Blood Lust

Chapter 2

Kate looked around the apartment and wiped the sweat from her brow. The grime building up was gone, and the kitchen floor was now so clean she could see her reflection in the yellowing tile. The threadbare carpet in the living room was vacuumed, and the mostly untouched television was free of dust. She'd changed and washed the sheets on both her and her roommate's beds and gone over every inch of their tiny bathroom.

Their tiny home was now cleaner than when they first rented the place. Not that it was exactly a high bar. There was a reason it was the cheapest place on the market when they moved in.

She crossed the room to check the time on her phone. Eight fifteen. It had been less than ninety minutes since Darius dropped her off. Her roommate should have been home by now, but the nature of her work and night-stalker breed didn't exactly allow her to keep every time commitment.

She threw the scrub brush into the sink, grabbed her smokes from the table, and stormed to the window. The rain had lessened to a light sputter, but the thick clouds continued to block enough of the sun that she didn't need to fear crumbling into dust.

Paris was different in the day. At night, the city was alive with night stalkers who made their business and pleasure down. Creatures who were considered monsters to humans. Vampires, werewolves, banshees... creatures like her. During the day, with all this rain... it was just sort of bland and one color. So she wasn't exactly upset to have to sleep through it.

At least... she usually would sleep through it. Usually, she would have vampire venom flowing through her veins. Usually, she would be so far gone in a pleasurable high, the world ceased to exist until the sun went down.

Her knee bounced erratically. Her eyes flicked between the streets and alleyways below her, looking for a figure she knew wouldn't be there. Four times she thought she felt her phone vibrate and pulled it out to see there was nothing. Not even a notification, and certainly no response from Harper.

She swore into the rain and clawed at the skin under the bracelets. Her wrist had turned bright red, and irritating little hives had broken out everywhere the metal touched. Why was it so damn hard for her magic to accept this new life? It wasn't even new! She had been living like this for five fucking years, and before that, she wasn't exactly allowed to feed openly anyway!

The venom was working, for crying out loud! Was it a perfect solution? No. But it was working. Had been working. It worked as long as she was able to get her supply. Unfortunately, Harper had been getting less and less reliable over the last few months.

So, it had been a few weeks since she could get high. She should be able to control herself without turning into a pillow for the dogs to hump!

"Kate," she heard the apartment door open and her roommate calling out in their native English. "Are you home?"

"Out here," Kate tossed the cigarette off the balcony and crawled back inside.

Danika was shedding her heavy coat and looking around, an auburn eyebrow lifting up as she took in the clean space. "You okay?" she asked once Kate came into view. Her eyes widened when they landed on the bite mark on her neck. "Holy shit, what happened?"

"I pissed off a gamma werewolf a little too close to the full moon," she shrugged. "I'm fine. Darius got him off before he did any real damage."

"It's not healing. You should be healed by now."

Kate shifted her weight from one foot to the other, not meeting Danika's gaze. "I... haven't been able to get a hold of my dealer. I know I promised I would never ask you this, but..." she trailed off, letting the unfinished question hang heavily in the air.