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She nods as if this confirms a theory. “They let us go later. I drove us in your car. You were not yourself.”

“What happened?” I ask, though part of me doesn’t want to know. “Was I…did I transform?”

“No,” she says, and I exhale loudly. “Almost, but no.” She stubs out her cigarette and moves to sit on the edge of the bed, careful to maintain distance between us. “What do you remember?”

I close my eyes, trying to sort through the disjointed images floating in my mind. “A woman, this brunette, she seemed familiar somehow. She told me she knew things about Elizabeth Short. She got in my car. We drove to a mansion in the hills. There was a pool party. A blonde. And then you.”

A hot wash of need comes over me as I remember the rest in fuzzy detail. The blonde going down on Lena, the brunette sucking my dick. The way we came, staring into each other’seyes, the hottest thing I’d ever seen. Then we fucked…with both of them watching, touching, egging us on as if…as if…

“Did you get a name?” I ask, my memories still too sluggish. “Who were they?”

“You don’t know? Katya and Tatiana Ivanov.”

“Ivanov?” The name sends a chill through me. “You’re sure?”

“As sure as I can be.” She inches back on the bed and pulls her knees to her chest, suddenly looking vulnerable despite the strength I know she possesses. “Their compelling abilities are stronger than anything I’ve encountered. Even now, I can’t remember their faces clearly. But I remember their names.”

I reach for memories that slip away like mist. “They drugged us somehow. Or used some kind of vampire mind control.”

“Both, I think. There was something in the drinks they gave us. And the blonde one—she has power.” Lena’s voice drops to a whisper. “They wanted you for something. Or maybe me. It was hard to tell what they wanted, to be honest.”

The blonde woman’s face swims into focus in my memory—piercing eyes, platinum hair styled like Veronica Lake’s, and one long purple-painted fingernail drawing blood from Lena’s neck. My stomach turns as I remember tasting that blood, the way it had awakened something primal inside me.

“I almost lost control,” I admit slowly. “When I tasted your blood?—”

“I know.” Her eyes meet mine, steady and unflinching. “I felt it happen. Felt you start to change.” She pauses, a flush appearing on her cheeks. “In case you didn’t know, your dick actually gets bigger.”

I swallow down that new piece of information. “But why didn’t I? Complete the transition, I mean.”

“I don’t know. It seemed like you didn’t want to, that you were holding on. Maybe it was willpower. Maybe they gave you something to suppress it. They seemed to be experimentingwith you, like they were trying to trigger your vampire side but control when and how it happened.” She hesitates. “Callahan, they know you’re a vampire. That much was clear. Perhaps they’ve always known.”

I swing my legs over the side of the bed, discovering I’m wearing only my briefs. The room spins momentarily, then steadies. “If the Ivanovs are the Europeans from Elizabeth’s diary, that means they’re connected to the murders. To the ritual killings.”

“Yes.”

“Why did they take us there? Take us both there?”

She shakes her head, trailing her slender fingers over the sheets. “I don’t know. I keep trying to figure it out. Maybe they wanted to find out how much we knew about their involvement. Maybe they tried to do something to influence us to drop the case, compel us to follow another lead. Obviously that didn’t work or we wouldn’t be talking about it.”

“And why make us fuck each other like that?”

I know I don’t mince words with Lena but her cheeks still go pink. “Because they’re vampires. That pool party was probably one big orgy. We’re hyper-sexual beings. Sex is as easy and common as drinking blood. Fucking is our currency.”

I have to admit, even though I saw the Ivanovs all over her, even though the sight turned me on beyond belief, I did feel a pang of jealousy in that I had to share her with them. Now, I’m jealous that Lena has lived a life like that before me.

I clear my throat. “And have you taken part in those…events…before?”

“Me?” she asks, her lips twisting into a smile. “Victor. I’ve never even slept with a vampire before.”

I feel my brows raise. “You haven’t?” I ask, feeling a rush of hope, followed by a deeper need to claim.

“Not until you,” she says.

“But that’s not really fair. I don’t remember screwing you when I was fully vampire.”

She shrugs, my shirt slipping down her shoulder, her bare pale skin singing to me. “Well, you’ll just have to believe me when I say you enjoyed it.”

Heat builds through me and my words come out almost in a growl. “And has any man made you come with just their mouth?”