chapter eight

The air was ripe with cologne, perfume, musk, and body odor, which made my nose scrunch in disgust. I didn’t like hunting in this club, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, especially since I had let myself go for so long without a feeding. I just needed to find someone who didn’t make me want to gag so I could get myself out of here. Spying a tiny brunette with smooth skin and a loud heartbeat, I approached her.

“I noticed you from over there.” I gestured in a direction absentmindedly while keeping my eyes locked on hers. “I need to introduce myself because I couldn’t go a second longer without knowing your name.”

“Isabel,” she said breathlessly. Her hair tumbled in waves, framing her face, and spilled stylishly on her shoulders. Her eyes were chocolate brown, and if I were any other man, I probably would be highly attracted to her. However, she was just like every other human here. Prey. Weak. Not worthy.

I would be with a donor right now if it weren’t for my pride. I was in the city for a meeting with the vampire royalty. Once a year, we traveled to meet with our country’s royalty to ensure they knew our proper numbers. We shared information on any childe we created and any coven changes when we met them.

This year was no different from any other year for my report. I had not taken a mate, joined a coven, or created a childe. However, I had to watch my previous lover, Savannah, cozying up with her new mate. If it wasn’t for that bitch I would be enjoying excellent donor blood in the convenience of my hotel. But instead, I had to show that I was fine by mentioning I was going out to hunt, and others decided to join me. So here I was, surrounded by vile humans.

“Isabel, I want to take you home. Is all right with you?” I purred, and she immediately nodded her head in agreement. I led her out of the club with my hand on her lower back.

I had to hide my smirk at her still-stunned expression. It’s been a while since I’d hunted like this, but I still got it.

She smelt delectable, not the most delicious scent I’d ever had, but it would definitely do the job. I probably would have gotten away with feeding in the club bathroom, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so tonight. I wanted to enjoy this, and if I had to watch my back to ensure no human could see what I was doing, I would not be relaxed. Especially since I knew after I was through with my prey, someone would think I drugged the poor thing.

She led me to her beat-up Honda that was full of trash in the backseat, and she didn’t even seem that embarrassed about it. She was dazed as she pulled out of the parking lot, which made me frown. Maybe I laid it on too thick. Perhaps I needed to dial it back because if she got in a car accident, feeding would be the last thing on my mind.

So, leaning further away from her, I opened the window to allow her some fresh air to help clear her head. When I could feel her body relax more into her seat and hear a slight sigh of relief, I leaned towards her again and placed my hand on her thigh so she wouldn’t be entirely out of my thrall. She let out a moan, and if I was any other man, that would go straight to my dick, but she wasn’t my type.

She pulled up to a relatively lovely two-family house and was quick to stumble her way out of the car, looking sultrily behind herself at me like she was trying to tempt me to come forth. I licked my lip as the pulse in her neck thumped wildly in response to her lust.

Oh yeah, I was feasting tonight.

Upon entering the house, I noted if there was any other living person, and to my pleasure, there was not. Some scents were saturated in the fabrics, so she either had the same people come over often or she had roommates, but luckily, they were not here now. I pushed against her back, making her giggle breathlessly, and she grabbed my hand to lead me further into the house.

She stopped suddenly before a closed door and turned to face me, putting her other hand on my chest. “I’m such a bad host. Would you like something to drink?”

I bit my tongue, and I could feel my gaze darken. “No, sweet thing, you are all I want to consume.” I ran my free hand over her cheek, down to her neck, to wrap my fist around it. “Is this your door?”

“Yes,” she gasped.

“Excellent,” I purred as her pulse jumped in my hand. I opened the door behind her, not letting my fist loosen around her throat, and used my grip on her to push her through the now-opened door and made sure to kick it shut behind me. Her room was much tidier than her car, which I greatly appreciated, not that I would be here for long. I was famished.

I pushed her toward the bed and forced her to topple onto the mattress. She let out a long moan, and now that she was free from my grip, she scooted up the bed before pulling off her shirt, which exposed her breasts to me. I watched as she pushed her skirt and panties down her legs, leaving only the heels on her feet. I gripped her ankles and pulled her until she was just at the edge of the bed, then pushed her legs open so I could settle in between them before claiming her lips into a kiss.

She immediately grasped me around my shoulders before snaking her hands up my shirt to stroke my back, then tugged at it as if she was trying to take it off my body. But I wasn’t here for that. I’d rather not be naked right now. When I didn’t make any moves to strip, she buried her hand into my hair, pulling my bun loose and making my hair fall all around us, shielding her from the outside while trapping her within my scent, unintentionally forcing her to go far deeper into my thrall. I pulled back to watch her pupils blow, leaving her eyes completely dark and her cheeks flushed. She was entirely in my grasp now.

“Such a good girl you are.” I grabbed her chin and turned her head to the side to bare her neck to me and show off the deliciously pulsing vein. I licked a long strip up the salty skin, feeling her moan vibrate against my tongue before biting it and taking a long pull in, enjoying the spicy taste of her lifeblood. Unlike most fiction vampires, we didn’t need to kill to feed. We could, but it was unnecessary to feed thoroughly as long as we fed more often.

When I got my fill, Isabel was practically comatose in her bed. Vampire venom not only subdued but also filled the prey with pleasure to keep them as still as possible under us. Some of us liked to play with our food before taking it because pleasure made lifeblood taste divine.

I tucked her into bed and gave the bite a lick so my saliva could heal her before she woke up. She’d think that someone rocked her world rather than anything nefarious. I could already feel her blood strengthening me, making me satisfyingly full, and I could feel my chest letting out a contented purr.

I went into the bathroom I saw on my way to the bedroom to wash up before heading out. The bathroom was immaculate as if someone had disinfected it hours before, and the strong scent of cleaner made my nose itch. I paused, then reached for the soap bar next to the sink. It smelled mouthwatering.

Groaning, I put the soap bar to my nose and sucked in a deep breath. It had notes of lavender, rose, and human blood. When I pulled back to examine it, I realized that the soap maker actually used human blood to make it.

I groaned, lathered the soap in my hand, and pressed it to my face, enveloping me in the scent. Whoever made this was an artist who deserved recognition. An artist that needed to be worshiped.

My kind, once turned, was stuck in time. Never aging, never moving. Very much like a pebble in a rushing current. Time moves past us, but we are stuck there. However, there were moments when we were pushed with the current or nudged sideways just enough to plant ourselves in a new place against the current, and I found one of them. Because there was a secret: once something un-stuck us, we fixated on that thing regardless of what it was. Though this artist may not have intended to captivate a creature like me, they certainly had. They had it for life. There was nothing they could do to keep me from them now.