I Bite She Sucks, Bloom, Penelope [recommended reading TXT] 📗

I took a few shaky breaths, not daring to look back toward Riggs and see if he'd noticed. It felt like someone had taken a ball of ice and shoved it into my stomach. Creeping cold was spreading to every inch of my body until all my hairs stood on end.

My sister was turning into a vampire. She wasn't sick. Not with any normal virus, at least. She was turning into a freaking vampire in the middle of a werewolf den full of superhuman creatures who hated vampires with a raging passion.

Best case scenario, Riggs would throw us out once he realized, and now that I was taking a real look at Maisey, I knew it wouldn't be long before he realized. Worst case scenario, he'd gut us on the spot.

Shit.

Somehow, I needed to find a way to get both of us out of here without Riggs noticing. That, or I needed to blindly hope Riggs would decide to keep protecting us, even when he found out.

14

Riggs

I had no idea what to do.

I was harboring a fucking vampling in The Wet Flea. I walked the hallway outside our room, running my hands through my hair. I could still fix this if I wanted to. It'd only take an explanation about how the vamp blood had masked the weak scent Maisey was giving off.

But I wasn't prepared to sacrifice Sylvie.

Felix and Fang had been down getting dinner. Felix was the first to return.

He came toward me through the hallway, then hesitated when he saw the look on my face. "What happened?" he asked.

"There has been a small complication."

"You mean how the older one is turning?"

Shit. He already knew? I really was slipping if Felix had caught on before I had.

"When did you know?" I asked.

"As soon as I smelled her. I thought you knew already."

"Already knew? Fuck, no. I don't protect vamps. I don't work for vamps."

"Until now," Felix corrected.

I clenched my fists. I wanted to punch his smug ass in the mouth, but he was right. "So what are you going to do?"

Felix spread his hands. "What I've been doing. Help my dumbass partner get himself out of his latest mess. It'll be like old times."

"You shouldn't get involved. This could get both of us cast out from the pack. Hell, we'd be lucky if that was all."

"In other words, it'll be about as risky as all the shit you used to drag me into?"

I grinned, then reached out and shook his hand. Felix gave mine a squeeze, then slapped my arm.

Fang came upon us at that moment, tilting his head. "What are we agreeing to, bros?"

"This is where your help is no longer needed, Fang. Why don't you go get as much as you can drink. It's on me."

"Oh, no, no," Fang said. "Whatever it is, Fang’s in. Bros don't bail on bros."

"We're not-"

"The older sister is turning into a vamp," Felix explained.

Fang pursed his lips in thought, then nodded vigorously. "Spicy. We're in. Hell yeah, I’m in. This is going to get messy, isn't it? So which one of us is going to go all taboo and let her feed on us?”

I tensed. Fang was right. We needed to get Maisey fed or she'd go feral. I'd seen it before. The only choice if that happened would be to put her down, and that wasn't an option. Sylvie would never let it go.

“That would be a bad idea,” Felix said. “If she’s already that hungry, she’s just as likely to drunk us dry. Can’t trust a hungry vamp to limit themselves. She’d definitely kill the sister. We need vampires with experience to walk her through the first feeding or she’ll get someone killed. Simple as that.”

"You all wait out here, I'm going to talk to the girls," I said.

When I entered the room, I found Sylvie hunched over Maisey. She was grunting with the effort of lifting her sister from the chair and both girls looked like they were about to fall over.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded. "Get back in bed."

"Stay back!" Sylvie said. She was holding a spoon out at me like it was a weapon. "This is pure silver. I swear to God I'll use it if you try to touch us."

I had to fight to stop from smiling. Pure silver? It was the spoon I'd given her to eat the soup. And I knew damn well The Wet Flea did not carry silver. Not because werewolves had a weakness, but because it was expensive.

"The silver thing is a myth. A couple werewolves a long time ago had skin allergies and silver was an irritant. That's all."

She swung the spoon through the air like the world's lamest sword, taking a step back with her half-conscious sister clinging to her to stand. "Nice try. Stay back."

"I know what she's becoming," I said. "And the only way you're both going to survive is with my help. So you can take your little spoon and try to stop all the howlers in the bar from tearing your sister to shreds when they pick up her scent, or you can let me help you. Your choice."

Sylvie glared, still pointing the spoon at me. She looked so tiny and frail, but I had no doubt she'd take a swing at me with the little spoon just like she had with the baseball bat if I came closer.

"Why would you help us? You said it yourself. Werewolves hate vampires."

"I said I'd protect you, and that's what I'm going to do. Also, fuck Lazarus. If letting one vampire get loose means wiping the smug look off his face, then I can bear it."

She finally let the spoon fall a little. "You'll really help us?"

"Yes. Now give me that ridiculous spoon." I stepped closer and reached out, grabbing it. I clenched my hand tight around it and then scrunched my face up in a show of agony. "Ahh! Silver!" I hissed.

Sylvie's eyes went wide with