The vampire king’s lips spread into a wicked smile, his eyes flaring brighter than before.
“Your—”
He surged forward at breakneck speed, catching me in a whirlwind of action. Glass shattered, wind whistling in my ears, a blur of color and light speeding past me.
What the hell? The king had me!
Were we flying?
We moved so fast I couldn’t react, totally overwhelmed. What direction were we headed in? Up? Down? To the side? All I knew was he held me close, my senses drowning in his scent, me pressed against his warm body. At his mercy, seconds away from death.
Weren’t vampire bodies usually cold?
I went to summon my stakeblade, but he stopped moving with such a jolting force, my brains rattled in my skull. My vision swam in dizziness, my heart racing.
“What—”
The vampire king spun me to face a rooftop, holding my sides with an iron grip.
The flat roof seemed to be listing side to side in my dizzy spell, twinkling city lights around us, the moon full and bright. The details melded together, triggering a spell of nausea.
Ugh.
We’d moved so fast, my body didn’t know what to do, feeling kind of drunk.
“What’s going on?” I managed to get out, willing myself to be steady.
Nearby trees helped chase the nausea away, the world stabilizing.
Breath on my right ear, a tickling breeze of warmth. He didn’t speak. Didn’t have to.
He’d seen through my bullshit, flying me out the bathroom window and bringing me up here. I’d been shielded from the glass, apparently, since there were no cuts visible on me.
His breath tickled my ear again.
I shuddered, a wave of terror passing over me. Nothing sexual this time. Full-on bladder loosening shit, every instinct to flee screaming in my head. Fear crawled over my skin like an army of bugs. I did my best to resist, refusing to let him best me.
I’ll fuck you up.
He lifted me off my feet and tossed me across the roof. I slammed into the concrete on my side, given no split seconds to brace myself. I grunted, bouncing into a roll, not stopping until my spine smacked into the roof’s low perimeter wall.
“Fuck…” I hissed through gritted teeth, pain shooting up and down my spinal cord.
Get up!
That wave of fear curled around me like a python, trying to squeeze courage out of me.
No. This fucker wouldn’t have me.
I jumped up, the blended blood blazing in my veins. I steeled myself against all fear, all emotions. Going to that executioner place, preparing to kill.
A quick check of the roof revealed a square box of brick with a door. An exit if I needed it, along with neighboring rooftops to leap onto.
Always good to have an exit strategy.
A scanhawk flew overhead, releasing its robotic caw. It didn’t stop, vanishing behind a taller building.
The king moved with languid footsteps.
