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Dinner with a Vampire
Abigail Gibbs
The addictive, enthralling debut by online sensation Abigail Gibbs. The sexiest romance you’ll read this year.One moment can change your life forever…For Violet Lee, a chance encounter on a darkened street draws her into a world beyond her wildest imaginings, a timeless place of vast elegance and immeasurable wealth – of beautiful mansions and lavish parties – where a decadent group of friends live for pleasure alone. A place from which there is no escape… no matter how hard Violet tries.Yet all the riches in the world can’t mask the darkness that lies beneath the gilded surface, embodied in the charismatic but dangerous Kaspar Varn.Violet and Kaspar surrender to a passion that transcends their separate worlds – but it’s a passion that comes at a price.As featured on BBC Breakfast, Sky News, Sunday Times, Guardian, Mail Online, Huffington Post and Sugarscape.
For wattpad.com.
To the team for providing a place to share.
To each and every member who read, voted, nagged and criticized. You shaped this story.
To Joanne and Terran, and lastly, to Soraya. You reached out to a child across the world and gave her the encouragement she needed. You started this journey.
O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
– The Sick Rose, William Blake
Table of Contents
Title Page (#ubc0d972d-abf3-5bb2-90f3-544e12f48c65)
Dedication (#ub9b595b4-bd68-5d45-ba9b-26dfea45d493)
Epigraph (#u8f09ee4e-9848-59ad-97bd-20f53ff7e659)
Chapter One: Violet (#u4392157b-3796-50c7-8c6b-0003e3995161)
Chapter Two: Violet (#u6571ba50-68c6-5700-81ab-46d67f5935f5)
Chapter Three: Violet (#u3d6b7222-8258-52bf-867a-15aeb821bffa)
Chapter Four: Kaspar (#ub9c7b17b-151e-5318-af8b-c99a747a386b)
Chapter Five: Violet (#u2c3d31a1-f4c0-553f-8829-f15b01d18c2d)
Chapter Six: Violet (#ua07dca32-8a5b-5202-86dc-4f52d4a98d1a)
Chapter Seven: Kaspar (#ua56d0e0c-89c2-5f53-921b-8317c7d79f4c)
Chapter Eight: Violet (#u16ff6d43-f290-5d07-b7ee-acc578a8b878)
Chapter Nine: Violet (#ufd5af41c-2653-5fcb-ac3e-1a7ffeeed059)
Chapter Ten: Violet (#ue4213602-86eb-57d1-940c-e639416e803a)
Chapter Eleven: Violet (#uf5245c0f-ce51-5a87-b4ab-97fcfc7b9841)
Chapter Twelve: Kaspar (#udd48628e-4912-53ab-a330-44d050d7603f)
Chapter Thirteen: Violet (#ud573b3b0-0cb0-55fc-aa18-7767b76556c1)
Chapter Fourteen: Violet (#ue717b6f6-c4ed-54ea-bc71-556a42cb986b)
Chapter Fifteen: Violet (#ub49bec6b-9b49-57b9-9cd2-ee64fb970e4c)
Chapter Sixteen: Violet (#uc9e50e26-b732-533a-ba2e-c69a8e26e325)
Chapter Seventeen: Kaspar (#u723bc8b3-a282-5401-95da-6a2c20d4807d)
Chapter Eighteen: Violet (#u020293e5-9038-5b31-9c8b-d1bb938f16f3)
Chapter Nineteen: Violet (#ud7276516-a9cd-5197-a9e2-67f9935cc2af)
Chapter Twenty: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two: Kaspar (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four: Kaspar (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six: Kaspar (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Kaspar (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-One: Kaspar (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Two: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Three: Kaspar (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Four: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Five: Kaspar (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Six: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Kaspar (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-One: Kaspar (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Two: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Three: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Four: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Five: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Six: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Seven: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Eight: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Nine: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty: Kaspar (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-One: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-Two: Kaspar (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-Three: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-Four: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-Five: Kaspar (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-Six: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-Seven: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-Eight: Kaspar (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifty-Nine: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixty: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixty-One: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixty-Two: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixty-Three: Violet (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
ONE
Violet
Trafalgar Square is probably not the best place to stand at one o’clock in the morning. In fact, it is probably not the best place to be if you are alone at any time of the night.
The shadow of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square loomed above as I shivered, the cool air of the July night rushing between the buildings. I shuddered again, pulling my coat tightly around myself, seriously beginning to regret wearing a skimpy black dress – my choice of wardrobe for the evening. The sacrifices I make for a good night out.
Jumping as a pigeon fluttered down beside my feet, I scanned the empty streets for any sign of my friends. So much for getting a ‘late night snack’. The sushi bar was only a two-minute walk away; twenty minutes had passed. I rolled my eyes, in no doubt that some guys were in their knickers by now. Good for them. Why would they have to worry about little old Violet Lee?
I walked towards the benches, sheltered by the sparse and gloomy canopy of trees. I sighed as I rubbed my hands across my knees to try to get the blood flowing, bitterly regretting the decision to wait behind.
Taking one last glance around the square, I pulled out my mobile, hitting speed dial. It continued to ring until, eventually, the voicemail cut in.
‘Hi, this is Ruby. I can’t answer right now, so leave a message after the tone. Lovage!’
I groaned in frustration as the tone beeped. ‘Ruby, where the hell are you? If you’re with that guy, I swear I’ll kill you! It’s bloody freezing out here! As soon as you get this, call back.’
I ended the call, slipping the phone back into the inside pocket of my coat, knowing that my efforts were likely to be in vain as she probably wouldn’t listen to the message for days. Rubbing my hands together and drawing my knees up to my chest in a bid to keep warm, I debated whether I should just get a cab home. But if Ruby did turn up, I’d be in trouble. Resigning myself to a long wait, I laid my head on my knees in the quiet, watching the orange haze that coated the city of London.
Opposite, late-night drinkers disappeared into a side-alley, stumbling along until their raucous laughter was lost in the darkness. A few minutes later, a red double-decker bus with the words ‘Visit the National Gallery’ splashed across its side appeared from behind the very attraction it was advertising. It followed the road around the square before disappearing amidst the maze of Victorian buildings that dominated the city centre. As it left, the dull hum of far-away London traffic seemed to fade away into silence with it.
I wondered which of the two boys we had met tonight had struck lucky with Ruby. I felt a pang of regret, wishing I could be as carefree and, well, loose as she was. But I couldn’t. Not after Joel.
More minutes passed and I began to feel uneasy. Nobody had drunkenly stumbled through for a while and the cold night air was descending like a blanket around my exposed legs. I glanced about for a taxi but the roads were empty and the square deserted, save for the light skimming over the surface of the water in the two fountains either side of the central column.
I pulled my phone back out, thinking I could call my father and ask him to pick me up, when something flickered in the corner of my eye. Almost dropping my phone I jerked up, heart in my mouth, scanning the square for any sign of movement.
