This man was ridiculously powerful. It was like there was electricity in the air surrounding him. “Last night, Lawrence Wright let his grandmother feed from your neck. I can see the two puncture holes from here. They’ll disappear once you’ve fully transitioned. Healing is one of the perks of being a creature of the night. Because she was a newly changed and poorly trained vampire, she released a venom into your bloodstream that is completely changing everything about your DNA.”
Mothersucker say what?! Vampires?
A hysterical laugh burst from my mouth. Diego continued to speak. “I know it’s a shock. But any minute now, you’ll start to feel an uncontrollable hunger. It’s carnal. The euphoria has worn off…”
As he spoke, the laugh died in my throat, and I realized that he was serious. He believed that I was bitten by a vampire and that I was changing into one. I must excrete the pheromone for attracting crazy hot, but certifiably insane, men. And now I was trapped in this room where he was probably going to kill me and drain my blood to drink or bathe in or do whatever psychotic men with a superiority complex did when they thought they were vampires.
“I came here with someone. He’ll go to the police if he can’t find me. Let me go now, and I won’t say anything,” I said, faking confidence in my own words. Where was Ryan? He would have never left me like this. Was I really that out of it? I’d only had a couple of drinks.
“No, he won’t. At least not for a while.” Diego sounded almost bored. “I put a glamour on him. The effectiveness of the glamour depends on how strong a person’s will is, but if I had to guess, I would say that your friend probably won’t even remember who you are until tomorrow. When it will already be too late.”
Was he some circus hypnotist? If what he’s saying is true, then Ryan was most likely at home blogging about how I forced him to try to have a good time on a Saturday night.
Oh God, Diego was going to kill me. My picture was going to be splashed across the news and social media before it eventually ended up on some wall of unsolved crimes. At least I knew I could count on Yaz to pick out a good one for me. I could see the accompanying headline now: Drew Lane, thirty-year-old head of marketing for Hard Nights was found dead after a night of clubbing that she thought she was still cool enough for.
My panicked thoughts were cut short by a loud, rumbling gurgle. It happened again before I recognized that the sound was coming from me. Even though this man was about to murder me, it was still kind of embarrassing that my stomach was going all king of the jungle right now. I knew I should have eaten a snack earlier.
“Yes, there it is. The hunger. It’s setting in.” Diego leaned forward to watch me, fascination glinting in his steely eyes. “It’s been a while since I’ve watched a change. Usually I let my subjects handle that.”
“Aren’t you going to kill me? I mean, that’s what this entire creepy monologue is leading up to, yeah? Hurry up and get on with it,” I snapped at him. It might have been the “hanger” talking, but I was getting really irritated with this whole ridiculous situation. “Do you have some sort of vampire necrophilia fetish? Oh my God, if you fuck my dead corpse, I will haunt you for all eternity, Diego.”
“No. I’m trying to make you understand.” Diego rubbed his temples in frustration, as if murdering me were some sort of inconvenience. “This isn’t a life you want, Drew. I’m waiting for the pain to kick in. I’m waiting for those hunger pains to be so excruciating that you beg me to end your life. And then I will. I’ll snap your pretty little neck and stop you from becoming a monster.”
I blinked. Blinked again. “Well, that’s just cruel,” I replied before a sharp, stabbing pain rocked through me. “Here I am, thinking we’re going to do the no pants dance, and you want to starve me, then snap my neck? Gross.”
“We can still do the ‘no pants dance,’ if you’d like?” he offered with a smirk.
“That ship sailed when you—fucking A, that hurts.” I stopped mid rant to bend over and grab my stomach. This felt like the time I tried