Page 22 of Ouch! My Vampire Doms Don't Sparkle
I’d rather cook her a meal, but I’m torn between two needs.One, staying at her side.Two, soothing the rage within me by preparing food.I satisfy myself by slicing fruit and cheese and arranging them on a platter.I bring them to her with a glass of water.
“Thank you,” she says, gulping from the glass.
The wounds on her neck are livid, a brutal red from Xander’s bite.I had a part to play in all this.I could have let her sleep.He likely would’ve healed on his own…eventually.Instead, I placed my little girl in harm’s way.
“How are you feeling?”I ask, sitting on the edge of the sofa next to her.I’m ready to jump up if she needs anything else.
“Tired.My neck hurts a little.And I’m worried about Xander.Will he be okay?”
“Don’t worry about him.He’ll be up in no time.”Unless I stake him.Which is tempting.
“He seemed really out of it.”
“He was.”
She glances at me from the corner of her eye while she nibbles a peach slice.“He said some things.”
I wince.I know what he said.
“He told me he missed me.And at the end, he didn’t sayAutumn,” she says, her voice quiet.“He saidamant.”
He did.I could drain him for it.After all of his protests… I won’t lie to her, but maybe I can create doubt.“Are you certain?”
She gives me a dirty look.“I thoughtyouwere the one with the oooh-super-duper-special vampire hearing.”
“Fine.”The syllable is clipped.“You heard him right.But he was wrong.I care for you, Autumn.Deeply.But you cannot be our amant.”
“Why not?Won’t it make you more powerful so you don’t have to be afraid of this Gaius person?”
Elisabeth’s blood, spilled over the sheets, staining our mouths.The sick, sweet smell hanging in the air like a mist.Her lovely, intelligent brown eyes, staring blankly at a world beyond ours.In my memory, Elisabeth’s naked form warps and shifts.It’s replaced with Autumn’s.Elisabeth’s lifeless brown eyes transform to hazel.
I see now why Xander was so insistent we send Autumn away.
He saw this happening before I did.
“Will?”Autumn says, her voice questioning.
I have to tell her.I don’t want her to be afraid, but I can’t let her believe she’s safe if we carry forward.Tone flat, I say, “You can’t be our amant because we killed our last one.”
7
Xander
Everything hurts.It’s a full-body weakness-pain that holds me like a vise.I blink, struggling to see where I am.The hallway in our Corbin apartment?
The evening starts to come back to me.
Slashing shadows—strange vampires attacking.They leaped out of a car, grabbed me, dragged me into an alley.Blood.Pain.They were rather clinical with the entire affair, taking turns slashing me with knives.It wasn’t bloodlust driving their attack, but something else.
A directive, it turns out.
Feeling stiff where I sit, I bend my knees.My pants are unbuttoned.Come is splashed over the front of me.
Autumn.I was with Autumn.Will was here, and Autumn fed me.She slid back and forth on my dick until we both came.
Where is she now?And why did Will leave me on the floor?He could’ve carried me to my bed easily, or at least the sofa or a chair.I struggle to my feet, bracing myself against the wall as I go.Finally upright, I tug up my soiled jeans and start toward the living room.The torn fabric of my shirt flutters around my chest and shoulders.
Will and Autumn are talking quietly.As I approach, Will’s words become intelligible.
