Page 12 of Lured

“You are trying to antagonize me and I will make you regret it. I know what you are.” Ludis leaned in a little closer, but it still wasn't enough that I stood any chance of getting to my knife and cutting his head off.

“I'm just a woman from Minnesota. I swear. But I'm sorry for suggesting you might bat for a different team. I'm clearly very mistaken, but I'm just trying to understand what you want from me. I'm not looking for trouble, just to have a good time and enjoy the night. Maybe we can start this all over again, get to know each other properly. Maybe this could lead to something mutually enjoyable.” I shook as I spoke, knowing this could be taken many ways, but hoping that it would be interpreted that I might be willing to be an enthralled if I understood what one was.

I tried not to look away from Ludis so he would know I was offering it to him and not anyone else. Given that he hadn't taken an interest in me, it wasn't the wisest choice of strategy, but I didn't need him to actually decide to take me after all, just to consider it and study me a little closer. It was all I had left open to me.

Ludis motioned for someone to bring me closer and I tried not to fight it. Before anyone could there were footsteps from behind. Ludis glanced at me and then back at whoever was there. I wasn't sure I could turn, but I didn't need to do so if it was just another vampire.

“There she is. You found her,” a voice I recognized said. “I was hoping to make her an enthralled. What do you think?”

“You want an enthralled, Drew?” Ludis asked, chuckling.

I could have sworn. While the man was attractive and I would have enjoyed getting to know him as a human far better, I had no interest in being his enthralled.

As Ludis chuckled and the men all backed up, pulling me around, I found myself wondering what it might be like. I'd never been bitten or fed on, but I had heard that if it was done in the right way it could have an erotic effect. Still, I was stuck between two vampires and hadn't completed my mission.

This was a complication I could have done without.

Chapter 5

Leandro

I frowned, not sure why I had acted in the exact way I had, but now faced with a very interesting situation. I'd stopped Ludis eating a human simply because I wanted her for myself. Although I knew there was a chance she was more than she seemed, and she had been watching Ludis for a reason, I couldn't think of her being devoured by him.

If she was anything but an interested party then I would happily find out the hard way. Ludis didn't look as if he wanted to stop his plan of either eating her or making her his enthralled and I knew there was a chance that I'd just pissed him off.

Claiming I'd chosen her first when he was interested in her was a bold move and I knew it. But I had to try. She was too good for an idiot like him.

“She's probably a hunter,” Ludis said, throwing the words at me.

“Doesn't seem like one to me,” I lied.

She did seem like she might be a hunter, but if she was, I also couldn't let her get close to him. The vampire would almost certainly die and then I'd have to figure out what he had been up to and if it was something I could stop without any help. I didn't want that problem right now.

The girl looked toward me, a strange stare that made it seem even more obvious that she was up to something even if I wasn't sure what. I walked a little closer, knowing I was putting myself more in danger.

One of her hands shifted slightly toward her leg, one of the few places she might be able to conceal a weapon of some kind while dressed so.

“What say you, little girl. You met this guy already?” Ludis asked, still not taking his eyes off her.

“I did,” she replied, but there was some hesitancy in her voice as if she didn't know where this was going and how it was meant to help her.

The admission made me frown. It helped me, but only if she did want to be an enthralled and wasn't a vampire hunter. I found myself seriously considering the idea of having an enthralled. While it wasn't a practice that I had succumbed to in the past, I knew I would break my usual dislike for a chance to do what I wanted with her body.

If there was one thing that the stories had gotten right about vampires, it was that they were lustful. I wanted this woman and it was a desire I had every intention of giving into at some point. But all my partners had been willing, and I needed that from her as well. If I was going to seriously entertain her as my enthralled, she had to want this.

Ludis looked between us and his frown deepened as his mood became clear. He still didn't like this. In a lot of ways, I couldn't blame him. There were a lot of ways this could go sideways.

“I really don't understand what's going on here. Can you help me?” she said, looking at Ludis again. Ludis let out a chuckle.

“The cute act is just that, cute.” Ludis stepped away as if he wasn't interested in anything she had to say.

“Please,” she added as she tried to pull forward, toward him.

If I had been fairly sure she was a vampire hunter before this and after Ludis in some way, I was certain of it now. And she was brave as well. Surrounded by vampires, and probably not getting out of this alive, and yet still trying to complete her mission.

To know that the academy had a mission out on Ludis said a lot as well. Well, it more made it clear that he was up to something. There were still a lot of possibilities of what that might be.

I came closer again, now almost right beside her. If she was going to stab a vampire she could start with me and see how that went for her. Maybe I could get her to understand that this vampire was off limits for now. But I didn't think I would get a chance to do that unless Ludis could be convinced that she should be my thrall.

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