Vamps Behaving Badly

Star was the first to wake. It was dark. All the candles and torches had burnt out. Blinking groggily, she strained her cat-like gaze into the blackness of the room, wondering what time it was. A soft, warm body was cradled in her arms and she realised it was Laddie. Someone had their leg thrown over her and she discerned by the blond fuzz on the calf, it was Marko. Next to Laddie she could make out Paul lying on his back, body straight as a board, arms crossed over his chest in the normal snoozing vamp position. He wasn’t sleeping upside down but she guessed the cross-armed pose had become a habit for him. Dwayne was hugging Paul around the waist. They were all still asleep. The events of the past morning rushed back into her head and she started to panic, comprehending with a sober mind what she’d actually done. She had cheated on David. Not once but a dozen times. With Marko. And she had let Laddie, her surrogate son, have sex with her. Lord. She’d done it. She’d lost control, she’d gone haywire, just like David predicted she would if she ever took drugs. He was going to know what she did just by looking at her. He’d know. He always knew what was going on. And he’d be angry. Immeasurably angry. He probably would kill her. Star had witnessed first-hand the terrible wrath of David when he got betrayed and she felt real fear for her life. Kicking herself, she thought that she shouldn’t have accepted that blasted pink pill; it was the cause of all the trouble she was going to be in.

But she knew on a sensible level that wasn’t entirely true. Nobody had forced her to take it and Marko had given her ample opportunity to back out. All that pill had done was give her an excuse to unleash her inhibitions and do things she’d already wanted to do anyway. And it had been awesome. It was the best fun she’d ever had in her life. She would have done it all over again if the thought of facing David’s unnerving ice-blue eyes and granite-hard expression weren’t making her feel so freaked out. She wasn’t so worried about what she’d done; she was worried about how David was going to react when he found out. But she’d worry about that when David arrived. He obviously wasn’t back from Max’s yet or he’d be in there slapping her around already. She still had time to prepare. She formed a plan. One: Take a bath. Two: Get the torches and fires going again so she could see what she was doing. Three: Get the boys up. Four: Clean up the evidence. Gently, she untangled Laddie from her embrace, trying not to wake him. He stirred but didn’t open his eyes and was still again. She carefully pushed Marko’s leg off hers but he must have been a light sleeper because he lifted his head and mumbled, “Whassup?”

Placing her finger against his lips, she gestured for him to be quiet.

“They’re still asleep,” she whispered. “I’m just going to have a bath and I’ll be back, okay?”

He nodded and yawned and settled back down on the mattress. Star got up and draped a shawl around her nakedness. She tiptoed around the bed, gathering some fresh clothes and couldn’t help stealing a lingering look at Marko’s nude beauty in the faint light her nocturnal eyes could detect. He was lying on his side, uppermost knee bent, second leg straight, hips tilted, one of her pillows beneath his head. One arm was under the pillow and the other was drawn up to his chest. His small body was perfectly formed and slim, pale skin gleaming like marble, long lashes fanning on his rounded cheeks, mouth set in a tiny pout. His hair was like curls of sunlight. He truly was the most angelic thing Star had ever laid her peepers on. He opened his eyes and caught her staring at him. He smiled, not minding in the least. Star blushed and smiled back before pushing through the curtains, leaving him and the three sleeping boys in the bedroom. She made her way down to the back of the old hotel and into a small cave she had discovered that had a hot spring bubbling up in the floor, deep enough to sit down in. There was a whole bunch of caves, all connected to the main one that they lived in, forming a series of catacombs. There was nothing much in the other ones, though, just bats and multi-legged crawling things, stalagmites and stalactites. She claimed that hot spring cave for her bathroom and, digging through the hotel rubble, had found an ornate gold-framed mirror with only one crack in it and hung it on the wall, completing her interior decorating with a chair and a round table she’d also unearthed, along with tons of store-bought beeswax candles. On the table which was situated under the mirror, there was a china pitcher and bowl that she kept cold water in for her nightly ablutions, such as brushing her teeth, and some items of makeup. The cave didn’t have electricity or tap water but the candle-flames, fluffy towels and hot spring made that bathroom just as luxurious as any other.

Once the candles were lit, Star dropped the shawl and glanced into the mirror. Though her reflection was transparent, she could see smears of blood on her throat that Marko had left behind when he had bitten her. Apart from that, she didn’t look like she’d participated in an all-day vampire love-fest. There were no bruises, no tooth marks, no scratches, nothing. But she smelled like it. She could smell the guys on herself, their sweat, their semen, even their blood. It had seeped into her skin and hair. Besides not particularly enjoying smelling like a whore, David would be able to pick up those scents like a bloodhound and that’s the main reason why she was desperate for a bath. She sank into the hot water with a moan of bliss, took a bar of soap and lathered herself up all over, under her breasts, armpits, groin, between her toes. As her hand was between her thighs, she thought of Marko inside her, hot and hard and huge, feeling a bolt of desire hit her in the stomach. David hadn’t excited her that much in over a year. It truly was time to think about trading him in for a younger, shorter model. She thoroughly washed her hair and ducked under the water to rinse the soap from her brunette locks. She rose and dried herself with a red towel, combed out her hair then dressed in silk panties, jeans and a green satin lace-edged top, changed her jewellery to match, lastly putting on a pair of street ballet slippers, the kind of shoes with ribbons at the ankle and flat soles. She had high heeled shoes and boots but when she wore them, she was taller than Marko and now that they were an item she didn’t want to make him feel any smaller than he already was, especially not when they were standing side by side. She knew how the male ego suffered at such inequalities. Feeling much more refreshed, she went back into the main living area of the hotel and re-lit the torches. As they blazed into bright flickering life, she could hear slit-eyed groaning and complaining coming from her bedroom as the boys woke up.

Laddie rubbed his eyes and turned to Marko, brimming with excitement in remembrance of the previous morning’s incidents. “Fuckin’ A, dude,” he boasted, “I got totally laid!”

Mussing the kid’s hair, Marko replied, “Me too, bud. Me too.”

The two youngest members of the gang looked at each other, grinned, and then exclaimed in unison, “Excellent!” Both of them did a little air-guitar riff to commemorate the excellence of the occasion and then laughed at their own immaturity.

Walking through the sheer curtains surrounding her bed, Star gaily called out, “Wakey wakey, guys. Time to get up. Rise and…Oh my God!” She covered her mouth with her hand when she saw in full relief what a mess they had all made on her sheets. Not only were there crusty white patches of what was unmistakably four individual types of cum but on Paul and Dwayne’s side there was blood everywhere. All over the bed, on their bodies, in their hair. Dried stiff and flaky and maroon-brown. It would be impossible to wash that much redness out of the bedcovers without leaving a residual stain.

“What?” Dwayne asked innocently, blood still on his face. Star glared at him.

“You guys are buying me new blankets, new sheets, everything.”

“Sorry,” Paul said, glancing at the blood-bath he was lying in. “I guess we got a little carried away.”

“A little?” Star said incredulously. “It looks like somebody cut a pig’s throat!”

Sitting up and grabbing his pants, Dwayne replied flippantly, “We’ll fix it all up, don’t stress, girl.”

Still annoyed, Star declared, “You’re not having sex on my bed again. Ever.”

“Well, now you can see why we do it outside,” Paul said in amusement, reaching for his own jeans.

Wriggling into his shirt, Laddie quipped, “Did I mention that you dudes are blood-sucking freaks?”

Pulling blue denim up his legs and over his ass, Paul stuck his tongue out at Laddie. Quick as a flash, the sixteen year old was on him, pushing him back onto the bed, taking that tongue into his own mouth, causing Paul to emit a surprised noise. Sitting on his stomach, Laddie gave Paul a lengthy wet kiss, slipping his thin arms under and around the tall male’s neck. Giving in, Paul closed his eyes and slid his palms down the side of Laddie’s thighs.

Laddie cut off the kiss and smiled down at Paul, long brown hair hanging down around his face. “Hello, Paul.”

“Well, hello to you too,” Paul smiled back affectionately. Laddie was a dear kid, no mistaking it. Paul didn’t know why he ever thought otherwise.

“Nice to see the truce hasn’t broken,” Dwayne commented, pleased as punch that Laddie and Paul were still pals.

Marko was putting on his cowboy boots, already dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt. He missed his tasselled jacket and felt sort of naked without it. He’d worn it every night for the last six years. He decided since Dwayne was the one who got rid of it and who fancied himself to be the fashionable vamp, the bastard could buy him a new one. Maybe something in chocolate-brown suede, to match his eyes. He added that to the gang’s shopping list for the night. Already on the list was some manchester for Star and a belly ring. As none of the vampires had a job, all their money came from the victims they killed. Dead dudes don’t need their wallets anymore, they reasoned.

Seeing how blood-encrusted Dwayne and Paul were, Laddie asked, “You guys wanna go for a swim?”

“We may as well wait till we’ve fed; we’re only gonna get bloody again,” Paul suggested.

If the guys wanted to use Star’s bathroom, they were welcome to ask but the boys usually took a dip in the ocean to get clean. If their outfits were unreasonably filthy, they jumped in as they were and then laid their clothes out on the rocks to dry while they surfed and swam in the moonlight clad in their boxer shorts. Cold water was the best thing for blood. Just because they were ‘el Vampiro’ didn’t mean they wanted to spend their whole lives being covered in gore from head to toe. Especially not Dwayne, so they made sure they maintained a minimum standard of cleanliness after feeding. Or fucking.

“You coming, Star?” Marko queried as the other guys left the bedroom and sailed out of the cave, whooping and chattering eagerly in anticipation of dinner time.

She shook her head. “I’ll feed later. I’m going to wait for David.”

“Oh. Okay,” Marko muttered, beginning to turn aside, his face showing signs of disillusionment. Moving quickly, Star caught his arm.

“Wait, Marko. It’s not what you think.”

Marko faced her again, eyes unreadable. He injected his voice with fake nonchalance and boredom to cover up his pain. “Look, Star, I don’t give a shit what you do with David. Yeah, so we fucked this morning but that’s all it was, right? That’s all I am to you? A fuck? So, go back to him. I don’t care.” He yanked his arm out of her grasp.

“No, you don’t get it. I’m not waiting for him because I want to go back to him. I’m waiting for him so I can break up with him,” Star spelled out to the male in front of her. “I’m breaking up with David. Tonight.”

Marko’s heart leapt. Eyes big, he stammered, “R-really?”

“Really,” Star stepped closer to him and put her hand on his chest. “What you said made me realise I had to do something about the situation. You were right. I’m not happy. Being with you made me realise that’s what I want. I want to be with you, Marko. Only you.”

“Aw, Star, you’re amazing,” Marko murmured, hugging her slender figure to his and inhaling the clean wildflower scent of her damp hair. “So, you’re really gonna do this for me?”

Star nodded, cheek against his shoulder, arms around his waist. Marko could feel her trembling in his embrace.

“Are you scared?” he asked softly.

She didn’t answer. Marko drew back. By the stricken look on her face, he guessed that was a yes. He was even a little scared himself. No doubt he’d have to ready himself for David’s fury as well, since Marko was the one Star was leaving him for. He was probably going to get a major ass-thrashing from their unforgiving black-clad ringleader but Star was worth it. Marko would suffer anything for her.

“You don’t have to do this alone,” he said, cradling her face protectively. “If you think he’s gonna hurt you, I’ll stay here with you.”

Shaking her head, she replied, “Thank you, but I’ll be all right. I can take care of myself. It’s something I have to do on my own.”

“Are you sure?” His concern was touching, his eyes fretful. Nodding, she took Marko’s wrists and brought his hands to her mouth, pressing her lips to his fingers.

“I’ll be fine,” she returned, gazing courageously at him.

Star didn’t know for sure if she would be absolutely fine but was counting on the fact that she was David’s blood, he sired her, and that alone would save her from being seriously hurt by the merciless boss-vamp. He might hit her but she was prepared for that. Broken bones and bruises would heal but he shouldn’t do anything worse than that. He shouldn’t stake her through the heart or drown her in holy water just because she wanted another lover. It’s not like she wanted to leave the coven or was trying to kill him or the other boys. For that kind of mutiny, he surely would destroy her. If he valued his vampire family, and she knew that he did, he’d let her be with Marko rather than risk having them both run away and elope and split up the tight-knit pack.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” Star repeated more assuredly. “Everything will be just fine. I’ll sort him out. And when you come back, I’ll be all yours.”

Marko was bolstered by her bravado. If she could be so brave about facing David, then so could he. His head dipped down and he captured her lips, kissing her thankfully and passionately, his tongue delving into her mouth, stealing her breath away. One of his hands was against the small of her back, the other around the nape of her neck, his fingers laced in her spiralling hair. As Marko kissed her, Star’s whole body shimmered with different emotions. Happiness, fear, excitement and sadness all mingled into one. She felt tears prick her eyelids, threatening to spill over. When they finally separated, she saw the same emotiveness mirrored in Marko’s shining eyes. He almost looked as if he was going to cry. Suddenly, she realized what her feelings were.

Despite all odds, the beautiful young man had found a place in her heart and she knew he was the one for her, for all time, for as long as they both existed. Screw David. Screw everybody else. Marko was her undead Prince Charming. He’d been right there in front of her, waiting patiently for her to see him. And now she did. He filled her vision of the present and the future. He was unique, one of a kind. There was nobody else like him and there never would be. She’d be a fool to let him escape from her, like Maria had done. She wanted to have Marko sleeping in her bed, his strong arms holding her though the day, every day, and she wanted his soulful, melted-chocolate gaze to be the first thing she saw when she woke at night.

“I love you, Marko,” she said with tenderness.

Wonder shone in his brown orbs. “God Star, you don't know how much those words mean to me. I’ve loved you for so fucking long and I didn’t know if you’d ever return it. I've been trying to think of a way to tell you but you beat me to it. Damn, girl - I want to make love to you again right here, right now,” he said fiercely, grabbing Star’s ass and holding her close to him.

“Marko, stop it,” she scolded as he rained kisses all over her face. “We don’t have time for this!”

“Ugh, I know,” he complained, rolling his eyes helplessly. “But I don’t wanna leave you.” He looked deep into her cinnamon gaze. “Just say it one more time and I’ll go. Please. I gotta hear it again.”

She smiled patiently and traced a circle around his diamond stud earring with her fingernail. “I love you, angel.”

Marko heaved a satisfied sigh. “Man, that sounds good... But for Chrissakes don't call me that in front of the guys,” he cautioned before Star took possession of his mouth to shut him up. She kissed him until he was breathless, pouring her love into the kiss to dispel any doubts he had about her intentions. They stopped for air and she urgently jostled him forward.

“Now, go feed. He’ll be here any minute!”

“Take care, all right, babe? Love you.” Marko touched her cheek gently, almost reverently, his feelings written all over his pixie face before he reluctantly turned and flew away. The firelight bouncing his shadow off the wall was the last thing she saw before the cave entrance swallowed him up. Her fingertips went to her lips, reeling from the onslaught of emotions she had felt in Marko's kiss. And she knew she’d made the right choice.

Star wheeled the two beds apart and then stripped the blood and semen soaked blankets and sheets from them, stuffing the soiled bedclothes into a flaming oil drum to dispose of it. She had to burn it all blanket by blanket in order to avoid suffocating the fire with too much material. As she watched the bedcovers burn in the hypnotic flames, she hoped Paul and Dwayne remembered to get her some new ones or she’d be sleeping on a bare mattress come daybreak. She watched the fire and waited, disregarding her own growing hunger. She could feed later on, after the confrontation with David was over and done with. After what seemed like an hour, she balled up the last stained sheet and added it to the blaze.

“What are you doing, Star?”

The familiar rough velvet voice made a chill creep up her backbone. She pirouetted around to find David standing there, wearing pants and a turtleneck sweater under a leather motorcycle jacket. All black, of course. His almost-white hair was finger-styled up into a type of Mohawk, except the sides weren’t shaved, only razored short, just like the strands at the back of his neck. He had a pair of blue-tinted sunglasses in his hand which he only wore when he was riding long distances - to stop the bugs getting in his eyes. His face was inscrutable but that didn’t mean anything. His usual expression was inscrutable at best. He was the prince of inscrutability. She hadn’t even heard him come into the cave. He was adept at doing that Indian walk Dwayne had taught him. Damn Dwayne.

“Jesus, David. Don’t sneak up on me like that,” she admonished, pulse galloping.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” Slipping his sunglasses into his top pocket and removing his gloves, David strolled up and peered into the drum. He looked at her in puzzlement. “Why are you burning your blankets?”

Star considered lying but thought better of it. David knew when she was telling a fib. So, she told the truth. Or a fraction of it.

“Dwayne and Paul had sex on my bed,” she said, not disguising her disgust. Not that she was disgusted about the sex, just the blood left behind.

“Ah,” David said comprehendingly. “Completely understandable. I’d burn them too.”

“They’re going to buy me some more,” Star said unnecessarily, attempting not to let her underlying fright show. “They’re probably getting them right now, that’s if they don’t forget.”

“And you passed up shopping to wait here for me?” David smirked and cupped her cheek, stroking with his thumb. “Did you miss me that much?”

Star sucked in a wavering breath. It was as good a time as any to bring up the subject which was causing her knees to fairly shake. Better to get it over with and take her punishment than drag it out any longer. He was going to find out sooner or later and she’d rather it be sooner so she could gain her freedom instead of remaining stuck to David’s side as if with a ball and chain. She felt trapped by him. Even now, as his cool hand caressed her cheek, it felt like an unspoken threat which was meant to keep her in line.

“I want out,” she blurted.

David frowned. “I beg your pardon?”

“I want out,” she reiterated more confidently, bringing to the fore all the bravery she possessed.

David stared at her and dropped his hand. “You want out of the pack?”

“No, I want out of this relationship,” Star clarified, raising her chin. “I’ve had enough. I want to be free, David. Free of you.”

His eyes turned to stone and there was a muscle tic in his jaw. Though his voice didn’t rise in volume, Star knew he was very, very angry.

Unzipping his jacket, he asked quietly, “You want to break up with me, Star?”

Standing her ground, Star stated, “Yes. I do.”

“Why?”

Star balled her hands into fists to hide her shaking fingers. “Because…because I don’t want to be with you anymore.”

“Hm.” David mulled over that information as he calmly folded his gloves and put them in his jacket pocket. He spoke casually, as if they were having a conversation about the weather. “And why don’t you want to be with me anymore?”

“Because you don’t own me,” she ground out, feeling a black hollow pit in the place where her heart should be.

“Don’t I?” David stalked around behind Star as she stood there stiffly, wondering if he was going to hit her. He came up close to the side of her face, so close Star could feel his breath and smell the motorcycle exhaust clinging to him, acrid and oily and smoky. She made herself stand still and faced straight ahead.

“Who made you, Star?” he reminded her in a threatening tone. “Who created you? Who made you immortal? I did.”

He spun her around to face him. His pale blue eyes glittered like ice and his angular whiskered jaw was clenched tightly. “As far as I’m concerned that makes you mine,” he proclaimed fiercely. Star let out a frightened yelp as he rammed her against the nearest wall, certain he was going to beat the life out of her. But he didn’t. Instead, he kissed her and made a mockery of the gentle word. He took her mouth with his, harshly and cruel as a bite, threading his fingers into her hair and pulling painfully. David kissed her savagely, bruising her lips and raping her mouth with his intrusive tongue, his blond stubble scraping on her chin abrasively. Star whimpered into his mouth but he didn’t let go, his lean, hard body moulded against hers. Star was aware that her pulse had escalated alarmingly and that she was clutching David around his waist as if she actually WANTED him to do this. Goddamn him! You could be shit-scared of him, you could hate him with all of your passion but David could still influence your senses and make you bend to his will. That’s why Star hadn’t left him yet. That’s why she was succumbing to his kiss. He could probably do the very same thing he was doing to any of the other members of the gang and they wouldn’t even fight him. They could try but he’d win out in the end. He was older than all of them and with age comes more strength, mentally and physically. Max was even older still and he had sired David, giving the younger vampire his seventeenth-century blood and along with that, a portion of his power. With David’s enhanced blood running in the boys’ veins, he had immense control over their minds and therefore their bodies. If he wished to use that control to the full extent, he could probably even fuck them against the wall and they wouldn’t stop him. But he wasn’t like Dwayne and Paul. He didn’t have such a big interest in the male of the species, only for feeding off. For sex, he preferred women. And Star was a woman. She certainly wasn’t stopping him. She couldn’t. She felt ineffectual and pathetic compared to his steely force.

David growled in his throat, taking Star’s mouth possessively while his hand snaked inside her top. She wore no bra. He palmed her right breast, twisting the nipple between his fingers. Star’s mind was a blank white zone and she couldn’t think, she could only feel. She felt his kiss move to her neck, his teeth nipping as he tormented her hardened nipple with his expert caress. His mouth was hot and wet and he dragged the small metal ball of his tongue stud over the skin of her throat, reminiscent of the way he did it below her belt line. She unwillingly parted her thighs, wanting that stud sliding over her more intimate flesh. The female felt weak, as if she had no bones and the line of David’s body, pressed firm against hers, was the only thing keeping her from slipping to the floor. Her head was back on the wall, her eyes glassy and half-shut. She gasped as his hand made its way into her jeans, his fingers going up inside her, shockingly erotic pleasure zigzagging through her midsection. When she realised what she was letting him do, it jolted her into action.

“Don’t… stop it,” she begged him, grabbing his wrist tightly. He kept on licking the albescent column of her throat as he fucked her with his fingers, his erection jutting into her hipbone.

“No, please… don’t do this,” she pleaded, trying to unsuccessfully push him away. It wasn’t working. Sick of his stubborn non-compliance, she snapped, “Listen to me, David, or I’ll bite your fucking ear off!”

He stopped finally, hearing her swear at him, which she never usually did. Shoving him away from her, Star scowled at him, her ribcage rising and falling erratically.

“I don’t want to do this,” she told him staunchly, doing her jeans back up and rearranging her top.

“Oh no? What’s this then?” He held his hand out to show her the slippery evidence of her desire on his fingers.

“You bastard,” she gritted. “You know full well what I mean. Yeah, my body wants it but I don’t. And you know why? Because it’s just sex.”

He held her eyes while he licked his hand clean with lewd swipes of his studded tongue, evilly seductive. Star ignored his blatant attempt to rattle her and continued with her speech.

“It’s just sex and that’s all there is between us anymore. It’s not enough for me. It doesn’t seem to be enough for you either or you wouldn’t be sleeping around on me, would you?”

“Who said I was sleeping around?” he demanded, wanting to know which one of the boys blabbed to Star.

“Cut the bullshit, David. I know you are doing it. Don’t deny it.”

Star’s anger was contagious because all of a sudden David’s eyes sparked with topaz fire. “I’m not denying or admitting anything,” he barked. “I don’t have to answer to you. You’re not my fucking wife.”

“And thank God for that,” Star said with heavy sarcasm. “Yet you still treat me like I am. While you’re whoring around, you expect me to be your obedient little woman and turn a blind eye to your meandering. You don’t really want me, do you? You don’t love me. You just want me to be your property. Do you make a habit of leaving your girlfriends while you go out of town and visit your mistresses? Who did you really get the tongue stud for?”

He retaliated, hissing, “This is not about me, Star.”

“Oh, this has everything to do with you, David.” She spat out his name as if it was a dirty word. “How many women have you slept with since we’ve been together? Huh? How many?”

David would not give her a response. He just glared warningly at her, wordlessly telling her not to push him any further. He was king vampire of Santa Carla; he could do whatever the fuck he liked.

“Yeah, I thought as much. If you want other women, then you don’t need me,” Star declared. “So, let me go.”

“And why should I let you go?” David flung back, his voice a low growl. He pointed at his own chest. “I made you, Star. Don’t you forget that.”

“I haven’t forgotten. How could I forget?” Star sighed and pushed her hair back in irritation. “Listen, I’m grateful for what you’ve done for me and I’ll always look up to you as my leader. I will fight to the death to defend you and the pack,” she said honestly and impassionedly, “but it’s time for you to set me free. Give me the same independence you give the boys. If you’re not going to give me that, then kill me.”

No longer afraid of him, Star strode right up to David, looked him right in the eye and bared her throat daringly. “Kill me right now,” she snarled. “I’d rather be dead than be chained to you for one minute longer.”

David arched his brow at her in surprise. “My, since when did you turn into such a hell-cat?”

“Since now,” Star announced boldly. “I want my freedom, David. I want to do my own thing. I want to choose my own lovers.”

“Like who?” He smiled coldly. “Like Marko?”

The blood drained from her face.

“I know you fucked him. I can smell him on you.” David sniffed her up and down. “He touched you just before I arrived. Didn’t he?”

Star didn’t answer, sure that was the moment David was going to strike her. She braced herself for the impact but it never came. He just eyed her closely, his gaze penetrating, like laser beams. When he spoke, his tone was a condescending purr.

“Was he good? Did you suck his dick? Did you let him bite you? How many times did he make you come?”

When she flushed, he sneered. “Now, who’s the whore?”

Without thinking, Star slapped the peroxide-blond vampire, rocking his head to the side. The loud noise shot through the enormous cavern and made a few of the sleeping pigeons hoot in astonishment. David opened his mouth, cracking his jaw and rubbing the site of the blow. He slowly turned back to face her. Star anticipated a violent, brain-displacing backhander in revenge but she didn’t get it. He just crossed his arms over his chest and chuckled at her, eyes dancing with humour.

“Feel better?”

“Yeah, actually,” she replied, realising that she’d gotten away with hitting her pack-leader. If David was going to hurt her, he would have done so by now. She’d given him enough ammunition. He just seemed amused. If he was loath to hit her back, then maybe he did care for her, in his own way. Maybe he was going to let her go. At last.

“I do feel better. Can I hit you again?”

Smiling an actual smile and not a fake one, David raised his hand to Star’s hair. She automatically flinched from his touch but all he did was brush the chestnut curls away from her face, his eyes much softer than before. “Star,” he murmured, sounding as if he had a lot to tell her, personal things.

“You know that I-”

The sound of Paul, Dwayne, Marko and Laddie flying into the cave, hollering and braying with laughter, cut David’s sentence short. David dropped his hand, briefly glancing up and then back at Star.

“This discussion is not over,” he vowed before leaving her and melting into the shadows.


***


TBC...