Fang Shui

By Susan Blexrud

Can life become more complicated for Dr. Lauren Marsh? As a new vampire, she's dealing with the learning curve of being undead while adjusting to marriage, avoiding a jealous vampire hell-bent on killing her, sidestepping the Italian Mafia, and sustaining her dental practice. In the meantime, she'd love to get pregnant if her life can just settle down a bit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DCL Publications
• Release date: Apr 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781921347931

Susan Blexrud

Susan Blexrud is the author of numerous romance novels, including Valentine Vote, His Fantasy Maid, and The Gettysburg Vampire. When not researching and writing her next story, she can be found bird watching, quilting, reading, or attending Zumba and Yoga classes. She divides her time between the mountains of Western North Carolina and the flatlands of Orlando.  

Book preview

Fang Shui

By

Susan Blexrud

DCL Publications, LLC

www.thedarkcastlelords.com

© 2009 by Susan Blexrud

All rights reserved

First Edition April 2009

DCL Publications

36 Monash Street Melton South Victoria Australia

3338

www.thedarkcastlelords.com

ISBN 978-1-921347-93-1

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information and storage retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

PUBLISHED IN AUSTRALIA

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Author: Blexrud, Susan.

Title: Fang shui / Susan Blexrud. Edition: 1st ed.

ISBN: 9781921347931

Dewey Number: 813.6

Chapter One

John brushed his lips across my neck and whispered in my ear. She wouldn’t dare show up on our wedding day.

After the note I got this morning, I wouldn’t put anything past her. I chewed on the inside of my cheek.

The she in question was Amy Rothbart, partner-in-crime to my husband’s deceased first wife, Catherine. Amy was wreaking havoc in London, assembling a posse of new, young vampires. In fact, Amy being in London was the reason we would be honeymooning in Italy, rather than England.

Lauren, you have nothing to worry about. John tucked an errant curl behind my ear. She’s dangerous in London where she can orchestrate her thugs, but she can’t touch us here in Orlando. Her vampire boy-toys are too young and inexperienced to function outside their home turf.

And you’ve got your own newbie to take care of. My hand slid from around his waist to squeeze his tight butt, and I displayed a flash of fang.

His eyebrows shot up. Be careful, there are humans present.

Ah, but these humans are enlightened. I was referring to my dental hygienist and good friend, Rosetta Gonzalez, and John’s personal assistant, Doreen Adkins. Rosetta and Doreen had played Cupid on more than one occasion for John and me. Today, they were here in full force with spouses, children, and grandchildren in tow. I smiled at my extended family, all gathered in the backyard of John’s, and now my, Victorian home. I felt loved and supported, and as a new vampire, I needed all the reinforcement I could get.

On this most perfect day, however, the note from Amy was threatening my happiness. Arriving via certified mail, it read: This is a warning. Watch your back. When you least expect it, I’ll be at your throat, and even John won’t be able to save you. Have a nice day! Amy

Nice day, my ass. My lips curled in a pout.

That is not allowed. My new husband seemed to intuit my mood. When we get back from our honeymoon, I’ll take care of Amy, once and for all. He wrapped his strong arms around me from behind and rested his chin on my head.

I leaned into him. I can’t help it. I’ve never been threatened before.

Surely you’ve had a patient who was less than happy with your handiwork at some time in your illustrious career, John teased.

Dentistry isn’t on the list of high-risk professions. As I thought about it, I had to admit, I did have a woman once who was disappointed her root canal didn’t come with a face lift.

John laughed. I believe it’s been five minutes since I told you I loved you. Why don’t you show me?

John turned me to face him. He twisted a tendril of my hair between his fingers and gently tugged to bring my face up to his. Kissing my forehead, he then traced his lips from my ear to my jaw. He blew his intoxicating breath across my eyelids, and I closed my eyes as his arm circled my waist. He splayed his hand on my lower back, tipping my pelvis to the most erotic location on his anatomy. I parted my lips in response, and he drew my bottom lip into his mouth to suckle briefly before closing his sensuous lips on mine. He explored my mouth with his tongue while his hand caressed the back of my neck. I lost all sense of place and time in his kiss, and then everything went black.

I opened my eyes to find my head in John’s lap. I fainted again, didn’t I?

I’ll always be here to catch you. Just breathe, Lauren.

I took several deep breaths and pressed my hand to my racing heart. Jeez, I think I swoon more now as a vampire than I did when I was human. I’m hopeless.

No, you’re extraordinary, and I adore you. John took my hand from my heart and kissed each fingertip.

Doreen shook her head and tapped her watch. Too much of that, and you’ll miss your plane. She crossed her arms and peered down at me.

John’s wacky assistant had outdone herself with preparations for the wedding. She’d lined the stone walk from the house to the gazebo with poinsettias in pink, red, and white. A harpist played Debussy in the gazebo for the ceremony, and the cuisine included iced jumbo shrimp and stone crab claws flown in from Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami.

And then she moved on to her personal decor. She replaced the bar stud in her eyebrow with a diamond, dyed her spiked hair purple to match her lavender best man dress, and sported tiny wedding cakes painted on each of her ten fake fingernails. Seriously, she reiterated, you guys need to get moving.

John eased me to standing. Knees still wobbly? he asked.

No, I’m fine. I’m getting hungry, though. As a new vampire, my taste for blood was insatiable.

John chuckled. There’s a carafe on the bedside table. He pulled me close. You’ll need your strength for the honeymoon. Since my transformation to vampire, John had been double feeding on his crime-stopping rounds, and then returning home to feed me. He’d become aroused when I bit into his neck, but he’d hold himself in check until