Moonlight's Ambassador (Aileen Travers Book 3)(5)

I tilted it over my glass, watching the dark red liquid collect in the bottom. The smell of death and rot reached me, and I curled a lip. Ever since I'd tapped Liam's vein earlier in the year, my stored blood hadn't tasted quite the same—the flavors lackluster and nasty, like a powdered protein shake and not the good kind. Whereas before I couldn't get enough of it, now I could barely stomach gulping it down. Worse, I could feel the difference between it and live blood. Now that I'd had the premium, grade A stuff from tall, dark and handsome, I could tell how inadequate it was in meeting my needs, barely abating the hunger these days.

I turned to find Inara regarding me with a dour look. "What?"

"I forgot. Your friend isn't the only one with troubles."

"I don't know what you're talking about." My voice was defensive despite my best efforts.

For such a small being, Inara could throw skepticism better than anyone I knew. Including my mother. She shook her head and leapt off the encounter. "This should end well. It's like the blind leading the blind."

"You don't know what you're talking about," I called after her retreating figure. I grumbled into my glass, "I'm perfectly fine with bagged blood."

Finishing a sip, I held the glass away from me and grimaced. It was like drinking that fermented stuff that was the newest fad. The kombucha or whatever. I'd tried it once as a human and had sworn never to step near the nasty drink ever again.

"Inara is just looking out for you," a tiny voice said near my ear.

I started and then turned my head, careful not to disrupt the pixie's perch. I'd done that once; it had not ended well. Lowen sat on my shoulder, having found one small spot unmarred by the gunk covering me. His tiny little feet kicked back and forth as he looked up at me. His purple and blue wings glittered as the light caught them. Unlike Inara, who was pale with a slight green tinge, his skin was a burnished copper. He wore tiny trousers that ended at his knees and a sleeveless white tunic.

"I'm pretty sure Inara only tolerates me," I told him.

He leaned back on his hands and peered up at me. "True, but she doesn't want you to die. We'd have to find a new home then."

"You could always just remain to torment the next inhabitants."

His face was thoughtful before he gave a noncommittal shrug. "There's something odd about your friend."

I snorted. "Yeah, she was just turned into a werewolf after learning there's a whole supernatural world out there. Anybody is bound to be a little off after that."

He shook his head, his large eyes looking reserved. "No, it's more than that. Something’s wrong with her. You should be careful not to get torn apart."

With that he took off, leaving me to stare after him in frustration.





CHAPTER TWO

A KNOCK AT the door summoned me from my deathlike slumber. Really, it was more of a pounding that caused my door to shimmy and quake. I lifted my head without opening my eyes and then let it drop. It was too much effort to get up. Whoever it was would go away eventually.

The knocking paused. Moments later it resumed, louder than before. I pried my eyes open and blinked at the purple and blue wings filling my vision. Lowen leaned forward. "You have company."

I turned on my side and buried my head in the couch I'd ended up on last night. "I can hear that. Tell them to go away."

Between one breath and the next, I drifted off. A sharp pain on the rim of my ear brought me back to the land of the living.

"Take care of it before they break the door," Inara ordered. She released the abused appendage and flitted out of range before I could swat her.

"I'll be fast enough one day, pixie," I said, giving her a dead stare even as I lumbered to an upright position. When had sitting gotten so hard?

"Not even in your prolonged life," she returned in a scathing voice.

"Yeah, yeah." I yawned, my eyes falling shut. Couldn't this wait? I thought it could. I started to lean back against the couch. I was just so frickin’ tired.

One of the pixies dive bombed my face. "Get up and answer the door, you worthless blood sucker."

With a long groan, I made it to standing and with the help of the pixies swooping at me whenever I veered off course, I made it to the front door. I leaned against the wall for stability and unlocked the first lock, then the second. I'd barely finished with the last lock when the door thrust itself open and a very angry pair of werewolves stalked inside.

"Please. Come right in," I said in a dry voice as I squinted against the bright light. Well, that answered the question of why I was so exhausted when I normally woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed. As a new vampire, I still struggled to stay awake when the sun was in the sky. Most of the time I could only manage a few minutes at sunrise and sunset. At the moment, the sun was shining bright and cheerily in the sky. This had to be a new record for me.

"Where is she?" Brax rounded on me as Sondra moved through my small apartment, her head up and face alert. A pair of ice blue eyes glared at me with a fierceness that would have taken my breath away if I’d been able to summon enough energy to feel fear. His power, that thing that only he as alpha had, filled the room with heat. It felt like standing next to a raging wildfire. You just knew if the wind shifted in the wrong direction, your ticket was up, and it would be an unpleasant way to go.