with new insight. A tough exterior and a soft heart. It didn’t change the fact she was human and he a vampire.
Katrina touched her knee. “Daedalus good for you. I see change in you.”
“What change?”
“You walk different.”
“Well...he’s kind of big, and I did get sore…”
“Eww! Not that!” Katrina giggled while slapping playfully at Sugar. “You walk more free.”
Sugar lifted an eyebrow and tilted her head. She loved Katrina with all her heart, sometimes the language barrier made things difficult though.
Katrina sighed with frustration and got up. “I…” She pointed at herself. “Am you.” She pointed at Sugar, then started walking around the patio, swinging her hips as she took great strides with her short legs.
Sugar’s mouth dropped open. “I do not walk like Betty Boop.” She laughed at Katrina. Tyler’s sense of humor had rubbed off on her. Sugar would do anything to have things work out for them.
Laughing, Katrina came to sit by her again. They watched as the clouds floated by the city and the planes made trails marring the sky.
“I noticed a full moon two nights ago. Where did you and the boys go for the change?”
Katrina bounced on the bench. “Daedalus take us out to woods. No tame city park but far into the wild places.” She said ‘wild’ with awe and wonder. “You know Nosferatu clan and werewolf share the hunt in old times?”
“No. What clan?”
“Daedalus’s clan, Nosferatu. He is upset we know nothing of it. He angry the packs lose the way with old law. He teach us.”
The pride in Katrina’s voice surprised Sugar. She’d never heard it before. Daedalus must have inspired it. Her vampire warrior with the soft heart.
Chapter 5
The window stuck as he tried to slide it open. Silence was of the essence on his mission, so he couldn’t force it with his strength. Footsteps echoed in the alley below, so he became one with the brick building as he hung upside down, held by fingertips and toes.
A human male strolled by while whistling Dixie under his breath. The man rummaged through the trash cans as if shopping at the market.
Silently, the monster on the wall banged his forehead against the brick. His sweet, juicy target slept on the other side of the glass. Close enough to smell.
Lavender mixed with clean cotton.
On any other night he would have had the patience to wait out the homeless man. Not tonight. He built a low growl in his chest and let it vibrate through the alley. The rattle of a lid crashing to the ground was the first response, the pitter-patter of running the second.
He grinned. Mission accomplished, it was about time. With a little applied pressure to the frame, the window opened enough to slip inside.
Sugar slept soundly, cocooned in her soft, thick blankets. Probably tired after an evening spent in laughter with her friends. Quiet snores escaped her blissful repose. Unaware of the shadow that slid into her room and stalked around her bed. Ignorant of the monster who wished to feed on her sweet, yielding body.
Delicious.
He removed his underwear, one of only two things he wore, and tossed it in a corner. With preternatural quiet he untucked the covers from the mattress. The blanket flowed off her in a smooth slow motion, lest she be woken too early. She laid spread across the white cotton sheets. An undersized, blue t-shirt barely covered her generous round bosom, her midriff exposed above a pair of white panties clinging to her hips.
A beautiful midnight snack.
* * * *
The bed quivered as someone crawled over her. Sugar woke, startled, and tried to sit up, but something heavy kept her pinned and held her hands to the bed. Her heart raced. She struggled against the solid mass and kicked out. A scream tore from her throat.
“Hey, sweet thing.” A husky male voice cut through her terror.
“Daedalus?” Stunned, she stopped her tussle. “You scared me!” A mix of annoyance with anticipation swept away her adrenaline rush.
The