Page 8 of Sleeping With the Vampire

“Okay, okay!” I let her go and she mumbled “bitch” under her breath. I let it go.

“It was bigger than him, I told him to walk away but he wouldn’t. Couldn’t, I guess. Typical man,” she rolled her eyes. I didn’t like how she talked about my father. He wasn’t a typical man. In my eyes, he was a hero.

“Bigger than him?” I didn’t understand. Was Lucca right about the council being involved?

“The blood,” she whispered. “They call it the product? The bottles sold by the Syndicate? There were rumors that some of the vampires were getting high on particular brands.”

“Getting high? What do you mean?” I asked.

“If people who donated the blood were high at the time, the blood would contain the drug and this affected the vampires in similar ways as for the humans. Gave them not only a buzz, but even a feeling of being alive again. Very addictive. That is what I heard.”

“Sounds like someone could be making good money off it,” I said.

“You’d better believe it.”

“Who is behind it?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“If I wanted to get some of this blood around here? Who would I talk to?”

She looked at me. “Some clan I don’t know well. They call them the Owls, they have these big eyes,” she shivered. “But they don’t play by the rules.”

“Where can I find them?”

“You shouldn’t mess with them,” she warned me.

But I wouldn’t be deterred that easily.

For the first time in five years, I had some real leads about my father’s death. As I left the club, my thoughts were distracted, trying to process what Lady Cat had told me about the blood drug, Chakrat and the last time she’d seen my father. She’d confirmed that he had looked unwell.

I should have paid closer attention to my surroundings, especially in a place like that, but I was thinking about my father and how I hadn’t seen him a few weeks before his death. I wished I’d had more time with him.

By the time I heard the rush of air that meant something was flying towards me, it was almost too late. My instincts kicked in and I did a double flip without even thinking about it. A dark shadow slid past me. I barely had time to slip out my dagger and get ready. There was no light outside and I couldn’t see a thing. I heard it though, lurking in the shadows and knew I was at a disadvantage. The door opened and some people came out. Light spilled onto the parking lot as I felt the attack come towards me from the side. I was ready with my knife, slicing into the body just before the contact came. But two others were suddenly on top of me. One of them grabbed me by the throat, incapacitating me completely. I couldn’t breathe. Kicking feebly, I wished I had been paying more attention.

There was a flash of light and the hands fell away from my throat. There was screeching in the air and dull thuds as thebodies hit the ground. “Leave!” a command that cut through the night like lightning.

They shrunk away and disappeared into the night.

It was King Lucca, standing next to me. He was holding me up or I’d have been crumpled on the floor in a heap.

“Are you all right?”

I nodded, not wanting to speak. Where the hands had closed over my throat, I felt a searing pain.

“Close your eyes,” he said in a soothing voice. “I will get you some help.”

I felt darkness close in over me and I didn’t fight it. Even though I hated vampires, I had felt relief when I saw it was him, I knew I could trust him. It was a strange feeling but the moment I realized it was him, I had known that I would be okay. Clearly, I was delusional, under some insane spell.

That was the only way in which I could explain what happened afterwards too.

Because when I woke up, I was lying in a strange bed on soft sheets. I opened my eyes and saw King Lucca standing at the window. He noticed that I had woken up and came over to the bed.

“How are you feeling?” He sounded so solicitous, as if he really cared.

“Better. Where am I?” I managed to say.

“You’re safe.” He sat down on the bed next to me, touching my hand.

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