“Feeders? They’ll drain them!”
“Don’t you worry about that. Not your problem.”
“Wh-what?”
He sighed, “Don’t you worry. We’ve got access to a population of pieces of shit people for that purpose. Don’t ask. Just know that the feeders won’t be missed.”
“Oh my God. Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Don’t go there, Kyla.”
“Well, what’ll you do with Jackson?”
“He’s gotta die, princess.”
“What?”
“He’s a liability. He’s a threat to us.”
“Can’t you just…”
“Program him? No. I’m not programming someone to not hate me, not want my girl. Fuck that. That’s not something I’m willing to chance. He’s done.”
“God,” she sobbed, covering her eyes. But then she felt her anger rising. She was about to speak but Tristan beat her to the punch.
“What? He was dead to you two years ago. That’s not Jackson down there. That’s a cold-blooded vampire who heard you’re special, who’s had Taryn in his ear, telling him that you used to be his, you’ve got special blood, but I took you. Yeah, he’s the one who told Taryn I’m here. She found out who he was from Constantin and before she left here last time she ordered him to get word to her when I came back. And now God knows what he’s got in his mostly brain-dead skull.”
“I don’t want you to kill him.”
“And I don’t want you to even worry about this. That’s why it’d be better if you were cut off from this shit. I’m not doing it. I’ll give the order, though. So you won’t have to dream it.”
She didn’t like this dark side of him. Didn’t like it one bit. But it was who he was. Whether that was who he always was or who their circumstances had turned him into, she didn’t know. Maybe a bit of both. He’d said things would get ugly. But this ugly?
“I wanna talk to him first. See if I can convince him to---”
“No. Fuck that. You’re getting nowhere near him. He doesn’t exist. He’s not the same. He was brought back from being brain dead, Kyla. He’s so far from the same he might as well be a different guy completely. A vampire in Jackson Curtis’s body. That’s all. Some of us retain some of our humanity when we’re turned, but his brain was dead when he was turned so he’s got nothing in there that remotely resembles his old self. Talking to him is pointless.”
“How do you know this?”
“I discussed it with Sasha.”
“Fine, goodnight.”
“Kyla?”
“Whatever, Tristan. You’re in charge. Obviously. So I’m gonna go to sleep. If that’s okay with you?”
He let out a big breath.
“You’re giving me a fucking headache, you know that?” Tristan muttered, “Haven’t had a goddamn headache in 10 years. Now I get them constantly.”
“Go fuck yourself!” She got out of the bed and stormed out, stormed across the hall to the master bedroom and slammed the door.
It was a beautiful bedroom. But she didn’t want to get into the bed. Adrian’s bed. It was the size of two king-sized beds side by side. She sat on the floor against the closed door and put her head in her hands.
The doorknob turned and the door pushed against her back.
“Don’t,” she called out.
“Move away,” he told her.
“No. Leave me alone.”
“What’re you doing?”
“Leave me alone!”
“Move away from the fuckin’ door and let me in.”
She shifted to get up to move and he burst in. He was huffing and pissed off looking and moving toward her with purpose. She tripped and started to do a pathetic backwards crab crawl to get away from that intensity but he leaned down and scooped her up and then turned around and carried her back to the other bedroom and put her in bed and got in and yanked her roughly against him.
He was huffing, pissed right off. He got his mouth an inch away from her face,
“I’ll put him in a prison. I won’t have him killed.”
Kyla blinked.
“We should have prisons for vampires. Not make every serious misstep reason for an execution. So that’ll start. Okay?”
She nodded.
“Go to sleep,” he growled.
“Kay,” she squeaked.
“We won’t use feeders in those pits. We’ll use extra blood bags.”
“Kay,” she said softly.
His body was tense and tight but he was still holding onto her.
“But you’re not there. You’re not even here. I’ve decided I’m sending you, Sasha, and Kyle back to the island before I do this. You stay with her. You stay safe. I am not fucking around. This is non-negotiable.”
“Okay, babe.” She leaned forward and kissed his chest and then closed her eyes.
The tension in his body lifted away. Kyla fell asleep.-15-Kyla and Sasha were watching a chick flick and they were both laughing and crying at the same time. They were crying at the sweet romance but laughing at one another and themselves because of that crying.
Kyle was asleep. Kyla spent most of her time with him but spent time with Sasha in the evenings after Kyle had gone to bed because she felt bad about leaving Sasha alone, without company, but didn’t want to do it with Kyle because obviously he’d glaze over if all three of them were in the same room. Plus, she was lonely herself, not wanting to face an empty bed.