Free Forbidden Nights With A Vampire by Alyssa Day

Regency England, she preferred her blood in a dainty teacup. She took a sip and returned the cup to the saucer with a little clink. “And we must brace ourselves, ladies, for I fear whatever events occurred here were horrid. Simply horrid.”
    Cora Lee shivered. “That’s Max the Mega Member’s snake in there, isn’t it?”
    “Yes,” Phil replied quietly.
    Vanda shifted on the couch to face him. “Max tried to kill me?” His gaze met hers, and her heart melted at the tender look in his blue eyes. She had no doubt he’d saved her life. Again. He was as brave and noble as any of the fairy-tale heroes she’d read about as a child. The type of hero she’d given up on ever existing in the real world.
    With a smile, he tousled her short hair. Then, he shifted his gaze to her friends. “When I woke up this morning, I realized you would be coming here for your death-sleep, and Max would have an opportunity to do Vanda some harm. I arrived just after sunrise, and the guard in the lobby was in a deep sleep, caused by vampire mind control. I knew that Max had been here.”
    Vanda shuddered, and Phil gave her shoulder a squeeze.
    “But we never saw him,” Cora Lee protested.
    “I believe he was hiding with his snake in the coat closet.” Phil motioned to the closet by the front door. “After you came in, and he heard you retire to your rooms, he let the snake out, cracked open Vanda’s door, and teleported back to his place.”
    “Leaving that horrid snake to deliver the deadly vengeance he so craved,” Pamela added dramatically. Her hand shook, and the teacup clattered against the saucer.
    “Land sakes,” Cora Lee whispered.
    Phil looked at Vanda and rubbed her shoulder. “I found the snake coiling itself around your body.”
    “Oh God.” She covered her mouth as a wave of nausea swept through her.
    “I cut off the head first, but the rest of the snake was continuing to squeeze you, so I hacked it into pieces as fast as I could.” He gave her an apologetic look. “I tried not to cut you, but I was…in a hurry and the snake was so tight against you that I nicked you a few times. And then there was all the—”
    “You don’t have to explain.” Vanda grimaced. She’d seen the pile of guts and blood. She’d seen how awful her pajamas looked. And she knew her body had been squeezed too tightly. Even with the healing power of death-sleep, she was still sore.
    “I didn’t want to leave you lying in all that mess,” Phil continued, “so I tried to clean you up. And the bed, too.”
    Vanda nodded. “I understand.”
    “I took the shower curtain from your bathroom and piled everything nasty on top,” he said. “Then I cleaned up the carpet and the walls—”
    “Walls?” Pamela asked.
    Phil winced. “I was throwing the snake parts as fast as I could cut them up.”
    “Lord have mercy,” Cora Lee whispered.
    Vanda tried to shut out the terrifying images that flitted through her mind, but she couldn’t.
    “I was really…upset,” Phil admitted with a frown, “so I took the snake’s head and went in search of Max.”
    Vanda swallowed hard. “Did you find him?”
    “He was in his apartment in his death-sleep.” Phil stared into space, scowling.
    Cora Lee leaned forward, her eyes wide. “What did you do to him?”
    Phil took a deep breath. “I left the snake head on the pillow next to Max and turned his head so it would be the first thing he would see when he woke up. Then I wrote a note that told him if he ever came near Vanda again, I would kill him.”
    Cora Lee slumped with a sigh. “That’s all?”
    “I pinned the note to his thigh…with a knife.”
    Cora Lee brightened up. “Now that’s more like it.”
    “Indeed.” Pamela sipped from her teacup. “I say, old boy, good form.”
    Phil snorted. “I’m so glad you approve. Then I dropped by Roman’s townhouse to shower and change clothes, and I made my report. Roman should be hearing about it soon, and he can make a decision on