I heard the bolt click then her annoying heels again as she followed me. Opening the little fridge, I shifted the milk and orange juice aside and grabbed two beers. I shut the fridge door with my foot, and used my key to open the bottles, setting one on the counter for Abigail, or Abby, what-the-fuck-ever.
I leaned back against the counter, raised my beer, and gulped half of it back. When I lowered it, I nodded to her. “Okay, let’s hear it so I can get on with my already pisser of a week.”
She made no move to take the beer; instead, she peered at Danni’s art as if this was a private showing. Just when I was going to kick her ass out to the curb and say screw it, she turned toward me.
“I didn’t know who else to ask for help. Trinity would—”
“Fuck!” That’s where I recognized her name from, the wild-child Abigail. Rumor had it that Trinity raised this chick since she was a kid. Something about the girl’s mother, Leona, killing herself before a horde of vampires had the chance to do it.
“Great. Just fuckin’ great. Trinity’s errant witch. I should’ve known.” The one person who hated Delara—Trinity. “I get it, no need to explain. Trinity’s a vile bitch and would set you on fire if she knew you had anything to do with a vampire.”
“Yeah, something like that,” she replied, running her fingers through her hair, making the longer strands in front, which cupped her face, fall forward. “Liam’s new girl—” she began.
I snorted. Bingo. This was about a chick scorned and Delara stole her man. “If you had listened in witch class, you’d know that vampires are rarely monogamous.”
Her nose scrunched. “I’m not sleeping with him. That’s disgusting.”
I had my beer to my mouth about to take a chug, but lowered it again. “Really? Now, that surprises me.”
She glared. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I shrugged. “Sugar, you pick me up in a bar wearing a skimpy dress, fuck-me heels, and looking sexy as hell. You tell me you’re involved with Liam—a vampire who easily gets any chick he wants—and rumor is you’ve been hanging at his club. Considering you’re sexy, hot, and in his club, he’d want you. And you’re a rebel witch who likes to piss Trinity off. So, yeah, it surprises me you aren’t spreading your legs for him.”
“You’re a dick.”
“And you expect to get my help calling me a dick?”
She continued to glare, but kept her mouth shut.
I lifted my beer, chugged, and then set it down on the counter. “Fine, tell me.”
Her hair fell forward, covering her right eye, and she pushed it aside with one finger. “Delara wasn’t at the club a few nights ago.” I knew which night because she’d been shooting a game of pool with me. “And Liam looked edgy, and I’m guessing it was because she wasn’t there. I’ve seen them together at the club because, as you said, I’ve been there a lot lately.” Her eyes shifted from me to her feet and her shoulders tensed. “I’d been in a pissy mood and drinking more than I should.”
Fuck, here it comes. I could feel the unease radiating off her.
“Umm, the head’s a little fuzzy, but I ended up at Liam’s table, and he served me a bunch of drinks and—”
“Fuck, you got wasted with a vampire? Did you read your witch handbook at all? The part where it says ‘never get wasted around a vampire’? Even I know that, and I’m not a witch.”
“I fucked up, okay,” she retorted.
“Yeah. You did. So, what’s the deal? You’re worried Delara is going to kick your ass for hanging out with her man? Give you a clue here, she doesn’t give a shit about Liam.”
“Not exactly. But, he kissed me. I was mad about—well, some guy. Listen, I’m having an all-around crappy couple months. I was drunk. Liam was tempting and—”
“He’s a bloody vampire, of course he’s fuckin’ tempting. That’s his goddamn job,” I shouted.
She remained quiet. Her hands clasped together as she moved to lean against the wall and crossed her arms. Unfortunately, I knew there was more.
“This isn’t about kissing Liam, is it? What else?”
She cleared her throat then said, “I, ah… had a drop of his blood.”
“Fuck!” I turned around, grabbed the edges of the counter and growled. Jesus. I should shove her out the door and let her fend for herself. What the hell was I supposed to do with that? “Why?” I ground out.
“It was bad timing.”
I swung around so fast, I knocked my beer over with my elbow and the liquid spilt onto the counter, dripping over the lip onto the floor. “Bad timing? Are you for real?”
She tensed, eyes narrowing. “Listen, it wasn’t supposed to happen this way. I was—”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
She avoided my eyes. “Fine. Let’s make this simple. I was plastered and screwed up. Happy?”
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” I ran my hand through my hair as I walked to the door, stopped, and walked back.
Liam was a serious pain in my ass, a dangerous pain in the ass. There may be a truce between the Scars and him because he was behaving and not killing any humans, but he had to know feeding a witch his blood would end that truce.
I stopped pacing and met her eyes. “Do you realize what one drop can do?” She nodded, but I said it anyway. “You begin to crave blood. Thirst for it. Starve for it, and when you can’t deny the thirst any longer—and trust me, you can’t—you consume blood for a second time, and you die. But then, lucky you comes back to life and joins the bloodsuckers, hunting humans, being hunted by us when you kill someone—you know, the joys of being a fucker of the living dead. Oh, but that’s not all—Liam becomes your master. You, his pet. He calls. You come. He says fetch, you go fetch. He says spread your legs…” I stopped when I heard her sob.