One Immortal - Tia Louise Page 0,78

amount of bleach can cover it. I don’t know how I’m going to stand working with my brothers. Yet they’re still sworn to help me find a way through this madness.

Melissa’s scent in my pillows tempers it. Her hybrid scent intoxicates me. I hold the sheets to my nose and inhale deeply, wishing with everything in me I didn’t have to leave her. Just as I’m heading out, I remember one decadent pleasure and step back to my nightstand. A scrap of black lace is quickly slipped in my coat pocket.

I’m in Princeton by morning. The red-eye doesn’t bother me now—it’s actually preferable. I make my way through baggage claim and into my Acura as the sun cracks the tips of the horizon. I’ll sleep the day away and see what I can get accomplished tonight.

Sloan mentioned Lilith, a woman who met him at the fountains and seduced him. A woman with red hair, for whom glamour wouldn’t have been necessary. It sets me wondering who she could be. None of our records mention her, which leads me to believe she’s might somehow be a key.

Night falls around me. Hunger burns in my throat. Sitting behind my desk, my collar is unbuttoned, and my hair falls around my eyes in damp waves. The pain is so strong, I have to find some way to feed or something bad will happen. Our office manager Nikki cut her hand on a broken light bulb before leaving just now, and I had to close the door so I wouldn’t attack her. I’m glad she and I have never had a close relationship. Still, she can tell something is off with me now.

Standing, I pace to my wall of windows and look out on the courtyard. I don’t know what to do. I don’t have time to research criminals in the area. A hunger pain hits me with twisting force. I lean my head against the glass and release a low groan as I wait for it to pass.

Blinking up, the night is plain as day. Just at the highway, where the thin forest begins, a large doe stands frozen. A light flickers in my mind, and I see a possible way to fend off my hunger. My jaw drops open as I look at her dumb cow-eyes. I don’t even register slipping the coat off my shoulders. I turn, heading for the door without thought.

The stairs are behind me at vampire speed, and I’m pushing through the door. The beast runs, but I’m faster than she can move. Her large body is in my arms, my fangs sunk deep into her neck before she even slows her sprint. We continue for several paces, her blood pulsing fast and strong into me. I’m sated before I’ve had a chance to process what exactly I’m doing.

Unlatching, I fall to the ground on my feet. The doe goes on a bit further before she drops, as if muscle memory drove her on. I know what it feels like to pierce Melissa. What happened just then is not the same, but my hunger is gone. I’m strong. The meaning of this swirls in my brain as I make my way through the woods.

Stuart is waiting when I get back to my office. It’s only then I notice my bare feet.

“Finding alternatives so soon?” He grins at me. He’s on the other side of my desk holding an open manila folder. “You have more control over this than you give yourself credit for.”

“Nothing in my studies suggested vampires could live successfully on livestock.”

“It makes sense if you consider your chiropteran relatives.”

“Bats.” Shaking my head, I drop into a black leather chair. “Yes, the vampire bat lives off the blood of cows and livestock.”

“Fish gotta swim.” He’s a bit too merry about this development. It solves nothing as far as I’m concerned. “It also helps with the smell. Not that I’m sure you care.”

That statement does catch my attention. “You’re right.” Lifting my head, taking a deep breath, I nod. “Tolerable.”

“Another piece in the puzzle.”

“What were you able to learn about this woman?”

“Not a damn thing. Whoever she is, she’s deep undercover.”

Sitting back in the chair, I focus on my last conversation with Sloan. “She had a reason to come out. When she seduced him at the reflecting pool, it was for a purpose.”

“But what?”

No vampire fitting her description appears in any of my journals or notes. No allusions to her, no references. Why would she come out specifically