Page 2 of Tamed By Her Vampire Protector

Leo, our jailer and keeper, stepped into the room.The light from the hallway gave his golden hair an ethereal glow.He reminded me of that blond elf from the Lord of the Rings movies.If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was an angel descended from the heavens to save us.But I knew better.An evil vampire like him was anything but heaven sent.

He paused and looked down at us.The girls stopped giggling for once, but it was only to comb their fingers through their hair and push out their chests to show off their boobs.The simpering smiles and fluttering eyelashes they batted in his direction were enough to make me want to throw up.

“Hey, Leo.We’ve missed you,” cooed the girl with brown hair that resembled a bird’s nest.

He barely paid her any attention as he set down the box in his arms.I noticed that there were bottles of the calming potion included among the supplies.As usual, we were expected to drug ourselves into obedient little servants in exchange for the small luxuries he offered.

His eyes coasted over the others before landing on me.The intensity of his gaze was frightening.His icy blue eyes seemed to glow, but his lack of breathing gave nothing away about what he was thinking.What did he want from me?

“You.Come with me.”Without another word or even a glance to see if I was going to follow his order, he turned and stepped out into the hall.

My heart skipped a beat.Did he know that I poured every bottle handed to me down the toilet?Was he going to punish me for my disobedience?

Stay calm, I repeated in my head.Vampires can smell fear, I reminded myself.There’s no way he could possibly know.Not even the other girls knew that I faked drinking each bottle and snuck it out of the room in my bra.

At my hesitation, one of the girls walked seductively over to him.“You don’t want her, Leo.Pick me instead.”

“No.You’re still needed in the kitchen.I only want Meghan.Come with me.Now.”The look on his face dared me to disobey.

While a part of me didn’t want him to think I was at his beck and call, I had to admit that despite my fear, I was curious.It didn’t seem like he was picking me for punishment.I wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity to escape the walls of our tiny room.I got up and glanced at the girls.The hatred in their eyes could have burned me alive.Too bad none of them were witches, I bet they would have set me ablaze if they had the ability.

I scurried out of the room.I was willing to take my chances with a vampire over a bunch of jealous, vengeful women.

As I stepped past the doorway, Leo reached over my head.My breath caught in my chest.Was he going to grab my hair and snap my neck?He leaned towards me until I could feel him let out a puff of air against the top of my head.I let out a small sigh of relief when he reached behind me to close the door.

“Don’t worry, I don’t bite.”His tongue peeked out, licking his bottom lip as he looked down at me like I was a perfectly cooked steak.“That is, unless you’re offering?I would never turn down a sip of O positive.”

“Nope!Definitely not.”My hand flew up to cover my neck, as if I could keep him from sinking his fangs in if he wanted to do so.I gulped.How did he know my blood type?Did vampires have some kind of blood type radar?I ignored how pink and lusciously full his lips looked as he teased it with his tongue.

He smirked before heading down the hall.

I practically had to jog to keep up with him.“Hey, wait a minute.I felt you breathing.I thought you were a vampire, the undead don’t breathe.”

We walked down the dingy corridor until we reached a set of rusty steel stairs.Going up, we made our way to a heavy steel door, which he unlocked and held open for me.

“Ladies first.”

Such impeccable manners, I thought as I stepped past him.In another life, he totally would have been my type.Too bad he was one of the bad guys, it would have made things so much easier if he was a jerk.

Leo closed the door behind us with a clang and locked it.“Well, some of the undead can breathe.I’m half human, too.”He continued walking.

To my relief, he slowed his pace to match mine, so I didn’t have to run after him.“Wait.How is that possible.You’re either undead or alive.”In my mind, there was no such thing as being both human and vampire.It was like good or evil, you either were one or you were the other.Nothing in between existed.

His lips quirked as he glanced down at me, as if he could read my thoughts.“Not everything in this world is black and white.The line between living and undead isn’t as defined as the living would like to think.My mother, Gisele, is a vampire, sister of the Master of our clan.My father was human, just like you.”

“So, how old are you anyway?I mean, not that you’re old looking or anything.”My cheeks heated, and I cringed even as the words slipped past my lips.Smooth, Meghan, real smooth.

“I’m not immortal, but half-breeds like me have a lifespan that’s multiple times as long as mortal humans.Let’s just say that I’m old enough to be your father.”

He sure didn’t look like it to me, none of my friends’ dads were hot like him.Not that I had a thing for daddy types.It must have been those vampire genes.Leo looked no older than twenty-five at most.

“And before you ask, because I know you will, I do drink blood, but I also like food, just like you.Unlike full-blooded vampires, I can go out into the sun.I sunburn quickly, like a pale redhead, but worse.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad, you’re like a regular person, but you get to stay young for decades.”

Leo scoffed.“Living for so long isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

“Right.”I guess it must suck to watch the world change and people die while you stayed the same.“I’m sorry.You said earlier that your father was human, so he must have passed away.”

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