“Some other time, Vince.But thanks.”
Muohta jumps into the car and sits in the passenger seat like a fluffy bodyguard.
“Next stop, the inn, Mu.”
I want to get the equipment prepped and brewing before this evening comes around.
Is it silly of me to want to please Shadow with the news that a batch of his favorite fluids is on the way?
Me, the least domesticated person in the world, suddenly eager to show off my skills in the kitchen to my fierce lover.
Shaking off the suspicion that Shadow couldn’t care less about my labor of love, just so long as he gets his hands on fluids, I get cracking.
I accomplish quite a lot in the time I have, despite having to break off in the middle of the afternoon to go eat lunch and drink more Bovril.I will need Shadow’s help to drain the correct amount of blood out of me so that I can mix it with the enzymes, but something tells me he will make it painless and quick.After that, I need to collect my lunar cycle blood.Only then will I be safe from ending up the same as Linda Farmer.
It is so creepy to think our fingers touched that day she handed me the keys to this house.One week later, Linda is dead.So is Jake.Landslide is a mess because of Wulf.
Nothing much I can do about it now.Best I crack on with the brew first before planning my Wulf-oriented exit strategy.
Shoveling my late lunch into my mouth and chewing fast, I am in seventh heaven playing on my phone once I have turned off the location tracker.
I look up the word “incubus.”
“A demon who takes on the shape of a handsome man so that he can have sex with women while they sleep…”
Ugh.
I must check there is enough time for the courier to deliver the package to Angle Inlet before Vince goes to fetch it.
And then I see it.The only place I mark the date of my period—the calendar on my phone.
With feverish fingers, I count the day of my last period backwards.
With all the stress of moving and adapting to my new life on Landslide, I completely forgot when my period was due.
“Thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty…”
It’s impossible.There is no way it’s been forty days since the first day of my last period.What about the blue tinge I always get around my mouth?The purple tint I always get under my eyes.I have got that right now.
“Google, you better tell me what’s going on.”
Muohta looks up from the couch and wants to know if I’m talking to him.
“Ignore me, Mu.I am so stressed, I might start swearing up a storm just now.”
Okay.Be calm.I was definitely not with anyone during my fertile window—fourteen days after Day One.I hadn’t even met Dante then.
My search finally hits a page.
Reasons for a skipped period.Yadda, yadda, yadda.No need for me to worry about pregnancy.So, what is it?
Significant amounts of weight loss can cause the body to halt the menstrual cycle in order to conserve blood and nutrients.Similarly, blood loss after trauma or illness will prohibit the female reproductive cycle from continuing its regular rhythm until the female has regained a normal blood count.
Rushing to the bathroom, I open the cabinet.There it is.An unopened box of sanitary products.Leaning on the basin, I try not to get scared.But my heart won’t stop palpitating like a drum.
There is no way I can keep Wulf away from me now.Not as long as Shadow shows his vampiric adoration for me the way he loves to do.
Reaching for the mouthwash, I get ready to go back to the inn.I have to tell Shadow what’s wrong.If I use my blood to make fluids, it will leave me even more vulnerable to an attack from Wulf, because my periods might never come back.
