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"No, we’re not done And let’s keep me out of this" Any moment now, he would kick her out That et hientled her tone "So you guys had sex Did you notice anything different about her?"

"Like what? Like did she have two vaginas?"

"Did she?"

"No," he snarled "She seemed huo "So when did you realize you were infected?"

"When Mia and Dallas busted down aze fell to her chest, where her heart pounded, and he licked his lips "Yeah Hungry"

Ava shifted uncoht herself, and stilled "Is that hunger the only change you noticed?"

A stiff shake of his head "I could hear her voice in my head Can hear her voice" Another lick of his lips

She ignored the urge to shift again, pulling herself froaze, however briefly "Now? You can hear her now?"

"Yes," he whispered

That kind of bond required strength Just hoerful was this wo?"

"I don’t know Most tie I don’t understand"

"Repeat so" Maybe Noelle or Dallas would be able to translate Not Ava, though That es had always been difficult for her In fact, she was lucky she didn’t--always--butcher her own native tongue

He opened his , then grimaced "I--I can’t tell you anymore Hurts too much"

"Hurts how?"

"How do you think? Bad"

Was the queen sonizant of what her victims said? Could she control them? Make them feel pain when they displeased her? "Okay, let’s backtrack a ents burst into your hoain spoke in that whisper, barely audible Why? "She left right after the sex"

"So what happened after the sex, before Mia and Dallas arrived?"

"She dressed and left, and I fell asleep"

"That’s all?"

Color flooded his cheeks "Yeah" The creepy, whispering tone had thankfully been absent that ti else happened, he wouldn’t have blushed "You ht as well tell me," she said "I won’t leave until you do"

"Oh, really? You want to know that badly?" Again, he licked his lips Again, he started whispering "Co, everything"

Oh, no, no, no There would be none of that "I’rinned, and daer and sharper than she reed to rely cal with power The glassiness left his eyes, leaving clarity--and a fathoe he’d never exhibited before

Goose buood kind, as possibilities whizzed through herfar more sinister? Like--

"My naulped

"After sex, and before the agents arrived, I told Johnny that I would know all his thoughts, all his actions I told him I would control him I told him he would not be my last victim I told him, or rather, I promised him your precious vampire would be next"

Fifteen

Drip Drip

McKell lay in the heart of his cave, peering up at the rocky ceiling It was so low, he wasn’t able to stand without scraping his skull and he had to crawl in and out The side walls hugged hiht embrace Almost like the coffins humans used to theorize about As if he would actually sleep in a coffin He wasn’t dead He was very much alive More so than ever before

Drip Drip

Darkness surrounded him, the sun’s rays kept completely at bay He always knehen the sun set, however Or rather, his body knew A burst of strength would overtake hier For one person, and one person only …

He’d lived in these caverns his entire life, knehich ones were used by other va of the vampires--and which were not This one was not, had only one entry, and therefore only one exit, and did not descend deep enough to reach the city