Page 31 of Taste of Forever (Vampires of Sanguine #3)

I came to Pulse Point, the club I’d become so familiar with in the last couple of weeks.

All the lights were off, windows and doors shuttered tight enough so that not even a crack of sunlight could get in.

It looked abandoned, desolate. If I were seeing it for the first time now, I wouldn’t have believed that it was a lively, busy club only a few hours ago.

It looked like it had been closed down for years.

I turned in a circle, considering my options. A couple of blocks away was the blood bank. The white square building looked yellowed and aged in the morning sun. All of its lights and signage were turned off. Not a sign of life there either.

“Hmm.” I kept walking deeper in to the city, figuring I’d go a couple more blocks before hiking back to my car and driving to the nearest Starbucks.

The streets and buildings looked older as I headed into the heart of the town.

Most homes were modest, single-story attached buildings, but there were a few grander looking structures that were two or three stories tall with steep roofs, aged brick walls, and ivy climbing up the sides.

They reminded me of those classic brownstones on the east coast.

It occurred to me that I didn’t know anything about where Laith lived. He had said he was part of the ruling clan, so did he have one of these bigger, fancier homes?

I came to a small open square and scanned the surrounding buildings, wondering if Laith was inside any of them. Did he sleep in a coffin, forearms crossed over his chest? I snickered, picturing the likely offense and horror on his face if I were to ask him that.

Everything had been so still since I arrived in the vampire city that the movement in the corner of my eye nearly made me jump out of my skin.

“Oh fuck!” I gasped, my hand slapping to my chest. “You scared the hell out of me.”

A man walked through the shadows of a narrow alleyway. His gait was odd, feet dragging heavily like he was bone-tired or maybe injured.

I lowered my hand, squinting as I tried to get a better look at him. “Are you okay? Do you need help?”

He was muttering something under his breath as he shuffled closer, and I felt the first pinpricks of danger at the back of my skull.

“Wait, stop.” I stretched out my hand. “The sun’s out. Don’t come any closer! You’ll get hurt, right?”

The man emerged from the alley into the square, straight into direct sunlight.

He didn’t burst into flame, but he did look badly sunburned with red skin and blisters covering his face. His eyes were yellow and bloodshot with thick tear tracks running down his face. So maybe he wasn’t a vampire? But his mouth hung partially open and I could see the tips of fangs.

He looked dazed, unfocused. Possibly on drugs. What kind of drugs did vampires even have?

“Hey. You shouldn’t be out in the sun, right?” I injected every ounce of friendly and pleasant I could muster into my voice. Who knew what would set him off?

“The sun.” He looked toward the sky, a jubilant smile breaking out across his cracked lips. “The sun is out! It’s beautiful.”

“Yes, but you look a little burned. Maybe you should keep to the shade for a while? I can find you some help.” I felt like I was trying to convince a tiger to go back into its cage.

“My kind, we never get to see the sun. Never get to see the world like this.” Thick tears ran down his face as he turned, taking in his surroundings. “The light! The shadows! We never get to see this. Fuck, it’s so beautiful.”

He had apparently forgotten about me, which was a relief.

I started edging toward another alley across the square, as far away from him as possible.

He continued to spin around in circles, marveling at the sunlight.

I waited until his back was turned before speedwalking into the alley.

But my relief was short-lived when my foot caught a loose cobble stone and kicked it across the ground.

The vampire whipped around, his fangs bared and saliva dripping from his mouth. There was no time to reason with him, no space between breaths that allowed me to think. My instincts recognized a predator at the first sight of those fangs and I ran.

It felt like I barely got anywhere, barely crossed any distance when he caught up to me.

He tackled me from behind and I landed hard with a pained cry on my hands and knees. Then a sharp, ripping pain at my neck had me screaming. It hurt so bad that it stole my breath. Warm blood ran over my chest and coated my hands.

Fangs withdrew from my flesh and I scrambled to get away, but my own blood made the ground slick and I couldn’t gain any leverage. The vampire pulled me back by my arm, and this time he bit roughly into my tricep.

“Stop!” I cried. “Stop! Somebody help!”

Blood continued to pour down my neck and he removed his fangs to lick a trail from my collarbone to my ear with a savoring moan. It would have turned my stomach if I wasn’t so concerned with escaping.

“Please stop,” I whimpered. “Please, you’re hurting me.”

He said nothing, just licked and bit me like I was some kind of living buffet.

Every time I tried to pull away, he drew me back.

My strength was quickly depleting as more blood left my body, while his strength seemed to be growing.

He was rough, jerking and pulling me in various ways to bite different parts of me with no reactions to my cries of pain or pleas to stop.

My vision began to darken and my brain grew sluggish. I’m losing a lot of blood. Oh god, I’m going to die out here.

The vampire dragged his tongue down my forearm to my wrist, chasing a trail of blood from my upper arm. His fangs scraped my wrist, the same place Laith had fed from me so many times.

My last conscious thought was of Laith holding my wrist to his lips, kissing my knuckles, and how much care he always took to not hurt me.