A Nice Monster: Tales of the Vampire Hadley Price

By W.J. Onufer

Hadley Price, the formidable Vampire known as the Guardian Angel, is back with more short stories of her fabulous adventures in the worlds of the Supernarurals. Along with her Vampire lover, Nathan, and thier young Vampire ward, Svetlana, Hadley encounters Werewolves, zombies, Human Mercinaries, Wiccan Magic, and a bit of political and international intrigue. A Nice Monster is the second book of Hadley Price short stories, continuing the saga that is Tales of the Vampire Hadley Price.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798350918779

Book preview

A white cover with black text Description automatically generated

Book Cover Art by Elizabeth Ayres Ryan

Copyright 2023 Warren Onufer

ISBN: 979-8-35-091877-9

Table of Contents

The Loyal Human Servant

The Right Shade of Brown

Vampire By A Campfire

The Protected Human

The Imaginary Friend

Bloody Joe

A Nice Monster

Father Marcello

Lights Out, Ladies

Lucky Eddie

A Little Annoyed

The Legacy of Tristin Holt

The Loyal Human Servant

A Short Story from

Tales of the Vampire Hadley Price By W. J. Onufer

The gray haired older man drove the sports car to the appointment he had with his client. He had only one client, but that single client kept him very busy. She requested that the meeting take place at her residence.

In some respects, Oliver Christian was cliché. Or at least he appeared that way. Only an older man could afford such a cool car. But there was very little cliché about Oliver, mostly because there was nothing cliché about his client, the Vampire Hadley Price.

No. Oliver was not a Vampire. No Vampire would have the Human-aged appearance Oliver had. He did wear it well. Maturity suited him. He had simple short-hair, combed-back and a waxed Hercule Poirot style mustache. Hadley occasionally teased him about that mustache, saying he looking like some kind of New Millennium Hipster. Oliver simply saw his appearance as the classic look of a gentleman who didn’t reject getting older, but who instead, embraced being a mature man. No. Oliver was not a Vampire. He was just a Human. He was a trusted Human.

Oliver was about to enter a place that three Vampires called home. The Human public considered Vampires a thing of movies and books. Just fun-creepy fairy tails. But those Humans who knew that Vampires are real would never willingly put themselves in an enclosed space with three Vampires.

But Oliver was about to do just that, knowing that trust went both ways. Hadley Price was Oliver Christian’s client. Oliver Christian was Hadley’s Price’s Loyal Human Servant.

Oliver was not something like Dracula’s demented and scuffy-looking man servant, Renfield. Oliver was intelligent, mentally grounded and always well groomed. Even now, in casual clothes, there was a sharp crease down the front of both legs of his trousers. Not one wrinkle in the open-neck white collared shirt under his sport coat. Not a single scuff in the shine of his Gucci loafers. All that, and the man did not eat bugs- inspite of Svetlana’s good nature pranks to get him to do otherwise.

He stopped the car, put the shift in first gear, pulled the parking brake up and twisted the keys to turn off the engine. The sun was low in the sky as it set but still in line of sight when he walked up the path to the front door.

His finger had not yet reached the door bell button when the door partially opened. Oliver heard a dog’s growl, then he heard Hadley say, Go lie down Mister Billy. Everything’s okay. Oliver’s here for a visit.

Oliver didn’t see the dog, but he did see Hadley’s face as she opened the door a little wider. A pretty woman with long red hair. Like most red heads, she had a sprinkle of freckles across her cheeks. He had to look down because she was a small, petite woman. In an average crowd of people she was usually the shortest.

With that diminutive appearance, it would be easy to underestimate her. Oliver never did. He knew she was a Vampire of great power. In the worlds of the Supernaturals she was referred to, with respect and sometimes fear, as The Guardian Angel.

Hadley looked up at him. In doing so, the rays of the sun fell on her face. That would have temporarily disabled any other Vampire. Longer exposure would kill them. She just slowly backed away into the shadows inside. No big hurry. No injury.

A Vampire who found the rays of the sun to be nothing more than a minor inconvenience? Yes. There was definitely something different about the Vampire Hadley Price.

Hello, Oliver, she said. "Right on time, as always.

Please, come in."

When Hadley closed the door behind him, the only illumination Oliver saw was the low light, a distance away, in the kitchen. Otherwise, it was completely dark elsewhere inside. Thick curtains were drawn closed on all windows, blocking out the sun. A small table lamp gave the kitchen a welcoming warm glow. Oliver knew that Hadley didn’t need that much light to make her way around in the dark. But he did. He wondered if that cozy, low light appearance suited her feminine preferences or if that light was on to accommodate him. Likely, he thought, a little of both.

Hadley turned on a light in the hallway and led him to the kitchen. He followed her there.

Thank you for seeing me during day-light hours, he said. I could have been here for midnight if you preferred.

Actually, I’m meeting someone, midnight tonight, Hadley said, to correct the bad behavior of a certain hooligan Supernatural."

Anyone I know?

It would be safer for you if you didn’t, Hadley said. She changed the subject. Coffee?

Yes, he said. Please.

Cappuccino? Latte? Mocha?

There is an element of danger that comes with being the Loyal Human Servant of a Vampire. But for Oliver Christian, it also had, what could be called, it’s perks. Hadley loved her coffee. He knew that the cup she would present him with would be made with care on the most high-end coffee maker with the most expensive, flavorful international beans. But he wasn’t exactly a snobby coffee kind of person.

You know me, Hadley. I’m a Dunkin Donuts kind of guy. Just a regular cup of joe, he said.

I just happened to have some their beans.

Just as Oliver sat down at the breakfast nook table in the kitchen and opened his brief case, Svetlana walked into the room.

Hi, Oliver!

She went to him and planted a quick smooth on his cheek. He knew that Hadley’s daughter was playfully affectionate with people she liked. When that happened, he was caught between having his male ego stroked that a pretty young woman would kiss him and a bit of enlightened fear because Vampires rarely touch a Human without going for the jugular.

Svetlana, he said, jugular still intact, how’s my favorite blonde Vampire?

How many of Vampires blonde do you know? she said in her Russian accent.

Right now, only one, he said with a charming smile. Any Human who knew of them, knew it was dangerous to make eye contact with a Vampire. Oliver never took it for granted that he could do that with the Vampires is this house and be fairly sure that he would not be fed on or killed. Of course, nothing is 100% sure. He placed his surefactor in that somewhere in the high 70s. No Human was exempt as a possible blood source. Not even the trusted Human, Oliver Christian.

The high roller salary Hadley paid him, however, did make it worth the risk. Yes. The big paycheck. How many men his age could say they owned their dream car? A few. But not many. Forget Harley bikes. Pass on a Corvette. For Oliver, that was a mint condition shinny black Datsun 240Z, five speed, vintage 1973- at that moment, parked outside in Hadley’s driveway. That was only one of the dream cars Oliver owned but it was his favorite. He bought a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud for no other reason than that he could.

Oliver managed to stay alive inspite of all the ways he could die in his association with Hadley Price. Besides, what normal Human, other than Oliver, could say that he had a reputation among the Supernaturals because of the role he played with a well-respected Vampire? In one way, he was protected. Who would mess with the Loyal Human Servant of the Guardian Angel? In another way, he had just enough of a high profile in that to attract the attention of some of the diabolical elements of the Supernaturals. There were times when he sometimes wondered if it was all worth the risk.

But damn, that 240Z is so sweet.

Oh Oliver! Svetlana said, coming off almost Humanly coy. If she was Human, Svetlana would be blushing. You flatter me!

And you, my dear, Oliver said, make it entirely too easy to do that.

Does Clementine know you’re hitting on my daughter? That, from Nathan, who just stepped into the kitchen. Hadley was the most power Vampire of these three. But most Humans would see the tall, brooding, handsome figure of Nathan as the most visually intimidating.

The three of them knew that Oliver was romantically involved with the Wiccan High Priestess, Clementine Thorn. Clementine was a mature woman who was about the same age as Oliver. And like Oliver, she was Human. More or less. She was beautiful and sensual in a way that only a mature woman can be. She easily caught his eye. Oliver suspected that she cast a love spell to draw him to her. When he asked her about that, she told him that perhaps people who fall in love cast a love spell on each other. Neither was in denial that they were still spring chickens. But the fact that Clementine also had the esoteric skills to cook up an herbal tonic that was more powerful and faster acting than Viagra, as well as a lubricant derived from honey, certainly helped. With those potions, the man past his prime and the Wiccan Crone got busy on a regular basis.

Clementine has some fun of her own in harmless flirting with handsome Vampire men, Oliver said.

She never flirted with me, Nathan said.

That is because you are man with big ugly dad bod, Svetlana joked with Nathan.

There was nothing ugly about the broad shoulders and ripped body of the Vampire Nathan Hughes.

Says the woman with a fat ass, Nathan humorously threw back at her.

There was nothing unattractively large about the cherry butt of the Vampire Svetlana Magnovska.

Daddy!

Some might see the rude insults that this father and daughter sometimes tossed at each other as an indication of a dysfunctional family. It wasn’t and they weren’t. The snarky banter was actually one of the things that bonded Nathan and Svetlana closer together. That it usually ended with her saying a frustrated, yet humorous, Daddy! and not, I’m going to rip your heart out you lousy bastard!, indicated that they both knew it was all in fun.

Whiles it’s true that most Vampires are loners, some did commune into familial units. Oliver had heard stories from other Loyal Human Servants about real dysfunctional