Page 4 of Make Me Bleed

I’m a vampire. Unlike the humans in Clarity, it’s safe for me to walk around on my own after dark. The Cadre decrees that only humans who agree to be donors are to be fed upon, but we all know that rogues happen. A rogue will take what they want when they want it, and while they’ll be put down as soon as the Cadre discovers what they’ve done, a rogue won’t care.

Vampires can and do feed off of each other. However, we only have blood after we feed. It’s much easier to bite a human who is constantly building the stuff inside of them, so I wouldn’t be targeted. However, I’m not worried about rogues.

I’m worried about Peter and just how close he is to his sanity snapping.

So I’ll take a ride home in Dorian’s car, then barricade myself inside of the Sanguine in the apartment I share with Bridget. And if luck’s on my side, Peter will slink back to Delilah or whatever other vampire he’s feeding these days since the jacket he’s wearing isn’t doing much to hide the fresh bites on his throat…

Dorian looks puzzled for a moment before he shrugs. “Uh, yeah. Sure. If that’s what you want.”

It’s what I want.

Peter scoffs. “I can find you there, too, you know.” His voice is low, but not so low that I can’t pick up on it. “I can find you anywhere.”

He’s right.

Idoknow.

Crap.

Bridget isn’t home.

She said she would be. Honestly, she should’ve been, especially when the unspoken rules in Clarity make it so that all humans—whether they know they live among vampires or not—don’t go out after dark alone. But Bridget, I’ve discovered, is a reckless human from Queens and, somehow, she thinks that makes her royalty. I’m not complaining. Her outlook on life is refreshing, but I’m worried about my human friend getting caught up in the supernatural world where she could be hurt.

Unlike me, Bridget works from home. She rarely leaves the Sanguine, and if she does, it’s usually with me. I don’t know where she is now, though her text said that she was only a few blocks away when I offered to have Dorian pick her up.

That was an hour ago. And while humans are much slower than supes, even Bridge should be back by now.

A sense of unease prickles at me. It’s been like that since I caught Peter staring at me after he sent the goblet of blood to my table. It got so bad that I sent Dorian home without even a nip of his blood, so now I’m thirstyandworried.

Glancing down at my phone, I look to see if she responded to my last text.

Bridge

Don’t worry about that. I’ve got five blocks left and I’ll be fine.

Enjoy the rest of your date.

Get the remote ready. We’re starting season four tonight.

Just hurry home.

Hey? Where are you? I’m ready but you’re still not here.

I couldn’t care less about our television show. Normally, sitting down with the first friend I’ve made on my own—not a fellow vamp working for the Cadre, or a friend of my parents, but someone who likes me for me—and catching up on whatever we’re binging is the highlight of my day.

Just not when my overactive imagination is imagining what kind of terrible things could befall Bridget in the dark. In the daytime, I wouldn’t be half as concerned. But thedark…

Suddenly, my phone begins to buzz. The phone number that pops up doesn’t say Bridge’s name, though it’s familiar to me. It takes me a second before I realize that it’s one of the countless lines that originates from Homequarters.

I answer with a quick, “Hello? This is Elise van Duren speaking.”

“Elise. This is Gilda.”

Gilda Tyson. She’s a vamp who used to work on the same floor of Homequarters as I do before she got promoted to soldier status by Jasper at the end of last year. That means she goes on patrols with her partner, making sure that Clarity is safe and sound and that we don’t have any rogues or beasts infiltrating our Fang City, while I continue working on the Cadre’s archives.

I’ve never had soldier aspirations. For one, getting my hands messy… not my thing. For another, you have to be at least a century old to be considered. At only seventy-four, I’m considered a young adult to my kind. A mature female, yes, but in human terms, I’m barely in my twenties. A kid.

So why is Gilda callingmeafter dark?

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