Page 13 of Love Bites

I needed to play nice if I was going to try to get information about Damian from Egan, and I did need to try. Though I was surviving, I really did have to feed soon.

“No problem. Vampire speed is prohibited on the path up to the Manor anyway, for security reasons.”

“The chase instinct?” I checked.

“Yep.”

I nodded, and a few vampires scooped up my sisters. Then, we headed down the path.

A few minutes down the sidewalk, my legs started getting shaky.

I couldn’t afford to wait any longer before asking him.

“Do you know any vampires named Damian who live in the city?” I asked Egan, and felt multiple sets of eyes land on me.

He glanced sideways at me. “Why?”

My face warmed a little. “I met him at a nightclub a few weeks ago, and we seemed compatible. Feeding-wise.” I added the last bit, just to make it sound less weird. I really needed their help if I was going to find him.

“I can ask around,” Egan said vaguely.

My hope dwindled a little.

I was going to have to feed from someone else.

Dammit.

“Thanks.” I tried not to get emotional about it. Damian had promised no strings attached, so he probably didn’t want to feed me again anyway.

By the timewe reached the Manor, I was leaning heavily on Egan to stay upright. He didn’t seem towantto help me, but the alternative was to leave me on my ass on the sidewalk. Luckily, he seemed against that.

The vampires marched right past the reception area, and Johnny waved at me. I waved back, and Egan swore under his breath.

“Try not to wave at people,” he gritted out.

I flashed him a look. “Why not?”

“Just… never mind.” He muttered another curse.

“I could ask someone else to help me,” I said.

“No, you can’t.” He made it sound like it would literally be impossible.

I opened my mouth to do just that, but before I could, we stepped through the doors and into the vampire wing of the Manor.

Insanely tall windows with gleaming white paint on the walls between them filled my view. The stone tile beneath my feet was a charcoal gray so dark it was nearly black, and the glimmering obsidian bits within gave it insane depth.

The furniture we passed was sleek but looked comfortable and worn, and the people in the hallway looked curious enough to make me think their king wasn’t a tyrant. If he’d been a dictator, they would’ve been scared.

And he probably wouldn’t have offered to help us.

Then again, hehadn’toffered to help us. He’d just sort of… summoned us.

Maybe I’d gotten excited too soon. He could very well still turn us away. Or use us the same way Curtis wanted to.

We made it through two endless-feeling hallways and down half of another one before we finally reached a set of huge doors.

That seemed to be a pattern in the Manor, not that it surprised me. A building that gorgeous deserved doors to match.

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