Page 50 of Heartbeat Girl
That pulled me out of the murky fog over my mind.
“You shouldn’t have done that.” I shoved Pete aside to inspect Steve. Nothing else mattered at that moment. Steve needed medical attention. “He might be bleeding internally.”
As I raised his shirt, I stared at the nonexistent injury.
Reality hit me as I studied his smooth skin. I’d read vampires had incredible healing abilities. The blood was still wet, but I saw no wound.
Right.
Vampires.
Vampires attacked me.
My band was a trio of vampires.
Did I say vampires?
I let go of Steve’s shirt, drew in a deep breath, and swayed. Hands latched onto my arms and a hard chest kept me from falling backward.
“Move,” Liam barked.
Pete stepped out of the way.
My feet left the ground. Liam's azure eyes flashed over me as he carried me. All too soon, he set me down on the sofa. “Relax. Take a deep breath.” Liam’s voice was much gentler now as his fingers slipped into my hair. “You already suspected what we were, so you won’t freak out on me.”
Steve loomed over me. “It’s too cliché to say we’d never hurt you.”
Liam shoved him aside, but not before I saw the dark patches beneath Steve’s eyes. Those wasn’t there before. Fatigue? Blood loss?
With impressive speed, I shot forward and nearly bumped heads with Liam. Being a vampire, he easily dodged in time.
“Oh my God!” I shouted and jumped off the couch. “You lost blood, so youneedblood.”
I walked toward the door, then stopped and came back. Before I knew it, I was pacing, but I couldn’t stop. There was so much to do. So much to be done.
“How do we go about this?” I glanced at Steve and grew more worried when I glimpsed how dark the circles had become. “You look sick. How long before you need to drink? We need to fix the mess you guys made by walking off the stage. The backstage passes!” I hit my fist against my palm. “Your fans… You guys drink from them, right? What just happened, anyway? Who’s Marilyn? Why were they trying to kill you?”
Liam stopped me. “Jayne, slow down.Breathe.”
I pointed at Steve. “But Steve…”
“I’m fine,” Steve assured me. “The fatigue will go away after I feed.”
Feed.So that was what they called drinking blood.
“We’ll tell you everything. Let’s get through the fan meeting, and I’ll answer your questions,” said Liam.
“Okay,” I said sullenly.
“Since Jayne knows the real reason we had a woman backstage, can we stop the extra work after concerts?” Steve asked.
“We can stop selling passes, but there’s no refunding the ones we’ve already sold,” I said, then looked up at Liam. “Do you guys feed daily?”
He nodded, and something in my heart twisted, making my chest uncomfortably tight.
“We can go without for quite a while, but it’s better not to,” said Liam.
“If you fear for the women we feed from, you can see for yourself. We kill no one for survival,” Pete said.