My eyes flitted open.

The living room ceiling came into view. I yawned and stretched out on the couch like a lazy feline.

Oh, man—

How long had I been out?

Don't get me wrong, there was nothing I loved more than a good midday nap, but I couldn't really remember how I ended up falling asleep on the couch in the first place.

A weird feeling nagged at me.

I had the craziest dream, too, about my Hottpad characters coming to life...

"Welcome back, my love, to the realm of the living."

I nearly toppled off the couch at the sound of that low, husky voice.

My mind spun as the morning's impossible events came flooding back. I turned towards the two very large and very good-looking males loitering in the middle of my living room. My eyes grew wide.

This wasn't a drill!

This shit was very real!

Jaxon leered as though he was undressing me with his eyes while Lord Maxwell was legit glowering in my direction.

"Stop looking at me like that, you guys!" I snapped.

Jaxon smirked. "Don't flatter yourself, babygirl. The only reason I can't take my eyes off of you is because of your giantass forehead!"

Wow, ouch!

Why was my own character being so mean to me?

I huffed, "What the heck is your problem, Jaxon? I'll have you know that large foreheads are considered to be a sign of intelligence by many scientists, thank you very much!"

Lord Maxwell tutted as though I was a child, "You need not waste your breath on the likes of him, my love! Alas, my tattooed companion and I cannot help ourselves from acting the way we do. We are simply unable to go against the essence you have assigned to us!"

I frowned on confusion. "What in the world are you talking about?"

Lord Maxwell sighed heavily. "You, of all people, should know that Jaxon tends to find the object of his affections to be... irresistible... even while he treats the hapless female like canine feces. As for me, I am cursed to wander the ends of the earth... mourning the disappearance of my beloved... unable to love again until she and I are, at last, reunited under the eclipse of a blood red moon."

Oh, God.

The vampire was kind of right.

It was me! I was the genius who wrote that shit!

Jaxon was supposed to be an ass, and Lord Maxwell's love life was absolutely a miserable trainwreck.

I stared helplessly at Jaxon and the Lord. Perhaps I only had myself to blame for our current predicament... 

But, but, but—

How did my characters manage to step out of my story in the first place?

Just then, I heard the rattling noise of someone trying to open the front door.

I panicked.

Oh, no!

Kyra was home.

The last thing I wanted was to introduce my uptight, judgy roommate to these two embarrassing weirdos that I created!

I scrambled to my feet and started herding Jaxon and Lord Maxwell towards my bedroom.

"Guys, I need you to go to my room," I hissed anxiously. "Now!"

Jaxon crossed his arms over his chest. He refused to budge. "No."

Lord Maxwell sniffed haughtily. "My love, you offend my sensibilities. If I did not know better, why, you seem to be ashamed of us!"

Before I could convince them otherwise, Kyra walked straight into the living room.

My roommate gave Jaxon a once over. Her jaw dropped. Then, she turned to Lord Maxwell. Her face turned bright red.

She breathed in awe, "Oh, my God. I can't believe it fucking worked..."