Page 9 of Love Bites

Johnny gave us a case number and his contact information, promising to update us weekly on whether he’d heard anything.

With an entirely new reason to worry, the four of us headed back through the doors and made the long walk back to our van.

Clementine texted us pictures of her new room before we got back, which lifted our spirits a little.

But it would be a long few weeks.

three

DAMIAN

I drummedmy fingers on my desk, my blood still pumping and my nose still bleeding from my last fight.

Every year, I held a month-long tournament to determine which of my vampires had grown strong enough to join the protective team I ran. And every year, I fought each of the finalists.

I won every fight, of course.

But this time, I’d been distracted.

My thoughts were full of a golden-haired siren.

I still won the fights, but my heart wasn’t in them, and everyone could tell.

I’d started searching for Blair the moment she disappeared in that club. My teams combed the city around it, but the woman had vanished.

My taste for blood went with her.

Any blood but hers, that is.

Being a vampire meant bloodlust, constantly. Intense, vicious bloodlust. We kept it sated by feeding regularly, usually from other magical beings who would heal and regenerate much faster than humans. It kept us strong, too.

The only time in my life that my hunger had faded was when I had her taste on my tongue.

I’d had a few blissful, peaceful hours afterward, and I wanted to go back to that so bad it hurt.

Which meant I needed her. Permanently.

I had every vampire I could spare looking for her through the tournament, and none of them had found a thing. She wasn’t in the public records. She wasn’t online.

The woman was a ghost.

I couldn’t tell them that she was a siren, for her safety, so they had to look into every single woman named Blair in Mistwood.

Now that the fights were over, I could finally put the full force of my efforts into finding her.

My office doors opened, and my sister came striding into the room. “It’s time to deal with this,” she said, patting the top of a massive stack of paperwork.

“Not now.” The words came out with a growl.

She tossed me a box of tissues, but I threw it back.

“Your nose is bleeding, Hale.”

“How many times do I have to ask you to call me by my first name, Lou?” I grumbled.

“It’s too hard to switch back and forth in public and private, and you don’t want everyone else calling you Damian, so I refuse for your sake.” She set the stack of papers down on my desk. “I know you want to look for your mystery woman, but this can’t wait any longer. People’s lives are at risk.”

“You can handle it.”

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