Free Blonde and Blue by Trina M Lee

to know.
    The sound of metal grinding on metal drew my gaze to the parking lot exit at the end of the hall. Arys strolled through the door looking pleased with himself. His energy was running hot, and I gasped when it mingled with mine, merging together the way two separate bodies of water become one.
    “I told you not to hunt here, Arys.” My glare was wasted on him.
    “You told me not to kill here. I followed the rules. Although nobody else seems to have to.” With a smirk, he pulled me close for a bruising kiss.
    The taste of blood was fresh and strong when he slipped his tongue between my lips. A series of images flashed through my mind, ending with the lifeless body of Abigail Irving. The bloodlust was sharp and sudden. I jerked away from Arys, fighting to clear my head.
    “Please tell me you’re not feeding from the willing victims here.”
    He frowned as if I’d suggested something vile. “Hell no. I grabbed a guy in the alley out back. It was just a taste. I didn’t kill anybody.”
    I did my best to roll my eyes, but I ended up giving him a pained look instead. “Kill whoever you want to. Just don’t do it in here, and I don’t care.” As an afterthought I added, “Ok, well not whoever you want to. You know what I mean.”
    “Are you alright, love?” The humor fled from his expression as he regarded my discomfort. “That’s what happens when you feed the bloodlust at first. Rather than feel satisfied, you just want more.”
    “You knew?” Of course he knew, the same way I’d known the moment he walked in. Hiding it from Arys was impossible.
    “Well yeah. You and Sinclair bagged yourselves a human. Nice change. Can’t say I mind. Although I’m not too keen on him being your tag team partner.”
    “I don’t want to hear it.” I flashed him a vicious warning look, one that he didn’t ignore.
    Arys held his hands up in mock surrender. “Hey, if you and Kale want to use a job as your excuse to kill shit without a guilty conscience, feel free. But, I can see where this is going even if you choose not to.”
    “No, you can’t. It was one human kill. One.” I argued for the sake of refusing to allow Arys to be right. It was useless.
    “Just one? Come on, Alexa. You’re not that naive, just incredibly stubborn. It’s never just one. Not for us.” He reached to stroke a lock of my hair back from my face, and I leaned into his touch. “Already it’s burning inside you, the hunger for more. I can feel it.”
    I shook my head vehemently. “I’m not going to be a slave to the bloodlust, not while I still live and breathe.”
    I knew he was thinking that I was living in denial. Thankfully, he was sweet enough not to say so. It had been a while since I’d killed a human, almost a year, and it felt better than I remembered. I had to shake myself out of that frame of thought. Remembering was not going to help crush the hunger taking root in my core.
    I turned to head back into the heart of the club. The Kiss was already busier than it had been just minutes before. Damn blood junkies.
    Arys gave the club interior an intense once over. “Do you get a lot of demons in here?”
    “What? No. Never.” I followed Arys’ gaze to the front entry.
    “Well, there’s one.”
    I’d had little experience with demons, and all of it was bad. I didn’t know why one would come to The Wicked Kiss, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
    It hit me all at once. The sinister power that crept towards us was stifling. For a moment I couldn’t breathe. It was strong, like cold bitter coffee. Black. It was just so black. I had no better word for it.
    The humans were none the wiser, but the vampires in the club quickly withdrew to the farthest corners of the building when the demon entered. Like all of the demons I’d seen, he looked human, Japanese to be precise. Average height with shining blue-black hair, he was quite attractive. I found that most demons presented a handsome façade, but it wasn’t their true