Part of chapter one in Dating Dracula Jr.

Hart Hyde, of the Jekyll and Hyde dynasty, wiped away the last of the dirt on the coffin as Jason and I began to raise the lid.  Debbs Van Helsing, held the  large hand-held flashlight we brought along for extra.  She held it up high so that it shone brightly down on the corpse in front of us.

            Debbs almost swallowed her gum.  “Would you look at that?  It’s wacked.”

            I was looking.  The corpse was laid out on a red satin-lined coffin, which by the way is really lame.  Nobody uses red satin for coffins anymore.   It’s like what European royalty used to use if you were one of the undead.  But it wasn’t the tacky red satin I was looking at, but the corpse.  He had dark blonde hair that was kind of wavy and pulled back probably in a long pony tail.   He had high cheekbones, sculpted lips and was the best looking corpse I’d ever seen. And I hate to brag, but I’d seen a lot. 

         “His skin color isn’t right.”  Debbs said suspiciously, her blue-green eyes narrowing.  She meant that his color should be paler and his features not so lifelike.  He was also about ten years younger than my grave informant had told me and that wasn’t good.

        “He’s fresh,” I replied warily, carefully looking over the body.   He was all that and more.  And dead.  What a shame to die in your early twenties.  Especially, when the corpse was that good- looking.    “And he’s young.”

          Debbs heard the catch in my voice, the uneasiness, because she reached in her pocket and pulled out a Da Vinci stake.  It was, of course, not the original Da Vinci Stake.  That was in a museum in San Antonio donated by Debbs’ family.  Debbs’ Da Vinci stake was thirteen inches long and razor sharp at the tip.  It was painted a bright sunny yellow.  Debbs happened to like colored stakes as opposed to the natural grain woods.

         “He’s got blue eyes,” Hart said.  Again stating the obvious, which meant something wicked, not wicked good but wicked bad, only Hart hadn’t quite realized yet or he’d have leaned back some. 

        The deep blue eyes blinked shut.

        Our zombie corpse wasn’t just any corpse! Being a Frankenstein, I’m used to corpses and vampires and yes, even zombies.  But a fresh vampire, or baby vamp, if you want to get cute, is so bad news that it could rip our your neck faster than you could say “Stake….stake…duck.”

        I realized it the moment I spotted those striking blue eyes. 

        He was a vampire!  Just my luck! 

        Glancing over at me, Debbs lifted up her stake.  We were prepared for trouble like Boy Scouts. I unstopped the Holy water with one hand, a flask I always carried with me, along with a small five-inch stake and my special-made gun.  I hesitated on the Holy water bit and shook my head at Debbs.

      I hated to see her stake him or me burn him with the Holy water, he was that fine looking.  But a fresh vamp can really put on the moves and the bite on you when they first start rising.  It takes about six months for them to get a pretty good handle on their bloodlust.  I looked at Debbs. 

        She looked at me.  I could tell she was thinking the same thing, he’s too fine to kill.  But rough-and-tough vampire exterminator that she was, she was more prepared to do the dirty deed.

        The vampire opened his eyes and blinked again.

         His very fine chest took a breath. 

          I heard Hart catch his.  “He’s a vampire.”  Hart had finally caught on. 

          And this particular vampire was getting ready to wake up and take one or two of us out for dinner and I don’t mean dining at TGIF restaurant.