Why change me? Why? That question had haunted her every moment. Was this some kind of sick punishment? Another way of torturing her? Damn vampire. He’d probably thought turning her into what she hated most was hilarious.
His house stood at the end of the road, lined off by garish yellow police tape. She could see the color of the tape so clearly in the darkness. Could see everything so clearly. The bullet holes in the siding. The broken shards of glass. The front door that swayed drunkenly on its hinges.
Dee hunched down and slid under the police tape. No sign of any uniforms. No sign of anyone. Maybe she’d find something inside to lead her to the vampire bastard.
Getting inside was easy—the front door was pretty much gone. The TV lay smashed on the floor. Stuffing from the couch cushions covered the room.
And to think, she’d actually been happy here, for a brief, stupid moment of time, she’d been happy.
The floor creaked. A groan, more vibration than sound, and she caught the faintest hitch. Breathing. Coming from the bedroom.
Claws out, she sprang forward.
And slammed into her lover’s chest.
Dead lover’s chest.
Dee took him down, hard and fast. Simon’s head rapped against the hardwood. Her hips straddled him and she pinned his arms to the floor. Oh, yeah, vampire strength, baby. Payback was going to be hell.
“Dee.” Why was he saying her name like that? All husky and hungry. Like he hadn’t royally screwed her.
“Asshole.” Her fangs were growing, sharpening, and she wanted to sink them into his throat.
Bite.
The whisper she’d first heard here, with him. She should have known back then what was happening. Vampires were highly psychic. He’d been the one broadcasting that need, not her. Him.
“You should have let me die,” she growled and her fingers tightened around him.
His eyes flashed to black as fury hardened his face. Finally she was seeing the real man. Not the fake veneer. “I did.”
“What?”
He lunged up, breaking her hold and rolling them in a tumble of limbs. In the next second, Dee was on the floor, he had her caged, and his teeth glinted down at her. “Haven’t taken straight from a source yet, have you, babe? That was a mistake. You won’t be strong enough to—”
Dee tried to head-butt him, but Simon pulled back, shaking his head. “Still thinking like a human. You can’t do that, Dee.”
“I told you no!” She knew her fangs were out. Didn’t care. Her words were starting to lisp, just a bit. Still not used to those damn teeth. “I knew what you wanted, at the end.” That part was seared in her mind. “I told you no!”
The memory of his voice rumbled in her mind. “You won’t die. I won’t let you!” Then his bared fangs had come toward her throat. Must have been her imagination, or maybe just the insanity brought on by dying, but she’d sure thought the man sounded scared then. Afraid, for her.
His jaw clenched. “I didn’t—”
“You played me all along. Lied to me! Tricked me! You were the one who set all this shit up, weren’t you?” Her hands jerked against his, but, he was stronger and he wasn’t letting up.
“Thinking like a human,” he muttered again. “Dee, calm down.”
She was so sick of people telling her to calm down, relax, or go easy. She was a vampire for fuck’s sake! She didn’t have a cold or a broken hand—she was a vampire! Dee rammed her knee up and caught him right in the groin. His hold loosened, a moment was all she needed, and she hurled him back.
He flew five feet and thudded into the wall.
Sometimes thinking like a human wasn’t bad.
She bent low and jerked her stake from her ankle holster.
He bounded back to his feet and shook his head. “You didn’t come here to kill me.”
Straightening, she tested the weight of the stake. “I want to know where the Born Master is.” If she had to get physical with him to find out the location, so be it.
A rough laugh burst from his lips.
Her fingers tightened around the stake. “Don’t push me.” Her control had begun to waver the minute she’d seen him.
But the man stepped forward and a hard smile curled his lips. “I made you scream for me. I took you and you came and you screamed for me.”
She’d screamed his name. A growl built in her throat. “The Born Master.”
The smile wiped away. “I got you out of that alley. Those vampires wanted to rip you apart. I got you out. I kept you safe.”
She lunged at him and closed the distance instantly. She shoved the stake right above his heart, not breaking the skin, not yet. But it would be all too easy to go in for the kill. “You should have let me die.” And let me stay dead.