Limerence II Read Online Free PDF Page B

ache still with me, I might even consider what her life has been to get her to this point. I watch Donny with morbid fascination as he uncorks her wrist and pours me another glass. He moves along to the second girl next to her—a dark-haired, pale-skinned, skinny thing with her eyes half closed and a little dribble on her lips. He adds a little of her blood to my glass and gives it a stir with his finger.
    “I heard, of course I heard, but that does not explain to me how you are today, does it?” He smiles as he hands me the glass. The blood is ever so slightly frothy, just as I like it. Now all I need is one of those little umbrellas and a cherry for the top to make this the perfect cocktail.
    I stare at it for too long. The blood is so pure, direct from the vein and still hot. I’m guessing Donny wheeled her out just for me, her blood already flavoured for the day, no doubt. I can smell the rich ironness to it, but it doesn’t make me hungry; it stirs up another emotion inside of me—one from long ago. I look up at him. His hazel eyes are looking at me sadly and he runs a hand across his chin and along the gruff growing there. He’s older than most of us here—not vampire years, but actual years. Why he was turned is a mystery to everyone, but then again, so are most things.
    “I’m fine, Donny, but thank you.”
    “You don’t seem fine.”
    “What more could I want? I have my looks, my strength, and hell—if all else fails, I have my charming personality to win friends with.” I laugh, but it’s without humour.
    “Mia,” Donny tsks at me. “You know better than to put on a front with me.” He leans on the counter like we’re college girlfriends chatting about boys.
    I mimic him with a smile, feeling better now that the blood is in my system, noting once again how quickly my emotions change. “I’m still adjusting. I keep being told to control it, control myself, control her, control, control, control—” I take a sip of the blood cocktail and hiss as everything sharpens into focus.
    “Mia, calm down,”
    “ And ‘calm down’. That’s another phrase that’s on repeat. I just want something more than this. Forever is a long time to live like this.”
    “Now you’re just being dramatic. It’s barely been a year.” Donny frowns. “Drink.” He touches the bottom of my glass.
    “Eleven months, three weeks, four days and counting.” My voice comes out sadder than I mean it to. I huff. “Is this it? Is this all there is?” I ask genuinely.
    “No, sweet girl, no. There’s a whole world out there for you to live and enjoy, but only when you are in con—”
    “Control.” I grin. “There’s that word again.” I take another sip of the cocktail. “God, that’s good.”
    “It’s a good word.” He grins. “And don’t curse.”
    I laugh lightly at my curse word. Yes, God is a bad word to say around here. “It’s a sucky word. It sucks the fun out of everything, and it sucks the life out of me.” I pout.
    “No, I believe someone else did that to you.” He laughs uproariously, and I can’t help but join in, even knowing that it’s my death we’re laughing at.
    *
    Hey, wait up.”
    I turn to see Lora running to catch up with me. She’s one of the only vampires other than Evan that I actually call a friend, though my friendship with Evan is on unsteady ground at the moment. She’s been a vampire for longer than me, and is training to be a Pawn since she has no Bastion skills. Though blessed with speed, strength, and charming good looks, like all vampires, she managed to retain her own personality traits from her human life, and found the transition easier than most. She would have made a great Bastion if she would have had a little more power.
    Her human life was blighted by foster homes and abuse, which inevitably led to her living on the streets and getting mixed up with drugs, until one day she was found bleeding out on the sidewalk by a vampire. He could have killed her