Free Lust for Life by Jeri Smith-Ready

would ever be easy to leave, even if one wanted
     to.
    To my relief, Deirdre shakes her head. “It’s not your fault, Shane. You trading me
     to Jim was the right thing for all of us—at the time, at least. You had no idea he’d
     go crazy.” She takes a long gulp of blood, closing her eyes with relief, then a drag
     on her cigarette. “Where’s he been, anyway?”
    “In Control custody.”
    “Oh my God!” She coughs on her smoke. “Why?”
    “ ‘Why’?” My voice twists. “Because he was a psychopath. He should’ve been locked up a lot
     sooner.”
    Shane’s tone stays gentle. “He attacked Ciara, among other things.”
    “He almost killed my sixteen-year-old cousin,” I tell her. “And he tore my throat
     to shreds.”
    Deirdre hunches in on herself, crossing her arms and closing her legs. “I’m not surprised.
     Nothing was ever totally against my will, but sometimes it came really close to the
     line.”
    I nod. Jeremy told me back in April that Jim had come up with some new donor game
     that made him really uncomfortable. He’s developing a taste for fear, he said.
    “So now what?” Deirdre makes a weak attempt at a grand two-handed gesture. “What’s
     to become of my glamorous immortal life?”
    “You’re one of us.” I hear the words after they’ve left my mouth.
    Shane looks surprised.
    “She is,” I tell him, “as much as I am. Jim made her, and he was one of us, just like
     Monroe.” I turn back to Deirdre. “We’ll make sure you get enough to drink. Did Jim
     teach you how to bite?”
    Her gaze thunks to the floor. “Not safely.”
    Oh God. She’s hurt a human. No wonder she’s hiding out here.
    “I can’t train you, Deirdre,” Shane says. “It would be, you know—”
    “Too sexy?” she says with a sneer. “Jim says there are no rules and no barriers when
     it comes to vampires. Everyone does everyone and everything.”
    “Remember when we said Jim is a psychopath?” I snapped.
    “Ciara and I are engaged.” Shane points to my left hand. “So I won’t be doing anything
     without her.”
    “I don’t mind if she comes along, remember?” She reaches for Shane. “You can teach
     both of us together.”
    He stands up, out of arm’s length. “No.”
    That seductive longing in her eyes is ten times as strong as it was when she was a
     human. I can see it now as clearly as if it were yesterday: Deirdre spread-eagled
     on her bed, begging Shane to fuck her, withholding the blood he needed until he agreed
     (which he wouldn’t). We weren’t even dating then, but it was awkward with me sitting
     across the room. Really awkward.
    “I don’t know the other vampire DJs.” Deirdre seems to shrink into herself again.
     “Jim never introduced us. Maybe he was ashamed of me.”
    “I’m sure it was nothing personal,” I tell her. “You were the twenty-fourth vampire
     he made. If he brought all of his offspring to every party, it’d be really crowded.”
    She stares at me. “Twenty-four?”
    “He was going to turn my cousin. He said she would’ve been his twenty-fifth.”
    “He was going to turn a child into a vampire? Who does he think he is, Lestat?”
    “He was doing it to coerce me, but yeah, he probably would’ve changed her, no matter
     what I did.” Deirdre’s anger encourages me. Maybe it’ll be a rope to help her climb
     out of her sorrow.
    “So the Control busted in and saved the day?” she asks.
    “Monroe staked him with a handful of pencils.”
    “Staked? But you said he was in custody.” Deirdre puts a hand to her own chest. “Besides,
     Jim told me I’dbe in agony if he died.” Her face turns stormy. “Or did he just say that to keep me
     from killing him?”
    “He’s not dead.” Shane rubs his forehead with the side of his hand. “The Control agents
     got there before we could pull out the stake—pencils, whatever. They took him.”
    Her jaw drops. “They wouldn’t put him out of his misery?”
    “They said they could