Page 69 of Bite Marks

“I just can’t shake the feeling that… y’know… I’ve met her before,” I said finally, feeling well and truly foolish.

“You’re spiritual,” Dana reasoned, like that explained every weird half-memory I’d experienced since Vi had crashed into my life. “You know, woo-woo? So, maybe sheisa past life lover.”

I hated when she placated me. It was worse than the laughing.

“Oh, fuck off,” I muttered, aware that Dana didn’t share my blind faith.

“I’m being serious, wanna ask your tarot cards?”

“Maybe instead of being annoying you could tell me what the fuck happened after I left last night, huh?”

“Oh. That,” Dana sighed, and I could almost see her pinching the bridge of her nose through the phone. “I managed to talk Ren down, but Elsie was pretty shaken up so I sent them home so I could deal with the mess.”

“And the vamp?”

“Dealt with,” she replied icily. “He won’t bother us again.”

Something in her tone made me change the subject. I didn’t need to know the details, just that our family was safe.

“I should get to the club. I’ll see you there?”

“Yeah, Xuxuzinho, I’ll see you soon. Don’t drive yourself crazy chasing threads of fate.”

I scoffed, disconnecting the call as I headed back into Vi’s room to change into my clothes from the night before.

My borrowed T-shirt was supposed to make it into the hamper, but the strangest thing happened—it ended up in my bag instead.

I leaned over the bed, brushing a kiss against Vi’s cheek, knowing I wouldn’t have been brave enough to do it if she’d been awake.

Whatever she was to me—past life lover, a temptress who was tampering with my memory, just a girl who was cute and smelled good—I was powerless to resist her.

I didn’t know what was going on here, but I knew one thing: no matter what, I was going to get to the bottom of it.

vi

. . .

When I woke up,the only signs of Juniper were the indent she’d left on the pillow and the traces of her floral perfume lingering in my borrowed sheets.

I rolled over, pulling a pillow over my head to block the sunlamp with a groan.

I’d make a point to wash Kaylee’s sheets for her, even if that meant using the horrible coin-op machines downstairs. They were inconvenient as shit. I hated traipsing my laundry up and down four flights of stairs every time I needed fresh socks—another reminder that made me ache when I remembered my beautiful, sunny Upper City apartment.

In. Suite. Landry. Included.

With my salary from O, I could finally start looking at apartments, but even thinking about the club made my stomach twist with anxiety.

In the artificial light of day, last night was… mortifying at best.

Guys had been pushy with me before, sure, but I couldn’t remember a time when I’d been force-bitten by a vampire.

I wasn’t entirely sure what was worse—that he’d grabbed me over the bar or the hazy panic-induced nightmare that followed. Like a memory but… worse.

So much worse.

I cringed at the thought. Even with Juniper’s care, my forearm and wrist were still aching from where the vampire’s teeth were forcibly ripped from my arm, tearing the skin in the process.

I could make out the dark, circular fingerprint bruises that lined my arm, so I forced it under the covers, closing my eyes.

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