I grinned sheepishly. “Not a very good poker-face?”
“Not this time, but something tells me that you could lie through your teeth and most wouldn’t be of the wiser.”
“You’ve got me all figured out, huh?” I asked, not liking how this conversation was going. She obviously wanted something more from me. Something more than just a song.
“Slade, dear, I know what you are,” she said in a low, amused voice.
I tapped my fingers against the arms of the chair. “Is that right? You know what I am?”
“Oh, yes… definitely. It’s why I brought you here.”
I grinned. “I’m lost… could you enlighten me as to what exactly you’re talking about?”
“You’re a Roamer.”
I burst out laughing. “A Roamer? What in the hell is that?”
She leaned forward. “In Romania, I believe you go by ‘Vampire’. Some of the vampires here, however, prefer the term ‘Roamer’.”
I forced a grin. “You’re kidding, right?”
She blew out another stream of smoke. “I’m dead serious, Slade.”
I leaned back in my chair. “What am I supposed to say to all of this? I mean, a vampire? Really?”
She looked amused. “Come on now. Just admit it.”
“There’s nothing to admit.”
“Fine,” she said, standing up. “If you’re not going to do it freely, then I’m going to have to force it out of you.”
I rubbed my forehead and sighed. “Faye…”
She walked over to a door on the other side of the office and opened it. “Bring in the girl.”
A man with long brown hair stepped out of the other room with a disheveled looking young woman. One that I recognized from the night before. Today, she looked like she’d just rolled out of bed and hadn’t showered or changed her clothing.
“Hi Slade,” said the girl, staring up at me with adoration.
I stood up. “What’s happening here?”
“Don’t you remember her?” asked Faye, now standing next to the blonde. She put her arm around the girl’s shoulder and smiled darkly. “She certainly remembers you.”
For the life of me, I had no idea what Faye was trying to pull. The girl didn’t mean anything to me other than she was a fan.
“Slade?” said the girl in a breathless voice. Her eyes softened and she smiled shyly. “I waited for you all morning and afternoon, but you never returned. I was so worried.”
I stared at her in shock. “Excuse me?”
Her face fell. “You seriously don’t remember last night? The after-party… and then the hotel?”
What I remembered was seeing her in the club, dancing in front of the stage, but that was it. I had gone to the after-party for only a little while, but then I’d left and went to my hotel room. Alone.
“Oh for Pete’s sake,” snapped Faye. She grabbed the girl’s hair, baring her neck.
“Ouch!” she hollered, trying to get out of Faye’s grasp.
My mouth went dry as I stared at the vein in her soft, fragile neck. I imagined my tongue, licking the salty flesh right before I buried my teeth into her supple skin. “Faye,” I growled in a raspy voice. “Enough.”
With her long red nail, she traced along the girl’s neck, enticing me further. “Lovely, isn’t it? I bet you’d love to sink your teeth into this little morsel.”
“Screw this shit,” I snarled, turning away. “I’m outta here.”
“Are you sure about that?” asked Faye.
The girl screeched in protest and the scent of human blood filled the air, awakening the beast inside, the one I’d fought so hard to control. Unable to resist any longer, I grabbed the girl from Faye’s arms, and found myself straddling her on the carpet as she stared up at me with terror,
“Slade?” she whispered, her lip trembling as I held her down.
The blood trickled out of the small cut made my Faye, and my mouth watered.
“Go on,” urged Faye.
Panting, I tried to contain the raging hunger burning inside of me, but with every breath, I felt my resistance weakening. It had been decades since I’d tasted anything this sweet and fresh. Normally, my meals were collected from plasma centers, which quelled my hunger to a point, but it still wasn’t nearly as satisfying as warm blood.
“Feed. Do it,” demanded Faye, kneeling down next to us. “Rip her throat out and take what’s yours.” She gently ran a hand over the girl’s hair, smoothing it away from her face. “You do want to please Slade, don’t you Princess?”
The girl swallowed hard and nodded.