“You could at least pretend to have some manners,” she says. “Unless you really want to lower your standards that much.”
Ji-yoo rolls her eyes. I shoot an amused glance at Jessica, but she’s still shoving things around on her plate. I don’t think she even heard the exchange.
“So, Winona, who fed on you?” Elise asks with a wicked grin. She doesn’t talk a lot, but this girl’s got an edge to her. I like it. She’s just my kind of bitch.
“Oh.” Winona shrugs, turning her nose up. “Nobody important. But the important ones will come.”
“Guess so. You can’t go anywhere but up.” Elise smirks.
Winona’s red face darkens a few extra shades and she busies herself with her food instead of responding.
Gretchen glances at Ji-yoo. “How ’bout you?”
Ji-yoo grins, tossing her sleek black hair over her shoulder. “Connor and Bastian.”
“Ooh, a twofer,” Demi says excitedly. “I got Frederick and Gabriel, which wasn’t too bad.”
“Gabriel’s a sweetheart.” Gretchen smiles almost fondly, making my stomach turn a little.
“I can’t remember any of their names,” Chelsea says, her voice a bit too bright. There’s a strain in it, but she’s trying to hid it. “But they all gave me desserts after.”
“All?” Winona asks sharply. “How many?”
“Um… four? No, five. I was really dizzy by the end of the night.” She laughs quietly, looking down at the table. “But it was probably just all the sugar.”
Sure it was. Keep telling yourself that, kid.
Jessica still hasn’t said anything. She hasn’t eaten anything either. I frown and touch her shoulder. She jumps hard enough for her knees to hit the table.
“Hey.” I hold up my hands, alarmed. “Are you okay?”
She nods, but her hands are shaking. I drop my voice as the conversation continues around us, voices blending together. “Did someone feed from you last night?”
Jessica nods again, trembling harder. I narrow my eyes. She was plenty scared and freaked out the last time I saw her yesterday, but it wasn’t like this. Now she looks… traumatized.
“Who?” I demand. “Who was it?”
She doesn’t answer me, but her eyes slide sideways as a hulking shadow falls over our table. She turns even paler, her hands clenching into fists around the tablecloth. I look up to see a broad-shouldered man with bad posture and a shaved head glaring down over the table with unnaturally blue eyes. His features alone—high cheekbones, full lips, and regal nose—should make him attractive, but they sit wrong on his skull somehow.
“You,” he says, pointing at me. “Come with me.”
Jessica gives me a look I recognize from years of foster-shuffling, and my stomach clenches.
Pity.
Fuck. This must be the guy who bit her last night. As much as I didn’t want to go with this asshole before, I really don’t want to go now. I don’t know her all that well, but Jessica strikes me as a reasonably strong person. She got over her tears and rallied last night, yet this vampires has rendered her shaky and speechless—and not in a good way.
But I don’t really have a choice, do I?
The vampire’s heavy brows lower over his glowering eyes when I hesitate, and I stand up quickly before he can lose his temper.
He doesn’t waste a word on me, just grabs me by the elbow and hustles me through the room like he’s got a train to catch. I drag my feet a little bit on purpose. I don’t like being manhandled this way, and he hasn’t earned anything even close to obedience from me. I can’t openly disobey or fight him, but I don’t have to just go along with him like a meek little doll.
He takes me to a little room down the corridor from the dining hall and tosses me inside carelessly, releasing my arm so fast I have to stumble to keep my feet under me.
“What, no introduction?” I ask dryly, even as my heart thumps heavily against my ribs.
Sass will definitely not help this situation, but I can’t stop myself. I’m nervous and tense, and the way he’s glowering at me isn’t helping at all.
The vampire doesn’t answer me. He pushes at the door, although it doesn’t close all the way. Not that it matters. It’s not like help would come if I screamed, not in this place. His shoulders round as he advances on me like the great hulking predator he is, light blue eyes flashing with hunger and malice.
The second he reaches me, he shoves my shoulders against the wall and pulls my head to the side hard enough to make my neck pop. I hiss out a breath, grimacing in pain.
He doesn’t bother priming my skin. He doesn’t even give me a warning.
He just bites, hard, approximately where my jugular is but just off-center enough that I can feel the hot blood pool under my skin. He sucks it out savagely, ripping it from me, and every cell in my body rebels at the intrusion. My breakfast lurches in my stomach, threatening to rise up my throat.
It burns like a strangling fire, and he’s pressing so hard it feels like he’s trying to break my neck with his mouth. I can’t relax, not even a little bit. My shoulders twitch, my hips squirm, and my hands curl into claw-like fists, no matter how hard I try to stay still. I can’t calm down, my heart is racing.
I’ve been hurt worse in the field. I can take this.
That’s what I keep trying to tell myself, but it’s not helping. This is different. It’s not the heat of battle, and I’m not allowed to fight back.
He’s ripping my life force away, stealing something
