Page 17 of Blood Submission

Chapter9

Under the vampire’s order,Laney pulled into the parking lot of a cheap-looking motel. He hadn’t taken his arm from around her shoulders since they’d left her apartment, other than those few nerve-wracking minutes when they’d stopped at the rest stop. And that had been hours ago. What did he think she was going to do? Jump out of a moving vehicle?

Wouldn’t I? To get away fromhim?

Sorrow filled her at the thought of leaving Fraidy Cat, her one and only true friend, fickle as he was. But then her thoughts took a different turn. She had to take a chance if it presented itself. Not doing so would just be stupid. He hadn’t hurt the animals so far. Actually, he seemed rather fond of them. She had to trust that he wouldn’t do so after she was gone. Later, when the sun was up and she had help, she could come back for herpet.

She pulled into a parking space near enough to the entrance to see through the glass doors and into the office, but not too close, and turned off the engine. It was the wee hours of the morning, still full dark, and there were only three other cars parked nearby. And one was probably an employee’s. Still, she’d learned her lesson back at the reststop.

Her mind spun as she tried to think of a reason—any reason—not to spend the day locked up in a hotel room with him. “I don’t have enough money to pay for a room,” she blurted. Her voice broke, and she cleared her throat and tried again. “I don’thave —”

“We don’t need money,” he growled in her ear. His own voice, though still rough, was getting better. Then again, he hadn’t spoken much for hours now. Maybe that was just what he sounded like all the time. “As soon as the other humans leave the lobby,” he continued, “we’ll go in and I’ll get us aroom.”

On impulse, she asked, “Are you going to kill him? The guy behind the desk?” And then immediately wished she hadn’t. But his answer surprisedher.

“No. I don’t need an army of cops sniffing around while I’m trapped inside.”

Laney nodded but didn’t say anything else. There was nothing else to say. He was going to secure them a room, probably with that freaky mind control, and then he was going to force her inside of that room and feed from her until she passed out. Or worse. And the thing that really pissed her off was there wasn’t a damn thing she could do aboutit.

“Let’s go,” he toldher.

A chill ran over her skin when the heat of his arm left her shoulders. She took off her seatbelt and grabbed her bag, preparing to make a run for it. But when she reached to open the door, he had beaten her to it. She hadn’t even heard him leave the car. It was unnatural, the speed at which he moved.

As if that’s the scariest thing abouthim.

The vampire stood off to the side and held out his hand to assist her out of the car. Laney stared at that large hand. She didn’t want to touch him. Touching him was too confusing. It made her feel things that she didn’t understand.

Besides, if she was going to die in the very near future, she was going to go down fighting. Ice flashed through her blood at the reality of that thought, instantly cooling the strange attraction shefelt.

She was going to die. Soon. Probably within the next fewdays.

The inevitability of it crashed down on her. Angry at her incompetence to do anything to save herself, and at him for putting her in this position in the first place, she ignored the gentlemanly gesture. Shoving past him, she got out of the car and stepped away from him. Tossing her bag over one shoulder, she waited for him to close thedoor.

The vampire gave her a look, but didn’t say anything. Telling Fraidy and the dog to stay put, he locked the car and closed the door. When he stepped in front of her, Laney tried to look anywhere else but at him. She’d read somewhere that if you didn’t look directly at a vampire, they couldn’t control your mind. Or maybe it had been on a TVshow.

“When we go in there,” he said. “You will not scream. You will not run. You will not in any way try to get that male to help you. If you do, I will not hesitate to rip out his jugular and drain him dry. Do you understand, little mouse?”

“Yes.”

Gripping her by the chin, he tilted her face up until she had no choice but to look at him. “Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Laney told him between gritted teeth, keeping her eyes on hisnose.

He searched her face a moment longer, but whatever he saw lying beneath her anger must have satisfied him. “Good. I’d hate to have to hunt down another hotel. I’d be absolutely starving by the time we got there.” Still holding her by the chin, he tilted her face away and leaned down to smell her hair. Then he startled her by nipping her jaw and running his nose down the side of her throat. Inhaling much louder than she thought necessary, he moaned aloud. “I’m very hungry, little mouse.”

Every nerve ending in Laney’s body went on high alert as his voice rumbled over her skin, but not in the way she would’ve expected. Instead of the impulse to flee, she had the strangest desire to lean into his hard physique until they were connected from head to toe. He wasn’t touching her anywhere except where his fingers gripped her jaw, but she could feel him everywhere, as if she had done that very thing. Her head tilted to the side of its own accord, giving him easier access to the vein throbbing in her neck with each eager heartbeat. The warmth of his lips touched her there, soft as a feather, and Laney inhaled on agasp.

“Little mouse…what are you doing to me?” he whispered.

His words broke through the fog of desire that was spiraling around her. Laney stiffened, snapping back to reality. Her eyes popped open, and she slammed her palms against his chest and pushed him away. He allowed her to move him, taking a step back only to stare down at her with an expression that she could only describe as terrified. But then she blinked, and the emotion was gone so fast that she wondered if she’d really seen it there at all. In its place was his normal cruel facade.

The vampire suddenly grabbed her by the arm, turned, and strode toward the office. Laney had to jog to keep up with him, or risk being dragged along the ground. He didn’t say another word about what had just happened.

By the time they walked into the motel a few short seconds later, Laney was convinced that it had been some kind of vampire trick, those things she’d felt when his lips were on her skin. Some kind of thing they did to make their victims complacent. He could control her mind, why not her body? He had forced her to crave his touch. That was the only logical explanation. The only sane explanation.

The vampire walked up to the elderly man behind the desk. As the door swung closed behind them, Laney covered her mouth and nose. The decor looked like something out of a cheap horror film, and to add to the ambiance, it reeked of vomit and piss. She didn’t know how anyone could stand working there.

Pulling her up next to him, the vampire tucked her under one heavy arm. “We need aroom.”

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