“No. He wasn’t. Not for human ears.” Absently, he touched the chain at his neck. “How’s your vision?”

She glanced around. “Huh. There are no lights on but I can see everything, like there’s a soft glow in the room. Well, Kiernan warned me that I might siphon some of your powers. I guess your hearing and being able to see in the dark are coming along nicely for me.”

“You want the chains off? Hardesty isn’t the only one who can do it.”

“You mentioned that before, but the truth is as much as I’d love to be rid of this unwelcome connection to you, I want to fulfill my mission more. To get the extinction weapon, then to get the hell out of your world.”

He felt it again, something she held back, something big. “What’s going on, Lily? What aren’t you telling me?”

She shifted her gaze back to him, more glaring. “None of your goddamn business, vampire. Need-to-know, remember?”

He settled his forearms on the bar and slid forward in her direction, getting up in her face. “You ever going to trust me?”

Her eyes widened. “Hell, no. You’re a vampire. You going to trust me?”

He snorted and drew back. “Not in a million years.”

“I’ll be dead in about sixty, so it would never really be an issue for you, even if we were stuck for life.”

“No, I guess not.” He leaned back. He felt a tremor go through him, and his stomach cramped, so he turned away from the bar.

Shit, he’d be needing blood again soon. The starvation level demanded that he refill several times in the coming hours. Once his body had gotten a taste, and knew a supply was near, the cravings would demand replenishment often, especially given current stress levels.

He drew air in through his nose and shuddered. He could smell her blood now, maybe because of the chains they shared, maybe because he’d taken a hit so recently. And she could donate again. Her complexion had warmed up.

He sipped his wine and stared at her over the rim of the glass.

“What’s going on?”

“I’ll need blood again soon.”

“What? But you just had some.”

“It’s a result of starvation and nothing I can help.”

She put a hand to her throat, her gaze shifting around, almost frantic. “But I just gave you some blood. You’ll end up depleting my supply, probably killing me.”

“That won’t happen.” Should he tell her the truth, what he’d already done to her, that his kind had the ability to prompt speedy blood reproduction by releasing chemicals into his donor’s vein?

“You’re not the one giving it up. How do you know?”

He just looked at her.

She sought his gaze, scowling. “You’re able to build up my supply, aren’t you?”

He waited for a moment, then nodded.

She snorted. “I’m your blood cow, is that it?”

“If the vein fits, human.”

“Not gonna happen a second time tonight.”

“Fine. I’ll get a donor over here.”

“Looks like you’d better.”

He made his phone call.

While he waited for the donor to arrive, Lily sat on her stool staring straight ahead. Her jaw moved a few times, but she said nothing.

He felt the tension in her like a slow crawl over the surface of his skin, and beneath that tension her desire for him. He stayed put as well, waiting for the knock on his front door, the chain almost a thump against his neck.

When the donor arrived, Adrien headed toward the door to let her in, forgetting again the short leash he was on.

When he reached the middle of the living room, he halted mid-stride as the chain pulled on him. He didn’t look back at Lily; he was too aggravated by the whole situation.

He heard her slide off the stool, then the sound of her shoes on the hardwood floor. He crossed to the door and looked through the peephole. He extended his senses, seeking anything in the hall that might be out of the ordinary, but he saw only a woman he’d used a dozen times in the past.

Maybe he shouldn’t have called this particular female, but Lily had caused rage to flood his head.

He opened the door and the vampire-donor, a professional by the name of Night Candy with a high price tag, entered his house, levitated into the air, and threw herself around him so that his face was buried between her large and suddenly very bare breasts.

“Adrien, my love. How I’ve missed you. I couldn’t believe it when I got your call. How long have you been out of jail?”

Several things happened at once.

His blood-hunger rose to a maddening level.

His cock responded.

He started to throw Night Candy on her back, but movement in the air stopped him.

A shrieking sounded from two female voices at once since Lily had landed on Night Candy’s back.

And from all the unexpected movement, Adrien fell on his ass.

He stared up as mad midair whirling ensued, Lily hissing in a strangely vampire way, Night Candy grabbing at her arms while screaming and spinning.

Adrien feared that the human would get hurt once Night Candy got serious about the catfight. One hard vampire slam against a wall and Lily would be dead.

Just as Night Candy threw her arms wide and started to launch backward, Adrien whipped into the air, grabbed Lily, and pulled her off the woman.

He hovered above the floor, holding Lily in a tight grip as she flailed, arms and legs thrashing wildly. “I’ll strangle her. Let me go, Adrien. I’ll kill her for touching you like that!”

By now Night Candy stood by the door, shaking as she put her top back on. Her red wig was askew so that her fake hair covered one eye. “What gives, Adrien? Oh, my God, she’s bound to you. What the hell did you call me for when you’ve basically got your own permanent donor?”

Lily had started to settle down, though she released a hiss now and then. “Sorry, Candy, my sweet. Send me the bill, double the usual fee, but you’d better leave. She’s winding up again.”

Night Candy smirked. “’Cuz you called me ‘my sweet.’” She laughed as she blew him a kiss. “Au revoir, my sweet.”

As soon as the door closed, Adrien crossed the room with Lily now hanging from his arms, still facing away from him, and panting hard. He reset the alarm then turned to lean his back against the door.

This was not what he’d expected. He’d thought to punish Lily a little; instead he’d set off some kind of crisis that involved Lily taking on more of a vampire persona than he would have ever predicted.

She’d acted like a jealous girlfriend, ready to fight any woman who dared to get near her man. Very vampire.

And the whole damn thing turned him. He looked down at the back of her head and knew exactly what he was going to do. “You’d better get ready for me, human.” 

Lily sat on the floor, her body on fire. Heat coursed through her veins, and her temple throbbed. She couldn’t blink. She could only sit and stare at nothing, her body a cauldron, her vein thumping in her neck as though, despite every human protest her mind threw at her, nothing mattered right now, not one damn thing, except feeding Adrien, in any way he needed to be fed.

He grabbed her beneath her arms and jerked her to her feet, then whirled her to face him. He started ripping her clothes off.

She grunted and helped, tearing at his shirt and sinking her teeth into his shoulder as he worked his pants down.

Once they were both sufficiently undressed, he pushed her up against the wall, shoved her legs wide, then penetrated her. She took him in, as hungry as he was, needing him deep, needing the sex, and needing it now.

He thrust to seat himself and once he fit inside her, she bared her neck. He licked the skin over her vein in long, wet sensual swipes. She didn’t think she could ache more than she did right now.

“Do it.”

He ground his hips against her and she groaned.

His fangs struck, and he drank her down while he thrust into her, moving his hips faster and faster as he sucked on her neck. His speed, vampire-fast, caused her to cry out. She threw her arms around his neck and held on as ecstasy grabbed her and took her on a ride, her body writhing against his, pleasure sweeping through and taking her into the stratosphere.