Page 74 of Blood Lovers

My whole face screws up in confusion. “You knew where I was?”

“Every moment.” He takes in a breath and that brightness is back. “Every. Moment. They have kicked you out, Syrsee. That’s why you’re here.” He pans a hand towards the town. “I own White River.”

“What?”

“They sent you here. To me. To him.” He points a finger down at Ryet.

I think back on the ridiculous ten-day trip. The the buses, the planes, the car. “No. That’s—”

“The truth. Listen, I’ll tell you a little bit now. It’s just bait, though.” He pauses to smooth Ryet’s sweaty hair away from his cheek. “It’s just bait. But I can tell you anything you want after you give him the blood.”

I squint my eyes at the vampire. “What the hell is going on here?”

“I thought I have made that clear. I would like you to feed Ryet and—”

“No. Between you two.”

The vampire Paul smiles so bright, so big, it almost lights up the room. “I love him. And even though he pushes me away, he loves me. We’re lovers, Syrsee. Blood lovers.”

Blood lovers. I almost fall over when the purple words come spilling out of his mouth and float in the air in front of me. I reach for the chair near the window and sink down into it.

“Don’t be jealous.”

“What?” I actually laugh.

“Of me, darling. You and I have two very different roles in his life. I cannot replace you, you cannot replace me, but when we’re all together, it’s going to be magnificent.”

“Gross.”

He chuckles. “You think that now.”

I am not in any danger here. Ryet is so sick, he can’t even wake up. And the vampire isn’t even in this room. He’s dreamwalking in a lavender haze. So I snap at him. “What is the information you have about the Guild? Why am I not going back to the library?”

“It’s very simple. They need you to lead them to me.” He looks very proud of himself.

“If that’s all you’ve got?” I snarl at him in disgust. “Get out of my dream.”

“That’s a juicy tidbit. You didn’t know that before I told you. And you just decided this was my dream.”

“It’s not juicy, it’s logic. Of course they want me to lead them to you. They want to kill you.”

“Kill me?” He looks up at the ceiling and guffaws, then directs that ice-blue gaze right back at me. “You don’t believe that, right?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“They don’t want to kill me. They want to kill you, darling. They want me to eat you, then sell them some of my blood.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“This is a business, Syrsee. They’re not trying to kill me, they’re trying to haggle with me over the price of my blood. They think if they give you to me, I will sweeten the terms—”

I shake my head and swipe my hand through the air, trying to make him go away. This is the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard. I cannot believe I let him talk to me this long. “Get out.”

“It’s all true. And I will tell you more. If you feed Ryet for me. Just save him, Syrsee. Save him, and I will share him with you.”

“Get out!”

“We will have fun, darling.” He’s practically singing these words. “So much fun. Like you had last night.”