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“I guess not. Since he’s not gaslighting or giving me consequences for not taking them. Manipulate is probably the wrong word. I just don’t know how to repay him.”
Max hitched the portfolio bag up on his shoulder a bit more. This stretch of sidewalk on campus was always eerily deserted this time of night. It always felt spooky to Max, but tonight especially felt like something was watching him from the shadows.
“What?” Chase looked around, frowning. “You look spooked.”
“It’s just this area, I don’t like it at night. It feels creepy, like something’s going to pop out at—”
Two hands grabbed Max from behind, snatching him so hard his feet left pavement for a moment. Raw panic slammed into Max’s chest, constricting his throat. He tried to fight, to get whoever had just grabbed him to let go, but he might as well have been a child struggling against a sumo wrestler. His captive held him with no effort. His bags clattered to the ground as he lost his hold on them.
Chase was in full voice. “Let go, you bastard! LET GO, DAMMIT. I am not playing, you fucking let go of me now!”
Max’s panic doubled as he realized Chase must have been grabbed too, and he fought harder. Shit, he could really use some muscle right now.
“Stop squirming. I just want a little taste.”
The voice next to his ear was cold, jeering. Max translated the words with no effort: A vampire wanted to feed from him.
He’d been caught by a vampire—again.
The last incident, which he’d done his best to forget, slammed through his head and he almost threw up then and there.
Please, no.
Not that again.
His fear spiked, trembling his limbs, shortening his breath. Max could barely think around the fear clamoring through him.
“Max!” Chase sounded frantic. “Dammit, I so regret letting my bodyguards go. Don’t you fucking dare hurt my friend! What the hell do you even think you’re doing right now? Huh? You lived too long and now you’re wanting to die? ’Cause that can sooo be arranged.”
Max turned his head, looking for his friend, afraid for Chase as much as himself. He somehow had to at least get Chase out of here, away from the other vampire.
He found his voice, pushing the fear down. For Chase, he could do this. “I-I’ll feed you both. Just l-let him go.”
Those hands tightened on him. “You’re in no position to bargain. No one’s here to save you. You’re just a mere human.”
Shit, was there nothing he could say to save Chase? Nothing?
The vampire holding Chase abruptly lifted his head, staring at something just out of sight, further into the darkness. “Dude, we better go. I hear someone else coming.”
Max’s captor scoffed. “It’s not like a human can—”
The very air shook, a fine tremor as if winds were colliding. Max had never felt the like, couldn’t figure out where this weird pressure was coming from, only felt it push against his skin. In the next second, it grew stronger, then impossibly stronger still. A mother storm rushing at him might feel similar, except it came without sound—like death itself approaching.
“Fuck,” one of the vampires whimpered.
The hands holding Max’s arms loosened, but not enough for him to wrest free. He had no idea what was coming toward them, but it must be the angel of death itself. The two vampires looked beyond unnerved.
Zander melted out of the shadows, his all-black suit serving as camouflage until now, only a single light over the sidewalk illuminating him. He walked with a deliberate pace, each step sounding like a death knell. Despite his hands being relaxed at his sides, he looked a second away from raw violence.
“Let go of them.” His words were soft, the threat in them unmistakable.
Max swallowed hard, eyes fixated on Zander. He didn’t know Zander could be like this—a terrifying, menacing creature that made two other vampires whine in fear.
As if bespelled, the hands holding him abruptly dropped. Max jerked away, toward Chase, wanting to pull his friend free if needed. It turned out to be unnecessary. The vampire holding Chase had also let go.
The fear on the vampire’s face was visceral. He was paler than a ghost, looking at Zander with this transfixed expression. If the man wet himself in the next second, Max wouldn’t have been surprised.
In that same soft, mesmerizing voice that promised pain, Zander issued another order. “Come here.”
