Page 11 of Love Bites

My sisters were all at the bottom of our indoor pool. It wasn’t huge, but it was about eight feet deep.

The humans’ mermaid lore was based on sirens, though we didn’t actually have tails. We just needed water. A lot of water. We could breathe it the same way we could breathe air.

We needed peppermint leaves too, though that hadn’t made it into the stories.

There was a leaf on my tongue at the moment, actually.

The four of us had been intensely productive the first day after we left Clementine with the vampires. We made our money through a handful of online shops that we ran together, and we needed to get through our assload of orders so we were ready when the vampire king deigned to call us back.

We’d gotten through them within five days.

After that, we made some more things and sold them as-is, to stay busy.

By the time the third week was over, though, my sisters were useless. They weren’t used to starving. They were so out of it, they’d barely left the pool at all.

We’d nearly reached week five, and I was drained too. I was used to going a month or so without feeding, but I’d felt like I was in withdrawal since I walked away from Damian. My sisters had teased me about it, but none of them seemed to understand how seriously it was bothering me.

I wasn’t just hungry—I was cravinghim.

And the cravings were so intense, I’d started to wonder if they would ever fade at all.

My phone started to ring on the side of the pool, and hope flooded me.

No one at the Manor had ever called before.

Johnny usually just texted.

I answered the call from an unknown number just before it stopped ringing, with a breathless, “Hello?”

“Is this Blair Davidson?” a masculine voice asked. It sounded a little familiar, though I couldn’t place it.

“Yes.”

“The vampires are ready to see you. A protective team will be waiting for you and your sisters in the Manor’s parking lot.”

“Thank you.” The relief that rolled through me was immense.

My sisters wouldn’t last much longer without feeding, and I—well, I didn’t really matter. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to feed on anyone but Damian again, and I had no way to find him.

Maybe I’d get lucky and he would live at the Manor or something.

“Come quickly, and don’t bother packing your things,” the man said, before he hung up the phone.

I grabbed one of the painted rocks we used to call each other to the surface, and tossed it into the water. My sisters made their way up, though they didn’t move anywhere near fast.

“The vampires are ready,” I said, my heart beating fast.

“Thank fuck,” Izzy groaned.

“Finally,” Zora mumbled.

Avery just crossed the pool and climbed out. Her arms shook a little, so I pulled her up. Despite my intense cravings, I wasn’t weak from hunger the way my sisters were. I chalked that up to my past experiences with starving.

None of them had the energy to get dressed, so I just grabbed their swimsuit coverups. I pulled mine over my head, then grabbed the van’s keys. My sisters all piled in, sagging against doors and windows, so I took the driver’s seat.

“How do you do this all the time?” Izzy asked me, mumbling the words from where her face was pressed to the passenger window.

“I don’t like kissing strangers,” I said with a shrug.

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