Page 178 of Vampire so Virtuous

He gave her a strained smile. “You’re welcome, Cally. It was my pleasure.” Then he grinned more naturally. “You taste delicious, by the way.”

“Such comments could go to a girl’s head.”

*

Left to her own devices, Cally spent a good twenty minutes in Gabe’s enormous walk-in shower, then padded back into the living room wearing only a towel and rummaged through the shopping bags. Amid the odd cocktail dress, designer blouses, a couple of pairs of ridiculously expensive shoes and an array of revealing lingerie, she found the hoodie, clean jeansand replacement T-shirt—two of each, in the sizes she’d requested, with more in a size up and down, just in case.

It would’ve been funny if she wasn’t still feeling guilty.

She’d tell Antoine when she saw him and explain why. He should know—and she could only hope he’d understand.

It felt like having boyfriend troubles, and they weren’t even dating.

No. Just joined at the hip for the rest of our lives.

Still, there was considerable comfort in knowing that Minh wouldn’t be able to paralyze her again with merely a thought—assuming Gabe was as good as his word, and his resistance worked.

She mooched around his apartment for a bit. Worked out how to open one of the blinds, and stared out over Boston. Played with his weights—she could lift way more than she should. She was undeniably stronger.

She flopped back on the sofa, with nothing to do but look at her phone. It was late afternoon. Eve would be at work… she thought. With all that had happened, she’d lost track of the days. She checked her phone: Saturday. How could that be?

Then she remembered—Minh’s club last night. From there to Antoine’s, to Belle at the Curia’s House, to her apartment. Then the fateful trip to see the doctor that morning, and now sitting in Gabe’s apartment. All in the space of less than twenty-four hours.

It felt like it had been a week.

She should be broken and exhausted. Instead, she was… fine.

The perks of being a marked chattel.

She dialed Eve, but it went to voicemail. She pinged off a text, then slumped back against the sofa.

It was tempting to re-arrange all Gabe’s records for him, but she was still feeling too guilty for what she’d pressed him to do.

Except he’d agreed readily in the end, even commenting how nice she tasted.

Great. That’s my claim to fame: vampires like to feed on me.

Antoine. Gabe. Belle. Far too many vampires in too short a time.

And Minh. As if she could forget him. At least he’d never fed on her. The thought turned her stomach.

Gabe’s voice echoed in her memory.“Minh is such an asshole. It’s absolutely the sort of thing that bastard would do—going after the defenseless just to torment their loved ones.”

Except wasn’t she also Minh’s target now? After this morning’s events?

The icy finger of premonition ran down Cally’s spine.

She dialed Eve again, and once more it went straight to voicemail. Wasn’t that unusual for a Saturday evening?

A knock on the door distracted her, and it opened immediately. A man walked in, dressed in blue jeans and a leather jacket. One of Gabe’s thralls.

For a heartbeat, they stared at each other.

“Where’s the boss?” the man asked.

“Asleep.”

“Shit.” He turned and walked straight back out.