Page 18 of Vampire Lee

“Okay.”

They stood unmoving for a few seconds, then Rei sighed. “You think they planned on taking both of us or only me?”

Lee hadn’t wanted to think. He still didn’t. “How do you get someone to fight if he’s unwilling?”

Rei’s eyes shifted to yellow. “Blackmail?”

“Got any dirt on you they can use?”

A slow shake of his head. “No, I don’t think so. I…”

“Siblings, lovers, friends they could threaten to hurt if you don’t do it?”

“No. No siblings, no lovers I care about, and my friends are all in this house.” He looked at Lee. “Maybe it’s you they want.”

Lee snorted. “I’m not nearly special enough. You’re a freaking jaguar. They can get a mediocre vampire anywhere, but a jaguar…” He shook his head. Then a thought hit him. “Unless they think we’re a couple for real. Take us both, and you’ll fight to protect me?”

Rei groaned. “We shouldn’t have played a happy couple.”

“But you were such a sweet boyfriend.” Grinning, Lee looked toward the stairs. The house was so silent he never would’ve guessed seven people lived there.

“Got free beer out of it.”

Lee barked a laugh, then remembered people were trying to sleep and clamped his mouth shut.

“Right, we’ll discuss it with the others tomorrow. Maybe we could have a very loud, very public breakup.”

Lee grimaced. “Or I allow myself to get taken.” Ice slithered through his veins. “But then you better get me out of there faster than fast because I don’t do well in those environments.”

Rei looked at him for a long time, seeing more than Lee wanted him to. “I think Murrie will say no, but we can talk about it tomorrow.”

Chapter 5

It started as it always did. A firm grip that soon turned to bruising. Then pain, so much pain, only to have it switch. Dillon’s brain knew there was pain, but his body reacted with pleasure.

He was bleeding, but he was craving it, at the same time as a muted voice screamed in his mind, reminding him he was dying. Nausea climbed his throat. Then Leonardo’s excited laugh filled his ears.

With Leonardo, there was never any pleasure, and he preferred it. Preferred the pain to the fake gratification. Preferred the tearing to the false euphoria.

His scream overrode Leonardo’s laugh. Blood was seeping out of his every pore, making his clothes stick to his body.

The last bit confused him. He wasn’t allowed clothes when with Leonardo.

Then the pain was back, and he screamed again. The coppery scent of spilled blood filled his nostrils.

A loud bang sounded, and he struggled, pictured Murrie, Mars, and Rei rush into the room. The voice in his mind told him it wasn’t happening now. It was a memory from before. He wasn’t on a pink bed now. He was in a brightly lit room. On the third floor. Not underground.

Another loud bang sounded, then Dillon flew out of bed. Someone was coming into his room.

His brain couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing.

The door swung open with a jarring crack, the deadbolt breaking, or was it the frame? Either way, something otherworldly had forced his door open. Ice washed over him as if the air in the corridor had turned frigid.

A tall form filled the doorway. Not freakishly big like Murrie and Faelan, but not small like Devon. And strong. Much, much stronger than Dillon.

He screamed, and the vampire closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. He recognized him now. A hand landed on his mouth, and Dillon fought. He pulled and jerked, kicked and shoved, but the hand didn’t go anywhere. He’d known this would happen. Had known he’d come back for them. Had he already taken Devin? Devin was more valuable than he was.

“Fuck. Shit. Sorry.” A frantic look took over Vampire Lee’s face. “Shh…Calm down.”

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