Love Fang

By Susan Blexrud

A sexy vampire with an infected fang falls in love with his dentist. Dental drills will whir and hearts will pound as this unlikely pair struggles to find happiness. Will he come to terms with his 500-year-old guilt and grief? Will she trade her fear for a set of fangs?

• Language: English
• Publisher: DCL Publications
• Release date: Apr 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781921347702

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

Love Fang

By

Susan Blexrud

DCL Publications, LLC

www.thedarkcastlelords.com

© 2008 by Susan Blexrud

All rights reserved

First Edition November 2008

DCL Publications

36 Monash Street

Melton South

Victoria

Australia

3338

www.thedarkcastlelords.com

ISBN 978-1-921347-70-2

Bring Back the Bat: Nancy Schimmel (lyrics) & Fran Avni (music)

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: Love fang / Susan Blexrud.

Edition: 1st ed.

ISBN: 9781921347702

Dewey Number: 813.6

Chapter One

John Wright’s infected left fang put a real damper on his puncturing prowess.

As his personal assistant Doreen opened his coffin at sunset for his nightly rounds, his eyes flew open, and he sat up straight as the board he’d been lying on. He groaned and cradled his throbbing jaw with his hand. He hadn’t slept well for days.

You need to see a dentist, Doreen said for the umpteenth time.

I’d almost rather have a stake in the heart, but this tooth is killing me.

Doreen lugged the huge Orlando Yellow Pages from the sideboard to the dining room table and plopped it down next to his coffin, creating a cloud of dust and eliciting a huge sneeze from John. She was good at keeping him on schedule, but a housekeeper she wasn’t.

I’ll need a dentist who works nights, John reminded Doreen.

Think I don’t know that? Five years had passed since Doreen answered the employment advertisement: Busy executive seeks personal assistant. It should have read:

Vampire with severe allergies seeks director of hazardous materials.

John and Doreen had clicked. Something about her Hell’s Angels’ tattoo and pierced eyebrow let him know she wasn’t the squeamish type. For her first interview with John, she’d zoomed into the circular driveway of his Victorian manor house on her Harley. Dismounting like a bull rider who just cleared the buzzer, she sauntered to his front door with her licensed practical nurse certificate in hand. When John told her he was a vampire, she’d said, Cool.

John sneezed again, and Doreen rolled her eyes. Honestly, your allergies are worse than ever.

Blowing his nose with a monogrammed handkerchief, John motioned for her to get on with finding a dentist.

Let’s see. She flipped the pages. Here we are. Dentists. Dr. Bennett, Dr. Harper, ah yes, Dr. Lauren Marsh has evening hours on Mondays and Wednesdays to accommodate her working clients. Now, isn’t that nice of her?

John’s rich baritone voice lowered a few notches. She’s probably a sadist who likes nothing more than torturing people after dark.

You should be able to identify with that. It’s not like you’re passing out lollypops after the sun goes down.

Now Doreen, be fair. You know I only prey on criminals. I’m the exterminator of the city’s lowlife.

Truth is, you’re a nice guy. With that inhumanly handsome face of yours, aren’t you ever tempted to take a chance on love?

I avoid that kind of temptation like the Bubonic Plague.

The plague had nothing on Orlando. Violent crime had skyrocketed, and John was getting more work now than in the 1500s. The Orlando newspaper made him an urban legend with headlines like Vampire Vigilante Strikes Again.

So, do I call the dentist or not? Doreen slammed the Yellow Pages back down on the table. Jeez, it’s not like you to be so indecisive.

If you’d had the experience I had two hundred years ago with a dentist, and I use that term loosely, you wouldn’t be so anxious to open your mouth, either.

Times have changed, John. I’m sure she won’t shoe horses with the same instruments she uses on your mouth.

All right, give her a call. The sooner I get this over with, the better, he said, peeling all six feet, two inches of his muscular frame out of his oversized coffin. And put the phone on speaker. I can tell a lot about a woman from her voice.

I doubt I’ll talk directly with the dentist, Doreen said. It was after hours, so she got the answering machine. With a punch of the pound key, it rang through to the emergency line.

This is Dr. Marsh.

Oh, Dr. Marsh, I wasn’t expecting to get you.

I answer all my emergency calls.

John gave a thumbs-up to Doreen.

This is Doreen Adkins, and I’m calling for my employer, John Wright.

What’s the nature of his emergency? Dr. Marsh asked as John listened to her multitasking in the background. It sounded like she was retrieving something from a microwave, while a blender whirred and a dog whined.

He has a fa--, I mean a tooth, that I think is abscessed, Doreen said. He’s in great pain.

John could hear Dr. Marsh flipping pages.

I can come in early and see him at seven a.m. In the meantime, have him take Ibuprofen for pain, and if you have any frozen peas, they work great as a compress.

Of course. But, Doctor, he can’t be there at seven o’clock in the morning. He has, uh, uh, a deposition to take tomorrow, so he’d have to come in the evening.

Well, if he’s okay to go through the day in such pain, I could see him at seven o’clock tomorrow night. Please tell him only the back door is open after five p.m.

Perfect. He’ll be there. Doreen hung up the phone and turned to her employer. She sounds pretty. I hope you haven’t bitten off more than you can chew. Hardy-har-har.

Believe me, I’m in no frame of mind or body to be attracted to anyone, no matter how beautiful they may be, he said, favoring the left side of his mouth. "Besides, I don’t like the lilt of her voice,