Blood Price (New Breed Book 1) Read online

  What she wouldn’t give to be scrubbing toilets again.

  The economy was slowly starting to do better, but prices were still ridiculously inflated, and no one was looking to hire a cleaning service any time soon.

  Dani had started to go out to work odd jobs here and there in the daylight, but the money didn’t go far.

  Tela shut the refrigerator door dejectedly and strode back through the apartment. She would need to leave soon if she was going to make it to the Sorenson Building before sunset. But before she left, she was damn sure going to make sure Dani was staying put for the night.

  She walked down the hallway and glanced in Dani’s room, but didn’t see her sister. Oh no. If she had to hunt down Dani one more time—

  A clunking sound from the other room got Tela’s attention, and she let out a sigh of relief. Dani was still here. Thank goodness. However, the room she was in wasn’t such great news.

  Tela knocked softly on the door but didn’t wait for an answer before swinging it open. The apartment was already budget chic, with a small living space, kitchen, three small bedrooms, and one bathroom. When Tela had moved in to help raise Dani, space had been tight. Her father had kept the master bedroom, but he’d sectioned it off so there was a fourth small room he used to “center” himself. He’d said the word mockingly, of course. He was never one for the hippies. A career trucker, Dale Beckford was just used to spending a lot of time alone. After Mom passed, he couldn’t raise a little girl on his own. Logistically, he’d have to find an entirely new career in order to stay home with Dani, and he just didn’t have that many marketable skills.

  Tela understood it was necessary to move back to help out, but she hadn’t realized the adjustment period would be so hard for Dale. And, on some level, she knew he really needed that time to be able to grieve on his own, even five years later. She had a feeling he’d never really be done grieving.

  Ever since the invasion, she and Dani had stayed clear of the room. Sure, the first few days, they tried to use the CB radio to get a hold of somebody, anybody, to rescue them, but it soon became apparent that the problem wasn’t that the outside world didn’t know. They just didn’t care.

  She pushed the door open to see Dani in the chair and holding some broken shards in her hand; tears streamed down her face. Shit. “Everything okay?” she asked, kicking herself almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Of course Dani wasn’t okay.

  Dani wiped a tear away. “I’m fine,” she said.

  An obvious lie, but what was Tela supposed to say? Everything was going to be all right? She’d already made that false promise to Dani so many times. She didn’t think she could do it again.

  “Do you think he’s worried about us?” Dani set the broken pieces in the trash.

  Tela glanced for a better view and frowned as she recognized the object. It was an ugly ceramic bowl she’d made in art class back in elementary school. And Dad had kept it. Huh. “I’m sure he’s worried.”

  “He might be happy he doesn’t have to deal with me anymore.”

  Tela sighed. She’d never meant for Dani to feel like a burden, but she was almost an adult and she’d never been stupid. As proud as Tela had always been of her sister’s sharp brain, it really did get her in trouble sometimes.

  “My life would be easier without you, too, you know.”

  Dani looked up abruptly. “Gee, thanks.”

  “It’s true. If I didn’t have a sister and didn’t have a father, I could be living in some hole somewhere. I could get all the food I’d need, stay inside almost all the time. And in my little hole, I’d be utterly safe and barely ever have to move or leave.”

  “You kind of suck at this, you know.”

  “But easier doesn’t mean happier. I’d rather be miserable and actually living than surviving and alone. And since you don’t make me miserable at all, I’d say I’m doing pretty good in this equation.”

  Dani bit her lip and looked up at Tela, not speaking for a few moments. But she wiped away one more tear.

  Tela hoped she’d gotten through to her. She didn’t have a lot more motivational speeches in her.

  “You’re going back there tonight, aren’t you? You’re going to let those things feed on you again.”

  Tela took a deep breath. How was she supposed to convince Dani this was a good idea when even she was scared? “I am.”

  “How do you know you won’t be ravaged again? Your neck isn’t even fully healed from last time.”

  “I’ve talked to a few other girls who have donated, and they all say it wasn’t that bad for them. Maybe this time I’ll get a nicer one.”

  “Or you’ll get the same bloodsucker.”

  Or she’d get the same bloodsucker. “Are you going to stay home tonight? Please say yes. I don’t want to go through all this and then get a heart attack out of worry.”

  Dani smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’ll stay here. I promise.”

  “Thank God,” said Tela, as she exaggeratedly wiped mock sweat from her brow.

  “But you can bet your ass that I’m going to be on the CB radio all night trying to get someone to hear me.”

  Tela frowned. “You’re going to spend all night playing with that old thing?”

  “It seemed like a good enough idea in the beginning.”

  “Yeah, I mean....” She shouldn’t discourage this. If Dani wanted to try to radio out to someone, that would be a happy distraction. “Just be careful. Even if you get a hold of someone outside the city, remember there’s no way anyone can get past the wall without the vampires knowing.”

  “Thanks, Debbie Downer. I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Tela wanted to say more, but she supposed she should stop while she was ahead. “Also, channels on that radio aren’t private, so don’t go off having any dirty radio sex.”

  Dani let out her first honest laugh and Tela smiled. There. At least she’d done one thing right.

  Now it was time to donate some blood.

  Tela should’ve put her hair back. She was absolutely certain of that as she stared up at the Sorenson Building. But she’d been so sure that the hair down was the right option when she left. Maybe it would be annoying and cause whoever was biting her to let go just a few seconds earlier.

  But now that she was here, she was second-guessing everything. The hair could annoy them. It could get matted with blood. How hard was blood to clean out of hair? Tela couldn’t imagine it was easy. Fuck.

  Someone walked out of the building and Tela averted her gaze. She didn’t want to look at any vampire the wrong way. Hell, she didn’t want to look at any vampire, period. She just wanted to go home and pretend none of this mattered.

  The only vampire she’d possibly feel comfortable seeing again was John, and she wasn’t even sure about that.

  It was so easy to hate the vampires. They’d come in so forcefully and violently. Tela and Dani were lucky that they didn’t know anybody personally who’d been hurt by the invasion, but hundreds, if not thousands, were dead because of them. The very existence of one like John, who seemed so... thoughtful, just didn’t compute with what Tela knew about the vampires. And just like last time she was here, she was sure that whatever happened in the next hour would confirm all of her fears.

  Taking a deep, calming breath, she forced herself to step forward and through the revolving doors. Just like before, she walked up to the reception desk. She could tell the girl behind the computer was human. Partly because she almost never saw female vampires, and also because she wore the small gold bracelet that signified she was also a blood donor.

  The woman smiled at Tela, as if this were a normal, everyday thing. “Checking in?” she asked.

  “Um, yeah.” The last time she checked in, one of the gruff vampires had done it, and he’d simply marked a piece of paper to show that she was there. Now the girl was logging in on the computer. How quickly the vampires were catching on to modern technology. “Can I, um, request somebody differen
t from the last time?” If there’d been a vampire behind the desk, she never would’ve felt comfortable asking. Maybe a human would be more understanding.

  The woman frowned as she glanced at the screen. “What’s the name of the Vopura you saw before?”

  “The vampire,” she said pointedly, “didn’t give me a name.” She didn’t know why they kept on calling themselves that silly name. They were creatures that needed blood to survive. Vampires. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

  “The records we have here are pretty new. What’s your name?”

  “Tela Beckford.”

  “Okay....” She started typing away at the keyboard. “Let me do a search for your name and see what I can get.... Oh.” She glanced up at Tela and back at the screen. “It looks like you’ve been requested.”

  “Requested? What does that mean?”

  “It means you’ve been asked for by name. Maybe the last one really liked the way you taste.”

  Tela’s eyes widened. “Is that a thing?”

  “Oh yeah. Everyone has a different flavor. They don’t like smokers at all, I can tell you that much.”

  Damn. If cigarettes weren’t so expensive in the city, she would definitely risk cancer if it meant she would taste worse. But then again, she was here voluntarily and getting money for this. Scratch the smoking idea.

  “Do you know if the guy you don’t want to see was named John? He’s the one who requested you.”

  Tela’s mouth fell open. “I....” It couldn’t be.... John was a common name. But she didn’t know his last name anyway. But it couldn’t just be a coincidence. Had John somehow gotten a taste for her in their short time together? What was she going to do? Say no?

  “I’d go with John if I were you,” said the woman.

  “Do you know him? Is he nicer than the others?”

  “I don’t know many of them. But if one asked for you by name, I wouldn’t want to be the one to say no.”

  And Tela had a feeling it would be this girl who’d have to say no to him. But this was good, wasn’t it? John had been nice to her. She had no reason to believe he wouldn’t be now. Somehow it was so jarring to think of being fed on by a vampire she knew. Being bitten by a stranger was more... distant.

  “This is fine,” she said, more to herself than the receptionist. “Is he going to come down here or should I go up there?”

  “You’re good to go up there.” She grabbed a piece of plastic that looked like a credit card and ran it through a machine. “He’s in unit 1406. You’re going to take the elevator up to fourteen and then follow the numbers to his apartment. This key will get you in for the next ten minutes only and then it’s useless, so don’t dawdle. When you’re all finished, I’ll go ahead and approve the payment into your lockbox. If you have any questions, just ask for Carol. That’s me.” The woman, Carol apparently, gave a wide smile, as though this were a totally normal transaction.

  “Thanks,” she said weakly as she took the little keycard from her. Were they really just letting humans walk around unattended here? Not that they had much to be afraid of. What was she going to do against a building full of vampires?

  They had the whole city at a standstill. Everyone was just too afraid to take any action at all, and she wasn’t exempt from that.

  She moved steadily toward the elevator and tried her best to make sure her fear didn’t show. She’d heard all the stories about vampires being able to hear and monitor heartbeats. She had no idea whether any of that was true, but she wasn’t going to stop that from trying her best to keep her pride.

  Even when she was in the elevator and it rose, she didn’t allow herself to freak. She could hold this together. She’d done it once before, and even though it had been terrible, she’d gotten through it. Sure, maybe she’d needed a vampire escort to get her home, but she’d used her last few dollars to get an orange juice on the way here, so hopefully this time she wouldn’t need an escort.

  The elevator dinged and opened at the fourteenth floor. So now she was walking alone in a building full of vampires. This was fine. Hell, what was the worst that could happen? She’d get bitten? That was the entire idea.

  Apartment1406 was just a few steps from the elevator, so it wasn’t a long walk. She looked at the keycard in her hand but decided against it. It seemed wrong to just walk into someone’s apartment, vampire or not. The last thing she’d want to do was surprise him.

  It seemed especially ironic, considering any vampire needed an express invitation to come into a human’s home. Instead, she tried it the old-fashioned way and knocked three times on the door. Why couldn’t they just use an intercom system like every other apartment building?

  She was just lowering her hand from knocking when the door pulled open and suddenly John stood right in front of her, no more barriers at all. He wore dark-wash blue jeans and a T-shirt that hugged him in all the right places.

  She tore her gaze from his body and looked up at his face, even as the blood rushed to her cheeks. Focus, Tela, she told herself. This was hardly the time to think about how attractive the vampire was. In fact, right about now, she was supposed to be terrified. What happened to her terror?

  “Didn’t they give you a key?” he asked.

  She blinked a few times, struggling to remember any English words. “Key? Right, key.” She held up the little piece of plastic as evidence. “I was going to use it, but it seemed rude.”

  “Why would it be rude?”

  “Because, um.... I keep on forgetting how new you all are to things. Your home should be a special, safe place that people can’t just walk into.”

  He cocked his head and studied her as if she were an alien from another planet. Now that she thought about it, she was an alien from another planet to him. Finally he said, “I’ve only been here a few months. It doesn’t feel like home. At least not what I understand humans think of as home.”

  Tela had to bite her lip. She had so many questions she wanted to ask him, but now really wasn’t the time. Considering she was still in the hall, it really wasn’t the right place, either.

  He stepped aside. “Do you want to get started?”

  Tela didn’t know whether she should smile at the phrasing. “Do I want you to bite me?” She stepped into the room. “No. I can’t say I want to get started.”

  “Yes.” He shut the door. “I know your last experience wasn’t pleasant. From what I hear, if the Vopura has the correct technique, the donor can find the experience rather... pleasurable.”

  She raised a brow at that. “I’m betting the girls are just faking it.”

  “Why would any woman fake it?”

  “Because of the patriarchy.” Predictably, he looked confused, and she shook her head. “Human joke. Don’t worry about it.” She turned her attention to his apartment. The room she was in was surprisingly spacious. The ceiling was tall, and it opened right into a living room with a sectional sofa, coffee table, and television on the wall. She wondered whether he had decorated it or whether this was the decoration left behind by the poor bastard who had lived here previously.

  “Why did you ask for me?” She walked farther into the place, looking for any personal evidence left over from the previous owners but found nothing.

  “I haven’t used any of the donor services before and you seemed agreeable enough.”

  She rolled her eyes as she turned back to face him. “Agreeable? Well, I suppose that’s nicer than the last guy.”

  “I didn’t bring you here to mistreat you. I need food and you need money. It’s just a simple transaction.”

  “Hey, I’ll be your grocery store. No complaints here, promise.” But now that she thought about it.... “I’m your first donor? What’s with the change?”

  “The bottled blood worked as sustenance, but I found myself craving other things.”

  Holy shit. Every answer he gave just raised more questions. “Do I want to know what those other cravings are?”

  “I doubt it.”

 
; She took a nervous gulp. That definitely wasn’t the answer she wanted. “So let’s do this. Do you want my neck or wrist?”

  He said nothing, and for the first time, she realized he might be nervous too. Maybe not as nervous as she was, but for an all-powerful vampire, he didn’t seem like his normal suave self. His eyes raked up and down her and she saw a muscle tick in his jaw. And as that gaze rested on her neck, she could see those eyes darken.

  Tela took an unconscious step back. She had heard stories about their eyes turning black, but this was the first time she’d ever seen it. Even though there was no doubt about his supernatural nature, this undeniable evidence was still a shock to her system. Unconsciously, her eyes went to the shut door. Even though it was way too late for her to back out or even consider making a run for it, her mind still calculated the time it would take for her to get from her present location to the hallway.

  “You don’t want to do this,” said John, apparently a master in stating the obvious.

  “Can you blame me? You had to deal with the aftermath last time.”

  “But you volunteered.”

  “Because I need to eat, too. Ever since you all came on your little vacation here, I’ve been out of a job.”

  “I’m not going to apologize.”

  Her brows shot straight up at that. “Okay....”

  “We’re trying to survive. Our world was becoming more and more unstable by the day. And I’ve studied your human history. We’re hardly the first conquering force.”

  She blinked rapidly and tried to think of a good comeback without screaming at him. She took a deep breath and tried to swallow her anger. “You’re right. The fact that humans have done this too makes this whole situation okay. Now, are you going to bite me or are you going to defend yourself more?”

  He took two long strides closer to her, and she was suddenly worried her words had angered him. She bit her lip but didn’t back away as he looked down at her.