Page 24 of Fangbanger

“I said not to look.”

Dawn swans through the room, and half the male population stands at attention. Her hair shimmers like spun silver, and her dress trails behind her on the floor. Her delicately pointed ears are pierced with small diamond studs.

“You should kill her,” Karina mutters. “She wouldn’t be able to put up a fight.”

Dawn is a siren. She literally doesn’t know how to fight. “I think that’s why they like it so much.”

Karina’s snort says what she thinks of that. “There’s no accounting for taste.”

I shrug, but my shoulders are tight. Dawn was my high school bully, and she usually avoids Good Intentions. It’s as close to my space as anything in the town is, and I don’t like having her here.

She is beelining directly for Marcus. I take another long swallow of my drink.

“What is it about vampires?” I mutter.

Karina leans forward, watching the two of them greet each other with obvious interest. My question is rhetorical, but my friend muses, “I think it’s the teeth. Or the power.”

One vampire is enough to take on ten of anyone in this bar. They’re also secretive and beautiful and usually wealthy. Supernaturals crave power more than anything else, and Marcus is brimming with it.

“He’s a novelty. Sirens love novelty. He’s the only vampire who’s stuck around.”

“Because I’ve encouraged them to leave.”

Vampires are more likely than any other supernatural to be evil and unhinged. Age changes them, and death always follows. I’ve politely and not-so-politely chased away any curious vampires that have come sniffing around. I’m not sharing Silver Falls with one of them.

“He looks like he wouldn’t mind staying,” Karina muses. “Claiming the area, perhaps.”

Vampires are territorial, with domains extending a hundred miles or more. Regrettably, I could picture Marcus staking a claim here. He looks regal, surrounded by admirers who both fear and want him. Dawn strokes a finger down his arm, and he angles his head toward her, interest clear in his wintry silver eyes. Something pinches in my stomach, and I look away. Even with my attention elsewhere, I still feel his presence at the back of my mind.

Karina blows out an admiring breath. I know how she feels and I wish I didn’t.

“Karina, can the bond cause me to be attracted to him?”

“Bond? What bond?”

“The spell. He said it created a link between us.”

Her eyes widen. “It shouldn’t do that.”

I frown. “I can feel him. And he can feel me too.”

She shakes her head. “That’s definitely not supposed to happen. What does it feel like?”

I prod mentally at the space where he exists. His head whips around. I make a shooing motion, and he responds with a narrow-eyed glare.

“He’s just there. We’re connected. And—” The breath catches in my throat as his presence heats. As the tether between us sends off sparks. “I think it’s getting stronger.”

“Shit,” she mutters. “I need to look into that. This spell is new to me. Sorry, Leah.”

My gaze is on Marcus. Something is roiling in my veins, getting stronger the longer I’m here. Maybe it’s the alcohol, but I don’t think it is. Dawn tilts her head in clear invitation, and the bond flares hot again.

“Shit,” I whisper. “I know what I feel. It’s hunger.”

Karina’s head whips toward the vampire. “He’s going to feed right here?”

I imagine some back-room orgy at the bar with my most hated enemy and my high school bully at the center of it and decide I want no part of this.

“You’re going to feel it.” Karina sounds both horrified and intrigued.