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

She had a hooked nose and a no-nonsense expression. “I have a class in five minutes, so this needs to be quick,” she said.

Kyla did her best to explain what we knew so far, and the woman listened, then nodded when she was finished. “They’ll be in Westwick. It’s a manor estate in the countryside much like this one. They use it as a home base, interrogation center, feeding reserve, and various other purposes. If they’re keeping prisoners, that’s where they would most likely be.”

“I thought nobody left the cleaners,” Riggs said.

The woman crossed her arms, giving him a dirty look. “They believe I’m dead. And I’d prefer it stay that way.”

We left the classroom and headed out to get Riggs’ truck while Kyla detoured to ask permission to leave. She apparently taught one of the classes at Blackridge, but she was already jogging to meet up with us by the time Riggs had the truck’s engine going.

“Wait,” I said. “I need to go get Gravy Boat.”

Riggs pointed, looking annoyed.

I followed his finger and saw the hairless form of Gravy Boat slinking into the truck. He crawled right into Riggs lap, circled, and laid down. Riggs didn’t even bother trying to argue with the cat this time.

I scratched Gravy Boat’s ears. “You’re smarter than you look.”

“Ugly, though,” Riggs added, because he had to insult the cat to make it seem like he wasn’t enjoying the cuddles.

“Is this safe? It’s already…” I checked the dashboard. “One in the morning. What happens when the sun comes up?”

“We’ll find a place to shelter when that happens,” Riggs said.

Kyla nodded. “You don’t want to get caught in the sunlight. Very few vampires can tolerate it, and even those are weakened significantly. It’s not the sort of thing you want to test, though.”

“Will I burst into flames or something?” I asked.

“Our condition is in your blood. It’s a transformation, and sunlight breaks the bonds that cause it. Your body is reconstituting itself to feed on blood. It bypasses your digestive system. It’s more like photosynthesis or solar power. Minus the sun,” she added with a grin.

“So I pull energy from the blood I feed on?”

“From any blood,” Kyla said. “But your body converts it into a new kind of cell, which breaks down in the sunlight. Too much exposure and, well…”

I nodded. “No sunlight. Got it.”

Riggs was already driving with his trademark recklessness. We nearly ran over several vampires by the time we got off the campus.

“Were you aiming for them?” I asked, clutching the dashboard.

“No comment,” Riggs said.

Kyla made a clicking noise of disappointment, and Riggs grinned. “That was a joke.”

“You’ve never been good at those,” Kyla said.

I chuckled. “He really isn’t, is he?”

“Don’t start teaming up on me,” Riggs said.

We all smiled briefly, and then the gravity of what we were doing seemed to settle on us at the same time. We sat in silence then with nothing but darkened road ahead of us and the grim promise of our uncertain futures.

“Are we going to get mauled to death when we show our faces to these werewolves?” I asked after a few quiet minutes.

“No,” Riggs said. “Most likely not.”

“It’s possible,” Kyla said.

Of course it was. Apparently, life with Riggs meant there was always a possibly of murder, death, capture, torture, and dismemberment. I really knew how to pick them.

38

Riggs

We had to stop at a motel before sunrise. Kyla helped me use the comforter to black out the windows and ensure the room would be safe.

Kyla slept on one bed and Sylvie climbed into the other with me. Gravy Boat was currently trying to worm his way into my sister’s arms. I saw her lift him and half toss him to the end of her bed several times, showing just as much disgust as I had towards the little beast. But he was persistent and kept trying until she gave up, falling asleep with a hairless cat ass in her face.

Little traitor. I thought I was the one you wanted to charm, I thought.

My sister being in the room unfortunately ruled out any possibility of acting on the nearly blinding urge to take Sylvie in my arms and have a repeat of our encounter back at Blackridge. Even with everything else going on, I could barely stop myself from taking her to the nearest bed, taking a fistful of her hair, and kissing her the way I knew she wanted to be kissed.

She’d worked her way into my brain like a catchy song, until I couldn’t go more than a few minutes without thinking of her. Dreaming of her. Lusting after her.

Having her small body tucked against mine wasn’t helping, but I still savored what contact I could get. I didn’t want to admit it to her, but I was terrified of what might come for us after sunset. The Silverbacks might well try to take us captive and kill us. Even if we convinced them to help, the cleaners might defeat us.

It was taking everything in my power not to selfishly take her and run somewhere they’d never come to look. But I couldn’t do it. No matter how much I wanted to protect her at any cost, Felix was like a brother to me. I couldn’t abandon him. I also couldn’t kid myself. Saving Sylvie at the cost of her sister wouldn’t accomplish anything. It’d break her fucking heart, and I suspected she’d rather die than go on knowing we’d abandoned her sister.

So the only choice was to fight. Together, at least.

“Are you scared?” Sylvie asked.

“You should be resting,” I said.

“I’m thinking about tomorrow,” she admitted. “I used to know exactly what my future held. Lots of hand sanitizer and indoor time. Now I hardly know what to expect an hour from now. It’s exciting, but scary.”

“That’s what being alive feels like,” I said. “Embrace it.”

She gave me a crooked smile, fingertips idly plucking at my shirt. “That’s some enlightened talk from the grumpiest man I’ve ever met.”

“I haven’t