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I m not lying, he said with an earnestness that didn t sound quite rehearsed enough to not seem
genuine. You re not caked in weird makeup or wearing all black like the rest of our customers. I d let
you bite me for free.
It was certainly a tantalizing prospect, at least to my monster side. A brief, vivid image of being crushed
beneath his hard body as I sank my teeth into his neck flashed through my mind, and I closed my eyes,
shaking my head to get rid of the picture.
So, how much do you charge? I asked, turning my mind from impure thoughts.
For what? The sex or the blood?
There will be no sex, I insisted, a little to myself, a little to him.
Come on, he pressed, sliding his hand up my arm. You can t tell me you re not bored, day after day
in the back of a van.
There was a note of neediness in his voice. This man wanted something from me. And there was only
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one thing humans wanted from vampires. To be turned.
No, I said quietly. I haven t been bored.
I d been kept awake all day by nightmares. As soon as the sun came up, my head filled with Nathan s
screams. Cyrus was out in the desert somewhere and I had to find him before his father got his hands on
him. No way was I bored.
With an exasperated sigh, I stabbed the needle into Evan s vein while he was still planning his next tactic.
And no amount of pretty talk will get you turned tonight.
My head throbbed. Physical and mental fatigue overwhelmed me. Is there a bathroom? I really need to
get the road dirt off of me.
Evan pointed the way.
I stepped into the spacious, marble bathroom and turned the taps to fill the tub. I d collect what I
needed from Evan, then pay him and kick him the hell out and take a nice, hot bath.
I leaned my forehead against the cool glass of the mirror above the sink and took a deep breath,
preparing to let my guard down and open the blood tie. As soon as I did, Nathan was there, angry and
screaming as he had been for the last few days. But there was another presence, too, one I hadn t felt
since the night Nathan had poured his blood down my throat while I was unconscious.
This has to be a mistake.
The steam from the running water became horrendously oppressive, and I struggled to drag in breath out
of habit. I wiped my damp hair from my forehead with a trembling hand. If it wasn t a mistake, it had
been a punishment meted out by the cruelest of fates.
The sound of him, a single heart beating in his human chest, almost drowned out the sound of Nathan s
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agony as my two sires fought for dominance in my mind.
I gripped the edge of the marble countertop so hard I expected to leave gouges in the stone. When I
exhaled, a single word exploded from my mouth.
Cyrus.
Then, I was falling, and I didn t feel it when I hit the ground.
Chapter 11 - Connections
This time, when he woke, he was careful not to disturb Mouse. He didn t want to have to explain to her
about Carrie, and why he could still feel her.
Because he didn t have the answer himself.
Trembling, he went to stand beneath the small, high window. The moon was full, filling the basement with
an eerie slash of light. Upstairs, the heavy footsteps he d learned not to hear shook the floor.
In the past few days, he d almost forgotten he d been like them. Carrie s voice in his dream had
reminded him. He d heard her in his water-colored memories in the shadow world. They d inspired a
feeling as close to anger as he d been capable of then. It had really been more of a passing annoyance.
When he d been pulled back, he d been enraged at the thought of her. The one who got away, some
would say, though it wasn t with fond nostalgia in his case.
But now, he couldn t conjure even a speck of hatred for her. It was too tiring to be consumed so fully by
an emotion, and he was finished wasting time.
Maybe that s why he d heard her calling his name. Perhaps his subconscious had been giving him some
sort of signal. After all, the school of dream interpretation couldn t be complete bullshit.
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Things were never that simple. In all his life, never once had something turned out to his advantage, and
he was sure this would be no different. The dream was a warning. He would meet her again.
The thought of Carrie, who could not love him when he d been at the height of his power and influence,
seeing him in his human shell didn t rankle the way it should have. Humanity had a few advantages. One
being companionship. As a vampire, he wouldn t have tolerated the company of someone like Mouse.
He d wanted ones who would do anything to be with him. Though timid, Mouse had a quiet dignity. She
wasn t as outspoken and abrasive as Carrie had been qualities Cyrus had truly admired at the time.
Mouse had settled into their bizarre circumstances gradually, and every day a little more of what he
assumed was her original personality surfaced.
He was going to have to stop calling her Mouse. But he certainly wasn t going to start calling her Stacey.
She d gone to sleep with wet hair, much to his annoyance, but now it curled softly around her face. The
fact that she slept so soundly in his presence gave him a little hope for himself. She trusted him to protect
her from the monsters. From himself.
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