Аманда Хокинг - Flutter

“She was here before,” Milo said.

“She was with a guy,” Bobby added helpfully.

Jack had moved on to looking around more closely, in case we had missed something. I sighed, thinking that I had taken too long getting ready, or staring at the people outside, or randomly talking to Violet.

I had been wasting time, when I should’ve been tracking down Jane. Admittedly, I still had her phone number, but she hadn’t answered my calls since I turned.

“Alice! He finally did it!” a voice purred, and a vampire got up off the couch and walked over to me.

With long black hair past her knees, she had that ageless beauty, but I suspected that she had been in her forties when she had turned, which had probably been a very, very long time ago. Her clothing was entirely tight black leather, and I had never understood how was able to move. While we weren’t exactly old friends, Olivia had been vampire who had first rescued me from Lucian and Violet. There seemed to be a wisdom lurking below her hazy grin, and even though she had the slow, slurred movements of any aging junkie, she still had the killer instincts of a vampire.

“What?” I tried to return her smile, but I was too frustrated over not finding Jane.

“He turned you,” Olivia said, and she reached out, caressing my cheeks softly with her hands. Her eyes were glazed, but her voice was low and surprisingly seductive. “And what an exquisite creature you are.”

She left a girl discarded on the couch behind her, a thin trail of blood drying on her neck, and she moaned softly, reaching out in the empty space where Olivia had been.

“Thanks,” I replied uncertainly, and Jack appeared at my side. Even though Olivia had saved me before, her level of interest in me made something vaguely jealous flair up in him.

“Maybe you can help us,” Milo walked over to us, thinking quicker than I did. Bobby trailed after him, and Olivia looked at him with disdain. Her interest apparently didn’t go past human girls, or probably girls in general. “We’re looking for a girl, a friend of Alice’s.”

“She’s a bloodwhore, we think,” I added. “She’s tall and thin, and very pretty, like a model.

Her hair is short and dark, and she’s always dressed to the nines.” Olivia looked at me, as if studying me could tell her where my friend was. “Her name is Jane, and I think she’s in trouble.”

“If she’s the girl I’m thinking of, she definitely is in trouble,” Olivia nodded gravely. She licked her lip and pointed down the hall. “She’s been coming around here a lot more than any one person should, and she went down that hall an hour ago with a vampire. I’m not sure what room they’re in, but I’m sure you can find her.”

“Thank you,” I smiled quickly and turned down the hall.

The hall was almost pitch black, but I could see the outlines of the doors. I could smell the blood and hear the erratic heartbeats and happy moans, and I had concentrate on it without thinking about it. I had to find Jane without giving into my own thirst. Jack was a few steps ahead of me listening for her, and I could hear Bobby complain about being unable to see anything behind us. Milo was trying to reassure him, and then I heard it.

Before I could even smell her, I heard her overly sultry moan. Unfortunately, in my years of friendship with her, I had heard it far more than I had ever cared. But if it would help me find her now, it suddenly seemed all worth while.

Without thinking, I threw open the door. I couldn’t really make out anything, and then a figure was flying towards me. I didn’t have a chance to react, and Jack was already in front of me, shielding me the vampire coming at my throat. Jack threw him back, slamming him against the wall and holding him there while he gnashed his teeth at Jack. Somehow, Jack managed to hold in him in place, but Milo was in the room, rushing past me to help Jack restrain that seriously pissed off vampire.

Meanwhile, Jane was lying on a bed, covered in dark stains from similar acts. In the darkness, I could still see her clearly. She was still beautifully dressed in some tiny piece of clothing that passed for a dress, and her skin was almost white. While she had always been thin, her arms were downright bony and her face was gaunt. The most terrifying thing was that her heart beat was almost nonexistent. The room was filled with the scent of her fresh blood, and it was impossible to ignore. She moaned tiredly and stirred slightly in the bed, and somehow that let my urge to protect her override my urge to eat her.

“Jane!” I ran to her, leaving Milo and Jack to contend with the thrashing vampire on the wall. I climbed on the bed, trying to ignore how disgusting and tantalizing the blood stained mattress was, and I slapped her cheek. I had meant for it to be gentle, but the panic mixed with my unmastered strength made me slap her a little hard, not that she even noticed or woke up.

“Is everyone okay? What’s going on?” Bobby asked plaintively, and I glanced back to see him feeling around the doorway. He couldn’t see anything, and all he could hear was the sound of struggling.

“Everything’s under control!” Milo shouted as the vampire tried to bite his throat.

“What the hell is going on?” the vampire growled, and when he saw me tending to Jane, he stopped fighting them and just glared. “You’re after the whore?” We had interrupted him in the middle of feeding, the time when vampires are most animalistic, and he was just coming down from that, back to something that resembled civilized.

“Her name is Jane!” I snapped, trying futilely to rouse her. She was completely out, and I knew how draining and wonderful blood loss and how impossible it was to wake up from.

“I know her fucking name!” the vampire shouted. “What I want to know is what you want with her?”

“What do you care?” Jack countered, doing his best to sound tough. It would be comical if he wasn’t trying to hold back a vampire from possibly slaughtering us.

“Jonathan,” Jane murmured, still mostly asleep.

“No, it’s me, Alice,” I said. She moved her head, and I turned it towards me, trying to get her to focus on me. “Jane, wake up. We need to get you out of here.”

“She’s talking about me, you silly twat! I’m Jonathan!” The vampire pushed against Jack, and he lessoned his grip on him. Jack exchanged a look with me, debating whether or not he should just let this Jonathan vampire go. I shrugged, leaving up to his judgment. “Will you let me go? I’m not gonna fight you! I don’t have to. She’s not gonna go with you.” Jack took a step back, and Milo did the same, but more hesitantly. Jonathan smoothed out his shirt and glared at them but made no move towards them.

“Jane, honey, wake up!” I yelled and started to gently shake her.

“No, Jonathan, let me sleep,” Jane swatted absently at me.

“She’s not going with you,” Jonathan repeated. He stepped closer to me, and Milo growled and stepped in between him and the bed. “I’m not gonna stop you! She just won’t go! What do I care if you take the whore?”

“I think it might be better if you just shut the hell up,” Jack suggested.

“Jane, come on.” I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her so she was sitting up. Her head lolled back for a second, revealing the still open wounds on her neck. Then she opened her eyes and lifted her head.

“Jane, come on. Let’s go.”

“Alice?” Jane squinted, and I realized she probably couldn’t see anything in the dark. “What are you doing here?”

“Taking you with me.” I put my arm around her to pick her up, but she pushed back at me.

She was much weaker than me, but I stopped trying to lift her anyway. “Jane, you’ve gotta come with me.”