Claimed by a Vampire. Rachel Lee

interest, an almost soporific relaxation. Next she’d turn her head to expose her neck and he’d hate himself just for revealing that she was as helpless before the attraction of his kind as any other human. He didn’t want to see her that way, but he also didn’t want to examine his reasons for that.

      She surprised him, though. She didn’t offer her neck. She didn’t adopt a pose of compliance. No, she raised her hand and touched his cheek, electrifying him with her warmth, the only warmth he could feel anymore.

      “It must be hard for you,” she said. “I should go to a hotel.”

      Appalled, he straightened instantly, crossing the room so fast that she couldn’t have seen him move. “No,” he said. “No. I don’t want you to be alone.”

      “But this is causing you problems. And you can’t do anything about it anyway. Can you? Jude can do just as much if I’m in a hotel.”

      “No,” he said again, feeling his body coil as if it wanted to spring. Only with huge effort did he avoid crouching a bit. “It won’t be safe for you. I can handle it. And yes, my very presence helps protect you.”

      “How?”

      “Because if anything tries to take you, it’ll have to deal with me. They don’t like to deal with my kind, Yvonne. We’re beyond their reach and we can wreak havoc on them when they take physical form. And … I could drag you back from the gateway of hell.”

      His doorbell rang, interrupting further discussion much to his relief. He’d said more than he intended, and things he didn’t want to explain.

      He went to let Jude and Terri back in. He noted the way they both looked at Yvonne, but only Terri’s face betrayed surprise.

      “You’re not upset?” she said to Yvonne.

      “About the existence of vampires? Why would I be? There are worse predators in the world evidently.”

      Jude looked at Creed. “She doesn’t get it.”

      “I’m not sure about that.”

      “I don’t get what?” Yvonne demanded.

      Jude looked at her. “That we could be the worst predators on the planet. If we chose to.”

      “Do some of you?”

      Creed felt a dark wave of bitterness. “Some do. Like the one who changed me. As a rule, most of us prefer not to make a bloody mess of things because like you, we prefer feeling reasonably safe.”

      “Well, then.” That seemed to settle it for Yvonne. “At the moment I’m more troubled by what’s going on in my condo.”

      “That,” said Terri, “is something I agree with. Totally.”

      “She does have a point,” Jude agreed. “That feeling isn’t plaguing her because some prurient boyfriend or neighbor has installed miniature cameras or listening devices. Whatever it is, it’s big and it’s bad. I just wish I knew why it’s interested in Yvonne.”