Page 99 of Love Bleeds

What was that supposed to mean?

"Your brother got some mad skills," Aldrich clarified. "You think you can pull off something like that?"

"He would likely have to drink blood to be more effective," Talon said.

Drink blood? Me? I looked between the two vampires. Letting someone else drinkmyblood had been a big step for me, but drinking blood myself?

No way. Puck hadn’t mentioned that I would need to drink blood!

Unless he assumed that went without saying?

"I'm not a vampire," I reminded myself and everyone else.

"Neither is Collin," Talon said.

He had a point there, but still... My lips pressed into a thin line at the thought of ingesting blood. My stomach churned.

And then, there was no more time to think.

"Did you hear that?" Aldrich asked, turning to Talon. "I think we have guests."

"Let's welcome them, then," the other vampire responded.

"I've got knives in the kitchen." Aldrich led the way out of the bedroom. All of us followed. I hadn't heard anything, but the vampires probably had keener senses than I did.

Aldrich and Talon both grabbed large knives, with blades larger than their hands.

I swallowed.

Were we really going to fight off a horde of vampires with knives?

Something I should have thought aboutbeforeI offered Crimson my blood and put us on the radar. If we were going to get slaughtered here, it would all be my fault. I glanced at the fridge, which was giving up a low hum from the corner of the kitchen. Was that where Aldrich kept his blood supplies?

Crimson stood by my side as Talon and Aldrich positioned themselves at either side of the door to the apartment. I dug in my pocket for my stake, then I handed it to Crimson.

"Keep it for yourself," he said.

"I'm not fast enough to get it into a vampire anyway. I have these." I held up the small flash grenades.

"It'll be okay," Crimson said. "I'll protect you."

"You don't--" I wanted to tell him that he didn't need to protect me, but I never got the words out. Someone’s foot smashed through the door, splintering the wood with a noise that made me want to cover my ears.

Two people came through. Vampires. A tall one who looked like he went to the gym three times a day, every day, and a shorter one who looked like he spent the same amount of time alternating between McDonald's and KFC instead. Looks could be deceiving, though. Especially when it came to paranormal creatures. I didn't want to fight with either of them.

Aldrich and Talon both attacked the moment the intruders showed their faces, but their enemies were just as fast as them, and they'd obviously expected resistance.

Before Aldrich's knife could sink into the neck of the short one, he transformed into a dog. Not a cute little dog, though, an angry dog. A big and angry dog.

"Shit, I hate mutts," I heard Aldrich mutter before he turned into a clawed creature himself. This one, I'd seen before. Aldrich's animal form was a small leopard. Or, not a leopard, but I could never remember what those cats were called specifically. I watched it jump at the dog with a hiss.

Meanwhile, Talon was grappling with the bodybuilder.

Thatdidn't look like an even fight.

Crimson moved to aid Talon with the stake I'd pushed on him.

And I?