Blood Fever (The Watchers 3)

“Tell me, querida. ”

I shrieked. I actually shrieked, and let me tell you, I wasn’t proud of it. But hearing Alcántara’s voice was like hearing the chiming of my own personal death knell.

A vampire. The vampire.

In our room. My room.

Not good.

Distantly, I wondered what he’d done with Mei.

I made myself look calm. Made myself look like what Alcántara might’ve been expecting, which was a scared, startled girl instead of what I realized just then I really was in my heart of hearts: fearless and focused.

I had new knowledge. I had choices to make. I would no longer be suppressed and controlled. I’d be Annelise Drew, in-control, empowered girl.

And in-control girl had to get her act together. I put a hand to my chest, faking a girlish swoon. “You surprised me. ”

I summoned strength from deep within. I felt how some o

f that courage sprang from the wellspring that was Carden’s life force flowing through my veins. Was it merely a chemical thing, the vampire’s blood giving me a false sense of bravado? Or did this strength spring from the sense that I was no longer in this alone?

I didn’t have time to consider or decide.

Instead, I thought of what the suppressed, fearful girl might say and told him, “I’m not allowed to have boys in my room. ”

I hoped the naive words made me appear less guilty. Hoped that they would make it seem like I just saw him as a guy, not a vampire. That maybe it would erode the teensiest bit of his power.

“You know very well that I may come and go as I please. You, however. It is perilously close to curfew, and you have been out. Where have you been? You missed dinner. ”

“I…I was working out. I thought I’d go for a run. ”

“You look pale. ” He stepped closer. “Strained. Perhaps you need to drink. ”

Oh God, was he going to try to feed me? From his own body? Instead of fear, it was revulsion that swamped me. My stomach clenched and turned, and it took everything I had not to gag at the thought.

I lied. “I drank earlier. At the dining hall. ”

“But you were not at the dining hall. ” He had a half smile on his face, challenging me with the false innocence of his statement.

I lied again. “I swung by super quickly. I wasn’t hungry for food, so I didn’t stay. ”

He stood close. My legs were trembling more than ever, my body reeling from the earlier adrenaline dump that’d been followed by relief, followed by this new adrenaline dump. I leaned back against the doorjamb to prevent myself from accidentally swaying into him.

I thought of Carden, shackled in an underground chamber. I thought of the stake that would pierce his body if I lost my cool now.

Alcántara ran a fingertip down my cheek. “You didn’t use to lie to me, cariño. ”

“I’m not lying. ” Lie, lie, lie.

He paced a semicircle around me, scanning his eyes up and down my body. He inhaled deeply, and my guess was, he was sniffing for Carden.

I decided an innocent girl would ask, “Is there something wrong?”

He made a throaty, considering sound—“Mmm”—then came to stand before me once more. He wore a peculiar expression. Carden had been very careful with me in the dungeons. If Alcántara thought he’d smell another vampire on me, he’d be mistaken.

And if I’d thought that meant I was in the clear, then I was mistaken.

Because that was when he touched me.