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We.
I tried to keep my expression neutral because I didn’t want to scare her, but my heart was thudding in my chest. I hadn’t had enough time to fully grasp the gravity of what had happened.
Cara was becoming a vampire.
I’d known it as soon as I caught her scent, but that knowing hadn’t come all at once. It came as little pieces I wasn’t ready to put together—pieces I’d deliberately kept apart until the number grew so overwhelming that it all clicked into a crystal-clear image.
But maybe she could fix it. I decided to cling to that instead of facing the other option. I could still have her if she was human. I could watch her grow old and die happy, never having to know what it meant to live an eternity in the dark with me.
“Come on,” I said.
We got up just as Vlad and Alaric burst through the door. Unfortunately. Vlad was once again naked. He was also spattered with blood—some of which appeared to be his own. He roared like an ancient king coming to the feast hall after a battle.
“Where’s my fookin’ apple juice, wench!” he demanded, laughing deeply at himself as he waddled toward the counter and took a cup from a startled looking homeless man. Vlad drained the cup, swished it around his mouth, then spit it violently all over the floor. “Gah! Delicious.”
“Sir, you can’t be naked in here. You have to at least wear pants.” The woman speaking looked like she was only halfway sure she wanted to confront Vlad. She was behind the counter with her head slightly ducked and her shoulders slouched.
“Aye? Well bring me some fookin’ britches then!”
Vlad had a tendency to switch his accents depending on his mood. Given how long he’d lived, I suspected he was calling up previous lives he’d lived when he did. Either that, or he’d lost his mind long ago. I supposed both were just as likely, or maybe no different.
I pulled Alaric aside while Vlad caused terror and began talking a homeless man out of his jacket. Vlad stuck his meaty legs through the arm holes and zipped the whole thing on upside down so his belly bulged over the top of it. Thankfully, his hairy ass was now hidden from view. This apparently brought the sight of him down to a level the establishment was equipped to handle, because everybody resumed business as usual once Vlad’s cock and ass were put away.
“Did he kill anyone?” I asked Alaric.
“No, but he bit off one of Leah’s arms,” he said with a wicked smile.
“When he was a bat?” I asked.
“No. Just naked Vlad, apparently.”
Cara looked like she wanted to ask several questions, but she stayed quiet. I imagined she had plenty on her mind at the moment without trying to visualize what Alaric was describing better.
“Any sign of the fourth person Cara mentioned?”
“Yes. And you’re not going to like who it was.”
“Okay?” I said.
“It was Dominic.”
I stared. I felt my stomach seize into a tight fist and my mind immediately start racing as it tried to connect the dots to figure out how that was possible. “You’re sure?”
Alaric nodded. “Yep.”
Cara looked up at me. “Wait. The same Dominic who turned you? What does this mean?”
“It means the stories that he’d been dead for centuries were exaggerated,” I said. “Greatly exaggerated.”
Alaric leaned in toward Cara. “It also means him showing up and helping somebody who wants to fuck us over is a mighty fine mystery. Also, a mighty big problem, given that this fucker is old as rocks.”
Alaric was right. Dominic and I had never been on great terms to start, and at the time he disappeared, they’d been downright hostile. If he was still around, it meant I had bigger problems to worry about than Bennigan. Bigger, much more capable problems.
“Me and Cara need to go. Now.”
Alaric shrugged. “Watch your backs. Vlad said he’s going to power nap and ‘poke some virgins.’ That means he won’t be around to save your ass if you get captured again.”
I sighed. I’d need to check in on Vlad and make sure he wasn’t planning to go on a murderous rampage, but that could come once I had helped Cara feed.
39
Cara
I sat with Lucian at a seedy bar that served barbeque pork sandwiches on sugary doughnuts instead of buns. As weirdly delicious as those usually were, I couldn’t stomach the idea of eating one. I found myself looking around at everybody’s neck like it was a jumbo-sized candy bar.
My gaze would fixate on a vein until I swore I could see it pulsing. Until I could practically feel the warm rush that would fill my mouth if I just…
Ugh.
I rubbed at my eyes and shook my head a little. “What happens if I just don’t feed?” I asked.
