Page 90 of Mortdale

“Yes,” I admitted.

“Why?”

I took the cigarette from her, tasting the balmy scent of cherry on my tongue. “Because I wanted to.”

“I want it back. I liked that photograph.”

“I’m sure you’ll fine me generously for it.”

“I want something more than money this time. It’s getting annoying. You have too much of it.”

“I’m sorry my wealth has been such a burden on you.”

“I’ll be okay. I’ll wipe my tears with the new diamond necklace Piper picked for me the other day. She’s got quite the taste.” Her bottom lip was caught between her teeth as she hesitated for a minute. “She’s very gifted, you know. She feels everything on her fingertips.” She lifted a hand in the wind, tangling her fingers in it. “Clairsentient witches are pretty rare.”

The word terrified me somehow. Piper would grow up one day. And who was to say the same fate as her mother’s wouldn’t follow her.

“Cassandra used to be the same as her. To my sister, everything had a heart. She was always cautious of things, as if she could hurt them.”

“Why does it seem as if you blame her for her death?”

“I don’t. Not as much as I blame myself for it, anyway.”

She slid slightly closer to me. “Why didn’t you come back when she asked you to?”

“The fleet refused to leave the Eastern Continent until the king gave his order. He wouldn’t comply with any of the thousands of requests I sent him until it was too late.”

She groaned. “Goddess, I hate him so much.”

I laughed, and her head snapped in my direction like I’d cursed her out.

Her big brown eyes had grown even bigger as they roamed across my face. She did that alot. Just stared at me, watching me carefully, almost as if she was studying me. “They look like they hurt.”

“You won’t feel them.”

The slightest colour tinted her cheeks. She licked her lips. “The venom, right?”

I nodded, bringing my fingers to her slender neck, feeling her pulse shiver against me. “It numbs the skin. It also acts as an antiseptic. The incisions heal pretty quick, too.”

Drinking blood was more than feeding to many; it was a ceremonial celebration of consuming pure, unalloyed life, shared pleasure and pure agony at the same time. To me, it was repulsive in many ways.

At least until I’d thought about how it would feel to mark her throat, her thighs, her breasts, her lips. Until I’d tasted her blood. Until she’d licked mine off her lips as if she’d been relishing its taste. Smoking, drinking, nothing had helped to contain the urges.

Saints.

“How often do you go to the Bloodhouses?”

“Once every other day.” A long while ago now. But I’d survived on worse things than stale blood.

“What about Piper?”

“Since she’s only part vampire, she can sustain her body with food, but she does experience blood thirst once in a while. She has her cocktail in a glass and through a straw.”

She smiled. “Yuck.”

“This is what finally disturbs you?”

Her fingers twirled around the fabric of her nightgown. “Every woman has her limits.”