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Neo

The first time I saw him, he took my breath away. He’d looked across the courtyard and made eye contact with me—his brown eyes that were bright and shining with silver around the irises—and I hadn’t been able to look away. I didn’t even know his name. All I knew was that I wanted to find him again and talk to him.

That was what made me seek out Dorothy, the head bestower on the island. I wanted to offer myself up.

Dorothy stared at me for a long moment before asking, “Do you even understand what becoming a bestower entails?”

“Um… I let the vampires drink from me when they need to?” It sounded like a question, and my voice was small. Shit.

She so didn’t look impressed. “There’s more to it than that, and to be frank, I don’t think you have it in you.”

“Dorothy, stop being so cruel,” another bestower said. I was pretty sure his name was Remi.

She rolled her eyes. “He looks terrified and unsure. You and I both know that won’t fly.”

“Well, you’re pretty terrifying looking, so I don’t blame him.” Remi laughed when she smacked his arm, but then he looked at me with a smile. “Why do you want to become a bestower?”

“I want to help out.” No, I want to meet that vampire and get him to drink from me. I almost groaned out loud at the thought, but somehow managed to keep it in.

He eyed me with a tilted head. “You know we’re not looking, right? We need help in the gardens and fields more than anything.”

“I know, it’s just… I-I feel like this is where I’m supposed to be.”

Remi and Dorothy exchanged a look before she sighed. “If you’re this scared of me, your blood is going to taste sour, so I suggest you get yourself under control before we send you back.”

A small smile formed on my lips. “You’ll let me?”

“We always take donations, so I’ll get you set up,” Remi said, and I frowned.

“Donations?” Crap. That’s not what I want. “So I won’t get fed from?”

“Great, a blood junkie. We don’t want your kind here.” Dorothy was more terrifying than a damn vampire.

“Chill out, Dorothy. If you’re just looking for a high, you won’t find one here.”

“Wh-what are you talking about? What high? I thought I could help. I can’t do much on the fields because I have an old hip injury, so I thought I could be useful here. I assumed the vampires needed people to feed from, so here I am.”

“Oh, sweetie.” She was so condescending. Damn. “It doesn’t really work that way unless you’re friends with a vampire and they ask you. Most of our den have a bestower they’re faithful to.”

Remi looked at her. “Most, but not all.” He looked at me. “Let me see if anyone’s looking, and I’ll be right back.” He grinned before walking out of the courtyard.

“If you’re solely here to take advantage of any of my people, and that means any vampire, shifter, or human in my den, I’ll chop your balls off and feed them to you before I remove your head from your neck.”

“Wow, babe, when did you become so violent?” A large man walked over and put his arm over Dorothy’s shoulders, then looked at me with silver-rimmed eyes and grinned, shooting me some fang. He was a vampire, but not the one I was looking for. He leaned into her hair, and I heard him say, “It’s kinda hot when you get all protective of me.”

“Not just you, ass, everyone. Get off me before I stake you.” She shoved him off.

I thought he would get mad and hurt her, being a vamp and all, but all he did was laugh and lean back in to smack a big kiss on her cheek. Apparently, vampires weren’t the scary creatures I always thought they were. Well, not all of them. Some of them looked mean as hell.

Remi came back out, and when he saw the vampire standing with us, he made a face I couldn’t interpret. But then I saw the vampire’s face and my eyebrows lifted. He looked so happy, his pale face lit up and a huge smile spread over his face, and then he was suddenly standing in front of Remi—must’ve used his vamp speed.

Remi met the vampire’s gaze as the vamp leaned in, and when he spoke, his voice was deeper than it had been a moment ago, “I believe you owe me a round two, Remi. I’ve been looking forward to it all week.”

Remi sighed. “Why don’t you find your own bestower, Jorin?”

“You are who I want.” Jorin’s voice was dripping with so much lust and want and need, I was blushing from where I stood.

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have screwed half the population this week. I said no.”

Jorin hissed loudly, making me jump back, but all Remi did was gently push the vampire out if the way. “I need to find Jael, anyway. Let it go.”

The vampire hissed and spoke in a language I didn’t recognize before disappearing so quickly I couldn’t track him.

When Remi reached me, I asked, “Aren’t you afraid he’ll compel you and make you...?”

“Once you’ve drank enough vampire blood, it’s unlikely it would work except with older vampires, and Jorin isn’t very old. And if he did try it, he would lose his head.” Remi waved it off.

“H-how? What do you mean?”

“Dregan would never allow it to go unpunished.”

“Dregan? The Elder vampire?”

Remi’s brow furrowed as he took me in. “My den leader cares just as much for bestowers as he does for vampires. He would protect me.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” He said it with such finality, I had to believe him. “Not all vampires and dens function this way, so we’re lucky. And I know that Dregan won’t even allow any den that treats their bestowers like slaves on this island.”

I nodded because I didn’t know what to say to that. Dregan seemed scary—like, the scariest—from afar.

“If you’re fed on tonight, you have to promise me that you’ll come back here tomorrow so I can make sure you’re okay,” Remi said.

“O-okay.”

“Not because anyone will hurt you, but because there are better ways to replenish your system that you’ll need to know.”

“Okay, I’ll come back.”

“Good. There’s a vampire coming out to meet you shortly. If you two hit it off, he might take you back to his room, if not, you can donate.”

“B-back to his room?” My cheeks flamed and my eyes went wide at the implication.

Remi and Dorothy laughed as Remi said, “To feed, Neo, not for sex. Well, unless you both want it, but that’s not part of the deal, so don’t look so terrified. But, uh, just so you know, being fed from makes you really horny.”

My cheeks flushed deeper. “I-it does?”

They laughed again. “It’s an aphrodisiac.”

I blinked in surprise and embarrassment, but then I turned and saw the vampire I’d been looking for standing a few feet away and staring at me with a hunger I’d never seen before.

“Would you like to try that out?” the vampire asked with a lust-filled voice. One that sent shivers down my spine.

Oh dear god, what have I gotten myself into?