Chapter Seven
(Earlier that night)
The lock clicked in place. Trixie didn’t blame Angie for not trusting her. Hell, she didn’t even grasp what was going on. She rubbed her completely healed neck. It didn’t even ache anymore.
She was a vampire. A lady of the night. She snorted and returned to the mirror for another look at this stranger with her face. Opening her mouth, she examined the baby fangs. She hoped they grew bigger. They made her look kitten-like.
And what was up with the hair? She ran her fingers through the thick waves. Anyone who dyed their hair a vibrant color like hers understood that damage was an issue. She usually did intensive oil treatments but had never gotten these kinds of results.
She traced the reflection of her pale face. Dammit, where was Viktor? She had a bazillion questions. Patting her pockets, she searched for her phone. Ruby would be home soon and Trixie needed to talk to her. Her sister always knew how to wiggle out of trouble and Trixie sure could use her problem-solving skills.
The cell phone screen was so shattered she’d slice her fingers if she tried to swipe it.
Someone cleared his throat behind her. She spun around, expecting to find Viktor. Instead, she came face to face with the gargoyle that had startled her. Or at least, she thought it was him. They all kind of looked alike.
He climbed into the room from the open window. “I’m glad to see you’re okay. I didn’t mean for you to fall down the stairs. The way the dragons are reacting, I thought I had killed you.”
She stared at his massive bat-like wings and huge horns protruding from his head. Up close, he looked more like a demon. It was difficult to respond with her heart in her throat.
He tilted his head as if perplexed. “You are okay, right? You look a little pale.”
“It’s you.” All she had wanted this morning was to retrieve the cat kennels and not lose her job. That seemed so important then. Instead, she had lost her humanity and the life connected to it because of this monster in front of her.
He patted his chest as if checking. “Yep, it’s me.” He chuckled.
“Enough with the jokes.” She crossed the room, confident that, as a vampire, she trumped gargoyle in the supernatural pecking order. Fury sharpened her vision and she had lots of fury. “Asshole, I did die because of you.”
His eyes went wide and he gently poked her with a claw. “You’re not a ghost.”
She stumbled from his strength. “I’m a vampire.” Rubbing the sore spot he left, she eyed his big muscled arms.
Okay, so maybe he trumped her after all.
“Oh.” He sounded so relieved she almost laughed. “Then no harm done.”
“No harm?” Her voice rose to an octave that only dogs and, apparently, gargoyles could hear. “I fell down those stairs and died. Like a few hours ago, I was human. The resident vampire chained in the dungeon turned me.” She hiccupped. How would she keep her job? She glanced at the midnight sky. Sure, she worked the nightshift but she still had to get home in the light of dawn. “Nothing is ever going to be the same again. I can’t even call my sister.” She tossed her broken phone at the gargoyle.
It bounced off his rock-hard head and he didn’t even seem to notice. “You’re crying blood.”
“What?” She spun to look at the horror show in the mirror. It only made her cry more.
“Don’t…” The gargoyle hugged her. It was like being crushed by stone. “I can fly you home if you want.” He stroked her hair, snagging it on his rough stone hands. “Just stop crying. You’re kind of grossing me out.”
She slapped his shoulder, yet a laugh still bubbled past her sobs. “I hate you.”
“I know. I hate me too.”
She wiped her face. Ruby would know what to do. Maybe they could run away together? Maybe she’d want to be a vampire with her? All she knew was that she had to get away from the castle of angry dragons and sexy vampire. She couldn’t think around them. They wouldn’t let her. “You’ll fly me home?”
“Sure.” He scooped her into his big arms and carried her to the open window. “Where to?”
She pointed toward the city. Her bloody tears wouldn’t stop even when he leaped through the window and flew. Regret weighed heavy on her heart. Instead of enjoying her first flight in the arms of a gargoyle, she kept thinking of how her sister would take this news. Yes, she knew she shouldn’t tell Ruby about vampires existing, but there was no way she could keep it a secret now. Her sister was the jam to Trixie’s peanut butter. She was not going to disappear mysteriously. She would not leave Ruby wondering what happened to her for the rest of her life. That would destroy Ruby faster than knowing the truth.
They’d figure this out together.
Maybe with Viktor’s help. No more dragons. And she had to keep her hands off Viktor. Fuck, that would be impossible.
Bleary eyed, she searched the city below for a familiar landmark. It wasn’t easy giving directions from a new vantage point. “Umm, that looks like the bar district. I think my building is that way.” She pointed east, or what she thought was east.
“Don’t you know where you live?” The gargoyle angled their trajectory with a lazy turn.
“Not from the sky. It’s not like I can see the street signs from here.”
“Are you sure you’re a vampire?”
She shifted her weight in his arms. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“The vampires I’ve met would be able to read them from this distance.”
“I’m not even a day old.” She stared at the street corners, looking for a sign. Her vision telescoped. With a yelp, she grasped his shoulders as the world spun. “Whoa, it worked.” She shook her head, trying to regain her equilibrium. “How does that work?” Trixie’s eyes had been normal a few hours ago, but now she had superhero vision. “I can get in a lot of trouble with this new toy.” She scanned the windows of the surrounding buildings.
The gargoyle placed his hand over her eyes. “Use your powers for good.” His smile was full of mischief though.
“What’s the fun in that?” She refocused her new found binocular vision on the street signs and found her bearings. She recognized the buildings and neighborhood now. “We’re going the right way. Not much further to go.” She pointed in the distance. “See that rain collector on top of that building? I live across the street.”
Soon, she would see her sister. Ruby should be home by now from her double shift and most likely pissed to all hell that Trixie was missing and not answering her broken phone. Wait until she explained why.
Trixie cringed inside and wiped her tear streaked cheeks clean with her sleeve. Red stained the material. Gross.
The gargoyle landed on her three-story brick building smooth as butter and set her gently on her feet.
“Do you have a name?” she asked, tired of thinking of him as the gargoyle since he seemed nicer than most humans she’d met.
“You can call me Nick.” He scuffed his clawed toe on the surface. “I’d stay and help but I suspect the dragons will continue their hunt for me. I’ll just be putting you in more danger.”
“Vampire.” She gestured to herself. “Am I not immortal?”
Nick chuckled, his cheeks developing twin adorable dimples.
“You are very flammable though.” A familiar accented voice spoke from thin air.
She jumped. And spun a slow circle. “Viktor?” Was he smoke like she’d seen in the movies? Now that was a super power. “Where are you?”
A set of long, elegant fingers gripped the edge of the roof. Viktor climbed over the top. So not magical, just fast as hell. And he had scaled her building shirtless with the heavy chain wrapped around him. He stunned her with his beauty again, even with his just-broke-out-of-a-dungeon fashion statement. Hip length, midnight hair blew in the wind, exposing his chiseled muscle torso. Sweet mercy, he didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. His barbarian hotness weakened her knees.
Nick pressed a clawed fingertip to her chin and clicked her mouth shut.
Suddenly, Viktor was so close she gasped. He moved before she could finish a blink, which made it appear as if he teleported the short distance. He gripped Nick’s wrist, squeezing so tight the gargoyle moaned. “Thief.” The vampire bared his long fangs. “Did you really think you could take what is mine?”
Nick fell to his knees, his eyes wide and mouth open in soundless agony. The gargoyle easily outsized Viktor in mass and he had carried her across the city as if she weighed nothing.
“Trixie, take the chain and wrap it around him.” In a graceful move, Viktor had both of the gargoyle’s arms behind his back.
Her hands fluttered uselessly for a second. For the last twenty-four hours, she’d been in a constant state of confusion and indecision. She fisted her hands and glared at both males. “What did he steal?” Had Nick used her as an excuse to take something from the dragons?
Both stared at her as if she’d spoken in tongues.
“I owe her a blood debt,” Nick explained to Viktor. “I can’t say no to her.”
Viktor’s gaze darted to her. The intensity so fierce she stepped back. “She’s mine so her debt is also mine. You will have no more contact with her. I know your kind too well, gargoyle.”
His? She belonged to no one. She tried to respond but her thoughts raced so fast all that came out was a mangled version of rap. Vampire. Gargoyle. On her roof. Blood debt?
Hmm…blood. Her stomach growled. She never had received the promised snack before leaving the castle. That might not have been the wisest idea. She clamped her hands over her abdomen. “I’m what he stole? I don’t belong to you, Viktor.” She backed away toward the roof entrance to the building, praying it was unlocked. “How do you know where I live, anyways?”
“This is where you live?” He scanned her neighborhood as the flashing lights and sirens of a police car sped by. He frowned. “Quaint.”
Viktor shrugged off the chain, giving her a full access view of his tattooed body. He had those side ab muscles that led to his groin, which she had no real name for except Trixie’s Achilles heel.
The chain was still attached to his collar as he used it to secure Nick’s arms. The vampire tugged at the restraint and seemed satisfied. “I tracked your tears.” He stalked her as she retreated.
Nick, unfortunately, was dragged along.
Her back hit the door.
Viktor ran his thumb under her tearstained eyes. “I am sorry, but together we will make this right for you.”
“My tears.” She jerked from his scorching touch. It set off alarming signals in her body. Something she had thought was missing in her genes. That sexual craving everyone else experienced hadn’t existed until she’d met Viktor. She would have blamed in on the vampirism except she’d desired Viktor when she’d first encountered him, when she had still been human. “How the hell do you track tears?” She wanted super x-ray vision to see other people’s shed tears. What other things would she be able to do?
“The scent of your blood is mingled in them. You are my fledgling. We are bound now. Tracking your blood is easy.”
That wasn’t alarming. Viktor, crazy vampire, will always know where she was. Suddenly, coming home to Ruby sounded like the worst idea she’d ever had. “How are we exactly bound?” If he said bride, she’d have to steal the stake in his pocket and stab him. Even if he did have sex-god stamped on every inch of his delicious skin.
“I’m your sire. My blood is in your veins.”
She pressed her fists to suppress the constant ache in her gut. It was worse than a bride.
She was a slave.