Page 39 of Blood Lust

I minimize the window. Maximize it again. Then just… stare at it. Like, if I focus hard enough, her name will appear.

But nothing.

The clock ticks past 2:00 a.m. I change my away message. Then change it again. I settle on:Still here -Fang950

I leave it there like a lighthouse in a rolling fog.

I try to eat. Can’t.

Try to sleep. Won’t.

Try to write her a message. Don’t.

Everything feels like it would be too much or not enough. And I don’t want to scare her off. But I do want her to know I’m still here, dammit. Still listening.

She said she needed space.

I’m giving it to her, hard as that is.

Meanwhile, AIM keeps pinging softly with other names signing on and off, and every time I hear the sound, I jolt upright like I’d heard a gunshot.

But it’s never her.

Crap.

Chapter Thirty-four

Sleep takes me like a riptide into deep waters.

One moment I’m staring at the monitor’s electric glow, the next I’m gone. The last thing I register: that damned cursor blinking in the dark, waiting for a reply that never came.

And then poof. I’m dreaming I’m at Heroes. It’s bigger in my dream. Dimmer. Everyone’s gone. Chairs stacked. Shadows long. The jukebox plays something slow and sad, a song I don’t recognize but somehow still know by heart.

She’s in here.

Not at the bar, no, but working behind it, where I should be. Moonlight catches the spill of her hair, ink-black and liquid. She pours with practiced grace. Not wine, but something viscous that catches the dim light like fresh arterial spray. Thick, red.

She raises the glass, meets my eyes across the empty room, and smiles.

But there’s no warmth in it.

Only hunger.

I try to speak, but can’t.

I try to move but stay rooted.

She walks toward me... no actual footsteps, just movement like smoke hovering over the floorboards. The glass never spills, either. Her eyes never leave mine. When she gets close enough to touch, I feel cold coming off her in waves; it feels wrong in all the ways that feel right.

“You followed me here,” she whispers.

I shake my head. I didn’t. No, I followed the clues here. There’s a difference, but I don’t say anything. Still can’t speak.

She leans in close, whispering, her lips brushing over my ear.

“And now you can’t leave.”

Her teeth flash. Not fangs, not exactly. Just… sharp-looking.

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