them that we have a great opportunity but it means both of us working at night for a few months and we need help with Sunny. I’ll figure out how to tell them about being vampires when the time is right.”

“You could do this without being a vampire, you know.”

“I don’t intend to grow old without you. We will do this together. When Sunny is older we will encourage her to join us. Maybe my parents will as well.” Reese accentuated her hopes with a hug.

“Me and your dad throughout eternity. Just great, “Wit muttered while he embraced his soon-to-be eternal bride.

It took very little effort to convince Reese’s mom to move in. Reese’s father initially resisted the idea but had as much say in the matter as a husband usually would. He didn’t like the fact that his daughter had to work in order to make ends meet. He didn’t like “that rotten teenager” that they had taken under their wings. He didn’t particularly care for Wit when it came down to it. All in all he pretty much hated everything except his wife, daughter, and now his granddaughter. He wasn’t mellowing with age. He was turning into the human equivalent of vinegar. The only time he softened was when he held Sunny in his arms.

As moving day grew closer Wit spent his waking hours preparing the house for “the invasion” as he liked to call it. Most of the sunlight-proofing had to be removed. The only rooms left dark were the master bedroom and Joey’s room. This left very little room for error when dealing with daylight. Wit was fortunate that “the invasion” was taking place in the fall when the night came sooner and hung around longer.

Reese spent her daylight hours making sure the house possessed curb appeal. She hung baskets of flowers across the front of the porch and shutters along the windows. She replaced a few broken pickets on the fence and gave it a fresh coat of paint. She also spent a little extra time preparing her back side for all of eternity by doing the Jane Fonda workout or jazzercising, not that she would ever admit it to Wit.

Invasion day had finally arrived. Reese paced in circles waiting for the sun to set and for her parents to arrive, hopefully in that order. Sunny began to fuss, suspended in her motionless swing. Reese walked over and gave the motor a few cranks and gave Sunny a little push. The swing made a click as she swung forward and then clicked again as she swung back. Reese found herself pacing to the rhythm of the clicks. Headlight beams traveled across the dining room wall as the moving truck pulled into the driveway. Wit exited the bedroom and found himself briefly spotlighted by their glow. He quickly grabbed a wooden spoon from the jar on the kitchen counter and brought it to his mouth as if it were a microphone.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s have a round of applause for our assailing houseguests. You can’t live with ‘em and you can’t be undead without ‘em: the parents of my beautiful bride and the thorns in my side, Hank and Judy!”

As if waiting in the wings for their cue, in they walked through the front door. They were the living, breathing epitome of theatre masks. Judy was bright and bubbly, smiling from ear to ear. Hank was the polar opposite, somewhere between Scrooge and an angry tiki god. Judy bounded through the door and wrapped herself around Reese, squeezing most of the air out of her. Hank stood behind them holding a suitcase in each hand and one under each arm. Judy finished deflating her daughter and moved on to her son-in-law. A quick squeeze and then she swooped in on Sunny plucking her from her swing and covering her with kisses. Wit moved toward Hank and offered his assistance.

“Hank, what a pleasure it is to have you here,” Wit said in the most sincere fake welcoming voice he could muster.

“I’m as thrilled as I am told to be,” Hank replied, handing over the suitcases.

Wit set the suitcases off to the side and extended his hand to Hank, who left him hanging. Wit repeated the gesture. Hank begrudgingly grasped his hand.

“Boy, your hand is like ice. Try turning up the heat, why don’t ‘cha?”

Wit looked over at Reese who returned his glance with a pout.

“Henry, be nice to Daniel. He has welcomed us into his home and has asked us to be a part of his beautiful little family.” Judy directed most of what she was saying to Sunny in a “boo-boo” voice although the message was clearly meant for Hank.

“More like free babysitters,” Hank grumbled.

Judy swung Sunny into the air and brought her down into Hanks arms. His mood switched from frog to prince immediately.

“Now that we’re here, I’ll try to make the best of it.” Hank directed his last comment to Sunny in his version of a “boo-boo” voice. Wit found it a little disturbing.

The next couple of weeks passed quickly as everyone adjusted to living together. Wit working the night shift meant he had very limited contact with his in-laws. Every night Judy handed him a sack lunch as he walked out the door and every night he gave it to one of the homeless guys that had taken roost near the dumpster behind the bar. He would get a hint of Judy’s culinary expertise when he fed on them later.

Reese was beginning to feel good about her decision to have her folks move in with them and determined that it was time for Wit to turn her. They decided to make a special evening of it. Reese spent the week as if she were preparing for prom. She wanted everything to be perfect. After all, this was going to be the first day of the rest of her very long life.

Wit was as nervous as a new groom. Reese had chosen to give her life over to him yet again. He hoped to make the evening memorable and last longer than three minutes, unlike his wedding night. He reserved the honeymoon suite at the nicest hotel they could afford. He picked up a bottle of champagne, candles, a bouquet of roses and a bag of rose petals he had the florist make up special for him. Wit didn’t understand what purpose there was in the scattering of rose petals but he knew that it would please Reese. She loved it when he made the attempt at being romantic. He made a quick stop by the hotel to stage the room for later that evening.

Reese had arranged something special as well. She filled a picnic basket with a cross section of Wit’s favorite foods and planned to “season” herself as an added treat for Wit, although he would have been totally happy just seeing her naked.

The couple traveled to the hotel in a stretch limousine. Wit opened the door and revealed the champagne and roses waiting in the back. Reese squealed with delight. She reciprocated by unveiling the basket of treats. As they made their way to their hotel Reese nibbled on a Sloppy Joe and fries and washed it down with a chocolate shake. She finished it off with a slice of German Chocolate cake and a strong cup of coffee. Wit truly appreciated the gesture, especially since Reese had kept to a vegetarian diet since high school.

The two giggled as they rode the private elevator to the honeymoon suite. One giggle fueled by champagne, the other fueled by nerves. The building tension was making it increasingly difficult for Wit to keep his fangs tucked away in the roof of his mouth. He tried thinking about baseball since that had helped in in other somewhat similar situations. Reese turned quickly and pinned Wit into the corner of the elevator. She kissed him hard and pressed into him and forced her thigh between his legs. Now Wit had another one of his body parts trying to break free of its constraints.

The elevator doors opened. Reese took a step backward and grabbed Wit by the belt buckle. She tugged at it as she led him toward the bed, each step more vigorous than the previous one.

“Hey, Sweetie, did you notice the rose petals and candles? I stopped by the florist to . . . .” Wit’s attempt to inject the moment with a little romance and gain a few points was abruptly ended by a tongue being shoved down his throat.

Two giant backward steps later Reese was falling onto the bed and pulling Wit down on top of her. There was a flurry of rose petals and pillows as the two frantically thrashed around the bed removing the clothing that kept their bodies from becoming one.

Being dead had, oddly enough, improved Wit’s stamina. He was closing in on the seven minute mark which was more than double the duration of his wedding night. He realized that seven minutes was going to be his limit and allowed his fangs to drop in preparation for what he had hoped to be the climax to beat all climaxes. He buried his face in Reese’s neck and sunk his fangs in deep. Every muscle from his jaw to the back of his legs became ridged. Reese gasped and dug her nails into Wit’s back.

“Ow, ow, ow!” Reese struggled uncomfortably.

“Am I hurting you? It shouldn’t hurt!” Wit responded as best he could, considering he had a mouth full of neck.

“You’re on my hair!”

“Sorry.”

Wit shifted his weight as he withdrew his fangs and the situation was rectified. He flipped onto his back and pulled Reese in beneath his arm. She rested her head on his chest. Wit pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head.

Reese noticed that Wit didn’t feel as cold as he usually felt to her. In fact, it felt as if he was getting warmer or possibly she was getting colder. An icy hot pulse began radiating from the punctures in her neck. It spread behind her ear and eyes and floated up making her scalp tingle. A shiver cascaded down the side of her head and brushed across her breasts. A slow swirl of heat rose in her chest and crackled through her veins spreading through her lower body and caressing her thighs. Her body pulsed with anticipation. She inhaled deeply, feeling that feeling you get at the precipice of the first drop on a roller coaster. At the bottom of the drop she exhaled her last mortal breath. Reese’s heartbeat faded like an echo. She had joined the undead.