Page 11 of Sassy Embrace

The wolf shifter raised her arms over her head, grabbed hold of the vampire by the silk blouse she was wearing, and flipped her over her shoulders.

Those blue irises had been swallowed whole by the dead night-black of Kim’s pupils as she snapped her neck back up to Leigh and hissed shrewdly. The face that had been somewhat pretty was distorted into a hideous mask. Her canine teeth had elongated and glistened under the dim bulb that swung back and forth on its chain overhead.

Leigh stumbled backward. She scrambled as Kim launched herself at her again, the same agility akin to a big cat, or a monkey of some kind, nearly landing on top of the wolf. But she was fast and intuitive, something that vengeful, bloodthirsty vampires lacked in a fight.

Leigh rolled out of the way on the gritty floor and shifted into her wolf form. Kim wasn't against taking cheap shots, and used her long talons to slash at her just as the shifting was near completion. It left a long pink mark along Leigh’s snout and sent her spinning into the wall.

“Stupid, stupid mutt,” Kim continued to hiss, stalking her. “What makes you think you can run this place better than one of our own? You aren’t even good enough tobleed.”

Leigh recovered quickly and escaped away with a jump over the bar. She knew she had to get the upper hand, and get it fast because the way Kim had chewed on that sacred word—blood—made her stomach coil into itself.

She was hungry not only for revenge but for what was running through her veins.

Kim nearly levitated over the bar, but that time, Leigh was ready. She used her strong back legs to kick the vampire in the ribs and heard crunching bone along with an anguished wail as she struck the front door.

Hopefully destroying that fucking umbrella too.

Leigh didn't waste any time. She knew that the forging of new alliances was likely going to be sullied if she killed the first vampire that walked into Embraced.But the woman was trying to kill her. There really was no other choice.

She went for her, growling, as Kim bent over, her back pressed against the wall. Leigh would slash her throat, then deal with the rest later.

But Kim was smarter than she looked.

She had been playing possum, waiting for Leigh to attack her. When the wolf tried to slash at her, she grabbed hold of her arm, then leeched herself onto her back in the same way she had initially to start the fight.

“I’m going todrainyou," she said in a horrifying, raspy voice.

Leigh tried to shake her off. Kim was slippery and tight around her torso, breathing heavily and hot as she chuckled darkly into Leigh’s ear. The wolf was panicking, sacrificing her own body with a bang against the wall, then the bar. But she would not fall.

Leigh roared as Kim slowly brought her mouth to her neck. She swore that she could hear the fucking fangs growing as she scraped her talons along the vampire’s back, but nothing was sticking to it. It was as if her skin were smooth as marble.

Leigh began to see black and nearly gave in to the struggle when the leeching hold Kim had around her torso suddenly vanished.

Leigh fell to all fours and patted at her neck, a semi-prayer position with her head to the wooden floors, and wanted to weep when she found no sign of penetration.

She darted onto all fours again, waiting for Kim, or maybe another vampire to strike, growling with a ragged breath.

There was another vampire there. But he did not come to aid Kim in her scheme.

Standing valiantly under the swinging light was Claude. He had the same black moon eyes as Kim had when she first attacked Leigh. He was breathing heavily, his mouth hanging open, his own protracted teeth pointing up into the light like acutely serrated knives.

He stared at her. The stare was dull and dead. But something else within it enraptured her, unlike anything she had ever dreamed.

The rain hammered on the tarps. It moved with the rhythm of her heart beat.

Kim cowered the shadows. Claude reached out to grab the vampire’s collar, but she swiftly avoided him and pounded through the wood of the door.

It splintered easily, and she disappeared into the storm.

When Claude turned back to her, the black moons were gone. He crouched and spoke with a compassionate tenderness.

"Are you all right?"

SIX

CLAUDE

Claude watched the stranger flee from the club. Now that the threat was out of sight, his main focus returned to Leigh. He quickly approached her as she finished dressing and did a quick sweep of her features, trying to notice any injuries or ailments. Physically, from his perspective she looked fine.