“See anything you like?” the vampire asks finally. His voice is made of silk sheets and moans in the night.
When I open my mouth, nothing comes out. I want to push past him and run away, but I’m rooted in place. Noah chuckles.
“You take your time, princess.” He lowers his voice. “I don’t mind the view.”
Swallowing hard, I force out, “So you watch the news. Good for you.”
“You’re a hard one to avoid these days.” He finally retracts his fangs.
I step back, needing to put distance between us, but the vampire follows. My brows shoot up. “What are you doing?”
“You’re afraid of me,” he muses, his eyes sparkling with amusement.
“No,” I say too quickly. “I—”
Once again, Noah moves faster than even I can track, and the next thing I know, he has me pressed against the wall next to the doorway. “What are you doing here, Charlotte Travesty?” he says in a low voice, his mouth dangerously close to mine. “The royal family isn’t exactly beloved in Oldbel.”
“Let me go,” I demand, pushing against him, but he doesn’t budge.
“No point in fighting me,” he says in a bored tone, leaning in until his lips brush my ear. “I’m much stronger than you, halfling.”
I turn my face away from him as the pit in my stomach grows. “What the fuck do you want?” I say through my teeth.
“I’ve never tasted the blood of a Lavender before. I wonder if that vampire edge would enhance its taste.” His words send ice through my veins, and I go rigid. My face whips forward, and I growl at him, baring my fangs. Noah smirks at me, baring his own fangs again. “I’ve got those, too, princess. And mine are bigger.”
He presses closer, and in the seconds that follow, Drew and Nina storm into the room. “Fuck off, Forrest,” Drew seethes.
Even Nina looks pissed. She’s holding up a small, silver canister with an obvious spray nozzle. “Let her go or I’ll give you a faceful of milk thistle, you blood-sucking piece of shit.”
At the mention of that ancient herb, another whisper of discomfort goes through me. Vampires may not be vulnerable to crosses, garlic, wooden stakes, or holy water, but certain plants from the old world can have the effect of acid on our skin.
Noah doesn’t move an inch. His gaze bores into mine as if we’re still alone, and the reflection of my own face stares back from the perfect darkness of his eyes. After another moment, he makes a low sound in the back of his throat and pulls away.
Without a word or so much as a glance backward, he walks out of the room.
I finally let out a breath, tears pricking my eyes. Until yesterday, I believed myself a vampire. An animal at the top of the food chain. Strong. Noah just reminded me how wrong I was, how weak I truly am.
“You okay?” Drew asks me.
Before I can form an answer, a groan from across the room turns all of our attention toward the couch, where the woman Noah fed on stirs. She sits up and looks around. Blood trickles from two puncture marks on her throat, along with the blood already pooling on the leather between her legs. My fingers twitch, resisting the urge to slap at my arms, which crawl with invisible insects. The need. The ache. The fucking relentlesshunger.
If Nina and Drew weren’t here, I’d tear into this human like she was a doe in the woods.
“Did he leave?” she asks with a pout. “Is he finished with me?”
Just as I start to answer her, my stomach tight with a strange combination of pity and longing, the entire bar fills with the sound of screaming.
END OF VOLUME ONE
