Page 53 of B Negative

Ouch! What the hell was that?

Somehow, I was on my back, staring up at the ceiling with no idea how I got there and a goose egg on the back of my head. I examined the lump gingerly with my fingertips. No blood. No gore. But damn, did it hurt.

When I sat up, I locked eyes with Devon. “Oh shit. What did I do?” I asked, running to him. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” he said as his torn wrist healed itself.

“I told you this was a bad idea.”

“No, you were afraid you would hurt me, which, in case you couldn’t tell, you didn’t. Call me for your next meal and we’ll work out the kinks, OK?”

Work out the…?

Hold on, he wanted to come back and do this again?

But before I could double check, Devon was already halfway out the door. “See ya for dinner,” he said with a wink, and closed the door.

I did not understand that man.

Full and satisfied, I’d been curled up on the cloud chair poring through the vampire bible for at least two hours before anyone in the mate suite so much as stirred.

Sherrie came tiptoeing into the bedroom, wiggled her fingers in greeting, and scooted off to the bathroom. I didn’t miss her awed “Oooh” as she entered the well-appointed room, either.

I went back to the bible, which, by the way, wasn’t exactly easy reading. It was almost as bad as the Christian King James Bible the preachers at my mom’s churches would recite. Lots of thous and thees and thys and stories that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

My eyes drifted to the stack of books yet to read, and I considered that I might have chosen poorly. This book, while old and enormously dusty, likely didn’t have anything useful in it.

At least, that’s what I told myself when I closed it and chose a new one entitled Supes in the Modern World.

I opened it and searched for the copyright date.

1985.

Well, that was about as modern as I could hope for with this lot. At least I didn’t have to deal with any old time-y English. There was no preface or acknowledgment section, so I started with the first chapter.

Witches, shifters, and vampires are all part of the human world and have been since the beginning of time. In this book, you’ll learn how to live with each of the supernatural creatures in harmony, in accordance with their highest laws.

Wait a second.

What the fuck did I just read?

I checked the cover, finding a subtitle I’d missed at first glance.

How To Live In The World You Didn’t Know Existed.

This was a book meant for humans! After some great coming out of all the supernaturals, which hadn’t happened.

This was exactly what I needed! I was as close to a human as a vampire could get!

Sherrie stepped out of the bathroom, a grin stretched across her whole face. “I could stay in the bathroom my whole life and be happy.”

“Girl, same.”

“Guess those are the perks of being mated to a king, though, huh?”

I shook my head. “Hers is way nicer than mine,” I said.

“Quiet. Some of us are trying to sleep in here,” Sunny grumbled.

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