Page 130 of Vampires and Violas

“Four?” I peer at him from behind Noah. “I don’t even give myself one.”

“Sucks to be self-employed,” Sam answers.

“When did you start working for him?” Noah asks.

“Does it matter?”

“Who changed you?”

“Why do you care?” Sam asks, getting frustrated with the questions.

“Was it Ethan?”

This time, he stays silent.

“Are you working for one of the other houses?”

“I work forEthan.”

“Okay. Does Ethan ever work with the other houses?”

I hear footsteps on the stairs and grasp Noah’s arm.

“It’s okay,” he says to me. “It’s either my men or the sheriff’s.”

“How…?”

I glance behind me just as three men appear at the top of the stairs—a hunter wearing the NIHA logo badge hanging from a lanyard around his neck, an officer, and one dashingly handsome vampire.

Cassian assesses the situation, his face solemn.

“Go to Cassian, Piper,” Noah instructs.

I back away from Noah, walking slowly at first and then sprinting across the empty room.

Cassian catches my shoulders, pulling me closer to the stairs. “Are you all right?”

He no more than says the words, and there’s a commotion behind me. The hunter hollers, raising his pistol, and I whirl around just in time to see Sam lunge out of the bathroom at Noah.

A deafening gunshot rings through the air, and the vampire falls backward, clutching his shoulder.

I rip my eyes away, the blood spreading over Sam’s shirt making me woozy…and hungry. I begin trembling again, freaked out by the thoughts going through my head.

“Hey,” Cassian says as the other men crowd around Noah. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” I lie.

“Piper,” he says sternly.

I look up, meeting his eyes, and whisper, “I think I need some blood.”

He studies me for several seconds, concern shadowing his face, and then he nods. “Then let’s get you some blood.”

27

Needless to say,Sam didn’t make it to his niece’s birthday party. Neither did my flowers.

I only half listen from a barstool in my kitchen as Cassian and Noah discuss the day’s events. My thoughts are no longer on Sam and Ethan. I just keep running my tongue over my gums, terrified I’m going to feel the telltale bumps again.

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