Page 82

It took all of Julian’s control to remain impassive, act cool and unaffected. He didn’t need to give the Hunters any more fuel to use against him. Without another word, he slid into the back seat. A Hunter followed him while another took the front seat. He wondered if the Hunter next to him had drawn the short straw, forcing him into such close proximity to Julian.

“Take off your shirt,” said the Hunter up front. The one next to Julian reached down to a box, and something jingled.

Julian did as he was told, knowing what was coming next.

When the Hunter sat up again, he was holding silver chains.

“Lift your arm.”

Julian complied and held himself still while the Hunter wrapped the chains tight around him. He didn’t let them see just how much the silver hurt him, even though his skin had blistered and peeled where the metal touched it.

After he finished with the chains, the Hunter opened another box containing empty blood bags and tools for blood transfusions. Dmitri was smarter than Julian gave him credit for. The Hunter worked with quiet efficiency, tying the rubber band around Julian’s upper arm. He took out the needle connected to an empty IV bag and inserted it into Julian’s arm. A heartbeat later, the needle and the tube turned red.

Though Julian had fed beforehand, between the silver and the bloodletting, his strength flagged. The car moved only after they’d drawn two bags of blood from him.

Julian waited, unmoving, as they left Vegas behind. With the sunrise imminent, dark screens rolled over all the windows except the front and a sliver of the back window. The effect of the sun was instantaneous; it was only a matter of time before he lost control.

They might think they were taming him, drawing his blood and restraining him in chains, but they didn’t know how dangerous a game they played trying to tame him. As Julian lost more and more blood, as his body used up more and more energy healing the damage from the silver, the humans’ heartbeat grew louder and louder, the flow of blood in their veins a rushing river to Julian’s ears.

Blood,his vampire whispered.Need blood.

When the Hunter leaned down to switch the IV to another bag, exposing his neck, Julian’s fangs dropped, and he lunged at the human.

The Hunter shouted in alarm, jumping back barely in time so that the fangs only grazed his neck. At the brief taste of blood, Julian’s mind blanked. Hunger took over. The need for blood consumed him.

“Shit!” The Hunter scrambled as far back as possible and fumbled for his gun.

A ringing shot. A minor ache. Julian snapped his teeth at his prey. His body must’ve been weaker than he thought, for he could not break out of the heavy chains.

The prey kicked him in the chest, holding him away.

Feed. Must feed.

Need blood. So close.He could almost taste it.

“Stop! Stop, or we kill Leah!”

Leah.

The name penetrated the madness.

Julian leaped back from the human’s throat and stopped breathing to clear their scent. Hunger was a living, greedy monster, raking his insides to pieces. He tamped it down with the same ruthlessness he governed Vegas. He laughed when the Hunter pointed a gun at him with shaky arms.

“You don’t need that.” Julian looked at the gun. “It won’t stop me.”

“Fuck that! Fuck Dmitri. I’ll kill you.”

“Don’t make me shoot you.” The one in front put a hand over the gun and added, “Take more.”

“I’m not going anywhere near him!”

“If you draw more blood,” Julian enunciated each word slowly, his breathing heavy, “the next time I lose control, threatening Leah won’t stop me.”

The Hunter took a moment to consider Julian’s words and nodded. “Fine. We’ll stop, but if you do anything like that again, wewillkill Leah.”

Julian flashed his fangs. “Then you'd better kill me first.”

Resting against the door, he conserved his energy as best as he could. At least the bloodletting was over. The chains were still around him, sapping his strength. His skin no longer healed as soon as it burned.