Author: Kalayna Price

She reexamined me, everything in her face softening, turning up with interest. Her heartbeat, already pounding in my ears, beat harder as her pulse jumped. Fear or excitement? Based on the lustful shine in her eyes, I was betting on excitement. Okay, she had serious issues. Does she understand what Tatius is suggesting?

He extended his hand toward me and I shook my head. Oh no, I wasn’t playing this game. Willing dinner or not, I was on a strictly ‘no human’ diet.

My refusal earned me a frown.

I tried not to let my eyes travel to the woman, really I did, but they found their way there anyway. She noticed, and bit her lip, smiling.

Is she flirting with me? I’d heard of flirting with death before, but this was ridiculous. I took a step closer to Nathanial. His mask was back in place, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes. Tatius would, though his gaze threatened to burn through the top layer of my skin.

“Kita, willingly or unwillingly, you will do what I tell you,” he said. “Now come here.”

I shook my head, and took another step toward the couch and Nathanial. “I can’t. We don’t know what will happen.” I was the only shifter in the mages’ records to ever successfully complete the change to a vampire. No one knew if I could tag humans by drinking from them or not. I wasn’t handing the judge a reason to revoke my protected status.

I was less than a step from the couch when my body froze.

One foot dangled in the air as time hung on a moment of puzzlement. Then my legs strolled forward of their own volition. Tatius held out his hand, and my arm reached for him.

What the hell? I tried to jerk away, to back up. My body didn’t listen. My brain told me I was struggling, but my body passively let Tatius lead me to the brunette woman.

Tiffany slipped out of her heels, and leaned in, exposing her throat. I lifted onto the balls of my feet.

No!

My body wasn’t listening. My arms slid around her and she quivered. Run. I didn’t. Only my eyes were still under my control, and I shot a frantic glance at Tatius. He smiled, crossing his arms over his chest.

I tried to struggle, but the best I could do was roll my eyes. Stop. I couldn’t. My body moved without my permission, drawing Tiffany closer to me. I have to fight. To run. I have to—

I blinked. My vision filled with the sight of ghost-like red cords lifting in the air around Tiffany. I’d have gasped if I could. I’d seen similar half-there shapes only once before.

That had been when I’d been starving and my vamp powers had kicked into high gear. I’d accidentally used the power to feed from a hunter before erasing his memories. Scary, if admittedly useful, but unless my mezmer ability could get me out of this mess—and I didn’t think it could—I did not need freaky vampire abilities acting up right now.

Not that I had any choice in the matter. The red coils slithered around me, unseen to any eye but mine, and as they wound around my skin, I could taste Tiffany’s need. She wanted me to bite her. Wanted it more than anything else.

I screamed, or I tried to, but instead my fangs sank into Tiffany’s throat.

She moaned, her arms sliding around my waist, her manicured nails clenching my hips. She pressed her body against mine, and her small gasps fluttered along my skin.

Warmth and life flowed down my throat, sweetly perfumed by her ecstasy. Then her mind opened and I rushed into her memories.

I glance around the bar, glasses of liquor I know the vamp can’t drink clutched in my hands. But the man at the table is a vamp. I know he is. I knew them all by sight.

He doesn’t even glance at me as I place his and his date’s drinks down. He knows it’s only been a week for me. I can’t donate again so soon. That’s Tatius’s rule. But three weeks?

Why do I always have to wait three weeks? I have too much blood under my skin. I can feel it. The vamps need it. Why won’t anyone take it?

God it feels good when they bite me.

Someone notice me. Someone touch me. I want to feel it.

I don’t need to wait three weeks to recover between bites.

Please…?

My fangs retracted, pulling my mind free of her thoughts.

My tongue darted out between my lips, sealing the wound on her throat, and she swayed in my arms. Her head lolled to the side, a contented sound slipping from her barely conscious body. Did I take too much? My body, still moving without my control, leaned down and scooped Tiffany’s legs off the floor, lifting the taller woman without difficulty.

A slick layer of sweat clung to her skin. She smelled of exertion and endorphins. The vampire who had escorted Tiffany into the room appeared at my side, or maybe she’d moved there while I’d been caught up in the human’s mind, either way, my body handed off the mortal burden. The other vampire carried Tiffany out of the room.

The door slid shut, and my body turned to face Tatius.

Something snapped inside me, and my legs crumpled, dropping me to the floor.

“What the hell—?” I could speak again! I lifted my hands, wiggled my trembling fingers. I could move.

I pushed off the floor, rolling to my feet, and Tatius took a step toward me. He offered me his hand, and I tried to stand and jump back at the same time. The result was an awkward scramble that dumped me on my ass. I crab walked, half scooting half crawling, toward the couch.

“Help. Help me.” The mewling words tumbled out of my mouth. Pathetic. I couldn’t call them back.

My back hit the couch with a thump. Nathanial’s hands slid under my arms and he lifted me to my feet, tugging me against his chest. I drank down his familiar scent, clung to the silky fabric of his jacket. My cheeks were damp, though I couldn’t remember when I’d started crying. The moisture soaked into Nathanial’s jacket, but he just held onto me tighter, like his arms could keep my body from shattering.

“What happened?” I whispered.

“Tatius is known as the Puppet Master.” He leaned in so the words were pressed into my hair.

I shivered. A puppet? Yes, someone else pulling my strings accurately described what had happened. I’d had no control.

Just my eyes and my thoughts. Nothing else.

That woman, Tiffany, she’d wanted me to bite her, was addicted to the bite, but had I taken too much? She’d been carried out nearly unconscious. Tatius had controlled that.

Had made me drink.

I shivered again, remembering the ecstasy in her mind, the feel of her pounding pulse. I hadn’t wanted to stop. The thought had never occurred to me once my fangs were in her throat. In truth, if Tatius hadn’t been controlling my body, she would have died. That was a frightening thought. My trembling ratcheted up to near violence, like I could shake the thoughts and memories loose. Nathanial held me tighter and brushed a kiss into my hair. I wasn’t the only one shaking.

“Stop coddling her,” Tatius said.

Nathanial’s body jerked as the larger man grabbed his shoulder, turning us both.

“Release her,” Tatius commanded.

For a single heartbeat, Nathanial’s arms tightened, pressing me against his chest hard enough to hurt. Then his hands fell from me, his arms hanging limp by his sides. He stepped back. He was only an arm’s length away, but I was alone. Exposed.

I hugged myself, willing my trembling to cease. I didn’t look up, didn’t meet Tatius’s eyes, though I could feel his gaze boring into my skin. His hand appeared in my peripheral, but I concentrated on the toes of my sneakers.

“I think you’ll do what I ask now, won’t you?” The threat was clear in his voice.

Without looking up, I laid the tips of two fingers in his palm. His hand closed around my fingers like a Venus fly trap, and he tugged me forward. I let him.

His free hand shot out, swiping the neckline of my sweater off my shoulder. I jumped. I couldn’t help it. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but him attacking my clothes wasn’t on the list. He leaned down, staring at the lacerations from the hare. I rocked onto my heels, not stepping away, but putting a little more distance between us.

His hand moved to my collarbone, and I flinched, expecting pain, but his touch was gentle. “A human would have needed stitches.”

“I’ve never been human.”

He grinned at that. “True.”

He was close enough I could feel his breath on my skin with the word, and I squeezed my eyes closed. I had a sinking suspicion I knew what he planned to do. Another warm breath gliding over my collarbone confirmed my suspicions a second before his tongue ran over the jagged skin.

He was gentle, so remarkably gentle my eyes flew open to confirm it was truly the same vampire who’d taunted and threatened me only moments before. It was. Despite Tatius’s care, my skin still burned as his tongue dipped deeper into the wound. The pain only lasted a few heartbeats, then a tingling warmth spread around his mouth as his saliva closed the wound. Then even that ceased, and I knew the wound was sealed. Healed.

Tatius’s lips trailed from where the jagged scratches had been and crawled along my collarbone. Feather light, his lips traveled up my shoulder, toward my throat. I stepped back, I couldn’t help it—I probably should have tried harder. His fingers curled in my hair, and he forced my head to the side, baring my neck.

I expected him to bite me, expected pain, but one moment his breath touched my throat, and the next he was gone. I hadn’t realized I’d closed my eyes, but I must have because I had to open them. Nathanial stood directly behind Tatius, his hand on the other vampire’s arm, his knuckles white.

Tatius craned his head around but didn’t release me.

“You’re the one who decided not to leave, Hermit.”

The skin over Nathanial’s knuckles stretched as his grip tightened. His fangs were exposed, bearing into his lower lip with the force of his clenched jaw, but his eyes held uncertainty. There was no hope for me to latch onto in those eyes. I swallowed hard, my neck aching where Tatius still bared my throat.

“Nathanial,” Tatius said. It was the first time I’d heard any of the vampires use his real name.

Nathanial blinked, his gaze dropping from mine. His hand fell from Tatius’s arm.