I gasp and blink up at him in fear, knowing he can end me anytime he likes.
“What are you doing?” I try to stay calm.
“I have never felt so connected to anyone, Miriam. I can’t explain why, and I don’t care. But I feel in my heart that we were brought together for a purpose, and that purpose was to give me another chance.”
A chance to die? Sure. I’m here to help! “Chance at what?”
“Life. Love. Purpose. My years as a human child were nothing but suffering, crossing the vast territories of India and Africa. Then my parents were killed by a vampire right before my eyes. He took me, raised me, only to turn me for his companion. These last three hundred years have been nothing but misery. You and those books are all that matter to me. Fanged Love gave me hope, and you, Miriam, will give me a life.”
He’s on me so fast that my lips don’t know what to do. His tongue delves into my mouth like a slimy serpent on the attack. I try not to retch.
“Narmmm, narmmm, narmmm,” he moans.
Ew! What is he doing? I hold back kicking him in the nuts, remembering that Michael’s life is on the line. A deal’s a deal.
Nice pulls back and flashes a predatory smile. “There. You see. You felt the connection, too. We were meant to be.”
I nod slowly, holding down the contents of my stomach. “Sure. Yep. So connected.” If that connection is me ending your life.
“Now we will get a private room, and you will make violent love to me.”
What? Oh hell no.
The elevator doors slide open, and both of us catch the scent of blood. Not human blood. Vampire blood. Lots of it. The fluid might be dust by now, but the scent still lingers in the air.
“Stay back.” Nice pushes me into the elevator and goes charging toward his room.
There isn’t a chance in hell I’m going to play armchair librarian, so I go after him. When I catch up, the door to the room has been kicked down, and Nice is hovering over two bodies on the floor.
Lula and Michael? “No. No. No.” I shake my head. “Are they dead?”
Nice doesn’t seem to understand what’s going on either. “I think so, but they haven’t turned to dust yet.”
I rush over and press my ear to Lula’s chest. I can’t hear anything. “Is it normal to have no heartbeat?” I ask.
“I believe they have been poisoned. Their bodies are about to dust.”
My entire being buckles under the weight. I can’t breathe.
Nice kneels beside me over Lula and presses two fingers to her neck. He shakes his head, delivering his silent prognosis. “Perhaps it is for the best,” he says. “Lula would never have left me alone—much too in love with me. And you and Vanderhorst were never meant to be, so he only would have gotten in the way.”
I ignore him, feeling my heart turning into a pile of rubble. Is this how Michael felt when he watched me die? Did his heart simply wither, leaving behind an empty shell? I begin to sob.
“Stop crying,” Nice says, keeping with his new, more civilized persona. “Time to move on and embrace our new—arrrrrgh!”
I glance over at Nice, who’s clawing at his neck.
What the…
He falls facedown onto the gray carpet between Lula and Michael and stops moving.
Lula jumps to her feet, holding a huge syringe—the kind people use to inject marinade into meat. “Ha! Take that, vampy-pants.” Lula nods at me. “You’re welcome.”
I have no idea what just happened. “What—what was that?”
“Chocolate syrup. The good stuff.” She grins. “God, do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to do that?”
“I thought you liked him,” I say.
“No. I only said that being with him wasn’t that bad. Never would I say I liked him, and even if I did, I owed it to you and Michael. I never should have made a deal with Nice to let him have you, and this was the only way to make things right.”
“I’m a little speechless.”
“Come on.” She holds out her hand. “You need to have mouth sex with Michael and get some more vitamin B into him so we can get out of here.” She jerks her head. “There are ten bags in the mini-fridge.”
“Did you give him anything while we were gone?” I ask.
“Just enough blood to keep him alive, but I didn’t want him waking up. Nice had to believe we were both done for.”
I can’t believe it.
Lula looks down at Nice. “I hope Michael has you tortured slowly and then gives you a public dusting.”
I want to tell her that Michael has other plans, that Nice will finally do some good, but I hold back. Even if Lula just saved us, I’m not Michael. I don’t give second chances when it comes to trust.
I dash over to the fridge and grab the red-filled pouches. I pause, cradling the cool lifesaving liquid to my chest.
“What’s the matter?” Lula asks.
“I, uh…well, it’s just that I haven’t…” I glance at Michael’s pale face and outstretched body lying on the floor. “We haven’t really touched or anything. Not for a long time.”
Lula tilts her head and smiles. “Can’t say I’ve ever seen a bashful, blushing vampire before. Are you sure you’re not still human?”
“I’m sure.”
“Well, the clock is ticking, and he needs to be healed, so if you don’t want to do mouth sex, then…” She holds out her hand.
I instinctively tighten my grip on the bags. “No. He’s my lo—he’s the father of my child. I’ll do it.” I almost called him my lover.
Still grinning, Lula bows her head and gestures toward him. “All yours, then.”
She starts preparing another big syringe of chocolate syrup, saying some very unpleasant things to Nice.
Meanwhile, the room around me fades away, and my eyes lock on Michael’s face—the exquisite cheekbones, the sensual lips that are equally plump on both
