Bad Vampire by Lauren Dawes (read aloud books txt) 📕

image that showed a woman whose world had been fucking rocked by an incubus not two minutes before. Why the hell had the witch even given this to us, and why had I given up my own blood for it? I touched the vampire bite on my neck, my reflection doing the same. I sighed, and was about to put the shard away, when the image went to black. Frozen, I held onto the mirror so hard that my fingers sliced open and blood welled. I couldn’t seem to care as the black melted away to reveal a street. Cars drove by and rain fell. I was seeing through the eyes of the vampire who had made those children.

There was someone walking beside them, and I could see flashes of hair every now and then. It was black from what I could see, but it was also nighttime, so the hair could’ve also been brown. I blinked when the club came into view. The red neon tubing above the door said Slayke, and when the pair stepped inside, I realized this was real time. The same bouncer when we walked in was there. They walked around the bloated dancefloor, and I gripped the toilet roll holder as they moved down the hallway that led to the bathrooms.

Whoever’s eyes I was seeing through stopped at the mouth of the hallway, but the person they were with continued on. And I cursed when I saw who it was.

Seventeen

The bathroom door was pushed open, then the lock snicked into place.

“Cat?” Faline called. “Are you in here, babe?”

I glanced around the stall, looking for something I could use as a weapon. But that was the thing with toilet stalls—there wasn’t much around that could be used… unless I wanted to touch the grimy toilet brush, which I did not. Instead, I put on my big girl panties—unicorn ones, naturally—and replied, “Yeah. I’ll be out in a minute.”

I unlocked the stall door and stepped out to find Faline leaning against the sink. The dress she’d ended up deciding on was blood red, no doubt to match her mouth. I didn’t want to believe she was tangled up in this shit, but evidence didn’t lie.

Pretending everything was cool, I washed my hands and dried them. “Enjoying your birthday?” I asked. “I bet you’ve been feeding like it’s Sizzler.”

She smiled, flashing her fangs. “I do love coming here.”

“Come on, let’s go the bar and get you a drink.” I was hedging badly so far, and I had no doubt she saw straight through me. But the succubus smiled and walked to the door.

“I’d love to, but I’m afraid your night is over, Cat McKenzie,” she said, a look of genuine hate in her eyes. I didn’t know what I did to deserve that hate, but I was sure she’d tell me. All the bad guys spilled their guts eventually. They couldn’t handle not getting the recognition for their evil deeds.

“How did you do it?” I asked.

She smiled again, only this time, it was sinister. And creepy AF. “Clever girl.”

I buffed my nails on my shirt. Her shirt. Whatever. “I am clever. And if I figured it out, you can bet your ass Sawyer did too.”

“Oh, the same Sawyer who is fucking anything with ovaries out there on the dancefloor right now? Yes, the spell may have worn off completely for you, but Sawyer is now in a frenzy, just as I planned he would be. An incubus who’s been denied a release will start looking for sex right away, and he won’t stop until he’s rendered unconscious, either by the loss of bodily fluids or by someone knocking him out. Since Sawyer is well known here, they wouldn’t knock him out just yet. They’d let him have his fill.”

I shook my head, a croaked “No” escaping my throat.

Faline laughed. “Poor little human girl sucked into the snare of the incubus. It isn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last. Who can resist a sex demon after all?”

“Why?” I bit out the word. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because my lover told me to do it. Because he’s given me the chance to stop fucking around and be with only one male without getting sick and dying. Because he has given me everything I want.”

I snorted. “You sound like a pussy.” I was playing for time, although if what she said about Sawyer was true, then I was going to have a hell of a time getting out of here alone.

Faline’s expression hardened. “Come on, Cat. You’re only prolonging the inevitable.”

“Nah, I just like hearing you talk,” I told her sweetly. “How do you think you’re going to get me out of here without anyone noticing?”

She pulled something out from between her cleavage, something about the size of a golf ball that glowed blue. She blew on it gently, and the ball disintegrated into dust, which covered me completely. I tried to brush it off, but whatever it was, it clung to my skin like ink.

“This is a blending in spell. It will make you all but disappear. It tricks the brain into seeing what they think is there, rather than what is there,” she said, preening. “So, you can either walk out on your own two feet, or I can knock your ass unconscious and remove you that way.”

“Tough one, but I think you’d rather I remain awake for this, isn’t that right? If I’m staring at the back of my eyelids, you’ll have to wait until I come around again and that’s time you don’t have, considering it’s already midnight and your vampy lover will probably die at sunrise.”

She snarled, baring her fangs at me. “You just have all the answers, don’t you?”

“I try.”

Taking me by the arm, she wrenched it around behind me, then grabbed my other arm. I struggled to break her hold, but she was much stronger than me. Something cold and hard snapped around one of my wrists, causing