Read Josie Griffin Is Not a Vampire for Free Online

right, you know,” Johann said. Everyone turned toward him. “The rest of us control ourselves. It’s not easy but we do it and you should, too.”
    Avis reared up again. “Back off, Yo!”
    “Why should I?” Johann asked, as calm as could be. “I control my urges. How long has it been since I’ve had a fresh kill?”
    I nearly jumped out of my seat. What the hell kind of group was this? Was I sitting next to a teenage serial killer?
    “Pasteurized blood tastes nothing like the real thing, and yet I drink it. Day after day. Ugh.”
    “Fourteen weeks,” Tarren said. Everyone stared at her.
    “Since the horse?” Helios asked.
    She nodded with a satisfied smirk.
    Johann shook his head and waved his hands. “It was just a horse.”
    “A police horse,” Avis said. Tarren giggled.
    “It was sickly. I was putting it out of its misery,” Johann said.
    “Wait a sec,” I said, because I couldn’t take this anymore. “You killed a horse?”
    Johann shrugged at me. “It was a moment of weakness,” he explained. “And I’ve been clean since then.” He glanced at Charles. “Only four more weeks and I’m free, no?”
    Charles looked skeptical. “Technically, yes, if you keep your nose clean.”
    “Or should you say, keep your fangs clean?” Tarren asked. That killed Avis. He doubled over, cackling.
    “Listen, faerie girl,” Johann said, “I’ve not touched a human…”
    “Don’t talk to her like that,” Avis snapped.
    “Yeah, don’t talk to me that way,” Tarren said. “Just because you’re undead doesn’t mean I can’t zap you.”
    Undead?
    “I can smell your blood from here,” Johann warned. Avis hopped up, one foot on his seat, the other on the desk as if he were ready to leap, only his feet got tangled up and he fell face first toward the floor where he landed sprawled at Helios’s feet. Like a flash of lightning, Helios vaulted over the back of his chair and crumpled into a ball on the floor while Avis and Johann stood nose to nose with their fists balled at their sides. While the two of them stared at each other, the lights flickered overhead as if there were a sudden power surge.
    I was riveted to my seat, half scared and half dying to see what the lunatics would do next. It was like a movie, only real. Would they actually get in a fight?
    “Enough!” Charles yelled. He was out of his seat, arms above his head, and just at that moment, a giant clap of thunder rattled the windows. “Each of you calm down before I have to restrain you.” His voice boomed nearly as loud as the storm outside.
    I looked around the room, wondering if anyoneother than me was sane. My eyes landed on Helios who’d slipped back into his seat and calmly examined a hangnail, as if he was bored with the whole ordeal. Maybe this happened all the time. Whether it did or not, Charles’s threat had diffused the situation. Avis took a few breaths and got back into his chair, but he never took his eyes off Johann who stared steely daggers back at him.
    “Let’s use this as a learning event,” Charles said. “Breathe deeply.” Everyone but me joined together on an inhale while Charles counted to four, then they all exhaled together. I felt like I was in a yoga class. Were we going to salute the sun next? “Do you see what this kind of anger does?” Charles asked. “It tears us apart. And we can’t afford to have factions.”
    Then he turned to me. “And on Josie’s first day here. What must she think of us?”
    Johann bowed deeply toward me. “My deepest apologies, Yosie.” He reached for my hand. I tried to squirm away but his grip was strong. He lifted my hand toward his mouth and laid a strangely cold kiss on my skin. “I am ashamed of my behavior.”
    “Yeah, um, no sweat,” I said, wrenching my hand away from him and wiping it on my jeans.
    “We wouldn’t really hurt each other,” Tarren said. She reached out and patted Johann’s shoulder. “I mean, we get pissed off at each other and vent