Page 5 of Love Bleeds

Now, the memory made him shudder.

Almost as much as the thought of Nicolai having access to his mind, even if it was only to speak to him.

Crimson's attention snapped back to the present when the door to his room opened.

A vampire Crimson had never seen before stepped in. He was shorter than Crimson, with a leaner frame, nearly white blond hair and shockingly blue eyes. There was no question in Crimson's mind as to why Nicolai had picked this kid to be his first victim. His jaw clenched as disgust made his stomach roll.

"You wanted to see me, sire?"

"I wanted you to meet your new brother."

Silas's eyes darted to Crimson, taking notice of him for the first time. For the most part, his expression remained neutral, but for a second, a flicker of uncertainty crossed his features. "You're Crimson?" he asked.

So Silas had heard of him, then.

Crimson nodded.

"It's nice to meet you," Silas said, but again, he sounded uncertain.

Crimson couldn't help but wonder how old he really was. He looked no older than nineteen, maybe twenty, but there was no way to tell how long he'd been a vampire. Crimson wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Their sire spoke before Crimson could respond to Silas.

"Come here," he said to Silas, gesturing with his hand.

Silas didn't hesitate. He approached their sire and, without prompting, kneeled before him as if he'd accepted the floor by Nicolai's shoes as his rightful place in the world a long time ago.

Nicolai rested his hand in the younger vampire's silvery blond hair. "Do you remember your first couple of weeks as a vampire?"

Silas's looked up at Nicolai. "I remember."

"Do you remember how much easier things became for you when you accepted your new role as a vampire, as my child?"

"Of course." He lowered his head.

Crimson watched the pair with his stomach in knots. He'd always known that his sire was on a weird sort of power trip, but seeing him with Silas gave him a whole new perspective on the mess he was in. Especially since Silas didn't seem to think there was anything unnatural about the way he behaved.

Did Nicolai seriously expect Crimson to like that too, one day?

Before Crimson could give the problem any further thought, Nicolai moved again, this time to the fridge in the corner of the room. He took a bottle out of it.

Blood.

Crimson licked his lips before he could stop himself. He'd fed earlier that night, but still, the sight of blood always made him at least a little hungry.

To Crimson's surprise, Nicolai handed the bottle to him. It had a purple label, which was a little bit odd because the bottles Nicolai usually gave him didn’t have any labels at all.

"Drink," Nicolai said. "If you can't finish this, you're not getting any other blood until the end of the week."

What sort of threat was that? Crimson wouldn't have any problem emptying the bottle.

At least, that was what he thought until he raised it to his lips and noticed the unusual smell coming off it. Usually, blood smelled sweet, calling out to his instincts, tempting him to drink as much as he could. This, though? This smelled foul. Involuntarily, he wrinkled his nose.

"I'm waiting," Nicolai reminded him.

"I think this has gone bad."

"I promise you it's exactly the way it's meant to be."