‘This late? An appointment with whom?’
‘No business of yours.’
Unlike Hester, who respects my privacy, Sadie gleefully sifts through my memories and I have no choice in the matter. Even more annoying is the fact that I can’t block her. Her mental abilities are too strong.
‘Pretty little liar,’ she purrs. ‘You were on a date.’ She takes another sip, swishes it around her mouth, and swallows, watching my reaction.
That had better not be the last of the blood. I was going to drink that before Damian arrived.But I’m not going toask for some ... I’m. Not. Going. To. Ask.
‘Where’s Hester?’ I say weakly, changing the subject before I cave like she wants me to.
‘At her method acting class.’ Sadie and I exchange a smirk. No matter how much animosity there is between us lately, we do agree on one thing: Hester’s acting hobby is hilarious. She’s obsessed with the theatre, but afraid of being in the spotlight. If there’s even a whiff of her having to read aloud or perform a scene with another actor, she diverts the teacher’s attention to someone else. She seems more interested in listening and taking notes.
Apparently feeling friendlier towards me, Sadie extends the tumbler, and I’m allowed to clutch it and take a desperate gulp. The lukewarm blood caresses my throat, and I let out a sigh. ‘Thanks, I needed that.’
‘So this Damian Rhodes is your dentist?’ Sadie takes the glass from my hand and leans back in the chair, her eyes boring into mine, looking amused.
I shrug nonchalantly. ‘Yes, so what? He’s hot.’
Sadie narrows her eyes. ‘You’re not seriously thinking of seeing him again?’
‘Uh ...’ I stare up at the ceiling, desperate for her not to find out he’s actually on his way to the flat. Luckily, she’s more interested in telling me off.
‘Floss, you know you can’t get involved with ahuman—’
‘What about you and Elliott?’ I interrupt with a scoff.
Sadie met her thrall in 1983. He was head over heels the moment she sank her fangs into him—Sadie’s feelings, however, remain a well-guarded mystery, possibly even to her.
She frowns. ‘Elliott doesn’t count,’ she says quickly. ‘Fine, have your little fun tonight. But you’ll have to get me or Hester to memory-wipe him afterwards.’
I don’t reply.
‘You have to, Floss. For his own safety.’
I grind my teeth together and can’t resist thinking,So explain to me again why you’re allowed to be with Elliott.
She rolls her eyes and projects her stock answer into my mind:It’s a business relationship, you know that. Elliott supplies us with blood from student donors. Without him, we’d have to resort to feeding on humans, and none of us want to do that anymore.
I personally think we’ve become too reliant on Elliott as our blood supplier. But as much as I hate to admit it, Sadie is right. My life is too complicated to get involved with a human. I should have left Damian alone and not encouraged him to ask me out. And I definitely shouldn’t have invited fresh blood around to our flat; it’s risky for him.
But he’s got me aroused and itching to play with him a little, and he’ll be safe with me. I’m not going to hurt him. It’s also fun that I can read his mind, and I want to do itagain. And who knows, he might be up for some bite action. After all, he yanked a tooth out of that guy the other day without anaesthetic and hardly batted an eyelid ...
‘Anyway, enough about hot human dentists. There’s something more important to discuss,’ Sadie continues out loud as though my love life is now satisfactorily resolved. ‘We need to have a flat meeting.’
‘Why?’
She takes a sip of blood, and her eyes rest steadily on mine. ‘Because I had a disturbing report from Elliott today. One of his regular male donors was bitten last night in Bonnington after leaving a party. So it seems a certain Victorian gentleman may be visiting the city.’
A finger of fear worms its way into my ribcage and curls around my cold, dead heart. Bonnington is on the other side of town but not that far away.
‘W-was he drained?’
‘No, but the gentleman took a big, long drink. Luckily, someone found the student lying in an alleyway and called an ambulance. He was given a blood transfusion at the hospital. Elliott visited this morning and the student told him what happened. The description he gave matches.’
‘Fuck.’
‘Yeah, it’s a bit too close for comfort. So we need to discuss it with Hester, to make sure she shields you. I don’twant to take any chances.’
