Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
My lips twitched, and I stood up, surprised to find that I could.
We’d gotten carried away earlier, and Con had fed on me again, though a lot less than he had the previous time.
Though, I’d also fed from him again, which I supposed was what canceled out the blood loss on my end.
“I…”
Something flashed across Con’s face, and I sat up, clutching the sheet to my chest.
“What is it?” I whispered.
His face turned to stone.
“Fox’s sister, and my office manager, was shot in the head tonight by an overzealous zealot who thinks vampires shouldn’t be in the world.”
My mouth dropped open. “H-how do you know?” I whispered.
He stood up and reached for his shirt.
“Because Fox just ‘pathed me saying that she was about a millimeter from falling over the brink of death, and if I didn’t come now, she’d die.”
“Why does she need you?” I went to my knees.
“Because I’ve been feeding her for thirty years now.”
With that, he was gone, and I was left wondering what kind of relationship Con and some woman I’d never met before had that he’d been feeding her for thirty years. A relationship that warranted an immediate exit of the man who’d just warmed my bed not five minutes before.
A man that didn’t come back.
• • •
CONSTANTINE
“It’ll be better for us both if we stay away from them,” Fox informed me. “I don’t want to stay away from my sister, but I don’t know what else to do.”
I gritted my teeth and turned to face Abraham. “You’re in agreement with this, too?”
He nodded once.
I turned my eyes to Pavlov. “And you?”
His mouth worked, but he gave a quick, firm nod, letting me know that he agreed as well.
It was unanimous.
“What about the humans that work in the office?” Fox asked.
I went to the desk where Chen, who I might add I was unbelievably happy to have back in his old position, had left some papers there.
“According to my information, we only have four other humans working at this location,” I said. “The rest work for the blood bank itself, and since we’ve been so careful to keep the connection between the two companies separate, I don’t see any reason why we should be concerned that they would be connected to us in any way.”
Too bad I was wrong on both accounts.
CHAPTER 14
Men suck. Even worse when they suck when they’re sucking.
-Keisha to Acadia
ACADIA
“Is there any possibility you could be pregnant?” the woman asked.
A shot of adrenaline poured into my veins.
“Um, not that I know of.”
I was on birth control, after all.
That didn’t mean that it was a hundred percent effective, though, my inner voice countered.
I told my inner voice to suck it.
“No,” I said more firmly. “There’s not.”
Not if you don’t count that time that that vampire came inside of you…
I tightened my fists, allowing my nails to dig into the sensitive skin of my palm, and watched as the woman took out a glass thingamajig and placed it onto the white paper towel she’d laid out on the counter.
The next thing she did was pull out an alcohol swab and start to clean my finger for the thirty seconds they were required by law to do.
Once finished, she pricked my finger, wiped the blood with the towel underneath my hand, and then set the glass vial to my finger and collected the sample that she used to check my iron.
Once finished, she placed the Band-Aid overly tight on my finger and shoved the glass vial into the little red machine.
The machine beeped, and she made happy noises. “Good, let’s go.”
She was gone before I could ask what the number was, racing toward the chair that I hated.
“I want to do it left-handed,” I told her, pointing at the other chair.
She huffed but allowed me to use the one I wanted without too much grumbling.
Another woman joined the first, both working in companionable silence as they got the miles and miles of tube figured out and untangled from the little bag.
I watched the TV, which was on a soap opera that I hadn’t watched in years, and waited for them to get ready.
It didn’t take long with two of them, and it wasn’t but seconds later that the original lady was sitting on her stool, huge cotton ball stick covered in alcohol swiping uncomfortably at my skin.
“Don’t bend your elbow,” she ordered as she reached for the needle.
I rolled my eyes.
I was here religiously every six weeks, and the woman had taken my blood every other time for the last six months.
I knew not to bend my arm, just like I knew that I couldn’t lift anything heavy with the arm I gave blood in for at least twelve hours. Or that I couldn’t do any strenuous activity for at least twenty-four hours after.
“Yes, ma’am.” I sighed, wondering if I had time to go to the Dollar Store after this and get a Coke before I was due back to work.