Free Forbidden Nights With A Vampire by Alyssa Day Page A

how to handle Max.”
    “They should lynch him,” Cora Lee said, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “We should have a hanging like the good old days.”
    “Quite.” Pamela sipped from her cup. “Now that was entertainment.”
    Vanda shook her head and finished her mug of blood before it turned cold. Cold-blooded like a snake. She shuddered.
    “I had the door fixed, and I left three new keys on the counter.” Phil motioned toward the kitchen. “I kept a key for myself so I wouldn’t have to bust your door down again.”
    “Of course.” Pamela bowed her head. “We’re extremely grateful for your bravery and chivalry.”
    “That’s for sure,” Cora Lee added. “Why, if he hadn’t come when he did, that snake would have crushed our poor Vanda to smithereens. Imagine waking up to find every bone in your body broken, not to mention all that nasty internal damage. And what if that snake had tried to eat her?”
    “Enough!” Vanda made a face at her. “I don’t want to hear about it.”
    Cora Lee huffed. “I’m just saying you would probably be dying in agonizing pain right this minute if Phil hadn’t come to your rescue.”
    Vanda gritted her teeth. “I am aware of that. I can’t move any part of my body without feeling some soreness.”
    Pamela tsked. “You poor dear. Hopefully, another round of death-sleep will have you back to feeling tip-top.”
    Cora Lee nodded. “And you’d better take it easy tonight. Don’t worry about the club. Pamela and I can handle it.”
    “I’m perfectly capable of working,” Vanda protested. If she did nothing all night, she’d keep imagining that horrible snake coiling around her while she lay helpless in her death-sleep.
    Cora Lee was right. If Phil hadn’t saved her, that snake could have remained wrapped around her all night, preventing her body from healing itself. She could have woken to find every bone in her body crushed. Or worse.
    Her stomach roiled, and she quickly shoved the grisly images aside. She focused on her hands in her lap and took deep breaths. Father Andrew had taught her this exercise to help calm her anger. Hopefully, it also worked to calm horror.
    “What are we going to do with the snake?” Cora Lee asked.
    “I’ll bag it up in a big garbage sack,” Phil replied. “And I’ll ask one of the Vamp guys to teleport it out. I would have taken it myself, but I didn’t want to look like I was hauling a dead body out of the building. If security asked to see what was inside, it would be hard to explain.”
    “Yes, much better to simply teleport it away.” Pamela returned her empty teacup to the kitchen.
    A cell phone rang, jerking Vanda out of her deep breathing exercise.
    Phil dug his phone out of his pants’ pocket. “Hello…Yes, she seems to be all right.” He glanced at Vanda and whispered, “It’s Connor.”
    With her superior hearing, Vanda could make out most of what Connor was saying. Jack and Phineas had gone to Max’s apartment to arrest him, but the ex-dancer was nowhere to be found. She wasn’t surprised. After all, Max had woken with a note stabbed to his thigh with a knife. Even Max, with his minimum brain, could figure out this was a clue that he was in big trouble.
    Connor had issued a bulletin to all the minor coven masters under Roman’s jurisdiction to be on the lookout for Max. He was now a fugitive from Vamp justice.
    “I’ll ask her.” Phil hung up and turned toward Vanda. “Roman wants to know since you’re the victim, what kind of action will satisfy you once Max is captured?”
    “Leave him staked outside so he’ll fry to a crisp when the sun rises,” Cora Lee suggested as she retrieved the dropped glass and teacup from Vanda’s bedroom to take them to the kitchen.
    “Off with his head,” Pamela said as she washed the dishes. “Preferably with a dull axe.”
    “Banishment will be enough,” Vanda said quietly.
    “Are you kidding?” Cora Lee advanced toward the couch with an incredulous