Мишель Роуэн - Tall, Dark & Fangsome

Human blood was necessary for survival, but vampire blood was addictive and decadent—

like dessert, like alcohol, like a drug.

And no matter how much the normal me screamed or fought, the nightwalker’s need to feed would win out. It was clear, focused, and so very natural. And there was no way to predict if the fledgling would survive when it was all said and done. Not tonight. Not with the way I currently felt.

My lips peeled back from sharp fangs as I pushed the fledgling’s head to the side, swept back evidence of her bad dye job, and grazed the surface of her skin.

The very next moment something yanked me away from her and I staggered across the alley. I turned with a hiss. There was a dark figure standing in the shadows.

He wore a red mask that covered most of his face.

The man glanced at the fledgling. “Leave now.”

Without needing to be told twice, my potentially delicious bleached blond meal ran out of the alley. I couldn’t see straight. I was so hungry. It blinded me to everything else. My thoughts were cloudy and my darkened gaze now locked on the stranger’s throat.

“Don’t even think about it,” he said, his voice low.

But I was thinking about it—in my foggy kind of way. The anger at being interrupted filled me and I clenched my fists at my sides. I moved toward him, my focus never leaving the side of his neck. “Let me guess. You’re the Red Devil? The real one?”

He took a step further into shadow so all I could see was his outline. “I am.”

“So that means you’re my bodyguard now.”

“Correct.”

“I don’t need a bodyguard.” My eyes narrowed. “As you can see.”

“All I see is a stupid woman who should be wearing the gold chain that dampens behavior like this. You could have killed that fledgling.”

Stupid? A flash of anger cut through me. Did a pathetic excuse for a vampire vigilante just call me stupid?

I really didn’t like it when people called me stupid.

“You need to mind your own business,” I hissed through clenched teeth.

“This is my business.”

Normally—since Thierry hadn’t exactly been very forthcoming with the details—I would have been curious to know more about who this guy was and where he came from, but I’d had enough talking. I walked directly toward him. He glared down at me through his mask. I registered nothing except his heartbeat and the knowledge that warm blood coursed just beneath his skin. Everything else was background noise. I slid my hands up his firm chest and he didn’t resist or try to pull away.

I went up on tiptoes to whisper into his ear. “I bet you taste very good.”

The moment before my fangs would have sunk into his throat, his hands came around my upper arms like iron vises. He pushed me away, turned me around, and before I could do anything about it, he slammed me up against the cold hard wall.

I tried to fight him, but I was in an awkward position. He crouched for a moment and then got back to his feet. Something cold and thin pressed against my throat.

My eyes widened. Was he going to strangle me? Maybe try to decapitate me? According to my research, that was one of the most effective methods to kill a vampire if you didn’t mind the wet work.

But nothing painful happened. The very next moment he let me go. I felt at my throat to find the gold chain he must have retrieved from my open purse on the ground and put back on me. The hunger and darkness left in a near-painful whoosh and my knees buckled.

I had to fight to remain standing.

The Red Devil’s back was now toward me.

“Don’t let this happen again,” he growled.

When he left, I sank to the ground, one hand on my chain and the other over my mouth to cover my shock.

Shit. That was close. That was too damned close. I’d been mad about what the Red Devil had said before, calling me stupid. But he was absolutely right.

I could have killed that girl. And if he hadn’t stopped me I think I would have.

So much for coming to her rescue.

S arah!” George exclaimed when I returned to the club. “We’ve been worried about you.”

I glanced at Amy, who was still on the dance floor, attempting an awkward, high-heeled version of the Running Man. “Yeah, it looks like it.”

“Amy hides her concern really well. Where have you been?”

Secretly meeting with Thierry. Trying to save an innocent, but badly dressed fledgling.

Going homicidal and nearly making the fledgling more than just a fashion victim. Getting reamed out by the Red Devil.

All of the above.

“I was in the washroom,” I told him instead.

“For twenty minutes?”

I put a hand over my stomach. “You do not want to know the details. Trust me.”

He made a sour face. “Forget I asked.”

I would never take my chain off again. Ever. Stamped it, no erasies. I twisted my finger around the very necessary piece of jewelry.

George gave me a thorough look. “Now that you mention it, you don’t look so good.”

“Really?” I said dryly. “Because I feel like a million bucks.”

He crossed his arms. “Then the inflation rate is not in your favor. Do you want to leave?

Had enough with the partying for one night?”

I let out a long, shuddery breath. “To put it mildly.”

I felt sick and ashamed by what had happened. And sweaty. And miserable. And horrifically embarrassed. And scared. And… well, that basically covered it.

That was a whole smorgasbord of emotions to deal with at one time so I knew the stress showing through on my face was impossible to hide.

Amy pranced off the dance floor and made a beeline over to us. “Hey! You’re back. Want to dance?”

I looked at her wearily. “Not a chance.”

“You’re such a poet!” She grinned and pulled a cell phone out of her small, beaded bag. “I borrowed this from you earlier. Mine was dead and I had to call Barry. You have a text message waiting there. Somebody with the initial G?” She could barely control her curiosity. “Who’s G, Sarah? Hmm? Someone hot?”

I snatched the phone away from her. I hadn’t even realized it was missing. I glanced at the screen and my stomach took a deeper nosedive. “G is for God, if you must know. I’ve recently become incredibly religious. It must be my Bible quote of the day.”

Yeah, like she was buying that one.

“Grant?” she guessed. “Maybe Gary? Geoffrey? Gerard? Greg? Gaston? Stop me if I’m getting close.”

Gideon.

My knuckles whitened as I clutched the small pink phone.

“I didn’t mean to read it,” she said innocently. “But he wants to see you immediately and apparently you know what he wants.”

I gave her a tight smile. “Super. Thanks for letting me know.”

“Well? What does he want? A midnight rendezvous? A little boom-shaka-laka?” Her smile was blindingly white. “Sarah, I’m so impressed. You had me convinced you were still pining over stupid Thierry. You could have told me, you know, instead of being all secretive about this new piece of yummy. Then I wouldn’t have bothered setting you up with Jeremy.”

“I am obviously an enigma,” I sighed wearily, “when it comes to the yummy.”

“Details! I want details!”

George raised his eyebrows. “That makes two of us. I live with you and even I didn’t know about this. Keeping secrets from your bestest friends, Sarah?”

If only they knew.

I slipped the phone into my bag. “Right. Well, I think I’m going to call it a night.”

Amy and George exchanged a glance.

“Fine,” she said, pouting. “Be that way. But I’ll figure out who your new mystery man is.

Just give me time.”

I pasted a frozen smile on my face. “You’re immortal now. Take all the time you need.”