Alex is a vampire, plain and simple, until he meets Dr. Anna Logan that is.  Can he tell about his vampirism and destroy their friendship and the potential for something more?  Anna's fiance Dr. Stephen Matteo is naturally jealous and suspicious of Alex, and he's willing to take extreme measures to solve the mystery in Alex's DNA.
 
 

Read this raw first chapter of Blood Type: V by Kristin Battestella below:
 
 

Dr. Anna Logan slid through the ER�s swinging doors and pulled down her mask.  A man appeared at the end of the corridor,  He peered around the corner, and remained half-hidden-except his black clothes stood out against the blue and green scrubs.  His hair was blonde and he wore red tinted sunglasses.

Anna took off her bloody gloves, and other doctors in similar blue and green and red nodded and voiced their accolades.  The man took a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it.  He looked at Anna and glanced to her picture on the webpage printout. The man carefully folded the page and put it away.  He closed his eyes.

The man was on a table.  His wrists and ankles were bound, and tubes were slide into his arms and legs.  The man screamed.

  Anna sighed and rested against a supply room door.  She closed her eyes for a moment and ran her fingers over her hair.  The supply room door opened, and an arm eased out.  The mysterious man stepped away from his shielding corner and walked down the hall.
The lab-coated arm grasped Anna and pulled her into the supply room.
The door shut and Anna spoke.

�Are you crazy?� She asked.  �Dragging me in here right after surgery? What if someone saw us?�
Dr. Stephen Matteo smiled, �Well, we are engaged.�   He kissed her on the lips and pinned her against the door.  Anna tried to resist his kisses, but gave up.  �I can see where this is going-again.�

 The man saw the supply room door shut as he approached.  He eyed it quickly and continued to a new destination.  The man walked to the nearby desk and smiled at the pretty, young nurse.

 The Supply room door opened slowly and Anna stepped out. She straightened her hair, and smoothed her clothes.  Anna tried to walked casually away, but the elderly nurse at the nearby desk snorted and turned her head.
The man raised his head from the young nurse�s neck.  She fell to the ground; her uniform now pink with blood.  The creature�s extended teeth retracted and his eyes returned to the warm grey-blue.

  Anna walked across the car garage to her black BMW.  She got the door open and tossed her purse onto the passenger�s seat.  The car rumbled, the lights flicked on, and Anna backed out of her parking space.

Anna drove passed many buildings, but only one had the shadow of a man squatted on its rooftop.  He looked down to the road and watched Anna�s car speed by.  He smiled again. His nails were long and white. He dug them into his forehead. The nails dug in and gashed the temple of their owner.  He bit down, and the red lips were knawled by the sharp teeth until they bled.  The nails gashed just below the eyebrow, and his hands made sure the blood from these self-inflicted wounds ran and smeared everywhere.

The odd creature jumped off the rooftop and into the alley. He slammed himself not once, not twice, but three times into the nearby dumpster.  Finally he collapsed on the cold and dirty pavement and inched his way towards the street.

 �I can�t believe they charge six bucks for these things,� Officer Tom Williams peaked inside his jelly donought.  �This ain�t jelly in there.  Sugar and water, maybe.  We outta arrest them.�
�For what?�  Lieutenant Joseph Mills looked at his young partner with one eye and kept the other eye on the road.  Their cop car sat on the edge of the Donought Eatery parking lot, ready to peel out at a moment�s notice.
�Misleading the consumer,� Tom said.  �The pastries I make now, for instance..,� Tom bit into a new donought.  �I�m going to open my own place someday.�

 Tom picked up another donought and bit into this one.  Joe grabbed the box and Tom�s current donught and threw them out the window.

Anna sped down the road with the radio playing at a good volume.  The man-like creature crawled towards the road, but stopped and sprawled out on the dirty cement and waited.

Anna!

  Anna jerked her little car to a stop.  She turned her head towards the alley and saw the blonde head-the only bright spot.

�My God!�   The doctor in Anna pulled her out of the car.  She shuffled into the alley with her dressy shoes.  Anna kneeled down next to the barely conscious man.  He was flat on his back with his arm out, waiting for a chalk line to be drawn around him.  Anna tried to feel a pulse on the neck, but there was none.  She put her head down on the soiled white shirt, but the chest beneath wasn�t rising.   Anna looked up at the closed eyes.  Well, the closed right eye.  Blood was crusted around the left eye and all down the cheek, chin, and neck.  Anna put her head to his chest again.

 A slight twitch moved the man�s hand.  His arms came up and clasped around Anna.  She squealed.
�Please, help me,� The man gasped softly in her ear.  Anna worked her way out of his grip and to her feet.
�I�ll call the Police,�  she said.
�No!� The man exclaimed greatly and grabbed Anna�s ankle.  �I need a doctor-please.�  Anna kneeled again.

It is the right thing to do, isn�t it?  A Defenseless man�mugged perhaps�

�Relax,� Anna said and held the man�s hand.

He is so cold!  His nails are so long�they hurt!

�I am a doctor and my house is only a few blocks away.�

 The car jerked to a stop in front of the garage.  Anna hopped out of the front seat.  She opened the back door, and the man fell halfway out of the car.  Anna struggled and got him to his feet.  They made it to the front door, and  Anna fumbled with her keys.  She got her patient inside and down the dim hall to the bathroom.

 The man seemed more conscious now, and he sat on the toilet seat without falling over onto the white tiles.  Anna opened the cabinet above the sink and pulled out the peroxide and a handful of cotton balls.  She dabbed his face with the soaked cotton.

�There we go,�  Anna said.  The blood started to wipe away.  �There is only a little cut up here.  It bled pretty good, though.�
The man coughed and tried to speak.  �Thanks�  He mumbled weakly.  Anna smiled.  He tried to stand up but winced.  Anna gave his some support and sat him back down. The man on the table cried out again.

�I�m not done with you yet,� She said.  Anna wiped the blood and peroxide off her hands with a towel.  �You could be hemorrhaging.�
The man made a face, �Hemma what?�
Anna smiled.  �Bleeding inside.  Take off your shirt.�

 Anna helped him stand. He stood on his own and pulled the shirt tails out of his pants.  There was a distinct line of dirt on the shirt.  The man unbuttoned the fourth button; the top three had already been undone.

That is a nice style.  Stephen always has those starched collars.

The man pulled off his shirt and let it fall to the floor.

Damn!

 Anna put her hands on his obliques and felt lightly.  She moved up higher and felt around the chest.  She reached around and massaged near the kidneys.

�Is there a diagnosis?�  The man asked softly, his hot breath near her ear.
 Anna backed away some and collected herself.  �There doesn�t seem to be any bleeding, no swelling, or broken ribs,�  Anna looked at the man.  Again he heard another language.

�There is nothing serious, but you need some rest.  You can stay here tonight.�  The man looked at her with gratitude.  Anna walked out of the bathroom.
�You can wear one of these shirts,�  Anna said from somewhere.  The stacking and unstacking of boxes could be heard. She returned with a shirt.
�It is a little stingy, and the button on the collar is missing,�  Anna held the shirt up to the man.  �It should fit, though.�  She walked out again, and the man put on the shirt and buttoned it.

  Anna pulled a pillow off the shelf in the hall closet and piled some sheets in her arms.  She turned around.  The man stood in the dark hall, and his dark silouhette startled Anna.  She smiled a bit to cover up her nerves.  �It's this way.�

 Anna flicked up a switch.  A soft carpeted staired led down to the basement.  Anna handed the man the linens.  �It�s all furnished,�  She said.  �There is a bathroom and an outside entrance, if you need them.� The man smiled at her again and started slowly down the steps, one at a time.

 Anna turned the lock on her bedroom door.

Just in case.  I have this Stranger in my house..   He could be a killer!

 Anna pulled open the nightstand drawer.  A small revolver and loose bullets clanged and rattled.  Anna loaded the bullets and put the revolver back.

Just in case.

 The man laid in bed looking skyward.  He listened to Anna�s thoughts.

�I can�t believe I�m doing this,� repeated over and over.  Finally her thoughts died away, and she drifted into her dreams.  The man climbed out of the bed, and put his pants and shirt back on.  He walked to the door and bent to tie his shoes.  A window was there, too, and he could see stairs leading to the street level.

 The man examined the lock on the door, then left the small apartment.  He leaped into the air and flew across the city.

 Someone good�Someone good.  Bum? Prostitute? A no-misser�Where are they? Ah!

 A young woman leaned against an abandoned warehouse. She wore a child�s dress.  It fit the frail girl.

Abuser, I presume.  I wish they wouldn�t do that.  Makes sour blood.  Hey, Beggars can�t be choosers!

 The mysterious man swooped down and pulled the dark haired woman into the dark warehouse.  He dug into her neck, and she screamed.

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