Page 36 of Ghoul Kisses

Ever since I arrived in Austria, I’ve been thinking about Sarah. I couldn’t let her witness me having nightmares about being a sex slave. Vienna is where I was a slave for fifty years, and being here makes me want to go to Dante’s coven and kill him. The beatings and the torture still haunt my mind. The vampires used a hot iron on my back carving the letter X; that’s how they identify slaves. It still feels like yesterday that I was rescued from the coven. Sarah deserves better; a human, not a ghoul who has all these problems. It’s pathetic to depend on magic to get rid of your demons. Then there is Dante. He swore if I found someone to love, he would come after them. He wants me to feel what he felt when I fucked Leyla. I didn’t want her; the thought of her touching me makes my skin crawl. I need to call Clayton again. He hasn’t been answering his phone, probably in his wolf form running with his pack. I down a whole bottle of Tequila, but I need something stronger. It will take twenty bottles to even feel a little buzz. I call Clayton, and his voicemail picks up.

You need magic, I need money. Leave a message, and I’ll hit you up.

“Answer the phone.” I toss the phone on the table and grab another bottle of liquor. I need to drown these memories.

“Run away with me,” Leyla says.

Has this bitch lost her mind? Does she realize that I don’t love her—or even like her? We sit outside in the garden. Dante is away again. I don’t respond.

“King Eric, we could build our own kingdom together.” That is the first time she referred to me as king. She rubs my face, and I remove her hand.

“Let me go.”

She smacks me. The guards watch me carefully. I have chains around my arms and neck.

“I love you,” she whispers.

Is she fucking serious? I’d rather die than to be with her. I could manipulate her and tell her that I love her too so she will release me. Once I’m out of here, I can free the other ghouls. No, I’ll wait for my brothers to come; they will get me out of here. After all the beatings, death doesn’t look so bad right now.

“I don’t love you.” Leyla punches me in the face, and blood pours from my lips. After all the beatings, it doesn’t hurt anymore.

“Guards, take this animal back to the dungeon, and make sure he is lined up for execution,” she says coldly. The guards yank me by my chains, dragging me across the hard concrete. My thin skin is abraded as they drag my weak body.

A knock on the door interrupts my memory. I open it to find Jack standing there with a bottle of bourbon. He collects a glass from the table and pours himself a shot.

“I found Rachael,” he says before downing the shot.

“Good, when are we leaving?”

“It will be best if you go. If she sees two ghouls at her door, she might report us to the Hudson coven,” he says. The six covens don’t allow vampires to socialize with ghouls. Jack hands me a piece of paper with an address on it. I stuff it in my pocket.

“Where is Mac? I ask.

“He went to check on Kate’s parents.”

I tuck my Uzi in my holster and head out the door.

When I arrive at the address, I bang on the door and Rachael opens it, spilling her glass of blood on the floor. She wears pajama pants and a see-through shirt. When our eyes meet, she flashes her fangs.

“You prick, you made me spill my blood!”

“Who did you buy the paradox box for?” I fold my arms across my chest, waiting for her to answer.

“Do you want to come in?” she offers. Is she out of her fucking mind? I don’t trust her.

“I’ll wait out here. Now talk,” I demand. Rachael holds up her index finger, disappears, and returns with a clean washcloth.

“What do I get out of it?” She bends down wiping up the blood.

“I have cash.”

“How much?” She stands up.

I grab my wallet from my back pocket and hand her ten crisp five–hundred-dollar bills. She counts it.

“Wow, five grand. I can buy enough blood for two weeks.”

“Start talking,” I order.

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