Page 8 of Threads of Crimson

“What?” Sadie and I asked together.

Rafe nodded while he finished chewing. “Yep. Ronan told me tonight. There’s another donor who hangs at the Velvet Vein, but he’s seeing someone who took him to a card game at one of his friend’s houses. The guy supplied humans for refreshments, and I guess Moreaux got a little aggressive with one of the donors.

“He told me about it, and I passed on the information to Ronan, who told Damien. It must’ve really concerned him because he came out from his office and asked me to repeat what I heard, then he got our donor’s name so he could call and confirm what happened himself.”

“Good,” I said, hoping that was enough of a subject change for Sadie to forget that I had something to share that she didn’t know.

“I hope he gets banned. There’s something about him that makes my skin crawl.” Her gaze moved back to me. “So?”

“So what?” Her eyes narrowed, and I sighed. “It’s not just that Lysandro talked to me. He, uh…” I trailed off, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

“I can’t take it,” Rafe burst out. “You have to tell her so we can talk about it. Keeping it to myself is killing me.”

Sadie set her plate on the floor and knelt on her pillow. “Okay, now you guys are freaking me out. What happened that I don’t know?”

Setting my food down too, I covered my face with both hands. “I heard Lysandro in my head before he appeared behind me.”

“What?” she asked. “But that’s impossible.” I opened my fingers just enough to peer at her. “You’re serious.”

“Yeah, he is.” Rafe stood up and started pacing. “Sis, I saw it. Like Moreaux is all bothering Benji, so I was staying close enough to keep an eye on them, right? Next thing you know, Benji’s looking all around like he’s trying to figure out who’s talking to him, but there wasn’t anyone there.

“At that point, I’m worried something’s wrong, so my first thought is that the slimy old vamp drugged his drink, and I’m ready to call over security to intervene, when boom! Lysandro’s all pressed up behind Benji, kicking Moreaux out.”

Biting at the inside of my cheek, I nod slowly. “It’s true. I didn’t say anything right away because I’ve never heard of any of the other donors saying that they heard the vampires in their head, but then I worried maybe I was like…hallucinating or something, so we met up⁠—”

“And I told him that I’ve only ever heard of vampire couples talking to each other telepathically.”

Sadie flopped back onto her butt. “Wow. That’s…wow. I know Lysandro’s supposed to be ancient and all, so maybe he’s got extra cool powers or whatever, but I’ve never heard of that between a vampire and a human either.”

“Maybe they just keep it on the downlow,” I suggested.

Sadie shook her head slowly. “No, I mean, Vladamir and I were together for a year, and nothing like that ever happened. Has Eric ever said that he can hear his vamp Daddy in his mind?”

I shook my head no.

“And he’s never fed from you either, has he?” she asked.

“Unfortunately, that would also be a no.”

She grinned at that, knowing about my huge crush on him. Neither her or Rafe realized how out of control it had grown, though. They didn’t realize the very real longing I lived with to feed him, touch him, just be in his presence.

“So it’s gotta be because Lysandro’s old, right?” Rafe asked, intrigued by the whole turn of events. “Otherwise how in the world did he get into Benji’s head like that?”

Lysandro

That was a question I wanted answered myself. I’d willed Benji to hear me, wanting him away from Mordie, but I’d thought myself ridiculous. Humans didn’t hear us in their minds. In the last two and a half centuries, it was rare to even hear of vampire couples speaking to each other that way anymore.

Circling the building one last time, I deemed the three humans inside safe enough. Using the cover of night, I scaled the wall to peek in on them to make sure that all was well. The three of them sat on large, colorful pillows—ones that I wouldn’t mind having at my home in Willowhope—brainstorming different reasons why Benji had been able to hear me.

On their walk home, Rafe had invited Benji to stay the night at their home, but I wasn’t sure where he would sleep. There was no couch or other furniture that I could see. Would Benji share Rafe’s bed? Or perhaps Sadie’s?

No, he leaned toward feeding men, and when I’d watched him from the doorway, before he knew of my presence in the club, I’d only seen his eyes wander toward other males.

Knowing that they were safely tucked away in the apartment for the night, I forced myself to drop down to the sidewalk below. I had no business following them or eavesdropping on their private discussions. The plan had been to make sure Benji made it home safely without anyone following in his wake, and I’d done that.

Thinking back to last weekend, anger surged through me. I never went to Velvet Vein two weekends in a row, but I’d wanted to make sure Mordie was behaving himself. When I arrived to find him lurking in the alleyway across from the club, I’d settled in and waited, watching to see what he was up to.

I’d practically torn him from limb to limb when I found him following Benji home. Since the young man had arrived safely, and Mordie had taken his leave, I’d forced myself back to the tiny town I lived in down the shore in New Jersey.