It didn’t stop him. If anything, it made him more excited as he boxed her in against the door. The muscles of her thighsflexed, preparing to run, but when the butt of that monstrous gun touched her side, she froze.
No matter what he said, the threat was there.
Devon placed his palms flat on the door on either side of her head. Leaning down to whisper in her ear, he said, “I know, baby. That’s why I’m here.” The sound of him drawing in another deep breath made her shudder. “You smelldivine.I always heard you taste better than regular blood. I can’t wait to get my first taste.”
Her pulse thundered in her ears. “You— you can’t do that. My blood’s?—”
“Even more delicious now than it was a couple weeks ago,” he purred. “Or at least, that’s what people say. I’ve never gotten the chance to try a bride before.”
Bride?The word pinged off of some distant, nebulous memory, but she didn’t have time to work through what it might be.
Feeling like an animal in a snare, she glanced from side to side, trying to figure out her best escape route that wouldn’t get her shot. Devon was clearly into some stuff she’d never heard of. She’d always been told that vampires couldn’t feed each other without dying, but maybe there was some kink for it she’d never been privy to.
Or maybe Devon had just lost his mind. It seemed equally likely.
Dahlia had never been bitten before. She was one of the very few servers at The Lush who hadn’t tried it at least once. Many were more than happy to trade a single feeding at the end of their shifts for an extremely hefty tip. She’d heard it was more pleasurable than it sounded and provided a lovely little buzz.
But she’d never been curious enough to risk it even before Felix warned her that he’d be extremely unhappy if he found outshe’d fed someone else. She was even less inclined now that she knew doing so would kill her.
“Devon, you can’t bite me,” she told him, trying to sound reasonable and not as scared as she felt. “That’ll kill me. I thought you liked me. You don’t kill people you like.”
He laughed a loud, braying laugh. “It won’t kill you. It’ll feel really good, I promise. But maybe you’re right. You should bite me first. You’re probably starving. And I’m a gentleman.”
Dahlia balked when he pressed down on the top of her head, trying to guide her mouth to his neck. “Have you lost your mind? It’ll kill you, too!”
She’d always figured Devon was a consummate coward and would probably run at the first sign of any real danger, but he didn’t bat an eye at the thought of her injecting him with her brand new venom.
Even if she hadn’t been warned explicitly against it, her stomach turned at the thought of feeding onhim.Nothing about him appealed to her on any level.
“You won’t,” he crooned.
Bracing her forearm against his chest, she tried to wedge a bit of space between them. “How? What’s going on?”
Devon winked. “It’ll just take a couple bites and no one will be able to take you away. The Bowans willhaveto make a deal with us.”
A little spark of temper went a long way to burning up her fear. Pushing hard on his chest, she watched him stumble back a step and took the opportunity to slip to the side. The fire escape couldn’t be trusted and there was no way out besides the door, but she had to put what little distance between them she could.
“What does Mr. Bowan have to do with this?” she demanded, skirting around the kitchenette and toward the bathroom. Worst came to worst, she could lock herself in and yell for Cecilia to call for help.
Devon tracked her progress around the room with a slow spin on his heel. “How about I explain it all to you at my place?” He offered her an indulgent smile. “You come home with me, baby, and we’ll work everything out.”
“No, thanks,” she snapped. “I’m happy here. My boyfriend wouldn’t like it if I went anywhere with you.”
Devon’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t have a boyfriend.”
“You don’t know that.” She held his stare as she inched toward the bathroom. The lock was flimsy and the door wouldn’t do anything to stop a plasma bolt shot, but it was better than nothing.
“You never smell like anyone,” he challenged, shoulders hiking in a defensive, angry posture she’d seen dozens of times. They were headed into dangerous territory, but she couldn’t think of what else might deter him. “There’s no scent here. And even if there was, it wouldn’t matter. You’re mine.”
Some reckless idiot inside of her actually compelled her to scoff aloud. “You don’t know my boyfriend. He’s gonna flip his shit if you touch me, Devon.”
Only one part of that was a lie. Felix had never been her boyfriend, but hewouldlose his mind if he discovered another vampire had been encroaching on his territory.
It’d happened before. She’d once made the mistake of complaining about a serial grabber at work. The next night his face appeared on the news. He’d been dumped in front of a hospital missing his hands.
A vein began to throb in Devon’s neck. His excited flush had deepened into a darker puce. “Tell me his name, then.”
She’d never said it aloud. She’d never even told Cecilia. Dahlia had kept whatever existed between herself and Felix close to her chest. At first it was because he was dangerous. And then it was because she didn’t want anyone telling her to stop.
